Before the Dragon Boat Festival, the young couple visited the homes of their relatives and friends. They took their two new apprentices to visit their parents and their elders, and by the way, they also became familiar with the environment of the village.
Chu Yi and Chu Ping still planned to spend the Dragon Boat Festival together. On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the young couple went to town with Chu Ping and Yuan Shuang to buy some items, drinks and food needed for the festival.
The young couple went out for most of the day. When they came back in the middle of the afternoon, they found that Uncle Chu was playing cards with a few children in the west wing. Everyone in the room had a punishment note on their face, including Xue Changlin and Uncle Chu. The most posted ones were one who had just learned how to play cards and was not yet proficient in it, and the other who was trying to make the children happy. Zhengzheng and Lihua stood nearby and watched forcefully. If anyone lost, they would be more excited than the one who won, saying It's so fun to talk and laugh.
Seeing that Chu Yi and the others had returned home, everyone stopped playing cards and got up and went to the yard to help move things. Apart from melon and fruit preserves, dried fruit cakes and several large jars of wine, the thing that took up the most space was what Shen Luzhu bought for everyone. new clothes.
Uncle Chu was still a little confused as to why he had bought new clothes for the whole family at this time. He turned around and saw Xue Changshan and Xue Changlin who were carefully playing with the new clothes. He understood the intention of the young couple and smiled without saying anything.
When Chu Yi saw the two apprentices, they were just looking at the clothes in their hands carefully without making any other moves, he urged: "Your wife specially picked this for you two. Look at how well done it is, why don't you try it on?" ?」
"Thank you, Master and Master!"
After saying this, the Xue brothers bowed deeply again, and then happily entered the room specially prepared for them and changed their clothes.
It has been more than a month since the two brothers came home. Most of the clothes they wore were old clothes made by the Chu Yi brothers that Shen Luzhu had made. When they were shopping today, they happened to see a ready-made clothing store, and Shen Luzhu bought them two pieces. Later, I was afraid that the two children would be burdened, so I simply bought one for the whole family and treated it as a celebration.
In addition to clothes, Shen Luzhu and Yuan Shuang also bought a lot of beautiful fabrics and colorful ropes. Before dinner, they had been sitting under the persimmon tree in the yard, making purses and weaving colorful rope bracelets with Chu Xiuxiu.
On the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival, after washing his face with mugwort water, Shen Luzhu took out the sachets and colorful ropes made the day before and brought them to everyone one by one, from the oldest cousin to the youngest son of the Chu family. Yes, even Li Hua has a set, the main one is that no one can be left behind.
After eating white porridge cooked with glutinous rice and sweet dates, as well as eggs that Shen Luzhu had stewed the night before, Chu Yi and Chu Ping, along with Chu Li and Xue Changshan, got busy. First, they built a building with yellow mud in the yard. He built a simple barbecue stove, then went to the foot of the nearby mountain to find a few strong tree branches, picked up a lot of dry firewood, and brought back fresh willow branches.
While the men were doing this, the women were not idle. First, they marinated the whole sheep that Chu Ping had ordered a few days ago and marinated it with various spices. Then they marinated the pork belly, mushrooms, vegetables, etc. Wash them all, cut them, and finally string them on the washed willow branches.
After finishing all this work, it was still early for lunch, so the two families gathered under the persimmon tree to have tea, chat, and play cards for fun.
When the sheep was almost pickled, Chu Yi and Chu Ping built a rack with a few strong tree branches, then put the sheep on the rack, and set up a small fire with dry firewood underneath. Slow roast.
The roasted whole lamb takes a long time to be cooked, but the skewers of pork, mushrooms and vegetables grilled on the stove on the other side are cooked very quickly. Sprinkled with Shen Luzhu's own barbecue ingredients, it can be eaten quickly. Paired with the good wine Chu Yi bought and the sour plum soup specially cooked by Shen Luzhu for the children, it has a unique flavor.
Since the home was divided, the Chu family's old house has always been very lively during the Chinese New Year and festivals. An event like today is organized every once in a while. The Chu family has become somewhat accustomed to it, but the two Xue brothers Having been away from home for many years, I no longer remember what it was like for the family to gather together and celebrate the festival lively. Xue Changshan may still remember it, but it seems that their family has never had such a warm and lively time.
He was eating sizzling skewers and drinking sweet sour plum soup. The plate in front of him was piled high with the Chu family and his elders bringing it over.
After eating, the two brothers couldn't help but have a little red eyes.
After the Dragon Boat Festival, Chu Li's vacation was already halfway over. In the past few days before returning to the county town, Chu Yi would take his apprentices to go around the mountains every day to learn about various types of wood, and to learn and judge the quality of trees. , whether it can be a useful method.
By the way, Chu Yi also marked a dozen mature trees on the mountain. There were pine and cypress trees that were most common and cheapest for making coffins, as well as two good nanmu trees. He asked an experienced master in the village to help him. After the felling was processed, it was dragged back to the Chu family yard for temporary storage.
It would take some time to cut down the trees, and the wood hauled back to Chu's yard still needed simple processing and drying. Chu Yi entrusted Jiang Quan with the task of transporting the wood to the county seat, and asked him to help him and Chu Yi customize it at the blacksmith's house in a while. The tools were sent to the shop in the county town together.
On the day before Chu Li's holiday ended, the Chu family packed up their things, said goodbye to their grandfather and his family, and returned to the county seat in a carriage. When they returned to the village, there were eight people and one cat. When they returned to the county seat, they had two more children. A man and an ox cart. These two people were none other than brothers Shen Songjie and Shen Zeqi.
The Shen brothers originally planned to go to the county town to inspect the market in the second half of the year. After chatting with Chu Yi and his wife this time, they felt even more excited. They couldn't wait to advance their schedule and went out together with their sister and brother-in-law's family. On the way It might as well continue to discuss the details of the joint venture.
After returning to the county town, life was no different from before. The shop still opened its doors every day to welcome customers, and Chu Yi still led his apprentices to teach them some knowledge about making coffins or carpentry work.
The most surprising thing was the child Zhengzheng. Shen Luzhu originally thought that after a ten-year gap after returning to the mountain village, the fat son would not remember listening to his father's lectures, and might just disappear. Maybe he was interested, but I didn't expect that this baby seemed to have been cursed by someone. I didn't know if he could understand it. In short, he followed the class every day without hesitation. Even his parents were surprised, not to mention Xue. The two brothers thought it would be hard to be outdone by their master's two or three-year-old baby, so they studied even harder.
In late May, Jiang Quan brought Lin Ji's motorcade to the county town again. In addition to bringing the prepared copper coins to burn paper and paper ingots, there were also a dozen treated wood and the village blacksmith to help make them. of two sets of tools.
In the days that followed, Chu Yi suddenly became even busier. As soon as he had breakfast every day, he started to take the Xue brothers in the west courtyard, wandering around the wood. The wood that Jiang Quan brought over was simply removed and dried in the shade. , in fact it cannot be called wood, it should be called logs.
What Chu Yi has to do is to lead his apprentices, starting from removing the bark, analyzing the shape of the logs, removing rotten or defective parts, thinking and judging where to disconnect the logs, marking lines and sawing, and finally Break the cylindrical wood into pieces half a finger thick. This is the first step of making a coffin, cutting out the materials.
The finished board needs to be dried in the shade for a second time. This step seems simple, but it is also very particular. It cannot be exposed to the sun or rain, and it cannot be too wet but not too dry. Taking advantage of this time, Chu Yi I found some scrap wood and took my apprentices to get familiar with the various tools in their hands.
In this way, he taught and worked until the beginning of June when he finally made the first coffin since moving to the county. He thought it was to prepare for the opening of the coffin shop. Chu Yi made it extremely meticulously and polished it with his apprentices. , and also applied a layer of wood paint carefully.
Chu Yi was busy making coffins here, while Shen Luzhu had already begun to decorate the shop in the west courtyard. Chu Yi was busy taking care of his apprentices and making coffins, and could hardly spare any time during the day.
Shen Luzhu and Third Uncle Chu discussed how to arrange the coffin shop and what the rules or taboos were. They asked someone to make the most basic counters, tables and chairs. Shen Luzhu looked around at his empty shop. , thinking that even if there were a few coffins placed in the house, it would still seem a bit drab and cold. Suddenly, he thought of the paper baskets placed in the paper money shop next door, and wondered whether it would be more appropriate to place them here in the future.
Shen Luzhu won the third uncle Chu's consent and asked Chu Yi what he thought in the evening: "Over there at the coffin shop, I always felt that the walls and the room were a bit monotonous and cold. Today I asked the third uncle and he said that the coffin shop Satiya
We can sell other funeral supplies, but we already have a paper money shop, so I was wondering if I could tie these with grain basin paper and move them to the coffin shop next door. Chu Yi, what do you think? "
"Ah Zhu, this is a good idea. The grain basins are mostly used during funerals. It is more reasonable to sell them together with the coffins. Maybe putting them together can increase sales. Woolen cloth."
Shen Luzhu actually thought the same way. Most of the people who came to buy coffins would buy them together when they saw the rice basin paper tied with them. If they went to the side, they could also buy the paper money directly. They made money, and Being convenient for people is not the best of both worlds.
"Then I'll ask the master to come tomorrow and help us build some display racks on the wall. Then we can put the grain basins on them. It won't be conspicuous, and it won't take up too much space for the coffin."
Chu Yi smiled and took his wife, who was talking enthusiastically, into his arms: "Okay, thank you for your hard work, A Zhu."
Shen Luzhu raised his head and kissed Chu Yi's chin gently: "You worked much harder than me. By the way, my third uncle asked us today how we planned the name on the plaque and the coffin shop. He said you were too busy, so It’s time to settle it down and hire someone to do it.”
Chu Yi heard this and said, "Actually, I've been thinking about this too. Our paper money shop is already called Chu Ji Funeral. What should the coffin shop be called? Chu Ji Coffin Shop?"
Shen Luzhu shook his head slowly: "It always feels weird. Chu Ji's funeral sounds better."
Chu Yi thought for a while, smiled and discussed with his wife: "Then let's just call Chu Ji a funeral."
"Two shops have the same name?"
Chu Yi nodded and said: "Well, why not? There are our own shops on the left and right, so we might as well just use a plaque. But now this one is a bit short. I will go back and find someone who specializes in plaque making to make a big one for us. Some, hanging in the middle, what does A-Zhu think?"
"This is a good idea. The paper money and the coffin are all funeral objects. They are all from our family's shop, and they are all from Chu Ji's funeral! Then I will take the time tomorrow to find someone to order them. It's best to make two small ones. The signs, one with paper money and the other with coffin, were placed on the steps in front of the shop. They were used as signboards to save someone from having to struggle to get out after entering the wrong shop."
"Okay, just listen to A-Zhu."
