"Bang bang!" I knocked on the door twice.
The man with glasses turned his head when he heard the sound.
"Fuck!"
"What are you doing! Why did you come in without knocking?"
He threw away the headphones and hurriedly put on his pants.
"I knocked on the door, but you had your headphones on and didn't hear you?"
"Is it you? A relative of the Bai family?"
"What are you buying?" He recognized me.
"Wreath," I said. Buy a better wreath, a bigger one. It may be used in a day or two. You can send it to me then.
The man with glasses put on his down jacket and said with a smile: "Brother, you have come to the right place. The quality of the wreaths in my shop is the best in Xianyang. They are big and round."
"The wreath takes up space in the store next door. Come with me, brother."
When I came out, I was a little curious and asked casually, "Why does your door open upward? It's inconvenient."
"Don't you understand this?"
He pushed the door up casually, turned around and said: "Three hundred and sixty lines, this is the rule in the industry. Although our Baishi shop is in the business of dead people, we do not welcome things that are not human beings to come in. The door is made to open up and down, which is a bit awkward. Good things can’t come in at night.”
His two shops are right next to each other, just outside the door. The other shop has no signboard, and there are many ready-made wreaths and paper figures placed against the wall in the room.
Nowadays, many Baishi shops no longer sell paper figurines. There are dozens of paper figurines standing in this room. It is dark and only the outlines can be seen without turning on the light. It is a bit scary. It is even scarier when the light is turned on.
Why do I say scary? Because the paper figures here are all over one meter tall, with round faces. They all have the same expression, wearing blue and white clothes. Eye sockets are painted on the faces, but there are no eyes, and some are not placed properly. , fell to the ground.
There are two large white horses made of paper in the north corner. A pair of paper figures of a boy and a girl are holding the horses. There is also a paper cow on the left side of the paper horses. Have you ever seen a paper cow? It's also my first time seeing it.
He casually helped up a paper man who fell on the ground and said: "The wreaths are all here. Let's see which one to choose. There are big ones and small ones. They are all new. The big one is 60 yuan and the small one is 35 yuan. I want paper." It can be cheaper for people, paper horses, and I will deliver the goods to your door if you leave your address."
"Just that one," I randomly picked the biggest one.
"Where's the paper tie? Do you want it?"
I said, "Just forget about the paper. It looks uncomfortable. What's wrong with your cow? There are still people buying paper cows," I pointed to the corner and said.
He explained: "Paper cows are not called paper cows in our funeral industry, they are called Yin buffaloes. They are rarely used in the north, but sometimes people want them. Did you buy one without looking at me? I will buy it when I sell it."
I asked, "What is a yin buffalo? I only know buffalo."
He continued: "In the funeral industry, the Yin buffalo can only be burned for women. It is a bad thing to burn it for men, because there are gold and silver bridges in the underworld. After offering sacrifices to the six pavilions and receiving the sacrifices burned by relatives in the underworld, men and women They will go up the bridge separately, the men will go to the Golden Bridge, and the women will go to the Silver Bridge."
"There is a pool of bubbling hot blood in the middle of the Silver Bridge. Some women usually waste a lot of water when cooking and washing clothes. They can only get over it if the buffalo drinks up the blood. Otherwise, walking over the pool of blood will kill them. My feet were burned to pieces.”
I burst out laughing after hearing this.
I said, what are you talking about? Who said that if a naked woman wastes water, then a man will not waste water? Oh, according to what you said, the men who take baths in the men's bathhouse and drive the sprinklers don't waste water every day.
"Hey, brother, don't argue with me. What I said are just the opinions passed down by the elders. If you want to know the truth or falsehood, you will know after you die."
I was too lazy to argue with him, so I took out a hundred yuan and gave it to him, saying I would buy a wreath and give me the rest of the money in change.
"Come on brother."
He collected the money, then grabbed a round-faced paper man, and said with a smile:
"Look how nice and cute this is, I'll give this to you, don't ask me to change it."
He almost slapped the paper man in my face. I took two steps back and cursed: "Get the fuck out of my way now. I said you don't want it. I don't want it. Change the money quickly. I have to leave."
"I know, I'm looking for you."
He gave me some change and asked, "Where will I send it? Leave me your address."
I didn’t know where to book the Bai family’s funeral hall in two days, so I said, “I’ll call you then. Won’t you deliver the goods for free?”
"It's free, but only in Qindu area. If you go too far, I'll have to charge extra. Otherwise, I won't be able to earn enough gas money by selling you a wreath."
"I know, let's go."
The next day was fine.
There is news.
I heard from others that Mr. Bai made a will. He said that after his death he would not be cremated, but buried. He also told future generations to bury him on a piece of wasteland north of the No. 2 National Cotton Factory.
After persisting for another day and a half, at 6:20 in the evening on the third day, Bai Tingli passed away in the special care unit of Tonghui Hospital. He died in January at the age of 71.
According to the custom here, a mourning hall is built the day after a person dies, and some of the things used by the old man before are burned outside the mourning hall, mainly quilts, pillows, clothes, etc.
At that time, the city did not allow burials, but Bai Tingli built the auditorium from scratch when he was young. He had connections in the local area and spent some money to arrange it.
The mourning hall is located downstairs in the old community. The entire Bai family is busy with the funeral of the old man. Her father went out overnight to find someone to buy a coffin. I called the owner of the funeral shop and told him the address and asked him to deliver the wreath. Then he was busy helping Bai Shiqiong move things.
The old lady of the Bai family kept wiping her tears and packed up some of the old man's clothes, bedding and other things, and then I moved them downstairs to the mourning hall.
"Grandpa, take good care of yourself when you go there. If you have anything to say, just tell me a dream."
As the fire grew stronger, Bailash Qiong took a step back with red eyes, and took the clothes that Mr. Bai had worn before his death from my hand.
They were burned one by one. After she finished burning one piece, I picked it out from the box and handed one over to her.
The box was almost empty. When it reached the bottom, there was a military green cloth jacket, which was a very old-fashioned kind of clothing. I felt something hard in the pocket of this old-fashioned jacket.
When I took it out, I saw a small, flat, rusty iron box with a row of small red letters printed on it.
"The commemoration of the third group of the Science Popularization Committee of the Second Northwest Cotton Factory."
Seeing Bailash Qiong kneeling on the ground looking at the fire in a daze, I quickly stuffed the iron box into my clothes.
"People cannot be resurrected after death, so sorry."
Bailashqiong wiped her tears and said, "Thank you for helping me."
"You're welcome. Is there a toilet nearby?" I asked.
She said: "There is one at home upstairs, and there is also a public toilet downstairs in No. 5."
"Then I'll go to the bathroom and come back later."
After coming out of the mourning hall, I quickly walked to Building 5 and entered the toilet.
The public toilets in the old community were all squat. When I entered, I saw an old man squatting to relieve himself, so I went out to wait.
I took out the iron box and tugged on the small lock, but found that it couldn't be opened.
This lock is not big, just one size bigger than the lock that locks a laptop. I put the iron box on the ground, found half a brick and smashed it two or three times to open it.
At this time, the old man who happened to be going to the toilet came out with his pants in his pockets. I took my things and entered the toilet.
Opening the iron box, there was a plastic bag inside. It could be seen that the plastic bag contained several photos and stacked letters.
The photo is black and white and has turned slightly yellow. It seems that the old man saved it very carefully. There is no crease in the photo.
There are three people in the first black-and-white photo, two men and one woman, all young, probably around 20 years old. One man has thick eyebrows and big eyes, wearing an old-fashioned green military uniform and a hat on his head. The other man is a bit thinner and taller. A little taller, the girl with braided hair and a floral cotton jacket stood between the two men. The three of them were all laughing, with the cotton field in the background.
The background of the second photo should be in a factory workshop, or there were three people, two men and one woman. I discovered the problem. There was a small cart in the corner of the black and white background, with a dark doll on it. Iron knot, if you look closer, it seems to be a Buddha statue. Only half of the Buddha's face is illuminated, and the whole picture cannot be seen clearly.
The third photo was taken at night. The light is very dark. There is a person in the photo. This person's head has been erased by the pen. Only his body can be seen. If you look closely, the white things piled on the ground should be elastic cotton. , and there is also a portable lantern on the ground.
There was only a piece of folded letter paper left in the plastic bag. I took it out and prepared to open it.
"Hello."
Suddenly someone tapped me on the back.
"Have a great New Year."
