RPAGF Chapter 121 The Meaning of Funeral
Chapter 121 The Meaning of Funeral
It was just past six o'clock when Qin Jiadong came knocking on the door.
They are going to the funeral home today, and before going they have to pack up Qin Chang's usual clothes and quilts and cremate them together with the body, so they have to go early.
Qin Yuhuan was almost awakened when Qin Jiadong knocked for the first time. She covered Ziyi's ears, responded with an audible "yes", and then tried to get up quietly to let Ziyi sleep for a while.
But this bed is particularly useless. No matter how careful you are, it always makes noises.
Ziyi cried and crawled into Qin Yuhuan's arms. Qin Yuhuan patted her back gently and said, "I'm going to wash up. You can sleep for a while, okay?"
"No, I'll be up in a minute. Hold me for another minute."
There were many things to do during the day, and she and Qin Yuhuan had almost no time to be close to each other.
But she only gave herself one minute to play tricks. Once she was fully awake, she would cheer up and assist Qin Yuhuan so that she could understand Changping's affairs smoothly.
The housekeeping staff had already cleaned up half of the house yesterday. The focus of the cleaning was initially on the living room, which is also where Qin Changping usually sleeps. Apart from a few waist bags with change, Qin Changping's ID card, and the bank card for receiving the minimum living allowance, nothing else was found.
Instead, there were a lot of useless wood in the house, and when it was thrown out, it piled up into a small mountain.
"All these goods and wood were moved here bit by bit by Lao Qin himself with his wheelbarrow." The tobacco shop owner was a warm-hearted woman. When she saw Qin Yuhuan and Ziyi, she came over and started a conversation. "At that time, I offered to help him because his hands were not convenient. He said no, he could do it himself. I can see that he has a strong sense of self-esteem."
"We also know about this. He even rented a garage not far away to store these goods," Wu Wenbin continued. "We all helped move these goods in the beginning, but he was always worried and moved them around three or four times. We asked him to sell them, but he refused, saying that these were the last things he and his aunt had left."
"Boss Xiaozi, I found this." The driver handed over a leather book. "I flipped through the front. It looks like a notebook, a bit like a diary. It involves privacy, so I didn't read it for long."
Qin Yuhuan got the leather notebook. After opening it, he found that it contained various accounts and passwords recorded by Qin Changping, as well as some small plans.
WeChat deposit 20,000
Qicheng Finance, Haihua Finance... each deposited 20,000
change Password
……
"The cell phone that Miss Qin mentioned has not been found yet, and neither has the land certificate of the old house, nor the passbook." Ziyi gave the driver some information about important items, but they searched for a whole day and could not find anything that Ziyi mentioned. "There are only a few phone cards that I am not sure if they have been used or not."
"My uncle should have obtained the land certificate for the old house in the village." Wu Wenbin frowned, "I heard him mention this before."
"I also know about this. He called me and told me that the land certificate has been issued."
"Forget it, it's too late. Let's take the clothes and blankets first." Qin Jiadong put out his cigarette and carried the bag that the driver brought out to the car. "There will be a lot of things to do later."
Burial is popular in Changping, and the government advocates cremation, but not many people choose cremation. The funeral home is deserted. After a group of people handed their clothes and quilts to the staff, they were led to choose an urn.
Qin Yuhuan and Ziyi had discussed this matter. Her requirement was that the money her parents spent on the funeral should be equal. Her mother's coffin cost six thousand, so the price she had in mind for Qin Changping's ashes should also be around six thousand.
Therefore, in front of the display window of urns, she and Ziyi went straight to the mid-range range, and finally picked out a solid wood urn priced at 6888.
But what was unexpected was that the relatives in the family started arguing again over this urn.
Qin Jiadong and the others all thought that since the person was already dead, they should just save some money and buy a similar urn. Especially since Qin Changping was a "low-income household", he would have to carry the urn with him all the way tomorrow. An urn that cost nearly 7,000 yuan was enough to be criticized by the villagers.
The urn was brought back. Qin Jiadong picked up a 2888 ceramic urn without saying a word and said, "This is it, Huanhuan. It's really not necessary."
Qin Yuhuan insisted, "Brother Jiadong, look at the weight of these two urns. The ceramic ones are too heavy. They weigh at least 8 kilograms. I can't even hold them."
Solid wood ones are also heavy, but at least not as heavy as ceramic ones.
It was a rainy day and the mountain road was muddy, but Qin Yuhuan was the only person qualified to carry the urn. To be honest, even if it was a solid wooden urn, she didn't have the confidence to carry it all the way up the mountain.
"Brother, let's take this 7,000 yuan. I'll pay for it." Ziyi had already signaled the cashier to start counting the money. There would be extra expenses for keeping the body in the funeral home for several days. Including the urn and cremation fees, the total cost was more than 10,000 yuan and close to 15,000 yuan. Ziyi didn't even frown and directly scanned the code to pay.
"Just say it was me who paid for it. Yu Huan and I are from the same place. Uncle Qin and Aunt Shi have always been very nice to me. This is the last thing I can do for them."
The title of "minimum living allowance" is like a shackle, which firmly binds Qin Yuhuan's last bit of filial piety. If she insists on her own opinion, she will have a direct conflict with her relatives at this juncture. It is indeed the best way for Ziyi, an outsider, to come forward.
The money had been paid and Qin Jiadong had nothing to say.
At the cremation site, the staff pushed the body out. The body was put into a yellow plastic bag. There should have been a farewell ceremony for the body, but the funeral home here had only been open for a short time and had no experience in many aspects. Others also repeatedly persuaded Qin Yuhuan, saying that there was a strong smell and maggots, and Qin Yuhuan would definitely be scared, so they told her not to look at it.
Qin Yuhuan took a firm step towards his father's body and said, "I'm not afraid. That's my father."
When Qin Changping was in a good mood, he would give Qin Yuhuan 500 yuan on her birthday every year after his mother passed away, even though the birthday he remembered for Qin Yuhuan was always wrong.
From now on, no one would give her a birthday red envelope on the wrong day.
The zipper of the plastic bag was unzipped, and Qin Yuhuan saw his father, whose skin had been oxidized black, and he almost burst into tears instantly, "Dad..."
Before she could have more interaction with her father, the staff had already hurriedly zipped up the body and were sending him for cremation.
For the first time, Qin Yuhuan realized that the urn could be hot because the ashes inside were hot.
She held the urn in both hands and got into the funeral home's car with Ziyi.
The spirit field had been set up, and the invited master took the urn and placed it on the altar.
Qin Yuhuan was called aside and told to follow her master to the village to pray for blessings.
The so-called blessing was the miscellaneous grains given by seven elders from other families, either a handful of black rice or a handful of beans. Qin Yuhuan put it in his coat pocket. After returning, the master put it into a small jar and placed it right below the urn.
My cousin started cooking in a big pot not far away. Qin Yuhuan started making phone calls non-stop. She would say at the beginning of each call: "I am Qin Changping's daughter, Qin Yuhuan. My father passed away. I would like to invite you to come over for a simple meal tomorrow morning or at noon. The meal will start at 8 am and end at 12 pm."
Qin Yuhuan didn't understand the local dialect, so every time she spoke, Qin Jiadong would translate it in Supu.
Ziyi watched Qin Yuhuan with a numb expression, listening to his relatives' instructions like a puppet. By the end of the call, his voice was almost hoarse.
After finally finishing the call and getting a chance to catch her breath, Ziyi quickly opened a bottle of mineral water and handed it to Qin Yuhuan.
Qin Yuhuan breathed a sigh of relief. "We have to go up the mountain to choose a place later. Are you going, Xiaozi? Or you can just rest in the car? We have to stay up all night to keep vigil."
"I'll go." Ziyi held Qin Yuhuan's hand, "Are you tired?"
"Fortunately," Qin Yuhuan forced a smile, "While on the phone, I suddenly understood the significance of a funeral. In the midst of constant busyness, it allows those who have lost their loved ones to have a buffer time to gradually accept reality. Every time I tell others that my father has passed away, it's like rubbing salt on the wound. The more you rub it in, the less it hurts."