Wang Yongzhu saw that Song Chongjin had also realized this point, and he too smiled without saying more.
By the time they arrived at the mourning hall, Wang Yonggui and his two brothers along with Jinhoo had been weeping for the entire day. Now it was deep into the night, and the chanting monks and Taoist priests outside were also dozing off.
The inside of the mourning hall was unusually quiet, as everyone had completely exhausted their energy for the day.
Song Chongjin had already arranged for a vegetarian feast for the monks and Taoist priests, asking them to eat and rest a while longer. Tomorrow morning they would continue to exert themselves in chanting scriptures and performing rituals to help Old Wang Laozhu’s spirit reach the Western Paradise or choose reincarnation.
Hot porridge, light dishes, and ginger soup were also brought in to the room next to the mourning hall for Wang Yonggui and his group to fill their stomachs.
Wang Yonggui, Wang Yongping, and Jinhoo all had red, teary eyes.
Seeing the steaming porridge and dishes served before them, their eyes turned green with hunger.
After a day of weeping by the coffin, they were very depleted of water and energy. The door to the mourning hall was wide open, and despite the tent outside, the night wind in January was piercingly cold, cutting through them like knives.
No matter how thick their cotton-padded jackets and pants were, kneeling on the ground for half a day, even with cotton pads underneath, the cold still seeped in through their legs and into their flesh and bones.
Even tough men like Wang Yonggui and Wang Yongping found it hard to bear the cold.
Without waiting for Song Chongjin or Wang Yongzhu to call them, the three of them got up, grimacing as they rubbed their knees, saliva drooling from their mouths.
Wang Yongzhu gestured for the old woman at the stove to place the porridge and dishes on a table to the side, waiting for the three men to come in before closing the door.
Since the body was being laid out, they dared not heat the kang bed in the room, and the chilly air was biting. But once the door was closed and the wind was kept out, everyone felt quite content.
First, each one pinched their noses and forcibly gulped down a bowl of ginger soup to drive away the inner chill.
After the steaming ginger soup settled in their stomachs, Wang Yonggui and his group shivered repeatedly until their hands and feet finally warmed up, and their faces regained some color, no longer a ghastly blue.
After resting for a while, each of them ladled a big bowl of porridge and, with the side dishes, slurped it down in just a few gulps, finally feeling revived.
Wang Yongzhu was tempted to tell everyone to go back to their rooms and rest for the night, then return early in the morning to continue the vigil. After all, there were no outsiders present, so why subject themselves to such torment?
But on second thought, as this was the death of their own father, if they did not show their filial piety now, they might later be criticized by others for their lack of devotion.
Besides, even though she had no real affection for Old Wang Laozhu, Wang Yonggui and the others did. Why stop them?
Therefore, she simply had someone bring in a brazier filled with enough charcoal for warmth.
As a son-in-law and a married daughter, they were not bound by this custom, so Wang Yongzhu felt no need to go out of her way to demonstrate filial piety.
During his lifetime, she had meticulously arranged Old Wang Laozhu’s daily care and felt she had done right by him.
Now that Old Wang Laozhu had passed, although she felt some sorrow, to expect her to weep bitterly as if the sky were falling was asking too much of her.
In the old rural customs, when an elder in the family passed away, relatives and friends were expected to come and offer condolences. It was during such times that some people had their moment to shine.
The person who performs this task is usually the deceased’s daughter or daughter-in-law, but in a pinch, any close relative would do, preferably female and with a close relationship.
After this woman has offered incense and kowtowed to the deceased, she must kneel before the spirit, crying and speaking at the same time, summarizing the life of the deceased in a few words. She then praises how generous and kind the departed was to relatives and everyone else, questioning how they could have been so careless to die, and bemoaning the filial piety they’ll miss out on. She’d reminisce about their time on earth...
A skilled crying singer can stir the emotions of those around her, inciting them to follow her mood; as she goes on, everyone would start crying along with her.
This practice, known as cry singing, may seem simple, but it requires true talent to perform, as it is a crucial part of the mourning process.
One must be able to speak, cry, and sing. Even if the deceased had been filled with evil, the crying singer would still speak of them as having been fraught with hardships.
Many old women in the peasant families make it their business to learn this skill. They often cry themselves dry. Peasant families aren’t too picky; as long as it’s passable, it’s acceptable.
Wang Yongzhu didn’t know how to cry sing. Asking her to kneel before a spirit, sniveling and tearful, reminiscing about Wang Laozhu as if rapping, would be worse than death.
Song Chongjin also understood Wang Yongzhu’s temperament and arranged for a crying singer to come over and start the mourning first thing the next morning.
Even though no one came to express condolences, Wang Yongzhu and Song Chongjin ensured none of the usual rites was omitted.
Seeing the Wang Family Brothers were insistent on not resting, Wang Yongzhu didn’t press the issue. She only reminded them to take care of themselves, to get up and walk around if they couldn’t bear it anymore, warm themselves by the fire, drink some hot water.
Outside the funeral hall, "Brother Song, I’m going to accompany my mother tonight. I just don’t feel at ease about her," Wang Yongzhu said to Song Chongjin, feeling a little awkward.
Although Song Chongjin could see but not enjoy, holding his warm and fragrant wife in his arms was definitely better than sleeping alone on the kang.
Hearing that Yongzhu intended to leave him alone to comfort his mother-in-law, he had no choice but to swallow his feelings. Who else in this household could he not afford to provoke, if not Yongzhu and his mother-in-law?
Besides, with his father-in-law’s passing, he understood that his mother-in-law was also suffering and that having Yongzhu accompany her would probably cheer the old lady up somewhat.
He simply nodded in agreement, escorting Wang Yongzhu to the wing room where Old Granny Zhang was staying, before returning to his own room to rest.
Song Chongjin and Wang Yongzhu thought that no guests would stop by to offer condolences, yet the house that Song Chongjin had bought was in a pretty decent location.
The neighbors, having seen a bunch of people clean and decorate the usually quiet courtyard to make it lively, and the coming of relatives in the evening, had all found out that there were new owners in the long-unoccupied courtyard, a newlywed couple no less.
This neighborhood was quite nice, and the surrounding residents, mostly long-term occupants, got along well. They were curious about the new neighbors and wondered what kind of people they were.
Never did they expect that the wedding decorations would be replaced by funeral arrangements so swiftly.
Starting from yesterday, having seen the Song Family’s red lanterns replaced by white ones and white flowers, they knew that someone had passed away in the household.
And hearing the sutras chanted throughout most of the previous night, the neighbors discussed the matter early in the morning and decided that, as neighbors, they ought to stop by to pay their respects.
For neighbors like these, visiting to offer condolences didn’t cost much. A stick of incense, a couple of sheets of paper, and for those who were more meticulous, some paper money, and that would suffice.
Song Chongjin had gone out early in the morning, and when Wang Yongzhu heard that people had come to pay their respects, she was at first stunned. But Old Granny Zhang was quicker to react, inviting the visitors in.
She also reminded Wang Yongzhu to prepare tea and food. They had to at least offer their guests a simple meal before letting them leave.