Chapter 9 Love in the Courtyard

As the head of the Siheyuan, He Daqing was naturally the one who presided over Lao Jia's funeral.

What's more, Lao Jia's death had a great impact on him, and he was also planning to do something during the funeral.

"What have you discussed so far?"

“It’s just the beginning!

Wang Mazi came to collect donations and contributions, and just left, just around the same time as you did."

When he heard that Wang Mazi had been here, He Daqing nodded in understanding.

"Okay, let's continue discussing.

Sister Zhang, please tell me how much money your family can give to Lao Jia's funeral, and then we will raise some for you."

After asking, before Jia Zhang could speak, He Daqing looked at Yan Bugui, who was always stingy.
"Old Yan, all of us brothers will have this day. You don't want to leave alone when it's your turn, do you?"

For thousands of years, Daxia has always emphasized treating death as life.
Everyone wants to die in a grand and glorious way at the end of their life. Yan Bugui also behaved very generously at this time.

"Don't worry, Lao He, this is a good thing. I naturally have no objection."

After reaching an agreement, He Daqing looked at Jia Zhang.

Jia Zhang naturally wanted to do a good job for her man, so she gritted her teeth, stomped her feet and took out half of the family savings.

"We just paid the donation. Apart from food, drink, defecation, urination and sleep, our family can still take out 40 gold yuan coupons.

The rest is up to you.”

Don’t think that 40 yuan (20 dollars) is too little.
Due to the numerous heavy taxes, the common people these days were actually very poor.

The reason why Jia Zhang could come up with 40 yuan was because Lao Jia was a worker in a steel rolling mill. The steel rolling mill was not only a very rare heavy industry, but also had a relatively stable salary.
If it were the poor people in the city, they would not be able to afford it.

But the Jia family’s life savings are just two gold rings on the fingers of those wealthy families.

When the neighbors heard that Jia Zhang was willing to give 40 yuan to Lao Jia's funeral, they all looked at her with admiration.
He Daqing also touched the only 30 yuan in his pocket and made his own proposal.

"Since Mrs. Zhang can come up with 40 yuan,

Then each of the six of us will contribute 6 yuan, and together we will raise 10 yuan to give to Lao Jia to take care of it.

Go to the Xinyi coffin shop and hire 24 coffin bearers, and use the deacons of the three and a half halls. Then go to the mast factory to buy a better coffin material, prepare all kinds of paper and pine work from the funeral clothing shop, and then ask the people from the tent shop to build the funeral tent. "

At this point, He Daqing finally stated his purpose.
"Since Lao Jia's funeral is of this standard, then each family will contribute the equivalent of 5 yuan for our funeral.

Of course, if you have other ideas, we can discuss it.”

Regarding He Daqing's proposal, neither Yi Zhonghai, who had no children, nor Liu Haizhong, Yan Bugui and others who had young children had any objections.

In this chaotic world, it is always good to be prepared.

Just do as Lao He said.
Then let's not delay any longer and start raising money now. Once the money is paid, you can assign tasks to everyone!"

After everyone paid the agreed money, He Daqing began to assign tasks.
"Mrs. Zhang, Dongxu,
Which relatives and friends do you want to invite? Make a list yourself later.
After that, Lao Xu and I took Zhuzi, Damao and other children to the market to buy food and order the meat and vegetables we would need for the next seven days.
Lao Yi, Lao Liu, go to the Xinyi Gangfang on Gulou Street to hire someone.
There just happens to be a mast factory, a clothing store and a shed shop next to the pole house, so we don’t need to bother two people with one thing, so I’ll leave this matter to you two.”

"Okay, leave it to us!"

"Old Yan, you are a cultured person, so you are responsible for keeping accounts, accepting gifts, and writing elegiac couplets."

"No problem, I'll go back and prepare paper and pen later."

"The remaining women and children were led by the old lady and Yi's wife to clean the pots and pans and set up the tables and chairs.
Then grind out the grains you will need in the next few days.

Since we are sending Old Jia away in a grand manner, we should not be stingy and just give him flour directly, so that the neighbors will look up to us.
Is everyone okay? "

Seeing that He Daqing's arrangement was reasonable, everyone in the courtyard naturally had no objection.
"No problem, Lao He. Let's get started now."

When He Yuzhu followed He Daqing, Xu Fugui and others to carry the grain back to the courtyard in several batches, Lao Jia had already been buried, and the funeral shed was gradually taking shape under the care of the craftsmen in the shed shop.

In the evening, the various funeral supplies that He Daqing had previously ordered also arrived one after another.
It includes:

A paper plaque mounted by a paper shop;
There are a number of paper works such as the guide king, the road-fighting ghost, the money-spraying beast, the golden boy, the spirit man, the cook, the old woman, the maid, the boy, the table with various objects, the banquet, the play, etc.
Several pine works such as pine lions, pine pavilions, pine camels, pine dogs, pine tying the two immortals of harmony and unity, and pine tying the twenty-four filial piety.
Then there are the deacons of the three and a half churches,
The first half of the class: twelve big snow willows (in mourning), a seated umbrella (with a canopy), an eight-man shadow pavilion (in mourning), an eight-man sedan chair, a pair of golden melons, a golden axe, a pair of golden heavenly stirrups and golden fists, a pair of green fans and twelve umbrellas.
The second half: a pair of three-pointed sword, elephant trunk sword, blue dragon sword, saber, golden thread spear, golden wheel spear, golden cover spear, golden umbrella spear and twelve banner umbrellas.
The third half of the class: one pair each of the Flying Tiger Flag, Flying Dragon Flag, Flying Phoenix Flag, and Road Clearance Flag; one pair each of the Silence Sign and the Avoidance Sign; two pairs of urging gongs; twelve banners and umbrellas.

At 2 a.m., He Yuzhu was about to go to the security team. As soon as he carefully opened the door, he was frightened by the lifelike paper figures, paper horses, swords, spears and halberds in front of him.

He had never seen these creepy things in modern society.

Not to mention it's still late at night.

Seeing Jia Dongxu and several lamas dozing off by a bonfire in the funeral shed, He Yuzhu gritted his teeth and walked forward.

When passing by those pale paper figures,
He always felt that these things would burst into laughter [Woohoo... huh, woohaha...ha] in the next second.

Only when he finally slipped out of the courtyard did he breathe a sigh of relief, patted his sore legs, and walked towards Shichahai in the bright moonlight.

Coincidentally,

He Yuzhu lives in the courtyard house at No. 95 Maoer Hutong, while the security team is located at No. 45 not far away.
What’s even more coincidental is that next to the security team is the gendarmerie, which was the former infantry commander’s office of the Qing Dynasty and later the National Theatre, and is close to the Shichahai Station of Beijing Metro Line 8.

Maoer Hutong is less than 600 meters long, and He Yuzhu quickly reached his destination.

Fortunately, not only did he not meet anyone on the way here, but it was also quiet outside the security team and the gendarmerie, without even a sentry.

The reason for this,

Firstly, the security forces and the gendarmerie are only public security forces, and their discipline is notoriously lax.
Secondly, no matter how lax the discipline is, it is still a military unit. I guess these people didn’t expect that anyone would dare to touch their tiger’s whiskers.

(End of this chapter)