Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 247
Mourning
Mo Yan chased after them, and hid behind a wall to eavesdrop. She saw two large and burly men force Cao Zhang to the wall and warn him. “Stay further away from Miss Duan, or we’ll break your legs.”
Cao Zhang said, “Are the two of you mistaken? I’m not very familiar with Miss Duan.”
“You talk back, huh? If you hadn’t sweet-talked her, why would our miss care so much about her?”
The two men didn’t really do anything to Cao Zhang, just threatened him before leaving. From their words, they seemed to be people of the Duan family.
Although Duan Caimei’s grandfather had let her return here, he had sent people over to protect her in secret. It could also be said that he was keeping her under surveillance.
After those two people left, Mo Yan walked towards the commercial firm, pretending to not have seen what had happened in the alleyway. At night, after she returned home, she went to find Duan Caimei. “Miss Duan, do you have any feelings towards Cao Zhang?”
Duan Caimei casually sipped her tea. “I wouldn’t believe myself if I said I lacked even a shred of any intentions towards him. However, it’s not to the point where I can’t imagine not marrying anyone but him.”
“Then have you interfered in his matters?”
“I just asked grandfather about the imperial examination, I didn’t mention Cao Zhang at all!”
Mo Yan smiled faintly. “Your every action is monitored by your grandfather. When you write to him to ask about this, would he think that it was for Lu Junming? If even I can think of this, how would your grandfather be unable to?”
Duan Caimei’s hand holding her teacup trembled. “Then what would he think about me being friends with you?”
“In their eyes, I’m incomparable even to an ant. They won’t waste their energy on me.”
Duan Caimei laughed bitterly, “It feels like the officials’ families have an invisible net trapping me. I can’t have any thoughts of my own, but am instead just a wooden puppet on a string which they can freely manipulate.”
The next day, the old woman passed away. Mrs. Liang had people get Mo Ling and Mo Yan, and have them go back for the funeral.
Naturally, they were reluctant to go, but if they didn’t, they would be refusing to give face to Mrs. Liang and Mo Zenian, and they’d even be called unfilial by the villagers.
Mo Yan said, “Sis, we should go back! Our aunt’s family will definitely come, and we don’t know how they’ll inconvenience mother this time.”
Mo Ling gritted her teeth. “They dare? Let’s go back.”
After entrusting Zao’er to Ms. Hua, Mo Ling and Mo Yan went back home. As soon as they entered the alleyway, they saw people entering and exiting the back courtyard, and paper money had already been hung on the main entrance.
They had just reached the entrance of the back courtyard when they were pulled in by the housewives helping out. They were hastily dressed in mourning robes. “Go and kowtow to your grandmother’s spirit.”
The courtyard was full of people, all urging Mo Ling and Mo Yan to go and pray to the old woman, so they could only go to the living room.
The corpse hadn’t been buried yet, and was still placed on the bed, covered with a light yellow silk blanket.
Mrs. Liang, Mo Zenian and Mo Feng were all wearing mourning robes on one side, while their aunt was on the other side, although her children were nowhere to be seen.
Seeing the sisters enter, their aunt raised her head and glared at them. “You ungrateful things, do you need to be forced to come back and pay your respects?! You unfilial things!”
There were no benefits to be gained from arguing with her now. Fortunately, the old woman had already passed away, so they wouldn’t have any interactions with her from now on. They could bear her for two days.
The two sisters kneeled down and kowtowed, while Mrs. Liang handed a few pieces of paper money over, which Mo Ling threw in the fireplace. According to convention, they should be kneeling together with Mrs. Liang, but it was too crowded here, while the other side still had space.
Mo Ling didn’t want to be with that woman, so gently nudged Mrs. Liang while kneeling and whispered towards Mo Feng and Mo Zenian, “You go to that side.”
Mo Zenian didn’t want to argue here either, so dragged Mo Feng over to the other side with him.
Mo Yan quietly asked Mo Ling, “Sis, do we have to kneel here every day?”
Mo Ling replied, “There’s no need, just follow me.”
Today, the funeral had just started, so many people came to pay their respects, and the host family should accompany them. When there was no one here to pay their respects, they could get up to stretch, or take a break,
Around noon, the fragrance of meat started wafting in from the large stove in the courtyard. Many of the people helping out in the courtyard had done so for this pot of stewed meat.
At this time, the sound of mourning came from the alleyway. That voice rose and fell, full of intonation, and surprisingly sounded a little calculated.
After listening to it carefully, what they were crying out was: “My beloved grandmother! How could you just leave like this, how could you leave us like this!”
The only people who called the old woman grandfather were Mo Yan’s aunt’s family; her sons, daughters and daughters-in-law.
In the evening, the sound of crying entered the courtyard, and the housewives helping out comforted them while dressing them in mourning robes. They heard a woman say, “Why don’t I have a headband, I also want a headband!” It was their aunt’s daughter-in-law.
Having a white headband was a sign of significant filial piety, and typically only the deceased’s daughters-in-law and biological daughters would wear it, while the grandchildren’s generation wouldn’t wear it. Mo Yan felt strange that she was even fighting them on this, and Mo Ling said, “That’s two feet of white cloth.”
After the people were all dressed in mourning robes, the sound of crying entered the house, and the steward cried out, “The deceased’s grandchildren and granddaughter-in-law have come up to pay their respects!”
The people cried while entering the main hall and kneeled in front of the altar. Instead of saying that they were crying, it would be more apt to say they were singing. It made Mo Yan want to laugh, but she could only cover her face to hide it.
After they had finished crying, the steward then cried out, “Return your respects!”
Returning your respects was when the main family returned greetings to the people who worshipped at the altar. Naturally, their mother wouldn’t pay her respects towards them, so Mrs. Liang and Mo Zenian just lightly nodded their heads. Mo Yan and her siblings followed their parents’ leads, and also just lightly nodded their heads.
Mo Yan’s aunt said with a long face, “Do you not even know how to pay your respects? None of you know any rules!”
She looked at Mo Feng, who was beside her, and placed her hand on his head, pressing it down. “Kowtow!”
Mo Feng struggled against her grasp, straightening his body further, and Mo Zenian said. “They aren’t strangers, and they’re of the same generation, there’s no need to be too courteous.”
The steward also agreed from the side. “That’s right, you’re all from the same family, there’s no need to be so courteous.”
At this time, someone called from outside, “The food’s ready, do you want to eat?”
These words were much more palatable than Mo Zenian’s, and the people originally kneeling there swiftly got up and ran out. Mo Yan’s aunt tried, but felt too awkward to stand up, and Mrs. Liang said, “Feng’er, go and eat! Hand your aunt some food. Your grandmother has just passed, and she must be incredibly sorrowful, too sorrowful to eat meat, so just give her some vegetables.”
Mo Feng stood up and got out, seeing his aunt’s family surrounding the large outdoors stove and quarrelling over meat. Their mother kept calling them impolite, but her family was truly the most impolite.
No wonder they only arrived to pray at noon. So it turns out praying was just a ruse, while they just wanted to come here and eat meat.
Complaining that the kitchen was serving the food too slowly, one of the women even used a bowl to scoop food from the pot, specifically targeting the largest chunks of meat. She held the bowl in one hand, eating directly from the bowl, while holding a bun in the other.
Their lack of etiquette shocked everyone in the courtyard. It made Mo Feng not want to eat the food in the large pot anymore, and forgetting about serving his aunt food, he went back home.
P.S. Thanks for reading!