Chapter 596: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 596: Human Relations and Worldly Affairs in the Village

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

After Wang Zhanggen finished dealing with Zhou Aidi's matter, he did not immediately return to the county town side.

He found Zhang Zhongtian and asked Zhang Zhongtian to help take villagers from the village to the wedding banquet site in the afternoon.

Wang Zhanggen hired three long-distance buses, departing from his hometown side at five o'clock in the afternoon to carry the villagers to the site to attend the wedding banquet.

Every bus needs one person to ride along and count the number of people.

It would be best to let Zhang Zhongtian help handle this matter.

Zhang Zhongtian naturally agreed readily, but he also had a question:

"Changgen, such an unlucky thing happened in the village today; do we need to avoid it?"

Wang Zhanggen questioned:

"What is there to avoid?"

Zhang Zhongtian said:

"According to custom, those who have come into contact with a white affair cannot attend a red affair. For example, those few villagers who carried Zhou Aidi's corpse, as well as Liang Xinghua, Zhou Aidi's son, all need to avoid it."

Wang Zhanggen nodded, expressing strong approval:

"This indeed needs to be avoided, but I already invited people earlier; not letting them attend at this time is not quite appropriate, is it?"

Zhang Zhongtian said:

"Here's what to do: give me a few red envelopes, and I will help you hand them over to them, explain the reason to them, and express apologies; they should understand."

Wang Zhanggen hurriedly thanked him:

"Thank you very much, Secretary Zhang; I'll trouble you with this matter!"

Wang Zhanggen gave Zhang Zhongtian ten red envelopes, each containing fifty yuan, asking Zhang Zhongtian to help distribute them to those villagers who need to avoid it tonight, expressing apologies to them.

Zhang Zhongtian immediately went from village to village to handle this matter.

Many villagers, after receiving the red envelopes, all expressed understanding.

Originally, going to a wedding banquet would require giving at least fifty or a hundred yuan; now they don't have to spend their own money and can even get a fifty-yuan red envelope for free—why not?

So naturally they would all understand.

Zhang Zhongtian walked around the village, visiting all the villagers who had helped carry Zhou Aidi's corpse earlier, and finally went to Liang Xinghua's home.

Zhang Zhongtian arrived at Liang Xinghua's home, first went to offer incense before Zhou Aidi's corpse, and then discussed the main matter with Liang Xinghua.

"Xinghua, Zhanggen originally said he would invite you to the wedding banquet tonight; when I heard this, I thought it was inappropriate. Your family has had such a thing happen; how could you go to a wedding banquet? You should keep vigil and show filial piety. Zhanggen thinks what I say is reasonable, but he also feels guilty in his heart, so he asked me to come over and give you a red envelope."

Zhang Zhongtian took out the red envelope.

He is very good at acting as a peacemaker.

After all, he has been the Village Committee Secretary for so many years; handling conflicts between neighbors has long been masterful.

"No need, no need; what does he want to give me a red envelope for? This matter is not his fault."

Liang Xinghua politely refused.

At this time Yang Xiaocai had already left; before Zhang Zhongtian came here, he had been thinking about whether to go to Wang Zhanggen to demand compensation.

After thinking it over, he still made a decision.

"The dead are the greatest; let's not pursue right and wrong anymore. Zhanggen just wants to express his intentions; he is not good at speaking, as you know. Besides, his family is holding a happy event today and cannot conveniently come over here. Take this red envelope; it's not a small amount of money."

Zhang Zhongtian stuffed the red envelope into his hands.

Liang Xinghua took the red envelope, opened it to look, and found five hundred yuan inside.

Actually, there were originally only fifty yuan; Zhang Zhongtian added some of his own money. He did not want the conflict to escalate, so he was willing to spend his own money to handle this matter well.

If speaking purely of the red envelope, this is indeed not a small amount; after all, according to local custom, red envelopes are usually fifty or a hundred yuan and will not exceed two hundred.

But compared to the money Liang Xinghua could demand from Wang Zhanggen, there is still a huge gap.

At this time Zhang Zhongtian said again:

"Zhanggen said that if you have any difficulties in the future, just tell him; if he can help, he will definitely do his best. He knows it is not easy for you to work in Shenzhen, having to raise children and a wife."

Liang Xinghua, upon hearing this, felt a mixture of emotions in his heart.

Wang Zhanggen has already done enough; if I still go to demand compensation from him, isn't that a bit too ungrateful?

"Secretary Zhang, please tell Uncle Zhanggen thank you for me; he means well."

Liang Xinghua finally said this one sentence.

At the same time, he also made a decision in his heart.

He felt it would be better not to tear his face with Wang Zhanggen's family over that bit of money and demand money, especially at the wedding of his two sons; if he really did such a thing, it would be too immoral.

He is not a hooligan or a scoundrel like Yang Xiaocai; he still has a conscience. He does not want to bear infamy over this bit of money, nor does he want to be unable to hold his head up in the village in the future.

"Alright, then I'll go tell Zhanggen later. By the way, when do you plan to hold the funeral for your mother?"

Zhang Zhongtian breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

Because, like Wang Zhanggen, he was very afraid that Liang Xinghua would make a big scene.

"In a couple of days. Today the Wang family is holding a red affair, and my family has a white affair; we should give way to them."

Liang Xinghua said this.

Zhang Zhongtian said:

"If you need any help then, just speak up!"

Actually, even if Liang Xinghua did not speak up, Zhang Zhongtian would take the initiative to come over and help.

There's an unwritten custom in rural areas: for celebrations, you go help when called; for funerals, even if not called, you take the initiative to go help.

Because death is a destination no one can escape.

No one wants to die alone with no one coming to help handle things.

So even if it's the village fool, a Five Guarantees Household with no children, as long as they die, the older villagers will definitely take the initiative to go help handle the funeral properly.

Even if the deceased has not a penny, they'll still help; everyone will chip in money together.

This might be the unique warmth of rural areas.

After Zhang Zhongtian finished dealing with Liang Xinghua's matter, it was about five o'clock.

It was time to notify the villagers to set out for the feast.

So he went from village to village and house to house, calling out, telling everyone to go to the village entrance to take the long-distance bus.

Rural families with cars would just drive themselves there.

Driving themselves had one advantage: they had a legitimate reason not to drink alcohol.

Those who wanted to drink, even if they had a car, wouldn't drive; they could just take the long-distance bus.

The villagers boarded the long-distance bus one after another.

It was lively and bustling, with talking and laughing.

Someone brought up Zhou Aidi's matter, the atmosphere turned heavy, and everyone talked at once, discussing in low voices.

Some sympathized with Zhou Aidi, some thought Zhou Aidi was hateful, and some looked indifferent.

In short, Zhou Aidi was just gone like that.

And her death didn't stir up any waves, nor did she get anything.

She merely became a bit of gossip for the villagers.

After a few words, the villagers changed the subject to something else.

Lightly and casually, calm and untroubled.

Her passing seemed no different from a withered leaf falling from the old banyan tree at the village entrance.

Before long, she would be forgotten.

All love, hate, emotion, and grudges—dust returns to dust, earth returns to earth.

As if she had never come into this world, not leaving a trace.

And this was actually not just Zhou Aidi's fate; all rural people would be the same.

……