Chapter 99: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 99

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

With a "Boom—".

The coffin was pried open.

A stench emanated from inside.

After confirming the body inside, the Funeral Enforcement Team put the coffin lid back on, then carried away both the body and the coffin.

"All you family members come to the crematorium with us; after it's burned, we'll return the ashes to you!"

A member of the Funeral Enforcement Team said coldly, then carried the coffin down the mountain.

Li Xiulan, Li Yaozu, and Li Jiahao hurriedly followed; they rode in the funeral home's car, and after a journey of over two hours, finally arrived at the crematorium.

The crematorium burned the body, but the staff came out to tell them that burning was free, while the ash urn needed to collect the ashes cost money.

Asked how much, the cheapest was one thousand yuan each.

Hearing this, the three Li siblings were both angry and furious, yet had no choice.

Because they said that if they didn't buy the crematorium's ash urn, they couldn't collect the ashes.

As the lowest common people, what else could they do?

Did they dare to resist?

Resisting was something they absolutely did not dare!

After all, whether Li Yaozu or Li Jiahao, or Li Xiulan, they all had their own families and children!

In the end, they could only swallow their anger and meekly submit!

But they had no money!

What to do?

They could only call the village from the funeral home, ask the Village Chief to help borrow money, have the money sent to the crematorium, then buy the ash urn and take the ashes away.

Upon learning of the Li family's situation, since they were from the same village, help if they could; finally, borrowing from all sides, they gathered one thousand yuan for the three Li siblings, and personally drove it to the crematorium.

After this ordeal, the Li family, originally extremely poor, became even worse off!

"Mother, we are unworthy of you!"

Upon receiving the ashes, Li Yaozu kowtowed to the ash urn while crying.

He cried heart-rendingly, in unbearable pain.

For a moment, he even wanted to perish together with those Funeral Enforcement Team members, and fight to the death with the crematorium staff who sold him the ash urn, but in the end he restrained himself.

It was not that he feared death, but because he still had a wife and children to care for.

Li Jiahao and Li Xiulan likewise wept bitterly.

They never imagined their mother would be forcibly taken to the crematorium to be cremated, and finally cost them one thousand yuan!

You must know, they were in the rural area, and might not even earn three hundred yuan a month!

One thousand yuan!

This was no small sum!

The ashes were brought back to their hometown; villagers came to comfort the three Li siblings, telling them to let go and not be too sad, then everyone accompanied them again to the mountains to bury the ashes in the grave pit and rebuild the mound...

The grave mound was still that grave mound.

But everything had changed.

That afternoon, Li Xiulan took her three children back to Shangou Village.

That night, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

She kept thinking: her mother had been burned to ashes, could she still go to Heaven?

Until the second half of the night, in a daze, she finally fell asleep.

She had a dream, dreaming her mother was engulfed in flames, shouting at her:

"Daughter, I'm so hot, it hurts so much..."

Li Xiulan suddenly woke from the dream, sitting up from the bed board.

She widened her eyes, cold sweat beading on her forehead.

"Mom, daughter is unworthy of you, unable to stop those beasts from taking you to be cremated, daughter has sinned..."

Li Xiulan burst into tears.

The next day, she went to the Neighboring Town again.

But this time she was not returning to her Maternal Home; instead, she went directly to find Shenpo, asking Shenpo what her dream last night meant, whether her mother could not go to Heaven to enjoy blessings?

The answer Shenpo gave was unexpected; Shenpo said, rest assured, this did not affect her mother going to Heaven, the great monks in temples were all cremated for the sake of taking and discarding interest, so cremation truly did not matter! Shenpo also said, dreams are the opposite; her mother's soul had actually been sublimated and had already entered the Heavenly Realm! Shenpo also said, when she went to Heaven to ask the immortals, she also met her mother and passed on her greetings.

Hearing these words, Li Xiulan finally felt somewhat reassured.

The knot in her heart was untied.

After asking the god, she then went to her Maternal Home.

She had little money left, but she still told her elder brother that she would contribute three hundred of the one thousand yuan for the ash urn, but she had no money now and would have to wait until she had money to produce it.

Her elder brother Li Yaozu said nothing, only nodded blankly.

Li Xiulan saw this and couldn't help but feel heartache.

She knew her elder brother was still blaming himself for yesterday's matter.

But that kind of thing, what could these common people change?

Not to mention they want to burn our dead mother—even if they wanted to burn us living people, we'd cry to heaven and heaven wouldn't answer, cry to earth and earth wouldn't respond!

We can only blame ourselves for not being officials, blame ourselves for having no relatives or connections in office, blame ourselves for being at the bottom with no power to make rules, only to be bullied!

"Big Brother, I just went to ask the Shenpo in Town. The Shenpo said cremation doesn't affect our mother going to Heaven. Our mother never did anything bad in her whole life. Whether she's cremated or buried, she'll go to Heaven. Don't be too sad."

Li Xiulan comforted Li Yaozu like this.

Li Yaozu nodded, still saying nothing.

Li Xiulan could only sigh at this:

"Big Brother, I have to go home. The three children are still at Home. You take good care of yourself……"

Li Yaozu nodded again. He finally spoke:

"Mm, go ahead. I'll take good care of myself."

Li Xiulan returned Home. It was already Noon.

Today was Saturday.

The three children were all at Home.

Li Xiulan had just returned when she discovered Wang Dashan was having Xiaohua do his homework for him again.

As soon as she returned, Wang Dashan hurriedly hid the homework book from Xiaohua, then hurriedly smiled and came forward:

"Mom, I've already made Lunch. You're back just in time. Let's eat Lunch!"

Li Xiulan was exhausted. She saw it all, but had no heart to bother with so much anymore.

Her own Eldest Brother was naturally mischievous and stubborn, never putting his mind on studying at all.

He knew how to do some Housework. That was already good enough. She couldn't demand so much more.

Li Xiulan could only comfort herself in her Inner Heart. Poor Grades weren't necessarily a bad thing. Finishing Junior High School and going out to Earn Money could also ease some pressure at Home.

"Fine, fine. Let's eat Lunch! Go bring the Rice and dishes over!"

Li Xiulan sat at the table. Wang Dashan immediately scurried off to bring the Rice and dishes over.

"Mom, Winter Vacation starts next week. Spring Festival is coming soon. When is Dad coming back?"

Wang Dashan asked with a smile.

"Maybe he'll come back at the end of the year. I'm Not Sure."

Li Xiulan could only answer like this.

She indeed didn't know when Wang Zhanggen would come back. She couldn't Contact him at all. Who knew when he'd come back.

"Mom, during Spring Festival, can we ask Dad not to go Outside to Earn Money? It would be good if he could stay at Home……"

Wang Erhai said this in a low voice at this time.

As Left-behind Children, they hadn't seen their own biological father several times in a whole year. This made the three brothers feel their father was almost a Stranger.

Li Xiulan's Inner Heart trembled slightly. She forced a Laugh:

"Fine. When Spring Festival comes, if he returns, I'll talk to him and tell him not to go Outside to Earn Money……"

Although Li Xiulan said this with her mouth, she knew full well that even if Wang Zhanggen came back, she couldn't possibly let Wang Zhanggen stay. She just couldn't bear to let the children know this cruel truth.