Her Cultivation Diary-Chapter 99 - : 99. Grand Filial Piety (1)_1
Chapter 99: 99. Grand Filial Piety (1)_1
When it came to the subject of wrestling to the ground, everyone had a topic to talk about again.
First, as one gets older, they might fear nothing but becoming immobile and suffering. Once you’re bedridden and can’t move, in two to three months all your vigor would be gone.
Second, it’s hard on family members taking care of you too, with all the chores inside and out. You can’t even step outside because you’re tethered by the sick or injured, and need to be on hand all the time…
The one lying down suffers, and so does the one taking care.
“A prolonged illness makes the son a prodigal,” that’s the idea.
As everyone chatted about this topic, sighs about age and health were heard all around.
...
But Song Tan looked on with a cold eye, seeing this group of grown men, rambling on and on, yet those who were supposed to drink, drank, and those who were supposed to smoke, smoked. Nobody seemed to take their health seriously, and she truly felt speechless.
Song Youde also had a little drink, and now he thought about someone younger than him passing away, he couldn’t help but sigh, “Sancheng, since you’re going to go, you might as well head over after eating and give them a hand.”
“No need to hurry back, we have people at home. When we had our own events at home, their family sent someone too. It’s only right to go.”
The village had this rule, if you helped out in someone else’s family matters, then others would come to help when your own family needed it.
Of course, if a family didn’t lend a hand to others, when it was their turn, naturally, they’d have no one to help them.
Village rules were significant, and there were many to observe, unlike in the city, where as long as you paid enough, a full-service package would take care of everything. Here, a lot still needed to be organized with the help of relatives and friends.
The diners were also making calculations, “If the person has just passed, then the day after tomorrow, we’ll need to go up the mountain. We’re all from the same village, and have all previously paid our respects, so let’s wait to pay our visit tomorrow.”
In Yunqiao Village, they still practiced burial at that time, and the custom for burials was to carry the coffin up the mountain early in the morning. However, hosting guests for the ceremony and so on would all be done the second day after someone’s departure.
Since the person had just passed, setting up the mourning hall, inviting Taoist priests, preparing tobacco, alcohol, tea, hiring a chef… the list of tasks was long!
Song Sancheng couldn’t sit still anymore, quickly finishing his meal, and putting his bowl and chopsticks down before heading straight over, “I’m going to check out the situation first.”
Those left behind discussed among themselves and, after talking, one by one picked up their tools and climbed the mountain.
The young man operating the excavator, no one knew where Zhang Yanping found him, was genuinely honest, a rare find. Seeing everyone had left, he thought it over and simply decided to continue working on the mountain too.
A more experienced worker would have never worked beyond their paid hours if they were getting paid by the day, even if they didn’t exactly skimp on the job.
Once he started moving, everyone else naturally got busy, and before long, they had put the event out of their minds.
It was not unusual for people in the village to pass away, one after another, given their old age.
Unexpectedly, within an hour, Song Sancheng returned up the mountain with his rake, huffing and puffing with anger.
Song Tan was also helping there with Qiaoqiao, clearing away rocks and wood debris. Seeing her dad’s angry face and with the roar of the machinery, she had to raise her voice,
“Dad, what happened?”
How could he come back like this from helping someone out?
With a face full of fury, Song Sancheng exclaimed, “Don’t get me started! Those three children of the Zhang family are really TM worthless!”
As soon as there was some gossip, a few of the working men perked up, eager to know more, and quickly asked,
“What happened? Are the kids unfilial?”
Someone tried to give some advice, “Ah, Old Song, you have to see things in perspective. Once kids grow up, they’ll fly away. What expectations can you really have of them?”
“That’s right, you hardly see them three times a year, as long as appearances are maintained, that’s enough.”
If only it were so simple!
Song Sancheng was a picture of uncontrollable rage:
“What do you all know? This isn’t about being filial or not, this is having a heart of a wolf and lungs of a dog!”
Wow!
Song Sancheng was a decent man, so if he described someone like this, there must have been a serious issue!
All that was heard from Song Sancheng was:
“As soon as I got there today, I heard his eldest son on the phone, all high and mighty with the funeral service, voice booming, saying to pick the most expensive one! He wanted the finest shroud, an ice coffin, and even to put on a big, bustling funeral ceremony…”
“I thought to myself, don’t we all just want to leave with dignity? This kid is doing alright, after-death matters are still matters, and saving face is also important, right?”
“But who would have known that Zhang Wang was swinging a hoe at his son’s head, and had to be pulled apart by everyone. That’s when I found out what was really going on!”
Every village has its share of lazybones and loafers, but the Zhang family and Sister Zhang were definitely not like that.
The couple, one with a slight limp and the other not much of a talker, were both hard workers.
In those days, enduring famine and lacking in clothes and food, they had single-handedly raised three children.
They married early and had children early; their eldest child is already forty this year, and even their youngest daughter is thirty-one or thirty-two, all with families of their own.
Although visits home were few and far between, whenever Zhang Wang mentioned his children, he was brimming with pride, one day talking about how they called him, the next about how they craved vegetables from their own garden, and the day after that, about them buying something special to visit their elderly parents…
As people get older, don’t they just want their children to be filial?
This had become the norm in the village.
But how warm or cold their daily lives were, that was something only each family really knew.
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Last week, the same day Song Tan went out to buy Golden Sakura, the Zhang family’s eldest son called, saying he wanted to eat pearl flowers from back home.
Pearl flower is a local wild edible, right when the branches start sprouting buds, they form these small pod-like leaves. Blanched and stir-fried with meat, or cooked with noodles, it has a very unique flavor.
Sister Zhang grabbed a basket and headed up the mountain, but on the way down, she wasn’t careful and fell, breaking her leg.
Since she didn’t bring a mobile phone, it was a good while past midday before Zhang Wang’s family found her, they had the neighbors help carry her into the house, and that’s when they called their son, who said impatiently:
“Mom, you’re so old, why do you keep running up to the mountain for no reason? Are we short on food or drink at home?”
Then he added, “I’m at work right now, how could I have time to come home? By the time I get back, it would take hours! Isn’t my sister in town? Tell her to hurry up and find a car to take you to the hospital.”
The phone then was passed to the daughter.
The daughter wasn’t happy either, saying, “In the village, it’s the sons who look after their parents. Mom, you can’t expect everything from me just because I’m close by! With something as serious as a broken leg, you need to call my brother, have him call an ambulance.”
Well, the ambulance was willing to come, but a single trip would cost five hundred.
Just the one-way travel time would exceed one and a half hours, and by the time the ambulance made the round trip, delivering the person to the hospital would probably take four hours.
And with the location deep in the mountains, and the old folks not knowing how to use GPS, once the ambulance reached a fork in the road, Zhang Wang had to ride his motorcycle ahead to lead the way.
Who could wait for that?
In the end, they found the driver of the village bus service, who quickly arranged for a vehicle to take her away.
While en route, the old lady’s condition seemed not too good, and the driver was scared too, so he hurriedly sent her to the nearest town hospital.
