Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Chapter 237

Zhao Da'e knew that this job was different from others. Regardless, as the host, you had to endure it.

The carpenter charges money for his work.

If it's just about building a door or window, installing a large gate, or getting some tables and chairs, these are generally fixed things. For example, installing a large wooden gate can take about three days from start to finish.

But there's no fixed timeframe for coffin making. It's a difficult job; a skilled carpenter might work for three days, or five. But if someone takes half a month, there's nothing you can do about it, right?

Does that mean we'll stop calling halfway through?

While there is an element of moral blackmail involved, it is indeed the reality.

In rural areas, this kind of work is called "coffin making".

It's not a taboo subject; everyone goes through birth, aging, illness, and death. Families with sick or elderly members often prepare their own coffins in advance. Some older people even help carpenters make their own coffins.

But this task cannot be rushed.

What if you urge them and they just say, "Do you need it urgently?"

There's no way to reply now!

People like Zhao Tiezhu, who died suddenly, are extremely rare. After all, this is considered a violent death, which is relatively uncommon.

After all, this was a time of peace. And the economy was particularly underdeveloped, having just begun the reform and opening up. People didn't usually have any means of transportation. The most they could do was go to the county town, where there were buses. Otherwise, they stayed in the villages, and owning a bicycle was considered a big deal.

At least in the case of traffic accidents, it's almost zero. After all, it's extremely rare for someone to die in a bicycle accident.

The food was relatively safer. Most of the food consisted of grains grown by their own families, with wealthier families eating rice and wheat flour. Meat was eaten very little. Although it wasn't as difficult as in the previous years when they only ate dumplings once a year during the Lunar New Year, they clearly didn't eat dumplings every day.

Therefore, there is no threat of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, or high cholesterol.

The food and drink are all natural. There's not much technology or strenuous work involved. Unexpected deaths from middle-aged illnesses are rare.

Of course, there are some infectious diseases, but these have been largely eliminated by now.

So, Zhao Tiezhu's situation was quite sudden. He only started making a coffin after going ten or eight years without seeing a single person die.

In special circumstances, if such a situation arises, one would typically borrow a coffin from someone else. Since it's an unexpected event, borrowing a coffin is understandable. This situation has occurred before.

However, Zhao Da'e knew that Zhao Tiezhu's wife and son had initially planned to extort some money, but when they failed, they settled for a coffin.

Zhao Tingming's family doesn't have a coffin, but actually, the Zhao family does have one.

Zhao Da'e's sixth grandfather, Zhao Tingwu's family, actually prepared a black coffin. Zhao Tingwu's wife was an elderly woman who was blind and had always been in poor health, suffering from tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis is also known as pulmonary tuberculosis.

This disease was considered a rare and difficult ailment in those days, and it was not easy to treat. Whenever winter came, and the weather was particularly cold and dry, Zhao Tingwu's wife would have a relapse, experiencing frequent difficulty breathing.

Therefore, a coffin was prepared at home in advance, just in case.

Zhao Da'e guessed that when Zhao Tiezhu's son, Zhao Yongtao, was thinking about extorting the coffin from Zhao Tingming, he would think that Zhao Tingming would have no choice but to borrow a coffin from his own family, thus achieving the best of both worlds.

Zhao Yongtao never expected that Zhao Tingming would not play by the rules and would insist on creating a new one for him.

Since they were building a new one, they had to put trees and such in. Now the trees have been put in, the planks have been broken and brought back, and everyone has gone to Zhao Yongtao's house to make a coffin.

This won't do; it's absolutely unacceptable to do it outside.

No one is allowed to use someone else's coffin as a substitute for someone else's death.

How many days it takes depends on the carpenter's skill level.

Do you know which carpenter you found?

Guo thought for a moment: "It seems to be the Sun family upstairs, one from Dongchi Village, and another from your maternal grandmother's camp. Three carpenters. These three are quite easy to talk to; they agreed to pay fifteen yuan a day, plus three meals a day. In the summer, they wouldn't work for less than twenty yuan."

“Yeah, the days are longer in the summer. In the winter, the days are shorter. If we start working at eight or nine, we can't see the sun by four-thirty,” Zhao Da’e said. “Do whatever you want. Anyway, carpenters are such fussy people. If you don't treat them well, they can wear you out.”

This sentence is true.

Guo just smiled and said, "Whatever. Anyway, these past few days have really worn out your great-grandfather. Your little uncle was only back for a few days before he had to go back to work after the New Year. With all this fuss, your great-grandfather doesn't have to do anything but deal with this all day."

Guo was dissatisfied, but there was nothing she could do.

Since ancient times, life and death have been of paramount importance. Regardless of Zhao Tiezhu's character or the turmoil his family caused, Zhao Tingming would not abandon him. He was also a member of the Zhao family; now that he's gone, it's only right that he be laid to rest.

Secondly, although this problem wasn't caused by human intervention, it was still an accident. A wolf appeared, and although the higher-ups issued a call instructing everyone to be cautious and promising to send someone to capture it within half a day, the wolf came down the mountain ahead of schedule, leading to the incident—an accident no one wanted to see.

Since the person is gone, let's figure out how to handle the aftermath.

it's the only way.

Guo sighed, "Big Goose, let's go inside. It's cold outside."

"What brings you here today?"

Zhao Da'e sighed: "Oh dear, I got into a fight with someone up there yesterday."

Speaking of yesterday's events, Zhao Da'e was still very angry.

"So, my uncle was thinking of giving Zhao Tiezhu money from our village. My aunt's second sister was bitten by Laidai, and she wanted some money too. As a result, she got into a fight with the villagers. Every day after that, my uncle and aunt got angry, and my aunt stopped cooking properly. Because she didn't cook properly, I didn't get enough to eat..."

Guo finally understood: Ultimately, the key point is getting a living...

"Then I'll make you something. What would you like to eat, Big Goose?"

Zhao Da'e didn't bother with his coat at all, and chuckled, "Grandma, make me some thin pancakes. Roll some scallions and lettuce in them."

Guo looked worried: "You specifically need geese. We have scallions, but where did you get lettuce? Did you see the spinach I planted in the basin? Just a few stalks. If you want some, I'll pick some and stir-fry them for you, add some egg sauce, and they'll make a delicious wrap."

Zhao Da'e chuckled. She had indeed seen Guo Shi growing two plastic pots of spinach in the house, as well as several small flowerpots of scallions.

In this era, every household grows some vegetables in winter. However, there are only a few pots, and the house is only so big. After all, it is still very cold, so they grow cold-resistant vegetables such as scallions and spinach.

However, each household planted different kinds of spinach. Guo didn't know why, but it seemed that she liked to eat spinach, so basically all those pots were filled with spinach.

Spinach is easy to grow, and it's fine even in cold weather, although it grows a bit slowly. It's a good choice for indoor cultivation, and it yields a high output.

"Grandma, please fry the pancakes a little longer. I like them firm."

(gazhi refers to the outermost layer of the cake.)

Zhao Da'e has become quite picky about food lately, always wanting to eat more delicious things.

Guo didn't say anything, but started gathering firewood to start a fire and cook, and then heated oil in a wok.

Zhao Da'e also helped with the fire. She could actually make pancakes too, but she didn't really want to do things that were too much for her age. After all, the capable should do more work. If Zhao Da'e had to work every day, there would be endless work.

Lying down is the best option. Besides, Zhao Da'e isn't just lying down; he's at someone else's house and can't cook for himself.

"Don't let the fire get too hot," Guo instructed.

"Mmm." Zhao Da'e didn't burn too much firewood.

This isn't like steaming buns; you can just turn the heat down and make sure the pot is still hot.

"By the way, Grandma. Where are my uncle and his classmate?" Zhao Da'e asked, a little puzzled, as she hadn't seen them since she came in.

"They seem to have gone out for a stroll," Guo said.

Then, somewhat puzzled, she said, "Goose, what's the point of wandering around in this freezing weather?"

Zhao Da'e: "..."

Um... this question is a bit too profound.

Even if it's sunny and a little chilly, or even if it's raining knives, the young couple will still go out for a stroll.

This is the power of love...

Zhao Tieyue was in a free-choice relationship, which was somewhat incompatible with the values ​​of the entire village.

In Dongtaizi Village, only Zhao Tieyue has managed to get a college degree. As for Zhao Chunqin, Zhao Da'e basically doesn't treat her like a human being...

The remaining people, numbering in the thousands, never left their small plot of land.

In the village, everything is arranged through matchmakers. Speed ​​is the main factor.

Usually, when they're seventeen or eighteen, matchmakers, seeing that they're no longer studying, start preparing to introduce potential partners to them. The parents are also busy arranging marriages for their sons.

At that age, from a later perspective, they were still immature children. But in this era, they were all basically married.

Some families have sons who marry very young, becoming fathers at seventeen or eighteen and grandfathers at thirty-five or thirty-six. If this continues generation after generation, they will be in their seventies and have five generations under one roof.

There are indeed families like that in the village. For example, there's Xiaobaozi, who was recently beaten up by Zhao Da'e. Xiaobaozi is older than Zhao Da'e, but his grandfather and Zhao Da'e's uncle are about the same age…

They're a whole generation apart.

So at that age, when they get married at seventeen or eighteen, they don't know what love is or what is right or wrong. All they know is that they've gotten married and have children. It's hard to say whether the couple has feelings for each other.

For example, Zhao Da'e's parents got married after meeting through a blind date, and Zhao Da'e doesn't think that his mother and Zhao Tiesheng had much affection for each other.

The couple didn't divorce entirely because of their child.

Normally, Zhao Tiesheng's mother should have divorced him long ago. However, due to the limitations of the times and the unique circumstances of their family, divorce was not an option.

Zhao Da'e's mother was a gentle and uneducated woman. She was very devoted to her child and always couldn't bear to part with him, so she just had to live like this.

This is just a microcosm of all the marriages in this village.

Zhao Tieyue, on the other hand, was someone who had traveled extensively, read more books, and gained more experience. He was exposed to new trends, and thus, free love was born.

In a free-choice relationship, at least the two people can find each other more agreeable and are less likely to dislike each other.

Sometimes, it's not so important what scenery you see. It's who you go with that matters.

Guo was older and naturally didn't understand this way of dating.

Guo continued her nagging: "They probably have endless things to talk about, and they go out for walks every day. One day they go up the mountain, the next day they go down to the river. They just wander around, without taking anything with them. Sometimes they even eat sunflower seeds. You know, it's so cold here, the goose can't even stick its paws out, and it's eating sunflower seeds on the street, isn't it cold?"

"I don't know," Zhao Da'e said, pursing his lips. It was around minus twenty degrees Celsius that day, and your hands would ache from the cold if you stretched them out. How could it not be cold?

"Maybe they just couldn't stand the cold."

Mrs. Guo nodded, "He's really resistant to the cold. Your uncle's face is all swollen from the cold..."

Zhao Da'e: "Uh..."

The fried dough sticks were cooked quickly.

"Big Goose, put the table on," Guo said.

Zhao Da'e said, "No need, I'll just have a bite. Put it on the table, we'll have to clean it up later."

Guo said that if you're going to eat, you should eat properly. Zhao Da'e is at the age where he's growing, so you can't just eat whatever you want.

So, Guo put the table on, took the fried dough sticks on it, and then peeled the scallions and put them on the table with the soybean paste.

"I'll go stir-fry some spinach," Guo said, then went to the outer room to continue cooking.

Zhao Da'e kicked off his shoes, climbed onto the kang (heated brick bed), sat down comfortably in the warm warmth, and even brewed himself a pot of tea. He was relaxed, carefree, and extremely comfortable.

Life is just like that; it's best to eat and drink and not think about anything else.

Zhao Da'e spread some soybean paste on the flatbread, rolled it up with scallions, and started eating.

"Delicious," Zhao Da'e said as he ate.

In no time, he finished off a scallion and a pancake.

After finishing their meal, they didn't forget to have a sip of tea to relax.

"Hey, I still have a can of food. Do you want some?" Guo asked as she came in and brought out the stir-fried spinach and eggs.

"No, no."

Zhao Da'e declined: "Oh dear, I'm so embarrassed. Hehehe..."

Guo smiled: She didn't see the goose looking embarrassed at all.

Since they're all her own children, let them eat. Besides, Guo herself doesn't have a granddaughter, and her children are all grown up, so she really treats Zhao Da'e like her own granddaughter.

In Guo's eyes, Zhao Da'e actually had many advantages.

Diligent, sweet-talking, sweet-talking, sweet-talking...

Being good with words is something most people can't do. It's not something that can make someone happy just by saying a few casual words.

You have to be really good at chatting to succeed.

Zhao Da'e is the kind of person who is very natural when chatting with anyone, and she is also cute, so naturally everyone likes her.

After eating and drinking his fill, Zhao Da'e pondered for a while. Now that the trees were released, Zhao Tiezhu's funeral couldn't be held. He decided to go home and check on things, and asked Zhao Tiegang to go to his aunt's house. The sooner they finished hauling the bricks, the sooner they could get it done.