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243 full of copper stink

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    Under the yelling of the master of ceremonies, a group of people in white coats (the local common name for filial piety) began to walk around the ice coffin.  Of course, at that time, the two children who were picked up from the city this afternoon were already asleep, so we didn't wake them up.  My father was only in his early sixties, so there were not too many people around the ice coffin.  The order of this queue is also quite particular, and must be determined according to the blood relationship with the father.  Therefore, my wife and I are at the top of the list, followed by my sister and brother-in-law, followed by my uncle¡¯s son and daughter-in-law, then my father¡¯s nephews, and finally godsons and goddaughters.  At the end of the lap, after a bunch of blessings, the members of the military band began to collect money.  Naturally, I was the first to bear the brunt. Under my leadership, all the people in white coats only gave "five yuan".  The person who collected the money knew at a glance that it was prepared and organized, so he immediately showed displeasure.  However, no matter how unhappy they were, they could only endure it silently.  Because these are all agreed in advance.  They are worried that if they do not keep their promises, they may not be able to get the final fee.  In our place, the practice of hiring a military band is that the host family will pay the originally promised fee after everything is over.

    After the first lap, everyone in the military band who had figured out the situation had completely lost their motivation.  There was no pause at all in the second and third laps, and a lot of words of blessing were missing.  No way, without income, they have no motivation.  The noisy and lengthy "running room" at other houses came to our house, and after a symbolic cutscene, it ended hastily.  After the work was over, everyone in the military band quickly returned to the stage with disappointment on their faces.  The reason why they were disappointed was because they lost a lot of extra income in the "runner".  Although there are not many people in white coats in our family, there are more than 20 people in our family.  If I hadn't thought of such a problem in advance and had prepared for it, then as long as some of them were given ten or twenty yuan, they could also earn two or three hundred yuan in one "runner" at a time.  Come down three times, if you are lucky, you may have nearly a thousand yuan.  But this time, they only got less than two hundred yuan.  With such a huge income gap, it is no wonder they are not disappointed.

    After suffering this huge blow, I feel that the performances outside seem to have become much colder.  However, no matter how unhappy those people are, the performance must continue.  Otherwise, they probably won't even get the final fee.  Furthermore, if they behave too much, they will undoubtedly smash their own recruitment.  In the future, at least no one in our village is willing to invite them to this military band.  Such a loss is not something they can afford.

    Of course, I still don't pay attention to the so-called performances of those people.  As far as these grass-roots teams are concerned, the gap between the performances and the professions is not one or two points.  Some people sing songs, even me, who is tone deaf, can sometimes feel their inaccurate pronunciation.  Rural people come to watch the show, in fact, the picture is a lively scene.  Therefore, no one cares whether these guest songs are sung accurately.  The main project of the military band is the programs similar to cross talk and sketches performed in dialects.  It is usually a combination of men and women, which is filled with a lot of gags.  In order to win the audience's laughter, the military band's performance can be said to have done everything possible, and even used pornographic jokes to attract people's attention.  This is actually the magic weapon for the military band to attract the audience.  It is precisely because the old men and old ladies stationed in the countryside who have nothing to do are looking for some fun, so under normal circumstances, they will play tricks on others to invite grass-roots teams such as military bands.

    It's just that what the military band undertakes is nothing but trivial matters.  While the head of the family was in a sad mood and even cried to death, the villagers far and near who watched the performance outside were laughing.  Such a performance is absolutely inappropriate, and it is a great irony to the host's family mourning their loved ones.  It is precisely because of this that I resist the military band, and I emphasized at the beginning that our family does not invite a military band.  However, according to the customs here, the military band is usually invited by the daughter, so when my sister and brother-in-law have already decided to invite the military band, I naturally have nothing to object to.

    Perhaps because of the lack of income, the members of the military band inevitably cut corners.  I feel that the stage of their performances seems to come earlier than others.

    The name of the military band performance is called "walking on stilts", which means that a person steps on stilts and walks up and down on the stage like a Yangko dance.  Of course, the stilts they use are actually small wooden sticks that are slightly higher than the ground, which is different from the stilts that professionals step on over one meter or higher.

    Twisting a few times on stilts is just to attract the attention of the audience.  Then, they will invite a group of people in white coats to the stage through tweeters.  I walked in the front with my father's portrait, and the others followed mebehind.  After stepping onto the stage, under their command, I placed my father's portrait in a specific position, and then I knelt down in front of my father's portrait side by side with my wife.  A group of others knelt behind my wife and me.  At that time, I was a little skeptical, if it was an elderly person with a full house of children and grandchildren, would there be enough space for the stage they set up.  Of course, when we knelt, we all turned our backs to the audience.  Because, what we kneel down is the father, not the fathers and folks in the village.

    It may be that when we were running the hall, they took too little wedding money, so when we knelt down, they used the tweeter as an excuse to shout for a while, "All dutiful sons in white coats, please come on stage."  "!"  I feel like this is naked revenge, they are trying to punish us for our previous stinginess by making us kneel for a while longer.  Seeing that no one came again, their blessing words finally began.

    Of course, in such a hot show, the smell of copper is absolutely indispensable.  After the blessing words are over, they will let all the people on the stage present their happy money one by one in front of everyone.  I know their thoughts, under the watchful eyes of everyone, some face-saving people are bound to be generous, but they, of course, will not refuse anyone, and even silently recite the words "the more the better".  Since it had been agreed in advance, this time, the members of the military band still did not make a fuss.  I think, if these people are allowed to make a fuss, many people who have never seen this kind of formation on the stage will have to give generously and offer a piece of paper with both hands under a little provocation from those guys in the military band.  Another bill.  The words "happy money represents filial piety" and "lack of happy money indicates insufficient filial piety" can be 100% deduced from the virtues of those people.

    Just like "Waitang", we only gave five yuan each.  But I always think, if there is no such "five yuan", then this might not be a good way to commemorate the deceased.  (Remember the site URL: www.hlnovel.com
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