Dreaming of 1988, I have the ability to see ghosts and ghosts

"Feng'er, get up and eat."

Just as I was thinking about this question, my grandmother's voice sounded in my ears, pulling me back from my dream.

"Grandma!" I replied lazily, poked my head out of the quilt, and glanced at the clock hanging on the wall out of the corner of my eye. Oh my god, it was already past 11 o'clock.

"Grandma, why didn't you call me? It's so late."

I said embarrassedly.

"It's nothing anyway, so I'll let you sleep a little longer."

Grandma's voice was soft and her smile was warm.

I quickly got up, washed up, and ate the hot pot with my grandma.

Grandma used a small coal stove to cook a pot of pork and cabbage stew. The cabbage that had been frosted in winter was crispy, sweet and delicious.

"Grandma, what did your Xu family ancestors do?"

Thinking about last night’s dream, I asked my grandma while eating, hoping to get some information from her.

"I'm not too sure about it, but I heard that he was originally a worker for a wealthy family. Later, he obtained these three magic tools, and the Xu family was able to inherit them." Grandma said.

"I heard that the Xu family was very prosperous for the previous 18 generations, but I am the only one left in my generation. Sigh!"

After saying this, grandma sighed heavily, and a hint of loneliness appeared on her face.

"It's okay, grandma, you still have me." I comforted her.

"Yes, yes! I still have Feng'er."

A trace of relief appeared on grandma's face again.

These days, apart from doing my homework, I help my grandma collect some firewood.

On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, Hu Shuangyue's father hired a tricycle early in the morning to take my grandmother and me to his house.

When we arrived at her house, Hu Shuangyue had already gotten out of bed. There was a hint of color on her face. Although she was still very thin, she no longer looked as haggard as before.

"Liu Feng, you're here!"

She greeted me in a weak voice and I gave her a faint smile.

"Liu Feng, you're here!"

I heard Wang Fang's voice behind me again, and I turned around and looked at her.

"Little witch, have you finished your winter vacation homework?"

Wang Fang lowered her voice, and gave me a devilish smile with a different look between her eyebrows.

"There's still a little bit left. It should be finished in two days." I replied with a smile.

"Can you still see my other cousin Li Shuangyang now?"

She pulled me aside and looked towards Hu Shuangyue's room with a vigilant look.

"No, she probably won't show up during the day." I smiled at her.

"That's good! That's good! You see ghosts every day, are you afraid?"

Wang Fang asked, touching her chest with her hand.

"Don't be afraid, I've seen a lot, there's nothing to be afraid of, ghosts won't hurt people for no reason."

When I saw her, she looked so frightened and silly that it was so cute.

"I still feel a little scared!" She stuck out her tongue and made a face at me.

"You! You won't be afraid if you don't think about it." I laughed.

The Hu family kept their promise and invited eight monks to chant sutras at home.

There were two square tables, four benches, and eight monks sitting opposite each other. On the high table in the middle was placed Li Shuangyang's portrait.

The monks were beating wooden fish and chanting something.

In fact, the monks in the rural areas of this era are not real monks who have left home in the temples.

Farmers who work on the land can also get married and start a business, but they just become Buddhist monks and learn to chant scriptures. They are then invited to chant scriptures when there is a funeral.

A certain fee will be charged, which of course is also based on the actual situation of the person’s family and according to their wishes.

It is unknown what specific skills the monk master taught.

I took a look and found that among the eight people, the oldest was about 70 years old and some were in their 40s.

In front of the square table was a clay basin for burning paper, and in front of the basin was a straw stool. Hu Shuangyue and her brother would add paper into the basin, and then kowtow on the straw stool. Hu Shuangyue in particular was very pious.

Normally, when a young person dies, the family won't make such a grand ceremony, but will quietly ask someone to find a good place to bury the body and call it a day.

In order to give Li Shuangyang an explanation, the Hu family arranged everything according to the specifications of the old man's death. This should have alleviated the resentment in Li Shuangyang's heart to a certain extent.

The Hu family placed half of Li Shuangyang's ashes in a coffin on a burial mat and scattered them into a human shape, then covered and nailed the coffin.

Eight people lifted the coffin and walked slowly towards the cemetery, scattering paper money and setting off firecrackers along the way.

The cemetery is not far away, and it only takes about 20 minutes to walk there. The cemeteries in the village are generally not too far away. Every village has an open space where all the deceased in the village are buried.

In the cemetery, rows of small graves are arranged quite neatly. Most of them are old graves. Some of them have tombstones in front of them, while some do not.

This is a plain with no stones, and the monuments are all made of cement and gravel.

Wang Fang, who was standing next to me, held my hand tightly. It was so cold that my hands were sweating from her holding.

"I told you not to come, but you insisted on coming, and then you got scared!" I teased her with a smile.

"With you here, I'm not afraid."

She said she was not afraid, but her voice was obviously trembling.

"Don't be afraid, no ghosts will appear during the day."

I patted her gently with my other hand. She shuddered in fear, then shrugged her shoulders, acting fearless.

Li Shuangyang's grave is located in the southeast corner of the cemetery. My grandmother helped choose it. The grave pit had been dug long ago and it was square. The soil underneath had also been compacted.

Grandma looked at the time, and following her instructions, Li Shuangyang's coffin was slowly lowered down, and the coffin was slowly buried with shovelfuls of soil. Many people joined in, and soon a small mound of earth was piled up.

People used wooden sticks to tamp the small mound of earth and inserted white flags on it.

With the last sound of firecrackers, the burial ceremony was completed.

Everyone turned around and walked back. Grandma Hu burst into tears and kept saying sorry.

Mother Hu was wiping her tears the whole time. Father Hu waited until everyone had left, then he sighed deeply, dropped the cigarette butt in his hand, stomped it hard into the dirt with his foot, and then turned and left.

Wang Fang never let go of my hand. After walking for a while, we looked back at the gray new grave.

"Now, Cousin Shuangyang won't come to trouble Cousin Shuangyue again, right?"

Wang Fang asked me timidly.

"No." I answered briefly. Thinking about it, Li Shuangyang was indeed pitiful. She ended her short life in a hurry.

"I hope she can be reborn into a good family in her next life," I whispered.

"Does everyone really have an afterlife?" Wang Fang looked at me curiously with her little eyes wide open.

"Of course there is!"

"Then I wish her to live a complete and happy life in her next life!"

Wang Fang let go of my hand, clasped her hands together, and prayed devoutly.

I prayed with her too.

Yes, it is impossible to have the same fate in every life.

After we finished dinner at the Hu family in the evening, grandma received a red envelope from the Hu family and went home.

In the middle of the night, Li Shuangyang appeared in my dream, "Liu Feng, thank you! I'm leaving." Then she turned into a wisp of green smoke and disappeared into the sky.