NOVEL WEB Chapter 415: Joyful Funeral
In a place where reaching seventy truly counts as a long life, it's considered a joyful funeral.
Thinking of the old man who smiled at everyone and was always kind-hearted, Hua Jin felt rather uncomfortable, quickly washed up, had a little something to eat, and then rushed to Hua Bei's grandfather's home.
Though she, a young girl, couldn't be of much help, she thought she might at least offer a bit of her effort.
She was busy until evening, and only then did Hua Jin return with her grandparents, mother, two sisters-in-law, and Xiaosi.
Father and the two brothers stayed behind to help, likely not returning at night since they were to keep vigil.
Hua Laohan felt somewhat downcast, sitting at home smoking a pipe that he hadn't used in a long time, sighing occasionally, which made Hua Jin feel equally downhearted.
"Grandpa, it's a joyful funeral for Great-Grandpa Hua, he passed away peacefully in his sleep without any suffering, so we shouldn't be sad!" Hua Jin gently advised.
"That's right, old man, look at it from another perspective. Everyone has to go through this, and the old man didn't suffer much. He passed away naturally, and his children and grandchildren were filial. Think about how many people in the world can die naturally; the old man didn't have a wasted life. We can't avoid this in the coming years."
Although Grandma Hua felt uncomfortable, she was somewhat removed from the situation, not having such a direct feeling as her husband. Watching Hua Laohan suffer made her feel uneasy, too.
"Ptui, ptui, ptui, bad things don't come true, and good things will. Grandma, don't say such things, both of you will live to a ripe old age and still watch over me," Hua Jin retorted, spitting a few times for emphasis.
"This child, fine, ptui, ptui, ptui, Grandma won't say it anymore." With her granddaughter intervening, Grandma Hua's discomfort also dissipated.
Even Hua Laohan felt much better; his wife and granddaughter were right. Everyone must face this journey, albeit at different times, and their uncle's was a joyful funeral.
"Grandma, I'm hungry and want to eat your shepherd's purse dumplings. I've already put the ingredients in the kitchen, Grandma..."
"Alright, alright, Grandma will make them." Unable to resist her granddaughter's coaxing, Grandma Hua immediately forgot everything, called her daughter-in-law, and went to the kitchen.
"Grandpa, let's process the saltpeter." Hua Jin wanted to keep her grandfather busy, so he had no time for sorrow.
"Saltpeter, right, I forgot about that." Having received the news of his uncle's passing early in the morning, Hua Laohan had been busy the whole day and only now had time to feel sad, not remembering the saltpeter that his son and grandchildren brought back last night.
"Does this need pre-processing?" Hua Laohan thought the saltpeter could be used right away.
"Yes, it's simple. Hurry, Grandpa." Hua Jin urged.
"Okay, okay, let's go," Hua Laohan put his pipe down on the table and quickly stood up.
Now, the "saltpeter" was just as important.
Hua Laohan suddenly became lively.
The lights in the courtyard were turned on, and the grandfather-granddaughter duo appeared under the shed on the west side of the courtyard. Hua Jin started teaching her grandfather how to disinfect and purify the saltpeter.
It's simple: grind the saltpeter into powder, dissolve it in water, heat it slowly, let it crystallize once the solution reaches a certain concentration, then filter to separate the crystals, and finally wash and dry them with cold water repeatedly.
The tools needed were just a stove, a pot, some containers, and a mortar or stone grinder.
Luckily, none of these things were lacking; everything was readily available under the shed. As soon as they started, Xiaosi excitedly came out from the house to join the fun and, unsurprisingly, got roped in as manpower, becoming the grinder.
Grinding the saltpeter into powder counted as physical labor. Xiaosi resigned himself to the task, given he left the comfortable cool indoors to come out and work.
Moreover, being the only young man in the family meant he had to do it; asking his grandpa and sister to do it instead was something he'd never do.
The grinding lasted from before to after supper. Then, he helped his sister and grandpa dissolve the saltpeter powder in water. The toughest part was acting as the fire boy, managing the heat despite the sweltering temperature.
By the time the task was completed, it was already midnight. After cleaning up, Xiaosi collapsed onto his bed and immediately fell into a deep sleep, while the saltpeter had shrunk from five baskets to a little over three, which was still considerable.
Having been busy for several hours, Hua Laohan forgot about everything else and also fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Early the next day, the whole family went to their uncle's house.
After the three-day funeral, the whole village came to see him off. The elders selected a relatively good feng shui spot to bury him at the foot of the mountain, and he would be moved back to the village later.
That's all that could be done now; it's impossible to bury him on ancestral land at this time.
By the time they got home, half the morning had passed, and the family's spirits were low. Everyone returned to their rooms to rest upon arriving home.
Especially Hua Chengtian and his two sons, after two or three days of hardly any sleep, were extremely exhausted at this moment.
They skipped lunch altogether and slept until the afternoon.
By evening, everyone's spirits were completely revived. The family gathered around Hua Jin and started working on the saltpeter, even Hua Man and Yun Niang didn't steer clear of it.
The next day, the two were astonished to find that the water from the dissolved saltpeter had turned into ice last night. They were now helping their husbands dissolve the saltpeter in water.
Dozens of wooden basins, big and small, with dissolved saltpeter were placed in the corners of the house. The ice-making process was slow, and after demonstrating, Hua Jin waved her sleeve and returned to her room, leaving Hua Laohan and Hua Chengtian eager to see results.
They waited a whole day, and by the next night, seeing the basins of ice, Hua Laohan's heart was indescribably joyful, and he couldn't sit still. He instructed his son and grandson to call over the village elders and some older families in the village late at night.
Upon stepping into Hua Man's house, they were shocked, their mouths agape for a long time.
Hua Man's home was extraordinarily cool, the sweat from the journey vanished soon after entering the hall.
As they entered, they were wondering why the house was still set with winter drapes in such hot weather, but now it was clear, this was the reason.
"Hua Man, what are these..." The clan elder pointed at the basins of ice in the house, excited to the point of being speechless.
To have ice at this time, and so much of it, his first thought was that Hua Man intended to be filial to these old guys, thus calling them over.
But... that wasn't right.
If it was about being filial, he could have just asked Chengtian and the boys to deliver it to their homes, why bother calling them over?
Realizing this, the clan elder's gaze towards Hua Laohan changed immediately, his cloudy eyes brightened significantly.
"Hua Man, this is... what happened? How did you get so much ice?" Clan Elder Yong couldn't hold back either.
The others were also eagerly watching Hua Man, waiting for his explanation.
They didn't believe Hua Man called them over just to see ice. This old man definitely had something up his sleeve.
"Exactly, hurry and tell us, we're dying of curiosity." The impatient Hua Qishan urged as well.