That winter, two things happened:

  The first thing: Cha Wenbin was finally able to be discharged from the hospital after a long treatment, and on the day of discharge, Cha Wenbin's complexion was very good. Leng Zong did the host and booked a table at Louwai Building by West Lake in Hangzhou.

  He Lao took out a jar of thousand-year-old fine wine, and Chao Zi, Zhuo Xiong, and Heng Roulian drank until they were staggering around.

  Zha Wenbin raised his wine glass and drank it all in one gulp. He wasn't a big drinker, but that didn't mean he wouldn't drink at all. As they clinked glasses and exchanged cups, he was already slightly tipsy. It had been over half a year since he came out, and his youngest son had also been taken to the provincial city by Chao Zi. With nothing better to do, he spent his days following these guys around, fooling around. Zha Wenbin looked at the broken bridge and remaining snow outside and suggested that they head back home tomorrow. Despite everyone's attempts to dissuade him, he refused. In the end, Leng Suo Chang had no choice but to suggest that he could come back to work here anytime, and Zha Wenbin smiled in agreement.

  The second thing:

  Old Wang went to the hospital to visit Cha Wenbin, and another old man who often appeared on TV also accompanied him. The old man held Cha Wenbin's hand, hoping that he could serve the country in the future, but Cha Wenbin politely declined, having a mind to return to his hometown. When they left, they took away the bronze sun wheel that Cha Wenbin had found in Qifeng Mountain. Although Cha Wenbin didn't have much feeling for this artifact, he still vaguely felt a connection between it and himself. It is said that Old Wang went to Beijing.

  On the second day, Cha Wenbin packed his luggage and prepared to leave. He Lao and Leng Suozhang had prepared a large pile of goods for the New Year's celebration. Chao Zi and Zhuo Xiong insisted on following Cha Wenbin back to their hometown for the New Year's celebration. Considering that He Lao had lost Wang Furen this year, Chao Zi was persuaded by Cha Wenbin to stay behind, and they agreed to visit his home together with Xiao Mo Nv during the first month of the new year.

  Zhuo Xiong, now basically has no home to return to, he and Heng Roulian decided to follow Cha Wenbin back, just as they were in the small courtyard of the archaeological institute, a screeching sound came from outside, a white Santana stopped steadily in front of them, and a weird-looking guy emerged from it, hey, isn't this Zhao Suozhang?

  That day, although the master did not succeed in worshiping, Zhao Zuolong still admired Cha Wenbin. When he heard that he was going to return, he drove a unit car and came to send him home. After a round of good intentions, he couldn't refuse and agreed. The gifts brought by those people filled the entire trunk, and Zhao Zuolong was still so fast. The Santana's butt was emitting black smoke, and it rushed towards Zhebei with a hiss.

  On the eve of the Lunar New Year, Cha Wenbin got up very early. According to rural customs, since he lost his daughter this year, although she was a junior, they couldn't paste couplets at home. He simply made a few dishes, put them in a small basket, cleaned up the incense sticks, and took his son to prepare for the tomb-sweeping ritual.

  In our place, there are several days in a year to worship the deceased ancestors, which are:

  The Qingming Festival requires going to the tomb to sweep, light incense and candles, and set up a soul-calling flag to pay respects to ancestors. This day has now become a statutory holiday and is also the most familiar day for everyone.

  The Zhongyuan Festival, also known as the Ghost Festival, falls on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, also known as the Seventh Month Half. According to legend, Yanluo Wang opens the gates of hell on the first day of the seventh lunar month and releases a batch of homeless ghosts who have no one to worship them to the mortal world to enjoy people's offerings. On the last day of the seventh month, before closing the gates of hell again, these homeless ghosts must return to the underworld, so July is also called the Ghost Month.

  On this day, every household, regardless of wealth or poverty, prepares wine and dishes, as well as paper money to offer sacrifices to the deceased, showing their nostalgia for the departed. The Ghost Festival usually lasts for seven days, with a distinction between new and old ghosts. Those who have died within three years are called new ghosts, while those who died more than three years ago are called old ghosts. Superstition has it that during this period, both new and old ghosts will return home to take a look, but the time of their return is not the same - new ghosts return first, followed by old ghosts. Therefore, they must be offered sacrifices separately. The time for burning paper money is chosen at night when people are quiet, and a few circles are drawn on the ground with lime before burning it, saying that burning paper money in the circles will prevent lonely spirits from coming to snatch it. Then, several piles of paper money are burned, while continuously chanting: "So-and-so come to collect money." Finally, another pile is burned outside the circle, said to be for the lonely spirits. On this day when the deceased return, every household, regardless of wealth or poverty, must prepare a good meal to pay respects to the deceased, also known as "seeing off the deceased".

  So on the Zhongyuan Festival, people generally stay in their own courtyards and do not go to the graves, because on that day the yin energy is the strongest of the year, and if you're not careful, you'll get caught halfway. In rural areas, adults don't allow children to go out and play on that day, and after dinner, they rest early.

  Another important day for worshiping the spirits of the dead is the Winter Solstice! Everyone knows that this day is when the sun is farthest from the ground in the Northern Hemisphere. According to historical records, as early as the Zhou Dynasty, on the Winter Solstice, there was a record of "the Son of Heaven and the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers welcoming the new year with suburban sacrifices to heaven". The Rites of Zhou stipulate that on the Winter Solstice, a ritual sacrifice to the heavenly spirits, human spirits, and ghosts should be held.

  In places that attach importance to this and people who attach importance to it, on that day they eat vegetarian food, but also have to kill chickens and sheep, first offering sacrifices to heaven and then to the soul. Like Cha Wenbin, they also need to offer sacrifices to Sanqing, pay respects to their ancestors, and then at night eat a bowl of tangyuan.

  The last festival related to the dead in a year, which is New Year's Eve for us.

  If it has been more than a year since the person passed away, on New Year's Eve, in the morning, prepare food and offerings for the tomb.

  First, prepare the paper money. For convenience, go to a store and buy ready-made yellow grass paper, which is generally rectangular in shape and sold in bundles. If you want to be more particular, you have to make your own ingots using this yellow grass paper, which requires some manual labor, similar to the technique of folding paper boats. The result looks like an ingot with both ends curled up. Another method is to use scissors to cut out copper coins from this same type of paper material.

  Nowadays, some people use wooden printing plates like banknotes to print money on grass paper, usually with the denomination written on it. Or they use 50 or 100 yuan of renminbi, blow three mouthfuls of air on it, and then place it on the grass paper and punch it three times with their fist to indicate that a note has been printed. Then they prepare firecrackers, wine, and incense. The most important thing is to select good pork and put it in a pot to cook, cut into square pieces the size of a bowl, and place them in a bowl as an offering, called "knife head". As for those large-denomination hell banknotes sold in stores, they are mostly just gimmicks thought up by businessmen. If you burn that stuff, be careful that your ancestors don't get caught by little ghosts saying they used counterfeit bills.

  When visiting the ancestral tomb, the elderly men of the family lead all the young and old, except for those who are too small or too old, to participate. During the ancestor worship ceremony, first clean up the weeds in front of and behind the tomb, then perform three kneelings and nine bows, offer sacrifices, burn incense, burn paper money, set off firecrackers, and only after the ceremony can they return home for dinner.

  These things were all readily available to Wen Bin, and in no time they were all prepared. He took his young son and the things they had prepared and went to the grave mountain. Zhuo Xiong and Heng Roulian had already gone to town, saying they would buy some more wine and dishes.

  This year, on that mountain of tombs, another new tomb appeared, which was his youngest daughter. Cha Wenbin couldn't bear to go himself, so he sent his youngest son to burn incense, because a white-haired person cannot kowtow to a black-haired person, as this would shorten their lifespan. He himself went to the tombs of his master and ancestors.

  It would have been over like this, because apart from this time, he still has to come to the grave mountain tonight, what for? To keep vigil!

  In our place, when someone has just died, on the thirtieth day of that year, after eating New Year's Eve dinner, we have to wait until midnight at twelve o'clock to go up to the grave again. After reaching that time, firecrackers are set off for him, and paper money and paper clothes are burned. This is to tell him that it's the new year, this is your first year spent in the underworld, from now on you no longer belong to the world of humans.

  If the deceased was a senior, his relatives would have to stay up all night to keep him company, no matter how windy or snowy it was. But Cha Wenbin didn't have many relatives to begin with, and the deceased was just a child, so he had planned to come up alone that evening and be done with it; dragging his son along would only make him suffer too, so for now, having him kowtow to his sister would suffice.

  Cha Wenbin was burning incense and kowtowing at his master's grave, not far from where his daughter was buried. Suddenly a loud noise rang out, followed by a cry of "Ah!", Cha Wenbin hastily turned back to look, something bad had happened, his young son was rolling around on the ground in front of the grave, a cloud of white smoke still lingering, he dropped the unfinished incense paper and rushed over.

  This is good, when he went to the grave, he brought a few sixteen shots, that is, those small firecrackers, which can make a total of 16 sounds after being ignited. This thing, we rural children have all seen and played with it, I used it to blow up fish when I was young. Seeing the already fragmented sixteen shots, Cha Wenbin knew for sure that this firecracker had blown the child up, he picked up his wailing son and hastily sent him down the mountain...

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