After realizing that there was a funeral procession in front of him, Xia Yuyang stopped looking around. He helped another unconscious crew member to sit by the wall and then reached out to hold Zhong Zhengdong, who was still drunk, tightly. He stood at the outermost edge to prevent this guy from causing trouble.
The sounds of gongs and drums and suona were getting closer and closer. Xia Yuyang lowered his head and stared at his toes. From the corner of his eye, he could still see the white mourning clothes and paper money flying in the air.
Seeing that the team was about to pass by him, the chilling drum music gradually faded away. Xia Yuyang heaved a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to continue walking with the two drunkards, a strong wind suddenly blew from the ground, making it difficult for people to open their eyes.
Before Xia Yuyang could react, he heard the sound of things falling from the funeral procession. Everyone suddenly stopped, and there was a commotion at the front of the procession.
"What's going on? Why is the wind so strange?”
"What happened in front? Did someone fall?”
"Why did you fall? Look ahead, the Soul Guiding Banner carried by Old Feng's eldest son has fallen! It's too inauspicious!"
Xia Yuyang listened to the muttering of the people at the end of the line and looked up. As expected, he saw a man dressed in mourning clothes fiddling with a soul-guiding white banner. He finally sorted out the ribbons of the banner and raised the soul-guiding banner again. However, he realized that the originally straight pole seemed to be pressed down by something heavy. It bent to one side and could not stand straight no matter how hard he tried.
Other than the sudden gust of wind, the stuffy air was so quiet that there was not even a trace of wind. The Soul Guiding Banner that had its head tilted for some reason looked really strange.
"Did this pole break? Why is it so crooked?”
"I can't see clearly. What do you think this is called? Old Feng's eldest son looked young and strong, but he couldn't even hold a banner and even fell!”
The mutterings in front of him were endless, but Xia Yuyang stared fixedly at the badly slanted Soul Guiding Banner, his palms sweating.
Due to the few years that he had lived with Grandpa Xia in the countryside, Xia Yuyang had a lot of understanding of funerals. He saw that the color of this soul-guiding banner was white. It could be seen that the deceased had a son or daughter to carry on the family line, but he did not have a grandson. If the deceased had a grandson, this soul-guiding banner should be a red and green flower banner.
Just now, when the funeral procession passed by, Xia Yuyang vaguely saw the word "world" before the word "death" on the banner, proving that the deceased had passed away before he was 60. As for the Soul Guiding Banner, which could not be erected no matter what, in the eyes of others, they thought that the thin bamboo pole had fallen and its neck was crooked. However, in his eyes, there was a thin and withered old man hanging on it. The old man was obviously in a soul form and was cursing at the man carrying the Soul Guiding Banner. It was obvious that this was Old Feng, who was among the mourners.
Xia Yuyang took in everything and remained silent. However, he was thinking in his heart. This so-called Old Feng's family did not seem to be as harmonious as they seemed. At least, this eldest son was not as filial as he seemed.
In this rural area, it was a form of respect for the deceased to hire a funeral procession for a funeral. The cost of hiring a funeral procession was not low. People who were willing to spend money to hire people to play music and sing along the way were seen by many as a glorious burial.
If Xia Yuyang hadn't seen Old Feng's soul, he would definitely have thought that the Feng family's younger generation was filial and wanted to let the elders leave in dignity.
In the funeral rites, this Soul Guiding Banner signified that it would attract ghosts and guide the souls so that the deceased could walk more smoothly on the road to the Yellow Springs and not be blinded by other Yin objects. This was both a good wish from the living to the deceased and a comfort from the living to themselves. They hoped that the deceased could walk safely and that they would not miss them so much in the human world.
Now that the Soul Guiding Flag was "broken" like this, wasn't it what others said was unlucky?
"Sigh, Old Feng has a hard life. His wife died early, and his children work in the city. He doesn't go home many times a year, and he lives a poor life. Last year, they heard that Old Feng's family had a treasure. The heirloom jade pendant seemed to be real. The children specially went home, and the family was almost crazy with joy. Later, for some reason, the First and Second household quarreled. Until Old Feng was seriously ill, his eldest son and second son did not come back to see him. Only the younger sister of the Feng family was busy. Old Feng did not enjoy any good fortune and left after falling seriously ill.”
"No way! Were Old Feng's eldest son and second son so heartless? It didn't look like it, especially for the second wife. Her tears were falling big and big!”
"You can't judge a person's filial piety by their appearance…"
Amidst the sighs, Xia Yuyang was deep in thought. The First and Second household sounded very suspicious. When his father was seriously ill, he did not serve him. Now that he had left, he cried so bitterly. It seemed that Old Feng's resentment did not come for no reason!
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。