Chapter 25: The Secret of the Xinluo Family 4. Ghost wedding in hometown
The boatmen on the river bank were also shocked when they saw them.
Xinluo noticed that one of the middle-aged boatmen looked more sincere, so he went over and chatted with him for a while. The boatman was silent for a moment and then nodded.
After they boarded the boat, it left the dock and sailed towards the wide river. The boats in the ancient city and Wuzhen were all black-plowed boats, which were similar. Wu Yu looked at the misty river from the bow and wondered why things were so bizarre. He was always dealing with the water town and he was about to become a person in the Jiangnan water town.
I don’t know why Xinluo brought them back to her grandmother’s hometown today. Is it really just to take a look and has no other purpose?
At about 1pm, the small villages along the river in the Jiangnan water town came into view. The boatman gradually rowed towards the village in front of him.
Before they reached the river, they heard bursts of mournful music. Looking over, they saw a black mass, like a swarm of crows.
Wu Yu came out of the cabin, looked at the boatman strangely and asked, "Uncle, do you know what's going on there?"
The boatman looked at Wu Yu slyly with a gloomy face and said, "You are a foreigner, don't you know that today is a special day?"
"A special day?" Wu Yu was stunned.
"A 'special' festival is being held in these villages today," the boatman said slowly.
"A special holiday?" Wu Yu opened his eyes wide.
"This 'special' festival is called 'Ghost Festival', where the living people marry off the dead unmarried women."
Wu Yu was shocked, thinking that this "Ghost Festival" was surprisingly similar to the ghost wedding in Wuzhen. He didn't expect that such a beautiful place like the Jiangnan water town still had such a strange custom. Wu Yu then understood the purpose of Xinluo and Niao Niao coming to their hometown today.
"Did their grandmother also die before marriage? So did their mother. Could it be that the customs in both places are the same, allowing unmarried women to have children?" The more Wu Yu thought about it, the more confused he became.
Before we knew it, the boat had reached the shore.
After landing, the boatman moored the boat and said to Xinluo: "I will wait for you here."
Xinluo nodded.
Wu Yu saw the crowd standing in a line by the river, with the suona player sitting in the front, and in between, there were many men dressed in groom's clothes, standing there with dull expressions, and silver and paper money scattered all over the ground.
When Xinluo and Niao Niao saw this, their faces looked unusually calm. Wu Yu and Yunyun were incredulous and murmured, "There is such a festival?"
When those people saw them, they stared at them intently.
When Wu Yu saw this, he suddenly recalled his own experience of ghost marriage, and thought to himself: "Could it be that after these men have experienced ghost marriage, they will also be haunted by ghost ladies and die soon?"
They felt uncomfortable being stared at by these people , so they turned around and walked carefully along the muddy village road. There was no one on the quiet country road. They thought that perhaps all the people in the village went to celebrate the "Ghost Festival".
They turned several alleys and stopped in front of a dilapidated house.
They looked at the desolate scene in front of the door, felt a dull pain in their hearts and were speechless.
I pushed open the dilapidated wooden door and walked in, and saw spider webs all over the room and thick dust on the table.
When Xinluo and Niao Niao saw this, they put down their things and gently lifted up their umbrellas. When Wu Yu and Yunyun saw this, they also hurried forward to help.
After sweeping away the dust, Xinluo and Niao Niao performed a Ghost Festival ceremony in front of their grandmother's tablet.
Wu Yu felt that their family was much more miserable than other families because they did not hire a suona player or a groom.
About an hour later, they left the village and boarded the boat back to the ancient city.
On the boat, Wu Yu couldn't help but ask Xin Luo: "Why didn't your grandmother hold a ghost festival like theirs?"
"People from a foreign land cannot return home to hold the ceremony. This is a traditional custom." Xinluo still looked at Wu Yu with a sad look. Wu Yu saw pity in her eyes and he knew what Xinluo needed at the moment.
"Is there no one else in grandma's family?" Yunyun asked puzzledly.
"No, only my grandma is alone."
Xinluo's words made Wu Yu and Yunyun very suspicious. When they returned to the ancient city, it was already evening.
