Chapter 53 Sending Lanterns
On New Year's Eve, Tan Xiao had a reunion dinner with Tan Chunying at home, and then drove out of the city.
According to the old custom in Southern Chu, people send lanterns on New Year's Eve, which means to worship ancestors. In addition to "people look for ghosts during the Qingming Festival and ghosts look for people during the Zhongyuan Festival", people also look for ghosts on New Year's Eve in Southern Chu. Of course, some places also send lanterns on the Lantern Festival.
Over the years, it has almost become a habit. After dinner is the peak time for sending lanterns. People burn paper and send lanterns to make their ancestors lively. It is just the right time to go home and watch the Spring Festival Gala. Traffic police will be on duty near each cemetery.
When it was getting dark, we arrived at the cemetery outside the city. At this time, there were already families coming to send lanterns, and the lanterns gathered on the mountain road like a river of lights.
When sending lanterns, people usually burn some paper money and set off strings of firecrackers. Fireworks are not allowed in the city, but it is different outside the city. At the foot of the mountain, you can vaguely hear the sound of firecrackers coming from various places on the mountain.
This is the cemetery in the suburbs. Nowadays, burning of lanterns is generally prohibited in regular cemeteries. There are special services for sending lanterns. For example, a perpetual lantern is only lit on the night of New Year's Eve for 100 yuan, and there are different prices for three or five nights. Customization is also possible.
Tan Xiao's family brought candles, and when Tan Chunying was still young, her family gave oil lamps, and even used parchment paper to cover lanterns to prevent them from being blown out. Later, everyone started giving electronic colored lights, but Tan Chunying's family had more incense and candles, so they still used candles.
When they arrived at the Tan family tomb, Tan Chunying and her son first cleared the weeds around it, placed three stacks of paper money on the grave, and then lit the grave lamp and burned four incense sticks. As the old saying goes, there are three for the gods and four for the ghosts, so the deceased should not be left alone. This little job was done while chatting and laughing.
This is the grave of Tan Chunying's parents, Tan Xiao's grandparents. Tan Chunying was born in old age. Tan Xiao lived with her grandparents for a few years when she was a child, but they died one after another before she entered junior high school.
Tan Chunying usually doesn't mention her parents often, but every time she does, she talks a little more. She smiles and says, "In the past, in addition to lighting lanterns for graves, we also had to light lanterns for the gods of land and water... Later, we couldn't do that because we were afraid of causing a fire. At that time, the neighborhood committee talked to my parents several times, asking them to take the lead as superstitious leaders."
Tan Xiao nodded, the status of a wizard keeps changing.
Tan Chunying folded the paper money twice and burned it, saying as she burned it , "At that time, your father went around blowing out other people's lanterns, and he didn't dare to fight back, because he was chased away."
Tan Xiao laughed out loud. He probably knew that his father had an accident when he was very young. Tan Chunying did not tell him in detail what the accident was, and he was also afraid of exposing his mother's old wounds, so he did not ask.
Whenever Tan Chunying talked about old times, Tan Xiao found it very interesting. He thought that his parents were also childhood sweethearts.
When the candle burned out, Tan Chunying ended her life silently, turning over the ashes to make sure that the flame would not rekindle.
After burning the paper, Tan Xiao stood by and listened to Tan Chunying talking. He also looked around. If the deceased had just passed away, the family would usually light white lamps (with white lampshades), and only in the second year would they light colored lamps. On some graves with white lamps, and a few with colored lamps, Tan Xiao could see some people with strange expressions.
Since he started dealing with unnatural things, Tan Xiao has gained another aspect of observation on people. He thinks that some of these "people" may be the owners of the graves. Ordinary ghosts are usually most active when they are just dead. After a long time, they either reincarnate or gradually dissipate. He also did not see the figures that looked like his grandparents by his own grave. After so much time, they may have been reincarnated.
"Let's go back and watch TV." Tan Chunying clapped her hands and stood up, suddenly saying, "Sometimes I think, maybe there really are ghosts and gods in the world."
Tan Xiao came back to his senses from his thoughts and looked up, "What?"
"I don't know. I just remembered that when I was a kid, I went with your grandparents to do something. At that time, our family hadn't yet transformed. They performed the ritual devoutly, as if they could really help people with the underworld." It had been so long that even Tan Chunying herself had a vague memory. She scratched her head, "Maybe there are really ghosts in this world, but I just can't see them."
Tan Xiao didn't know what to say for a moment. Tan Chunying didn't say a word, but he knew that she was missing her deceased relatives.
"Let's go." Tan Chunying picked up the bamboo pole used to beat the paper ashes. Some villagers nearby still used candles to light their homes like his family. Although there were people on duty to prevent fires on the mountains and hills every year, Tan Chunying would still look around to make sure there was no fire when he left. It was an old habit.
…
Yu Zhenzhen got off the car with her parents, wearing a camera around her neck. Her parents told her, "You can take pictures at the bottom of the mountain, but don't take pictures randomly when you are on the mountain. It's not good."
"Oh, I see." Yu Zhenzhen's father is from another province. In previous years, they usually stayed at their grandparents' house before New Year's Eve, and came here on the first day of the new year. Therefore, she only remembered sending lanterns twice when she was a child.
Yu Zhenzhen also came along because she was celebrating her 30th anniversary in Nanchu this year. She heard from relatives that there would be a river of lights in the mountains, so she brought the camera she rented with her.
However, when she arrived at the scene, Yu Zhenzhen found that the river of lights was not as spectacular as she had imagined. It was just dotted with lights, but it could not be called a river.
“There aren’t so many people coming here to give lanterns now. When we were kids, there were indeed many and very bright lanterns,” said Yu Zhenzhen’s mother.
"Is that so..." Yu Zhenzhen thought so too. There are more cemeteries and other graveyards now, but since she brought the camera, she might as well take a few pictures.
Because she wanted to capture a large scene, Yu Zhenzhen borrowed a camera with a medium-to-short focal length zoom lens. She flipped the screen over and was able to easily take selfies while holding the camera in her hand. She also took a photo with her family first.
Everyone made a "V" sign to the camera.
Although people come to send lanterns to the graves, the main point of visiting the graves on New Year's Eve is actually to have fun with the ancestors. Everyone is in a festive mood during the New Year.
"Click." Yu Zhenzhen pressed the shutter. The last time she went to Yunling to ride a bicycle, she found that some cameras had poor focus when choosing cameras. Many people borrowed cameras during the Chinese New Year, so she had no choice this time. However, after taking a few pictures, she felt that there was no problem with this camera.
The money for renting the camera during this Spring Festival was supported by Yu Zhenzhen's mother. Her family had originally agreed to buy her a camera after graduation, but now she can only rent one herself. However, the photos Yu Zhenzhen took of Tan Xiao and Kong Xuan turned out to be very good. When she took them home, her relatives saw them and praised Yu Zhenzhen as a photography genius.
So her mother was so happy that she helped Yu Zhenzhen borrow a camera before she received her New Year's money. Moreover, the long-term rental was a month, which was enough for her to play with for the entire winter vacation. Yu Zhenzhen was reluctant to delete the photos of Tan Xiao and Kong Xuan taken in the memory card. Although she had backed them up, she always felt that there was a slight difference between showing others the photos she took with a camera and showing them with a mobile phone. The photos on the memory card seemed fresher and felt like they were taken by her, which made it more real to show off to her family.
Yu Zhenzhen flipped the screen and started taking pictures of the mountain. Normally, if she wanted to take a still life picture, she could just focus and start shooting. However, she didn't expect the focus point to keep jumping, and the mountain and lights behind her became blurred.
Yu Zhenzhen tapped the screen frantically but couldn't get it to focus. She cursed in her heart, what was wrong with her? It was fine just now.
There were faint sounds of firecrackers in the distance, and the air seemed to smell like paper ash. Looking higher up, the vegetation was obviously more lush, with ancient trees towering and tangled, and the dim street lights could not fully illuminate the front and back.
Yu Zhenzhen remembered that she had set the auto focus tracking and facial recognition priority, and the focus frame on the screen would automatically lock onto the face. She thought, could it be that it was focusing on the pedestrian in front?
Yu Zhenzhen's notebook was in manual mode. She raised her hand to adjust the parameters. Her focus in shooting just now was on the lights, so the picture was relatively dark.
As the screen gradually brightened, the picture became clear again. There was indeed a pedestrian in front, but it was just his back.
Yu Zhenzhen saw the focus of the facial recognition system jumping on the screen, sometimes jumping on the pedestrian's head, sometimes framed next to it, and after a moment, the facial recognition system firmly locked onto a certain empty place on the screen!
"...Mom." Yu Zhenzhen called out in a trembling voice.
At that moment, she thought of all the supernatural photos and stories she had seen on the Internet. She didn't even dare to press the shutter, for fear that when she looked back, there would be a human figure in the photo.
Mother Yu turned around and scolded with a smile, "What are you doing? You can't walk anymore just after climbing the mountain."
After she scolded her, Yu Zhenzhen felt less nervous. She comforted herself that it was just a problem with the focus tracking. There was nothing to be afraid of. She had seen problems with the focus tracking of cameras in their store before, and the boss said it couldn't be fixed even after repairing it.
Yeah, I'm just a little affected by the atmosphere here. People are not as brave at night.
Yu Zhenzhen took a few steps forward and held her mother's hand, and no longer dared to pick up the camera to take pictures.
She followed her family up the mountain to burn paper obediently. It only took about half an hour before they could return.
Although she didn't see the river of lights, when Yu Zhenzhen changed her angle and went down the mountain, she bypassed the trees in front of her and had a wider view. She found that from here she could overlook the lights of thousands of homes around her.
At this moment, Yu Zhenzhen was attracted and completely forgot that there seemed to be a problem with the focus system, and raised the camera in her hand again.
This time, the focus system did not give her any trouble, but successfully captured the night scene in front of her.
However, by the time she stayed to take pictures, the others had already moved on. Yu Zhenzhen put down her camera and hurried forward. She saw the street lights flickering a few times and heard a faint ethereal murmur in her ears.
In an instant, Yu Zhenzhen broke out in a cold sweat!
The camera almost slipped out of her hand. Her throat tightened and she grabbed the camera strap, wanting to shout for her parents. But she felt fearful. If she shouted now, what if she disturbed something else before calling her parents?
The murmurs were still lingering around her. Her feet felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead. Yu Zhenzhen closed her eyes, mustered her courage and tried to rush forward, but she missed a step.
A hand reached out from the side and supported Yu Zhenzhen's arm, "Are you okay?"
"Ah!" Yu Zhenzhen was startled by the hand that was suddenly extended. She turned around and saw that it was Tan Xiao. The familiar person made her feel much more relaxed. She said with a sad face, "I was scared to death, Tan Xiao."
"Hmm?" Tan Xiao looked at the camera on the girl's back, "Class monitor?"
"You came to deliver the lanterns as well." Yu Zhenzhen felt that after seeing Tan Xiao, the atmosphere was no longer so gloomy, especially when the sound of firecrackers rang out on the mountain, dispelling the uneasiness in the dark night. "You, did you hear that sound?"
"Are you talking about the sound of chanting?" Tan Xiao used a stick to brush away the grass next to him, revealing an electronic eternal lamp that was still playing the Sutra of Rebirth. "This is a solitary lamp lit by someone else..."
Yu Zhenzhen's heart skipped a beat when she saw the electronic light with auspicious patterns printed on it: "…………"
I'm speechless. The sound quality is pretty good.
"What is a solitary lamp and why is it placed here? Passersby would be scared." Yu Zhenzhen wondered. Her family also used electronic lights, but they were not so fancy and were only lit on the grave.
"In the past, in addition to lighting lamps on graves and for the gods of roads and water, people who were more particular would also light a lamp on the roadside for the lonely ghosts that no one worshipped. That was the solitary lamp." Tan Xiao explained calmly. Tan Chunying was still checking the lights in the back. He always felt something was wrong, so he went forward and saw Yu Zhenzhen.
"Is that so?" Yu Zhenzhen still felt uneasy. Fortunately, Tan Xiao was beside her, so she quickly walked downstairs and escaped from the chanting area. "I only knew that birthday lanterns were long-lasting, but I didn't know that they have developed into everlasting lanterns."
"Well...are you scared, squad leader?" Tan Xiao looked at Yu Zhenzhen secretly. There was definitely no problem with the eternal lamp, but he had been handling cases for a long time and had some understanding of his sixth sense. There must have been something else going on just now.
But when he arrived at the scene, he didn't see any human figures or ghosts, and felt that something was a little strange.
"Of course I was scared. It's a cemetery after all." Yu Zhenzhen said embarrassedly, "And when I was taking pictures before, the camera had a problem with focusing. It kept trying to identify faces in the air. It scared me."
Plus, she was scared twice just now, so she needs to have some mental strength.
She felt relieved now, and remembered something very important: "Tan Xiao, why didn't you tell me that you were going to Yunmengze! My mom originally asked me if I wanted to travel there, and I said I don't shoot birds. If I had known you were filming, I would have gone anyway!"
In Yu Zhenzhen's mind, bird hunting is just a hobby. As Yu Zhenzhen was complaining, she saw Tan Xiao staring at her camera.
"I was just there to play and picked it up temporarily." Tan Xiao brought out the same excuse again, "Squad leader, can you lend me your camera? I've become a little interested in photography recently."
As soon as Tan Xiao said that, Yu Zhenzhen immediately took off the camera strap and said, "Come on, come on, get in the game."
Tan Xiao smiled and raised the camera.
I didn't see any ghosts here. I remembered that Yu Zhenzhen said the camera recognition was wrong. Could it be that he actually sensed this thing?
Through the viewfinder, Tan Xiao looked at the peaceful surroundings, then turned to look at the distant horizon, muttering to himself: "Let me see if I can take a picture of Kong Xuan's house..."
Yu Zhenzhen was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "Where does Kong Xuan live? My camera can't see that far."
She thought that Tan Xiao and Kong Xuan were on good terms now.
In the viewfinder, the focus point and parameters were jumping wildly, the lens was constantly extending and retracting, and the motor sound was very loud. I was so anxious and wanted to help Tan Xiao take a picture of the scene in the sky, but, sorry, its focal length can't reach that long! !
"Huh?" Yu Zhenzhen thought to herself that this camera was crazy.
"Don't be nervous." Tan Xiao said with a hint of meaning and touched the camera.
"How can I not be nervous? I'm afraid my deposit will be deducted if it breaks down." Yu Zhenzhen became more and more annoyed as she looked at it, wondering why she had borrowed such a camera.
Tan Xiao put down the camera, and under his gentle touch, the camera returned to its calm state, "Okay, okay."
At this time, Yu Zhenzhen's parents also found that she was left behind. They didn't want to shout her name on the mountain, so they called her and asked her to come down quickly so as not to get lost.
"I know, I know. I met my classmate and will be down soon." Yu Zhenzhen hung up the phone and took the camera from Tan Xiao. "I'm running away."
"Well, squad leader, let me give you a New Year's gift." Tan Xiao called out to Yu Zhenzhen.
Based on his six months of work experience as a part-time clerk, this camera has obviously acquired spiritual power. It probably scared people unintentionally, and it is normal for it to take pictures of unnatural objects after acquiring spiritual power. However, when Tan Xiao took it to use it, there were no ghosts nearby and it did not make any intentional noises. It only became impatient when Tan Xiao said he wanted to see something far away, as if it was unable to satisfy the user's wish.
Well, I've confirmed the behavior, it's an honest camera.
"There's another gift?" Yu Zhenzhen asked in surprise. Then she saw Tan Xiao take out a talisman from the pile of things on his body. When he opened it, he found that it said "The Peacock is Here" inside.
"Captain, there are still a few hours left. I wish you a happy new year in advance, and keep away all evil." Tan Xiao decided to send a message to the 404 office later, asking them to pay attention to the movement of the camera. Now, he just needed to give Yu Zhenzhen a talisman to calm the situation.
"Thank you!" Yu Zhenzhen put away the peripherals carefully and said guiltily, "It was too sudden. I don't have anything to give in return... I'll send you some materials on the online disk later. These are the real test questions that my sister got for me."
Tan Xiao was overjoyed: "Thank you!"
…
After saying goodbye to Yu Zhenzhen, Tan Xiao and Tan Chunying went home together and reported to the 404 Office on the way. Although it was Chinese New Year, the 404 Office was always manned 24 hours a day.
Stay up until midnight , and watch the countdown on TV: "Three, two, one - Happy New Year!"
Tan Chunying and Tan Xiao also wished each other Happy New Year, and then the mother and son went about their own business.
Tan Chunying brought out three animals as offerings.
The three official animals are cattle, sheep and pigs, while ordinary families use the three minor animals, namely pigs, chickens and fish. The pig is a simplified version, with only a pig's head and a pig's tail. Tan Chunying simply stuffed the pig's tail into the pig's head's mouth, pretending that it was a whole pig with a head and a tail.
Tan Xiaodu set up his own altar and of course had his own offerings. He also placed three small animals on his desk, in front of the mask, but they were a more simplified version, called the mini three animals.
The fish is spicy fish tail, the chicken is replaced by boiled eggs, and the pig is braised pig ears.
Then he lit three incense sticks, and the smoke curled up into the air.
Today should be Kong Xuan's birthday. Tan Xiao didn't know if he had time to listen to him burning incense and talking. Moreover, it would seem weird if he left too many messages. For some reason, facing the mask made Tan Xiao feel more awkward than facing the real person.
"Happy birthday." Tan Xiao sat at the desk with his face in his hands, "...I have another good news. I'll tell you when you come back."
The information Yu Zhenzhen sent was really good. He copied a copy and gave it to Kong Xuan to make him happy when he came back.
