Requiem Chapter 61: Zhao Deshui's Sigh
At the crematorium in the suburbs, when Yin Hui arrived, there were already many cars parked at the door. They were all relatives of Qian Fang's family who came specially to attend Qian Fang's funeral.
Walking into the reception hall, Yin Hui found that most people were setting up a mourning hall in the hall. It turned out that the police had notified the funeral home of Qian Fang's death and returned Qian Fang's body. After obtaining the consent of the family, Director Zhou decided to set up a mourning hall in the hall and hold a grand memorial service for Qian Fang. After all, a senior predecessor had died, and the funeral should still be carried out according to the procedures.
At this time, Director Zhou was directing people to arrange the mourning hall in an orderly manner. The general structure of the mourning hall had been arranged almost. The slogans usually hung on the walls on both sides of the hall were removed and replaced with solemn mourning couplets. In order to increase the solemn atmosphere, a layer of black cloth was hung on the wall. The black cloth blocked part of the light, making the whole mourning hall dark, which made people feel a gloomy feeling from the bottom of their hearts. A small decoration was set up on the table at the reception desk, covered with a layer of white silk cloth, and then a circle was surrounded by white flowers representing death. Not far from the platform was a huge "甸" character, about two meters high, and each stroke of the character was thicker than a person's thigh. It looked dull and depressing, as if behind the huge black character was the entrance to the underworld.
Overall, the entire mourning hall is very well decorated. It is grand and solemn yet simple and solemn. It must have taken a lot of effort to design it.
Old Zhao was busy hanging elegiac couplets at the moment. Yin Hun saw him holding the couplet in one hand and a hammer in the other, and struggling to lift the couplet and hang it on a nail on the wall. Yin Hun hurried over to help.
"Master, let me help you hang it up! It's so inconvenient for you to do this."
"Okay! Come on! I'll help you pass it up." The two of them quickly finished hanging the elegiac couplets, and then sat on the stool to rest. Looking at the mourning hall that was almost ready, Old Zhao felt a sense of melancholy. No matter how glorious Qian Fang was when he was alive, now that he was dead, he was just like everyone else, and even more miserable than ordinary people.
Thinking of this, Old Zhao couldn't help but sigh softly. Yin Hui asked, "Master, what did you think of? Why are you sighing?"
"Oh! Nothing, I just feel a little emotional."
"What are you lamenting about?"
"You said that a good person around you died suddenly. No matter whether he was good or bad, you will never see him again. All traces of him in this world have disappeared. Whenever I think of such things, I will have a special feeling in my heart. I don't know whether it is sadness or confusion. I feel like I exist and don't exist in this world. That feeling is really uncomfortable."
"Really?" Yin Hui shook his head and said, "Why have I never experienced the feeling you described?"
"That's because you don't have strong love and longing for your deceased relatives in your heart. Of course you can't experience it. You can try to go to an open space alone at night and look up at the night sky. Then you will see huge bright faces appearing in the sky. They are the souls of the dead. They are watching us from the sky all the time. Every one of your relatives is there, and they are also watching you."
"Why are you getting more and more horrible?" Yin Hui got goose bumps all over his body because of what Old Zhao said. "Forget it, let's not discuss those dead people anymore. By the way, did you see Mr. Sun this morning? Why didn't I see him come to the funeral? No one answered the phone."
"Didn't Sun Faxue come ? I helped to set up the mourning hall as soon as I arrived this morning, and I haven't seen him since then."
"This is strange. He has always been diligent. What happened today?"
"Maybe I drank too much yesterday and didn't wake up this morning?"
"Maybe! I'll give him another call to see if he's awake."
Yin Hun dialed Sun Faxue's cell phone, and soon the message alert tone rang, indicating that no one answered the call at this time, so Yin Hun had to hang up again.
"Still not answering?" Old Zhao put down his pipe.
Yin Hui nodded: "Maybe he really drank too much yesterday ! I hope nothing happens to him."
While he and Old Zhao were resting, the funeral hall was ready. Director Zhou looked at the time and said, "Okay, we can bring the body in."
Director Zhou called a few people to carry Qian Fang's body in. After a while, Qian Fang's body was carried in from outside, and then several people hurriedly placed the body on the morgue that had been prepared.
Although Qian Fang's body had been cosmetically treated, it still gave people goose bumps after seeing it. Due to the massive loss of blood, the corpse's face looked particularly white, a kind of gloomy white, just like the face of a zombie covered in white powder in a movie. In addition, one of the corpse's eyes was missing, so it had to be replaced with a fake eyeball. The two eyes looked completely different, as if the eyes of two different people had grown together. The torn parts of the corpse's face and head were sewn up with thread. Since Qian Fang's head was almost completely smashed, the entire skull was almost stitched together with thread, so there were many centipede-like stitches on the corpse's face, and the entire head looked as hideous and terrifying as a white puppet stitched together with thread.
A few hours later, Qian Fang's memorial service officially began. Many mourners came one after another, mostly employees of the funeral home, and some were his relatives and friends. The Civil Affairs Bureau also sent a representative, filling the entire room. Everyone who came brought wreaths and elegiac couplets. Large and small wreaths filled the surroundings of the morgue. In the end, there was no more space, so some had to be removed first to make room for the people behind.
The rain was still falling, and together with the low mournful music in the mourning hall, it created a very nice and sad atmosphere for the memorial service.
Those who came to pay their respects first bowed to the corpse, then presented wreaths and elegiac couplets. After that, they slowly walked past the morgue to pay their respects to the deceased's remains.
Although everyone who came to pay their respects knew that Qian Fang had died in a car accident, and everyone had prepared themselves mentally before coming, they were still frightened by Qian Fang's hideous and terrifying face. They all hurried past the morgue, not to mention paying their respects, no one even dared to take a closer look, and some just glanced at the body and left. Everyone felt a little uneasy.
At this time, Ouyang Xue also came with a middle-aged police officer. They bowed respectfully at first. They still understood the principle that the dead are the greatest. After the ceremony, Director Zhou hurried over to introduce the two to Qian Fang's parents.
Qian Fang's mother held Ouyang Xue's hand with tears in her eyes, wanting to say something, but because she was too sad, she opened her mouth several times but couldn't say a word. She just held her hand and trembled, and finally knelt down in front of Ouyang Xue, and then spoke with sobs, hoping that Ouyang Xue would find out the murderer no matter what, and not let her son die in obscurity.
Ouyang Xue didn't know whether it was the sad atmosphere in the mourning hall or the sound of Qian Fang's parents crying that made her want to cry. She quickly helped Qian Fang's mother up and said with a choked voice: "Don't worry, we will do our best to investigate the case and give you a satisfactory explanation."
Qian Fang's mother nodded gratefully, thanked Ouyang Xue, and then went to receive other people who came to pay their respects. Old Zhao and Yin Hui stood quietly beside the morgue as if in silence, and no one said a word.
Half an hour later, the memorial service gradually came to an end. All the people who came to pay their respects went back one after another, and only the funeral home employees were left in the mourning hall.
Director Zhou said in a sad tone: "Well, everyone else has left, and the rest will be sent off by our staff! I hope Master Qian can rest in peace in heaven soon."
Director Zhou walked slowly to the morgue, put down the wreath in his hand, and bowed three times respectfully. The others came forward one by one in order, holding the wreaths they had prepared.
After the memorial service, Director Zhou asked the cremator to quickly take Qian Fang's body away, while he had people dismantle the mourning hall and rearrange it.
