The Fallen Medicine Woman: The Daily Life of Chun Nuan-Chapter 167 - 132: [Part 2]

"Who?"

Chun Nuan immediately asked.

"Master Zhou Qi." Zhao Minghua said, "When he returns, I’ll have my mother go find Master Zhou Qi to help."

"You really do like to take detours. Why go through all that trouble when you can just find Master Zhou Qi directly without involving your mother? I can go find him myself." Chun Nuan said, "But the most urgent matter now is to handle Grandmother’s funeral arrangements..."

"Grandmother, what happened to Grandmother?"

Chun Ning was startled, thinking his eldest sister might have misspoken.

"Chun Ning, Grandmother has passed away."

Indeed, he had gone to chase the mountain bandits, unaware of the calamity that had befallen the family.

"Grandmother..."

Chun Ning knelt in front of the old lady’s coffin, "It’s my unfilialness for not being able to protect you all!"

These were words Chun Nuan had spoken, and then Chun Ning repeated them, envisioning himself as the future head of the Xiao family.

A family may have a thousand members, but only one person in charge.

Seeing Chun Ning kneeling and not getting up for a long time.

"Chun Ning, get up, there are many ways to express filial piety. You must begin to learn from the start."

Chun Nuan had Chun Ning ask Uncle Luo for guidance on what else needed to be prepared.

"I have been pondering over this, arranging things one by one."

Uncle Luo assumed the role of an elder in the family, recalling how the old lady never gossiped at the village entrance and seldom left home, always accompanied by two daughters-in-law when she did.

No one expected her to be so frightened by the bandits; it was truly regrettable.

"There’s one more thing, Chun Ning, you need to decide how to handle it."

He then mentioned the issue of entertaining guests.

"Elder Sister, we don’t have that many relatives, do we?" This funeral seemed different from those in the Capital.

"Aunt Luo said that even if not invited, the neighbors will attend the funeral, so despite not having many relatives previously, we now need to prepare for around twenty tables."

"So many?"

"You don’t understand. Just follow Uncle Luo and Aunt Luo’s arrangements."

"Alright."

Chun Ning obediently listened to Uncle Luo, discussing the menu.

"A funeral is not the same as a celebration, and there’s one more thing: the banquet should be based on the family’s circumstances. Unlike celebrations, funerals can be simpler. Of course, the nine-bowl dishes are a necessity."

When Chun Ning learned that the nine-bowl dishes were the standard setup for banquets in the Changzhou area, he could say nothing more.

Since it’s according to the customs, so be it.

"Don’t be intimidated by the nine-bowl dishes." Uncle Luo had his own secret recipes: "Make one bowl with pumpkin, one with seaweed, and one with vermicelli. That’s three bowls already, and adding six more dishes makes the nine-bowl complete."

Upon hearing that pumpkins, seaweed, and vermicelli already accounted for three dishes, Chun Ning heaved a big sigh of relief: fortunately, it didn’t have to be excessively lavish.

Admittedly, the Xiao family could muster a sum of money, but it’s better not to flaunt wealth, seeing how even that has already attracted thieves. It’s impossible not to be targeted if people knew the family had money and assets.

Thus, this might be the beginning, but it certainly won’t be the last time.

Moreover, he distinctly felt there must be some scheming involved.

He confirmed the menu with Uncle Luo and entrusted him to arrange for someone to make the purchases.

"Aunt Luo, can you help me hire a few aunties to assist with cooking and dishwashing?"

"Don’t worry about that." Aunt Luo said, "Whenever there’s a funeral, there’ll be a lot of volunteers helping out. It’s traditional. Just give each person a small red envelope when it’s all done."

"A red envelope?"

In Chun Nuan’s mind, giving red envelopes was something that only happened during the New Year.

But why do you need to give red envelopes for something like this?

"It’s for good luck. The money may be small, but the meaning is significant," Aunt Luo said. "So it’s important to keep track of who’s helping out and give them a red envelope afterward."

"That’s so hard to keep track of," Chun Nuan said. "Why not just give a red envelope as each person comes to help?"

"No, no, no, doing that will cause more trouble."

Aunt Luo explained, "Some genuinely come to help, some come just for the count, and some purely for the red envelope, so you can’t give them out beforehand; give them afterwards."

"Alright, I’ll listen to Aunt Luo."

Chun Nuan immediately felt there was scheming everywhere; he never imagined even in rural areas, people would strategize over red envelopes. Helping just for the sake of a red envelope was simply speechless. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

And the old lady has passed away.

Uncle Luo arranged for someone to invite the yin-yang master.

"Choosing the burial site is a bit troublesome," Uncle Luo suddenly remembered something. "If you choose a site in the hills behind the village, it’s fine. But if it’s on someone else’s land, you have no land to exchange."

"No exchange, can I buy it?"

Chun Nuan really didn’t have the time to haggle over trivial matters. Just as she was about to speak, Zhao Minghua interjected, "Use whatever land it ends up on, high price is okay."