They say there was once a woman who returned money she found. Later, she was granted an audience with a big shot. When she came back, the villagers swarmed to see her, hoping to shake her hand and get some of the big shot’s favor. The pavilion was supposed to be an auspicious place, yet many people had died nearby. Recently, a twenty-two-year-old man with mental health problems was hit by a car while passing through the village and died there. His family wept in grief. According to village custom, someone who died outside the village could not be brought back in, and since he was still so young, they could only use a black coffin. By coincidence, the six of us in my dorm had nothing to do that day and were playing around. One roommate, Deng Di, happened to look outside and saw a black coffin being carried along the path below the window by two people. He called the other five over to look. We climbed to the window and saw the scene, breaking into a cold sweat. They say that when someone who died young is buried in a black coffin, there can be no gongs or drums, and the funeral must be kept simple. It was the first time we’d seen such a thing. Thinking of the recent misfortunes in our village, we couldn’t help but sigh. I remembered my elders saying that when you come across a funeral, don’t look at it head-on. Look from the side, and give way by taking another route. We were leaning out the window to watch. Was that allowed? None of us said a word.
Thinking about it, the whole thing felt strange. Worried we’d encounter something supernatural, we behaved unusually well.
We often used stories of romance between men and women to lighten the mood, and it seemed to work, so we were quite pleased.
That evening, the six of us had just finished class. We heard that there was a fair-skinned boy in our class who liked Deng Di, and apparently plenty of people already knew. While we were joking around, a few of us discussed trying to set them up and asked Deng Di. If he liked the boy, we could help. But Deng Di wasn’t interested, so we dropped it.
