13 Mink Street

the sky is bright;

"Who is it, who is it!"

From the basement, Aunt Mary's angry screams were heard.

Then,

She strutted up the slope,

I saw Diss wearing a priest's clothes.

"Father, Mr. Mosang in the basement was given by who the hell..."

"I made a ritual for him."

"Oh, that's it. I praise your kindness. May Mr. Mosang rest in peace."

Aunt Mary prayed at once.

immediately,

She turned around and went back to the studio, and quietly "touched up makeup" for Mr. Mosang.

It's not unheard of before that the body received by the family was messed up, and my father-in-law also performed rituals for the body several times, making the body ruined.

but,

Since it was done by the father-in-law,

Aunt Mary dared not be angry with him, not at all.

Last night, Karen, who left here, relocated Mr. Mosang's body back to the stretcher, wiped off his own blood on the ground, and tidied up Mr. Mosang's clothes, but the makeup on his face...Karen really inability to recover;

Therefore, he could only wash up again, and then went back to sleep.

when Wake up,

My cousin Lent, who shared a room with me, was gone.

Karen sat up from the bed, reached out and patted his forehead.

This body looks really good-looking, even from a man's point of view, it is also good-looking;

But it's just too weak.

Although Karen in her previous life often stayed up late and smoked, she insisted on running and exercising, and her physical fitness was still good.

"It seems that exercise has to be put on the agenda."

Karen washed herself, went down to the second floor, and saw milk and bread on the dining table.

After pouring a glass of milk, he picked up the bread and dipped it in it. After making do with two slices, he drank the milk mixed with bread crumbs. Karen tidied up his collar and cuffs and went down to the first floor.

The phonograph on the first floor was playing the piano piece "Departed Friends", which was considered one of the most frequently used songs in mourning venues in Luojia City and several nearby cities.

Karen stood by the phonograph, the first floor has been decorated, looking solemn and solemn;

Ron and Paul were putting the coffin on the small platform, Mina and Chris were busy lighting the candles;

Cousin Lunt is holding a mop in his hand and is cleaning up possible footprints on the ground.

Aunt Mary was sitting in the corner drinking water, looking a little tired. Karen knew why she was tired. The work that was originally done last night turned into a rush work in the morning, so she must be very tired.

Aunt Winnie was holding a booklet and counting the utensils.

All the furnishings in the room on the first floor, except for "flowers", are old actors.

Although they are all reusable items, if they are lost or lost, it will cost a lot of money to replace them.

Grandpa stood by the ledge, watching Ron and Paul put the coffin in place.

Karen had been down for a while, and Grandpa didn't specifically look towards Karen.

Everyone in the family is working, but Karen is not called when he gets up late. This is the special treatment of "Karen".

"Please, you have worked hard, I am sorry to come so early."

"It's okay, it's okay, it should be, hehe."

Uncle Mason ushered in a middle-aged bald man who was dressed cheaply but looked very stylish;

Karen searched his memory and found out that his name was "Malmö" and he was the deputy director of a certain office of the district government.

In the "memory", Aunt Mary looked down on this man very much, thinking that he was too greedy, he didn't look good, and liked to manipulate his identity, but in the office he worked, except for one director, everyone else is a "Deputy Director";

Everyone else in the office got jobs through the back door, but he had to run errands, so in fact he was just a clerk,

Mr. Malmo noticed Karen and reached out to touch Karen's head;

Karen took a step back and ducked.

"Hehe, I found out that you were sick last time. Now it seems that your body has recovered?"

"Yes, thank you for your concern." Karen responded.

"okay."

Without further delay, Malmo walked up the steps, picked up the old-fashioned "Wofford" camera that he carried with him, took a picture of Jeff in the coffin, and then stepped back down the steps;

The grandfather in priest's clothes stood in front of the coffin, bowed his head, and prayed;

"Crack!"

Malmö took another shot;

at last,

Malmo retreated to the entrance of the living room again, chose a place with better light, pointed the camera lens at the whole living room, and held up;

Karen saw Aunt Mary who was sitting in the chair also stood up, and everyone, including the cousins, bowed their heads in mourning solemnly.

"Get ready, take your seats..."

Karen also stood up straight and lowered her head.

"Crack!"

"alright."

Malmo put down the camera.

Uncle Mason handed Malmo a black notebook, and Malmo nodded and accepted it.

Inside is a tip;

This is the case with the welfare bill. Just looking at the allocation quota of the city government and the quota of charitable organizations is actually not low, but the implementation has to be divided into layers.

Of course, today's "tip" will be more than usual, because Mr. Malmo got up early today.

After the three photos that needed to be filed and submitted for the report were taken, Mr. Malmo did not delay, and left directly with the camera and notebook. Uncle Mason sent him all the way to the door.

Even if you want to show courtesy and send people back to the office, you can't do it, unless Mr. Malmo is willing to be picked up by a hearse. The Inmeles family really doesn't have a private car.

Subsequently,

Paul and Ron worked together to remove Jeff's body from the coffin, put it on a stretcher, and push it back to the basement;

Immediately afterwards, the two pushed "Mr. Mosang" out and carried it into the coffin.

Aunt Mary stepped forward and began to adjust her posture, trying to make Mr. Mosang appear more "comfortable" and "calm" as much as possible.

The rest of the decoration and furnishings have not changed, as usual.

This is "rushing to the market";

Although Mr. Mosang's children are very stingy in other aspects, because some relatives live in other cities, they packed "a full day" instead of "half a day" for Mr. Mosang's mourning service.

Of course, if conditions permit, let alone half a day, they are even willing to "pack time".

So, today "Jeff" actually rubbed against Mr. Mosang's car.

Jeff, who has completed the process, must give way and go back to the basement to continue lying down.

Mr. Mosang has "sleeped" in his seat,

Paul and Ron respectively went to the entrance of the living room and the entrance of the yard beside the road to put up signs, indicating that today is the mourning meeting for Mr. Mosang.

Anyway, he had nothing to do on the first floor, so Karen simply walked to the flowerbed in the yard and picked a lot of ageratum leaves.

Then, he walked up to the second floor and entered the kitchen.

Today's lunch is prepared by him;

In many cases, mourning venues will provide light meals to relatives and friends who come to mourn. Of course, this is only possible after the family needs and pays for this service;

Therefore, the Inmeles family members will also eat together, as a work meal.

But today Mr. Mosang’s children don’t even have a simple meal, they don’t even order drinks...the cheapest lemonade, so the Inmeles family has to prepare their own lunch.

Karen didn't have much discomfort when he entered the kitchen. In his previous life, he often cooked for himself, and he also enjoyed the process. Although his cooking skills can't be called a chef, he should be regarded as excellent at the level of housewives and househusbands.

The patchouli leaves were washed first, Karen put a few pieces into the cup, and then poured hot water.

Afterwards, he began to choose the ingredients. The ingredients at home were actually quite rich, but he didn't plan to make a big meal.

There is a refrigerator in the kitchen, which looks very new. It should not be long since I bought it, but in Karen's eyes, it is really "old".

When preparing to process the ingredients, there were some noises on the first floor. It should be that relatives and friends who participated in Mr. Mosang's funeral have arrived one after another.

Mina and Chris walked to the second floor, and the two little girls stood curiously outside the kitchen looking at Karen who was meeting.

When the family had a business, the two of them had to be responsible for serving tea and water on the first floor, but they don't need it today.

"Brother, when did you learn to cook?" Mina asked.

"Yeah, yeah, what's that stick for?" Chris asked, poking her head.

"Wait and eat."

Karen smiled. The rolling pin in his hand was unloaded from the small desk in his bedroom. In fact, there was a more convenient long round stick in the basement, but Karen dared not use it, even after washing it.

Pour the oil and heat it up. Karen puts the wrapped spring rolls into the oil pan for frying, then removes them to control the oil.

The spring rolls are filled with chives and mixed with some diced meat;

Afterwards, Karen began to fry the eggplant cakes, but in the middle of each eggplant cake, Karen added a piece of ageratum leaf, which made it more crispy and less greasy.

Because there are a lot of people in the family, Ron and Paul will also have lunch here, so Karen fried two large plates of spring rolls and eggplant cakes.

after,

Karen started to stir-fry. He felt that he still had to find time to go to the market in the future. There were quite a lot of ingredients at home, but there was a lack of big ingredients;

Pour the previously marinated chicken pieces into the pot, cover the pot, and start to simmer.

Yes, Karen is going to make another "braised chicken".

Pick up the teacup, and enter the warm Huoxiang tea,

call,

Karen likes this feeling very much.

In his previous life, his hometown had a very popular and simple way of eating it, called "tea brewed rice", which used Huoxiang tea and some mustard and pickles. Although it is simple, it is addictive after eating, but it is not friendly to the stomach.

Oh yes, I still have to get some sauerkraut for myself, although there is a "jar" in the basement, but Karen decided to go to the market to buy new ones.

After the chicken was almost cooked, Karen poured the sliced ​​potatoes, shiitake mushrooms, green peppers, etc. into it, and started the final fire to collect the juice.

In another pot, Karen made a simple tomato and egg soup with eggs and tomatoes.

When the soup is cooked, the yellow stewed chicken can also come out of the pan.

"Mina, Chris, serve the food."

"Okay, brother."

"Well, it smells so good!"

Mina and Chrissy come in with trays;

After finishing the arrangement on the dining table, Chris went down to inform the family that lunch was ready, and then she couldn't wait to run up, reached out and grabbed a spring roll, and put it in her mouth.

It's not that I don't follow the rules of the table, but when I have business at home, I always come up to eat when I have empty hands. I don't have to wait for people to gather, I eat well earlier, and I can go down to change shifts to greet guests.

"It's delicious, brother." Chris nodded while chewing.

"Chrissy, use a fork," Mina reminded.

"It's okay, just use your hands." Karen herself took the spring rolls directly with her hands, and then dipped them in the bowl filled with fruit vinegar;

The taste of fruit vinegar at home is similar to that of white vinegar. Karen is not very satisfied. He is more used to Zhenjiang vinegar.

Mina served Karen a bowl of soup. According to his past habits, Karen also likes to add vinegar to tomato and egg soup, but he still resists the taste of fruit vinegar.

Take a sip of soup into your throat,

Karen took a deep breath,

For a while, I was so moved that I wanted to cry.

It's not greedy, but after such a big change, the food in the "hometown" can bring people a sense of spiritual comfort.

No matter how much "chicken soup" there is, there is no more solid soup that can enter the throat.

Mina and Chris ate very sweetly. They used spring rolls and eggplant cakes to dip the stewed chicken soup, but Karen refused Mina's move to put the braised chicken on her plate;

He didn't cook rice, and braised chicken without rice is soulless.

"Brother, can you teach me how to cook in the future?" Mina said.

"There's still me, there's me." Chris also looked forward to it.

"OK, all right."

At this time, Aunt Mary also came up, seeing the food on the table, she was very surprised and said, "Karen, you made it?"

"Yes, Auntie, try it."

"good."

Aunt Mary picked up a spring roll with a fork and took a bite:

"Well, it's delicious, when did you learn to cook?"

"I read it in the book."

"Really, it's amazing. In the future, we can add a service at home. The chef we hired will prepare a simple meal for the guests."

"Okay." Karen responded politely. Today is just a small test. He can also cook a lot of dishes. He has achieved a small amount of financial freedom in his previous life. He often travels all over the country. Instead of checking in for photos, he specializes in looking for local delicacies;

I especially like and are good at Sichuan cuisine.

Aunt Mary sat down and continued to eat. While eating, she did not forget to mock:

"Not many people came to express their condolences, and even fewer people gave offerings, and there were even those who only gave a bouquet of flowers. Tsk tsk, it looked like they were picked from the yard of Mrs. Mark's house next door."

The level of productivity development is the fundamental reason for the emergence of customs and customs. After all, weddings and funerals require the help of relatives and friends, so the emergence of layoffs is also reasonable.

However, according to the memory of "Karen", it is possible to give gifts instead of money at the wedding here, but sometimes the newlyweds will make a list of gifts they want to give to relatives and friends, which is actually the same.

Moreover, people still prefer to receive cash rather than gifts.

"Will that pay off?" Karen asked Aunt Mary.

"So they booked the afternoon show, and relatives who live in other cities come in the afternoon. There should be some generous donations?" Aunt Mary took a sip of the soup and continued, "But it doesn't matter, we can enjoy ourselves with less income. .”

The big guys came up for lunch one after another, and they all expressed their praise for Karen's cooking skills.

In terms of food order, spring rolls are the most popular. In the afternoon, Ron and Paul even came up to clear up the remaining cold spring rolls;

Karen stood by when Grandpa came up for lunch.

"good."

"I'll make others," Karen said, "but with some extra spice."

"Ask your aunt for money."

"Okay, Grandpa."

"If you cook in the future, you can increase your pocket money a bit. Of course, you don't have to cook every day," Diess said.

"I like cooking."

Well, pocket money is also needed.

During this conversation between the grandfather and grandson, Pu'er has been lying on the small sofa next to him, looking at the food on the table, the cat, lost in thought.

"Meow..." (A strange demon who created his own language?)

"Meow..." (A strange demon who can also cook?)

"Meow... Meow..." (Am I crazy, or is the strange demon crazy?)

At nearly three o'clock in the afternoon, the last batch of condolence guests from other cities finally arrived.

They are four old men, wearing suits, with military medals hanging on their chests.

Karen noticed that the four of them gave out the envelope containing the payment, which was significantly thicker.

Four elderly people mourned Mr. Mosang, and one of them, Dingle, asked Aunt Mary about the funeral arrangements later, and Aunt Mary politely replied that everything was arranged;

You can mock the stinginess of other people's children behind the scenes, but there's no need to make trouble in person.

The children of Mr. Mosang hurried forward and left together with the elderly while supporting them.

Karen, standing at the entrance of the living room with a bucket of water, heard Mr. Mosang's children explaining that the burial in the cemetery was not organized and arranged because of the weather, saying that Mr. Mosang's last words were to hope that everything would be done simply so as not to disturb everyone.

However, Mr. Dingle obviously saw something, but he didn't take it seriously. When he walked out of the courtyard with a few other old people, Karen saw him sigh in the direction of the living room, and wiped the corners of his eyes again.

The mourning is over.

Under the organization and supervision of Aunt Winnie, everyone started to tidy up the living room.

Paul's neighbor came to find Paul at this moment, saying that his mother went to the clinic for an examination in the afternoon due to physical reasons.

Paul, who had just received a salary increase, asked his neighbors about his mother's situation. After all, he had just received a salary increase. If it wasn't a big problem, he would be embarrassed to leave work now;

After all, today's work is not over. Although there is no need to transport the coffin to the cemetery for burial, two corpses have to be transported to the suburban Hughes Crematorium for cremation.

"Go to the clinic to see your mother, and say hello to her for me." Aunt Mary said.

"Thank you ma'am, thank you ma'am."

Paul thanked him, and immediately turned around and ran towards the clinic with his neighbors.

Uncle Mason waited for Paul to leave, with a look of embarrassment on his face, stretched out his hand and rubbed his buttocks, and complained:

"I'm still in pain."

Aunt Mary stared and shouted to her husband, "You're going to be lazy!"

In normal times, Uncle Mason doesn't touch corpses very much, and he doesn't like to do physical work. It's normal to be lazy;

It's just that right now, Karen believes that Uncle Mason is really inconvenient. He must have been injured yesterday. He said he fell, but Karen believes that Uncle Mason was beaten.

"Uncle, let me go with you." Karen said.

It's not that Karen is diligent, but he knows that there are some things that don't need to be hidden, just tacitly;

But the most important thing to ensure his own safety at present is that he has to integrate into this family.

"Family" is Grandpa's weakness;

To a certain extent, Karen is also grasping this weakness. Under the premise of saving his life, Karen does not think that he is insidious and artificial.

Aunt Mary was unwilling to let Karen go to work. The situation in the studio that day made her very worried about her nephew's recent physical condition, but right now she was indeed lacking male strength.

And according to the customs, women and underage children are not suitable to go to the cremation house, except for direct relatives, and the folk adult standard here is fifteen years old.

Uncle Mason was overjoyed, and patted Karen on the shoulder affectionately: "Our Karen has really grown up, Ron, come on, let's transport the 'guest' up first."

Together, Karen and Ron first pushed out Jeff who had been parked alone in the basement for a day, and then worked together to move onto the modified "Nutshell" hearse;

Later, Mr. Mosang was pushed out and put on the hearse.

When carrying it, Ron was afraid that Karen would not have enough strength, so he lifted the shoulders of the "guest" himself, and Karen only needed to lift his legs.

After the "guests" got into the car, Uncle Mason waved goodbye to his aunt, got into the cab, and started the car.

The car headed west, turned a corner, and continued west, entering the townhouse area on Minke Street.

At this time, Karen found that Uncle Mason had deliberately slowed down the speed of the car.

Karen turned to look at the opposite townhouse,

On the windowsill of the second floor,

He saw a woman sitting at the coffee table behind the curtain, with a book and a glass of water on the coffee table;

The woman leaned back slightly, and the upper half of her body was hidden behind the curtain that was not fully drawn, but the pair of slender legs, and the red high-heeled shoes that were slightly raised and swayed slightly, showed a strange sentiment and temptation;

But after Karen saw the high heels,

Suddenly a little dizzy, and the mood is unknown and overwhelmed by a layer of haze;

Because of the bad image left by that dream, for a long time to come, he probably won't like high heels so much, especially...the red ones;

Then he turned his head to look at Uncle Mason who was sitting in the driver's seat in front of him, and was also looking in the direction of the townhouse. There was an inexplicable expression in his uncle's eyes;

But in the memory of "Karen", although Uncle Mason is not good at business, he usually likes to be lazy and dislikes manual labor, but his life style is fine, and his relationship with Aunt Mary is also very good.

Therefore, Karen doesn't think that Uncle Mason cheated here, and it's too stupid for the cheating partner to choose so close to home.

At this time, Karen asked tentatively:

"First love?"

"Hmm...nonsense, nothing!"

Mason stepped on the accelerator immediately,

He took one last look at the woman in the apron watering the flowers among the flowerbeds.

After driving out of Minke Street, Uncle Mason couldn't help turning his head and glanced at Karen, and said with embarrassment on his face:

"It's really nothing."

"I trust uncle."

"Actually, I only found out that she and her husband moved here not long ago. I met her across the yard, but we just smiled at each other and didn't speak. Karen, you know, I am a family-oriented person. people."

Speaking of which,

Uncle Mason sighed and continued:

"I messed up my former home, but since I've already messed up my home so badly, how can I do something wrong for your aunt again.

However, her family had a problem the day before yesterday, she asked me for help, and I helped to deal with it, and then there was nothing more to do, she and her husband were looking for a new house and were about to move. "

Uncle Mason moved his butt subconsciously, and at the same time glanced at the two "guests" lying in the carriage out of the corner of his eye.

Karen noticed this detail,

so,

Uncle Mason's beating by his grandfather has something to do with...Jeff lying behind him?

It could only be Jeff, because Mr. Mosang was picked up from a nursing home, and Jeff was a welfare bill who froze to death on the street.

Reminiscent of the dream I had in front of Jeff and after Grandpa went down the basement, Aunt Mary immediately called Uncle Mason to come home...

Karen rubbed his eyebrows,

jeff,

Did he really freeze to death?

"Karen..."

"Don't worry, Uncle, I won't tell Auntie."

Karen knew that his uncle wanted this guarantee, and he deliberately didn't say it earlier, waiting to hear more gossip.

"Huh...hehe."

...

Second floor, bedroom.

Lift one leg, the sole of the high heel catches the curtain, and pulls the curtain closed.

Immediately, the legs in red high heels walked towards the door.

When "she" was about to open the door,

The "snowflake sound" came from the radio next to it;

"Cough cough cough..."

A cough came from inside.

"where are you going!"

The voice of the host on the radio seemed a little weak, as if he was sick, or...injured.

Immediately afterwards,

The voice came over the radio again:

"Oh, you said you sensed him?

He's dead, do you know how much trouble you've caused me by scaring him to death, the Inquisitor of the Church of Order in this area has come to me. "

"What do you mean by a judge of the Church of Order?"

"Others are nothing, of course, but he's not, he's not an ordinary judge... no, I don't even know why he's just a local judge now.

My injury was left by him, and I am not fully sure of defeating him. "

"When I was injured this time, I thought it was repaying the favor I owed you back then, so please give me a little peace of mind; besides, something may happen in Luojia City recently, and I have noticed some unusual trends. The breath is already on the outskirts of the city."

"He, he, him? Why do you still bother with him! He is just a stupid thief who was scared to death by you. He is being sent to be incinerated. What else do you want!"

"What?"

"You said you didn't mean that stupid thief?"

"It's... the guy who entered your spiritual consciousness last time?"

"Then, then, let's not touch him, he is definitely not an ordinary existence!

Even, I think he is a priest in a certain god religion who is conducting spiritual exploration with the help of the holy artifact of the church, and happened to hit you and me. "

"Afterwards, I realized how powerful he really is, because I thought it was another stupid thief who entered the house and was pulled in by you, but then you told me that he appeared quietly,

No, it's coming! "

"You ask me why he did that?"

"Spying is just his interest, not his original intention!"

"Especially the hymn he sang... made me tremble from the soul!"