Chapter 259 Returning Home to Pay Respects to Ancestors

Song Chunxue looked coldly at Mei Yang.

Mei Yang was rebuffed, but he could tell that she really didn't like him.

He picked up the whip and lashed it on the mule's back. The mule, in pain, pulled the plow and ran away quickly.

Song Chunxue planned to plant the remaining medicinal herbs after her donkey had finished its postpartum period, otherwise she wouldn't be able to find someone to plow the land for her even if she spent money.

Mei Yang is a local tyrant, and many things require his approval first; it's probably impossible to find someone else to farm the land.

In the days that followed, the fourth son was dragged into doing hard labor every day by her.

Either he has to haul soil to build a garden or vegetable patch, or he has to do chores around the house; in short, he can't be allowed to be too idle.

Letting him hide in the house reading idle books might just ignite some wicked desire within him.

She used to be illiterate and didn't know what kind of books he read for leisure. Now she can recognize them; there aren't many serious books in the fourth son's house.

Before you know it, Qingming Festival is almost here.

Song Chunxue packed some things, bought some paper money, and took Lao Si back to the village to pay respects at the graves.

The fourth brother was humming a tune as he drove his donkey, in a very good mood.

"Mother, do you think we can be considered to have returned home in glory?" he said with no small amount of pride. "Those who used to dislike you and bully our family are now even more furious."

"They must be furious to see how well we're doing now."

Seeing that Lao Si's tail was practically wagging in the air, Song Chunxue couldn't help but reprimand him.

"Don't be too proud of yourself. As our ancestors said, be humble and work hard, otherwise nothing you gain will last."

"Oh, I see." The fourth brother sighed, "That's what I say to Mother, I won't be proud of it in front of others."

"You can't do that in front of me either. You must be humble and polite from the bottom of your heart, and be modest in moderation. Although it is inevitable for young people to be proud, you must understand that you did not earn these things through your own abilities. We all benefited from the Taoist priest's luck."

“If you don’t realize this, you won’t be able to keep the whole family business when I get old and pass away,” Song Chunxue said calmly. “Besides, whether I leave you a share of this family business in the future depends on your abilities.”

The fourth brother kept a straight face and didn't say anything.

"No one knows a child better than their mother. I can tell from your tone whether my own child has changed or not. I may not have any other skills, but it's not difficult for me to see through what you're thinking."

“After we come back from the ancestral worship ceremony, you should go out and find a job. Our family doesn’t support idlers. It’s not that I don’t want to support my own son, but I don’t want to see you become a useless person.”

"No matter how much you curse and hate me in your heart, if you don't strive for improvement and don't plan for your future, I won't help you."

The fourth child hung his head dejectedly, "I understand, Mother, do you really have to give me this scolding today?"

"Not now? Do you expect me to wait until you've learned your lesson and hit a wall before you speak up?" Song Chunxue said in a deep voice. "Cultivating one's character should start from childhood. You think I'm teaching you too early?"

"..."

"If only I had understood this sooner, you might not have been deceiving yourself for so long in school."

The fourth son felt a chill run down his spine. "Mother, I know I was wrong."

"No, you don't. You're just saying it."

"..." The fourth brother was speechless and cracked the donkey whip even harder.

More than an hour later, they arrived at Jiangjiawan and passed by the house of Xia Mulan's aunt, Xia Ying.

"His mother-in-law is back to visit the grave, she's dressed so beautifully."

Song Chunxue told the fourth brother to stop the donkey cart and took out a cloth bag from her bundle. "I brought you some cloth, and there are two summer shirts inside, which I made for Mulan."

"Oh my, Mulan is so lucky to have such a wonderful mother-in-law like you," Xia Ying said with a smile. "Come sit at our house. Lunch will be ready soon, and you'll have to cook it when you get back."

"We won't go. We still need to pack up when we get home, and if we eat there, we'll be too sleepy to move," Song Chunxue said with a smile. "I'll come again another day when I leave."

"Alright, then I won't keep you any longer. You might not even look down on my family's coarse grains now, you're a city person now."

"Don't belittle me, Auntie. I grew up eating what I like to eat. We eat mixed grain noodles every day. Last night, the fourth brother even wanted to eat buckwheat noodles."

"..." The fourth brother remained expressionless. Was that something he liked to eat?

He didn't like eating jiaotuan at all; it was his mother and Sanwa who loved it.

The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he felt; he was treated like an adopted child at home.

As the donkey cart entered Lijiazhuang, Song Chunxue saw her old home on the mountainside in the distance and had a strange feeling that she had lived a whole life.

She didn't expect to come back so early the day she moved out.

Just as they reached the bottom of the mountain and were about to climb uphill, the eldest brother stood at the edge of the field, looking down at them from above.

"Mother and the fourth son are back. Are they back to visit the graves?"

Song Chunxue looked up and saw that her eldest brother was wearing an old spring shirt. He probably had just come back from the fields. His shoulders were covered in yellow dirt, and his cheeks were also covered in dirt. He looked dusty all over.

"Yes, we're back to burn paper money for your father. Have you eaten yet?"

When Song Chunxue saw her eldest brother again, she didn't feel much emotional turmoil and greeted him like an ordinary relative.

"Not yet, Chen Feng is cooking. Mother, would you like to eat with us?"

"No, thank you," Song Chunxue immediately refused. "We can just grab something to eat when we get back."

The thought of having dinner face-to-face with Chen Feng made her instantly uneasy.

The fourth brother, however, thought differently. He was so hungry that he was seeing stars and just wanted something hot to eat.

"Mom, why don't we go to my eldest brother's house for dinner?" the fourth brother said dejectedly. "I'm starving."

"Then you go eat, I'm not hungry yet." Song Chunxue took the whip. "I want to go home and visit."

The fourth brother glanced at Song Chunxue's face and said, "I also want to go home and take a look. Our yard has been uninhabited for a while, and it must be overgrown with weeds."

Song Chunxue didn't say anything, and the fourth brother obediently drove the carriage home.

When they reached the steep slope, they followed the road vehicle and slowly climbed up the slope.

The thought of hauling grain up this slope in the past, with two donkeys straining so hard their nostrils looked like cow noses, still fills her with lingering fear.

Farmers have their own way of doing things.

In order to better raise her child, she worked herself to the bone, never knowing how to take care of her body.

Thinking back to those hard times, Song Chunxue couldn't help but feel sorry for herself.

Aside from herself, no one remembers how hard she worked.

Finally, after climbing the slope and arriving at the gate of his own yard, he looked up and found a person sitting under the big willow tree.

"Oh my, the city folks are back! I saw you two coming from Qianzui in a donkey cart from far away. Aunt Jiang has gotten quite well-off since I last saw her."

Li Dazui said with a smile, "I had nothing to do after I finished eating, so I came to see how you guys are doing."

Song Chunxue laughed at him, "I suspect you didn't even eat anything so you could get here to see the excitement as soon as possible."

Li Dazui chuckled, "That's right. I made two bowls of paomo (pita bread soaked in broth) and came right after we finished eating. I was just afraid you'd leave after visiting the graves."

"Tomorrow is the Qingming Festival. We're not officials; we have official business to attend to when we get back."

Song Chunxue took a little flour from the car; all that was left at home was wheat bran for feeding pigs and chickens.

"After we left, did anyone come to climb over the wall?" Song Chunxue looked at the marks on the courtyard wall. "There wasn't a single piece collapsed here before we left."