"Does Zhuzhu have something to do tomorrow?"

Her mother's question snapped her out of her daze, and she quickly shook her head: "It's nothing."

Yu Jingqiu smiled at her daughter: "It's good that you're alright. Tomorrow morning, our family will go to pay respects to our ancestors."

When Feng Mingshu heard that the ancestral worship ceremony was scheduled for the morning, he breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, saying, "Mom, I'll prepare the offerings for you tomorrow morning."

According to the old tradition of the Feng family, on New Year's Eve, they go to the ancestral cemetery to pay respects to their ancestors. There are many things to prepare, including the essential incense, candles, paper money, wine, chicken, duck, fish, meat, noodles, pastries, rice, and fruit.

Of course, that's outdated; nowadays, thrift is valued.

Since Old Mrs. Feng passed away, Yu Jingqiu has kept things simple. A bowl of meat, a bowl of rice, a pot of yellow wine, and two apples—four things in total—can be easily packed into a basket.

So, on the morning of New Year's Eve, while the children in the streets were happily playing with firecrackers, the Feng family of four carried baskets, boarded a bus, and headed to their ancestral cemetery.

The hillside where the ancestral tomb is located was originally the Feng family's private land, but it was later converted into a public cemetery. On this day, there were quite a few people who came to pay their respects, and they would greet each other if they met someone they knew.

Of course, very few people greeted the Feng family in previous years, but there were many more on New Year's Eve this year. Most of the conversations revolved around Feng Mingshu, the eldest daughter of the Feng family, asking if she had a boyfriend, and intentionally or unintentionally pushing their own sons or grandsons in front of her.

Feng Mingshu was impatient and spoke bluntly: "We all came here to pay respects to our ancestors, but now we're standing on the graves discussing marriage. Putting aside whether it's proper or not, even if this marriage goes through, it will probably displease our ancestors."

After these words were spoken, the cemetery fell silent.

Just then, a jet-black bird fluttered up from the bare tree, soaring over the heads of the crowd and startling them so much that their faces turned pale.

When they came to their senses and looked up, the Feng family had already gone far away.

A sharp-tongued old woman spat indignantly, "A sharp-tongued brat like that, we don't want her!"

"Yes, we don't care. Marrying a girl like that would only bring trouble."

The women echoed their sentiments, but failed to notice the resentful look in their sons' (grandsons') eyes.

Feng Mingshu didn't care about those people's feelings; they were all sycophants, so why should she give them face?

Even if some bad reputations spread, it will scare away those who want to play matchmaker.

She walked happily with her basket into the depths of the cemetery, arriving at the Feng family ancestral tomb. Then, she was astonished to find a new grave next to her grandmother's tomb, with fresh soil on top and paper money placed in front of it.

The twins noticed too, and looked up to ask, "Mom, are they relatives of ours?"

Feng Mingshu also looked at her mother, who calmly said, "This is your father. We received news from Hong Kong that he has been dead for several years. Since we can't see his body, let's build him a cenotaph."

The three Feng siblings: "..."

In fact, when Grandma Feng was still alive, she always scolded her son for being inhuman and told her grandchildren to treat him as if their biological father had died.

The twins had never even met their biological father, so Mingyu and Mingxue weren't saddened by the news; they were just a little surprised.

Feng Mingshu remembered her past life, in which Feng Qiyuan lived a good life. Half a year later, her mother even managed to send the three siblings to Hong Kong to avoid trouble.

Of course, now that she has been reborn, the original crisis has been largely resolved, and they no longer need to go to Hong Kong, but Feng Qiyuan should still be alive.

I think so?

Feng Mingshu tentatively asked, "Mom, when was this cenotaph erected?"

Yu Jingqiu met her daughter's probing gaze, a faint smile playing on her lips: "Half a month ago."

Feng Mingshu suddenly realized that she had been reborn half a month ago, and her mother had subsequently erected a cenotaph for her father. She felt inexplicably pleased.

She was definitely not kind enough.

Feng Mingshu looked at the grave mound again and noticed something was wrong: "Mom, there's no tombstone yet. I'll go get a piece of wood, carve Father's name on it, and stick it up."

"Sister, we'll help you collect the wood," the twins said eagerly.

Feng Jingqiu smiled and nodded: "Go ahead, but don't go too far."

Feng Mingshu then took the bouncy twins to find the wood.

On the way, Mingxue whispered, "Sister, I want Uncle Li to be my dad."

Mingyu, who was standing next to him, nodded as well. However, the little boy puffed out his chest, pursed his lips, and looked proud and reluctant.

Feng Mingshu had mixed feelings because Uncle Li had been out searching for his relatives for over ten days, something that hadn't happened in her previous life. She didn't know if Uncle Li would return to Bincheng.

However, she didn't mention it, but just smiled and patted the twins' heads: "When we go back from the ancestral worship, I'll buy you little firecrackers."

The twins were indeed attracted by the small firecrackers, forgetting about Uncle Li, and happily nodded, then followed their sister to continue searching for the wooden planks.

Unfortunately, after searching around, he couldn't find it, so Feng Mingshu turned his attention to the trees along the cemetery passageway.

The path is mostly planted with pines and cypresses, which have few branches and are not easily broken.

The twins, working together, hugged a pine branch as thick as an adult's arm and almost swung on it, having a great time.

Feng Mingshu chuckled: "You two should let go of each other, I'll climb the tree and cut it down."

"Sister, can you climb trees?" Mingyu looked at his sister with some doubt.

Just as Feng Mingshu was about to answer, a person darted up behind her, grinned, and said, "Student Feng, which branch do you want? I'll break it off for you."

The twins, who were hanging from the tree branch, immediately jumped down and ran to their older sister's side, glaring fiercely at the newcomer: "Who are you? Stay away from my sister!"

Feng Mingshu took out a short blade from his pocket, its cold gleam intimidating light reflected from the snowdrifts beside the road.

The newcomer immediately stepped back, laughing and saying, "Student Feng, don't use your knife. I'm just here to help, and also to apologize for scaring you that night."

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