After everyone had left, Xie Xiaoling and her daughter Liu Yumei helped clean up.
Xie Wancai smiled and said to Xie Xiaoling: "Fourth Aunt, let's cook!"
Haha, she left all the kitchen stuff behind.
Xie Juncai brought them rice and oil, as well as several kinds of seafood and vegetables, enough for them to start cooking.
Xie Xiaoling sighed, "When your grandpa and grandma were here, I often came here.
It's been more than ten years, and I can finally have a meal in this house again."
Xie Wan asked Xie Yuanchao to take out the bacon, sausages and pig skin that they brought.
These New Year's goods from Sichuan Province were originally intended for each of my two uncles and aunt's families.
Now the money is saved by Xie Changgui and Xie Changshou’s families.
Xie Wan steamed the sausages and bacon, while Xie Xiaoling was processing the seafood.
The sea does not produce as many things in winter as in summer, but the temperature here is high and the sea surface does not freeze in winter, so there are still fish, shrimps and shells.
As the saying goes, if you live by the mountain, you will eat from the mountain; if you live by the sea, you will eat from the sea. The sea is rich in products. In fact, people living near the sea will not starve as long as they are not lazy.
While Xie Xiaoling was cleaning up three large crabs, she chatted with Xie Wan about family matters:
“These blue crabs given by Uncle Seven must have been picked up from the beach in our village.
Green crabs help children grow stronger when they eat them. They are usually hard to find, so Uncle Seventh is really generous this time..."
After hearing this, Xie Wan realized that even in this era, blue crabs were considered expensive seafood. She asked curiously, "Fourth Aunt, how much is a pound of blue crabs here?"
Xie Xiaoling said: "The price at the dock is 2.5 yuan per pound. If you can pick up four blue crabs a day, that's one dollar!"
Liu Yumei was only sixteen years old, a country girl, rather shy and had never dared to speak before.
Now when she heard her mother talking about fishing in the sea, her eyes lit up and she wanted to interrupt several times.
Xie Wan saw it, smiled and asked her softly: "Yumei, what do you want to tell me?"
Liu Yumei was a little shy at this point, and excitedly said to Xie Wan: "Sister Xiao Wan, can I take you to go fishing tomorrow?"
Xie Wan thought about it and decided that he would definitely go to pay respect to his grandparents early tomorrow morning. Then he would go to his fourth aunt's house for dinner and go shopping.
She smiled and agreed.
As a result, Xie Xiaoling slapped her head and said, "Call your fifth aunt back tomorrow to worship your grandparents together. I will go back after dinner. Yumei, go to the town and call your fifth aunt to come home tomorrow."
With Xie Xiaoling's arrangement, Xie Wan really felt like he was attending a family gathering during the Chinese New Year.
After dinner, Xie Xiaoling and Liu Yumei left.
There are only three siblings left in the old courtyard of the Xie family.
Xie Xing was searching around in the yard, looking excited as if he was inspecting the territory.
“Sister, you are really good at grabbing territory.
This yard is our territory now."
Xie Wan didn't pay attention to what he said at first, but then Xie Xing picked up a stick from somewhere, waved it and shouted, "Sovereign territory must not be violated!
If anyone attacks me, I will kill him!"
Xie Wan thought the words sounded familiar and looked at the child suspiciously.
Then, she remembered that this was what she had said to Xie Yuanchao that day, and the child had heard it.
She asked Xie Xing: "Is this all you learned from being with me today?"
Xie Xing nodded, "Yes!"
Xie Wan took the opportunity to teach the child, "I said that to put it mildly, I meant that you can't let others bully you and not fight back.
In the bigger picture, what do you think it means?"
Xie Xing was born in a military family and was influenced by it since childhood. In addition, the current school education is also very orthodox, so he immediately thought of it.
He raised his little face and said seriously: "To put it in a big way, we must defend our country. We must fight for every inch of our national territory. Anyone who dares to invade will be killed!"
Xie Wan touched Xie Xing's head and praised: "Well said! I'll reward you and take you to visit the village."
Xie Xing was so happy that he finally didn’t have to do homework.
The weather here is better than that in Sichuan Province. You can see the sun even in winter.
Xie Wan and his friends only wore sweaters and coats. When they went out, they were still blinded by the sunlight.
As someone who has lived in Sichuan Province for a long time, his eyes are not used to the ultraviolet rays in coastal cities. Xie Wan felt like tears were about to come out.
At this time, she began to miss the sunglasses of later generations.
Unfortunately, in this era, sunglasses are not seen at all.
The three of them were walking on the road, all using their hands to shelter themselves from the elements. They met some villagers who recognized them. An old lady who claimed to be their fifth aunt gave Xie Wan a straw hat.
The news that Xie Changgen wanted to donate the house to form a school spread throughout the village in just one day.
Suddenly, the three siblings became popular in the village, and everyone who saw them was very friendly.
"Yuan Chao, Xiao Wan, this melon is for you to eat."
"Child from the Changgen family, I have some dried fish at home. I'll send them home for you later."
"Xiao Wan, where are you going?"
…
Xie Wan was holding a cucumber in his hand, and he didn't recognize it.
Xie Yuanchao had eaten it when he was a child and still had an impression of it. He explained: "This is the cantaloupe we have over there, but ours has a white skin, while the ones here have a green skin and are called vegetable melons.
Cut it open and eat it, it's so sweet."
Xie Wan held the cucumber and thought that if it tasted good, he could save the seeds and try planting it in space.
She asked where the ancestral hall was, but the villagers told her that it no longer existed.
"The Four Olds were destroyed, and the ancestral hall was smashed. Alas... I'm so sorry for our ancestors!"
Xie Wan was shocked. The purpose of her trip was to find clues about the jade ring through the tablets and family tree in the ancestral hall.
The ancestral hall was smashed, what should we do?
She asked, "Fifth Aunt, do you know who has the family tree now?"
The fifth aunt who gave Xie Wan the straw hat was about seventy years old. She was obviously an old lady who knew a lot about the affairs of the village.
The fifth aunt said: "The family tree must have been enshrined in the ancestral hall. The ancestral hall was smashed and the family tree was burned!"
Xie Wan’s head was buzzing.
All the family trees were burned?
Then how can she find clues?
That set of jade jewelry has been passed down for hundreds of years at least. How do we find it?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
