Early in the morning on the fourth day of the New Year, Xie Xiaoling and Liu Yumei came with incense, candles and paper money.
Xie Xiaoling was accompanied by her eldest son Liu Jiang.
"Yuan Chao, Xiao Wan, this is your eldest cousin. Yesterday, your eldest cousin heard that you were coming, so he went out to sea and got you a lot of fresh seafood. He is keeping them all. You can go over to eat them at noon today."
In this weather, even if you cast nets near the coast, you won’t get much.
If it weren't for entertaining his cousins who came from afar, Liu Jiang would not have gone out to sea.
"Hey, Fourth Aunt, do you have a fishing boat?"
"Yes, thanks to your father. If it weren't for the money he sent, Fourth Aunt's family wouldn't have been able to afford the boat."
Xie Xiaoling’s fishing boat is actually not very big. Now all boats over a certain size will be collectively owned.
Her family's boat can only be considered a small sampan, but for an ordinary family living by the sea, having such a small boat can make their life much richer than that of other families.
Xie Xiaoling said with some sadness:
"Your second cousin is a soldier in the Xisha Islands. I heard that there was a war some time ago, and there has been no news until today.
Yuan Chao, can you help me find out if your second cousin is okay? "
Xie Yuanchao comforted Xie Xiaoling: "It's okay. We fought quickly in the Xisha Islands this time. Liu Hai will definitely be fine."
After waiting for more than an hour, Xie Xiaoyan finally came over with her son and daughter.
Xie Xiaoyan's home is in town and the journey is far, and everyone understands.
The fifth aunt was just as enthusiastic when she saw Xie Wan and his sister, but she had more white hair than Xie Xiaoling, and the sadness between her brows seemed to be lingering, which made Xie Wan a little suspicious.
"Yuan Chao, Xiao Wan, and Xing Xing, let's go to Fifth Aunt's house in town for dinner tomorrow.
Fourth sister, your family should come too."
Xie Xiaoyan invited.
Xie Xiaoling frowned, "How come your hair has turned so white after not being back for half a year?"
Xie Xiaoyan hesitated and said, "Let's go to visit our parents' graves first.
I'll tell you the rest when I get back."
Xie Xiaoyan gave birth to three daughters in a row, but fortunately the fourth was a son.
So her son Lu Feng is younger than Xie Wan, only seventeen years old this year, and can get along well with Xie Xing.
Xie Xiaoyan's eldest daughter and second daughter are both married. The youngest daughter, Lu Lan, brought here today is one month older than Xie Wan.
Judging from her facial features alone, she was very beautiful, but like Xie Xiaoyan, there was an indelible sadness between her brows, and she would be distracted and dazed from time to time.
Liu Yumei and Lu Lan have known each other since childhood. When Liu Yumei tried to talk to Lu Lan, Lu Lan looked listless, which made Liu Yumei a little confused.
Liu Yumei whispered to Xie Wan: "Sister Lanlan wasn't like this before."
The family first went to the cemetery of Xie’s grandparents.
The two old people were buried together.
At that time, people still buried their dead in the ground, and the family didn't have the money to build a big tomb, so they just built a mound of earth and placed a bluestone stele.
After placing the sacrificial knife heads and drinking wine, and lighting incense and candles, the younger generations began to kowtow one by one.
Xie Xiaoling and Xie Xiaoyan were burning paper money and muttering to themselves.
The general idea is to ask the elders to bless their descendants.
Xie Xiaoling specifically talked about the old house, and she spoke quite frankly. In front of her parents' grave, she also scolded her two brothers.
Xie Xiaoyan, however, was mumbling something in a low voice that no one else could hear, and as she spoke, she started to cry.
Xie Wan knelt down and kowtowed.
Although this grandpa and grandma belonged to the original owner, Xie Wan felt that she had the right to kowtow just because they passed the jade ring to Xie Dahong and it now belonged to her.
After offering sacrifices to their ancestors, the group went directly to the neighboring Changqiao Village.
It is said to be the next village, but in fact it takes more than half an hour to walk from the Xie family’s ancestral tomb.
Fortunately, this was nothing for Xie Wan, who once won first place in the rookie cross-country race.
However, Lu Lan had been living in the town all her life and had a weak constitution. She was out of breath from walking and could not bear it.
Xie Xiaoyan looked at Xie Wan with some envy and said, "I wish my Lanlan was as strong as Xiaowan!"
Xie Wan grinned. It was the first time she heard someone praise her for being strong.
Although she knew that Xie Xiaoyan thought well of her, she still found it a little funny.
Along the way, the sisters Xie Xiaoling and Xie Xiaoyan deliberately kept a distance from the other children, and the two sisters chirped crickets as they walked.
Xie Wan had good hearing and heard most of what they said.
In addition to talking about recent events in the Xie family, the two sisters shared a common hatred of the enemy, but they mainly talked about Xie Xiaoyan's family.
Xie Xiaoling asked: "What kind of trouble have you encountered? Do you have no money? I still have some. If you need money, just tell me and I will give it to you."
Xie Xiaoyan began to wipe away tears, "It's not about money, it's that Lanlan was bullied..."
Xie Xiaoyan spoke the following words almost close to Xie Xiaoling's ear. Xie Wan could only hear them intermittently, and roughly understood that someone had taken a fancy to Lu Lan, but Xie Xiaoyan's family did not agree.
That family did something bad and ruined Lu Lan's reputation.
Then Xie Wan heard Xie Xiaoling raise her voice in indignation, "Is there any law here?
We have to tell our seventh uncle about this and ask him to bring the people from Xiejia Village to the town to make the decision for you."
Then Xie Xiaoyan grabbed Xie Xiaoling and said, "How can it be that simple? It is said that the woman in that family had an affair with Wang Hongguang, and it is also rumored that the boy surnamed Li is Wang Hongguang's child.
Our old Lu went to the Li family to fight for his life before, but was arrested by the Revolutionary Committee and detained for three days.
When he came out, he was covered in wounds. "
Xie Xiaoling said angrily: "When something like this happened, you didn't even come home to tell me?"
Xie Xiaoyan cried, "What's the point of me telling you? Do you want your family to pay for it as well?
Isn't it easy for Wang Hongguang to deal with us?"
Xie Xiaoling was also numb. Even if she returned to Xiejia Village and told Xie Juncai, Xie Juncai would not be able to make the decision for them.
She gritted her teeth and said, "Write a letter to Lao Liu and ask him to come back."
Xie Xiaoyan said: "Although Lao Liu is an officer in the army, he is so far away that he cannot manage the local area.
If you write to him, you will only make him anxious.
Moreover, my husband Lu said that the army is complicated now, and even if Lao Liu can protect himself, he will probably have to be very careful.
If he went beyond the military region to take charge of local affairs, he might be sued.
Have you forgotten that Lao Liu was once imprisoned and beaten?"
Xie Xiaoling turned around, glanced at Xie Yuanchao, and said, "Let's ask Yuanchao later..."
Xie Wan sighed in her heart that these two aunts were really kind to her father. Even though the family encountered such a big thing, they did not want to make things difficult for Xie Dahong.
Since this matter involves Wang Hongguang, and she is going to cause trouble for Wang Hongguang anyway, then shouldn't she help her father take care of this matter?
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