The items for ancestor worship were prepared in advance, and after breakfast, Da Niu took Xiao Kang with him.
A few people were drinking porridge when they heard someone knocking on the door.
Chunxi went out to check and came back and said, "Miss, it's the Second Master and Second Madam who came yesterday."
Tian An was stunned for a moment before realizing that Chun Xi was talking about Tian Mingcai and Du Shi.
Tian An put down the bowl and asked, "Did they come empty-handed?"
Chunxi said: "Master Tian Er was carrying a basket filled with incense, candles and paper. I didn't see the tribute. Maybe it was covered up."
Tian An picked up his chopsticks and put them down again, looking at Xiaokang and said, "Xiaokang, what do you think of your second uncle and second aunt? They are your former third uncle and third aunt. We have severed our relationship with Aunt Qian's family, so from now on, they will be your second uncle and second aunt."
Xiaokang put down his chopsticks and sat up straight. He thought for a while before saying, "My second uncle and second aunt never beat me when I was at home, but they didn't help me when Aunt Qian and Grandma Wang beat me.
But there were a few times when Grandma Wang punished me by not letting me eat, and Brother Zhuangzhuang secretly took the sweet potatoes and gave them to me to eat.”
As Tian An recalls, there seemed to be a few times when he was punished by not being allowed to eat dinner because he had too much work to do. Later, Xiaokang got a sweet potato from somewhere and they shared it.
"Chunxi, please invite Second Uncle and Second Aunt in!"
Daniu looked at Tian An: "Are you planning to forgive them, An An?"
Tian An shook his head: "It's not a matter of forgiveness or not. In principle, my second uncle and second aunt have never harmed me.
But emotionally speaking, they are our relatives, and it is somewhat disheartening that they did not protect us when we were suffering.
I don't have too many expectations for them, I just want to live my own life well."
After Tian Mingcai and Mrs. Du entered the room, they saw several people sitting together eating breakfast, which was somewhat awkward.
Find a place to sit! There's no room. Stand! Everyone else is sitting! I'm too much of a stickler.
Tian An took his bowl and chopsticks and moved to the bench where Daniu was sitting. He looked at the two of them with a smile and said, "Uncle and Aunt, don't stand there! Come sit down!"
Mrs. Du replied, "Oh! Very good!" and pulled Tian Mingwu over to sit on the bench that Tian An had vacated.
After the two sat down, Tian An asked again, "Have Second Uncle and Second Aunt eaten?"
Mrs. Du tried hard to look away from the porridge and pancakes on the table. She swallowed and said, "We ate two steamed buns when we came here, so we're not hungry now. We'll leave after Xiaokang finishes his meal."
Tian An said, "Okay, then we won't be polite to Uncle and Aunt." After that, he picked up the bowl and continued to eat. He really wasn't polite if he said so.
After a while, Xiaokang put down his bowl and chopsticks, wiped his mouth and said, "I'm done eating." He then looked at Daniu and said, "Brother Daniu, are you okay?"
Da Niu nodded, stood up and said to Tian Mingcai, "Let's go! Second Uncle."
Tian Mingcai was stunned by Da Niu's "Second Uncle" call and didn't react for a long time. Du Shi pulled him from the side and he hurriedly stood up: "Oh! Let's go!"
Da Niu took Tian Mingcai and Xiaokang, took sickles, hoes, and carried offerings, and went out to visit the graves.
The Tian family's cemetery is all on the same hill, on the southeast hill opposite the back hill. However, since Daniu's parents were not members of the Tian family, they bought the cemetery later and were buried at the foot of the southeast hill.
They first went to the grave of Da Niu's parents and laid out the offerings they had brought. After cleaning the area around the grave, Da Niu added new soil to the grave.
He lit two white candles and a stick of incense. Da Niu bowed and kowtowed several times before inserting the incense. Then he began to burn gold ingots, paper money and pour wine.
Xiaokang waited until Da Niu finished worshipping before lighting a stick of incense and worshipping again.
Tian Mingcai hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward, lit a stick of incense and bowed.
Daniu glanced at him and said nothing.
After the gold ingots and paper money were burned out and the incense and candles were extinguished, Daniu took a last look at his parents' graves before leaving.
After sweeping the graves of Daniu's family, we went to the graves of Xiaokang's grandparents and mother. The Tian family's graves were old, so we had to use hoes and sickles to clear away the weeds and branches that had grown over them, and then clean them up before we could start offering sacrifices.
Xiaokang imitated Da Niu and arranged the offerings, took out a red candle and lit it, then lit incense, bowed and kowtowed, poured wine, and burned gold ingots and paper money.
Seeing Xiaokang doing so well, Tian Mingcai felt a little sad, and suddenly felt a little redundant. He tightened his grip on the basket, took out the incense and candles he had prepared, and kowtowed and burned paper.
Finally, there was the old grave of the ancestors of the Tian family. When they met the relatives, Jian Xiaokang was doing things in a reasonable and proper manner, and when they saw the gold ingots they carried, they praised him for being filial and sensible.
"Xiaokang is so filial! Burning such a big gold ingot for the ancestors, your family will definitely be blessed by the ancestors this year!"
Xiaokang bowed and said in a sage voice, "Filial piety is the most important virtue. This is what Xiaokang should do."
The uncles and aunts all smiled and praised him, "You are sensible and polite. You are a good student!"
Xiaokang bowed to Daniu and said, "It's all thanks to Daniu's good teaching. Xiaokang now knows a lot of words and understands a lot of principles."
Everyone looked at the big bull standing beside them and said in surprise, "Wow! Was it actually the big bull who taught him this?"
…
After sweeping the tomb, everyone walked down the mountain talking and laughing.
After the three of them returned to Daniu's house, Tian Mingcai and Du Shicai left together.
Today was probably the most awkward day these two had ever experienced. Tian Mingcai felt like he was superfluous. Mrs. Du had sat there the entire morning watching Tian An and the others busying about, unable to get a word in.
After the two left, Tian An went into the kitchen to cook.
First, I mixed a large plate of spring bamboo shoots, fern moss, tofu slices and three kinds of cold dishes. Spring bamboo shoots and fern moss will only be available for a few days after Qingming Festival, so if not now, when will we eat them?
I heated up the oil in a pan, added onions, ginger, garlic, and dried chilies, and stir-fried a plate of spring bamboo shoots and wild mushroom slices.
Chen Feng picked up some wild mushrooms when he went to the mountains to chop firewood early in the morning. There were not many of them, and he added them to the spring bamboo shoots to make a perfect dish.
Tian An used half of the tofu he bought at the village entrance to make cold dishes, and with the remaining half, he prepared to make Mapo Tofu.
The most important ingredient in making Mapo Tofu is broad bean paste. This paste is very expensive and cost her a lot of money!
Looking at the bean paste on the table, Tian An said, "Chunxi, do we have any unplanted land? Let's plant more peppers and broad beans! Peppers and bean paste are too expensive. It's more cost-effective to make the sauce ourselves!"
Chun Xi kept busy, saying, "I've reserved a few acres of fertile land for growing vegetables. I'll let them know when the season comes. Is there anything else you'd like to plant?"
Tian An said as he fried Mapo Tofu, "I asked Peng Zhang to find me some watermelon seeds and grape vines. I should have news soon. You should reserve the land in advance."
Chunxi stopped and looked at Tian An and said, "Oh! Girl, we still have to grow watermelons and grapes. I'm afraid it's not enough!"
Tian An put the Mapo Tofu on the plate and said, "Didn't we cut down a lot of trees in the land where we planted trees before? If it really doesn't work, we can clean up the land where the trees were cut down and make compost in advance."
Chun Xi nodded and said, "Okay, young lady, I'll give the instructions right away."
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