"Xia, what's wrong?" Xia Xiaomei poked her son's chubby cheeks.
Xia Minmin finds it amusing whenever she recalls Xia's initial flustered explanations, followed by his resigned death. Almost everyone who knew him assumed he was Xia Jianguo's youngest son.
Li Chunmei smiled and said, "Xia is upset because she was mistaken for my and your second brother's son!"
Xiao Wu ruffled his son's buzz cut haphazardly. "If you're unhappy, your second uncle is so rich. It's much better to follow him than to follow me and your mother."
Xia pushed her heartless father away forcefully, her ears turning red with anger.
Xia Xiaomei slapped Xiao Wu's arm, and the spot instantly turned red, leaving a clear handprint. Just thinking about it hurt.
"How can you talk like that? Only you could say something so absurd."
Having other important business to attend to, the group didn't chat much before heading to Grandpa and Grandma Xia's graves with sickles, incense, candles, and firecrackers.
This cemetery is a family cemetery where members of the Xia family from the same village are buried. Usually, almost no one comes here in the height of summer, and the weeds are so thick that it's almost impossible to walk through.
Xia Jianguo and Xiao Wu, wearing gloves, cut the weeds on both sides of the road, while Xia Minmin and Xia Xia each held a stick and tapped the grass on both sides.
Beads of sweat the size of soybeans slid down their faces. Less than an hour from noon, they had already wasted twenty minutes just cutting the weeds in the cemetery, and Xia Jianguo and Xiao Wu's clothes were soaked through.
The grave still bears the offerings left by Xia Jianguo during his Qingming Festival worship. New offerings are placed on the grave, incense and candles are lit, and firecrackers are set off. Each of the younger generation takes turns kowtowing.
Li Chunmei said in a rambling voice, "Mom and Dad, thanks to your blessings, our family is now healthy, Xiaomin has been admitted to a good university, and even Jianguo has rekindled his dream of going to university. Our family is doing well. If you need anything down there, just come to us in a dream."
Xia Xiaomei knelt in front of the grave, tears streaming down her face. Xia stood by, at a loss. After a minute, she composed herself and said, "Mom and Dad, I've had a baby. It's a pity you didn't get to see how well-behaved and considerate he is. Sometimes he makes me so angry, but I still love him very much. Don't worry about us over there. We will live a good life."
Xia Jianguo said, "Mom and Dad, this is a copy of Xiaomin's college admission notice. I'll burn it for you later. Our family has finally produced a college student, and a student from a prestigious university at that. You should be very pleased! And here's my admission notice. To be honest, I only got into a second-tier university."
The paper money from the Heaven and Earth Bank, along with various gold ingots and gold bars made of yellow paper, were placed aside and burned.
Li Chunmei took out a photocopy of her admission notice from her bag and threw it into the raging fire, setting off firecrackers.
The rising wisps of smoke are like deceased relatives receiving messages from the world, waiting for the firecrackers and joss paper to burn out before returning together to the empty old house.
From afar, Xia Minmin saw a person standing under the eaves of the old house. As she got closer, the figure became clearer and clearer; it was Xia's youngest uncle.
"Dad, it's my great-uncle."
The group jogged over.
Uncle Xia is thinner and shorter than he was a few years ago, but he still looks very healthy.
"Uncle, why did you come here? We should have paid our respects first," Xia Jianguo said.
Uncle Xia waved his hand, "We're all family, we're not that particular. We heard you were back and heard firecrackers going off in the yard, so we knew you were going to pay respects to our elder brother and sister-in-law."
"Yes, Xiaomin did very well in the college entrance examination this year. After receiving her admission notice, she wanted to tell her parents. It just so happened that her younger sister also wanted to come back to see her parents, so they came back together."
Uncle Xia smiled immediately upon hearing about the excellent college entrance exam results. His family had always toiled in the fields, relying on the weather for their livelihood. Few of his descendants had become scholars; Jianguo was doing quite well, but still not quite as accomplished as the educated. Finally, a grandchild had been admitted to university.
Uncle Xia asked anxiously, "Which school?"
"Beijing University!"
Uncle Xia only attended a literacy class, but he loved learning. He watched the news every day, subscribed to a newspaper, and walked to town to pick it up every day, rain or shine. He was very familiar with the prestigious Peking University.
"Great! Great! Our Xia family has finally produced a college student."
At Xia Xiaoshugong's insistence, the group went back for lunch.
Uncle Xia grabbed a hen from the chicken coop and, with lightning speed, slaughtered it and sent it into the kitchen.
Chicken stewed over a wood fire has a unique aroma. The chickens are free-range and raised for two or three years, so the soup tastes great and the meat is very chewy.
Uncle Xia put a piece of chicken into each of Xia Minmin's and Xia Xiao's bowls, saying, "Little ones, eat more. If you like it, your uncle will make it for you every day."
"Thank you, Uncle."
Xia Jianguo said, "Uncle, Xiaomin's college entrance exam results are pretty good. I'm planning to host a small dinner for our relatives and friends at a restaurant in town tomorrow."
Uncle Xia took a sip of his drink. "Yes, we should definitely celebrate. Do you need me to recommend some restaurants?"
Li Chunmei said with a smile, "Uncle, that's perfect! Before we came back, we were worried about which restaurant to go to. We haven't been back for so many years, and we didn't know which restaurant had good food."
After finishing their meal, they visited relatives and friends with gifts, arranged a lunch time for the next day, and returned to the county town close to 6 p.m.
Back at the hotel, Xia was captivated by the night market and refused to go upstairs. Left with no other option, Xiao Wu and Xia's sister took him to the night market.
Exhausted after a long day, Xia Jianguo couldn't stand the smell of sweat on his body, so he went back to the hotel and immediately took a shower.
Xia Minmin took out the English CET-6 study guide that Li Qing had given her and started reviewing her lessons. Her goal for her first year of university was to pass both the CET-4 and CET-6 exams.
In order not to disturb her daughter's studies, Li Chunmei took her clothes to Xia Jianguo's room to take a shower and watch TV.
"Jianguo, should we book a few rooms at the hotel in town tomorrow to entertain our guests for playing cards?"
Xia Jianguo pondered for a moment, "We'll see. If anyone wants to play cards, we'll book a room. It's the busy farming season now, and not everyone might want to spend their time playing cards."
The two chatted casually while watching the news on TV, as the news anchor read out the news items in a clear and articulate voice.
thump thump thump...
Xia Jianguo put on his shoes, got up and opened the door. Xia Xiaomei and her family of three were standing outside.
As soon as Xia Xiaomei opened the door, she felt a chill. She raised the bag she was carrying and said, "Second brother, I brought some barbecue for you and your wife. Xiaomin doesn't usually like to eat at this time of day, so I didn't prepare any for her."
"Okay, you guys should go back and take a shower too."
Standing at the entrance for just a short while, Xia Jianguo felt unbearably hot. He hadn't felt this hot when he was cutting grass at the cemetery at noon.
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