Chapter 225 Admitting Mistakes and Attempting to Recover, But What's Done Is Irretrievable
Upon arriving at the ancestral hall, a long string of firecrackers was set off. Then, under the guidance of the clan head, Xu Jinnian conducted a series of elaborate ancestral worship ceremonies.
Everyone else, regardless of age or gender, stood solemnly on both sides watching.
After Xu Jinnian finished offering incense to the ancestors, the atmosphere immediately became more relaxed.
The other men led their sons forward to kowtow to their ancestors, praying for them to have a bright future like Xu Jinnian.
While Xu Jinnian was still talking to the clan elders, Sheng An winked at Xu Cuilian, and the two quietly left the ancestral hall and went to a corner to breathe some fresh air.
Before Sheng An could ask, Xu Cuilian spilled the beans, revealing the reasons why Xu Chenglin and Xu Guilian had severed their sibling relationship:
“Back then, our family was so poor that we never had enough to eat. Your father-in-law had to secretly follow the old hunter into the mountains to find food. Once, he finally caught a rabbit and took it to the city to exchange for grain, which he then hid in a cave. But Xu Guilian found out, stole it, and took it home. Not only that, she also complained to Jin Nian’s grandparents, which resulted in your father-in-law being beaten half to death. He couldn’t get out of bed for half a month…”
Xu Cuilian was only three or four years old when this happened, and she had no memory of it at all. She only found out about it later.
Moreover, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. The first time Xu Chenglin had a fit of rage, he almost stabbed Xu Guilian to death, was because the old hunter was seriously ill and needed money to hire a doctor.
Xu Chenglin was about to take out his secretly saved money when he opened the broken jar where he had hidden it, only to find that the money inside had already been stolen.
The person who stole the money was Xu Guilian.
She used all the money Xu Chenglin earned from risking his life to hunt in the mountains to buy delicious food and ate it all herself, leaving Xu Chenglin with not a single penny.
Not only did she refuse to keep him, but Xu Guilian also complained to her parents, causing Xu Chenglin to be beaten again and remain unconscious for a day and a night.
Unable to keep watch for a day and a night, the old hunter breathed his last while looking towards the door, dying a lonely and desolate death in the dilapidated thatched hut.
Xu Chenglin was greatly provoked and chased after Xu Guilian with a knife.
If he hadn't stopped her, Xu Guilian would have really been killed by him that time.
Mr. and Mrs. Xu were afraid. They felt that their son was cold-blooded and heartless and could not be raised properly. Sooner or later, he would tear the whole family apart, so they had the idea of separating him from his family.
But before he could do anything, Xu Chenglin, disheartened with his family, left on his own and remained gone for more than a decade.
Later, Xu Chenglin returned to his hometown and adopted Xu Jinnian, who had been abandoned in the mountains. He took good care of him, feeding and caring for him, and in just one month, he had fattened him up.
Xu Guilian was envious and felt that it was not worth wasting so many good things on a cursed loner. So she had the idea of throwing Xu Jinnian into the mountains and letting Xu Chenglin adopt her one-year-old grandson.
Xu Guilian thought this way and did it.
Fortunately, some villagers saw what happened and told Xu Chenglin in time; otherwise, Xu Jinnian would have really been in trouble.
Xu Guilian's actions angered Xu Chenglin once again. Ignoring the advice of Xu's parents, he severed his sibling relationship with Xu Guilian in front of the whole village.
This was also the direct reason why Xu Chenglin made up his mind to move to the city with Xu Jinnian.
He was truly terrified of the Xu family, worried that one day they might be careless and his son, whom he had painstakingly fattened up, would die somewhere.
To be honest, Xu Chenglin's hatred for Xu Laoda and the others was far less than that for Xu Guilian.
Sheng An was furious that Xu Guilian had done so many unforgivable things. He clenched his fists and cursed, "This inhuman scourge still has the nerve to come forward. Father was too soft-hearted back then!"
Xu Cuilian comforted her, "Fortunately, your father didn't really kill her, otherwise Jin Nian wouldn't have such a bright future today."
Having a murderer as a father made it impossible to pass the imperial examinations, let alone enter officialdom.
Sheng An loathed Xu Guilian to the extreme, feeling from the bottom of her heart that there was something wrong with the Xu family's roots; they were all either stupid or poisonous, and her father-in-law and aunt were purely genetic mutations.
At this point, the ancestral worship ceremony ended, and people gradually came out of the ancestral hall.
Xu Jinnian spotted his wife, who was puffing up in anger, in the corner.
He raised his hand to interrupt an elder, then turned and walked towards Sheng An. After looking him up and down to make sure he wasn't injured, he asked, "Who made you angry?"
From an angle where no one else could see, Sheng An gently tugged at his hand: "Who else could it be? You were almost killed by that vicious woman when you were little."
At this point, she truly felt pity for men.
Just because she was unjustly labeled as a cursed loner, she was abandoned by her biological father right after birth. After finally getting a new father and living a good life, she almost fell victim to the cruelty of her own aunt.
It's incredible that this man survived!
"It's all in the past. Aren't you doing just fine now?"
Xu Jinnian's heart melted completely, and he held his wife's hand tightly to soothe her resentment:
“Now your husband is a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial examinations), and he will become a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the metropolitan examinations) and enter the court as an official. She can only watch helplessly as your husband becomes more and more dazzling as he gets older, but she can’t benefit from his glory at all. She will be tormented by regret every day.”
Upon hearing this, Sheng An was indeed comforted: "Yes, as long as you do better and better, and don't let her family benefit from it, her good children and grandchildren will hate her for the rest of their lives."
Xu Guilian came to our door today because she wanted Jin Nian to help her family.
Her hopes were destined to be dashed, and her future was unlikely to be good.
Seeing that his wife's mood had improved, Xu Jinnian's expression also relaxed. In front of everyone, he took her hand again and accepted the clan chief's invitation to have lunch at his house.
To properly entertain Xu Jinnian, the clan chief slaughtered a chicken and a duck, and also cooked the pork belly they bought in town early that morning, preparing a large table of delicious dishes that were even more sumptuous than those for the New Year.
With so many good things to entertain outsiders, no one in the clan chief's family had any objections.
What a joke! A top scholar like him coming to our house for dinner is giving them face, isn't it?
How could they possibly have any complaints about something that others would beg for?
I wish people would come every day!
Well, coming every day might not be feasible; the chickens and ducks at home can only last for a few meals.
The group did not eat the clan chief's food for nothing. Before leaving, Sheng An slipped a small silver ingot weighing two ounces into the hand of the clan chief's great-grandson under the pretext of giving him a red envelope since it was their first meeting.
Xu Chenglin was in the limelight today. Even encountering unpleasant people didn't affect his good mood. He drank quite a bit of wine with the clan leader and others at the dinner table.
He was helped onto the carriage by Li Tian and the others. He leaned out of the carriage window and waved to the clan chief and the others with a smile: "Next time I come back to the village to worship my ancestors, I'll come and have a drink with you all again."
The clan elders' eyes lit up as they all looked at Xu Jinnian, their faces full of anticipation for his further advancement in next year's imperial examinations.
Xu Jinnian didn't say anything like "I will do my best and live up to your expectations." He simply bowed to the clan chief and the others to say goodbye, then mounted his horse and rode alongside Sheng An out of the village.
Not long after leaving the village, a person suddenly darted out from the roadside, startling Sheng An. He quickly tightened the reins, fearing that the horse would be frightened and run away.
Ma Dahua stared unblinkingly at Xu Jinnian on horseback, tears streaming down her face: "Jinnian, my son—"
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