Most of the men in the Yan family went back, including Yan Ge from Chuncheng, who brought his son back to Mushroom Village. Ma Mingchun used a truck to transport the people, otherwise there really wouldn't be enough room.
Fortunately, the Yan family's house was large with many rooms. Yan Daqiang, Yan Xiaoqiang, Aiguo, and Aidang lived in the main house, while the brothers squeezed into the backyard. Looking at the three rooms in the backyard, they hadn't actually lived there more than a few times since it was built.
Yan Daqiang was living in Grandma Yan's house when he suddenly said to Yan Aidang, "After the ancestral hall is built, demolish and rebuild this old house as well. I want to restore the house to its original state from when I was a child."
Yan Aidang nodded, understanding his father's worries. The barking of dogs and crowing of roosters filled the air, and the flickering lights made it difficult to find one's way home.
Ye Chenming specially spent a lot of money to invite a feng shui master from Hong Kong Island. With the guidance of the feng shui master, they replanned the area around the logging camp.
The logging camp was very large, so the land was divided in two, with a road built in the middle. The front half housed the logging camp's dormitories and canteen, as well as two warehouses, one large and one small. The back half, far from the village, was where the ancestral hall was built.
Mushroom Village has no dragon veins or auspicious feng shui lands. The village's rise is entirely due to Yan Xiaonan's logging camp and Bei Nan's donations.
Therefore, when the Yan family wanted to build a private ancestral hall, all the villagers were willing to contribute soil. It was precisely this spontaneous action of the villagers that allowed the Yan family's ancestral hall to accumulate profound merit.
Under the arrangement of the feng shui master, the ancestral hall faces south and is divided into three parts. The front courtyard is a place that can be visited by villagers or tourists. The walls are covered with portraits, from the barren land and the villagers who were bent over to cultivate the land to the current prosperity.
The central courtyard is the Yan family ancestral hall. The materials used are all high-quality materials that Yan Xiaonan had collected and stored in the past. The entire ancestral hall is very spacious and well-lit.
The interior layout of the ancestral hall emphasizes the posture, the facing table, and the source of vitality, while the exterior buildings are built in a magnificent, solemn and dignified manner.
The feng shui master also had a pond dug in a key location. As the saying goes, "prosperity comes with water." If you want many descendants and continuous wealth, you must have a solid backing and water embracing your home.
The backyard served as a backup for the Yan family and also as a place where the ancestral hall could be expanded. The feng shui master really put his heart into ensuring that the Yan family's descendants would continue to thrive.
Choosing an auspicious time for starting construction or holding sacrifices, as the saying goes, "Even if one doesn't obtain a true dragon, but the sun and moon, one should still prosper and the family will be wealthy." This proves the importance of choosing an auspicious date.
The ancestral hall has already begun construction, and Yan Daqiang, holding Yan Aidang's hand, started rambling on and on around the Yan family's old house. This is the pigsty, built with adobe bricks. There's a chicken coop here, with several chickens. Every morning, we're woken up by the rooster crowing.
The earthen bed here was built by your grandfather. He used the bricks he got in exchange for a bag of fine grain to build it. It's the best-built earthen bed in the whole village because it even has a particularly beautiful window on top. Here...
Based on Yan Daqiang's narration, Yan Aidang slowly began to draw, and gradually, an old house appeared on the sketchbook, full of three-dimensionality, which made Yan Daqiang feel sad.
This was his childhood home. Two window beams were broken here, there were several gaps in the door, and the kang (a heated brick bed) was very large because his father said that if he had ten children, they could sleep sideways or upright.
By the way, the kangqin (a type of heated brick bed) should be carved with dragon and phoenix patterns. That was your grandmother's dowry chest. Later, the dragon and phoenix patterns on it were worn off, but I know your grandmother was very reluctant to part with it. It was carved by your grandfather himself.
Yan Aidang felt very heavy-hearted after hearing this. He learned from Yan Daqiang that his grandmother had experienced hardships and difficulties that they had never encountered before, as well as the deep longing in her heart.
The villagers had no idea that it would take the Yan family a year to build an ancestral hall and rebuild an old house. Moreover, the old house seemed familiar, a stark contrast to the village's architecture, representing the difference between the old and new societies.
After the older villagers explained, it turned out that the Yan family had restored their old house to its original appearance. The villagers couldn't understand why the Yan family would build a house that looked worse than before.
Ma Mingchun stood in front of the Yan family's old house, tears streaming down his face. Only the Yan family would be so nostalgic. He seemed to see his father, Village Chief Ma, coming out of the Yan family's house with the food the Yan family had given him in his pocket.
The Yan family's old house has been restored to its appearance when Yan Daqiang was a child. Seeing Yan Daqiang nod in satisfaction, Yan Aidang finally breathed a sigh of relief. The reconstruction of this old house was even more difficult than his restoration of ancient buildings.
That year, Yan Xiaonan in the capital was also busy. She arranged all her work without stopping, just to accompany her grandmother back to her hometown. They decided that on Qingming Festival in 1999, her grandmother would send the ancestral tablets of the Yan family back to Mogu Village.
"Grandma, you can't fly anymore. I want you to take the ancestral tablets of the Yan family to my space, which is a magic artifact, and stay there for a while until we reach Mushroom Village, okay?" Yan Xiaonan asked.
Grandma Yan nodded happily. "Our ancestors have never been to heaven, have they? My granddaughter will take you there this time. You'll be benefiting from my presence this time!"
Two days before Qingming Festival, the Yan family members returned to Mushroom Village one after another. They went to prepare for all the preliminary work and were just waiting for Grandma Yan to bring the ancestral tablets into the ancestral hall.
On Qingming Festival, a light rain was falling from the sky. Ye Ren looked at Grandma Yan with his eyes filled with reluctance. He knew that after Grandma Yan went back this time, when they met again, it would either be him seeing Grandma Yan off, or Grandma Yan seeing him off.
Grandma Yan was also teary-eyed. After living together for more than ten or twenty years, the Ye family and the Yan family had become a true family with a deep bond. This parting might be the last time they would see each other. She hoped that they could be in-laws again in the next life.
Yan Xiaoqiang quickly pushed Grandma Yan to offer incense to the Ye family's ancestors, telling them that the Yan family's ancestors were about to return to their roots. When Yan Xiaonan saw that Grandma and the others were ready, she waved her hand, and everyone except Ye Ren, Ye Huili, and Ye Chenming disappeared.
"Grandpa, I'll be staying with Grandma for a while this time, so I'll leave you and Dad to take care of things here. But I'll come back to visit often," Yan Xiaonan said.
Ye Ren nodded, watching Yan Xiaonan and Ye Chenming leave the courtyard. He felt a pang of sadness; the departure of the Yan family made the courtyard even more lonely and desolate.
After a two-hour flight, Yan Xiaonan and Ye Chenming arrived at the parking lot in the neighboring county. They immediately spotted a seven-seater Mercedes parked there by Bei Nan and took out the spare key to open the door.
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