The Mu family was an outsider family and had no land in the village at first, so they could not bury their dead in the fields. They could only find a Feng Shui site on the mountain.
As the saying goes, medicine and divination are inseparable. The older generation of the Mu family still knows something about Feng Shui, and they chose a good place close to mountains and water.
Good feng shui doesn't mean the road is easy to walk on. The road that Uncle Mu had walked on earlier had long been invaded by plants, and the marks left behind were also obscured by moss and vines. If Uncle Mu didn't have the "mantra" left by the elders in his family, he would probably not be able to find the place in an entire afternoon.
"Oh, this is it," Uncle Mu patted his nephew's husband on the shoulder, pointed diagonally in front of him, and said self-deprecatingly, "Oh, my health is getting worse every year. I came here by myself last year!"
Uncle Mu looked miserable halfway through the walk. He was a very strong-willed man and refused help from others. In the end, Ying Mingcheng had to carry him on his back and let him find the way.
Shuiwa followed nearby. Upon hearing this, he took a sickle and cut away the weeds and vines over there, revealing a bluestone path.
"Mom, look, there's a toad here."
Mu Huaixi was pulled by Xiao Huihui. Looking down, she saw some small stone sculptures beside the stone path. There were stone turtles, stone frogs, and stone dewdrops. They were all symbols of longevity, but because they were not very big, they were covered with moss. "Really? I didn't even notice that. Huihui is awesome!"
As soon as she finished speaking, a vague picture appeared in her mind. At that time, she was also a little dwarf, holding her father's legs, pointing at the stone deer and wanting to take it home in surprise.
"These are all left by the old people," Uncle Mu wiped his sweat, took out a round stone pig from his bag, and put it on the side of the road. "My craftsmanship is poor, so I'll just carve a pig."
More images flashed through Mu Huaixi's mind. She walked a few steps forward and found a stone-carved rabbit. She said to her uncle, "This was carved by my dad, right?"
"Hmm? Yes, you see, there are two whorls on the rabbit's head. They are carved according to the whorls on your head."
She lowered her eyes and silently swallowed the tears that were about to burst out. She seemed to have forgotten too many details about her time with her parents.
When she first saw these stone carvings, she thought they were for feng shui or for burial, but now she remembered that these stone carvings—
"We put it on the roadside because we're afraid the little ones will be scared," Uncle San explained to Ying Mingcheng with a smile.
For young children, the sacrifice ceremony was a torture. The mountain roads were difficult to walk on, mosquitoes bit them, and there were only a few loess graves in the desolate surroundings. They did not understand the sacrifice ceremony at all, nor did they understand why they had to walk such a long way to see their grandparents and great-grandfather. In the end, they just cried bitterly in front of the mounds of earth.
Ying Mingcheng had never seen such stone carvings before, and he exclaimed that they were so gentle.
To Mu Huaixi's surprise, her grandfather's tomb had been cleaned by someone. There was a sesame cake placed in front of the tomb, and a basin of paper ingots on top of it.
Mu Huaixi was a little surprised and looked at his third uncle. Could it be that his eldest uncle had come?
Uncle San shook his head and picked up the biscuit that had been gnawed by animals and looked at it. "This biscuit is the work of the Lu family. I guess the Lu family came up the mountain and stopped by to see your grandfather."
"Lu Dahua had a difficult birth, and it was your grandfather who saved her."
"Dahua, you rode that when you were a kid, don't you remember? That big yellow cow at Grandma Lu's house!"
Mu Huaixi then remembered that the Lu family was not from here either. They had finally bought a cow, but the first born was sick. She had a good relationship with Lu Xiaohua when she was a child, and she cried and begged her grandfather to save Dahua.
"Cows are more precious than people. Your grandfather was unwilling to save it at that time, but now it seems that the cow's family is really loyal." Uncle San wiped his eyes and was about to squat down to pull weeds when he was stopped by Ying Mingcheng.
"Uncle San, you should take a rest. We haven't been here for several years. You must give us a chance to show our abilities." Ying Mingcheng took out a hoe and a small shovel, waved his hand, and took Xiao Huihui and Xiao Heping to work.
The two of them didn't know what hard labor they were going to do, they just knew that their father was taking them to pull weeds, which was something they couldn't do in the city, so they followed him excitedly.
"Xiao Xi, your grandfather has really good taste," Uncle Mu sat on a wooden stake nearby, lit a cigarette and chatted with her.
Mu Huaixi was preparing a rag to wipe the stone tablet. Upon hearing this, she turned around and smiled, "Mingcheng is very good, the Ying family is all well, and we will also be getting better and better."
"Yeah..." Uncle Mu looked at Shui Wa, who had just returned with the water, and suddenly said, "I didn't tell you about your aunt's situation before because I was afraid you wouldn't know her well enough and might overthink things."
"Uncle San, what are you talking about?" Mu Huaixi glared at him. "When I saw Aunt San today, I knew she was a good person. With Aunt San taking care of you and Shuiwa being filial to you, you should just be happy, Uncle San!"
"Hey, yeah, yeah, I'm really happy now." Uncle Mu was stunned for a moment, then admitted with a smile, "Your grandfather is right. Sometimes I'm not as good as you and tend to get stuck in a rut."
Mu Huaixi knew very well that Third Aunt must have had an unpleasant past, but who doesn’t have one?
Besides, it was her Third Uncle who lived with her, not her own life, so why should she care? Now her Third Uncle was obviously very happy, and that was enough.
Mu Huaixi didn't want his uncle to waste time thinking, "Did my uncle say something again? Don't listen to them, they can't even live their own lives!"
"Oh," Uncle Mu sighed. How could his eldest brother not cause trouble?
After he and Bao Lian got together, his sister-in-law came to the house and made a fuss, saying that it was shameful for her to be a sister-in-law with Bao Lian, and that it was shameful for him to marry a widow. She also said that she wanted to introduce a virgin to him.
Doesn’t he know his sister-in-law well?
What's the point of introducing a virgin? I guess he's trying to cheat some girl and even ask him to pay for it.
Sure enough, after he said he had no money, his sister-in-law turned hostile and threatened to cut off ties with his family, saying that she could not afford to lose face with him.
Uncle Mu was disdainful. His elder brother and his wife had no reputation or face in the village now. They forced their niece to get married but failed, and ended up in jail. They were even cheated by their daughter, and came back in disgrace after being released. No one paid any attention to them, but they came to him to talk about their face?
Uncle Mu didn't intend to tell his niece about these bad things, but some people couldn't help but talk about them. After they swept the tomb and went down the mountain, before they reached the village entrance, they met his uncle's family waiting on the roadside.
"Xiao Xi? Is Xiao Xi back? Why doesn't she come to her uncle's house? It wouldn't look good if the new son-in-law didn't come home to pay his respects." The uncle came over with a shameless face, took a cigarette from his ear, and insisted on giving it to Ying Mingcheng.
The eldest aunt looked at her critically, and when she saw the gold bracelet on her wrist, her eyes lit up. She came over and tried to pull her, "Hey, Xiaoxi, come on, let's go to your eldest aunt's house for dinner tonight! I've raised you for so many years, you wouldn't stop socializing with your uncle and aunt because of such a small thing, would you? That would really break our hearts!"
"Your room is still reserved for you, it's all tidied up!"
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