Chapter 245 Returning Home
Wang Shan was a little curious, "Does our family also have an ancestral hall?"
"Yes, it was built jointly by several branches of our Wang clan, and it has been many years." Wang Xiuren explained simply.
"Then can we women go in? I heard that in some places women are not allowed to enter the ancestral hall."
"Of course! There is a town in my hometown where the heroic deeds of 'women making trouble in the ancestral hall' occurred during the revolutionary period, and it was even written into the 'Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan Province' by the great leader!" Wang Xiuren was very proud of his hometown when he mentioned this.
Speaking of the ancestral hall, Lin Qiu also remembered an incident in his previous life.
In the previous life, some elders of the Wang family organized the renovation of the ancestral hall and the family tree, and required each household in the clan to contribute 500 yuan.
Wang Xiuren also contributed money. When the groundbreaking ceremony was held, all the Wang family members had a buffet together. After the ancestral hall was completed, they also received a family tree.
Wang Xiuren and Lin Qiu only flipped through that family tree once.
Under the names of Wang Zongsheng and Li Xiuying, Wang Xiuren, (daughter-in-law) Lin Qiu and the other three brothers and their wives were ranked together.
There are names under their names, but the spaces under two of them are empty, without Wang Shan's name.
The two went to report to the elders in the tribe, and they explained that according to the rules, girls were not included in the family tree.
The two of them were sulking with each other for several days.
My daughter is obviously my blood, so why can’t she be considered my offspring?
I didn't expect that after learning in this life that my daughter had been admitted to Qingmei, the clan couldn't wait to open a ancestral hall to worship the ancestors. It's ironic to think about it.
Lin Qiu suddenly understood something: rules are actually snobbish things.
"Let's go back!" She made a decision.
This time she wanted to see who would say "girls can't be included in the family tree"?
"Are you really going back?" Wang Xiuren was a little incredulous.
"Yes! Didn't you say we would open an ancestral hall to worship our ancestors?" Lin Qiu replied.
"That's what they said on the phone."
"Okay, call me back later and come back after Shanshan's notice arrives!"
"good."
…
In mid-July, Wang Shan received an admission letter to the painting major at Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts.
That night, Lin Qiu and Wang Xiuren treated their relatives and friends to a seafood dinner.
The next day, the couple organized a farewell dinner to thank Wang Shan’s high school teachers.
On the fourth day, Mr. Guo Dongyuan and his family were invited separately. At the banquet, the couple once again expressed their gratitude to Mr. Guo for his dedicated teaching over the years.
The next step is to prepare for returning home.
This time, Lin Qiu decided to drive back.
The couple took turns driving slowly, checking in at two scenic spots along the way and having fun, treating it as a trip.
In Shaozhou, we visited China Danxia Mountain World Geopark, Maba Renshixia Site and Nanhua Temple.
In Linyi, we checked in at Dongjiang Lake, Mangshan Mountain, and Yangtian Lake Prairie.
Stopping and walking along the way, eating and shopping, it only takes eight or nine hours to drive, but it took a week to complete the journey.
Wang Xiuren drove the car directly to the front yard of Lin Hui's house.
The family's children as well as Zhou Mei and Lin Li immediately came over.
After Lin Li came back from the Three Gorges Dam two years ago, he has stayed in his hometown and has not left since.
With what he learned from building the dam, he began to seize the favorable trend of building irrigation canals in rural areas, and made a lot of money in his hometown.
As a result, Liu Xiang no longer goes out to work and now follows the construction team to do logistics work.
After the family's lively greetings, Zhou Mei and Liu Xiang quickly brought up the prepared lunch.
There were all kinds of chicken, duck, fish and meat, as well as wild loaches, eels, crayfish, large snails, water spinach freshly picked from their own fields, and braised chicken feet bought in town. The table was filled with ten dishes.
At the dinner table, the adults were toasting each other, and Wang Shan finally learned how to eat snails amid the laughter of her cousins. Everyone was talking and laughing, and the atmosphere was very lively.
After lunch, Lin Qiu's family of three were sent to take a nap, and the younger generations took the initiative to take on the task of clearing the table and washing the dishes.
The old couple looked at their well-behaved and sensible grandchildren with satisfaction, and talked with Lin Li for a while. They went to take a nap when they could not hold on any longer.
After waking up from a nap, Lin Qiu washed her face, took out the cosmetics from the suitcase, sat in front of the chest of drawers, and put on makeup in front of the mirror on the chest.
Wang Xiuren drank some wine at noon, and he was still a little dazed. "Wife, are you going shopping?"
"Have you fallen asleep? We have returned to our hometown and we have to hurry back later. Your parents are probably still waiting for you!" Lin Qiu answered while drawing her eyebrows.
Wang Xiuren propped himself up and sat up, raised his hand and rubbed his solar plexus, "I drank a little too much at noon, this rice wine has a strong aftereffect, I am still a little dizzy now."
"I told you not to drink so much!" Lin Qiu glared at him in disapproval, put down her eyebrow pencil, stood up and brought him a glass of cold boiled water, "You're almost 50, why don't you take it easy?"
Wang Xiuren took the boiled water and drank it in one gulp. He then grabbed his wife's hand and squeezed it. "They say that men bloom at the age of 41. Others may not know whether my flower is blooming well or not, but don't you know it?"
"You just talk nonsense!" Lin Qiu pulled his hand out and tapped his forehead, "I think you are a piece of tofu! Hurry up and get up, we have to go back to the village!"
Wang Xiuren was not angry when his wife poked him, and answered readily: "Okay, I'll get up right away!"
Lin Qiu ignored him and continued to sit in front of the chest of drawers to fix her face.
"Should I give money to my parents when I go back this time?" Wang Xiuren got out of bed and stretched.
"Let's give two red envelopes! We only come back once in so many years, it's not good to come back empty-handed." Lin Qiu picked up the lipstick and smeared it on her lips.
Now that I'm back, I have to save some face to avoid people in the village talking about me.
Lin Qiu was not afraid of what others said, as his family would not stay in their hometown for many days anyway. He was just worried that others would use this as an opportunity to gossip about his parents.
Besides, if Wang Zongsheng and his wife accepted the money, there would be less trouble.
Ever since Wang Xiuren paid their social security in one lump sum five years ago, the two of them have been living quietly in their hometown over the past few years without causing any trouble.
In Lin Qiu's opinion, spending a little money to get some peace and quiet is well worth it.
"Okay, I'll go ask my sister-in-law for two red envelopes. You can put some money in it and give it to them." After Wang Xiuren said that, he went out to find Zhou Mei to get the red envelopes.
Soon, Wang Xiuren came back.
Lin Qiu also tidied himself up. After putting away the things on the chest of drawers, he counted out 20 Mao Zedong notes from his wallet, stuffed 10 of them into a red envelope, sealed it, and put the notes into his bag.
"Is Shanshan awake?" Lin Qiu asked.
"I got up a long time ago! I just picked a bunch of tender lotus pods with Huanhuan and the others from someone's pond and are enjoying eating them!" Wang Xiuren smiled as he spoke of his daughter who was sitting on the doorstep with her feet crossed and eating lotus seeds.
"Tender lotus pods? I haven't eaten them in many years." Lin Qiu could hardly remember the taste of tender lotus pods.
"Let's go, Shanshan has a bunch, let's go try some."
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