Gu Hanting never dreamed that his granddaughter would return at this time, and even planned to visit the family's graves and offer lanterns. The old man didn't know what to say at this moment, and the old woman was finally able to see her granddaughter.
Qiao Jie saw Gu Hanting wiping away tears, sighed, and patted his brother's shoulder. "What's the rush? Isn't this what we should do? Besides, it's time to let the child go and see her ancestors. She can't not even know where her grandmother is buried, can she? Let your wife see this girl too, so the child won't have to go anymore."
There's a custom in the countryside that girls don't have to visit graves. Jiang Qiao hadn't thought about this before, but now that she had, she figured she should go and see for herself.
She didn't know where her grandmother, uncle, and aunt were buried. If they needed her in the future and couldn't come back, she would have to help take care of the Gu family's ancestral graves.
Gu Hanting nodded in agreement while wiping away his tears. "It's time to go and see. I didn't think of that before. Zhixuan, you take your sister there and be careful."
Jiang Qiao prepared quite a few things. It was her first time visiting a grave, so she had to bring some gifts, which were naturally offerings. Fortunately, she had a spatial ability, so preparing these things was easy.
In the afternoon, Gu Zhixuan and Gu Zhihong, along with Jiang Qiao, set off carrying baskets.
Speaking of which, the Gu family's ancestral graves are located quite far away, some distance from the village, on a distant mountain.
"Grandpa said that this mountain and this land used to belong to our family. Otherwise, how could our family have been classified as landlords? It's just a pity that the mountain and the land no longer belong to us. But it's good that way. Anyway, no one should covet it anymore. It all belongs to the collective."
On the way, Jiang Qiao didn't see anyone visiting graves, which puzzled her. Gu Zhixuan explained it to her.
"We've arrived a bit too early. They should be coming out soon if it gets any darker."
When they arrived at the location, Jiang Qiao was stunned. "Why is there so little?"
Logically, in her memory, there should be quite a few graves here, so why are there only three?
“Our ancestors have all been sent back to their ancestral home for burial. We live here, so my mother, grandmother, and my uncle and his wife are buried here. It was my grandfather who found someone to look at the feng shui.”
"Huh? We have a clan name?"
Gu Zhixuan and his brother nodded. "Yes, but not here. I heard that after the family split up, Great-Grandfather took Grandpa out. As for why, Grandpa didn't say. I guess my dad and the others know."
Jiang Qiao immediately became interested upon hearing this. It seemed that the Gu family was not as simple as she had imagined; there was more to the story.
"Does Grandpa live alone? Does he have any brothers or sisters?"
Gu Zhixuan shook his head. "It seems so, but we lost contact many years ago. Now it's just our family here. As for the details, you'll have to ask Grandpa. Anyway, given our current situation, even if we have relatives, let alone whether they are alive or not, even if they are, they might not want to have any connection with us."
The three siblings arranged the offerings, and Jiang Qiao burned paper money for the deceased while silently praying, "Dear elders, please don't blame me. Although I am not the real Jiang Qiao, I have taken over Jiang Qiao's body. In terms of bloodline, I am also a family man."
In my heart, I also consider myself a member of the Gu family. I hope you will bless the Gu family in the future, and I will do my best to help the Gu family. This is my first time visiting you, and I hope you won't blame me. I didn't want to take over Jiang Qiao's body, but under those circumstances, I had no choice..."
Jiang Qiao muttered many things in her heart, not knowing if the deceased could hear her, but she had said what she needed to say.
After the paper money was burned, a whirlwind suddenly arose in front of the grave for no apparent reason. The ashes swirled in the whirlwind, turning over each grave before stopping in front of the last grave.
Gu Zhihong was puzzled. "What's going on? I've never seen anything like this before. It's really strange."
Gu Zhixuan sighed, "Maybe Grandma and the others were happy to see Jiang Qiao. Grandma, Mom, and Uncle and Aunt, everything is fine at home, don't worry."
"With us here, the Gu family will never fall. My father and second uncle are doing well too. If you ever need anything in the future, you can come to us in our dreams."
The three siblings lit small red candles, made fire prevention preparations, knelt down and kowtowed, Gu Zhixuan set off a string of firecrackers, and then the three of them reluctantly left.
Only Jiang Qiao herself knew the shock she felt. She felt that the gust of wind just now was a divine intervention, and that they might have really heard her voice.
He turned and glanced at the three graves again, thinking to himself, "Don't worry, as long as I'm here, I will protect the Gu family for you."
Ever since the children left, Gu Hanting has been worried. He stands at the door and keeps looking south, afraid that something might happen to the children. They are the three most important treasures of the Gu family. He cannot bear the loss of any of them.
"If I had known, I would have gone with them—"
Qiao Jie had heated up the food downstairs, and seeing Gu Hanting standing motionless in the cold wind, he couldn't bear to look at him.
"Aren't you cold? Come in quickly. You're such a big kid now, what's there to worry about?"
As they were talking, Jiang Weihan came over, his hands trembling. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you being punished by standing in the corner? What's wrong with you? Hurry up and come inside. If you don't take care of your health, how will you take care of the children in the future?"
Qiao Jie quickly called Jiang Weihan in, "Perfect timing, let's have dinner at home, we've already prepared it."
Jiang Weihan chuckled, "Brother, I have to go back for dinner. The kids are all back home. Do you have any wine here? Give me some, so I can have some to drink tonight."
Qiao Jie waved his hand, "We may not have anything else, but how could we not have wine? Come in quickly, I'll get you some wine."
Seeing a large jar of liquor in the room, Jiang Weihan was itching to try it. "Pour more, it won't be enough to drink. Brother, this is sorghum liquor, it smells really good."
Qiao Jie smiled and nodded, "That's right, the girl bought it. I soaked some herbs in it. Drinking more of this is good for your health."
Before leaving, Qiao Jie gave the old man a small bag of spiced peanuts, saying, "Take this home and keep it to go with your drinks."
Jiang Weihan accepted it without ceremony, saying, "Brother, I wish I could move in with you. Your food is really good."
"Then go ahead and move it. I'm open to anyone who comes. It'll be good to have someone to chat with this old man."
Seeing Gu Hanting slowly walking back, Jiang Weihan patted him on the shoulder. "You, you always have so many worries. It's a good thing the children went up the mountain, why think so much? Now that the children are all better and your grandson is all grown up, you really should enjoy your retirement. Hurry back, the children should be back soon. My second son said the children have already come down the mountain and are all fine."
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