Zhu Chunxing said: "It's okay to hold hands, but I'm afraid Chunlin and Wang Aixiang... it's too much. My family is a man. If Wang Aixiang grabs him and doesn't let go, I can't just shirk it, right?"
Zhu Chunyan: "Do we need to shirk responsibility? It's not like Chunlin dumped Wang Aixiang. Chunlin dated her to get married. Wang Aixiang didn't want Chunlin anymore and hooked up with Xiao Zhong who shows movies. Who can we blame? Do we want Chunlin to be stupid and let her dump him whenever she wants? If he wants to come back, he has to continue to be with her? What if she finds someone better and runs away again... What has Chunlin become? Is there no woman in the world? Is he just waiting to marry Wang Aixiang?"
"That's impossible!" Wang Guilan snorted, "Our children are all honest people. I asked Chunlin, and he said that they held hands and rode a bicycle together. The girl put her arm around his waist, but there was nothing else!"
"That's good! Chunyan is right. It was Wang Aixiang who didn't want Chunlin first. The whole village knows about it. We are not afraid of her making trouble."
Zhang Zhaodi said: "It's better that this matter is over sooner rather than later. Wang Aixiang is too picky and not a dutiful person. She falls in love with every woman she meets. It's not a blessing to marry a woman like this. Sooner or later, she will cause trouble."
Wang Guilan: "I am not very happy about Chunlin dating her. I have never seen a girl like her in my life. She has not even married into the family yet, but she is trying to steal the man's money from her mother-in-law. If they really get married, won't she control Chunlin tightly? Let's not talk about this for now. The main thing is that she comes to our house to complain about this and that. Her mother always likes to look at people with the sideways eyes. She is the same character as Chunzhi's mother-in-law. She always seems to be inferior to them! I don't understand: even if their family is better off than ours, we didn't go to their house to beg for food and drink, did we? Fortunately, the relationship didn't work out. It's good that it failed! I don't regret it at all. Don't look back, even if you don't want to turn back. I have to tell Chunlin tomorrow; even if I remain single in this life, I will never marry such a daughter-in-law!"
"That's absolutely right!" Zhang Zhaodi slapped her thigh in agreement, and Zhu Chunhong also nodded in agreement.
Country people are used to going to bed early and getting up early, and they don't stay up late. At nine o'clock in the evening, the discussions in the east and west rooms were over, and the women were busy making the kang to rest. Meng Tao was worried at first that she would be arranged to sleep on the big kang, but fortunately, she didn't. She and Shen Yu were assigned to a separate room, which was originally Chunshan and Chunhe's room. The bedding on the kang was still clean, and the couple were still used to using their own bedding, so they just took it out from the space.
Meng Zhehan, Liu Jianli and Xu Yuting were arranged to stay at Zhu Manyin's house as Zhu Manjin's house could no longer accommodate them.
As for Secretary Wu, he went back to the commune during the day. He also had to report other matters in the county to the commune. Shen Yu and Meng Zhehan already had a basic understanding of the route, so it would not be a good idea to delay Secretary Wu's work time. He could take the bus back to the county tomorrow.
The next morning, after breakfast, the iron bell on the big tree at the entrance of the village rang. It was the team calling for work.
Everyone in the village knew that the Zhu family had a distant guest coming, so no one said anything when Zhu Manjin, Zhu Manyin, Wang Guilan, and Zhang Zhaodi stayed at home to entertain the guests instead of going to work. However, the young people such as Chunlin, Chunshan, Chunhe, and Chunjiang went to the production team to work as usual.
At around ten o'clock, Wang Guilan and her sister-in-law filled two bamboo baskets with incense, candles and offerings for the sacrifice, covered them with a piece of blue cloth with floral patterns, and each of them put their arms around each other. Then they went out and walked into the wild.
It took about half an hour to reach the northern mountain. The cultivated area here was indeed empty and no one was around. All the members had been assigned to work in the fields in the south.
The graves of Guan Xiuzhi, He Lian and Goudan are on a gentle slope, close to Zhu's great-grandfather and great-grandmother. The tombs are neatly arranged with simple stone tablets. There are low grass and straight groves around them, but no messy thorn bushes. It is obvious that Zhu Manjin has been maintaining them carefully for many years.
Wang Guilan and Zhang Zhaodi placed offerings in front of the tombs of Grandfather Zhu, Grandmother Zhu and He Lian's mother and son respectively, while muttering and praying, saying that Xiaohuahua had come, bringing her son-in-law and the brothers of the Meng family to see them.
Wang Guilan and Zhang Zhaodi knew that Guan Xiuzhi was abandoned by a heartless man, but they might not know that the man's surname was also Meng. The Meng family they were referring to was of course Meng Shengli's family.
Meng Zhehan found a pair of sunglasses and put them on. He came to pay respect to Guan Xiuzhi with all his heart. When he first heard Chen Yongsheng's story, he was shocked by Guan Xiuzhi's sorrow and felt deeply ashamed for his uncle. Later, he learned that Meng Tao was not Meng Taohua, which made him feel even more painful. So when Meng Tao and Shen Yu came to the north to pay respect, he had to come, for the real Meng Taohua and for himself...
Shen Yu lit incense on behalf of Meng Tao, and then Liu Jianli and Xu Yuting each lit a stick of incense, introduced themselves, and conveyed what the elders in their family had told them to say.
Meng Zhehan was the last one to burn incense in silence, but Meng Tao and Shen Yu knew how he felt.
Kneeling and kowtowing was not popular in this era, and Wang Guilan did not let Meng Tao kneel, saying that your mother, grandmother, uncle, great-grandfather and great-grandmother would be happy to see you and know that you are married and have a baby. They would definitely not want you to kneel, as it would be bad for the baby. Wait until next time, when the baby grows up.
So several people lined up in order and bowed to express their condolences.
It was almost noon when Shen Yu accompanied Meng Tao to add more incense. Wang Guilan taught her how to burn a few pieces of paper money. Then Zhu Manjin buried the ashes with soil, and everyone packed up the offerings and left.
I just got home and was about to pour myself a cup of tea when the sunny day suddenly turned cloudy and then it started to rain. It wasn't a heavy rain, but it was enough to wet the ground, and it kept raining.
Wang Guilan and Zhang Zhaodi said to Meng Tao mysteriously: Look, this is your mother, grandmother and uncle appearing. Look how much they love you, they waited for you to get home before it rained.
Meng Tao: “…”
But she was also a little surprised. She just whispered a few words in the cemetery, and a strange phenomenon actually occurred. She didn't know whether it was a supernatural phenomenon or a coincidence.
The team finished work and went home for lunch. The rain was still drizzling. Zhu Chunhong and her husband took their baby back to her parents' home to check on the situation. Captain Wang also followed.
It seemed like a coincidence that Shen Yu and Meng Zhehan arrived here. They were just about to leave after paying homage and were thinking about saying goodbye to the captain.
Captain Wang asked them why they left so quickly and tried to persuade them to stay for a few more days, but Meng Zhehan said that his vacation was limited and they could only come back next time.
(End of this chapter)