At the gate of the cemetery, the caretaker Lao Zhang greeted Pei Wenping with a smile when he saw her walking towards the cemetery carrying something.

"Happy New Year, Lao Zhang. Thank you for your hard work. You have to stay here during the New Year."

Pei Wenping handed over a pack of cigarettes and a red envelope as a token of her appreciation.

After some hesitation, Lao Zhang accepted the gift, smiling so much that his face looked like a flower.

"Thank you very much, and I wish you a prosperous new year."

"You're welcome. I've troubled you to take care of my husband's grave. I should be the one thanking you."

"What's the big deal? I have nothing to do anyway, so I might as well lend a hand."

After some polite exchanges, Pei Wenping carried her things to Chen Yi's grave.

To be honest, Lao Zhang is very reliable in his work.

Other tombs were more or less covered with ice and dust, but Chen Yi's tombstone and tomb platform were clean and shiny.

"Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year, and I came to see you. Time flies so fast, and it's been almost a year since you left."

While chatting with Chen Yi, he put the food and cakes he brought on the table.

"Try it. I made it myself. Please forgive me if it doesn't taste good. I'm busy with work now and I don't have much time to cook. My cooking skills are not as good as before."

After placing the offerings, Pei Wenping took out a towel and carefully wiped the tombstone.

Tombstones are not dirty, but you have to do something for the person lying there with your own hands to feel at ease and secure.

"Xiaolu and Xiaochao are both very competitive. They were both in the top ten in their grade in the final exam. They will definitely have no problem getting into Yucai this year."

Yucai High School is the best high school in Fengcheng and the dream school of thousands of high school students and their parents.

"Mom and Dad are both in good health. I'll take the two children to visit them whenever I'm free. Xiaoliang's work is going well too. You don't have to worry."

After paying tribute to Chen Yi, Pei Wenping returned to the family compound.

The family compound was much quieter than before. Several elderly people wrapped in cotton coats were sitting on creaky old bamboo chairs. When they saw Pei Wenping enter the compound, they cast a scrutinizing look at her with their cloudy eyes.

"Is this Wen Ping?"

Hearing an old man quietly asking his companion, Pei Wenping took the initiative to step forward and hold the other's withered hand, "Auntie Li, don't you recognize me?"

The old man was surprised, his face as old as a tree root was covered with wrinkles, "It's really Wen Ping, you're old, your eyesight isn't very good anymore."

"You are in such good health, you can live to be ninety-nine without any problem."

The old man was so amused that he laughed out loud. He pulled Pei Wenping and talked to her for a long time before letting her go.

Walking all the way to the apartment building, I didn't meet many people on the road, but I could see the word "demolition" written in red paint everywhere on the wall, adding a sense of desolation and loneliness to this old residential compound.

According to the district planning, this area was to be completely demolished to build new houses. At the end of last year, the compensation plan was released and many residents took the money and moved out.

Those who still stay here are either elderly people who are reluctant to move out, or "nail households" who are dissatisfied with the compensation.

The things in the house were moved out at the end of last year, but Pei Wenping still wanted to come back and take a look.

Although there is nothing here except four bare walls, even the smell of its age-old, decayed air makes it feel particularly familiar and intimate.

When people reach middle age, the most helpless thing is probably watching everything and everyone around them leave and disappear in various ways.

Just like what Zhu Ziqing wrote in "In a Hurry": I came into this world naked, and in a blink of an eye, I will go back naked.

…

It was not until the evening that Pei Wenping returned to Chen's house.

As soon as I walked in, I noticed that the atmosphere was not right.

"Finally you're back. I thought you were going to stay in the cemetery tonight."

However, she had left home in the morning and had only returned home at this time, which inevitably made the Chen family suspect that she had gone out to do something else under the pretext of sweeping the graves.

"I went to the family compound this afternoon. It will be completely demolished after the holiday."

After hearing what she said, Chen's mother shut up in disappointment.

Seeing that everyone was in the living room and no one was cooking, Pei Wenping subconsciously asked, "Are we going out for dinner?"

"What are you eating? I'm so angry!"

Pei Wenping didn't ask what Chen's mother was angry about, and said, "Then I'll call the hotel, book a private room, and go out for dinner tonight."

After saying that, he walked to the landline and made several calls before he found a restaurant that was open on New Year's Day.

After booking a private room and telling the Chen family the address, he then asked the siblings to go out first.

After getting in the car, without waiting for Pei Wenping to ask, the brother and sister started to tell Chen's mother the reason why she was angry.

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Chen's mother was mad at Yi Ling's brother and sister-in-law.

The Yi family arrived at the Chen family around noon and had lunch at the Chen family.

At the dinner table, everyone was happily eating and chatting, and somehow they started talking about the eldest brother of the Yi family and his partnership in running a medicinal materials business.

It would have been better if he hadn't mentioned it. As soon as he mentioned trading, Yi Jinbao started drooling and saying that business was not easy and he had lost money, blah blah.

Chen's mother was not very happy at the time. Who would like to hear you say these things on New Year's Day? But she couldn't say anything out of consideration for the relationship.

Yi Jinbao, however, did not know how to restrain himself and asked to borrow money under the influence of alcohol.

The two elders of the Chen family were so angry that their faces turned black.

Father Chen didn't even eat his meal. He threw away his chopsticks, left the table and went back to his room.

It was a good meal, but it was eaten in pieces.

If you lend money to others on the first day of the new year, your property will flow out for the whole year.

Talking about borrowing money on the first day of the Lunar New Year is simply asking for bad luck, and the ones involved are relatives by marriage, so how could the old couple not be angry?

Besides, this is not the first time that Yi Ling’s family has asked to borrow money.

Last year, just after Chen Yi’s inheritance was divided, the Yi family came to borrow money on the pretext of buying a house.

Buying a house is a good thing, and the sooner you buy it, the better. The two old people readily lent out 30,000 yuan.

Less than two months later, the Yi family came to borrow money again.

Yi Jinbao was originally a railway employee. He worked in the wind, sun and rain and made little money all year round. He wanted to do business with others so that he could pay back the money he owed to the Chen family as soon as possible.

Since the brother-in-law was ambitious, the Chen family naturally wanted to support him, so they lent him another 50,000 yuan.

In half a year, the Yi family took away 80,000 yuan from the Chen family. Not only did they not return a penny, they also wanted to continue borrowing.

…

Perhaps because she felt guilty, or perhaps she had other thoughts and purposes, Yi Ling was very attentive to the old couple at the dinner table, picking out fish bones and peeling shrimps, and she didn't even have time to eat a bite of the hot food herself.

Seeing that the old couple's attitude softened after Yi Ling's flattery, after dinner, Pei Wenping called the old couple to the car to remind them, using the excuse that she had something to give them.

"You can only help in emergencies, not in poverty. You two elders should hold on to the little money you have, and don't lend it out easily. It's easy to lend it out, but it's very difficult to get it back."

"I was wondering why you called my parents here in such a mysterious way. Are you trying to deceive me behind my back?"

Yi Ling appeared out of nowhere and yelled at Pei Wenping in anger. (End of this chapter)