No one expected Yu Shu to take the bowl, pour the pickled vegetables into the porridge, pick up the chopsticks, sit on the ground, and gobble it down.
While eating, he also praised, "This is great, eating cold porridge in the sweltering heat is refreshing."
Li Sanjiang frowned, wanting to persuade him further, but the man had already devoured a large bowl of porridge in the blink of an eye, so Li Sanjiang could only say, "Wait for Mr. Yu to digest first, and then we can..."
"Mr. Li, I’ve eaten my fill." Yu Shu stood up, handed the bowl and chopsticks back to Aunt Liu, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "Mr. Li, as per tradition, have the ancestors of the main family been invited for blessings before performing arts at the door, do you have them?"
"We don’t have ancestral tablets, but we do have plenty of immortal portraits."
"Then please take me to pay respects."
Li Sanjiang led Yu Shu into the small room next to the kitchen, which was filled with portraits of immortals. The richness of the scene even surprised Yu Shu.
Li Sanjiang began to introduce each deity to him, and Yu Shu paid his respects to each in turn.
When Li Sanjiang introduced the portrait of Confucius as Yuanshi Tianzun,
Yu Shu couldn’t help but twitch at the corner of his eye.
For a moment, he was unsure whether to perform a Daoist ritual or a Confucian one.
In the end, he had no choice but to bow twice.
After coming out, Yu Shu went straight to Liu Yumei and said, "According to the rules, I should pay my respects."
Liu Yumei shook her head helplessly and said to Li Zhiyuan: "I shouldn’t have eaten that meal."
Yu Shu bent low, "I should pay my respects."
Liu Yumei finally nodded, "Go ahead."
Yu Shu pushed open the door to the east room and walked in.
Li Zhiyuan left his seat, glanced at Grandma Liu, and, seeing her with her head down, moved a few steps toward the door where he could just see Yu Shu kneeling solemnly before the sacrificial table inside.
*Nowadays, even when people kowtow, they do it in all sorts of ways, mostly just going through the motions without worrying about standards.*
*Yu Shu performed a standard grand ceremony. His expression was solemn at first, but after the three bows, his face was filled with grief, and tears streamed down his face.*
After the ceremonial bows ended, Yu Shu didn’t rush out, but instead wiped his tears and adjusted his emotions.
*He knew the boy was watching from the doorway, yet he didn’t conceal a thing.*
*In some particular places, people would willingly shed their disguises, appearing candid and sincere.*
Finally, Yu Shu wiped his face vigorously and forced a smile. He came out and approached Liu Yumei again, just about to speak but was interrupted by Liu Yumei:
"Once you’ve finished paying respects, you should leave."
Yu Shu responded, packed up his things, loaded them onto the cart, and then pushed it to leave, with Li Sanjiang personally sending him to the village entrance.
Liu Yumei sighed in her room, her expression forlorn, as she got up and walked inside, sitting before the sacrificial table and glancing at the tablets, some new and some old.
"At least you all are still remembered."
She paused and said with resentment:
"But who remembers Alii?"
Tan Wenbin had gone home the day before yesterday, crying so terribly as if in a farewell unto death.
It had Li Sanjiang unable to resist teasing him: "Alright, kid, you’ve got talent. In the future, if anyone needs you to cry at a funeral, they should call you. You’re sure to cry well enough to satisfy the main family."
After hugging Run Sheng, Li Sanjiang, Tan Wenbin even wanted to hug Li Zhiyuan.
That was until the boy handed him three notebooks, one for math, one for physics, and one for chemistry.
Tan Wenbin didn’t go through with the hug but started crying even louder.
When he left, thunder roared, and rain fell. It was with Run Sheng pedaling a tricycle that he rode home. Though both donned raincoats, they still ended up soaking wet.
Today, with the sun shining brightly, Tan Yunlong specially took a day off to drive a Santana to send Li Zhiyuan to school.
Li Zhiyuan said goodbye to each family member in turn, with Li Sanjiang emotionally advising: "Little Yuanhou, remember Grandmaster’s words, listen to the lessons casually, don’t think too hard, your eyes are important, understand?"
Tan Yunlong stood on the side hearing this and couldn’t help but touch his own chin.
Li Sanjiang also took out a bag full of candy and small cookies: "Here, take this and share it with your classmates."
"Don’t be afraid, if anyone bullies you at school, come back and tell Grandmaster. I’ll back you up and go find them at school."
Tan Yunlong couldn’t help but interject: "Don’t worry, Mr. Li, no one will bully Xiao Yuan, and besides, Binbin is there."
Li Sanjiang retorted: "Zhuangzhuang is in high school, not elementary school."
Tan Yunlong could only nod and say no more.
Run Sheng took out a fountain pen and handed it over. He was helping with farm work and other tasks at Li Sanjiang’s, having received his first month’s wages just the day before and spent it all on buying this pen.
After buying the pen, he realized he had no money left for ink. In the end, it was Li Sanjiang who found out, took him to that store to explain, and forcefully got the store owner to give an additional bottle of ink.
Liu Yumei gave a red envelope this time, very thin, just a token note.
Li Zhiyuan accepted it.
Alii hadn’t prepared anything, and she seemed to realize this.
She was anxious, but didn’t know how to express it. This emotion was somewhat too complex for her, neither joyful nor angry.
The boy walked up to the girl and said, "Alii, when I come back from school, help me with my homework."
The girl’s eyes lit up.
When waving goodbye to the family one last time, Li Zhiyuan shouted to Li Sanjiang: "Grandmaster, I’m going to high school, and I’ll take the college entrance exam next year!"
"Good, good, good, my Little Yuanhou is the best!"
"Ha ha ha..." Beside them, Liu Yumei chuckled as she listened, obviously, the old man didn’t take it seriously, thinking it was just childish talk.