"It’s you who didn’t pull Mr. Lin’s name, right?" Lin Xiaoguai realized, "I bet they definitely think you’re just some moderately wealthy country landlord, who’d have thought with you always drilling up into the tea mountains with the workers?"
Seeing her brother’s skin that had become somewhat shiny and dark, Lin Xiaoguai couldn’t help but laugh, "I’m telling you, sir, the rich get fatter in brain and belly as they get wealthier, but why do you increasingly resemble a refugee?"
"What refugee? Can’t you speak properly?" Lin Xiaoxi pretended to be angry as he knocked on her head, "This is called sharing sweet and sour with the people, understand?"
"Okay, so you’re approachable now, happy?" Lin Xiaogui couldn’t keep back a chuckle.
"And don’t you mock your brother." Tang Hanfang, who was next to them, spoke up for her husband, "Because he always makes trips to the tea mountains, his reputation in this generation is genuinely good. They say that even though he’s rich, he doesn’t put on airs and is like family with the locals. When the outside businessmen saw the tea business doing well, they thought about poaching our company’s tea channels, but they miscalculated. The moment they went to those tea farmers, the farmers immediately came to notify Xiao Xi."
"That’s why he’s been going up to the tea mountain more and more often, treating it like another home. Sometimes he can’t make it back for meals and just enjoys having packed lunches with the farmers."
Listening to this, Lin Xiaoguai smiled, unable to resist nodding, "Makes sense. Although brother is dark and thin, he does look younger, and climbing mountains is indeed good for your health."
"Right?" Lin Xiaoxi grinned, "And you know, looking has another advantage. When foreign merchants who don’t know better come to discuss business and see me , they belittle me a bit, but the advantage ends up being mine."
"Still a merchant at heart, crafty and cunning." Lin Xiaoguai teased.
"I’ll take your earlier words as a compliment then," Lin Xiaoxi gestured with a bow, as if accepting praise graciously.
Everyone burst into laughter.
"Alright, alright, let’s have breakfast, Wanwan, you’re going to the cemetery, aren’t you?" After the laughter, Tang Hanfang quickly ushered everyone.
The four of them started having breakfast around the table. Lin Xiaoguai passed a fried dough stick to Shen Chi, then looked at Tang Hanfang, "Sister Hanfang, you don’t need to accompany us, I know where Mom and Dad’s graves are, you should stay at home and take care of Aunt."
"It’s fine, it won’t take long. It’s only a twenty or thirty-minute drive from here to the cemetery. Qingming has passed for half a month already; the cemetery won’t be crowded, and there shouldn’t be any traffic jams. Mom’s fine, she’ll sleep half the day anyway. We’ll go and come back early."
Seeing her insistence, Lin Xiaoguai didn’t say anything more.
Because it is a town cemetery, although large in scale, the graves were not particularly impressive, crowded together in a way that made your scalp tingle. The Lin Family’s ancestral grave, however, was in a more expensive location and didn’t look so cramped, although it couldn’t compare to those in the city.
But it’s not like everyone had high demands.
Lin Xiaoguai had prepared joss paper and the folded joss paper ingots beforehand. Upon arriving at the cemetery, they first went to the incinerator to burn these, then carried flower bouquets up the hill.
With borrowed cleaning tools in hands, they swept the burial site, making sure not to miss the graves of grandpa, grandma, and the elders from the clan on either side.
In her previous life, Lin Xiaoguai had a lot to say to Mom and Dad every time she visited, but now she felt there wasn’t much to say.
There’s a saying —those who are unfortunate in this world always have different misfortunes, but happy people always seem similar.
Thus, she worried whether, coming over every year and saying the same things, Mom and Dad might get tired of listening?
Despite this, every time she came, she would still stand by Mom and Dad’s graves for a while, tirelessly.
"Okay, let’s go back." After letting the children pay respects to their grandparents, the group left the cemetery.
"Hey, Wanwan, do you still remember Chaochao?" On the way back, Tang Hanfang suddenly asked.
Lin Xiaoguai was startled, "Of course, he should have graduated from college by now and be looking for a job, right?" Although she did not purposely avoid those families like in her previous life, brother and the others always tended to avoid mentioning those families in front of her, so she didn’t really know those families’ situations.
"Chaochao didn’t go to college," Tang Hanfang sighed. "His spot in high school was replaced by someone else, and he stubbornly refused to retake the exams, so he enlisted in the military. Three years after being discharged, he didn’t look for a job but started a small coal plant instead. Business isn’t bad; they built a house, got married a few years ago, and had a son." She and Lin Xiaoxi both thought there was no need to tell Lin Xiaoguai why Lin Chao refused to study, to spare her any guilt.
"That’s good," Lin Xiaoguai said softly.
"However, Xiao Yun did get into a normal university and now teaches at a middle school. Leilei went to a vocational school and now works on a boat. Ruirui and Mingming also got into college, but their mother, being confused as she is, thought bizarrely of having her son give up the chance to go to college because of the tuition costs. Fortunately, Brother Xiao Shou was not confused and bit the bullet to support Ruirui. But Mingming... His college acceptance letter was torn up by Sister-in-law Xue. Brother Xiao Shou beat her because of it, but Mingming ended up not going to college and ran away from home in anger, with no word from him since. Sister-in-law Xue often washes her face with tears, but Brother Xiao Shou and Ruirui refuse to forgive her, and she doesn’t have an easy life."
Lin Xiaoguai paused, "Sister Hanfang, why suddenly bring this up to me?"
"Isn’t it because you’ve completely let go?" Tang Hanfang said with a smile. (To be continued. If you work, you’re welcome to place a recommendation vote, a monthly ticket at Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)