12dz Chapter 166 Meeting Dongfang Xiaoqing Again
Chapter 166 Meeting Dongfang Xiaoqing Again
There were no expressways in the 70s, and the one donated by Ouyang Jie had just started to be built.
Therefore, it took three cars (the other two were carrying bodyguards and guards) two days to travel from Huanyu Island to Zhishan County in Hunan Province.
The Siheyuan is located in the suburbs of the county town, surrounded by mountains and rivers, with pleasant scenery.
"Xinyue, Tunan, we're home." Ouyang Jie, who was sitting in the passenger seat, called softly.
Zhan Xinyue has been feeling sleepy today, so Ouyang Jie took the initiative to sit in the passenger seat and let Sheng Tunan sit in the back so that he could hold Zhan Xinyue while sleeping.
"Xinyue, Xinyue, wake up." Sheng Tunan was not asleep, but just dozing with his eyes closed. Hearing his father-in-law's voice, he gently shook his wife in his arms.
Zhan Xinyue opened her eyes dazedly, yawned as if she was still sleepy, and said "hmm" lazily.
When Sheng Tunan saw that his wife had woken up, he got out of the car first, then ran to Zhan Xinyue, opened the door for her and helped her down.
Ouyang Jie smiled and nodded. The more he looked at this son-in-law, the more satisfied he was.
"Is Comrade Ouyang back?" A woman in her thirties came out from the yard and greeted Ouyang Jie with a smile on her face.
"Hello, I'm Ouyang Jie."
"Hello, hello," the elder sister introduced herself, "I am Wang Fuchun, director of the Zhishan County Party Committee Office. I knew you were coming back, so I brought some people to help you clean the yard."
"Thank you, Director Wang." Ouyang Jie thanked him politely.
"We should thank you," Wang Fuchun held Ouyang Jie's hand and said sincerely, "I saw in the news that you donated money to our Zhishan County to build a highway and a school. These are all great things that will benefit future generations! Our county magistrate is coming in person, and the leaders above said that your return to worship your ancestors is a private matter, so don't disturb me. I took the initiative to come here to help you clean up. I hope you don't mind."
"Why would I mind? Thank you so much!"
"That's good. I won't waste your time. The baskets of oranges and autumn pears in the yard are grown by our fellow villagers. We specially sent them to you for you to try." Wang Fuchun stood at the door and pointed to the large baskets of fruit in the yard.
"Director Wang, you are so thoughtful." Ouyang Jie thanked again.
Wang Fuchun waved his hands and said that these were all trivial matters and not worth mentioning. He then said a few polite words to Ouyang Jie and left with a few cleaners.
"I'm finally home." Ouyang Jie took a deep breath until the air of his hometown entered his body and he smelled the familiar scent. Only then did the wanderer truly feel that he was truly home.
"Boss, Brother Long asked me to come here early to take care of things. I have asked someone to make the beds, and bought all new bedding. I dried the quilts yesterday, and the sheets and quilt covers were washed with water and exposed to the sun." A bodyguard came over to report.
"Brother Long knows that you miss Hunan cuisine, so he asked me to find a cook. He is already cooking. You and Miss and your husband can take a break. We can eat in an hour."
Zhan Xinyue stood at the back and whispered to Sheng Tunan: "Uncle Long really cares about Dad."
Sheng Tunan nodded in agreement.
Ouyang Jie had a dull expression, not feeling anything at all. Chen Long had been doing these things all the time, and Ouyang Jie was used to it.
"Xinyue, Tunan, I'll take you to the room. You can lie down for a while. I'll call you when the meal is ready." Ouyang Jie turned around.
"it is good."
The courtyard is very large and it takes two or three minutes to reach the bedroom. Because it was cleaned in advance, the room was spotless. The sweet scent of osmanthus outside the window drifted in, and the rich fragrance filled the whole room. It was very pleasant in the clear and crisp autumn weather!
"Tunan, I just had enough sleep and don't want to sleep anymore." Zhan Xinyue leaned on her lover and spoke softly, "I want to take a walk in the yard."
"Okay, let's go together." Sheng Tunan asked his wife to sit for a while. He quickly packed the luggage he brought, and went out hand in hand with Zhan Xinyue.
The yard is very large, with a rockery and a pond in the middle. Perhaps because the yard has good feng shui, the flowers are blooming beautifully even though it has been without an owner for many years.
The yard is a quadrangle with five entrances and five exits. The couple was not familiar with the terrain, so they walked and stopped from time to time. When they came across a corridor or a small pavilion, they would sit down to rest and enjoy the scenery. It took them just over an hour to finish touring the yard.
It was still time for dinner, and the bodyguard came over and took them to the restaurant through a shortcut. Otherwise, it would take more than a quarter of an hour for the two of them to walk back for dinner.
"Xinyue, Tunan, do you like the yard?" Ouyang Jie, who had changed his clothes, asked while standing outside the restaurant.
"It's ancient and beautiful, I like it very much." Zhan Xinyue answered truthfully.
There are also a large number of golden nanmu trees, which are very valuable.
"As long as you like it." Ouyang Jie walked into the restaurant with his daughter and son-in-law, "Come, treat the ancestors to a meal with daddy."
Zhan Xinyue looked closely and saw a huge round table filled with delicacies. There were more than a dozen chairs around the table, and a bowl and a glass of wine were placed in front of each chair. There was rice in the bowls, but not much. There was only half a bowl in each.
"Grandpa, Ouyang Jie invites you to dinner and wine." Ouyang Jie picked up a pair of chopsticks and placed them on a bowl. "My daughter and son-in-law are here today. Their names are Ouyang Xinyue and Sheng Tunan. If you know about this, please protect them and keep them safe and healthy."
After calling one person, Ouyang Jie continued to invite the next one, "Great-grandmother, grandfather, grandmother, and second grandfather, second grandmother..." He did not stop until he had placed chopsticks on all sixteen bowls.
Zhan Xinyue and Sheng Tunan followed Ouyang Jie respectfully. Every time he invited an ancestor, they bowed slightly.
After waiting for about ten minutes, Ouyang Jie took away the chopsticks, asked the bodyguards to take away the bowls and chopsticks, and then replaced three sets of bowls and chopsticks and three cups.
However, this time the bowls were filled with more rice.
"Xinyue, I just said you were called Ouyang Xinyue because I was afraid our ancestors would be angry. How could our own child have a stranger's surname?" Ouyang Jie said. He was not sure whether his daughter was willing to change her name, so this was also a test.
"Dad, I'm from the Ouyang family, so it's only right that I be called Ouyang Xinyue."
Ouyang Jie was delighted and asked with a smile: "Then change the name on the household registration to Ouyang Xinyue?"
"Sure." Zhan Xinyue nodded and said, "But I think the combination of Zhan Xinyue and Yue has a good meaning. The dark clouds spread out, the new moon is in the sky, breaking through the darkness, and a bright life from now on. Dad, from now on, call me Ouyang Xinyue in front of grandpa, and I will change my household registration to Ouyang Xinyue. People I knew before, you can still call me the same way, what do you think?"
Ouyang Jie thought about it and agreed. It would be fine if she was called Ouyang Xinyue in the household registration book, family tree and at home.
The dinner was very sumptuous, with almost all the dishes that can be cooked in this season. They were all fresh, spicy and gingery, and very appetizing.
The moon was already high in the sky when the three of them had eaten and drunk their fill. They took a walk to digest the food, and because they had to go to the ancestral grave early the next morning, they all washed up and went to bed early.
The courtyard is in the suburbs and is very quiet.
The autumn wind was particularly cool, and Zhan Xinyue slept very soundly.
At four or five in the morning, Zhan Xinyue, who was sleeping soundly, was awakened by a burst of firecrackers.
"Hmm," Zhan Xinyue turned over and muttered dissatisfiedly.
Sheng Tunan quickly covered his wife's ears and whispered, "It's a funeral procession. I'll cover your ears for you, and you can sleep peacefully."
Sheng Tunan had woken up a long time ago and heard the sound of firecrackers and crying outside. The custom in Zhishan is to send the dead to the mountain for burial before dawn.
“Hmm…” Zhan Xinyue snuggled into her lover’s arms, blocking out the noisy sounds, and fell asleep peacefully.
He woke up again at 7:30 in the morning. They had to go to the mountain to sweep the graves today. Sheng Tunan woke his wife up and washed her face. Then the couple dressed up and went to look for their father.
Ouyang Jie had been waiting there for a long time. After breakfast, the three of them drove to the Ouyang family's ancestral tomb with gold foil and incense.
The ancestral tomb is about an hour away from the courtyard. This hilltop was a cemetery decades ago. In addition to the ancestors of the Ouyang family buried here, there are other tombs.
Before Ouyang Zhenting took his family to Hong Kong, he gave a sum of money to a former servant and asked him to go to the ancestral grave every year to clean the grass on the grave and help burn some paper money for the ancestors.
This servant was also a loyal servant. He would go up the mountain to clean and worship every year. When he got old and could not walk anymore, he asked his son to come over.
Because there were no weeds around the tombs, Ouyang Jie quickly found where his ancestors lived.
He took Zhan Xinyue and Sheng Tunan to kowtow in front of each tombstone and burned a lot of paper money and incense.
"Ancestors, your unfilial descendant Ouyang Jie has returned to see you with his daughter and son-in-law. Our family is doing well now, but my eldest brother is sick. If the ancestors are still alive, please bless Xinyue to cure him. Please also bless Xinyue to be safe for eternity." Ouyang Jie clasped his hands together and prayed devoutly.
After saying that, Ouyang Jie kowtowed several times before standing up and taking Zhan Xinyue and Sheng Tu into the car to prepare for the return journey.
The car couldn't come up, so the three of them walked along a mountain road.
As soon as I got to the bus, I saw a group of people wearing white mourning clothes preparing to return. They rented a minibus, and a group of filial sons and grandsons were getting on the bus.
Zhan Xinyue took a curious look and immediately saw Dongfang Xiaoqing in mourning and Li Xiangqiang who was standing beside him holding his sleeping son.