In 1992, a small village owner became the richest man in the village by owning a car.

Chapter 270 Ancestor Worship Before the New Year
"You have the nerve to talk back to me? You two are also up this late. If you're going to get criticized, you'll get criticized together. What am I afraid of?" Yu Chen muttered irritably, then walked past the two of them and went ahead.

"Doing things my own way" was once Yu Dawei's label, but it was also Yu Chen's label even earlier.

Take the matter of offering sacrifices to ancestors during the Lunar New Year as an example. The eldest uncle made sacrifices for two years at first, but then found it too troublesome and gave it to his second son, Yu Laonian.

It's only because his own father has a good temper with his brother that he's like this; otherwise, given his uncle's nonchalant attitude, he probably would have flipped the table long ago.

Yu Laonian fell silent, throwing a tantrum like a child with his older brother.

Yu Dawei followed behind the two brothers, chuckling to himself.

The old man was a man of extremely high self-esteem; he was the kind of person who would practice shifting gears on his stomach day and night just to prove a point. Could he possibly tolerate his older brother's sarcastic remarks?
"What are you laughing at? It's all your fault! You dawdle even when you're just going to the convenience store to buy some paper. Otherwise, we would have gone already." As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Old Man Yu keenly sensed that someone was making fun of him, and immediately gave his eldest son a good scolding.

"No, is it my fault?" Yu Dawei was completely bewildered and speechless. How did he end up being dragged into this for no reason?

Oh dear! Mom, you've caused me so much suffering!
The cemeteries in the village are all in roughly the same area. If you walk west out of Yujiatun and turn left, the first thing you'll see soon is the local earth god temple that protects the feng shui of Yujiatun.

This land temple has been in place for quite some time. My grandfather said it existed back when Yujiatun was still called Yujiabao.

Whenever someone in the Yu family passes away, the first place they go is the local earth god temple. They pay their respects to the earth god and inform the Yu family that another elder has passed away.

In addition, some fruit is offered in front of the local temple. Some greedy children will secretly take it afterward, but they will definitely be beaten half to death by their parents.

Afterwards, one must kneel in front of the local earth god temple, burn incense, and apologize to the earth god.

After passing the land temple in Yujiatun, continue south, and you'll soon see the Yu family's cemetery. From another perspective, it's quite imposing, with the most "mounds" visible in the distance.

Some successful children will even return to erect a monument in front of their elders' graves. In today's rural areas, being able to erect a monument for one's ancestors is quite remarkable; at the very least, one is definitely not a poor household living in a village.

Yu Dawei's grandparents are buried together and have a tombstone. This is thanks to his father's wealth back then. The first thing he did was to erect a tombstone for his parents. His mother said that it cost a lot of money to buy the tombstone and have it engraved.

Besides, there is another family in the Yu family, the legendary Second Uncle who died early in the morning. There is also a tombstone in front of his grave, but the younger generation of the Second Uncle's family is always elusive.

They left home in the 1970s and 80s. All the brothers went to the south and rarely came back. However, some observant people, or those who went to the graves for family matters, would happen to see paper money being burned in front of their second uncle's grave.

According to his grandfather, the children of this second uncle all survived the famine. They were only a few years older than Yu Laonian and Yu Chen. The second uncle had an older brother who was of the same generation as Yu Dawei. He was a bold and decisive person.

After realizing that there was no development potential in Northeast China, he took his brothers to the South. I heard that when they left, they asked a few good relatives in the village, but in the end, only the younger generation of his second uncle's family left.

After that, there was no further news. Some people in the village said they were still in contact with the children of the second uncle, while others had already started making up stories.

Besides these, there are also tombstones, which belong to the ancestors of the Yu family. Of course, there is also a new grave with a tombstone this year, which belongs to my great-uncle Yu Quan.

Burning paper money on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month is a tradition that Yu Dawei doesn't know if it's a tradition in Northeast China, but it's a tradition in all the surrounding villages.

The Yu family's cemetery is busiest at this time of year. Further south, you'll reach the cemeteries of other families with different surnames in the same village.

Although it's a bit far, it's alright, since the cemetery is next to a grove of trees, unlike the cemetery in Lijiatun, Team Three.

The cemetery in Lijiatun, the third team, is on the opposite side of the road. It is not only far from Lijiatun, but also has few trees to block the view.

Of course, the largest area of ​​the cemetery is the area where Old Li's family lives. However, unlike Old Yu's family, the people in Old Li's family have downplayed their family values, and visiting the graves seems to be just a formality.

There were only a few people here and there, and they left after the fire was lit.

However, Yu Lao Nian, Yu Chen, and Yu Dawei had no interest in other people's affairs. They lit fires, burned paper money, and began another year of ancestor worship.

Every time Yu Dawei returns here, he feels an unprecedented sense of ease, as if he has returned to his childhood. He picks up two stacks of paper and runs to his ancestors' graves to burn them.

Then a new round of "crying poor" began.

The old man couldn't stand it any longer. He picked up a fire poker and started hitting Yu Dawei on the backside. He thought, "Burning paper money on ordinary days, when it's not a holiday, is one thing, but making a scene like this during the New Year is just outrageous." Yu Chen, on the other hand, knelt before his parents like an indifferent old monk, staring at the tombstone: his father, Yu Wenyi, and his mother, Zou Shi.

Perhaps only at this moment would he reveal a trace of his true emotions, and this moment might also be the most authentic moment when he is closest to his humanity—longing.

Before long, it gradually got dark, with only the red and yellow flames flickering in the night.

At that very moment, in Yujiatun to the northeast, one family turned on their lights, and then another family followed suit. Each light, like a string of yellow lanterns or persimmons, created a stunningly beautiful scene.

Yu Laonian and Yu Chen came to the outside of the tree stand. The two of them kowtowed to their ancestors and parents, and that was the end of it. As a junior, Yu Dawei should at least kowtow once in front of so many elders.

When it was the last old man's turn, the fire was burning brightly, as if we had left the old man and returned to our hometown.

Yu Dawei stood up, turned his head to look at the lights of thousands of homes in the distance, and thought of his grandfather's last efforts for the village.

He suppressed his grief, forced a smile while looking at the flames, unscrewed the cork of the tin gourd, and poured the Dragon Soul Wine in front of the tombstone: "Grandpa, our Yujiatun finally has electricity."

"At night, we no longer have to smell the pungent smell of candles, nor do we have to get up in the dark in the middle of the night. The night is no longer a dark night for the people of Jiatun."

"It's a pity you didn't see any of this." Yu Dawei glanced at Yujiatun, then looked away and squatted down next to the old man's tombstone, whispering, "Let me tell you a secret. Actually, I didn't intend to help the village get electricity, but you put this on the table, and I didn't want to discourage you."

"Compared to you, my vision is definitely small, and it will probably remain so in the future," Yu Dawei said with a smile, as if trying to excuse himself.

"What are you dawdling about again! You're not bothering your ancestors anymore, are you bothering your grandpa now! Get out here!" Old Man Yu tightened his grip on the fire poker. He probably regretted the most in his life by having such a good-for-nothing son.

"Hey, it's coming, it's coming!" Yu Dawei quickly used the small wooden stick in his hand to stir up the embers in the fire to prevent a gust of wind from setting the trees on fire.

After all, he clearly remembered that in his previous life, a fire broke out in Guizhou one year, and the "arsonists" who were eventually found were just a few old men from the east end of the village. The reason was that they were burning paper money for their ancestors.

Who would have thought that the first thing to do after the New Year would be to squat on the fence? Yu Dawei almost wanted to give them a good slap.

"You brat! You really deserve a beating! What were you chatting about with your great-uncle again?" The old man threw away his fire poker and kicked Yu Dawei in the butt.

"It's nothing. I was just worried that Grandpa would be lonely and bored, so I chatted with him to relieve his boredom. Dacheng and Dazhi know that Grandpa usually doesn't dare to say a word, so what could they possibly talk to him about?" Yu Dawei rubbed his buttocks and followed his father and grandfather, painstakingly explaining his difficulties.

"You always have a point! Tell me, what did you and your great-uncle talk about?" Old Yu rolled his eyes.

"Well, Grandpa said you should treat me better and stop kicking me all the time. He also said that Grandpa Yu Chen should stop playing mahjong so much, or he'll get angry if he forgets to visit the grave again because of playing mahjong."

Yu Laonian: "..."

Yu Chen: "..."

"Second brother, what do you say?" Yu Chen rarely rolled up his sleeves, revealing arms as thick as Yu Dawei's.

"Needless to say? Beat him up!" Old Yu couldn't take it anymore. He turned around, ran into the bushes, grabbed a fire poker, and chased after Yu Dawei.

"Holy crap! You two are over a hundred years old combined, can you stop being so petty!" Seeing that the two were serious, Yu Dawei didn't say another word and quickly ran away!

"You've made a little money and you're already getting cocky! You dare say we're petty!" Old Yu roared, brandishing a wooden stick.

"You brat Dawei! You're increasingly disrespecting your grandpa. Today I'll show you my Iron Sand Palm, which I've practiced for over twenty years!" Yu Chen wasn't about to be outdone, and his running speed even showed a tendency to surpass Yu Dawei's!

"My God! You two are usually one on crutches and the other sickly, what's wrong with you today! Did you go to Uncle Si's to take drugs?!" Yu Dawei's forehead started to sweat, feeling that he couldn't escape today. "Help! I'm doomed!"

People passing by Old Yu's house in the village were curious, wondering what the three of them were doing, chasing each other.

Could it be that our ancestors have appeared to us and are blaming us for arriving too late?
Serves them right! Who told these three to be so lazy!
(End of this chapter)