Mixed in 1980

Chapter 244: Intercepted?
"Your brother-in-law is still looking up the dictionary."

Chen Min was still in confinement after giving birth. She couldn't stand for long. She chased her brother away and lay down again: "It's really hard to name a boy with the word xiao in it. It's easy to have the same name as him."

Zeng Ali teased, "Back home, our generation all have names containing 'Xiao', Xiaolong, Xiaotian, Xiaoran. Luckily Xiaoxi's last name is Zhang, otherwise the generations would be messed up."

"When I came back and told them about it, I was shocked."

Chen Min moved the pillow and said, "I just happened to be in confinement after giving birth, so I can't go back this time. Please bring 5 yuan back for me and donate it to the village to repair the ancestral hall."

Zeng Ali said with a smile: "The ancestral hall must erect a flagpole for you!"

"What flagpole?"

"I just heard about it the last time I went there. If a person has a promising future and has made contributions to the family, he can erect a flagpole with a stone pillar next to the ancestral hall, with his name and contribution engraved on it."

Zeng Ali gently rocked the baby: "Chen Fan and Qiu'er are building a school in the village, and the village said that they would erect a flagpole for each of them."

"Well...it is said that this kind of honor is second only to having a single page in the family tree."

“What is a single page in a family tree?”

“It means setting aside a separate page for an individual in the family tree to record in detail his or her life, achievements or major contributions, which represents the recognition of the entire family.”

"What counts as a major contribution?" Chen Min asked.

"That's difficult. You have to make significant contributions to the country and the nation to have this opportunity. In our hometown, Chenjia Village, there are only two people whose family tree has a separate page."

"One is our ancestor Chen Yangmei, who was the Supreme Court Justice of the Ming Dynasty, the prefect of Zhejiang and Wenzhou, and the imperial envoy who inspected Guangdong and Guangxi. But he was able to have a separate page because of his military achievements."

"It is recorded in the family tree that when the Tusi rebelled, our ancestors held the isolated city of Tongzi firmly and repeatedly dispatched surprise attacks to defeat the enemy. Because of his meritorious service in defeating the rebels and suppressing the bandits, a separate page was opened in the family tree."

"The other family tree has a separate page, and it's about an old soldier who fought the Americans in the Upper Peninsula and won a first-class merit. Unfortunately, the old man has passed away."

"This is also..." Chen Min was shocked.

It is too difficult to open a separate page in the family tree: "Okay, we don't have the opportunity to open a separate page, but we can still put up a flagpole. Add another 5 yuan and take 10 yuan to repair the ancestral hall."

"Sister, you are very fair!" Zeng Ali praised.

"Wait a minute, can we women erect the flagpole? In many places in the south, women are not allowed to enter the ancestral hall, especially daughters who have married out." Chen Min asked.

"In southern Fujian, dialects change every three miles, and customs change every ten miles. But Chenjia Village doesn't have that. Women can go in to worship during festivals. Qiu'er has already decided to put up the flagpole."

Hearing this, Chen Min nodded: "What about you and Yuanyuan? Have you ever thought about setting up a flagpole?"

Zeng Ali was slightly stunned. Do you want it?

After playing with the child for a while, Zeng Ali returned to the East Cross Courtyard and called Miss Zhao over: "Should we do something for our hometown and erect a flagpole in the ancestral hall?"

Miss Zhao hummed, "How about giving it a try?"

After all, it is a flagpole erected in the ancestral hall, which has a different meaning. The three of them are daughters-in-law of the Chen family. Since the flagpole is to be erected, no one can be left behind.

The three sisters can give in on anything except the matter of the ancestral hall. When they die, their tablets will have to be enshrined there.

Miss Zhao rolled her eyes and came up with an idea: "The road from my hometown to the town is not easy to travel. I will build a cement road for my hometown."

"Zhao Yuanyuan, I plan to build a road!"

"I brought it up first."

"Then build two lanes, and each person will contribute half!"

"Deal!" Zhao Yuanyuan nodded.

My hometown is only eight or nine kilometers away from the town, and it doesn’t cost much to build a cement road.

The two girls made up their minds and started to work on the relocation of the graves. In the capital, the customs were relatively simple, but in their hometown, there were more customs.

There is a custom of secondary golden burial in my hometown.

That is, after a person dies, they are buried for five to eight years. After the body has completely decomposed, an auspicious day is chosen to open the tomb, pick up and wash the remains, then put them into a ceramic jar about 1 meter high and buried again.

Pottery jar, also called golden bowl or golden jar!
This custom has a very early origin. The ancestors of the Minnan people all came from the Central Plains and called themselves "Xanadu people".

Historically, the people of southern Fujian often migrated. Once they migrated, they would move the graves of their ancestors to the new place of residence. When they returned to their ancestral place, they would also bring the bones back.

This formed the custom of collecting bones and burying them again.

Cremation has become popular in the capital. After the old man's ashes are brought back, they must be placed in a golden bowl and buried according to local customs.

After the burial, the whole family wears mourning clothes the next day, beats gongs and drums, sets off firecrackers, and places the tablet into the ancestral hall. Only then is the whole ceremony considered complete.

After finishing all these, there is still the matter of entering the family tree.

One also has to choose an auspicious day and go to the ancestral hall to worship before one's name can be entered into the family tree. Even when it came to Chen Fan's name, the elders all looked strange.

Looking through the family tree, he was the only one who married three wives, which was considered a creation in family history.

At the same time, I envy you!

This guy really knows how to marry. He has three wives. Not only is each one more beautiful than the other, but each one is also richer than the other.

The first one paid for building a school, and the next two paid for building roads.

A two-lane cement road also needs to be built.

Oh my God, there is no such good road in the whole county. I didn’t expect that our small village in the mountains would enjoy it first.

Such a great contribution must be worthy of a flagpole!

They couldn't help but wonder, is the Chen family kid a gigolo? And he ate from three families at once, which was also a great ability.

After thinking about it carefully, I feel that it is unlikely. Although Chen Fan's sister did not come back, she also contributed 10 yuan to repair the ancestral hall, so her family should be rich.

In view of their family's contribution to the village, the village director and the elders agreed that they could be given a piece of residential land in the village so that they would have a place to live when they return in the future!

Chen Musheng happily agreed. After his parents were reburied, he would come back to visit their graves and also to come back during the holidays. It was always good to have a house.

It just so happened that Xu Jinxia's engineering team was working in the village, so they gave him the task of building the house, which was built in the style of a courtyard house.

"Xiaolong, Xiaotian, how are you doing recently?"

One is the grandson of his great uncle, and the other is the grandson of his great aunt. The last time Chen Fan came back, he handed them over to Xu Jinxia and asked Xu Jinxia to take them to work on the project.

"Brother, it's okay."

Chen Xiaolong scratched his head and smiled shyly: "Brother Xia takes good care of us and has already started to let us take care of some things."

Chen Fan took out a cigarette and handed it to the two brothers: "Study hard, and when you can do it yourself in the future, ask your sister-in-law to help you with a few projects."

Chen Xiaolong took the cigarette and said, "Don't worry, brother. I promise I won't embarrass you."

"If you don't learn well, you will lose your own people."

Chen Fan smiled and said solemnly: "Your sister-in-law's foundation builds hundreds of schools every year. How much you can take in the future depends on your own ability. By the way, where is your sister-in-law?"

"Hmm..." Chen Xiaolong opened his mouth.

Chen Xiaotian covered his mouth and couldn't help laughing: "My sister-in-law was chased by a group of children, and I don't know where she ran to."

"What's going on?" Chen Fan was surprised.

"Here, there are the most wild fruits in this season, especially the mountain berries, which are the most delicious. The children go to the mountains to pick them as soon as they have holidays. My sister-in-law grabbed a basket and ran away." Chen Xiaotian said with a smile.

"..." Chen Fan was speechless.

Not wanting to bother with the two brothers, Chen Fan went straight back to the earth building. Before he reached the door, he saw Xu Jinqiu carrying a bamboo basket in his hand like a general returning from a victorious battle.

"Chen Fan, come here and eat some mountain twisters."

Xu Jinqiu stopped and waved for Chen Fan to come over: "It's called Do Ne in my hometown. It tastes really good. I brought it back specially for you to try."

"The kidnapped child didn't cry, right?" Chen Fan said angrily.

"I don't know. I just grabbed it and ran away."

“You’re awesome!”

Chen Fan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He picked up the bamboo basket and went back to his uncle's house. He poured the mountain mulberry into a basin and asked Chen Xiaoran to return the basket. He also took out five yuan and asked her to deliver it over.

After washing the mountain twisters, he ate a few of them himself. They tasted really good. "Teacher Xu, this is your trophy. If you like, eat more."

"Does it taste good?"

Teacher Xu put them into her mouth one after another without any intention of stopping. Seeing this, Chen Fan didn't intend to tell her that eating too much of this stuff would cause constipation.

Anyway, the next day, Teacher Xu looked unhappy.

Seeing Chen Fan holding back a smirk, Xu Jinqiu became furious and beat him up severely. He even cheated on his own wife. No one else could do that.

After another two days of rest, everyone was ready to return to Beijing.

After returning to the capital and resting for a while, Zeng Ali couldn't wait to urge: "Hurry up and invite Mr. Wang Hetang to come home."

"That depends on whether one has the time."

Rolling his eyes, Chen Fan picked up two bottles of Moutai, drove straight to Heniantang, and found the old man who was seeing patients.

They met quite often in the first two years after they met. Even after going to college, when Chen Fan returned home on weekends, he would go to Beihai Park to exercise and often ran into the old man.

I seldom go there after moving to Yaer Hutong.

After the patient left, Chen Fan went up to him and said, "Old man, long time no see. Have you been busy recently?"

Wang Hetang glanced at Chen Fan and teased, "You look good, you don't look like you have any problems, why are you here?"

"Look at what you said. Can't I come to see you if I have nothing to do? The Moutai I brought to you is more than 10 years old. I asked someone to get it for me."

"You are being nice to me for no reason. Tell me, what is it?"

"When are you free? I would like to invite you to come to my house and sit for a while and show it to my family."

"Are you anxious?" Wang Hetang asked.

"No, I'm just trying to take care of my health. There are too many people at home, so it's not convenient for them to come together. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare to bother you to come."

"Tomorrow morning then?"

"Okay, I'll pick you up tomorrow morning."

After confirming it, Chen Fan said goodbye and went home. He never expected that there was another person at home: "Wen Ya, why did you come to the mainland?"

"Mr. Chen, something has changed, so I came here specially."

"What?" Chen Fan was surprised.

“It’s Kwai Chung Port Pier.”

Zhou Wenya glanced at the boss cautiously: "The British ghost guy has been looking for people everywhere recently. Now someone is planning to take over. It is said that negotiations have already begun."

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes: "Who are you looking for?"

PS: Second update is here!

(End of this chapter)