It had been raining for the first two days, and it was even heavier in the middle of the night last night, and I vaguely felt like I was in the mountains and forests in my dreams, listening to the rain slipping from between the branches of the trees, dripping on the fallen leaves on the ground, making a rustling sound.

So last night the Qingming rain ended early.

April 4th is Saturday, Qingming Festival, with a three-day holiday.

Earlier than usual, Yuan Hui came to wake up her brother at half past six.

"Ika, go and lick my brother's love!"

"Meow. ”

Yuan Jia woke up, pulled his sister and cat out, got up to brush his teeth and wash his face.

Gardenia's good morning call arrived at seven o'clock, just as the family was having breakfast.

Yang Hemei's face was silent, but his body was secretly tilted in the direction of his son, his eyes were looking at the bowl, and he didn't pick up a single noodle with chopsticks for a long time, but his ears were upturned and eavesdropping on the phone.

"Gardenia, good morning. ”

"Yuanjia, good morning~"

Xu Nanyu is now very fluent in making good morning calls, although she is not as talkative as other girls, but most of the time she speaks, and she will not be too nervous.

Actually, there was still a bit of nervousness, but not the nervousness of being afraid, but the nervousness of anticipation, the kind of nervousness that would make her blush and heartbeat.

"What are you doing......

"I'm having breakfast and I'm going back to my hometown in a while, what about you?"

"Me...... Not...... Stay at home and draw, then learn to cook with your mother. ”

The two chatted for a while, and Yuan Jia hung up the phone.

Seeing the gossip in my mother's eyes, I had to say speechlessly: "Mom, what are you doing so closely?"

"Listening to the voice, it's a very gentle girl, what are you talking about?" Yang Hemei didn't hear the conversation too clearly.

"Just on a daily basis, let's talk about everything. ”

"Is she free? These days, you don't look for people to go shopping, watch a movie or anything. ”

"Another day. ”

"You have to take the initiative in this matter! Be thick-skinned! You can't always let the girl speak first......"

While eating the noodle soup, Yuanhui picked out the shrimp in the bowl for Ika to eat, she blinked her eyes wide, and said curiously: "Brother, do you have a wife?"

Yuanjia: "...... Hurry up and eat your noodles. ”

"Oh. ”

Yuan Hui didn't understand this, she thought, if her brother got married, wouldn't she have an extra sister? Wouldn't there be another person who loves smart and lovely Huihui? Wouldn't she be able to tell Qiao Sansan again? Wouldn't Qiao Sansan be envious and cry again?

......

After breakfast, the family set off.

Every time I go back to my hometown, I bring a lot of things back, Yuanjia helps take them down, put them in the back compartment, my father takes the co-pilot, and Yuanjia drives.

The new car will not be mentioned until two days, Yuanjia does not drive much, but the technology is still good, very stable, and not faster than others, if Luo Qian and they take his car, they will definitely complain that this guy drives like a turtle crawling.

Mom and sister sat in the back seat, and Ika went back together.

Ika is very smart, other people's cats run away outside without hugging them, but it doesn't, and follows Huihui leisurely, and when Huihui gets into the car, she opens her arms to it, and it jumps into her arms.

"Wow, Ika, you're jumping so high!" Huihui complimented, rubbing Ika's head.

"Meow. "Ika is proud.

"Mommy, look, you all say that Ika is so fat that she can't even jump, she can jump so high!"

Ika rolled her eyes, put her little paw on the window pane, and stood up to look out the window.

The car started slowly, Yuanjia turned the steering wheel and drove out of the community.

The view from the window is receding.

More than 40 minutes later, the family returned to the small county town, and when they drove into the village, there were more vehicles returning from going out.

Qingming Festival is a festival of tomb sweeping and ancestor worship and outing, and the countryside attaches great importance to the ritual of ancestor worship.

On this day, no matter how busy the wanderers are, they have to rush back as much as possible to sweep the tombs and pay tribute to their ancestors.

The customs vary from region to region, with some worshipping ancestors as a family unit and others as a family unit.

But with the development of modern society, the pressure of work is too great, and gradually, people are less willing to spend their rare holiday time here, and there are fewer and fewer family sacrifices, and most of them are already family rituals.

The population of Yuancun is not large, but the custom of family sacrifice is still preserved.

Every year when worshipping ancestors, most of the people who come back from the village are middle-aged, and young people in their teens and twenties have come back less and less.

The car was parked in front of a three-story building, the former small bungalow had long been demolished and rebuilt, and now the uncle's family and grandparents live here.

When he opened the car door, it was Ika who ran out first, then Huihui, and the two little ones ran into the house, and then Yuanjia heard the laughter of his grandparents from a long distance.

The uncle was wearing a straw hat, Yuanjia's cousin was carrying a hoe, and there were incense treasures and candles and other sacrificial objects in the luotan next to him, and they were about to meet with the people in the village and go to the tomb together.

"You're back just in time, everything is ready, they're about to go, let's go!"

Yuanjia took the straw hat handed to him by his cousin and put it on his head, and his father picked up the luodan, and the four men went together to sweep the tomb and worship their ancestors with the people of the village.

Yuancun is not big, everyone's surname is Yuan, Yuanjia didn't grow up here, many people don't know each other, but my father chatted happily with his childhood friends.

The place to worship ancestors is in the barren mountain, it is a small hill, and it is said that this is the ancestor of the Yuancun people, who come every year.

The path was covered with wild grass and thorns, and the young men took hoes and sickles to open the way, and when they came to the ancestral tomb, they were also overgrown with thorns, and they all had to be repaired.

Graves are trimmed, new soil is planted, weeds are removed...... There are more than 20 people, each of whom is working together, and it is fast to do.

After cleaning up the weeds, they will offer incense and sacrifice, offer food to the ancestors' tombs, and then incinerate the paper money, and then worship and ask the ancestors to eat and drink well, and bless the future generations with good luck.

When it was Yuan Jia's turn, he also reverently offered incense, expressing his respect for the ancestors.

This is not superstition, but filial piety and family affection, no matter what, to be able to stand here today, we need to be grateful.

......

Yuan Jia sweated, and when he returned home, he took a shower, and his mother and aunt were already ready for lunch, and the family sat down to eat together and chat about recent events.

For Huihui, she naturally doesn't understand the meaning of Qingming, in the family, she is the youngest, and the chicken legs are kept for her to eat.

Grandpa looked forward to the return of his good granddaughter all day long, like an old child, took Huihui to roast sweet potatoes, Huihui ate a lot, and in the afternoon she fluttered and farted.

Grandma is ingenious, in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, there is a custom food in the Qingming Festival, called Qingtuan, which is a green pastry made of wormwood juice.

The appearance is emerald green, the taste is soft and glutinous, the filling is usually made of bean paste or lotus paste, and there is a faint aroma of wormwood when eating.

Now the Internet is also very popular, but the taste is far worse than grandma's own hands, those Qingtuan sold on the Internet, most of them are green squeezed out of vegetable juice, and when they eat, they lack the aroma of wormwood, the taste is too sweet and greasy, and in order to prevent the Qingtuan from collapsing, some gelling additives are also added, the taste is Q bomb, but it lacks that original fragrance.

In the afternoon, Yuan Jia took Huihui out for an outing.

In March, which has just ended in early spring, the April day in the small county town is still very beautiful.

The mountain is transformed into fresh greenery, and when you walk in it, you can smell the faint aroma of various flowers and plants in the air.

The sky that rained last night was blue, and there was the tender green of the budding branches of the trees in the picture, as well as the stream flowing between the ridges.

Huihui specially brought the kite back, Yuanjia took her to find an empty grass, and watched her run blindly, but unfortunately there was no wind today, so tired that little Lori stuck out her tongue like a puppy, and didn't put the kite up.

Ika also came out, and he was not interested in flying a kite, so he hid in some bush and twisted his ass quickly, to pounce on the butterflies on the tip of the grass, or like a little rabbit, to find a few grasses to chew slowly.

Yuan Jia sat on a stone, holding a long dog's tail grass in his mouth, felt the wind blowing on his face, and took out his mobile phone to take a picture of Huihui.

He has a lot of photos of Huihui in his mobile phone, recording every moment when she grows up, and when she becomes a big girl in the future, he will take it out and show it to her, it turns out that she was such a stupid little fool when she was a child.

"Brother, you're flying a kite...... I can't run!"

"I don't play. ”

"What ...... play"

Huihui ran over and pulled him.

Ten minutes later, Yuanjia ran into a dog.

......

After dinner, the family was going back.

Grandpa picked out twenty catties of sweet potatoes, all of which were the best and most beautiful, washed and sun-dried, absolutely sweet.

Grandma also came over with two bags of Qingtuan, one for Huihui and one for Yuanjia.

"Take it to the girl to eat, and try to bring it home early, grandma is looking forward to hugging her great-grandson......"

"Ah......?"

Grandma didn't lie, she is so old, she doesn't know how many years she can live, and her biggest wish is to watch her children and grandchildren start a family.

"Well, she definitely likes these youth groups. ”

"Not enough for me to get some more ......"

"Enough is enough, you can keep it for grandpa. ”

"We don't have any teeth to eat, and we're going to lose our dentures. ”

"Let's go, grandparents pay attention to the body!"

"Good...... Drive slower......"

......

By the time I returned, night had fallen.

As the car walked and entered the city, the world outside the window gradually became colorful, and the light of neon lights floated by Yuan Jia's face in the form of light and shadow......

Yuanhui lay on her side, sleeping on her mother's lap, she was still holding the little fat cat in her arms, and Ika was also curled up in her arms and fell asleep......

Yuanjia turned up the air conditioner slightly, the music was quiet, and the car drove very steadily.

......

At half past eight, the family returned to the community.

Yuan Hui had already woken up, took the key, and ran upstairs in high spirits, to open the door, and Ika also ran up with her.

Yuanjia and his parents took out their things and were about to go upstairs together, but Yang Hemei didn't allow him to go up.

"You hurry up and send the Youth League to the girl, it won't taste good overnight, your grandmother heard that you talked to someone, so she made more of it. ”

Yuan Jia was driven back into the car.

Start the car and head to Gardenia's house.

When waiting for a red light on the road, he sent a voice message to Gardenia: "Have you ever eaten Qingtuan?"

Gardenia quickly replied: "I haven't eaten it, what does it look like?"

Yuan Jia: "I brought some Qingtuan back from my hometown, my grandmother made it herself, and she said she would give it to you." ”

Xu Nanyu was surprised, and asked a little nervously: "Why did you suddenly give me a gift, what kind of gift do I want to return......

Yuan Jia: "She said let me give it to the person I like, and after thinking about it, I can only give it to you." ”

Gardenia is dead.

When she finally came back to her senses from the small world in her heart, Bai Yan had already walked into her room with the Qingtuan sent by Yuan Jia.

"Gardenia, Yuanjia specially sent the Youth League to you to eat. ”

"He, he's coming...... Is it there?"

Bai Yan was stunned, it was the first time she saw her daughter's expression so urgent, so much so that she felt that when she grabbed her hand, her skin felt a little tingling.

"Hmm...... He sent it and went back. ”

Listening to her mother's words, Gardenia didn't wear any shoes, and ran barefoot to the porch downstairs, looking at the gate outside the yard in a daze......

Pupils fluttered, tears flowed......

Little by little, emotions accumulate in my heart, and it seems that I am on the verge of becoming uncontrollable.

She seemed to be rooted in the ground, even if her legs couldn't move a step, but her soul had already wanted to see him think of breaking out.

Xu Nanyu has never wanted to see a person so much, even if he stepped on the broken glass all the way with his bare feet, he wanted to fly into his arms and hug him tightly.

"I really...... I think about it...... See you......"

She cried and took out her mobile phone, dialed Yuanjia's phone with trembling hands, pressed it tightly to her ear, and stared at the gate outside the courtyard, imagining that at a certain moment, he could appear in front of her eyes.

Yuanjia's car had just driven out and had not yet entered the city, and after seeing Gardenia's phone, he pulled over and connected Gardenia's phone.

Her crying voice could be heard.

"Yuanjia...... I want to see you...... I really want to see you...... Can you come back...... Woo......"

She cried loudly and was interrupted several times by crying while speaking.

Yuanjia felt distressed, he could feel Gardenia's emotions from his voice, and at this moment, she really wanted to see him.

Just like Yuanjia said to Bai Yan before, it only makes sense for Gardenia to convince herself, and when she really wants to meet Yuanjia, Yuanjia will see her again.

It's just that he didn't expect that the accumulation speed of this emotion far exceeded Yuanjia's imagination, and he couldn't imagine how many times Gardenia had convinced himself in his heart in order to see him......

Over and over again, she fought the most fiercely with her subconscious.

"Gardenia ......"

"Woo......"

"Listen to me, don't cry yet. ”

"Hmm...... I don't cry ......."

Gardenia sniffed, wiped her eyes again, and tried to purse her lips so that she didn't cry...... It's so hard to control, so I cry secretly......

"Are you ready?"

"Hmm...... Hmmm......"

"I imagined that we would meet again, it would be a sunny afternoon, and then I would be wearing a clean white shirt and combing my hair, but I was dirty today, and I wasn't ready. ”

"That's... So when are you ready... Come... See me......"

Gardenia spoke childishly, with tears still hanging on her long eyelashes, and she pursed her lips from crying, and her hair stuck to her tear-wet face, like a poor little cat.

"Tomorrow, the weather forecast is fine. ”

......

.

.

(The two-in-one chapter, finally about to reunite, took the first step in the strategy, and there will be hand-holding, hugging, and kissing in the future...... Wow, it's a long way to go. ）