"Xiaotian, you are now twenty years old. According to your grandmother's will, now I can tell you a little bit about your grandmother, about your true ancestors. ”

After lighting incense and burning money paper, Leng Jidao suddenly said to Sneer Xiaotian with a solemn face.

Sneer Xiaotian was taken aback and asked suspiciously, "My true ancestor, what does this mean?"

Leng Jidao thought for a moment, as if he was thinking about how to phrase it. After a long time, he said slowly: "Xiaotian, we are not from Lengxi Village. Our true ancestors are in the Blue Mountains of the Northern Province. ”

Next, he told Seng Xiaotian how they came to Lengxi Village.

"Like you, I always thought I was from Lengxi Village. By the time I was twenty years old, your current grandfather had passed away. Once, also during the New Year's sacrifice, your grandmother suddenly said to me: Jidao, after you worship the ancestors on the shrine, you still have to burn incense outside, worship a few times to the north, and worship your real ancestors from afar. I was as surprised as you were, and asked what was going on? Your grandmother sighed, and then told me something. ”

Speaking of this, Leng Jidao looked at the portraits of the sneering grandfather and grandmother on the shrine, and continued: "Your grandmother told me: I am not your current grandfather's biological child. My true hometown is in a small mountain village in Lanshan County, Northern Province. Your real grandfather was smoked out of power during the war years and died on the battlefield. At that time, a large-scale battle was being fought in the Northern Province. In order to escape the war, your grandmother took me, who was less than two years old, and my seven-year-old brother to the south, begging all the way to Zhongzhou Province. Who knew that Zhongzhou Province was also fighting, and the people here were also very poor, so they couldn't get anything to eat. Your grandmother tried her best to give us two brothers food as soon as she could get something, and she often went without food for several days, and she was so hungry that it was difficult for her to walk. Your uncle, though he was only seven years old at the time, was very sensible and filial, and when he saw that your grandmother had been starving for several days for the sake of our two brothers, she was so hungry that she cried and begged your grandmother to eat something too. But in order to keep our two brothers alive, your grandmother still saved the pitiful little she begged for us to eat. One day, when we were begging for food in a large family, your uncle suddenly said to the housekeeper of the big family: He is willing to sell this family as a slave, on the condition that he give his mother a basket of white-flour steamed buns and two Guangyang. Your grandmother wanted to stop it, but your uncle suddenly knelt down and said, "Mother, if you don't agree to me selling this house, the three of us will all die sooner or later, so it's better to crash into this wall now......"

Speaking of this, Leng Jidao's eyes were moist, and his voice was a little choked: "Although your grandmother is reluctant to give up her son, she can think about it the other way: if she leaves her son in this big family, she may be able to eat a full meal, at least she will not starve to death and freeze to death on the road with her." So, she was ruthless, so she left your uncle in that big family, and continued to flee south with me. After another two months, we arrived in Wushui County. At this time, it is already a cold winter wax moon, and every day is goose feather snow, dripping water everywhere into ice. Your grandmother has long since used up the two pieces of Guangyang that she got from a big family, and basically I have eaten all the steamed buns. On the streets of Wushui, your grandmother took me with me, and I didn't get a grain of rice for a few days, I was cold and hungry, and I fainted in front of a small shop. It just so happened that your current grandfather, that is, my stepfather, sent a load of firewood to this shop, and saw your grandmother fainting in the corner of the wall, and there was a one-year-old child in his arms, so he quickly bought two bowls of porridge and a little pickles with the wages he earned from picking his feet, fed them to your grandmother and me, and then took us to Lengxi Village. Your grandfather is an old bachelor in his forties, because his family is poor, his parents died very early, and he has no other brothers and sisters, so he has not found a wife in his forties, and has been supporting himself by working for other people's families and picking feet. After your grandmother arrived in Lengxi Village, she saw that your grandfather was honest and loyal, so she married him. I was not sensible at the time, and I always thought that I was your grandfather's biological son. It wasn't until I was twenty years old that your grandmother told me that I didn't know that my true ancestors were in Blue Shan County, Northern Province......"

"Then what are our last names? Where are we in Lanshan County? Why haven't you been to the north for so many years?"

Sneering asked impatiently.

Leng Jidao shook his head and said: "Your grandmother repeatedly explained to me before she died: 'Your stepfather is as kind to our mother and son, and he has no other children and grandchildren to inherit the incense, so you must not leave Lengxi Village, unless you give birth to more than two sons in the future, you can leave one to inherit the incense of your stepfather's family in Lengxi Village, so that you can go to the north to recognize your ancestors and return to your ancestors!' In order to prevent me from going back to the north without permission without following her instructions, your grandmother did not tell me what her original surname was until she died, nor did she tell me what township my real hometown was in Lanshan County. ”

Sneng Xiaotian was dazed by his father's sudden family history narration, and kept looking at the portrait of his grandfather on the shrine, only to realize that his grandfather and father were indeed not similar at all!

Leng Jidao said again: "Xiaotian, do you know why your grandmother was blind in her later years? That's because she misses your uncle and doesn't know his current life and death, so she cries all day and night, and when she is sixty years old, she begins to lose sight, and then she is finally completely blind. She was still chanting until she was dying: 'Stone, my mother is sorry for you!' My mother sold you for her life! If you are already dead, my mother will come to Yin Si to kowtow to you to make amends!'"

Speaking of this, Leng Jidao covered his face, and tears flowed down his fingers......

Sneer's eyes were also moist, and he stood for a while, and said to his father: "Dad, after the New Year, I will go to Lanshan County to inquire to see if my uncle has returned to his hometown." ”

Leng Jidao shook his head and said, "How can you find it?" Lanshan County is so big, you don't even know your ancestor's surname, it's harder than looking for a needle in a haystack!"

"Doesn't my grandmother have a name? Her surname is Zhen, and I don't think there are many surnames in Lanshan County. As long as you find your grandmother's hometown and ask her name, some of the older generations will definitely remember it, and they must know where she married and who she married. If we continue to explore all the way, we should be able to find our hometown and our relatives over there. ”

Leng Jidao still shook his head and said, "Laughing God, the reason why I am telling you this now is not to ask you to recognize your ancestors and return to your ancestors. Your grandmother was a man of love and righteousness, and kept her promises. She promised your grandfather: If the descendants do not have more than two sons or grandchildren, they will definitely not go to the north to recognize their ancestors, and they will definitely stay in Lengxi Village to inherit the incense of the old Leng family. I only have one son now, so you must also obey your grandmother's last words now, and you can't go north to find your roots. This is the respect that those of us who are future generations have for our deceased ancestors. Do you understand?"

Sneering Tian had no choice but to nod helplessly.

At this time, Lin Xue saw that his father and son always didn't go back to the house outside, so he couldn't bear it, so he opened a little crack in the door and shouted: "Xiaotian, do you still have to do a grand ceremony to worship your ancestors, I haven't finished the sacrifice for so long, I'm still waiting to eat the gizzard!"

Leng Jidao hurriedly wiped his tears and said with a smile: "Girl, it's coming, it's coming." ”

While eating, Sneer smiled and said to Lin Xue: "The rule in our village is that the reunion dinner must be eaten before four o'clock in the morning of the Chinese New Year's Eve and the first day of the new year, do you know what the reason is?"

Lin Xue's eyes widened in surprise and said, "Four o'clock in the morning? Tell me, what's the reason for this?"

This is the solution that the poor people of the old society had to come up with in order to cope with the debt collectors: the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve is the last day of debt collection. In the old society, most of the people in our village were tenants of the landlords, and they all owed the landlords rent grain. In order to prevent their family from being knocked into the house by the landlord's debt collector to snatch away the rice and meat for the New Year when they were eating the New Year's dinner, every household got up and hurriedly cooked the New Year's dinner when the rooster crowed for the first time, and finished the New Year's meal when the rooster crowed three times. Over time, the forced act of eating New Year's dinner in the early morning turned out to be a custom in our village. On the morning of the first day of the new year, the meal is to prevent people from coming in during the New Year's dinner, which ruins the fortune of the year. ”

Lin Xue listened with great interest and said, "There are still so many rules and allusions in your countryside for the New Year! I have grown so old that I have never eaten at four o'clock in the morning! Hehe, what an interesting thing!"

She said something interesting at this time, but at half past three in the morning the next day, when Sneer Xiaotian knocked on the door and told her to get up and eat, she made a "hmm" sound in her nose, and she didn't want to get up in bed. Later, he was urged by Sneer Tian, so he lazily said inside: "I can't get up, you can eat first, leave me a chicken leg, and I'll eat it when I get up." ”

Leng Jidao said at the door: "Girl, this can't work! This reunion dinner of the Chinese New Year's Eve, you must eat with us, otherwise your grandfather will be angry." ”

Lin Xue thought for a while and said, "That's good." Uncle Leng, you have to bring in the padded jacket roasted on the charcoal stove rack for me, I'm a little cold. ”

Leng Jidao hurriedly took down the cotton clothes on a bamboo pole roasted on the stove, handed it to Leng Xiaotian, and said, "You send it in for Xiaoxue." At this time, the weather is dry and cold, don't freeze her. ”

Sneer Xiaotian was a little embarrassed, but he didn't dare to disobey his father, so he had to take the cotton clothes, push open the door and walk into the room where Lin Xue slept.

Lin Xue had already turned on the light and sat up. I saw that she was wearing a set of pink pajamas, and her long hair was scattered over her shoulders. Because she had just woken up, her watery cheeks were flushed, and her sleepy eyes were misty, like a layer of crystal mist, revealing a seductive charm......

Sneering Tian didn't dare to look more, hung his head and put the cotton clothes on her quilt, just wanted to go out, Lin Xue suddenly stretched out her hot hand, hugged his neck, and whispered: "Peasant, today is the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve, you kiss me, we will also be reunited!"

As he spoke, he brought his equally hot lips over.