"So, what should we buy for Grandma?"
Lily’s question was a profound one.
They respected their grandmother just as much as their mother did.
But, when it ca down to it, they weren’t really familiar with her. They only went there during holidays throughout the year. Since it was an old house with no place to stay, they usually left on the sa day without lingering longer.
Nancy said in a tone that reeked of wealth and extravagance, "Buy gold jewelry. For an elderly person of that age, giving nutritional supplents or the like isn’t as good as giving sothing more practical."
The Wood family ho was located at the border of Bathek City and the provincial capital. It took about an hour on the highway, plus another half hour of driving to get there.
It was a small village with beautiful scenery, clear waters, and green mountains, right by the sea and quite developed, much cleaner than your average rural village.
The Wood family ancestral ho was an old-style, single-story courtyard house, already very aged. Grandma Wood currently lived there alone, with her sons and daughters visiting during holidays.
One daughter was married in the town, and the second son had built his own house not far away, so they could provide so care.
As soon as the car stopped at the gate, Ruth got out first, carrying things and walking inside, calling out cheerfully, "Mom, we’ve co to see you."
Grandma Wood was over seventy years old. She was inside the house, chatting with a few other old ladies, watching TV, drinking tea, and even eating so homade snacks. Her life wasn’t luxurious, but it was particularly cozy and content.
As a son-in-law, even a live-in son-in-law, Luis felt a bit of social awkwardness setting in.
The mother and her two daughters kept Grandma and the old neighbors company, then, right in front of them, brought out gold jewelry, a jade bracelet, and a large red envelope.
For an old woman of this age, her vanity lay precisely in her children’s filial piety. She was grinning from ear to ear, praising them incessantly.
Not long after, Arthur called, "Lily, take your mom and Luis, and drive over to the ancestral hall."
It wasn’t far from here to the ancestral hall; they could have walked and treated it as a stroll. The specific instruction to drive there was clearly motivated by vanity, a bit of that ’returning ho in glory’ sentint.
Today was about praying to the ancestors for blessings for their child, so Luis was in a very good mood and took the natural cooperation seriously.
At the entrance of the ancestral hall, Arthur was already chatting with several elderly n. Watching the Cayenne approach, his old face broke into a wide smile.
"This is my second son-in-law."
"What a fine and talented man."
"This car, a Cayenne, a Porsche, my son’s boss drives one of these."
"Oh, it’s a luxury car. I didn’t even recognize it."
"Pfft, what do you know? You don’t know a thing."
After so brief and polite exchanges, they entered the Wood family ancestral hall. To be honest, Luis found it all rather peculiar.
Clearly, the general atmosphere was so conservative and feudal, with such rigid favoritism towards boys over girls, yet the customs of this village and the rules of this ancestral hall were remarkably open-minded.
Although it was less common, if soone had a daughter, they could still receive a small plot of farmland. The ancestral hall also allowed won to co and pay respects, even those who had married out.
The clan elder led the way, and Luis, his wife Lily, Ruth, and Arthur all began to pay their respects together.
Including preparing the sacrificial offerings, hosting a feast for the clan elders who ca to pray for the baby, plus red envelopes and other expenses, it cost over ten thousand dollars. Unexpectedly, this was money that Arthur had actually gritted his teeth and borrowed from relatives.
After the entire set of procedures was completed, the family returned to Grandma Wood’s house.
Grandma Wood was laughing heartily, clearly very pleased after being sweet-talked by Nancy.
After all, Nancy was the prettiest among her own granddaughters.
"This plot of land belongs to you three sisters."
Ruth brought the young couple to a sandy, stony patch of ground in the backyard.
"Even you won can get a share of the housing land?"
Luis had certainly broadened his horizons.
"The three of us combined have a plot of land just over half an acre. With the yard included, the hosite itself is about forty-three hundred square feet. Adding in the quarter-acre of farmland, this is a really sizable property."
Father-in-law Arthur also walked over and sighed, "But it’s abandoned, so it’s useless."
Rural land isn’t valuable either. The main point is there aren’t many young people in the countryside nowadays. It only gets lively during the holidays, and then they leave, so the hosteads and farmland in the village can’t really be circulated or transferred.
Arthur had actually considered it, but the village has few people and lots of land, especially abandoned sandy and rocky land. So people were buying farmland, but the prices were shockingly low.
As for the hostead land, forget it. The village is so spread out. If a family had two brothers, just the yard and a simple house would take over one mu of land, and that’s not even counting the farmland.
"What a waste to just leave it like this!"
Luis glanced around. Areas where grass could grow were overrun with weeds, while other spots were just sand, stones, construction debris, and garbage, already starting to emit a foul odor.
Many surrounding houses were almost completely abandoned and collapsing. They all beca ruins after the old folks passed away and their children never returned.
"I rember it being very lively during the New Year," Luis couldn’t help but remark.
"That’s only during the Lunar New Year period. Actually, these past few years have been much better. Many young people are willing to co back and find so work guarding their piece of land. Quite a few villagers are involved in e-comrce now."
Arthur sighed with feeling. "I did think about tidying this place up, enclosing it into a yard, and paving it with cent. But that would cost way too much money."
"Co on, don’t waste your money like that."
Lily, however, seed a little tempted. She said, "Mom, don’t you think building our own courtyard here with a few bungalows would be nice? We could co stay here when we have free ti."
"We could keep Grandma company. It wouldn’t be so aningless during the holidays, just eating and then leaving imdiately."
"Besides, celebrating the New Year in the countryside is so much more lively. It’s nothing like the city, which is deathly quiet and doesn’t even allow firecrackers."
"Exactly!"
Nancy held her sister and gently stroked Lily’s belly, saying, "After Lily’s little treasure is born, you could co live here sotis too."
"Yes!"
Lily’s eyes lit up. She giggled and said, "Children have so many more things to play with in the countryside. Plus, playing in the dirt often helps build their immunity."
"And the air is so much better in the countryside. It would be nice to vacation here occasionally."
The more the family talked, the more appealing the idea beca. Arthur looked sowhat awkward and said, "Let’s discuss this another ti. Even though everything is cheap in the countryside, starting construction like this would still require a significant amount of money."
The father-in-law, feeling short on funds, didn’t want to continue the topic. The family returned to Grandma Wood’s house, originally intending to arrange dinner.
But Grandma Wood shook her head and said, "No, there’s a family in the village holding a post-funeral reciprocal dinner tonight, after the third seventh-day ceremony. I have to attend."
"Mom, why didn’t you tell ?" Arthur complained a little.
"You didn’t ask!" Grandma Wood replied with a kind smile. "Since Lily is pregnant, she shouldn’t be involved with funeral matters. Besides, starting tomorrow, I must observe a strict fast for seven days to pray for blessings for my great-grandson in her womb."
"Grandma, observing a fast... does that an eating vegetarian?"
"Silly, it’s not the sa as just being vegetarian."
An elderly lady nearby smiled and shook her head.
"Observing a fast is much more strict. Not only can you not consu any at or fish, but you also cannot eat onions, ginger, garlic, chilies, leeks, dogwood, or similar things. That is true plain abstinence."
Ruth spoke in a slightly jealous tone, "Mom, when we were pregnant, you weren’t this particular."
"Back then, there were pregnant won everywhere. It was honestly annoying just looking at them all."
Grandma Wood laughed heartily. "Children are cute, but a whole bunch of them together is terribly noisy. Even your own grandchildren can get on your nerves."
As the sky darkened and the evening glow appeared, the family discussed under the twilight what to eat for dinner.
Lily, the pregnant one, had the biggest say.
She thought about it and decided having a seafood hotpot at ho would be nice, and everyone else agreed.
In their hearts, the sisters still hoped their parents could reconcile.
After all, living in a single-parent family for so many years had been very difficult.
However, Ruth absolutely refused. After being separated for over ten years, any marital affection between them was long gone.
Their relationship had existed in na only for ages. To put it more bluntly, if she agreed now, wouldn’t she just be giving Arthur an advantage, allowing him to enjoy the best of both worlds?
"Son-in-law, ride in my car. Your father-in-law needs to talk to you about sothing."
The mother and her two daughters drove the Cayenne, while Luis rode in his father-in-law’s Nissan. To be honest, it seed like the first ti he had ever been in this car.
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