It was already two o'clock in the afternoon when the meal was finished.
Yao Jing's cooking skills are quite good. She helped cook two dishes, and they were basically eaten.
Lin Zhiming had two drinks with his grandfather and uncle, and took Lin Wan'er back to his room for a lunch break. Yao Jing went to the streets with Lin Zhiming's aunt to buy new year's goods.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, what Zhiming brought back is incredible!" Meng Guangsha stood in the corner, looking at what Lin Zhiming brought back, and admired.
"What have you brought?" Meng Zijun asked curiously.
"Decades of Moutai, white-shell cigarettes, abalone, sea cucumbers, etc. are all good things. Hey, we have a talented person in our family!" Meng Guangsha walked back to the living room with emotion.
At this time, Gao Xuan walked out of the kitchen.
"You should have heard what Zhiming just said. When he comes back this time, he should try to keep a low profile." Gao Xuan said.
"I heard it." Meng Guangsha nodded.
"Lao Meng and I have discussed before that we can't tell anyone about Zhi Ming. Since Zhi Ming himself has said that we should keep a low profile, then when we go back to the village or visit relatives, we shouldn't mention too much about Zhi Ming.
Just say that you only need to work out of town!" Gao Xuan said.
"It's not easy for our old Meng family to have such a capable person. When we go back to the village and visit relatives, we should not make any noise. It's such a long face!" Meng Guangsha said with a frown.
"If you have a butt face, no matter how rich you are, people will know your destiny. What does it have to do with us? Does having a face depend on money? How many times have I told you not to compare with others, let alone have vanity, but you have forgotten
Huh?" Meng Qiwen said with a dark face.
"I know, I know, don't be angry." Meng Guangsha said quickly to please.
"Lao Meng is right. You shouldn't rely on money to grow your face. We never compare with others, so there is no need to publicize things that we know our fate. What others want is their business. We ourselves must keep a low profile and not be arrogant. Guangsha,
I know that your business has been doing well recently and you have made a lot of money, but you can't be too high-profile. Your current achievements are all thanks to your destiny, aren't you? There are so many people who hate the rich in society now, how can you do this?
Don't get yourself and Zhiming into trouble." Gao Xuan also warned.
"Understood, I'm not the kind of person who likes to show off, don't worry!" Meng Guangsha said quickly.
"And you, Zijun!" Gao Xuan looked at Meng Zijun and said, "Don't tell anyone about your cousin, understand? Moreover, if your cousin gives you anything, don't ask for it if it's too expensive.
A person should take as much stuff as he can, so that he won't be burdened by things outside him!"
"Yes! Grandma!" Meng Zijun saluted Gao Xuan.
"Tomorrow is the New Year's Eve. This is the first New Year's Eve in our family. You should all take it seriously!" Gao Xuan said.
"Yes!" The three generations of the old Meng family in front of Gao Xuan nodded at the same time.
The next day, New Year's Eve.
Early in the morning, the entire Lao Meng family got up.
According to local customs, today all the Meng family must return to their hometown in the countryside to celebrate the New Year. After the New Year celebrations, they will return to their residences to celebrate New Year's Eve.
The so-called New Year celebration is to return to your hometown to worship your ancestors.
Zu Shigong is the common ancestor of people in a village, and Zu Shigong is the local saying.
Logically speaking, Lin Zhiming should return to the Lin family and celebrate the New Year at the Lin family. However, since he came to his grandparents' house to celebrate the New Year this time, he naturally had to go back to his mother's hometown with his grandparents.
His mother's hometown is a small village under Huade County, less than 20 kilometers away from the county seat, so it's very close.
You can see convoys returning home everywhere along the way. There are many luxury cars in the convoy. Many people show their best sides at this time of the year. Luxury cars, luxury watches, good cigarettes, and all kinds of preparations are on the way.
, in order to prove to the people in the same village that he is doing well outside.
When Lin Zhiming came back this time, he drove a low-key Audi A4, and also equipped Li Sina with an even more low-key Toyota Camry, so that Li Sina would not be noticed when she followed Lin Zhiming and the others from a distance.
After driving for about twenty minutes, the group returned to the village.
As soon as he entered the village, Meng Guangsha lowered his car window and greeted people standing on the roadside from time to time.
Finally, the group parked the car in front of the house built by Meng Qiwen and his production team.
This kind of house has been used in rural areas for many years. People in a production group jointly build a building, and then everyone gets one or two houses. It is much cheaper than buying a house in the county.
Meng Qiwen and the others also have two apartments, but they basically don't live in them, so they only come back to stay during holidays and the like.
"Qiwen!"
"Guangsha!"
"Zijun!"
People in the same group saw Meng Qiwen and others and said hello one after another.
"You guys came back early enough!" Meng Guangsha said with a smile.
"We have decided to celebrate the New Year at 12 o'clock this year, but we are not allowed to come back early!" said a middle-aged man.
"Come over and make tea, everyone, I brought good tea!" Meng Guangsha said.
"That's great, let's try our big boss's tea!" someone laughed.
Lin Zhiming and Yao Jing walked out of the car together. They were still holding Lin Waner's hands, and the three of them followed Meng Guangsha into the house in front of them.
The houses are in a row, and the storefront downstairs is used as a living room.
Meng Guangsha sat on the tea-making seat and started to boil water, while Meng Qiwen and Gao Xuan started to prepare things for the New Year.
The neighbors nearby also gathered around at this time. Meng Guangsha took out the white-shell cigarette given by Lin Zhiming from his pocket and started to smoke.
"What kind of cigarette is this?" someone asked.
"Don't you understand this? The white-shell cigarettes are all provided internally." Meng Guangsha said proudly.
"That's awesome!" people around said.
"Who are these two?" Someone noticed Lin Zhiming and Yao Jing and couldn't help but ask.
"I have to introduce it to you. These are my sister's children and daughter-in-law. This is a knower. This is Yao Jing!" Meng Guangsha introduced.
"It turns out to be Meng Ning's child!" People around showed surprised expressions. Everyone knew about the quarrel between Meng Ning and her family. They also knew that Meng Ning had not had contact with her family for decades. They did not expect that this time
Meng Ning's child unexpectedly appeared.
"I know, these are from one of our production groups. We lived in this place decades ago when we were children. At that time, we lived in wooden houses. Later, the wooden houses were demolished and we built this house!" Meng Guangsha followed.
Lin Zhiming said.
"Hello!" Lin Zhiming said with a smile.
"Hello!"
"Hello!"
People around him greeted Lin Zhiming one after another with curious looks in their eyes, firstly because Lin Zhiming, as Meng Ning's child, had never appeared in front of them, and secondly because Lin Zhiming and Yao Jing were both so good-looking.
, the two of them also have a transcendent temperament, which makes people feel that they are not simple at first sight.
"Everyone, sit down and drink tea!" Meng Guangsha asked everyone to sit down, and then took out the tea that he usually didn't want to drink. While making tea, he introduced the origin of tea, pretending to be a show in front of everyone.
Everyone was not surprised by all this. They smiled and listened to Meng Guangsha's pretentiousness, and then drank tea worth several thousand yuan per catty, carefully remembering the difference of this tea, so that when he went out to work later, he could brag about it to his coworkers.
.
After making tea for a while, Meng Qiwen walked in, twisting something.
"It's almost time, get ready to leave," Meng Qiwen said.
Meng Qiwen is very prestigious here. As soon as he opened his mouth, everyone withdrew. Then everyone went back to their homes to pick up things needed for the New Year celebrations and followed Meng Qiwen to the ancestral temple.
"Yao Jing, please don't go, just let your husband go! We are here to help cook for everyone." Gao Xuan said to Yao Jing.
Yao Jing nodded and stayed with Lin Wan'er.
"This ancestral temple houses the golden body of the ancestor of our old Meng family. We have to come back to worship on the half-month and New Year's Eve of every year..." Meng Qiwen introduced some rules of the New Year to Lin Zhiming as he walked. Lin Zhiming
Listening carefully all the way, it didn't take long before we arrived at the ancestral temple.
The ancestral temple is just a dilapidated wooden house. The wooden house has a main hall with a huge table inside, and various tributes are placed on the table.
"Zhiming, let's just stay at the door while your grandpa goes in to celebrate the New Year." Meng Guangsha said to Lin Zhiming.
Lin Zhiming nodded and stood in the open space in front of the ancestral temple with Meng Guangsha.
This open space is paved at the back, with a cement floor and a large area.
Many people in the village who came to celebrate the New Year stood in the open space and chatted with each other.
The old people are all busy in the main hall of the ancestral temple.
The New Year has different meanings for the elderly and young people. The elderly come here to worship, while the young people come here more to socialize. Many people work outside and cannot see each other for a year. It just so happens that we meet at this time.
When we meet, we recognize each other and leave a WeChat message or something.
Everyone here is surnamed Meng, coming from the same ancestor hundreds of years ago, and now there are dozens of branches.
Meng Guangsha was quite important in the village. When he stood in the open space, people immediately came up to say hello, one after another calling Boss Meng.
Meng Guangsha also handed out cigarettes very generously, and then talked to everyone about how much money he made last year and the powerful people he had made friends with.
To sum it up in one sentence, it’s bragging.
Lin Zhiming, as a descendant of Meng Ning, aroused the curiosity of many people, but Meng Guangsha only briefly mentioned that Lin Zhiming was working in other places and did not say much, so everyone gradually lost interest in Lin Zhiming.
Lin Zhiming looked around curiously while listening to his uncle bragging to others.
From time to time there were sounds of firecrackers, and the ashes of paper money floated in the air.
At this moment, Lin Zhiming saw several people approaching not far away.
When these people came outside the ancestral temple, many people came to greet them and surrounded them.
The leader of those people was wearing casual clothes, a little bloated, and a little bald. He had his hands behind his back, with a slight arrogance on his face. No matter what the people around him said, he just nodded slightly.
, and only occasionally opened his mouth to say a few words.
This man walked straight into the main hall with everyone following him.
"Who is this person?" Lin Zhiming asked curiously.
"Meng Mingyuan, the top leader of a certain county bureau." Meng Guangsha said calmly, "He is the biggest official in our village. Every time he comes back, he is the focus of the whole village."
"No wonder!" Lin Zhiming nodded clearly. In a small place like Huade County, the top leader of a certain bureau is still very powerful.