The old woman wasn't comforted by these words; it was rare to find a daughter-in-law who wasn't calculating. But looking at her granddaughter beside her, she decided against it.

This life was being lived for the granddaughter, after all. It wasn't worth it.

If you are in someone’s heart, you are there; if you aren't, even if you give them your heart, they will lean elsewhere. Sons are debts.

The old woman gave a dismissive look, "I can't be bothered looking at you. What do you even have that someone would value?

Do you think people come just because you call them?" This was a complaint about the daughter-in-law’s lack of shrewdness, not knowing to save things for the granddaughter’s future. As for Yang Zhi, whatever the old woman said, went.

She couldn't pick up on the slightest nuance, "But isn't there still that piece of meat?" The old woman was so angry her stomach ached, "Get out, I don't want to deal with you. That meat is reserved for making dumplings on New Year's Eve.

Stop thinking about it. I don't need fanfare.

When you are living better than others, you won't have to call anyone, and they’ll all gather around me." With that, the old woman got off the kang and prepared to slide the bolt for sleeping alone. Chi Yong pulled his wife out; he figured his wife couldn't grasp the old woman’s profound doctrine.

Cheng Ying, however, understood what the old woman meant. Having seen so much of life's shifting loyalties, she naturally grasped it: Wealthy in the deep mountains still has distant relatives.

This was an old saying. Perhaps her elder uncles thought her family had suffered a terrible famine when they moved into the city.

They probably couldn't wait to distance themselves from her. It was no wonder her paternal uncle hadn't visited Grandmother for so long.

Cheng Ying sighed. It was all because Old Sun, the team leader’s driver, was too tight-lipped.

If a woman had accompanied her into the city, even if her own health had been fine, the news of her sickness—had she not sought treatment—would have spread everywhere already. Cheng Ying didn't know if this was good or bad, but she couldn't easily let it go.

The old woman watched the room quiet down. "Yingzi, are you perhaps resentful of your paternal uncle?" Cheng Ying thought, What are you saying?

How could that be? They have sons and daughters; why would they spend their money on me for nothing?

Cheng Ying didn't have the mindset that the world revolved around her. "Grandma, what are you talking about?

Uncle and Mingzi still have mouths to feed. Why would I resent them?

As long as my Grandma and Mom spend money on my treatment, that’s enough." The meaning was clear: others have nothing to do with me; I never relied on them. The old woman was sharp; this meant her granddaughter had grown distant from her two sons.

That was worse than resentment. In her heart, she didn't consider her two sons family at all.

The old woman sighed, "Yingzi, forget it, Grandma won't say anything more." Thinking about it really chilled her heart. That was her own niece!

When his life was in danger, why was the eldest son so heartless as to not even offer a hand? No wonder her granddaughter held a grudge.

Cheng Ying said, "Grandma, it’s fine. When Uncle and the others realize our family isn't suffering from famine, they will come to see you.

I'll tell them later." The old woman looked at her granddaughter and thought that she was intentionally embarrassing her eldest son. Truly, children of the younger generation were naive.

The old woman said, "Yingzi, there are some things we don't need to mention. Just watch in the future.

Grandma is still strong; I have time left for them to show filial piety. No rush." Cheng Ying replied, "Mm, as long as you don't keep it bottled up in your heart.

From now on, you don't need anyone else to be filial to you; you have me." The old woman stroked her granddaughter's hair. The two lay side by side on the kang but couldn't sleep.

Cheng Ying asked, "Grandma, why aren't my dad and Grandpa together?" Cheng Ying still remembered this matter. It took the old woman a long time to speak, and the atmosphere filled with deep sorrow, "Your father had an outside death; the village has rules that forbid him from being buried in the ancestral graves." Cheng Ying could hear the tremor in her grandmother’s voice towards the end.

Any mother couldn't bear this. Her own son, alone in the outside world, not even allowed into the ancestral graves after death.

This was too painful. Cheng Ying's heart ached with sympathy.

Her own dear father—Cheng Ying had heard her grandmother say it more than once—was such a good man, yet he couldn't be interred in the ancestral graves. Cheng Ying said, "Grandma, don't be sad.

I won't let my father's lineage die out. I accompany my dad during major festivals." This was the only thing that could comfort the old woman.

The old woman clutched her granddaughter's hand. "For so many years, I coaxed your two elder uncles to live together, thinking that in the future, whether it was your eldest uncle's family or your second uncle's family, they would adopt a boy to register under your father's name, so that in the end, your father's grave would have someone to offer incense.

But I never expected it, Yingzi. Your father will rely on you in the future." Cheng Ying understood the old woman’s helplessness and bitterness.

In the countryside, a father like hers was considered without heirs. People said that even daughters burning paper money for their father could inherit half his property; how could a son's contribution compare?

That was just custom. Cheng Ying declared, "Grandma, don't worry.

Even if I go to university in the future, I will find a son-in-law who will marry into our family to add soil to my father’s grave. I won't let my father be alone and uncared for." The old woman hadn't shed a tear when her sons divided the property, but she couldn't help but hug her granddaughter and weep.

At her age, her husband was gone, and her children had grown up; there wasn't much she was reluctant to part with, but her youngest son was the persistent ache in the old woman's heart. And it had been this way for years.

Hearing her granddaughter’s words, the old woman was not comforted. "Yingzi, you must remember this.

You must not lie to Grandma. Even if it’s not an adopted son-in-law, when you have children, just have them take your father's surname.

One is enough." Cheng Ying promised, "Grandma, don't worry." Cheng Ying felt that since she had taken over this body, she owed the old woman this much. Besides, after drifting through life without finding someone truly fulfilling, she might as well find someone decent and take him in as a live-in son-in-law; happiness was happiness either way.

Cheng Ying was open-minded about this. The old woman closed her eyes, chatting intermittently with her granddaughter.

"Originally, it would have been fine if you married out and your father had no one after him, but your father, unfortunately, did not pass away outside; he is forbidden from the ancestral graves. He won't be with your grandfather, so I can't even look after him in the future, with no lineage offering incense.

Grandma is not at ease." Cheng Ying also felt that her stepfather’s afterlife was quite tragic. Not being allowed into the ancestral graves was a deep sorrow for rural people.

It was all because the countryside placed so much emphasis on this tradition. She patted the old woman's hand.

"Grandma, I know. I definitely won't let his lineage end.

In the future, I'll earn lots and lots of money, I won't be afraid of being penalized, and I'll give birth to eight or ten children. Then, during festivals, no one's grave will be more lively than my dad's." The old woman playfully tapped her granddaughter’s back.

"You nonsensical girl, what do you think having children is? Eight or ten?

Why are you such a girl and have no sense of shame? What young lady says things like that?

Oh dear, you must guard your mouth when you go out; you absolutely cannot talk such nonsense, understand?" Cheng Ying was scolded by the old woman. "I know, I know, I won't say it.

I'll just talk to you." The old woman was helpless with her granddaughter. None of her daughters outside were like this, able to face such words so calmly.

Oh, raising a carefully nurtured girl was so difficult. "And that talk about penalties—where did you hear that?

Don't just say things randomly. State policies are not something you can casually discuss.

I’ve never heard of anyone being fined for having children. Oh, why am I even telling you this?

You mischievous child have confused me." Cheng Ying also felt a chill. She had spoken out of turn; the country hadn't even publicized the family planning policy yet.

But clearly, there were slogans outside promoting eugenics and fostering health. Heh heh "Grandma, you're just letting me dream.

I'm going to sleep." Indeed, the more you talk, the more mistakes you make. The evening of the twenty-ninth passed, and the New Year arrived.

Early in the morning, Cheng Ying felt it was still dark when her own mother woke her up. The old woman didn't wait until the first day of the month to put new trousers on her granddaughter; she dressed her up neatly first thing in the morning.

Then Yang Zhi took Cheng Ying, carrying a bag, and they walked toward the courtyard gate. The old woman stood at the door, watching the mother and daughter.

There was no custom for a living mother to visit her deceased son’s grave. So the old woman couldn't go.

It should have been a happy occasion like the New Year, but having a son who left before them always cast a shadow of melancholy over the home. The elderly burying the young always brought sorrow.

Cheng Ying said, "Grandma, go back, it's cold this morning." This wasn't morning; it was still the middle of the night. She didn't know how far the road was.

The old woman waved her hand, finally seeing her daughter-in-law and granddaughter walking out without turning back inside. As soon as Yang Zhi and Cheng Ying stepped out of the yard, Chi Yong brought Chi Wu out.

"The two of us will go together; it will be livelier." Cheng Ying immediately looked up at her grandmother’s face. To be honest, Cheng Ying couldn't discern the old woman's mood.

Her expression was too conflicted, too complex for Cheng Ying to comprehend. Her own mother, however, had a face flushed with rosy light, clearly feeling embarrassed.

Chi Yong, leading his son, looked at the old woman. "From now on, we are one family.

Wuzi will also go to pay respects with Yingzi. We need to get used to it." Then they stood by the door, waiting for the old woman to give her word.

It was clear that if the old woman disagreed, her stepfather wouldn't defy her wishes. Cheng Ying somewhat understood the old woman's feelings.

Her own son and daughter-in-law—on New Year’s Day—weren’t they just bringing grief to her deceased son? But the countryside valued this custom.

Chi Yong doing this was him integrating into this family; this was magnanimity, this was understanding. But selfishly, the old woman would rather her own mother and the family of three spend time together, after all, the time her own mother spent with the life that belonged to her deceased son was truly very few days in a year.

Alas, Cheng Ying didn't know what to do. The old woman said, "It’s good to go together; it will be lively.

Hurry up, everything must be in order before the sun is fully up." Only then did Chi Yong bring Chi Wu to follow behind Yang Zhi as they walked out. Cheng Ying looked back at her dear grandmother, feeling such a pang of sadness—why did her own father have to leave so early?

If it weren't for today's event, Cheng Ying would have been the main focus. She even wanted to run back and comfort the old woman at home.

She dashed back twice the speed, pecked her grandmother’s cheek with a kiss, and then, without saying anything else, ran off. She was the main person visiting the grave today; she couldn't be late.

The old woman had indeed been feeling unsettled, but that sudden, impulsive gesture from her granddaughter dispelled all her feelings. Why was that girl always causing such a stir?

Cheng Ying dared not walk ahead of her own mother because she didn't know where her biological father was resting. Not just for the old woman’s sake, but because she occupied the body of someone who belonged to the deceased, Cheng Ying was displaying the utmost reverence for this grave-visiting ritual.

To Chi Yong and Chi Wu, the little girl bowing her head in deep thought must surely be missing her own biological father.

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