Fang Sijin took Chen Cheng for a tour of the upstairs and downstairs.

Chen Cheng let her leave first.

She had to return to her hometown, so Chen Cheng naturally wouldn't say anything against it.

Just like Fan Shengmei, she had developed PTSD from being a "blood bag."

Once the good life lasts too long, it becomes uncomfortable.

Aunt Liu Rong even went to see her off; it seemed they had gotten quite close.

Chen Min, Chen Li, and their sister-in-law Zuo Pei were in the living room chatting with Li Na, Xiao Ye, and Zhu Zhe.

Chen Cheng's Aunt was busy pouring water and brewing tea.

Seeing that everyone had finished moving the items, Chen Zhong prepared to call everyone to go visit the graves.

Seeing Li Na, Xiao Ye, and Zhu Zhe, he frowned, beckoned Chen Cheng over, and asked in a low voice:

"You brought three of them back at once; which one are you going to take to visit your father's grave?"

"Uh..."

Chen Cheng was also stumped; he hadn't even thought about this matter.

He raised an eyebrow and said, "How about I take them all?"

Chen Zhong's mouth twitched. "Your father would probably be very happy."

"But today is New Year's Eve, and the road will be full of people visiting graves."

"If you take them all, your father will end up being the subject of gossip."

"It wouldn't be good for you either."

Chen Cheng didn't really care.

But since the elders had spoken, he would just follow suit; it wasn't a matter of major conflict of interest.

Chen Cheng walked over to the sofa and whispered to Li Na and Zhu Zhe to ask for their opinions.

The two of them quickly formed a united front, shrinking back and looking at Xiao Ye.

Chen Cheng chuckled helplessly, thinking, "I asked you two first, you know."

Are they stupid? This is a perfectly legitimate opportunity to be a daughter-in-law of the Chen family.

And they're actually deferring to each other.

He called out to Xiao Ye, "Xiao Ye, let's go."

"Huh? Where to?"

Xiao Ye was still playing with the cute Little Girl Li Wanrou and looked at Chen Cheng with a confused expression.

Now, it wasn't just Li Na and Zhu Zhe giggling; Chen Cheng's two sisters-in-law and two sisters couldn't hold it in anymore and were on the verge of bursting out laughing.

Chen Cheng chuckled helplessly. "Why ask so many questions?"

"Oh~" Xiao Ye replied adorably and stood up.

The two sisters, brothers-in-law, and the two Aunts stayed at home.

According to local customs, married daughters cannot participate in their natal family's ancestral rites, as it is said to 'damage the natal family's' 'incense and fire' or bring bad luck.

It is believed that a daughter visiting the grave symbolizes that the 'natal family has no descendants' or affects the family's fortune.

However, when the natal family truly has no brothers, the daughter must take on the responsibility of the rites.

Chen Cheng didn't understand, but he didn't want to worry about it either.

As the saying goes, when it comes to tradition, just do as the elders say.

However, the two sisters' children could go along, which gave Chen Cheng a rough understanding of this 'custom'.

Walking out of the courtyard, after Chen Liang helped put the offerings into the trunk, his eyes lit up when he saw Chen Cheng's Maybach.

Chen Cheng noticed his gaze instantly and raised an eyebrow at him. "Want to try it?"

Chen Liang immediately perked up. "Try it?"

Chen Cheng chuckled; his cousin was quite an interesting person. "The keys are in the car."

Zuo Pei immediately glared at Chen Liang and warned him sternly, "Drive carefully."

Chen Cheng curled his lips slightly. Well, he's henpecked.

Chen Liang ignored Zuo Pei and happily got into the driver's seat of the S680.

Chen Cheng counted the number of people.

Chen Liang's family of four; Chen Songtao's family of three, plus Uncle Chen Zhong made four people.

The rest were Chen Cheng and Xiao Ye, plus the Little Girl Li Wanrou and Chen Min's son Jiang Yichen, also four people; three cars were just right.

Chen Cheng took a look and offered, "Brother Tao, let's just drive my cars."

Chen Songtao agreed quickly. "Alright."

He and his wife were classmates at medical school and now both work at a hospital in the city.

Chen Zhong had bought them their house and car when they got married.

Now, the couple actually has decent financial conditions.

It's just that Chen Cheng's Aunt is a miser and is usually stingy.

Chen Songtao has the means now and wanted to buy a new car, but Liu Rong stopped him, telling him to save the money for the children.

This resulted in Chen Songtao still driving that hundred-thousand-yuan Geely Emgrand the family bought for their wedding five or six years ago.

It's just that his wife has a good temperament, and since they work at the same hospital, he just endured it.

Usually, no one pays attention to what car he drives, so it doesn't have any impact.

But if he drove that car, which is worth only ten or twenty thousand yuan on the second-hand market, in Chen Cheng's motorcade today, it would look a bit out of place.

Chen Songtao would probably feel very uncomfortable.

He would feel like people on the road were looking at him with strange eyes.

Before Chen Cheng returned, three cars were parked on the left side of the courtyard.

The black Tiguan was Chen Liang's, the white Geely Emgrand was Chen Songtao's, and that white Audi A4 belonged to Chen Li's husband, Wen Yongfei.

Chen Cheng made some arrangements.

Zuo Pei got into the driver's seat of the full-size American pickup truck; the son, daughter, and Jiang Yichen, the three little brats, sat in the back, and Xiao Ye was in the passenger seat.

Chen Songtao's family of three got into the Panamera.

Chen Zhong and the Little Girl sat in the back seat of the Maybach, with Chen Cheng in the passenger seat.

Seeing that everyone had gotten into the cars, Chen Liang shifted gears, released the clutch, and left the courtyard entrance.

At the small supermarket at the village entrance, they went to buy some incense, candles, paper money, and firecrackers for the ancestral rites.

These items cannot be brought into the main room of the house, so they are bought as needed.

Chen Cheng didn't get out of the car; Chen Liang and Chen Songtao from the car behind went to buy them.

In this village, eight out of ten people are related to each other, and Chen Cheng couldn't be bothered to make small talk with people he didn't know.

Sitting in the back row, Chen Zhong glanced at Chen Cheng in the passenger seat and instantly understood his thoughts.

He still introduced the situation, "This small supermarket is run by your Great-uncle's family, and it's currently managed by his granddaughter-in-law."

Chen Cheng just nodded indifferently and gave an "Hmm~".

Seeing that he had no interest, Chen Zhong's face showed a bitter smile, and he didn't say anything more.

Chen Liang was efficient, and finished the errands in about ten minutes.

Afterwards, the group drove along this road, heading south all the way up to Dahu Mountain.

Before reaching the public cemetery, the elders from several nearby villages were basically all buried on this mountain.

Chen Cheng's great-grandfather, great-grandmother, grandfather, and grandmother were all buried at the foot of this mountain.

In the past, you couldn't drive directly in here.

Later, when the village's conditions improved, they raised funds to build the road here.

However, because there were so many people paying respects to their ancestors today, the road was completely blocked.

Parking the cars on the side of the road, the group carried their items and walked into the mountain.

The graves of his great-grandfather and great-grandmother had been renovated by Chen Zhong after he retired a few years ago.

Originally, it was just a small mound of dirt with a gravestone carved from a rotten stone.

After the renovation, it became quite grand, with a circle of stone surrounding it and a new gravestone erected.

If Chen Cheng had come on his own, he really would have cried at the wrong grave.

Finding the location, Chen Zhong tossed a rag to Chen Cheng and a broom to Chen Liang. "Wipe the gravestone and sweep away the surrounding dust."

He handed a sickle to Chen Songtao and took one himself.

The wild grass around was as tall as a person; if it weren't for the concrete hardening in front of the grave, there would be nowhere to stand right now.

The men were clearing the grave area, and after Chen Liang finished sweeping the concrete ground in front of the grave, Zuo Pei, along with Chen Songtao's wife Zhang Yao and Xiao Ye, began to arrange the offerings.

They spread a red cloth in front of the tombstone and placed a boiled whole chicken (keeping the head and tail, symbolizing auspiciousness and a complete beginning and end), a "earth dragon" (a whole fish with scales, placed with the fish head facing the tomb, symbolizing abundance and a tail), and square meat (boiled pork belly cubes with a pair of red-lacquered chopsticks inserted, symbolizing a solid family foundation).

Green rice balls were placed in the center of the grave top, symbolizing reunion.

Rice, three small bowls piled into mountain peaks, with a pair of chopsticks inserted vertically into each bowl.

Rice cakes, sliced and stacked, symbolizing rising step by step.

Zuo Pei was older and understood these things, so she explained them to Zhang Yao and Xiao Ye while arranging them.

Fruits and dried fruits were then placed on the left and right sides.

An incense burner and candlestick were placed at the front.

These two items had been left on the grave from previous visits, so they wiped them off and continued to use them.