Pampered by the Toughest Man After Divorce
Chapter 122: Ancestor Worship 122_1

Chapter 122: Ancestor Worship 122_1

The act of worshipping deities has always been a matter of belief: if you believe, they exist; if you don’t, they don’t. In her previous life, Nan Feng didn’t believe. However, after suddenly being reincarnated into another person’s body in this life, she believed.

Were it not for the mercy of the heavens, how could she have lived anew?

After finishing the worship in the courtyard, they headed to the ancestral hall of their forebears.

The Nan clan’s Ancestral Hall was situated at the foot of the mountain featuring white walls and black tiles, grandly constructed. Inside, it housed the spirit tablets of all the ancestors. The highest tablet belonged to Nan Pinggong. Nan Pinggong fathered two sons which consequently led to two branches of the family, Nan Quanyou belonged to that of the younger son.

Interestingly, the lineage of Nan Pinggong’s younger son maintained a single line of descent, and their village, Daping, suffered a plague about a decade ago. Nan Quanyou’s grandparents and parents all perished in that epidemic, leaving only Nan Quanyou and Nan Feng in their generation.

On the other hand, the other branch was prospering with descendants, but after more than two hundred years, their relationship had become quite distant, hence they rarely interacted with each other.

However, every Chinese New Year, all the people of the surname Nan would come to the Ancestral Hall to pay homage to their ancestors.

During the memorial ritual for the ancestors that day, they encountered a man named Nan Yuanfei. Around thirty years old, according to the kinship, he should call Nan Quanyou "uncle" and Nan Feng "younger sister".

Nan Yuanfei usually did not associate with Nan Quanyou, but this time however, he was extremely cordial towards Nan Quanyou in the ancestral hall. He made small talk and then proposed to Nan Quanyou, "On Lunar New Year’s Eve, our clan is having a reunion dinner. Would you like to bring Fengfeng with you?"

Nan Quanyou was taken aback, "Well... I used to celebrate with Fengfeng alone in the past years."

Nan Yuanfei responded, "Ah, those were past years when you always looked gloomy. Who would dare to invite you, right? But this year is different. So that’s settled, make sure you bring Fengfeng with you."

Befuddled, Nan Quanyou asked, "Well... why is this year different?"

Nan Yuanfei changed the subject, "The other day, our Clan Chief mentioned that you and your daughter are now impoverished and isolated. Even though we are not from the same branch, seeing you both in such state still bothers us. We all belong to the Nan clan and have the blood of Nan Gaozu flowing in our veins, we should look out for each other. So don’t regard us as strangers. I’ll talk to the Clan Chief about you when I get home, and he’ll tell you what you need to be aware of for the reunion dinner."

"..." Nan Quanyou was taken aback. He was uncertain whether to refuse or accept the invitation.

If he were to refuse, everything Nan Yuanfei said did make sense. In recent years, he and his daughter had indeed been alone and struggling. Having the support of the larger Nan family clan might make life a little easier. For example, the incident of Nan Feng being jilted: if they had the support of the large clan, the village leader would not have dared to so blatantly break off the engagement.

But if he were to accept, he and his daughter had always lived just the two of them. Wasn’t that quite good too?

Nan Quanyou was still hesitating, but Nan Yuanfei had already left, saying as he departed, "It’s settled then!"

...

After finishing the ritual at the Ancestral Hall, Nan Quanyou and Nan Feng had to proceed to worship at the village communal hall, which everyone in the village would attend.

On their way to the communal hall, Nan Quanyou asked Nan Feng, "Should we join in the New Year’s Eve reunion dinner or continue to eat separately as we have always done?"

Nan Feng was also at a loss.

The village of Daping was only as big as the palm of a hand. If Nan Quanyou refused, who knew what others would say about them: that they were arrogant, or that they had become haughty because they had a bit of money.

But, anyone could see that Nan Yuanfei coming to them at this time was definitely not because they were struggling. They were more destitute in the earlier years, so why did he not come to them then, but chose to do so now?