After receiving the New Year visitors, Lin Wanwan finished lunch with the little Qingyu, who was dressed like a pink dumpling, played a game of Gomoku, and enjoyed some parent-child time. Once little Qingyu dozed off and lay down, Lin Wanwan gently kissed her plump little cheeks, and then began to organize the luggage for tomorrow’s long journey. Indeed, the second day of the New Year is a great day to pay respects to your maternal family. In ancient times, the mountains were long and the roads were distant, the carriages and horses were slow, and once you started visiting relatives, it would often take months. Therefore, Lin Wanwan had a lot to take with her, just clothes alone filled several boxes, not to mention the gifts for others which also took several boxes, and on top of that, there were several boxes of little Qingyu’s toys. Follow current novels on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✶𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✶𝕟𝕖𝕥 This time, Hua Nong, Yun Shang, and Kun Lun must accompany her; it was just these three who had been used to serving her, not bringing them would seem too lacking in pomp and might not integrate well with the aristocratic families of the Great Tang. The ten children bought from Qiong State, along with Sun Chuyao and his elderly mother, due to age and language barriers, were left at Lin Family Manor to look after the house. Lin Wanwan was not worried they would strip her house bare. If Sun Chuyao, with just ten children and one old lady, could clean out her home under the watchful eyes of all the fierce clansmen at Lin Family Manor, then she would accept it. Though unable to accompany Lin Wanwan, Sun Chuyao was somewhat disappointed, but thinking about the responsibility of watching the house, he felt he could muster the spirit. The owner’s trust in his ability was still so great, he could not let her down. He had secretly decided that he would teach all ten little servants and his elderly mother the basics of Mao County’s local dialect before Lin Wanwan returned home from Qiantang. In fact, he had already started on this task since leaving Qiong State. It’s just that people with language talents like him and his daughter really weren’t common, there was no rushing it. His daughter Rongrong could now say a few simple phrases in Mao County dialect, and she understood quite a bit. At least there was no major barrier communicating with little mistress Qingyu. This time, she was the only one from Qiong State to travel to Qiantang. Yun Shang was initially a bit concerned that only leaving Sun Chuyao and the group of slaves from Qiong State to look after the house, but upon learning that Rongrong would be with Lin Wanwan, she put her mind at ease and happily helped organize the luggage for the trip. Among the three slaves Lin Wanwan first bought, Yun Shang was the most knowledgeable, as she was cultivated to be sold as a maid to a wealthy family. Lin Wanwan was quite satisfied with Yun Shang’s ability. Although she had her own little thoughts and a slight desire for power, overall, she was still a loyal servant, the kind that would definitely be in high demand in today’s domestic service market. The first night of the New Year passed quietly. Lin Wanwan even took the time to return to the modern day. This past month, she had been in the Tang Dynasty and was almost reluctant to return to the modern era. If it weren’t for learning to drive, selling seafood, and replenishing supplies, she could have stayed in the Tang Dynasty indefinitely. After all, compared to the cold and empty suburban villa with just two portraits on the wall, the seaside small house in the Great Tang was much warmer. There she had several cousins occasionally fishing seafood for her, and the soft little Qingyu who loved her wholeheartedly. The modern day, aside from a convenient environment and abundant materials, really couldn’t meet her spiritual needs. When Lin Wanwan left the Great Tang, it was seven o’clock in the evening on the first day, while in the modern day, it was already five in the morning on the second day. The winter sun rose late, and at five, the sky was still a deep, dark black. Lin Wanwan carried the scriptures, incense, and fruits she had prepared in the Tang Dynasty, opened the door of the small villa, put on a mask, ordered a ride-sharing car, and headed to the cemetery where her grandparents lay at rest. The ride-sharing driver, still hustling for life on New Year’s, was quite talkative and tried to engage with Lin Wanwan on the way. Upon discovering her cool demeanor, he began to hum songs to himself. It was clear that even having to work during the New Year didn’t make him resent life at all. Once she got out of the car, Lin Wanwan tipped the driver in addition to the fare, considering it a gesture of gratitude for spreading happiness to her. The gray and dim morning of the second day of the New Year saw only a few people visiting the cemetery. Those walking the same mountain path as Lin Wanwan were chatting and laughing as if they were on a spring outing, not a grave visit, while she remained silently by herself. The joys and sorrows of the world do not connect; she only found them noisy. It wasn’t long before she reached the midway point of the mountainside where her grandparents were buried, discovering traces of incense and burnt paper. Who had come to pay their respects before her? It certainly couldn’t be her uncle’s family, far in the United States; could it be from her aunt’s side of the family? Thinking of her uncle, Lin Wanwan couldn’t help but smile. The honest man who had been extremely loving with her aunt during her life, who submitted his entire salary order, sought medical help for her aunt in major hospitals in Sea City and Beijing after she fell ill, and even begrudged spending more money on fast food for himself, merely eating instant noodles. This kind of man, who would surely be considered moving if he were to be featured in news stories about touching tales in China, had, less than a month after her aunt’s passing, been introduced to and married a new wife. It was as if the past love had been a mere illusion, just a sense of duty. Back then, Lin Wanwan, still in middle school, couldn’t understand this kind of sentiment at all. Her aunt passed away the year before her grandmother’s demise, and was one of the few adults in her childhood who gave her love and warmth. Since her aunt was gone, her uncle also interacted less with her grandparents, and even at her grandfather’s funeral, he merely bowed hastily like a distant relative. So, who would come silently to pay their respects this early morning? It doesn’t seem like something her uncle, without her aunt as a connection, a cold-hearted man, would do. Could it be her cousin? As she pondered, Lin Wanwan placed the fruits from the bamboo basket, lit some incense, sat on the marble before the tombstone, quietly gazing into the dark night, reminiscing about the moments with her grandparents while waiting for the incense to burn out. If she could choose, the time she most wanted to travel back to was the year her parents had their accident. Back then, she had both parents, and her grandparents, encircled with love, she was a little princess. Time passed slowly, and she now couldn’t even recall her parents’ features; the black-and-white photos they left behind had long been faded by time. When she lost them, Lin Wanwan was too young to understand the meaning of death. When she did comprehend it, she could no longer remember anything about them. Her grandparents’ home and her paternal grandparents’ house weren’t in the same city, and since losing her parents, the two families had severed ties completely. Lin Wanwan had never been taken by her grandparents to her parents’ graves; she only bowed before the incense at the dinner table they prepared on her parents’ birth and death anniversaries. To this day, she doesn’t even know where her parents are buried.