TIPS – Chapter 105

“Then…” Even knowing it would cause a fallout, everyone in the family still agreed?

“It’s a matter of choice. Do you want to fall out with the main family, or do you want to give up honoring your ancestors? You can only choose one.” Song Jingwei said plainly. As an outsider, he naturally had no emotional attachment to the Shen family’s main branch and didn’t care about their feelings. However, he respected the opinions of everyone in the Shen family’s main household. If they genuinely wanted to reconcile, he wouldn’t have stopped them—at most, he’d just keep a watchful eye to ensure they didn’t suffer losses.

“That’s true.” Yang shi nodded after a moment’s thought. She had previously overlooked the mutual exclusivity of those two options, always thinking there might be another way. But in fact, she wasn’t really afraid of falling out with the Shen family’s main branch—she was just afraid of gossip.

“Don’t worry, both sides have their faults. The conflict between the two families has a long history and can no longer be unraveled. Since that’s the case, why not let it get messier? We’ll just take the beneficial path and leave the rest—our hearts might want more, but there’s nothing we can do.” After all, emotions are the least reliable thing in the world. How many blood relatives treat each other like enemies? And how many children grow up and refuse to care for their parents? So don’t say family bonds are absolute—it’s all just a matter of luck.

“You’re right.” Yang shi sighed and nodded. This really was a powerless situation. Even if time could rewind, things might not turn out differently.

It was the first day of April, and no one in the village had gone tomb-sweeping yet. So Shen Dongming and his son’s two-person team looked a bit abrupt. Fortunately, they were heading deep into the wild mountains, places rarely visited, so there was no risk of being watched.

Together, father and son paid respects to all their ancestors buried on the mountain. The Shen family had only been in Chashan Village for less than 120 years—about six generations—and there were more than twenty graves in total, which took the whole day to tend to.

When the two returned home, stars were already twinkling in the night sky. Though the day had been exhausting, their hearts were calm. They both knew: in the next few days, a battle was coming.

The Shen family’s main branch had also heard some gossip about that day, and they had been brooding about it for days. They didn’t think they had done anything wrong—in their eyes, Shen Dongming was at fault. After all, it’s always the son who gets blamed for being unfilial; no one ever says a father is unkind. So they believed the villagers were just foolish, turning right and wrong upside down with just their words.

At the same time, they were puzzled. Since Shen Dongming had come to plead that day, he hadn’t shown up again. Logically speaking, ancestral rites were of utmost importance—he couldn’t have just given up. Yet even as Qingming Festival arrived, there was still no sign of Shen Dongming.

With these doubts, the main branch prepared everything and sent all the men to sweep the graves. Even Shen Dongqi and his wife had returned the afternoon before Qingming. Seeing that the eldest branch wasn’t there, they asked curiously, “Why isn’t the eldest branch here yet? Did they forget what day it is?”

Old Master Shen and Shen Dongying didn’t reply—just snorted in unison.

Shen Dongqi was startled. “Don’t tell me… you didn’t let Eldest Brother come?”

Shen Dongying said, “Second Brother, what are you talking about? Whether he comes or not is none of our business.” But he didn’t tell the truth, because Shen Dongqi was different now. He was a businessman and always sided with profit. Shen Dongying prided himself on having integrity and not cozying up to the eldest branch just for money.

“It’s getting late, let’s go.” The old master said, leaning on his cane as he walked forward.

So it really seemed the eldest branch wasn’t coming. Shen Dongqi and Liu Yue exchanged complex looks but had no better ideas. They followed behind—regardless of whether the eldest branch came, they still had to sweep the graves.

“Father, isn’t that one of our ancestral graves?” From a distance, Shen Dongying spotted a familiar tomb. It was definitely one of theirs—but why had it already been cleaned, with firecrackers burned, incense lit, and paper money scattered all over?

Old Master Shen widened his eyes and hurried over for a closer look. When he saw it clearly, he flew into a rage. “That blind fool! How dare they!” How dare someone sweep their ancestral grave! Were they blind?

“This… this…” Shen Dongying was also shocked and furious. “How could this happen?” Judging from the traces, it clearly wasn’t done today. Who would come so early? Qingming Festival is today!

“Could it be someone who returned from out of town and got the date wrong?” Shen Dongqi guessed. He knew some people didn’t come back every year to pay respects—and sometimes those who did weren’t familiar with the graves’ locations. Mistakes could happen.

“Hmph! This is just…” Old Master Shen trembled with anger, his beard shaking. He knew someone must’ve made a mistake—but they couldn’t track them down or scold them.

“Don’t be angry, Father. Let’s just do our own offerings. Treat it like an error—no need to take it to heart.” Shen Dongqi tried to comfort him and began cleaning up the paper money and firecracker debris from the ground. Better to leave no trace at all.

The other members of the Shen family’s main branch also understood that this was something they couldn’t do anything about—who could they even be angry at? So, they all stayed silent and began helping clean up. Then they hung spirit money, lit incense, set off firecrackers, and scattered paper offerings. Only after finishing all of this did they feel a bit relieved. After all, anyone would feel uncomfortable if someone mistakenly paid respects at their family’s ancestral graves.

“Alright, there’s another one up ahead. Let’s go there next,” Old Master Shen said. Everyone packed up their things and quickly followed.

What made their blood boil was that the ancestral grave up ahead had also been visited already! Judging by the paper offerings on the ground and the spirit money covering the grave, it was truly unbearable!

“Dad! What on earth is going on?” Shen Dongying exclaimed, almost furious to the point of trembling. At this point, he no longer believed this was just a coincidence.

He turned to ask Old Master Shen, but the old man was already so enraged that he was light-headed and nearly fainted. Slamming his cane on the ground, he barked, “Quick! Go check the rest of the ancestral graves—see if… if…” If the rest had been swept as well, he might just die of anger right there on the mountain!

“……”

Hearing this, everyone quickly conferred and then split up, hurrying to the various ancestral graves scattered across the mountain.

Not long after, the first person to return came back panting and cried, “Bad news! That side was swept too!” The others came back one by one, all with angry expressions, echoing the same: “Ours were swept too!”

The last person to return said grimly, “The three graves on that side—all of them were swept.”

“……”

Everyone’s expressions turned ugly. Shen Dongying suddenly voiced a suspicion, “I noticed all the other family graves are untouched—why are only ours already swept?”

As everyone thought it over, they all began to suspect the same thing…

Old Master Shen’s eyes widened, and he suddenly roared in fury, “Shen Dongming!!” That’s right—they were all thinking the same thing. Who else could it be but Shen Dongming? The main family had refused to let him join them for ancestral rites, so he must’ve held a grudge and come to the mountain early to perform the rites alone—just to disgust and get back at them for the rejection!

“That eldest one! Outrageous! How could he do this?” Shen Dongying cursed, utterly incensed. He already disliked Shen Dongming, and this just added fuel to the fire.

“You’re saying Big Brother came early to visit the graves? But why would he do that?” Shen Dongqi asked in confusion, not knowing the backstory. In his impression, Shen Dongming wasn’t that kind of person.

“Hmph! Of course he did it out of spite for the main family. He did it on purpose,” Shen Dongying declared decisively, not mentioning how they’d turned Shen Dongming away before.

“Then what should we do about this?” Shen Dongqi looked at the livid Old Master Shen and asked, “Dad, how do you plan to handle it?” They had already come; they still had to pay their respects, didn’t they? Even if the eldest had come early… This whole thing was just a tangled mess. He had been hoping to improve relations between the two sides, but now it looked like he’d be lucky if things didn’t get even worse.

“……”

Old Master Shen closed his eyes for a moment to calm down, then said coldly, “We still have to pay respects. Just because he did it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.”

He refused to acknowledge Shen Dongming’s behavior—absolutely refused! As far as he was concerned, what Shen Dongming did didn’t count at all!

“Dad’s right. Sons, get to work. Throw all this stuff away. We’ll just redo everything from the start,” Shen Dongying ordered, calling on his sons to help as he began cleaning things up himself.

Seeing this, Shen Dongqi and his wife had no choice but to pitch in. At this point, there was nothing they could say—if they defended the eldest again, the main family would treat them as traitors.

And so, everyone quickly and efficiently cleaned and reswept each grave. It wasn’t physically hard, but everyone was in a foul mood, each of them suppressing a simmering rage.

Once they finished visiting all the graves and were walking back home, Shen Dongying couldn’t hold it in any longer and said to his father, “Dad, what do we do about this? Are we just going to let it go?” Pretend nothing happened? Was there really nothing they could do about the eldest?

“Then what do you suggest?” Old Master Shen retorted. He was certainly furious with his eldest son and couldn’t just let it slide. But after thinking it over, he genuinely couldn’t come up with a solution.

“What he did is outrageous—absolutely unforgivable! How can we just let this go?” Shen Dongying exclaimed. “Didn’t the villagers say it was us who were in the wrong before? So now they’re going to think he was right? We should tell everyone the truth—let them see how despicable he really is!”

“Third Brother, that’s not wise,” Shen Dongqi quickly interjected. “Sure, we could expose Eldest Brother’s actions, but that would only make us a laughingstock again. Isn’t there already enough gossip going around about our family?” The previous scandal had already given people plenty to talk about—if they stirred this up, it would only make things worse.

“Second Son has a point,” Old Master Shen agreed with a nod. He absolutely wouldn’t allow the Shen family to become the subject of more ridicule. Sigh. This was a tough situation. But at the same time… he just couldn’t swallow this anger.

“Second Brother, you’re wrong. As the saying goes, a short pain is better than a long one. If we give in to him today, we’ll have to give in five or ten steps in the future,” said Shen Dongying. “How can you be sure that Eldest Brother won’t pull something like this again?”

Shen Dongqi was left speechless. This was indeed uncertain—just speculation—but Third Brother used it as a reason anyway. Yet at the same time, it was a possibility that couldn’t be ignored. He couldn’t make any guarantees.

“Then what do you suggest we do?”

Shen Dongying, determined, said, “We cut ties with them.”

In the Shen family’s eldest household, things were unusually relaxed despite it being Qingming Festival. The field hands had been given the day off yesterday, along with some silver as a bonus. It was a small reward for their hard work and a way to ensure they could enjoy a comfortable Qingming with their families.

Ever since they’d done that “bad thing” a few days ago, everyone in the house had felt somewhat on edge. They were all waiting for Qingming to arrive, secretly wondering how the Shen family’s main branch would react. Would they be so angry that they’d storm over?

But such thoughts only surfaced during idle moments. After all, what’s done was done, and no matter the outcome, they would have to face it.

Song Jingwei noticed the young man was also deep in thought and tense. He couldn’t help but ask, “Do you regret it?” If they did, then he, who had suggested the idea, would be the one to blame.

“Mm…” Shen Junxi shook his head without hesitation. Since they had done it, there was no regret. “Even if we hadn’t gone to visit the graves, our relationship with the main branch wouldn’t have improved.” If there had been affection, it would’ve been shown back when he was just a newborn—not now, when it was convenient to talk about kinship and sentiment.

He had almost died bedridden and was now left disabled. Some pain and tears were not for outsiders to understand. Only he knew how bitter things had been.

“As long as you don’t regret it.” Song Jingwei’s gaze softened upon hearing that. He was a stubborn and aloof man—if someone treated him well, he would repay in kind; if someone wronged him, he’d return it double.

Thinking of that woman from the Song household, if they were to meet again, given her personality, she was bound to suffer.

Really, in this world, many people weren’t ruined by others, but by themselves.

The Qingming Festival passed peacefully. The people in the Shen family’s eldest branch were both relieved and puzzled. The main branch of the Shen family wasn’t known for being magnanimous. How could they keep calm after what happened?

Seeing everyone’s confusion, Song Jingwei reassured them, “Don’t worry, what’s meant to come will come.” He, too, was curious how the Shen family’s main branch would handle this.

A day later, Shen Dongming deliberately went to the village to listen for any news, but there was nothing. On second thought, that made sense. The old patriarch Shen was such a prideful man—he’d never let that incident spread.

Just as they thought the matter had been let go, time flew by, and the day before the 8th of April arrived. It was nearly the old patriarch’s birthday.

Shen Dongming wouldn’t have remembered if not for the sudden visit from Xu Da, a long-term laborer from the main branch, who came to invite them to celebrate the patriarch’s birthday on April 8th. That was when they found out—and this time, Shen Dongming couldn’t refuse. After all, it was his own father’s birthday.

“No wonder they didn’t come those last couple of days. Turns out it’s because the old man’s birthday is coming up,” Shen Dongming told the family. He was sure that this visit wouldn’t just be about celebrating a birthday.

“Is that so?” Yang Shi thought for a moment and vaguely remembered that it was. In the past, they would bring a chicken to celebrate, but the main branch wouldn’t even accept it, and would even say humiliating things with veiled insults. She said, “Well, we must go this time. No matter what, we have to.”

Because it had always been Shen Dongming’s stance: if it concerned his parents, he wouldn’t shirk responsibility.

“Yes, we definitely have to go,” Shen Dongming nodded and asked his wife to prepare a gift.

Song Jingwei added, “Then go to the storeroom and pick out some medicinal herbs as a birthday gift.” Regardless of anything, these were still proper etiquette. Whether they were accepted or not was another matter.

“There’s no need for that, right? Who knows if he’ll even accept them.” Yang Shi felt a bit embarrassed. Over the past year, they had been living off their daughter-in-law’s money, and the household hadn’t really made any income. She already felt bad that her own relatives had taken and used so much before.

“Just take it. Whether he accepts it is his own choice.” Song Jingwei also had a hunch—there would definitely be some new drama this time.

“Let’s listen to Jingwei,” said Shen Dongming. They had already used a lot of things bought with Jingwei’s money; it would be too hypocritical to act modest now. After all, money is an external thing—what matters is peace and happiness in the family.

“Alright then,” Yang Shi replied softly.

The family discussed whether the whole household should go or if Yang Shi should stay home with the child. Since the baby was still so young, no one really wanted to bring them along.

At that moment, Shen Junxi was holding Benben. Hearing this, he shook his head and gestured, “The baby’s not going.”

He recalled how Song Jingwei disliked the main branch, and how the main branch treated Song Jingwei. He glanced at Song Jingwei with a questioning look in his eyes: Do you want to go? If not, we won’t go.