After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 1046 Hesitation
The next day, two old students from the clan came to say goodbye.

They had been tricked by the elders into coming to Beijing for several days. Seeing that the Little New Year was approaching and New Year's Eve was also approaching, they could not stay in Beijing forever, and it was time to go home for the New Year. They had been staying in an inn these days, which cost a lot of money. Fortunately, after seeing Haixi Cliff, the second branch paid for the inn for the two of them, which made them feel much more relaxed, otherwise they would have wanted to leave long ago. They eased their relationship with the mother and son of the eldest branch, reconnected with the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren who were officials in the second branch, visited several old friends who had lost contact for many years, bought some books and local products, and felt satisfied, thinking that it was time to leave.

The elders who came with them never found a chance to persuade Hai Baozhu of the eldest branch to obey them, nor could they get close to the second branch. Even if they wanted to find trouble with Fang, they couldn't break through the gate guarded by the servants sent by the second branch. Moreover, they didn't want to offend the second branch again, so they could only find a chance to approach Hai Baozhu who occasionally went out, and try to persuade him to obey the arrangements of the elders. Hai Baozhu was so annoyed that he simply stayed at his stepmother and step-sister's house and buried his head in reading. He would only go out when Hai Jiao invited him or when there were several servants from the second branch with him.

As a result, the elders failed to achieve their purpose of going to Beijing, and the two important helpers who accompanied them had already betrayed their position and wanted to go home after taking all the benefits. How could they be willing to accept this?! They could only hold them and refused to let them go. The two old students persuaded them to go home for the New Year. They couldn't stay outside during the New Year and delay the ancestor worship.

The elders were speechless and had to give up on the children of the eldest house. Instead, they set their sights on Hai Xiya of the second house and asked two old students to persuade him. His family had been stranded in the northwest for more than 30 years and finally returned to Zhili. Could it be that they did not plan to return to their hometown to worship their ancestors this year? After many years, the Hai family had another fifth-rank official. They should celebrate it in a big way to comfort their ancestors! In this way, everyone in Yongping Prefecture would know that someone in the Hai family had become an official in Beijing, and that they were no longer a small family with no one to rely on. No one would dare to bully them anymore!
The two old students thought that this made some sense, so they mentioned it when they came to say goodbye to Haixi Cliff.

Although Hai Jiao had returned to his hometown to offer sacrifices to the ancestors on behalf of the second branch when Hai Chang'an and Hai Jiao came to Beijing last year, the Jiang family was still there at that time, and the Hai family still needed to be cautious and prudent. Even the New Year sacrifices had to be simple and they did not dare to hold a big one. They only allowed Hai Jiao to offer sacrifices to the ancestors in the name of the second branch, but never celebrated with the whole family. Secondly, Hai Jiao was a junior and his official position was not as high as his grandfather's, so his weight was naturally not comparable to that of Hai Xiya. They felt that Hai Xiya was forced to go far to the northwest in the past, and was somewhat embarrassed. For many years, he had not taken the time to burn incense and sweep the grave of his deceased mother, Madam Xie. Now if he could return home in glory, he would be able to sweep away the old frustration and make Madam Xie's spirit in heaven happy.

Hai Xiya actually had long since lost sight of fame and wealth, and didn't care whether he could have a glorious time in his hometown. However, he had never been back to pay respect to his deceased mother's grave, and he missed her very much. The capital was not far from his hometown in Yongping, only a few hundred miles away, and there was more than enough time to go back and forth during the New Year holiday. He was still in good health, and he had a lot of free time during the New Year. If he didn't go back this year, when would he be able to return home? He had just started working at the Ministry of Households, and at least he had to finish one term before he could consider retiring. Could it be that he really had to wait three years before returning home to pay respect to his deceased mother?

If three years later, Tao Ge Lao and his old friends persuaded him to stay in office, wouldn't the day of worship have to be postponed again?

Hai Xiya hesitated immediately. In fact, if he had not happened to be traveling with Jin Jiashu when he went to Beijing, and the latter was urgently summoned back to Beijing by the late emperor, he had to go first and had to entrust his luggage and family coffins to him. He also thought about taking a detour back to his hometown to visit his old home and pay homage to his deceased mother's tomb. After arriving in Beijing, he took office and encountered a national mourning, so he could not take care of anything else...

Now that the Chinese New Year is approaching and the holiday is so long, he is confident that he can get a few more days off from his boss, making a full month, which is enough for him to go back to his hometown in Yongping to pay homage to his ancestors and stay for a few days.

So...is he going?
Hai Xiya was hesitant, but Ma was not happy. It was not that she did not want to go back to her hometown to pay respect to her parents-in-law, but she was furious when she thought of the attitude of the Hai clan towards the mother and daughter of the eldest Fang clan. She did not want her husband to go back to his hometown to support the Hai family and let those ungrateful clan members take advantage of the official positions and reputation of her husband and grandson to bully others in their hometown.

As for the graves of my parents-in-law, Fang had always taken good care of the graves of my father-in-law and the father and son of the eldest branch. Now there were old servants looking after them, so nothing could go wrong. And the grave of my mother-in-law had been looked after by Xie Zhong, the old servant of Xie Wenzai, for many years, and had always been well taken care of. When my grandson Haijiao returned home last year, the grave was renovated and a special grave-keeper was arranged to be responsible for the incense and offerings at all times. Even if my husband couldn't go back for the New Year this year, it wouldn't affect anything. The second branch of the family could still do the memorial service in the capital.

Besides, this year is the first time they spend the New Year in their new home after buying a house in Beijing. After the New Year, they have to deal with two major events: the grandson's marriage and the granddaughter's marriage. There are many relatives and friends to visit in the first month of the year. How can they spare time to go back to their hometown? If the husband really misses his mother-in-law's grave, at worst he can wait until the Mid-Autumn Festival next year and ask for leave to return home to worship. By then, the marriages of the grandchildren will be settled, and the family will be taken care of by the son's daughter-in-law and grandson's daughter-in-law, so the old couple can go out with peace of mind.

What his wife said seemed to make sense, and Hai Xiya was suddenly in a dilemma.

He had sought opinions from his cousin, old friend, adopted son, grandson, and granddaughter, but everyone had different opinions. Most people preferred Ma's proposal, while others thought that it was not necessary to take a special leave during the New Year, and that the time was more relaxed than the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, and more suitable for returning home to worship ancestors. Hai Xiya was becoming more and more undecided.

In his heart, he still wanted to go back to his hometown, but his wife's concerns were reasonable. The house for his grandson would be built after the New Year, but the design drawings had to be finalized in the first month of the year. And the old friends from Wumen that he met in the northwest had agreed to come to visit him during the New Year...

Just as Hai Xiya was hesitating, Haijiao hurried back home from the palace.

He didn't even bother to take off his snow-stained cloak, and rushed directly into the upper room of the main courtyard and told his grandmother Ma: "Grandma, hurry to my cousin's place and ask her to get ready. Someone from the palace will come to take her in a while, and the Queen Mother wants to summon her."

Ma was shocked: "What's going on? Why does the Queen Mother want to summon your cousin?!"

"It shouldn't be a bad thing." Haijiao paused and looked at his younger sister standing beside him. "I heard that the Queen Mother is going to summon the stepmother of a young general of the Imperial Guard. That lady is a widow who remarried. In order to treat her parents-in-law, she spent all the money in the family. If she didn't remarry, the whole family would starve to death. So she simply remarried, but she didn't abandon her parents-in-law and children. Instead, she continued to support them, took care of her parents-in-law in their old age and brought up their children. She also never treated the children of her husband badly. Not only did she cultivate the children left by her original wife, she also gave birth to children for her husband again, and spread her branches and leaves... Now her stepson is grateful for her kindness and wants to ask for a royal decree for her, but it was rejected by the Ministry of Rites. After hearing about this, the Queen Mother felt that this lady was very righteous and should be praised. Not only should this royal decree be conferred, but there should also be another reward."

Ma was confused: "This lady really has a hard time, but what does this have to do with your cousin?"

"Someone told the Queen Mother that my cousin was forced to remarry her husband's family in order to protect their bloodline and family property, but she avenged her husband's family several years later and returned the family property intact to her husband's descendants before leaving." Hai Jiao took a deep breath, "The Queen Mother said that this was also a righteous act and should be praised."