He Xiangmingyuan "helped" the second lady to finish the accounts, and after taking charge of all the industries at home, it was already the end of the year. He rushed to Lin's house excitedly, wanting to tell Lin Qingwan about his decision.

  He thought it was also good to stay in Suzhou as a rich husband, but the old lady was still there, and he was afraid of not being able to divide the family property well, so he wanted to ask her for advice.

  But Lin Qingwan was not in the Lin Mansion, she took Lin Yuhong back to the old house for worship.

  The Lunar New Year is approaching, and our clan will be holding an ancestral worship ceremony. This year, the Lin family has a new grave, so we need to hold a separate ritual at home before the clan's ceremony.

  Lin Qingwan and Lin Yuhong thought that Lin Jiang was still watching from above, perhaps waiting for money to be used, so they attached great importance to it. Not only did they burn a lot of paper money, incense, and candles for him, but also houses, cars, horses, and other things were not spared.

  Lin Jiang, who forgot to tell Lin Qingwan that heaven and hell are not the same place, could only watch as those things became ownerless objects after entering hell, were collected by ghostly officials with huge handling fees, and then assigned to other Lin family members who had not yet gone to reincarnate.

  Lin Jiang in the sky silently watched, feeling a bit distressed, his daughter was filial to him, but he didn't get anything.

  Lin Qingyuan and Lin Yuhbin returned home with a satisfied heart after the sacrifice, "After our family's sacrifice, we'll come again to burn some for your mother and our direct ancestors."

  The Suzhou Lin family has three main branches, but at that time, except for the eldest house leaving a Lin Zhi, the other two houses were extinct, so the incense of the three houses was taken care of by their eldest house.

  In previous years, Lin Jiang was in charge, but from now on, it will be Lin Qingyuan and Lin Yuhbin.

  Lin Yuhbin was pitied by relatives since childhood for not being a boy, unable to inherit the incense of the Lin family, so she had been holding back her breath, and this year she wanted to do better.

  Lin Qingyuan, on the other hand, was because she knew that there is a spirit after death, so she wanted those who died to live well too, and thus attached great importance to it.

  The people in the clan see that they attach importance to incense and naturally will not object, anyway, it won't use the money of the clan.

  They were happy to support.

  In this case, the aunt and niece have been back to their old house recently, not only preparing things for worship, but also personally carrying sickles and hoes to cut grass and fill mud, making the tombs of the three direct branches clean and tidy.

  Lin Run saw it and suggested: "Why not move back? Why bother with the daily hustle and bustle between the city and the outside?"

  Lin Qingwan originally wanted to refuse, but seeing the loyal servant's eyes, she nodded after a moment: "Alright, we'll stay for the New Year and head back afterwards."

  Lin let out a sigh of relief and smiled: "Then I'll get everyone to help."

  The old house has loyal servants guarding it, but after all, there are few people, and so many houses can't be cleaned up. Lin Qingyu and the others will definitely have to sweep if they want to move back in.

  Lin Qingwan didn't refuse either, "Then I'll thank everyone first, and we can have dinner at the old house tonight."

  Lin Qingwan turned back to Lao Zhongbo, who was guarding the old mansion, and said: "Lao Zhongbo, go tell them to prepare some ingredients, tonight we'll invite our relatives to stay for dinner."

  "Old slave is going!" The nearly sixty-year-old old Zhongbo hurriedly ran towards the old mansion, big sister was going to move back into the old mansion, they finally welcomed back their master!

  The people in the old mansion are all excited, using their best skills to prepare for this dinner party.

  It was originally winter, and vegetables were hard to come by. The main house was still in mourning, so they didn't want to have a lot of meat dishes. They made do with vegetarian dishes, changing them up in different ways. There was only one dish on the table that had very little meat, but it was passable.

  The key is that there is a small hot spring in the villa near Lin Qingwan's old house, and Lao Zhongbo has planted vegetables nearby, so there are still many even in winter.

  This time he took out all the cabbage he had stored, and the specifications of the banquet were naturally not low. Because in winter, cabbage is more expensive than meat!

  Lin Qingwan couldn't help but praise, "Still, Old Zhong is amazing, no wonder the vegetables in the mansion have never been scarce. You've managed to grow so many vegetables in such a small hot spring."

  Lao Zhongbo laughed with gleeful eyes, patting his chest excitedly: "If the young mistress likes it, I can still get someone to plant some fruit trees. We'll just need to build a shed for them. By winter time, both you and your sister will have fresh fruit to eat."

  "Dad, you should call her Aunt and the young ladies, how many times have I told you? Why can't you remember?" Lin Quan bowed his waist and approached with a flattering tone: "Aunt, please don't mind, my dad is old, I've reminded him many times, but he just can't remember."

  Lao Zhongbo's face changed slightly, and after a moment of silence, he sighed: "Miss, I'm old and my memory is not good anymore."

  Lin Qingwan looked at Lin Quan with a smile and said, "I think you're still very healthy, at least you can still guard the old house of the Lin family for another twenty years. You didn't forget to change your title, but because you miss my father, right?"

  Lao Zhongbo was once Lin Zhi's long-time follower, and his ancestors were even more followers of the legitimate branch that migrated south, so he was extremely loyal to the Lin family.

  Lao Zhongbo's eyes turned red, and he knelt down with a sob, saying: "Young mistress, I miss the old master. The old master was so heartless, leaving without looking back, and this old slave didn't even get to see him one last time."

  Lin Qingwan hastily helped him up, but his entire body's strength was sinking down, and she couldn't hold on to him at all. "Old Zhongbo..."

  Lin Qingwan's eyes reddened as she turned her head to look at Lin Yubin, who hastily came forward to help her pull the person up together.

  Lao Zhongbo wiped away his tears and choked back a sob, saying: "Master Zhai inherited the legacy, but he rarely comes back. If it weren't for the darkness of the road being difficult to travel, he probably wouldn't have stayed overnight either, and would have returned to the city instead. But, but this old slave often thinks that the old mansion is the foundation of the direct branch, how can one say abandon it just like that? You go take a look at the merit stele standing there, the imperial scholar stele, if you don't return to the old mansion, isn't that also abandoning the merits of our ancestors?"

  "Father!" Lin Quan called out in a displeased tone, Auntie had just decided to stay overnight at the old mansion, why bring up these trivial matters again?

  "Zhōngbó," Lín Qīngyuàn said, looking at the white hair on his head: "Father and brother did not forget the ancestors' merits and teachings, but they were heartbroken and couldn't get over that hurdle, so they didn't want to come back. Although Father couldn't get over that hurdle, he still remembered the ancestors, so he left you to guard the house. You should understand his heart."

  Lao Zhongbo looked up and said, "I know, but the eldest son can't stay away forever. Now I'm still here, and I can take care of things for the masters, but what if I'm not around anymore? Who will you entrust this old mansion to then?"

  Lao Zhongbo tightly grasped Lin Qingyu's hand, his eyes brimming with tears. Some words were left unspoken, but the meaning had already been conveyed.

  This old mansion represents not just a house, but also power and wealth within its walls.

  Lao Zhongbo was very wary of the collateral branches, and in his heart he also knew that his son was not the kind of material that could live a poor and quiet life, but choosing from another family also had risks.

  The old house is also involved in many interests, so the most secure way is for the master to come back. Only when the old house has a master can things be kept safe.

  Lin Qingwan thought of the pleading and despair in his eyes just now, and couldn't help but nod: "This year we'll spend the New Year at the old house. As for what happens next, I don't dare say, but on Qingming, Zhongyuan, and New Year's Eve, we must come back to pay our respects. At that time, Zhongbo will be in charge."

  This is equivalent to promising them that they will stay overnight when they come back for worship.

  Lao Zhongbo let out a big sigh of relief, knowing that Lin Zhi had returned to worship in those years, but would not stay overnight in the old mansion, and even if it was dark, he would enter the city and return to the Lin Mansion.

  Lin Jiang was a bit stronger, it got dark, or if the weather was bad on the road, he would stay overnight, but the time was also very short.

  So the old house has always been empty and idle, wandering outside the Lin family clan.

  The clan has direct contact with Yangzhou Linfu, so the old house is like a separate entity from Linjiazhuang.

  While having a guilty conscience in one's heart, most of the time one can just pass by the main house without entering it, and if possible, not get involved at all.

  Lin Qingwan followed Old Loyal Uncle back to the main house.

  Linjiazhuang is divided into two parts. Now it is in the form of a village radiating outward, but before it was built in the form of a fortress, so Linjiazhuang is also called Linjiabao.

  The main building on this side still retains the old fortifications, equivalent to a city wall, only over two meters high.

  The roads inside are crisscrossed, the houses are symmetrically distributed, and it is clear that the planning was very good when they were first built. The ground is paved with bluestone slabs, and as soon as you enter the main building, you can see a large empty space in front of you with rows of merit stele and jinshi stele erected on it.

  All of these were left behind by our ancestors.

  At that time, the Lin family followed the Western Jin imperial court to migrate south to Suzhou, only a small branch, but after six hundred years of prosperity, there are many branches and clan people now, the merits and jinshi stele set up by ancestors are naturally not few.

  Similarly, Linjia Village, which was originally planned to be very large, could no longer accommodate so many people, and thus began to radiate outward.

  The direct descendants and clan people bought houses, gradually leaving only the direct descendants in the main house, while the collateral branches all moved out.

  By the mid-Tang Dynasty, emperors began to restrict the powerful clans from raising private armies, and the Lin Family Fortress was dismantled, with some of its structures left as shelters.

  Otherwise, when the two princes led their troops over back then, it would have been impossible for them to attack and break into the Lin family's residence.

  There is a fortress, and it can hold on for a little longer.

  Nowadays, no one in the world builds fortresses anymore, and Lin Qingyan would not dare to offend anyone by building one. At this time, it was just like looking at a relic of the past.

  The only living direct descendants are now just her and Lin Yuhong, but they don't come back to live here. Even with Old Loyal Uncle taking good care of it, the main house is still a bit worn out.

  But these were all historical marks left behind, and she even saw the black marks left by the big fire, and the sword marks on the wall.

  Lin Qingwan stroked it gently, looked around and finally turned to Lin Yubin: "It's a great place to avoid the heat, come back and play when you have time."

  Lin Yuhbin nodded with pursed lips, his eyes slightly moist.

  Because of her young age, many things in the clan were unknown to her. Now, Xiaojie does everything with her and doesn't intentionally keep secrets from her, so the things that have been hidden from her are slowly revealed before her eyes, showing their true face.

  Lao Zhongbo led Lin Qingyuan back to the old mansion of Changfang, where the garden inside was managed by him with a riot of colors and vitality, even in winter.

  Lin Qingwan was astonished, "How did you raise this?"

  Lao Zhongbo said with a smile, "The young lady doesn't know, the old master loves these flowers and grasses. So I've set aside a piece of land by the hot spring to grow them. Every now and then, I'll bring some back home to replace the old ones. If the old master comes back to live here, he'll definitely be delighted to see such beautiful flowers and plants."

  Lin Qingwan pouted and said, "Then why don't you send some to the mansion? My sister and I also love flowers and plants, it's just that we've just returned to Suzhou and our gardener can't grow such good ones."

  Lao Zhong's face lit up with a smile, "Miss wants it? I'll have someone deliver a whole cartload tomorrow. Tending to flowers and grass not only depends on the weather but also time. You've just returned to Suzhou, even if the gardener has exceptional skills, they can't grow good flowers in such a short time. However, I have many varieties here, take a look at which ones you like, I'll make a note of them and have them all delivered to you."

  Lin Qingwan nodded and said, "Then I won't be polite."

  Pulling Lin Yuhbin to pick flowers.

  Lao Zhongbo burst out laughing, letting his daughter-in-law follow him, while he himself ran to supervise the cleaning of the room where the masters would be staying, it couldn't be sloppy.