Jiangcheng, Qingye Town, Taiping Village.
Ye Ling stood at the village entrance, looking at the flat cement road ahead and the old power lines on both sides, his heart filled with emotion.
This was the ancestral land of the Ye family.
It was also where Ye Ling lived before the age of seven.
Back then, Ye Ling's parents were busy with their difficult创业 (chuàngyè - entrepreneurship), unable to spare time to care for him, so Ye Ling lived with his grandfather.
Later, the Ye family's business flourished, but before his grandfather could enjoy the prosperity, he passed away due to a serious illness.
Since then, Ye Ling was brought to Jiangcheng to live. He only returned to pay respects to his ancestors during the Qingming Festival and New Year.
"Six years… sixty thousand years… should I be fortunate or sorrowful?"
Ye Ling walked along the country road, following his memory, and stopped in front of the dilapidated Ye family ancestral hall.
Most of the villagers in Taiping Village were surnamed Ye, and their ancestors were of the same clan as Ye Ling's family.
However, by Ye Ling's generation, the Ye-surnamed villagers in Taiping Village had basically become ordinary neighbors, with no traceable blood relations from their ancestors.
In the past, Ye Ling's family would renovate the ancestral hall every year, and the ancestral temple and hall were constantly supplied with incense.
But after the Ye family's incident, no one came to worship at the Ye family ancestral hall.
Now, the ancestral hall's doors and windows were broken, and weeds grew everywhere, making one feel a sense of melancholy.
Seeing this scene, Ye Ling sighed and stepped into the ancestral hall.
He offered incense to his ancestors and grandfather, then knelt and kowtowed three times.
"Grandfather, it is filial son Ling's fault for not paying respects for six years. Now that Ling'er has returned, the incense will never cease."
Ye Ling said softly, his spiritual energy spreading outwards. The dilapidated ancestral hall around him was rapidly renovated, and the weeds in the courtyard quickly withered and disappeared.
In less than ten seconds, the crumbling Ye family ancestral hall was renewed as if it were new.
"It's just the ancestral hall. This place has been deserted for six years, and no one has worshipped here for a long time. It's a waste of resources to keep it. Let's tear it down and build a farmhouse, it'll definitely make money!"
At this moment, noisy voices came from outside the ancestral hall. Several men wearing hard hats, holding blueprints, entered the ancestral hall, pointing and gesturing around.
"Huh? Has this ancestral hall been renovated by someone? It looked like a ruined temple when I came to see it a few days ago."
Ye Long, a burly man with a face full of coarse flesh, glanced around the courtyard and noticed that the cracks on the walls were gone, and the large courtyard was spotless. He was surprised.
"Who cares who renovated it? Ye Shan and his wife were hit by a car and died six years ago. The Ye Corporation was completely devoured by those big shots in Jiangcheng, and even their ancestral home was occupied by your He family. Who would care about this Ye family ancestral hall?"
Ye Hu, standing beside him, said indifferently, his tone showing disrespect for the deceased. He said carelessly, "If Ye Shan and the others weren't rich back then, who would bother to come to this broken place to worship? What era is this? Still keeping this cultural dross of worshipping ancestors, isn't it troublesome?"
He Saicheng, walking behind, pushed up his glasses and glanced at the ancestral hall with his blueprint. "If we tear down this ancestral hall and add the vacant land behind it, we can build a very large farmhouse."
"Next year, the county will have policies to support rural development. If our farmhouse is built here, it will definitely be strongly supported. It will be no problem to earn two million yuan a year."
"With no land acquisition costs, and after deducting the money for building the farmhouse, we'll break even in a year, and then we'll be making money lying down."
"Is it really two million a year?" The other three, upon hearing He Saicheng's words, all showed excitement on their faces.
Two million yuan a year was already a huge sum in Taiping Village. For these few unemployed vagrants, it was like wealth falling from the sky!
The last one, Ye Wei, who looked like a fat pig, suddenly let out a pig-like laugh: "Hahaha! We're tearing down the ancestral hall to get rid of poverty. Our ancestors will definitely forgive us!"
"Who doesn't want their descendants to be rich and noble?"
Ye Ling stood in the ancestral hall, calmly offering incense to his grandfather and ancestors. He heard everything the four people outside the courtyard were saying.
At this moment, the four men, while planning their future blueprints, walked into the ancestral hall and happened to see Ye Ling's back.
Ye Long, who was walking at the front, was first stunned by Ye Ling's back, then frowned and said, "What are you doing here? This place is about to be demolished. Hurry up and get out, don't get in our way!"
Ye Ling ignored Ye Long and offered incense to his grandfather's memorial tablet.
"Brother Long, this guy is worshipping Ye Xingguo. Could he be Ye Shan's son?" Ye Wei's heart skipped a beat when he saw the memorial tablet in front of Ye Ling, and he quickly whispered to Ye Long.
"Could it be that this kid renovated this ancestral hall?"
Upon hearing Ye Wei's words, Ye Long's expression also turned extremely grim. He strode towards Ye Ling, placed his hand on Ye Ling's shoulder, and said coldly, "Kid, I haven't seen you in the village."
"No matter who you are, if you block our path to wealth, we won't hold back!"
"What do you want to do?" Ye Ling turned around and asked calmly.
Ye Ling had some impression of these people, except for He Saicheng, the one wearing glasses. Ye Long and the other two were idle ruffians in the village, who used to gather together and do things like bullying men and dominating women.
Back then, Ye Shan, Ye Ling's father, out of consideration for their shared surname Ye, had taken the trouble to find many jobs for the three of them. However, Ye Long and the other two not only didn't appreciate it but even went to Ye Ling's house to demand money directly, shamelessly.
Later, Ye Shan could not stand it anymore and had Ye family bodyguards stay in Taiping Village for a month, which finally made the three of Ye Long behave.
Unexpectedly, after six years, these three of Ye Long had returned to their old ways and actually intended to tear down the Ye family ancestral hall!
Ye Hu behind him couldn't stand Ye Ling's demeanor and pointed at Ye Ling, scolding, "Can't you understand human language? We told you to scram! Otherwise, we'll break your legs and throw you out!"
Seeing Ye Hu's impatient look, Ye Ling remained calm and asked, "Where can't a farmhouse be built? As fellow Ye clansmen, why do you want to tear down the Ye family ancestral hall?"
"None of your damn business! Brothers, this kid doesn't understand human language. Beat him up and he'll behave!" Ye Long cursed, then raised his fist, as big as a sand pot, and punched towards Ye Ling, completely disregarding whether it would be fatal.
Seeing these people's arrogant demeanor, Ye Ling shook his head, kicked Ye Long in the stomach, and sent him flying, rolling a couple of times on the ground.
"Brother Long, are you alright?"
Ye Hu and Ye Wei quickly went to help Ye Long up.
At this moment, Ye Long was sweating profusely and quickly took out his phone from his pocket to make a call: "Hello! I've been beaten up at the ancestral hall. Bring your people over here!"
After hanging up the phone, Ye Long glared at Ye Ling with a ferocious expression: "You just wait for me!"
"It's not convenient to fight in the ancestral hall. All of you, get out."
Ye Ling's voice was not loud, but it was like thunder, making Ye Long and the other three turn pale.
They dared not linger and quickly ran out of the ancestral hall.
Seeing Ye Long and the other three leave, Ye Ling turned to bow and pay respects to Ye Xingguo's memorial tablet again: "Grandfather… Ling'er is unfilial, to have made you see blood."
"However, now that villains intend to disturb your peaceful slumber, forgive Ling'er for not being able to tolerate it."
"Ling'er promises that from now on, Grandfather and all ancestors will have their incense continuously offered."
With that, Ye Ling got up, turned, and walked out of the ancestral hall.