5 Chapter 5: I’ll Be My Own Ancestor!

In this world, everything could be a lie. If you believe it, it would be true, if you didn't, then it would be a lie.

Whether or not there were actually ancestors buried in the Xu family's graves, everyone in Spirit Water Village believed that there were.

As soon as Mr. Xu returned home and saw his wife, who was knitting something by the fire, he told her about the rumor that had been spreading amongst the villagers.

"Dear, what do you think? What are these people thinking? There's nothing but soil in our ancestors' graves!"

"Nonsense!" 

Mr. Xu got dissed by his wife once again after only saying a few sentences.

"It's only filled with soil? Didn't we bury a few garments belonging to the Xu ancestors?"

"That is just a cenotaph!"

Mrs. Xu looked at Mr. Xu with rage, demanding, "Get down on your knees right now and apologize to your ancestors! Otherwise, your ancestors might get angry and punish you!"

When he noticed that Mrs. Xu was actually being serious, he replied in an extremely soft voice, "Dear, I think I might have forgotten to tell you that the clothes that were buried there are actually… Um… clothes that I wore when I was younger!"

"WHAT?!"

When she heard Mr. Xu's whispered reply, Mrs. Xu got so angry, she almost had a miscarriage.

The grave that they had been praying to every year only had the clothes of the old man in front of her?! Then, it was actually this old man that they've been praying to?!

He made a cenotaph for himself and prayed to himself every year… 

"You- You- You old rubbish! What were you thinking?!"

Mrs. Xu became so angry, even her liver started hurting. She had known that this old man of hers was pretty unreliable, but she hadn't expected him to be so ruthless.

"Dear, actually… I've also put… A few of your clothes inside too…"

"Where's my feather duster?!"

After hearing these words, Mrs. Xu simply couldn't take it anymore.

"Dear, please don't be angry! Just hear out what I have to say!" Mr. Xu quickly grasped onto Mrs. Xu, begging her, "Please don't be mad. You're pregnant!"

After over 20 years of marriage, although Mr Xu may not have been a serious man, he could still get his wife to listen to him. 

"Remember when my father kicked me out of the house? After that, he got so angry that he decided to join the army. I haven't heard from him since then! As for my mother, your mother-in-law, she was also unlucky, passing away really young!

"When I married you, our village was running out of food, so we had no choice but to leave. We came to Spirit Water Village and have lived here for the past 20 years!

"When we first came to this village, I thought to myself, 'Since the Xu ancestors are not looking out for me, why should I still pray to them? I might as well be my own ancestors. Why can't we look out for ourselves?'

"Think about it! Ever since we came to Spirit Water Village, our lives have gotten better, right?"

Mr. Xu looked at his wife, continuing, "Look at us now! We even have a child coming soon, even at this age. Don't you think that we're the ones blessing ourselves?!"

"Nonsense!" Mrs. Xu sneered. She did not agree with her husband's theory but she had no arguments against it either.

This was because their lives had indeed improved after they came to Spirit Water Village and it was definitely after Mr. Xu put up a pageantry while building the ancestors' grave.

Perhaps it actually worked out if you prayed to yourself?

Mrs. Xu was now very confused.

When Mr. Xu saw that Mrs. Xu wasn't as angry as before, he let out a breath of relief and thought, 'It is a good thing that I'm such a smart cookie!'