Chapter 711: Longfeng Nanshi Xia's

Four jeeps stopped, and Xia Yu and the others got out one after the other. Looking at this grand welcoming ceremony, Xia Yu felt emotional and immediately walked quickly over.

Li Bin, the mayor of Nanshi Town, immediately introduced Xia Yu and the others, saying, 'Mr Xia, distinguished guests, this is Xia Anshan, the old secretary of the Xia village committee and village chief.'

'Secretary, this is Mr Xia from Xiangjiang, this is Mayor Wu from the provincial capital, this is Director Zhao from Qianzhou City, and this is County Magistrate Li from Longfeng County...'

Li Bin immediately introduced the two sides.

Hearing that so many important officials had arrived at once, the assembled villagers immediately became agitated and poked their heads out to see what the important officials from the city looked like.

As for the drum and fife band, they played even more enthusiastically, as if they wanted the whole village to hear.

They had never had so many important officials in this mountain valley before, and this was a major event, not to mention the fact that the young relative from Xiangjiang had such a high status, which shocked them greatly.

Xia Yu was beaming from ear to ear, and handed the gift in his hands to Xia Anshan, saying modestly, 'Old man, my name is Xia Yu. I'm really ashamed to receive such a great gift from everyone!'

It seemed that the seemingly important Xia Yu had such a humble attitude, which made Xia Anshan feel happy. He took the gift and handed it to his fourth grandson Xia Yongquan, who was standing next to him.

Seeing the envious looks of the people around him, Xia Yu gave a faint smile and said to Li Wuming, 'Second brother, open the car at the back and take the things down.'

'Old man, I've also brought some things, there's quite a lot of them, and I need you to arrange for a few people to carry them, everyone will get some.'

Xia Anshan nodded happily, and ordered a few strong villagers to step forward. These people immediately rolled up their sleeves and walked with Li Wuming towards a car.

Xia Anshan didn't bother with the gifts, and immediately led Xia Yu and the others towards the ancestral hall not far away.

In Xia Village, the place that could accommodate so many people and was also the most suitable place to welcome Xia Yu was undoubtedly the Xia ancestral hall.

The band led the joyful music, and the festive folk music resounded through the sky, attracting the attention of many people, and the procession grew larger and larger.

When Xia Yu and the others arrived, the courtyard of the ancestral hall had already been set up with square tables, and the tables were full of fruit, melons, rice crackers, and other food such as hot-poured skin.

Xia Yu and Xia Anshan and the others sat at the top table, but Xia Yu stubbornly refused to sit at the top seat, and only sat at the second seat on the left. The two seats at the top were occupied by Xia Anshan and another old man.

If it weren't for the need for a representative from the township, with Li Bin's status, he would not have been eligible to sit at the same table as Xia Yu and the others. Even though he sat at the end, it was still an honour for him.

After sitting down and having a cup of tea, Xia Anshan hesitated for a moment and awkwardly called out, 'Mr. Xia...'

But as soon as Xia Anshan spoke, Xia Yu interrupted him with a smile, humbly saying, 'Old man, just call me Xia Yu. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, and besides, I am indeed your junior.'

Xia Yu knew Xia Anshan, but only from a previous life.

In his previous life, Xia Anshan was one of the oldest people in Xia Village and had a very high status. Xia Yu called him 'old uncle' and he died when Xia Yu was in the third year of junior high school. Although the current Xia Anshan is a bit younger, Xia Yu still recognised him at first glance.

'Okay then!'

Xia Anshan said cheerfully, and continued, 'We also checked the family tree you brought earlier, but since you haven't seen it, we'll verify it on the spot.

'Okay!'

'The family tree, please!'

Soon, the family tree was brought out, and the old man sitting next to Xian Shan carefully opened it.

At this time, Xian Shan asked Xia Yu, 'Xia Yu, tell me the names of your ancestors that you remember.'

The surrounding area suddenly fell silent, and everyone looked at Xia Yu and the others in the centre with bated breath, also curious as to which branch Xia Yu came from.

Xia Yu said solemnly, 'My father is Xia Dahai, my mother is Chen Mei, my grandfather is Xia Anping, my grandmother is Li Xiaoqing, my great-grandfather is Xia Dezhong, my great-great-grandmother is Zhang Hong, my great-great-great-grandfather is Xia Kuifa, and my great-great-great-grandmother is Liu Fudi. Our family tree starts with my great-great-great-grandfather.'

'This is the right place!'

Xia Anshan pointed to a name on the family tree and said to Xia Yu.

There was a tree diagram on this page, with the name 'Longcheng' at the top, and then three branches below, each with a name: from left to right, 'Kui Fu', 'Kui Fa' and 'Kui Jin'.

These three names branched out again, with 'Kui Fu' having two names below it: 'Deming' and 'Deguang', and 'Kui Jin' having 'Deping', 'Dezhang' and 'Desen'.

Only 'Kui Fa' has one name under it, 'De Zhong'.

Later, the next generation of the 'De' generation continued to produce many more, all of the 'An' generation. Xia Yu also saw the two characters 'An Shan', which is presumably the old village chief in front of him.

Xia Yu's grandfather Xia An Ping's name is not here, because it ends with 'De Zhong'. Next to it, there are two characters written in a bracket: 'Nan Qian'.

Seeing Xia Yu read this, Xia Anshan said, 'My grandfather told me that he had three brothers. Unfortunately, at that time, someone in the clan committed a crime outside, which attracted the attention of the authorities. To prevent the clan from being destroyed, the whole clan dispersed and fled from the ancestral land overnight. My second younger brother, Kui Fa, happened to be taking his son, De Zhong, to the mountains to cut firewood, and he and the other clan members went south.'

'It was twelve years later that a capable person from the clan became the magistrate of the county, and the exiled clan members gradually returned to their ancestral home. Someone brought back the news that they had seen my second grandfather's family, your great-great-grandfather's family, fleeing in the direction of Guangdong Province, and there was no news from them after that.'

'Your grandfather's generation was the An generation, so it was correct to name him Anping, but for your father's and your generation, for some reason, the names were not chosen according to the generation name.'

Xia Yu immediately said, 'My father told me that my great-grandfather died young, and my grandfather was still a minor at the time, so he probably didn't have time to tell my grandfather about such things.'

Xia Anshan nodded understandingly and said, 'According to the family tree, your great-grandfather and my father are cousins, and your grandfather and I are cousins within the fourth degree of kinship. According to the generation order, you should call me uncle.'

Xia Yu's face became solemn, and he bowed solemnly to greet him, 'Hello, great-uncle!'

Backed against the ancestral hall, Xia Anshan accepted the greeting with equanimity, no matter what Xia Yu's status was.

After receiving the greeting, Xia Anshan asked, "What other relatives do you have in your family?'

Xia Yu said, "My great-grandfather started an unbroken line, and my grandfather is already dead. There are still four people in the family: my parents and younger siblings.'

Hearing that Xia Yu's grandfather was no longer alive, Xia Anshan said with regret, 'That's a pity. In that case, your branch has already been out of the five-clan line, and there are no relatives within the five-clan line in the village. The closest ones are the several branches of my generation, which are just out of the five-clan line.'

Xia Yu nodded knowingly: 'There's nothing we can do about it, but at least we have already recognised our ancestors and returned to our ancestral home.'

'Uncle, can my lineage be added back to the family tree?'

Xia Anshan immediately nodded and said, 'Of course there's no problem!'

How could they not welcome the return of a clan member's descendants to the ancestral land, especially when they were rare and capable people!

'Let's add it back now! After that, we can hold the ancestral recognition ceremony. What do you think?'

Xia Anshan asked.

Xia Yu nodded happily, 'Yes, I'll do as you say!'

Xia Anshan immediately apologised to Wu Siming and the others, then picked up the gong and struck it 'dang dang dang'. The clan members present knew that the result was in and the clan chief was about to speak.

'Today, the Xia family of Longfengnan Shi has received great joy from the heavens: Xia Yu, descendant of Long Chengzu and Kui Faguang, has returned to his ancestral home. All clan members are to inform the person in charge of their respective lineages and arrive at the ancestral hall within half an hour to participate in the ancestral recognition celebration!'

'Donghui, set off the firecrackers!'

'Dongming, use the village loudspeaker to notify the villagers.'

Before long, the sound of firecrackers could be heard 'popping' outside the ancestral hall.

The atmosphere inside the ancestral hall became festive. Li Wuming led the people carrying the gifts and they all moved into the ancestral hall. There were all kinds of sweets, biscuits and other snacks, and the sound of children cheering could be heard inside the ancestral hall.