His grandfather had fallen on hard times back then and begged his way to the coast alone. He had then settled in their village and, through hard work and the villagers' help, built a house and married a wife.
When it came down to it, he was not actually a native of the area either.
His grandfather had not had the means to build a tomb in advance. After he died, his sons had hastily built a coffin-shaped tomb out of stone, just large enough to fit the coffin inside.
Father Ye sighed at the mention of it.
"Before New Year, when we had some money to spare, I told your eldest and second uncles that I wanted to rebuild your grandpa's tomb. We have plenty of able-bodied workers in the family, so we'd only need to hire a craftsman. The materials wouldn't cost much. Split three ways, it wouldn't come to much for any of us."
"But they kept making excuses, saying they had no money and we could talk about it later. They said he wasn't lying out in the wind and sun, so he already had it better than some people. Plenty of families had tombs like that. They said we should wait a few more years, until they were nearly ready for the grave themselves, then all chip in to build a bigger one with more spaces."
Ye Yaodong frowned deeply. "So they only want to build it for themselves when they're about to lie down in it? They think building a tomb ahead of time would be a waste?"
"They just can't bear to part with the money."
"But they'll have to pay eventually. He's everyone's grandpa. Whether we build it sooner or later, it still has to be built. The land will be cheaper