The elderly man typed adeptly on his smartphone; from the speed of it, you could tell he was deftly skilled.
He then converted the text into a preset male voice with a hint of operatic intonation.
"Thanks, just picked these fruits for you to enjoy a bit."
Mute Uncle grabbed two handfuls of wild fruits for the two people in the car. After Feng Yi got out, Mute Uncle stuffed a few wild fruits, the size of cherries, into Feng Yi's hands.
Feng Yi had never eaten them before. Seeing that the two in the car were enjoying the fruits, he took off his gloves, wiped the sweat from his hands and the specks of dirt from the fruit, and decided to try one.
Sweet, juicy, quite tasty.
The two people quickly drove away.
Mute Uncle took off his straw hat to fan himself, tossed the hat into the bamboo basket, gave Feng Yi a once-over, and quickly typed on his phone to convert text to speech: "Follow me."
Feng Yi hurriedly followed him.
"Uh... what should I call you?" Feng Yi asked. It seemed a bit disrespectful to directly call him Mute Uncle.
"Just call me Mute Uncle!" came the voice from the smartphone.
Seeing that the man truly didn't mind, Feng Yi no longer worried about the matter and took in the scenery and the well-maintained road around him.
"The roads up the mountain are nicely done. Haven't you considered buying a vehicle for getting around?"
Mute Uncle typed into his phone: "Got food, drink, and internet, why need a car."
Feng Yi: "...Makes sense."
Thinking it over, Feng Yi decided to be direct.
"Mute Uncle, you know why I'm here, don't you?"
"Know~I've been waiting a long time!"
"What do you mean by that?" Feng Yi pressed.
But Mute Uncle wasn't inclined to say much, instead he turned on the music on his phone.
"Who is singing, warming the loneliness..."
As they walked, he even hopped to the rhythm.
Feng Yi: "..."
He was certain now; Mute Uncle was a lively and robust old man.
Soon, Feng Yi saw the Feng Family Ancestral Home, previously mentioned by the butler.
This was Feng Yi's first encounter with the legendary ancestral home, reminiscent of old buildings featured in historical dramas.
The estate wasn't very large, but each brick and tile was laden with historical charm. It wasn't rundown, clearly well-maintained by someone, proving Mute Uncle to be diligent in his duties.
Mute Uncle walked into the house, set down the bamboo basket, and gestured for Feng Yi to follow inside.
As they moved further in, he swiftly tapped on his phone, inputting a long string of text which was then converted to speech.
The narration, with a touch of operatic intonation, echoed within the quiet ancestral home.
"See that plaque with the character 'Feng' on it? The room over there is where the Feng Family conducts rituals to honor the ancestors; it houses a portion of the ancestral ancestral tablets."
Feng Yi pushed the door open and walked into the room, scanning the area, but nothing stood out as particularly special.
The room was clean enough, and the space was reasonably large.
He also saw several ancestral tablets inscribed with names of the Feng Family ancestors, which indeed gave a sense of ritual. However, Feng Yi had never heard these names mentioned by his elders, nor had he heard of them from others. Three generations up, the memory of these people had faded.
He scrutinized the room once more.
How to put it? There was nothing unexpectedly out of the ordinary, and the arrangement inside made it clear that outsiders hadn't been here in a long time. The so-called ancestral home, the place mentioned for ancestral rites— in this day and age, indeed, hardly anyone cared about these traditions. But...
A hundred-million-yuan task!
Is this it?!!
It was not a lack of respect for the deceased, but in recent decades, people had gradually simplified the tomb-sweeping process. For someone like Feng Yi, who grew up in this era, if it hadn't been for this task, he never would have grasped the concept of a family shrine. He had only seen such things on TV dramas, never associating them with himself, and rarely did he pay attention to relatives from three generations ago during the Qingming Festival.
Hard to imagine that a hundred-million-yuan task would be in a place like this?
However, having come all this way, Feng Yi didn't immediately go looking for the family tree. He looked around, saw no kneeling mats as depicted in TV dramas, nor any incense or ritual paper, so he stood in front of the tablets and bowed in respect.
Afterward, just as Feng Yi was about to seek the family tree and inquire about any clues from Mute Uncle, he saw Mute Uncle gesturing and heard a piece of speech converted from his smartphone:
"That's enough. Come over here, quick!"
Feng Yi: ???
What did he mean by "that's enough"?
Seeing that Mute Uncle had already walked out, Feng Yi quickly followed.
Mute Uncle led Feng Yi to another room, which held a wall made of green bricks that looked no different from the rest.
Mute Uncle opened a concealed compartment in the wall, revealing a fingerprint lock inside.
Feng Yi: !!!
Mute Uncle pressed his thumb on the fingerprint scanner and then stepped back, motioning for Feng Yi to do the same.
Completely baffled, Feng Yi stepped forward and, mimicking Mute Uncle's gesture, pressed his right thumb onto it.
With a beep, what appeared to be a solid wall moved aside to reveal a door.
This time, Mute Uncle didn't go in but gestured for Feng Yi to enter alone.
Feng Yi steeled himself, feeling he was about to learn some incredible secret.
He peered inside; it didn't look particularly unusual, but the secrecy made him increasingly nervous.
But since he had come this far, Feng Yi wasn't about to back down.
He inhaled deeply and stepped over the threshold into the room.
The moment he entered, the door in the wall closed behind him.
Feng Yi became even more nervous.
As the door sealed shut, numerous lights came on in the seemingly cramped room. The material was indiscernible, not harsh on the eyes, but bright enough to illuminate the space.
It was thanks to these lights that Feng Yi got a clear view of the interior. The room was not as small as he had imagined.
However, there were no ancestral tablets here, nor any items for ritual offerings. The walls were adorned with a variety of paintings, some resembling snakes, others odd and bizarre shapes. Whatever the type of drawing, they all exhibited an ancient style.