The Zhang family’s residence in the machinery factory dormitory building is not big, but it is cozy enough.
As our family's life gets better and better, there are more and more dishes for the Chinese New Year this year.
It was still the same square table we used to eat at, but now the dishes on the table were almost stacked twice.
At the New Year’s Eve dinner in 1978, half of the dishes on the table were meat dishes, which was enough to prove that the family had lived a very prosperous life in the past year.
Chu Miaohong, a female doctor who could stab dozens or even hundreds of holes in people with a scalpel without blinking, was extremely afraid of lighting firecrackers and fireworks.
But the less skilled people are, the more they love to play. She and her sister-in-law swept away a small portion of the fireworks from the factory's supply and marketing cooperative, and encouraged her husband to set them off for her.
Whenever a large string of firecrackers or fireworks was lit, the area behind Zhang Hongcheng became a refuge for Chu Miaohong and Zhang Yumin to fight over with smiles on their faces.
Especially since the three of them had set off fireworks and firecrackers at midnight, in the small room converted from the balcony, on Zhang Hongcheng's single bed, Chu Miaohong huddled tightly in his arms, seemingly quite frightened by the deafening sound of firecrackers outside the window.
But the sweet smile on her lips revealed her true intentions.
The east wind blows thousands of flowers into bloom at night, and blows down stars like rain.
......
The road is filled with the fragrance of BMW and carved carriages, and fish and dragons dance all night long...
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, local people don’t like to go out and stay at home.
The four members of the Zhang family gathered at a poker table. Zhang Yumin, who was known as a master at the game, found that no matter how good the cards he got, he could not beat his brother and sister-in-law.
Zhang Yumin was so angry that she ran to her room and practiced questions for an hour.
Little did she know that her sister-in-law felt extremely guilty towards her at the moment - because her elder brother had hidden seven or eight identical decks of cards on her sister-in-law's "body", it would be strange if she could win.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Zhang Hongcheng rode Pei Shujing's bicycle and took his wife straight to the countryside.
His hometown is called Getouzhuang Production Brigade, which is more than 20 miles away from the county.
The team did not work on the second day of the Lunar New Year, so Zhang Hongcheng and Chu Miaohong attracted countless onlookers as soon as they entered the village.
Zhang Hongfang enthusiastically introduced various relatives to Zhang Hongcheng. Seeing everyone asking about his well-being, it was as if these elders had no place among the people who had watched Zhang Hongcheng's father being driven out of the village when he was only twelve years old.
But both Zhang Hongcheng and Chu Miaohong noticed that there were several people standing far away, looking at them with unfriendly expressions.
Zhang Hongcheng smiled faintly and didn't greet anyone until Zhang Hongfang gave him the newly processed ancestral home certificate. Then he asked about his cousin's family.
His uncle is called Zhang Qianping, who is twenty-five years older than his father.
It was Zhang Qianping, who served as the clan leader, who occupied the house and land left to his father by Zhang Hongcheng's grandfather.
But his cousin Zhang Hongcheng did not benefit from it either.
With so much land in his hands and his victim Zhang Qianyi still alive, Zhang Qianping's end was quite miserable.
But afterwards, the people in charge in the village were still from Zhang Qianping's lineage, so the villagers forced everyone to break off relations with Zhang Qianyi.
Zhang Hongcheng's ancestral home is not big. It is an old-style wooden and stone structure house with two rooms on the east and west sides. At the back is an abandoned pigpen and toilet.
Before being returned to Zhang Hongcheng, this was one of the brigade's warehouses.
The ownership of the house was stamped by the commune - since it was determined that Zhang Qianping had occupied Zhang Qianyi's property, the house should have been returned to Zhang Qianyi.
After making an appointment with Zhang Hongfang to visit the grave tomorrow, Zhang Hongcheng returned to the main room of the ancestral house, only to find Chu Miaohong holding a kerosene lamp and shining it on the ground with a curious look on her face.
"What's the matter?"
"Do you think there are treasures hidden under my old house?"
Chu Miaohong tilted her head and winked at him.
"It doesn't matter what I think I don't think, but it seems that some people do think so."
She gestured to Zhang Hongcheng to look at the ground along the light of the kerosene lamp.
Zhang Hongcheng was surprised to find that the floor in the bedroom seemed to have been dug...
"My goodness, there's more than one pit!"
Zhang Hongcheng took the kerosene lamp and observed the ground carefully. He found that there were seven or eight pits of different sizes dug in his bedroom alone.
He stepped on the soil and felt it was a bit soft.
This shows that not much time had passed since these holes were filled.
Zhang Hongcheng took Chu Miaohong around other parts of the ancestral home.
After going around in circles, the couple could hardly close their mouths.
The ancestral house covered an area of about 200 square meters, and more than 30 pits were dug.
It was obvious that someone was trying to find something.
"Zhang Hongfang just said that this house was cleaned out ten days ago, and no one has been inside since then," Zhang Hongcheng patted the dirt off his hands and told Chu Miaohong his assessment. "It looks like someone did it within the last ten days, and the digging marks are very evenly distributed. So I think he probably didn't find anything."
Zhang Hongcheng looked up at the dark beams above his head.
"If I'm not mistaken, my cousin must have hidden something in this room."
He was reminded of the two middle-aged men with unfriendly faces he had observed during the day. They were his cousin's two sons.
The person who took action is about to be revealed.
The couple was now in high spirits, so they simply stayed awake and searched through boxes and cabinets, checking the walls and cracks for treasures.
It was not until after three o'clock in the morning that Chu Miaohong finally discovered that there was something wrong with the knocking sound on the wall.
The secret compartment designed by my uncle is not big.
Only half a foot square.
There was no gold, silver or jewelry inside as Zhang Hongcheng thought, but Zhang Qianping's most valuable 400-acre land deed, which is equivalent to waste paper today.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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