The results of the county exam came out five days later, and the two younger brothers plus An Yikun were all on the list.
The old lady of the An family personally organized the banquet and asked Tian Mingwu and An Wan to bring Xiaokang and Xiaoqi over to celebrate with the three boys together.
Since they were all family, they only sat at separate tables for men and women, and there was no screen in the middle. In addition, everyone was happy today, so Mrs. An did not ask them to follow the rule of not talking while eating. She just let everyone speak freely and say whatever they wanted to say.
After several elders encouraged and educated the three boys in turn, it was the turn of the younger generations to congratulate them.
The three of them listened to everyone's words silently, and expressed in a serious tone that they would not be arrogant or impatient, but would keep working hard to pass the subsequent prefectural and academy examinations in one go and become a scholar.
Seeing the three men's accomplishments, Madam An nodded with satisfaction, "This is what a son should be like."
During the meal, everyone somehow started talking about Taohua Mountain.
An Guoan's public security officer Wei Min said, "At first, I thought my sister had passed away, so I bought Taohua Mountain and brought her body here from a thousand miles away.
My sister is fine now, so it would be unlucky to keep the grave there, especially since we don't know whose bones are inside!"
Mrs. An nodded. "How can anyone still be alive with a tombstone? We should evacuate as soon as possible!"
Tian Mingwu nodded hurriedly, "Yes, we have to remove it as soon as possible. I will arrange it in the next few days."
He felt choked up when he thought about how he had sat in front of the tombstone all day, pouring out his heart to the bones of an unknown person. If he didn't remove the tomb, it would be too disgusting, not to mention that his Wan'er was still alive and well! If he didn't remove the tomb, wouldn't that be a curse on her?
For this, Tian An felt that she was also responsible. She should have taken a closer look at the skeleton at that time. Maybe she could have seen the clues earlier, and An Wan would have suffered less.
However, speaking of the skeleton, Tian An asked another question, "Since my mother is still alive, who are the skeletons in the coffin?"
Only after figuring out the true identity of the skeleton can they deal with it appropriately. They can't just dig it up and throw it away casually!
Here, Tian An suggested: "If the person inside is a good person, then we should choose a new precious place to bury him. After all, we are the ones who brought him here from thousands of miles away."
No one has any objection to this. This is the minimum respect for the deceased. Even if the person inside is a bad person, he must be properly placed. After all, the dead are the most important.
Tian Mingwu attached great importance to this matter. He had not thought about it before. Firstly, he was overwhelmed by the joy of An Wan's return, and secondly, there were too many things to do during that period of time and he could not take care of them at all. Now that it was brought up, he naturally could not delay it any longer.
After returning, Tian Mingwu asked the housekeeper to go to the farm to send a message to Uncle Yonghui, asking him to bring a few old people from the village with him.
The people who kidnapped An Wan would not have risked traveling far away to find someone and throw him into the coffin to replace the original, so the person in the coffin must be someone from Shangba Village.
Uncle Yonghui used to be the village chief. He knows the people and things in the village best. He might be able to figure out who the person in the coffin is.
Uncle Yonghui received the letter from the housekeeper, and early the next morning he called the fathers of Qiushan, Dashu, and Xiaofeng to come to the general's mansion.
Tian Mingwu went to the yamen, and An Wan told a few people the whole story.
By the time Tian Mingwu returned from the yamen, they had almost figured out the truth.
Dashu Dad spoke first, "In the days after Mingwu's wife was buried, the crazy widow Lin Cuilan from the end of the village disappeared."
Xiao Feng's father took over the conversation: "At first, everyone thought she was hiding in the house by herself, so no one paid much attention. After all, she was not in a clear mind, and it was common for her not to go out for a few days.
About a month and a half later, a family in the village held a full-moon banquet for their child, but Lin Cuilan was not seen at the banquet, which attracted everyone's attention.
Although Lin Cuilan's brain has been stimulated and she's gone crazy, she loves lively places and especially children. She usually comes to such occasions."
Qiu Shan's father nodded and said, "At that time, we all discussed this matter together. After asking each other, we found out that no one had seen Lin Cuilan in more than a month.
Everyone's first reaction was that Lin Cuilan might be dead. After all, she was mentally unstable and lived alone in such a remote place. It was possible that she died at home without being discovered.
Uncle Yonghui recalled the full moon banquet and said, "I was also shocked when I heard the news. I took a few men and brave women from the village and went to Lin Cuilan's house.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find Lin Cuilan after searching the entire yard.
After all, we were from the same village. We didn't even have time to attend the full moon banquet that day. We searched everywhere in the village but couldn't find a single hair of Lin Cuilan.
This even alarmed the government, but unfortunately, after a long time, there was still no news about Lin Cuilan, and the matter was left unresolved as time went by.
Lin Cuilan seemed to have evaporated from the face of the earth, disappearing without a clear explanation and never appeared in anyone's sight again.
Therefore, we speculate that the skeleton in the coffin is most likely her."
Tian Mingwu nodded, "The timing is right."
He was silent for a moment, invited a few people to have dinner at home, asked the housekeeper to arrange for them to stay, and then took An Wan back to the room to discuss.
As soon as they returned to the room, An Wan pulled Tian Mingwu and said worriedly, "Mingwu, I always feel that Lin Cuilan died because of me."
Tian Mingwu frowned and comforted her, "Don't let your imagination run wild."
Although he said this, Tian Mingwu actually had the same idea in his heart.
Those people's target is An Wan. In order to prevent others from discovering that An Wan is still alive, they must find someone to impersonate An Wan in the coffin.
Lin Cuilan, who lived alone at the end of the village and had mental problems, became the first choice.
What Tian Mingwu could think of, An Wan could naturally think of as well.
An Wan felt guilty whenever she thought that Lin Cuilan might have been indirectly killed by her.
"Mingwu, even though she is gone, I still want to make it up to her."
Tian Mingwu nodded, "Okay, let's go together."
Because the cemetery in Taohua Mountain was originally chosen according to An Wan's birth date, even if they wanted to make amends to Lin Cuilan, they couldn't just bury her there.
However, they invited a very good Feng Shui master to look for a new place and choose a good day to bury Lin Cuilan again.
The coffin was originally built by Tian An and his team at great expense, and now a tombstone with Lin Cuilan's name on it was erected, which could be regarded as an explanation to her.
The couple offered her incense and said, "May you be reborn into a good family in the next life and live a smooth life, without suffering the same hardships and disasters as in this life."
After handling Lin Cuilan's funeral and relieving herself of the guilt, An Wan finally had the mood to go see the peach blossom mountain that Tian Mingwu had planted for her.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
