Sun Xiaoyu paused for a moment, then her eyes lit up: "Grandpa, is it the same as the thing we gave Ji Xia last time?"
What do you think?
“I thought we had already given them all to Ji Xia last time,” Sun Xiaoyu said with a mix of surprise and delight.
Old Sun gazed sadly at his granddaughter for a long time, then sighed softly.
"Do you know what the Sun family was called when your great-grandfather, my father, was alive?"
Sun Xiaoyu's smile faded, and she lowered her head sadly: "When my great-grandfather was alive, the Sun family was known as Sun Half-City."
"Yes, the Sun family was known as Sun Half-City. Back then, half of the entire South China Sea belonged to the Sun family. They were very prosperous, with more than twenty branches and two to three hundred people, including legitimate sons, illegitimate sons, and grandsons..."
Unfortunately, during the eight-year War of Resistance against Japan, social unrest occurred, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, they were still considered landlords who had been overthrown. Of the two or three hundred people, some were scattered, some died, and some even changed their appearance and abandoned their surnames.
To this day, only the grandfather and granddaughter remain in the Sun family line. The old man's two sons and daughters-in-law died early, and his daughter, who married out to avoid trouble, now refuses to acknowledge her father.
Sun Xiaoyu remained silent for a while before whispering, "I'll discuss it with Xiang Jun. Shouldn't it be okay if our second son takes my surname?"
Old Man Sun's face lit up with joy upon hearing this: "Really? He's really willing?"
“I’ll try asking. Anyway, the Ji family has three sons, and if he’s willing, I can have two more for him.”
Old Sun was delighted, and his face brightened. He urged in a low voice, "Dig right here and dig out what's inside."
Sun Xiaoyu agreed, squatted down and dug with a small shovel for a while, digging more than a foot deep, and finally saw a small wine jar sealed with mud.
This small wine jar is much smaller than the box I exchanged with Ji Xia last time. It's probably only about a pound of wine in the jar, so even if it's full, it won't hold much.
Old Man Sun stood guard not far away, while Sun Xiaoyu carefully dug the jar out.
However, the Guandi Temple had been abandoned for decades, and it was located in a relatively secluded place halfway up the mountain, with no one around. They dug for a long time but found no trace of human activity.
Sun Xiaoyu dug out the small jar, but was extremely disappointed. The jar was light and flimsy, not at all like the box she had given to Ji Xia last time.
"Grandpa, it's so light! What's inside?"
Sun Xiaoyu held the small jar in confusion, then suddenly frowned: "Did someone dig it up?"
Old Sun looked at the small wine jar with a solemn expression: "Why don't you open it and take a look?"
The two men broke the clay seal, tilted the jar down, and a small roll of parchment fell out.
She opened the parchment and saw twelve antique-looking copper keys wrapped around it, along with a drawing that looked like scribbles. Sun Xiaoyu squinted at it for a long time, but couldn't understand a single symbol.
She turned around suspiciously: "Grandpa, what's this?"
Old Man Sun took the parchment and looked at it for a while before finally revealing a faint smile: "This is a secret code passed down in our Sun family. Only members of the Sun family can understand these symbols."
After a while, he put away the parchment, squinted at the signs in all directions, and gestured for her to take a shovel and follow him as they explored the mountain.
After wandering around for a while, as it was getting dark, Old Man Sun arrived at a protruding boulder in the northwest corner of the Guandi Temple and then asked his granddaughter to dig a hole.
After digging four or five holes around the rock, Sun Xiaoyu was getting impatient when she suddenly heard a clang from the small shovel, which made her hand go numb.
The grandfather and grandson were taken aback for a moment, then their expressions lit up with joy, and they quickly sped up.
Half an hour later, they dug a pit about one meter deep, dug out a stone slab, and dug out a wooden box that was two feet square and more than one foot deep from under the stone slab.
She bent down to lift the box, but found it to be incredibly heavy and she couldn't lift it for a moment.
Old Sun looked at the box and shook his head: "Let's open it and see first. It's not convenient to move this box back now."
Upon hearing this, Sun Xiaoyu realized it made sense and handed over eight brass keys: "Grandpa, which key is the right one?"
Old Man Sun flipped through the twelve copper keys, found one among them, inserted it into the keyhole, and with a click, the lock opened.
When Sun Xiaoyu opened it, her eyes widened in shock, and she was speechless.
The box was full of gold and silver jewelry, and a whole box of pearls of excellent quality, radiating a soft and warm pearly luster.
Boxes upon boxes of jewels—red, blue, green, purple—dazzling and radiant like a rainbow.
Gold bars and silver bricks were neatly stacked, filling half the box, along with countless gold and silver bracelets, rings, and various beaded bracelets, filling the box to the brim.
The box of jewelry I gave to Ji Xia last time was less than one-fifth the size of this box.
Sun Xiaoyu was stunned when she saw the box full of good stuff.
"Grandpa, are all these belonging to our Sun family? Weren't they taken away back then—"
Old Sun solemnly rummaged through the items and took out two or three gold bracelets, jade bracelets, silver bracelets, two or three strings of coral and agate beads, several large yellow croakers, and several rings.
He then instructed Sun Xiaoyu to lock the box again, cover it with the stone slab, restore the land to its original state, and lay a layer of turf on top.
By this time it was completely dark. Old Man Sun gestured for Sun Xiaoyu to put away the parchment and eight keys, and also put the things they had just taken out into their backpacks. Only then did the two of them slowly descend the mountain.
Halfway there, Sun Xiaoyu couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Grandpa, why are there so many?"
“What is this? Your great-grandfather was such a visionary and far-sighted man. Before the land was distributed to the landlords, he secretly exchanged the Sun family’s wealth for hard currency such as jade and gold, as well as some rare antiques, and secretly transported them out in twelve boxes.”
"So many? Won't people be suspicious? Everyone says Sun the Half-City—"
Old Sun smiled bitterly and said, "You know it's only half a city, twelve chests of treasure, which is only one-third of my family's wealth at the time."
Of the remaining two-thirds, your great-grandfather donated most of the house, land, and grain, and also donated money and grain to the army, leaving only a small portion of land. Therefore, he was ultimately classified as a rich peasant.
Even the rich peasants, who were preserved in the early years of the People's Republic, were also purged in the following ten years.
If they hadn't hidden some of it at the time, and it had been discovered, their crimes might have been much more serious.
"That parchment and key are of utmost importance. You must keep them safe. They are part of your dowry. Whether or not to tell Ji Xiangjun is up to you."
Sun Xiaoyu remained silent for a long time before finally shaking her head: "Let's not talk about it for now. I'll discuss it with him and give one of the children the surname Sun. If he agrees, it can be passed on to my son in the future."
The children's surname is Sun, so they should receive a larger share of the property, while the children with the surname Ji should receive a smaller share. The money earned by Ji Xiangjun should also be distributed among them.
Old Man Sun looked at her with a worried expression: "The Ji family members are of good character, but money can be a powerful motivator. If they knew they had so much stuff, who knows what they would think? You still need to be careful to protect yourself."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
