Chapter 735
The returned half plaque is temporarily placed at my seventh uncle's house. We will discuss the restoration after both pieces are collected.
The Seventh Uncle had already stated the conditions to the Chen family father and son on behalf of the Su family. Although things were not easy, they agreed immediately. After all, for them, this was the only hope to save the child.
Two days later, the old plum tree in front of the Su family ancestral hall was in full bloom, with a subtle fragrance wafting in the air.
After burning incense to their ancestors, Su Miao and her father were about to return to Ning County. She stood at the door of the ancestral hall, looking at the winding mountain road in the distance, her fingers unconsciously touching the piece of paper with contact information in her pocket.
"Miao Miao, let's go back. We are going to the Pan family to pay New Year's greetings tomorrow, so we have to prepare all the New Year gifts tonight." Su Yuanzheng's voice came from behind.
Su Miao turned around and saw his father standing at the threshold of the ancestral hall.
"Dad, do you think the Chen family can really get the other half back?" Su Miao asked softly, and the white breath he exhaled quickly dissipated in the cold wind.
Su Yuanzheng shook his head. "It's hard to say. I heard from your second uncle that Sun Zhicheng is ten times more cunning than Chen Degui. He became the head of the Public Security Bureau a few years ago. This is one of the reasons why my family doesn't dare to go to his house."
As he was speaking, the sound of an engine was heard in the distance.
A shabby three-wheeled motorcycle came bumping along the mountain road, with two figures sitting in the bed.
Su Miao narrowed his eyes and recognized Chen Degui and his son.
"Here it comes!" she whispered, her heart beating faster involuntarily.
The motorcycle stopped in the open space in front of the ancestral hall.
Chen Jianjun jumped out of the car first, then carefully helped his father down.
Chen Degui was holding tightly in his arms a long object wrapped in red cloth, the shape of which was exactly the same as the half plaque returned the day before.
Su Miao and Su Yuanzheng hurried to inform others. Everyone in the Su family came out after hearing the news. Seventh Uncle walked in front with a cane, and Third Aunt followed closely behind.
Everyone's eyes were focused on the package in Chen Degui's arms.
Chen Degui's face looked even more pale than yesterday, with sunken eye sockets, as if he had not slept all night.
He dragged his limping leg to his seventh uncle and said in a hoarse voice, "Seventh brother, third sister-in-law... the other half of the plaque has also been brought back."
The second uncle stepped forward to take the plaque, led everyone into the ancestral hall, and placed the two plaques side by side on the altar in the ancestral hall.
In the ancestral hall, the incense and candles offered by Su Yuanzheng and Su Miao were still burning, and the green smoke curled up, wrapping around the red lanterns hanging on the beams.
Seventh Uncle tapped the ground three times with his cane, which was the traditional signal for the start of meetings in the Su Family Ancestral Hall.
The old man's hoarse voice broke the silence: "Second brother, take off the cloth."
When a corner of the red cloth was lifted, Su Miao smelled a faint musty smell mixed with the subtle fragrance of wood, which was the scent of time.
When the entire plaque was fully revealed, Seventh Uncle suddenly exclaimed "Huh?"
In the lower right corner of that half of the plaque, there was a small word "Sun" written with crooked strokes.
"This bastard actually dared to leave his name!" Seventh Uncle was so angry that he stomped his crutch on the ground.
Su Miao went forward to take a look, wiped the words with his hand, turned to his seventh uncle and said, "Seventh uncle, this should have been written with a brush. We can erase it when we repair it later."
Her words made everyone relax a little and they began to look at the plaque carefully.
The two broken plaques were put together, with obvious saw marks in the middle, but the big characters "世杜忠贞" finally saw the light of day again.
Although the gold paint on the two large characters "Shi Du" has peeled off, the charm of the brushstrokes is still there. There are several obvious scratches on the edge of the plaque, as if it had been roughly thrown by someone.
The lines at the fracture are almost completely consistent, except for some slight wear on the edges, so it must be authentic.
Second uncle suddenly knelt down in front of the altar and kowtowed three times to the plaque.
His rough palm stroked the saw marks at the joints, his voice choked and untuned:
"Before my father died, he held my hand and said that even if it cost him his life, he would find the plaque... Today, I can finally comfort him."
Su Miao asked Chen Degui, "Grandpa Chen, there seem to be some strange marks on the back of the plaque you returned the day before yesterday. What are they?"
"I carved it back then to prevent anyone from swapping it out. Sun Zhicheng and I agreed to split it in half, but he went back on his word and ordered a search of my house, accusing me of hiding feudal relics.
Those people are not the same ones who came to your village. They are even more aggressive. They completely don't believe my explanation, saying that Sun Zhicheng was the whistleblower, so how could he be in cahoots with me? I must have deliberately dragged him into this."
Xibo guessed, "So you made a fake one to deal with it?"
“Yes, but when I got back I hid in the dilapidated house in my hometown. They didn’t find anything in my house in Ning County, so they had to call me out, otherwise I would have to go on a parade.
My wife knew an old carpenter, so she asked him to help make a fake one based on the plaque.
In fact, if you put the real and fake items together, you can tell them apart at a glance, and such precious materials were hard to find at that time.
Fortunately, they had never seen the real thing, so when they saw that the fake one was the same as Sun Zhicheng's description, they thought it was the real thing and split it in half and burned it on the spot."
"So... Sun Zhicheng thought the plaque in your hand was gone?"
"Yes, otherwise, given his personality, he would always find a way to come to my house and ask for it."
The Third Wife sneered, "It's really a dog-eat-dog situation. You're trying to catch a cicada, but you didn't expect there was an oriole behind it. So how did you get half back this time?"
A strange look flashed in Chen Degui's eyes, and he said in a deep voice:
"Of course it wasn't easy, so I won't go into the details. However, I swear these two pieces are genuine. You can check them out."
Except for Su Miao, all the other tribesmen who had seen this plaque went up to take a look, and everyone was convinced that it was the authentic one.
Chen Jianjun took out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Su Yuanzheng:
"Brother Yuanzheng, this is two thousand yuan. May I know Professor Guan's number?"
Su Yuanzheng took the envelope and looked at his daughter.
Su Miao opened the envelope, counted the money in front of everyone, and then handed the note in his pocket to Chen Jianjun.
"Professor Guan's appointment is so hard to come by, everyone's fighting for it. This two thousand yuan is for connections." The note has the home number of Director Cen of Beijing Union Hospital, who is Professor Guan's student.
You can bring the patient to Beijing after the Lantern Festival, and then call him and he will make arrangements for you.
However, let's make it clear first, whether it is our family or Director Cen, we are only responsible for making sure you can get an appointment with Professor Guan.
As for other expenses, such as transportation, accommodation, and treatment, all costs will be borne by you. There is no guarantee of treatment effectiveness. After all, you have been to Beijing, and you should know that leukemia is not easy to cure.
"We understand! Thank you! Thank you!"
Chen Jianjun folded the note and put it in his chest pocket, holding it as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw.
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