Chapter 46: The Old Man Tells Stories
The news that Gao Guobing brought people to the village to capture tomb robbers became the latest topic of conversation in the village. Some people, although they knew only a vague understanding of the matter, spoke as if they had seen it with their own eyes.
In the evening, the village became more and more lively. People gathered in groups of three or five and talked. Among their topics was Gao Guobing's catching of tomb robbers.
Of course, Gao Mingcheng will also be mentioned. It is said that Gao Mingcheng discovered that the tomb robbers had entered the mountains to rob tombs, and then ran to the county town to tell Gao Guobing, who then brought people to arrest them.
"Speaking of ancient tombs, there used to be a lot of them in the mountains of our village! During the Republic of China, warlords dug up several ancient tombs in our village! Oh, most of those ancient tombs are from the Ming Dynasty, and some are from the Song Dynasty. I heard that there are a lot of porcelain in them. Those porcelains are not like the rough porcelain bowls we use, they are very beautiful!"
"If you hold the porcelain up to the sun, it's all transparent! There are also flower and bird patterns on it, which are very beautiful!"
Under the big camphor tree in the center of the village, an old man in his nineties was sitting on a low stool, telling stories to the people around him.
There were quite a few people gathered around him, including several children in their early teens, all sitting on the rocks nearby, urging the old man to tell the story faster.
For children, listening to stories told by their elders is also extremely interesting in an era when entertainment is scarce.
The old man smiled good-naturedly and continued, "You all know Wang Anshi, right? He is from here! Of course, he is from Linchuan District, 45 kilometers away from us, but there is also a descendant of Wang Anshi in our Xiaowang Village. Their village just compiled a family tree a few years ago. I know this."
"Wang Anshi is so great! I don't need to say more, right? Linchuan is known as the hometown of talented people. Since the Song Dynasty, we have produced so many dignitaries!"
"Let's not talk about anything else, just talk about our Gaojia Village. Our ancestors in Gaojia Village also had a Jinshi!"
"Forty years ago, our village was not what it is now! The buildings in our village were so magnificent! The eaves of every household were connected together. When it rained, you could run around the village without getting wet! Waterways were built in the courtyards of every household. After the rainwater gathered, it flowed directly from the waterways to the pond at the entrance of the village. No matter how heavy the rain was, the village was dry and clean!"
"Oh, it's so comfortable to live in that house!" The old man half-closed his eyes, his expression full of memories and reluctance.
Gaojia Village had produced a Jinshi a long time ago, and he was also a local gentry with a lot of influence. Naturally, the ancestral home in the village was well built.
Although this place is surrounded by mountains and transportation is inconvenient, the ancients would not easily abandon their old houses. Even if they became successful, they would still keep the old houses well maintained.
Because in ancient times, no matter how high an official you held, you still had to retire and return to your hometown in the end. You were not allowed to stay in a place like the capital.
The old house is the root of a family, and the fertile fields near the old house are basically owned by this family.
"Grandpa, why is that house gone? I also want to live in a house like that!" A boy in his early teens said loudly, attracting the approval of other children.
“Yeah, we want to live in a house like that too!”
"Oh, that's a long story! Forty years ago, the world was in turmoil. The son of a landlord from the village across the street was admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy and became an official! Our village also had several Red Army soldiers, but at that time, the Red Army soldiers from our village were away from home all year round, fighting outside."
"Later, when the Red Army was about to win, the landlord's son got the news and was so scared that he quickly took his parents, wife and children and ran away. They ran so fast that they left behind all the food, cattle, chickens, ducks and pigs in the house."
"Life was tough in the village at that time, so some people simply ran to the landlord's house and took away all their belongings."
"But not long after, the Kuomintang came back! It turned out that the Red Army troops just passed by us and left quickly! This was a big deal. When the Kuomintang came back, they saw that all his things had been robbed. How could they bear it? So he took a few men, brought guns and kerosene, and burned all the houses in our village to ashes!"
"After doing this, he knew he couldn't stay here anymore, so he fled to Taiwan soon. What a pity that the houses in our village are gone! Fortunately, it wasn't winter at that time, otherwise many people would have frozen to death."
The old man couldn't help but sigh when he talked about this past event.
Most of the people present had not experienced that difficult period.
But he was ninety-two years old!
He was born in the Republic of China and witnessed so much.
The teenagers had no idea what happened back then, but those in their forties and fifties still remembered it, so the atmosphere became depressed.
Finally, a fifty-year-old uncle said, "Grandpa Xi, don't talk about this anymore, talk about the ancient tomb!"
"Yes, about the ancient tomb!"
The 92-year-old old man seemed to be reminded by someone. He was originally going to talk about the ancient tomb, so why did he go off topic?
So he sorted out his thoughts and said, "During the Song and Ming dynasties, many officials and businessmen came from here. When they died, they were naturally buried in the green mountains nearby. In ancient times, people didn't bury the dead as casually as we do now. They would put a lot of burial objects!"
"During the Republic of China, when warlords were going to war, what did they do when they ran out of money? They robbed tombs! They could make a lot of money by robbing a tomb! At that time, not only in our village, but also in our county and the neighboring county, all the famous ancient tombs were robbed!"
"Oh my, I thought all the ancient tombs were robbed at that time, but I didn't expect there are still some in this mountain! It even attracted tomb robbers!"
"Luckily, the tomb robber was discovered by Ming Cheng, who called the national soldiers in time to capture him. Otherwise, the things in our village would have been stolen for nothing!"
The 92-year-old man sighed, with a hint of relief in his tone.
For the people in the village, the ancient tomb belongs to their village and cannot be stolen by others.
Of course, this is only a spiritual belonging, but no one dares to actually take things out of the ancient tomb. Not to mention whether it is scary or not, the main reason is that it is against the law!
After listening to the story, the adults were all sighing with emotion, but the children were the only ones who could not fully understand this emotion.
A child asked curiously: "What does an ancient tomb look like? Are the burial objects placed next to the body? Or where are they placed?"
As soon as he said this, he was hit on the head by the adult next to him: "What nonsense! This is not something you should know. Go, go, go! Go home and eat!"
So, several children were driven away.
Although they didn't get an answer from the adults, they didn't give up. They gathered together and whispered, "Isn't there an ancient tomb that has been dug halfway in this mountain? Why don't we go to the mountain and take a look?"
The child who made the suggestion was the most mischievous child in the village. His eyes sparkled with a smart light, and it was obvious at first glance that he was too smart.
This story is true. I heard it from my elders. Besides, Gan style architecture is also very distinctive!
(End of this chapter)
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