Chapter 20 Qingming Festival Ancestor Worship
Black Bandit Mountain.
On the day of Qingming Festival, everyone in the village got up very early.
We all used to be in the underworld, and now, among the people we know, there are more dead than alive.
The villagers walked in groups of three or four towards the south of Black Bandit Mountain.
There is a cemetery on the south side of the mountain, full of tombstones.
Some tombstones have a small mound behind them, while others are just tombstones.
It was drizzling.
Su Zhizhi and Xue Che walked in front.
Both children were holding a large string of paper ingots in their hands.
Su Zhizhi's left hand was fully healed. She opened her arms and ran forward against the rain, the paper ingots in her hand rustling in the wind.
The buds on the top of her head are round and plump, like two small buns.
Su Zhizhi's hair was very thick and black, so Wu Yingniang had to wrap the hair tie around her several times to tie it tightly.
The hairband she wore today is very beautiful.
Years ago, a tiger was hunted in the village, and the tiger's tendons were pulled out to make a hairband and a slingshot for Su Zhizhi.
Wu Yingniang wrapped circles of red silk thread around the tiger tendon and tied it on Zhizhi's head, which looked beautiful and tight.
Hao Ren and Wu Yingniang walked behind, holding incense, candles and offerings.
Xue Che had planned to stay inside the house today, but Su Zhizhi pulled him in, saying that she wanted to let her mother in heaven meet her new playmate.
"My mother will definitely be happy to see you."
Su Zhizhi and the others walked to a row of tombstones.
Candles were lit, incense was burned, and bowls of meat and rice balls were placed in front of the tombstone.
Xue Che originally thought that they were just here to pay tribute to Su Zhizhi's biological mother.
Only after arriving did I realize that there were several tombstones to worship.
"Zhizhi burns incense for grandparents."
"Uncle, aunt, please have some rice balls..."
"Mom, Zhizhi brought you flowers again..."
"Mother, look at Ah Che, my new little brother. Isn't he very good?"
Su Zhizhi was busy all the time, muttering to herself.
Xue Che followed behind and greeted:
"Hello, Zhizhi, grandpa, grandma, uncle, and aunt..."
"Junior Xue Che, greetings to all the elders."
"I am not Zhizhi's younger brother, elders, please don't misunderstand..."
Su Zhizhi always loves to go out. Ever since she memorized the location of the cemetery two years ago, she sometimes goes to her mother's tombstone to deliver things.
It could be a handful of brightly colored wildflowers, or a handful of ripe, sweet berries.
Su Zhizhi took out the small pouch sewn on her clothes.
Take out some green wild fruits and place one in front of the tombstone of each elder.
Wu Yingniang brushed away the flower petals on Su Zhizhi's head and said, "Zhizhi is so thoughtful. Grandfather and the others will definitely like the fruits she picked."
Su Zhizhi pulled out a small kite from the basket like a magic trick:
"I'm going to fly kites with Che for them today!"
The kite was made by Old Man Qin based on the image of Abao.
Su Zhizhi handed the kite to Xue Che:
"Ah Che, hold the kite tight and I'll let out the string and run forward. If the wind starts to pick up, let go."
Xue Che disdains playing with these childish gadgets, but to be honest he has never played with them before.
He held the kite in both hands and watched the string in Su Zhizhi's hand get longer and longer.
A gust of wind blew.
Xue Che let go of the kite in his hand and shouted to Su Zhizhi:
"Zhizhi, the wind is coming!"
Su Zhizhi's legs pedaled quickly like wheels.
The kite swayed upwards.
Po also flew over, as if to compete with the kite.
Hao Ren stood in front of the tombstone, watching the two children playing.
Then, he lifted the hem of his robe, knelt in front of the tombstone, and kowtowed solemnly:
"Dad, Mom, Big Brother, Big Sister-in-law, Xuan'er, Lingyun is here to see you."
He bent down and kowtowed, like a bamboo branch bent by the snow, and did not straighten up for a long time.
His last name is not Hao. His last name is Pei.
He is not a country bumpkin, nor a gangster.
He was the romantic and arrogant talented man of Chang'an, the second son of the Pei family.
It was Pei Lingyun who was exiled with the Pei family and died on the road, as people in the world said.
At the beginning, my father was falsely accused by a traitor of colluding with the enemy country to frame the Xue family army. The emperor was furious. After all the officials pleaded for mercy, the Pei family was spared the death penalty but could not escape punishment for living.
Except for the eldest sister and younger sister who were already married, everyone in the Pei family was exiled.
From a land of wealth and prosperity, it fell into floods, plagues, and famine.
My eldest brother died in a raging flood and my father died of plague.
My mother and sister-in-law were molested by the escorting officers and would rather die than comply. Later, due to lack of food, they starved to death.
In the end, he was the only one left.
Half-Life.
When he was dying, Wu Yingniang appeared with a group of bandits, killed the official, and took him up the mountain.
From that day on, Pei Lingyun died.
The one who survived was Hao Ren from Black Bandit Mountain.
He studied benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom for several years, but it was still not as good as a knife from a mountain bandit in troubled times.
From then on, he was a hypocritical good man, a sharp knife in a cotton ball.
Wu Yingniang and Pei Xuan met in the martial arts world in their early years and became sworn sisters.
When Wu Yingniang learned that the Pei family was exiled to Lingnan, she took a group of people to take advantage of the chaos to rob them. However, she did not expect that Pei Lingyun was the only one alive among the exiled Pei family.
They settled down in Black Bandit Mountain.
They built a place to hide in Lingnan, which was in turmoil due to famine at the time, and gradually expanded their team.
Two years later, Wu Yingniang and Pei Lingyun managed to contact Pei Xuan in the capital.
Pei Xuan was ostensibly confined to the palace, staying indoors all day long, but in fact he used this as a cover to sneak out for investigations many times.
Pei Xuan told them that she would definitely find out the truth. Once she found evidence and caught the culprit, she would ask the emperor to overturn the case for the Pei family.
But before the verdict could be overturned, Pei Lingyun first encountered his sister who was pregnant and covered in wounds.
After Pei Xuan escaped from the palace, in addition to the palace guards, there was another team chasing her.
She had no choice but to pretend to be dead in the suburbs of Beijing, and then went to Lingnan to reunite with her brother and Wu Yingniang.
Pei Xuan was pregnant and had a difficult and bumpy journey. When she arrived at the Black Bandit Mountain, she was already exhausted.
She gave birth to the baby with her last breath, and Wu Yingniang delivered her.
"Second brother, Yingniang... this is our Pei family's child... She can't have the surname Pei, nor can she have the surname Murong... She is my child, her name is Su Zhi."
Pei Lingyun held his sister's hand and said in a trembling voice, "Okay."
"I found out it's the He family... He Tingfang... I'm just one step away. If I find evidence, I can ask the Emperor to overturn it..."
Pei Xuan's pale face had become unrecognizable due to her thinness, but she held Pei Lingyun's hand tightly.
She was almost there, just almost there, and she could ask the emperor to overturn the verdict and let her second brother return to Chang'an. She could also take her children and leave the palace and return to the Pei family.
She shed tears unwillingly.
Then, the skinny hands loosened little by little.
"Second brother, I miss my parents so much... I miss my elder sister and elder brother..."
Her tears shattered on the edge of the bed, a pale smile appeared on her face, and her voice was as soft as a thread that would break at any time:
"Brother, I used to draw turtles on the pages of your books... I knew those were your favorite books..."
"Brother, I'm not good... Don't blame me..."
Her arms dropped suddenly.
"good."
"I don't blame you."
Pei Lingyun's tears fell on Pei Xuan's drooping arms.
My sister is very light, and she feels like a dead leaf when I hold her in my arms.
But she wasn't like this originally.
Pei Lingyun remembered that Xuan'er had always been the healthiest child in the family since she was young.
She can run, jump and make noises.
She doesn't like studying and likes practicing martial arts, which gives her parents a headache.
She was only one year younger than me, and we argued every day. During Chinese New Year, we even argued because she had one extra piece of candy.
When she couldn't win the argument, she would secretly draw a turtle on Pei Lingyun's favorite book, which made Pei Lingyun very angry.
But if anyone outside said anything bad about Pei Lingyun, Pei Xuan would pick up a whip and start a fight.
After each fight, Pei Xuan was punished by the family and was confined to the house to copy books and reflect on his actions.
Pei Lingyun went to give her the little sugar man. Looking at the wound on his sister's hand, he felt very uncomfortable:
"Fighting hurts so much, don't do it again."
Pei Xuan bit the candy man and patted his arm with a smile: "Second brother, I'm very strong."
Pei Lingyun's tears fell to the ground, one after another.
Xuan'er is clearly such a strong child.
How could it be this withered body in my arms?
There was a muffled thunder in the sky.
A torrential downpour came, and the sound of the rain drowned out the crying inside the house.
Pei Lingyun held Pei Xuanliang's body in his arms, and roared like a wounded beast through his teeth:
"Xuan'er, Xuan'er..."
His eyes were bloodshot and his shoulders were shaking.
At that moment, he wanted to question the gods in heaven, why did they treat the Pei family like this?
Their Pei family has been a family of scholars for generations and is the best among the literati in the world. They are loyal to the emperor and live up to the people.
Why did he end up suffering injustice and humiliation, and his family was broken up?
Why do evil people rule the world and good officials suffer?
There was a violent storm outside, making the windows rattle, as if countless wronged souls were screaming and pounding on the windows.
"Wa——" a baby cried.
Wu Yingniang held the crying Su Zhizhi and walked to Pei Lingyun:
“We live well and raise our children.
As long as you are alive, everything is not over, and there is still a chance to turn things around and take revenge."
This year, Lingnan experienced a rare drought, with not a drop of rain falling for several months.
But that day, heavy rain suddenly came, moistening the dry land and the dying creatures.
All things come back to life.
In the second half of the year, the weather was favorable and the harvest was abundant.
The turbulent Lingnan finally moved from chaos to order at the end of that year.
They all survived...
The breeze carrying the scent of green grass brought Zhizhi's voice:
"Dad, Mom, look how high I put it!"
"Hey, Che, move a little closer. Let's do it again!"
"A Bao, A Bao~ Catch it quickly, don't drop it..."
Hao Ren stood up from the tombstone and looked at Su Zhizhi and Xue Che running on the hillside.
The drizzle stopped and the sky cleared up.
Large patches of sunlight fell from between the clouds.
Su Zhizhi and the others' shadows fell on the hillside, stretched out very long.
The shadow of the tombstone is also very long.
Long and short shadows are imprinted on the green hillside.
So, on the hillside, the shadows of the family were reunited.
Hao Ren's hand fell on Pei Xuan's tombstone, and his voice was very gentle:
"Xuan'er, Zhizhi is very good, but she's even more noisy than when you were a child."
Wu Yingniang arranged the wild flowers that Zhizhi had picked in front of the tombstone and poured a pot of wine in front of the tombstone:
"With Zhizhi's temper, I'm afraid she'll be even more powerful than you when it comes to whipping people."
Everything is shining in the sunlight.
Clusters of purple and yellow wild flowers gathered in front of Pei Xuan's tombstone.
Nod and smile.
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