Chapter 611 Ancestral Tomb
The old man looked Jiang Lianzhu and the others up and down again.
As if wondering, are there any female officials?
Jiang Lianzhu was dressed in the same tights as Liao Jiu today, looking very capable.
Liao Jiu simply took out his Six Gates badge. The old man couldn't understand it anyway. He would just think it was high-end and classy, and that he was a government official.
"Look, old man, this is the token for us to carry out our mission."
The carved and hollowed-out design, the steady metallic luster, and the large six-character logo on it make it look classy and elegant.
How can someone who is not an official own such a luxurious thing?
Under the threat of the badge, the old man's vigilance decreased a lot.
He looked at it several times, and then spoke again.
We cooperated a lot this time.
He sighed deeply, "In our Kaoshan Village, there was indeed a clan member with the surname Si in the past. He was an official outside, but he was just a eunuch. When he was mentioned, the whole village would be embarrassed. Generally, no one mentioned him and just pretended that he didn't exist."
Jiang Lianzhu and Liao Jiu looked at each other. This was definitely the place.
Continue to wait for his next words.
The old man continued, "Even though he became successful outside, our village still thought he was a pervert and didn't want to have anything to do with him. It is said that he came back a few times and was very prosperous, but he was not well-received in the village, so he rarely came back. His parents couldn't hold their heads up because of him, and they had already expelled him from the family, even though he was the only son..."
Jiang Lianzhu asked, "What happened next?"
The old man sat on a stone pier at the door and continued to reminisce, "His parents died decades ago, so there should be no descendants in their family. I think he had two sisters who married and are probably dead now. He should be dead too, so we don't know. He hasn't come back since then. When we mention him, our village is ashamed and no one pays attention to him. Few people talk about him normally."
According to the records in the county annals, it does have such a long history.
Liao Jiu did not give up, "Then his two sisters are married. Do they have descendants? Where do they live? Is there any news from them?"
"She didn't marry from this village, I've forgotten where she married. I just remember she was about the same age as me. Because of him, his sisters seemed to have married out and were looked down upon. Before Old Si and his family died, the daughters of the Si family came back to visit them. After they died, I haven't seen their family since. It's been decades..."
The old man felt embarrassed when he saw his grandchildren eating candy happily. He frowned and tried to think hard.
"It seems his two sisters both had sons, but they married out. I'm not sure where their descendants are now... It's possible they starved to death during the famine a few years ago. In any case, the Si family is now extinct..."
If it weren’t for the elderly like them, the younger generations would not have known that there was a family named Si in the past.
Liao Jiu asked, "Is their ancestral home still there? Can you take us to see it?"
The old man shook his head and said, "After their family died out, they used to live in thatched huts. Over time, they were exposed to the wind and rain, and no one maintained them. They disappeared a long time ago and became a wasteland."
this……
Jiang Lianzhu suddenly had an idea. "Does anyone from the Si family come back to visit the grave every year? Or is there any sign that they've visited the grave?"
This question made the old man startled. Then he said, "I haven't seen anyone, but there are often traces of people sticking green leaves on the graves. We guess it might be the villagers who helped to stick them in?"
Jiang Lianzhu's expression remained unchanged, and she smiled brightly. "Then can you take us to their ancestral tomb to have a look? Thank you for your hard work, old man. Our government office can give you some money for your hard work."
The old man's legs were not convenient. "No, no, we should cooperate with the government investigation. It's what we ordinary people should do..."
After saying that, he asked the old woman to bring her eldest grandson to lead the way for Jiang Lianzhu and the others.
Went to the remote back mountain.
There are several solitary graves, which are built relatively solidly and firmly.
If a lonely grave like this is left unattended, it will definitely be surrounded by weeds, with no place to walk. But there is no such thing here. You can see that it has been regularly trimmed.
There should be someone who comes to take care of it every now and then.
Jiang Lianzhu and Liao Jiu looked around and came to an understanding that this family should not be extinct.
The fellow villager didn't ask for money, so Jiang Lianzhu gave the children a handful of candy.
The children accepted it with welcome and thanked them repeatedly.
This was the first time in their lives that they had harvested so many sweet candies. They had never eaten such sweet and delicious candies during the Chinese New Year.
Jiang Lianzhu and Liao Jiu rode the golden eagle back to the village and asked other villagers, and found out the approximate name of the mountain village where the two sisters of the official surnamed Si married.
We visited until dark before returning to the county town.
The next day, I went out to investigate again. My two sisters who had married out had died. Some villages had moved, and some villages had merged to flee. It was very difficult, and in the end I found nothing.
Or maybe Liao Jiu had grown up a little wisely a long time ago and left someone to keep watch at the lonely grave in the village next to the mountain.
After Jiang Lianzhu and her team had been running around for two days, the surveillance there came to report that they had found an old man weeding and burning incense at a lonely grave.
Liao Jiu was brought to trial promptly.
After asking, I found out that the old man was a villager from Kaoshan Village. He was an old widower and lived alone. He had no one else at home. He was entrusted by someone and was given ten taels of silver every year to help take care of these lonely graves every few days. He couldn't tell anyone else and it was best to go secretly...
The old widower had no children. He had been a hunter when he was young. Now that he was old, he was worried about having no way to support himself, so he took on this job and lived on it for several years.
"My Lord! I haven't broken any law! I'm just looking after people's graves. I haven't done anything against the law. The Si family members buried here are extinct and no one comes to worship them. I'm helping them look after their graves. I'm not guilty, am I?" The old widower was frightened and at a loss.
Liao Jiu said in a deep voice, "No, we just came to ask you who asked you to look after the grave? What did they look like? What's their name?"
"Well, I don't know about this old man either. He should be a descendant, or a friend from the past. I've asked before, but the owner told me not to meddle in other people's business and to shut up and not ask questions that I shouldn't. What does he look like? I've forgotten it a long time ago. It's been several years. It seems to be a young man who gives me silver on time every year. The silver always appears directly at the old man's house. I've only met him once. He's an ordinary person, nothing special. I haven't had any contact with him since then and I've forgotten him a long time ago..."
The clue was broken again.
The old widower trembled with fear.
Liao Jiujian couldn't get anything out of him, so he let him go.
"It's okay, don't be afraid. You haven't broken any law. We are just here for a routine investigation. Go back."
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