A sound of pleasure
Tianshu asked, "Where did you see it?"
"Aren't there a lot of books in the locked box of Qi Zhongyi? I just found it casually." Cha Suxun answered nonsense.
"Which one?" As Tianshu finished speaking, he waved his sleeves, and the box that was originally in the ancestral hall instantly appeared in front of him.
"I don't remember. I just picked up a random copy and flipped through it." Seeing Tianshu still looking at him in disbelief, Cha Suxun said, "Didn't everyone have a copy at the time? How would I know which copy I got?"
"Then is there any useful information written on the page you accidentally turned to?" Tianshu deliberately emphasized the word "accidentally" and hinted to him with his eyes that he doubted his purpose of coming here.
"I don't know, that's all I remember."
Seeing that both of them were staring at each other intently, Yuanli squatted down to lighten the mood and casually flipped through a book in the box to divert their attention. "Since Huaming Village records also contain similar words, they must also know about this place. Perhaps there are more records. Why don't we just take a look through them and find out."
Seeing her cousin, Yuanli wanted to call her along, but she didn't know who she really was, so she asked hesitantly, "Um...cousin, who are you..."
As Heqi finished his exercise, he changed his face back to its original appearance, raised his voice, and greeted her with a smile: "It's me, sister, Heqi! Remember?"
"Heqi! How did you become so beautiful?!"
Originally, he felt a little ashamed of wearing women's clothes and acting like a girl every day. But now, seeing how excited and happy his sister was when she praised him, he felt an inexplicable sense of pride.
"Really? Sister, do you really think it looks good?"
"You look great! You're even more beautiful than the courtesans I met in my previous life."
"It's just a small magic trick, nothing to worry about. I'll show you some better ones! Watch carefully, sister!"
As he spoke, Heqi began to cast a spell, explaining as he transformed: "A beautiful and elegant young lady from a wealthy family, a pitiful beauty who sold herself to bury her father, a dignified young lady from a scholarly family, a frail and sickly beauty~ a lovely and energetic princess, a glamorous female donor from the Western Regions! A seductive vixen! A charming and beautiful concubine who brings disaster to the country! Isn't it beautiful, sister!"
The style of Heqi's transformation into a female body gradually approached a strange direction. Even when she transformed into a pitiful beauty selling herself to bury her father, she actually transformed into a cart with her tragically dead father lying on it covered with a white cloth.
When he started twisting his waist from a charming female donor from the Western Regions, and transformed into a charming concubine with a proud figure and beautiful appearance who was bringing disaster to the country, He Qi had already started twisting his body wildly, and the golden hairpins and trembling hairpins on his head swayed with his joyful steps.
"It looks good, it looks good, it looks good!"
The two who were forced to watch the beauty show finally returned to the topic and interrupted the farce with a light cough.
"Okay, stop changing, it's too weird."
"Well, let's look for relevant records. Tsurugi, your outfit is a bit too eye-catching. You should change into something more normal. Your cousin is fine."
"Okay, brother-in-law." He Qi obeyed and changed back into his cousin's attire. He squatted beside Ari and followed her through the book.
Ah Li gently tugged at He Qi's sleeve, motioning him to come closer, and whispered in his ear, "Do you have another sister who married Master A Cha?"
He Qixue whispered in her ear, "No, you're my only sister. Now that you've recovered your memory, I definitely don't need to continue pretending to call him cousin. I should continue to follow the order of seniority and call him brother-in-law."
"But he is Cha Suxun, not Chi Xun. Uh, although he is Chi Xun, but our marriage is not, uh, how do I explain it?"
"But no matter who he is, you've already married the sober Cha Suxun. Sister, think about it another way. Aren't you saving money to build a temple? A Cha is rich, and worldly money is nothing to him. Besides, you'll have two people backing you up in the future. Who would dare to bully you, right? Since A Cha is willing, why bother yourself? Just accept his kindness. We can't just be his wife for nothing, right?"
Their whispers were particularly clear to Tianshu's ears. Upon hearing this, Tianshu selfishly interrupted and said, "Read this."
The record that Tianshu handed over was the diary of the third-generation village chief, which recorded the customs of Huamian Village in the clearest and most detailed manner.
The village chief, the grandson of the first village chief, was named Hua Qingming. He had lived in Huamian Village since birth. His mother, like most women in the village, was married from outside the village. Her mother was a beautiful, gentle, and illiterate orphan. It was her father who brought her back from the outside world, so her mother considered him her savior. No matter how absurd his requests seemed, she would eventually obey.
Hua Qingming was the most beloved child in the village, enjoying meat every meal and rarely going hungry. In Hua Qingming's memory, his mother didn't seem to like meat at all, preferring only soups made from grass and leaves. She would only eat a little when his grandfather was around. His father loved his mother so much that, even on the arduous journey home, he would secretly bring her some meat buns he'd bought from outside.
It was not until Hua Qingming was eight years old that he finally understood why his mother did not like to eat that meat.
In the past, on my father’s birthdays, he would borrow the stoves of several nearby neighbors to cook and set up the banquet. Many people in the village would come to help, and they would start working on lunch early in the morning.
However, on my eighth birthday, the village hadn't seen any smoke rising from cooking fires for a long time. My mother had told me that my fourth uncle's aunt, who had just given birth to my little sister, had run away with her. So my fourth uncle came early in the morning to find my father and lead everyone to catch the runaway fourth aunt.
Hua Qingming was no longer surprised by the fact that new brides ran away from the village. After all, since he could remember, this kind of thing would happen almost every time a bride was brought home.
When Hua Qingming was a child, he would always pester his mother to ask why the new brides would run away. His mother would always shake her head helplessly, with a look of sadness and worry on her face, but later she gradually became numb.
Not long afterward, Fourth Aunt and Little Sister were brought back. That day, Dad said he was eight years old and it was time for him to grow up and become a man, so he asked him to go with him to Fourth Aunt's house to see the children.
At first, his mother always had endless things to do and stopped him from going out. Until, after he hadn't gone out for a long time, his father came home and urged him to go.
This was the first time that A'niang expressed opposition to what A'da said. She closed the door, knelt on the ground and begged A'da not to take the young boy to see how Fourth Aunt was dealt with.
Her father held her in his arms and scolded her in a very low voice: "Don't say these words again in the future, especially don't let Dad hear you say these words! I want to live a long life with you and be buried in the ancestral hall together. We must all live well. You know, this is not something you and I can decide. Qingming was born in Huamian Village. This is his home. Even if he can't accept the customs of the village, he can't bear to escape from here, just like me at that time! You know how chaotic the world outside is. Qingming has no choice but to live better here. Besides, here, he will be the village chief in the future, and no one dares to bully him. The village chief has to deal with village affairs, so let him go to study, okay? Madam?"
Sitting on the ground, A'niang covered her face and cried bitterly, but finally nodded. A'di took Hua Qingming to his fourth uncle's house, and on the way he kept telling him that a man should be brave.
As soon as he arrived at his fourth uncle's house, Hua Qingming saw from afar that his fourth aunt threw his little sister to the ground like a madman, and then strangled her neck as if she was afraid that the little sister would be rescued.
The uncles and grandfathers who saw this scene kept cursing Fourth Aunt, but no one, including Fourth Uncle, tried to rescue the little sister in Fourth Aunt's arms. They just stood there, cursing and sighing what a pity it was.
Fourth Uncle's family calmly persuaded Fourth Aunt that she would have more children in the future and told her to be more open-minded, as this had been the custom here for decades. As long as she was willing to stay in Huamian Village, raise her children peacefully, and not run away again, the family could put aside their past grudges and pretend that this incident had never happened.
But Fourth Aunt didn't want to.
She looked like she was crazy, with a crazy expression, crying and laughing, and her hair and clothes were all messed up. He angrily denounced the customs of the village, pointing at everyone and cursing that they were all evil ghosts who ate people without blinking an eye, and were all crazy and mad.
Without even saying a word, Fourth Uncle kicked Fourth Aunt in the abdomen. The pain made her curl up on the ground and roll around, unable to speak, with blood flowing from the corner of her mouth.
Grandpa said Auntie was hopeless and had gone mad, so he had Uncle Four gag her and chain her up at home. As long as she could still give birth, she'd be fine. Grandpa also said that Little Sister was already dead and couldn't be wasted. He said they should take her away while she was still warm and treat her as an extra dish for today's birthday feast, as a thank you for everyone's help.
At this moment, Hua Qingming finally understood what kind of meat he had been eating since he was a child.
From then on, the uncles, grandfathers and brothers in the same village as my grandfather and father would teach him some of their own unique "methods".
At first, after Hua Qingming knew what kind of meat it was, he still couldn't accept it. He refused to eat and almost starved to death. He was dragged away by his grandfather, severely beaten and lectured, and finally he was forced to accept it.
The main reason was that my grandfather threatened him with my mother's life.
Later, Grandpa said: There will be many children in the village, and Dad will have them too. If Hua Qingming, the eldest son, is disobedient, he will also become food.
Because Hua Qingming inherited his mother's good looks, he could easily bring back many girls whenever he went down the mountain. Unlike other men who went out from the village, before entering the village, Hua Qingming didn't even use sweet words or lies to deceive them about their relationship with him. He just frankly told them that each of them was his beloved woman, and those women were willing to follow him back to the village.
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