Epitaphs record the life of the owner of the tomb, some of which were written by the owner of the tomb himself during his lifetime, and the content is more realistic, more like a memoir. But most of them are written after the death of the tomb owner, and the descendants ask the literati to help write them, and this type of epitaph is often more lofty, and the words of praise are used more, more like singing praises.

Qian Yunzhi's epitaph is the second case, which was written by others after his death, and more than fifty percent of the words in the entire epitaph are singing praises of virtue, which has no practical significance, and the rest of the records are the experiences of Qian Yunzhi's life.

Qian Yunzhi was over 70 years old when he died, and his experience of more than 70 years can be summed up in just over 100 words.

There is no point in delving into the things before Qian Yunzhi told the old man to return to his hometown, if there are really clues, he will definitely hide in some of the things that this person did after returning to his hometown.

Like other officials who returned to their hometowns, Qian Yunzhi also did some good deeds after retiring to repair bridges and pave roads, and help the victims.

However, believing in Buddhism and being a monk are two different things, according to the epitaph, Qian Yunzhi has two sons, one is a grandson, and the other is a child born to his wife, and this child is also an official. The other child is a by-the-side, that is, the child born to a concubine, and there is not much record in the epitaph about this child, but it only says, 'The young son died of illness, and the old man was sad and sad, depressed, and shortened his life. ’

After reading the epitaph, Wu Zhongyuan said happily to the king, "You go and bring their genealogy." ”

Wang Xinran didn't ask the reason, nodded and got up and left.

Wu Zhongyuan stayed where he was and frowned, "young son" was usually used to describe a child under the age of eight in ancient times, so it can be seen that after Qian Yunzhi retired, the concubine once gave birth to a child for him, because the young son died of illness, Qian Yunzhi was very sad, and finally died of depression.

Soon, Wang Xinran brought the genealogy, and there was a record of Qian Yunzhi's son-in-law on the genealogy, but there was no record of the concubine.

Wang Xinran naturally knew what Wu Zhongyuan was looking for, and seeing that there was no name of the concubine on the family tree, he asked suspiciously, "What's the matter?"

"Boys who die young are not included in the genealogy. Wu Zhongyuan said casually. In ancient times, people favored sons over daughters, and boys born in partial houses would also be recorded in the family tree, while girls would not write on the family tree even if they were born in the main house, so the reason why the concubine did not appear in the family tree was not because he was not in a position enough, but because he died when he was very young.

"If it is not written into the family tree, can't it be buried in the ancestral grave?" Wang Xinran asked.

Wu Zhongyuan nodded.

"My son-in-law's grave is also around. Wang said happily.

Wu Zhongyuan knew what Wang Xinran meant, "Wait a minute, let me think about it." ”

Wang Xinran did not insist on digging up the grave of Qian Yunzhi's eldest son, because the descendants of the Qian family were watching from not far away, these were their ancestral graves, and they could not be dug up one after another.

Before deliberating who Qian Yunzhi might have given the spirit stone, Wu Zhongyuan re-evaluated the possibility of Wu Lu giving the spirit stone to Qian Yunzhi in his heart, and after thinking about it, he still felt that it was very likely that Wu Lu would give the spirit stone to Qian Yunzhi, Wu Lu's grave had also been dug up before, there were only some wine jars and weapons in it, and there was no gold and silver for the burial, which shows that Wu Lu regards money as dung and has no savings, and lapis lazuli is very valuable, and suddenly got such a valuable commemorative gift from his boss, so it is reasonable for Wu Lu to pay something back, and the Hetian jade in his hand is also known as Khotanese jade, which is a very valuable jade in ancient times, and Wu Lu only takes it as a gift in return。

After determining this, he began to deliberate on what Qian Yunzhi would do after he got the spirit stone, Qian Yunzhi is a fourth-grade military attache who returned to his hometown, which is equivalent to the retirement of a deputy provincial or department-level leader, and he must not be short of money, and he will definitely not pawn it for money for souvenirs given to him by his subordinates, nor will he give it to outsiders casually, and he will keep it if nothing else.

However, no spirit stone was found in Qian Yunzhi's grave, which means that Qian Yunzhi probably gave the spirit stone to his relatives, who would he give this spirit stone to? Is it the eldest son, or the younger son who died young?

Seeing that Wu Zhongyuan had been frowning and silent, Wang Xinran called the archaeological team and asked them to explore the situation of the tomb on the right side of this tomb, according to the ancient funeral regulations, the son is generally buried on the right side of his parents.

The Luoyang shovel is a good thing, this thing was first invented by tomb robbers, and later used by the archaeological community, after drilling a few holes around, they came to the conclusion that the tomb on the right is also complete, slightly later than Qian Yunzhi's tomb.

"Let's take another gamble. Wang said happily.

"Gambling on other people's ancestral graves?" Wu Zhongyuan frowned and shook his head, "Don't worry, let me think again." ”

"Don't think about it, it is also very likely that Qian Yunzhi will leave the jade to his eldest son. Wang said happily.

"I don't think so. Wu Zhongyuan shook his head.

"What do you think?" asked Wang Xinran.

Wu Zhongyuan did not answer and asked, "What is the opinion of those experts at the headquarters?"

"There is no reply," Wang shook his head happily, "Historians are usually very old, and it is impossible to stay all night without resting. ”

Wu Zhongyuan said, "When Qian Yunzhi returned to his hometown, his eldest son was already in his thirties, and he had already left home to become an official. ”

Wang Xinran nodded, "You're right, but that doesn't prove that Qian Yunzhi didn't leave the jade to his eldest son." ”

"The jade quality of the spirit stone is very good, the ancients believed that jade has spirituality, it is a better burial object than gold and silver, if he really left the spirit stone to the eldest son, the eldest son will not leave it himself, and will definitely put it in the coffin for him to be buried. Wu Zhongyuan said.

Wang Xinran did not refute, because after thinking about it, Wu Zhongyuan did make sense.

"Do you think that spirit stone is in the grave of his youngest son?" asked Wang Xinran.

"The possibilities are high. Wu Zhongyuan nodded.

"Reason?" Wang asked happily.

"Chinese have the custom of appreciating jade and playing with jade, although the jade quality of the spirit stone is very good, but it is not big, it cannot be used as ornaments or bracelet hairpins, and the rough stone that is swollen and lost is the most suitable for hand pieces," Wu Zhongyuan said, "If the spirit stone is really held in Qian Yunzhi's hand to play, he is very likely to put the spirit stone into his youngest son's coffin." ”

Without waiting for Wang Xinran to interject, Wu Zhongyuan continued, "Whether it is a relative or a lover, if yin and yang are separated, they will always leave their beloved things to each other, and let it accompany the deceased instead of themselves. It will also leave things that the deceased often used during his lifetime, seeing things and thinking about people, to comfort lovesickness. ”

Seeing Wang Xinran frowning, Wu Zhongyuan said again, "This is not what I said, this is what the university professor said." ”

After nodding happily, Wang said, "You just said that children who died early cannot be buried in the ancestral grave, and if the spirit stone is really in his grave, then the possibility of finding it is very slim. ”

Wu Zhongyuan shook his head, "Not necessarily, Qian Yunzhi loves this child very much, maybe he will make an exception, you ask them to look at the location in front of Qian Yunzhi's grave to see if there is a grave." ”

Wang happily complied and asked the archaeological team to do another investigation.

While the archaeological team was surveying, Wang Xinran was in contact with the headquarters, while Wu Zhongyuan continued to frown and ponder.

This time the scope of the survey was very wide, and it took the archaeological team more than an hour to search the area in front of Qian Yunzhi's grave, and no grave was found.

"Is there any news from the headquarters?" Wu Zhongyuan looked at Wang Xinran, who was stretching.

Wang Xinran said, "They don't think that the spirit stone will be in the grave of Qian Yunzhi's eldest son, and they don't recommend that we dig it, it is easy to intensify the conflict." ”

Seeing that the sun was about to shine on this area, Secretary Qian came over, first, to ask for a genealogy, and secondly, to hope that the two could restore Qian Yunzhi's tomb to its original state.

After determining that the spirit stone was not in Qian Yunzhi's tomb, the two ordered the archaeological team to carry the epitaph back to the tomb and seal the tomb.

After restoring the grave to its original state, Secretary Qian took the old men away under the pretext that he was going out to run errands today, and they also knew that without their permission, it was impossible for the two to dig without permission, so they avoided it, just because they didn't want the two to dig again.

The archaeological team was also very tired, and seeing that Wu Zhongyuan couldn't think of anything for a while, Wang Xinran also let them go back.

Soon, all the people were gone, and at last only the two of them sat on the rocks at the foot of the mountain in frustration.

For a long time after that, no new clues came from headquarters, and the search was deadlocked.

After a long time, Wang happily snuffed out the cigarette butts, "Where are those children who die early usually buried?"

"There are no fixed rules for this, in short, you can't bury it in the ancestral grave. Wu Zhongyuan shook his head.

"Will it be buried on the north side of Qian Yunzhi's grave?" Wang Xinran asked.

Wu Zhongyuan waved his hand again and again, "Impossible, the north is big, and the son buried in the north of his father is riding on Lao Tzu's head." ”

"Where's the thing?" Wang happily pointed left and right.

"The west side is the ancestors, and the east side is the descendants. Wu Zhongyuan said.

"Is the mother of this child who died young one of the bones of the three women in the grave?" Wang asked happily.

"It should be," Wu Zhongyuan said, "that there are rarely three women and one man in the joint graves of husband and wife, usually two women and one man." ”

"Huh?" Wang was puzzled.

Wu Zhongyuan explained, "The ancients had two legal wives, one was a regular wife, and the other was a flat wife, only they were qualified to be buried with their husbands, and concubines were not qualified to be buried with their husbands. ”

"Since he dotes on this concubine so much, he shouldn't bury their children far away. Wang said happily.

"Makes sense. Wu Zhongyuan nodded.

"Where will it be buried?" Wang happily looked around.

Wu Zhongyuan didn't answer immediately, and said after a long time, "The child died at a young age, and they are likely to bury him where they can see him......"