Chapter 9: The Four Grandfathers

Li Junge hurriedly took the broom from the old man's hand, looked at the old man he had admired since childhood, and called out respectfully: "Fourth grandfather." ”

Li Liangchu raised his head and looked Li Junge up and down, his eyes were full of love and pity, but he didn't say much, only patted him lightly on the shoulder, signaling him to continue sweeping the ground.

After sweeping the floor, the two washed and dried their hands next to a basin stand in front of the wing room on the left, and then entered the wing room one after the other.

There is a large wooden niche inlaid on the wall facing the wing room, the wooden niche is divided into two layers, there is a tablet on the first floor, the book "the position of the ancestor of the Li family is the position of the Duke of Demao", the second layer is two tablets, one is written on the book "The position of the Li family sect is prudent and diligent", and the other is written on the book "The position of the Li family sect is taught by the prudent Qing Gong".

On both sides of the wooden niche are two silk painted figures, one on the left is dressed in the costume of a village sage, wearing a cloth crown, with a kind complexion, and a line of small characters in the left book "The image of Li's teachings and diligence and public words like foolishness". One on the right is dressed in court clothes, wearing a virtuous crown, the crown beam is six, which means the second grade, the expression is solemn, and the left book has a line of small characters "Li's teachings are cautious and the image of the Qing Gongzi Xiangshan".

Underneath the niche is an incense case. There are several futons on the blue brick floor in front of the incense table.

Li Junge respectfully knelt down on the futon. Li Liangchu stood in front of the case, bowed to the tablet, and said with a solemn expression: "Li Zijun Pavilion, returned to his hometown last night, and today he entered the ancestral hall to pay tribute to the ancestors. ”

Then he turned to face Li Junge, and said sharply: "Li Junge, the son of the Li family, respect the ancestors, but think about their own affairs, can they be thieves, insults, and adulterers?"

Li Junge said in a deep voice: "No." ”

Li Liangchu said again: "Is there anyone who doesn't respect the teacher and doesn't work diligently?"

Li Junge said in a deep voice: "No." ”

Li Liangchu said again: "Can you be careless and make friends?"

Li Junge said in a deep voice again: "No." ”

Li Liangchu's expression was relieved, and he said: "Li Zijun Pavilion, cautious, good-natured, loyal to friends outside, diligent in work, sitting and standing up, worthy of the style of the sect, can be allowed to hold incense and salute, and comfort the ancestors." ”

Li Junge stood up in an orderly manner, took out three sticks of incense from the table, lit them and inserted them in the incense burner in front of the tablet, and respectfully returned to the futon and kowtowed three times, and after kowtowing, he found that there was a stone on the side of the futon, which was half black and half white, which was very good-looking, so he picked it up and put it in his pocket.

After a set of procedures, the two of them exited the room.

Out of the room, the sun was shining, and both of them felt as if they had come out of another world, relaxed again.

The fourth grandfather looked at Li Junge with a smile and said, "Come on, boy, go to my house and talk." ”

The two of them walked out of the ancestral hall and into the big room on the side.

As soon as you enter the big room, there are two walls of bookshelves, which are full of books, one is after the Republic of China, and there is no category, they are all mixed together, and it is estimated that the owner is also casually flipping through them. The other is full of ancient books, the number of books is much smaller, and they are all arranged in a regular way according to the subset of scriptures and histories, which is very neat.

Li Junge looked at it and said in surprise: "Yo! I have received a lot more!"

Shanghe Li family is farming and reading all the way, the so-called "800 yarn hats", every household used to have a lot of old books, and then after several disasters, there is not much left. After Li Liangchu retired and returned to his hometown, he collected and sorted it out everywhere, which led to this small half of the shelf. Compared to the last time Li Junge saw it, this time there are a lot more.

Li Liangchu took out a book from the ancient bookshelf, turned a page and handed it to Li Junge, and said: "Recently, I have been studying the history of Li Jiagou. Here is a story about the aborigines of this area, which can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, when Zhuge Liang conquered the south, Meng Xu had an elite army called 'Wuxi Man', and the environment in the book is very similar to that of the Wuxi River?"

Li Junge read the words in the book, and compared with the environment of Li Jiagou, it was really quite suitable.

Li Liangchu took out another copy and said with a smile: "Look at this book again, it mentions the history of our Li family." It's an interesting legend. ”

Li Junge read it carefully, and he couldn't help laughing.

The book mentions that Li Demao, the ancestor of the Li family, migrated from Meizhou to Panao Township at the end of the Song Dynasty to escape the rebellion. Panao Township was a wild land at that time, and Li Demao lived here, cultivating wasteland and farming, and had a very difficult time.

One day, a man Yazi passed by with a woman, Li Demao thought that he was not too young, so he used a load of millet to exchange the woman from the hands of Renyazi, and the two became husband and wife.

I don't want this woman to be a fool, she doesn't know anything, she will be silly every day except for eating and sleeping, playing everywhere in the mountains, and Li Demao is responsible for the housework and farm work alone.

Li Demao couldn't help it, so he gave his stupid daughter-in-law a basket and told her to come back by the way when she went out for a stroll every day.

One day Li Demao came home, and the stupid daughter-in-law had already come back first, and she was in a daze under the eaves, and the pigweed basket was thrown aside.

Li Demao was about to feed the pigs and poured out the pigweed, but found that there were two bright and bright things mixed in it.

Those were two silver ingots.

Li Demao was startled, quickly picked up the ingots, pulled his stupid daughter-in-law into the back room, and asked quietly, "Where did you get these two things?"

The stupid daughter-in-law didn't know what it was, but she thought it was funny, so she said, "There is a hole in the mountain, and I sleep there every day at noon, and there are so many things in it." ”

Li Demao's heart was about to jump out of his throat, and he immediately put the basket on his back and said to his stupid daughter-in-law, "Take me to see it." ”

When the couple arrived at Bifeng Mountain, the stupid daughter-in-law found the hole and pointed to: "Oh, that's not." ”

Li Demao got into the hole, mom, several jars of ingots.

That night, when the stupid daughter-in-law fell asleep, Li Demao went back and forth several times and moved all the silver ingots in the cave to his house.

Li Demao's life has since been reversed.

After the stupid daughter-in-law gave birth to two sons of Shen Qin Gong and Shen Qing Gong to Li Demao, he died within a few years, and then two plum trees were inexplicably born on the grave, and the plums on one tree bear more, but the taste is average, the same as ordinary plums. The plums on a tree bear very little, but they are very sweet and delicious.

Everyone said that this was a stupid daughter-in-law hinting at the two branches of the Li family, the boss Shen Qingong would have many children and grandchildren, but there were no outstanding talents. The second brother of the Shenqing Gong will have few people, but most of them will be outstanding and will become officials.

And so it was.

Later, when the Shenqing Gong came out of the office, when he made a general judgment in Jiangxi, several local wealthy families joined forces to mine copper ore, but they could not mine it after digging, so they invited the master to calculate a hexagram, and the master pointed out that they still needed a person who belonged to gold in the eight characters to join. Several wealthy families searched hard, and finally found this person, it was Shen Qinggong, so they gave Shen Qinggong two percent of the dry shares to be regarded as a nominal share.

Strange to say, after Shen Qinggong became a shareholder, those people dug one by one, and from then on, the silver money was pressed on the back of mules and horses, and a team came to Panao Township.

Since then, the Li family has really developed.

Li Junge hid the book and laughed, the old man in the family had told him this story, but now he saw that the ancient books were written in elegant and tame words, and he felt very funny and weird.

The fourth grandfather said: "This is a reading note written by an ancestor of the Li family, which contains a lot of introductions to the customs and allusions of Panao Township and the people's livelihood. I'm going to write a book, collect all of this, and leave a family history for the clan, what do you say?"

Li Junge said: "This is a good thing! You must support it, but you are old, and your body and spirit may not be able to bear it. This is no longer a two-month baby going on summer vacation, when the time comes, call them all to the ancestral hall to do homework, after doing the homework, you will do some research information, copying and writing or something, by the way, also take care of them not to play crazy all day long. ”

He easily pitted the baby in a village.

The fourth grandfather said: "Your brain is the spirit, I'm worried about how to get this thing, your method is good, the baby comes to me every morning during the summer vacation, and it should be a tutorial class." Hahaha, I'm ninety-four, old man, and I'm doing my old job again this time. ”

The fourth grandfather graduated from Nanjing Institute of Education in four or three years, joined the underground party during the school, taught in Nanjing after graduation, and engaged in underground work until the liberation of Nanjing, and then was transferred to Liu Deng's army to participate in the liberation of the southwest as an intellectual youth, and has been working in the Shudu education system after changing jobs in the position of political commissar of the regiment. So doing education is really his old job.

Li Junge said: "I have to tell the uncle about this matter, he is the village head, let him inform him when the time comes." ”

The fourth grandfather said: "Just go now, I'm too lazy to cook, so I'll have lunch at your uncle's house." ”

The grandfather and grandson walked out of the house, and soon came to the door of the uncle Li Sicheng's house, the uncle was harvesting cowpeas in the field, and the aunt Song Guangju came out to greet him: "Uncle, Piwa, hurry up and sit." While pulling Li Junge, he said, "You kid hasn't come back for a long time, let the aunt take a good look!"

When the uncle saw an old man and a young man coming from a distance in the field, he knew that it was the fourth grandfather who came with Li Junge, so he stopped his work and walked home with the cowpeas he had picked.

The aunt came out with a few mats and spread them in the dam, and when the uncle came back, he threw the cowpeas on the mat and came over to greet the grandfather and grandson. The aunt spread out the cowpeas to dry, and said: "I won't be allowed to take a boat this year, and I can't go into the city to sell vegetables, so I can only dry the vegetables first, and then make a few jars of sauerkraut and pickles or something." ”

The fourth grandfather frowned and said: "This matter is still a little troublesome, the lychee will be ripe in two months, and that thing will change color when it is picked off the tree and put it for a day, and it will be difficult to sell without a way out." ”

While making tea for the two, the uncle said: "It's not what's wrong, I went to inquire about the policy some time ago, and said that the current passenger ship must have a draft of 20 tons, and more than 50 passengers can be allowed to go down the river, and it must be equipped with management personnel, drivers, and various documents." Not only is it troublesome, but this ship alone costs more than 500,000 yuan. Now the surrounding towns are connected to cars, which is quite convenient, so the passenger ship has not made any money. As far as we are in Panao Township, separated by a Bifeng Mountain, it is really difficult to walk on a dry road. ”

The three of them sat down and chatted, Li Junge saw that the aunt was walking towards the chicken circle, and hurriedly said: "Auntie, don't make it so complicated at noon, just make a few vegetables, just a whole plate of bacon, I think about the bacon of the aunt's family." ”

The fourth grandfather also said: "Niece and daughter-in-law, don't be busy, just follow what Piwa said, it's all a family, don't be so polite." ”

The aunt looked at the uncle, and the uncle waved his hand and said, "Just do what the uncle told Piwa, and cook some beans and peanuts for us to drink." ”

The aunt just went.