But after passing the gooseneck pass, the journey is just over halfway.

Baijiagou is a valley bottom surrounded by mountains, which was abandoned for hundreds of years in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, until the ancestors of the Bai family discovered it and cultivated land here.

Bai Ke once couldn't understand why the ancestors of the Bai family wanted to go to such a place where "the land is not half a mile flat, and the sky is sunny for a day" to open up wasteland and farm, survive and reproduce.

Later, I listened to my father tell some family history, and I understood a little more.

In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, for well-known reasons, Shu was inaccessible.

The imperial court called on residents from all over the country to go to Shu to open up land and reclaim land.

It is estimated that the ancestors of the Bai family came late, and they failed to grab the good lot, so they had to continue to advance to the corner.

finally found such a place as Baijiagou.

Although the land here is not flat and fertile, it is also blessed.

There is a small river in the middle of the valley that flows all year round.

On both sides of the creek there are large bamboo forests, which can serve as a reinforcement of the embankment.

As long as a little more manpower is carefully cultivated, it will not be a problem to solve the problem of food and clothing.

As he walked on the path, Bai Ke also looked at the mountains on both sides of the road from time to time.

Due to the large number of people and the lack of land, the terrain is not flat enough, and the land in this area has been fully developed.

Wherever there are few stones, you can see patches of farmland.

From time to time, I saw gray-haired grandfathers and grandmothers in the farmland.

Strange to say, the climate in this area is actually very poor.

Winters are wet and cold, and summers are hot.

Wash a piece of clothing and dry it for a week.

But there are many long-lived elderly people in this area.

Even in the current age of material poverty, healthy old people in their seventies and eighties can always be seen working in the fields.

Far away from the entrance of the village, I saw the villagers of Wuyang and Wuyang.

The vast majority of these villagers are members of the Bai family, and they are looking forward to the father and son.

Seeing this grand scene, Bai Ce's eyes moistened, and he hurriedly quickened his pace.

Bai Zong also followed closely behind.

Only then did Bai Ke remember that the eldest brother, like his father, was the eldest son and eldest grandson of the third room.

When they arrived, this group of strangers surrounded them, pointing at Bai Zong and Bai Ke.

Although it seems a little rude, the white guest feels a little warm.

Bai Ce pulled Bai Zong and Bai Ke to introduce them to the clan relatives one by one.

And when Bai Ce pointed to those strangers to introduce them, Bai Ke couldn't remember any of them, because many of them were outside the three generations.

But in any case, the seniority of Bai Zong and Bai Ke is still very high, and many people who look older than Bai Ce have to be called Uncle Bai Ke.

Everyone hugged the father and son and walked towards the village.

In the village, the land in front of and behind the houses of each family has been fully developed, and many of them are planted with rice, and there are no normal paths left.

The only thing I can walk on is the ridge.

Due to the rain at both ends for three days, the ridges were extremely slippery.

The local villagers have long been accustomed to this path, and the elderly in their seventies and eighties can walk freely.

Bai Zong, Bai Ke and their brothers could only walk tremblingly.

If you are not careful, you will fall into the rice field, and it will be a big mess.

The villagers surrounded the father and son and walked through the rice fields to the top of the valley.

There are also farmland everywhere, but instead of rice, they grow things like bud rice and vegetables.

Between the crooked farmland, there is a small vacant lot, where there is a grave bag, and a tombstone is erected, on which are written the three big characters "Bai Bingwen".

Bai Ke knew that this Bai Bingwen was the ancestor of the third room of the Bai family.

He is the grandfather of Grandpa Bai Ce.

In that year, the first generation of the ancestor of the Bai family took his wife, two sons and a daughter to live in Baijiagou, and began to cultivate and cultivate the life.

But the first three generations have been living very hard, and sometimes it is difficult to even maintain food and clothing.

The main reason is that the population is not prosperous enough and there is a lack of labor force to open up wasteland and cultivate land.

It wasn't until three or four generations later that the Bai family produced an ancestor named Bai Huazhang, who gave birth to five sons in one go, all of whom were strong, which was what later generations called the five big houses.

It didn't take long for the land in Baijiagou to be enough for them to cultivate.

Among the five major people, only the eldest Bai Shengwen and the third Bai Bingwen remained.

The other three people continued to go outside to reclaim the land and spread out the branches.

After a few years, Bai Shengwen's children and grandchildren also went out, and only the third room was left in Baijiagou.

And Bai Ce and Bai Zong are the eldest grandsons of the third room.

At this time, fresh tributes had already been placed in front of the tombstone, and the tombstone was also wiped fresh.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the second uncle first brought a firecracker and set it off, and then brought incense and candles and other things.

First lit two candles on both sides of the incense burner, and then Bai Ce knelt in front of the tombstone with three sticks of incense.

Bai Zong and Bai Ke each knelt behind their father with a stick of incense.

The incense in the hands of the three of them was lit by the second uncle, and then they raised their heads and kowtowed three times, and then slowly got up.

The onlookers exchanged greetings and left one after another.

Among Bai Ce's brothers and sisters, the second and third uncles are still left in Baijiagou.

The third uncle works as a carpenter outside all the year round, and there are only three aunts, two sons and two daughters at home.

After the villagers dispersed, the second uncle led the father and son to the old house.

The old house of the Bai family is now occupied by the second uncle's family, and the third uncle has built another house on the high ground of the valley.

Before this, Bai Ce had blown the old house to his children, as if the old house was the Qiao family's compound and the Wang's compound.

In fact, it has the same pattern as Bai Ke's home in the north, but one more step up.

The outermost courtyard is also two main rooms, and then two side rooms in the east and west.

It's just that due to the different customs and climates in the north and south, the layout of the house is slightly different.

In particular, the shape of the house is very different.

The roofs of the southern houses are all corniced structures, paved with tiles, and the houses are also angular.

And the roofs of the houses in the north are flat, and the houses are also boxy.

In the eyes of southerners, only the dead live in a boxy house, and the living man's house must be angular.

Of course, this has to do with the climate in the north.

In the north, if the roof of the house is tiled, it will be blown away by strong winds for a few days.

At first glance, the old house is in disrepair and dilapidated everywhere.

The gatehouse was covered with moss, and the courtyard wall was broken several times.

It looks far inferior to the white guest in their small courtyard in the north.

But when I got closer, I looked at the carved beams and paintings of the house, and then looked at the brick-by-brick structure, but it was not comparable to the new houses in the north of the white customers.

It has a taste of age in it.

Passing through the gatehouse, there are corridors on the left and right, and you can directly enter the outer courtyard or the next courtyard.

In the middle of the courtyard directly opposite the gatehouse, a ruined wall blocked the way.

The wall is mottled, but you can still vaguely see a few words pieced together with broken porcelain fragments - Ronghuatang.

Although Bai Bingwen, the third room, has gained a firm foothold in Baijiagou, it can only be regarded as solving the problem of food and clothing and approaching a well-off life.

The house is just an ordinary brick house.

In Bai Bingwen's grandson's life, the eldest son gave birth to two grandchildren.

The eldest grandson Yinghui, the second grandson Xiaochu.

The two brothers are very capable as adults, and they did business in their twenties.

They went down to the river to do tung oil and Chinese herbal medicine business.

When they did business, they first hired people to cut down trees to make wooden boats, and after using wooden boats to transport various goods to the Han Dynasty or the Demon Capital, they sold them along with the boats.

Then take a boat back.

After a few times, they made a small fortune, and then the brothers renovated the old house and built a two-entry yard.

There are also three words inlaid on the wall: Ronghua Hall.