The old man stared at the small stone, and his body trembled a little.

The people behind kept urging the old man: "Patriarch, hurry up...... You can take a look...... What are you doing in a daze? ”

It turned out that this old man was actually the patriarch of this village.

I know that in some remote areas of my country, this patriarchal responsibility system is still followed. Due to the inconvenience of transportation in ancient times, it was more common for families with surnames to live in the same area, and it was common for the fourth or fifth generations to live in the same house, and a clan may be a natural village. Families generally have ancestral halls, ancestral halls have "ancestral rules", that is, family law, to manage family affairs must have a patriarch, the patriarch is the most high-status and prestige person in the family.

It's just that with the advent of the new era, a village is rarely made up of people from the same clan. So this old management system also died out.

However, in some remote areas, this system is still in practice. That's because there is no information, transportation is inconvenient, and people live in clusters all year round, and this patriarchal system is the most effective.

The old patriarch shook his hand, took the small stone in my hand, and first looked at it carefully. He shook his hands again and felt something out of himself.

I saw that it was also a small stone of similar shape, also black, with the same stubble in the middle.

The old patriarch put the two small stones together, and the two stubbles naturally fit together.

The old patriarch laughed: "It's been fifty years, fifty years, I said that Shoushan will not forget us, after fifty years, he finally sent his descendants back...... Hahaha......"

There was another cheer from the men, and several of them were so happy that tears flowed down their eyes. They kept wiping tears from the back of their hands, but their faces were filled with satisfied smiles. This is a cry of joy.

The old patriarch waved his hand, and the men stopped cheering.

The old patriarch stepped forward, with a smile on his face, and said to me, "Your name is Li Yang, right?" My name is Xu Changhe, and your grandfather is a brother who worships the son, you have to call me Grandpa Xu, the mountain guard...... Did your grandfather ever mention me? ”

To be honest, I know that our family moved from other places to the current old house decades ago, but I have never heard my grandfather mention what happened decades ago, let alone Xu Changhe.

But when I saw that Xu Changhe, I looked forward to it, and I couldn't bear to tell the truth. After all, we came here to beg them to settle me, and it would not do us any good to make them unhappy.

I nodded: "As I said, my grandfather often mentions you, saying that he has a brother who has changed his life, loyal to the liver and courage, righteous and thin, and said that if I come, I will find Grandpa Xu, and he will definitely take good care of me." ”

I said in my heart, I don't wear a thousand sycophants, I will say something nice first, there is nothing wrong with it.

Unexpectedly, when Xu Changhe heard this, his eyes rolled, and he asked me, "Your grandfather, is that really what you said?" ”

"yes, that's exactly what I said."

At this time, someone in the back shouted: "Why didn't your grandfather come by himself?" ”

I said lightly, "My grandfather passed away a few years ago. ”

"Passed away?" Xu Changhe nodded, looked at me and said, "Your grandfather is right, if you come to guard the mountain, we will definitely take good care of you." After all, this village, without your grandfather, would have ceased to exist a long time ago. So this entire Shoushantun belongs to your grandfather. You're here, you're the master here. I'll settle you down first. ”

Saying that, Xu Changhe wanted to take us away.

I hesitated for a moment and pointed to the black stone in Xu Changhe's hand.

Xu Changhe was stunned for a moment, hurriedly divided the stone in his hand into two again, and handed me one of them.

It was something my grandfather had left behind, and I had to cherish it.

Xu Changhe took the opportunity to hand me the stone, approached me, and said in a very low voice: "Here, don't believe other people's words except my words." ”

I was stunned, what does this mean?

After Xu Changhe said this, he immediately returned to normal, beckoning us to go with him and arrange accommodation.

I had no choice but to take Fat Dahai and follow Xu Changhe along the road in the village.

The rest of the people followed closely.

Xu Changhe turned around and said to those people, "What? Even I don't believe it anymore? ”

One of them looked a little younger, but he was probably in his fifties. He smiled at Xu Changhe and said, "Patriarch, it's not that I don't believe you, but I keep the rules left by the mountain master." Someone from the house is here, and no matter what we do, someone from our family must be present. ”

Xu Changhe sneered: "When Lord Shoushan left here, you were still a little hairy child......

The man also smiled: "I was a hairy boy at that time, but I remember the words of the mountain guard." The patriarch won't forget, right? ”

The man had a pair of triangular eyes, a sharp-beaked monkey cheek, and three locks of rat whiskers, and he didn't look good. And listening to the tone of speech, it is neither humble nor arrogant, soft and hard, and it seems to be deliberately opposing Xu Changhe.

Xu Changhe nodded: "Okay, if you are willing to follow, just follow." ”

As he spoke, Xu Changhe waved his hand at us and continued to walk forward. We were followed by those men, not leaving an inch.

Our group, under the leadership of Xu Changhe, walked through the village.

This time, those villagers passing by looked at us strangely when they saw the patriarch taking us.

The old man with triangular eyes in the back kept greeting the surrounding villagers: "Folks, the grandson of the mountain keeper is here, our hard days are over......"

The villagers listened, but they were not as excited as him, and they all behaved very woodenly, only a few of them raised their eyebrows, but they did not speak.

And these words made me even more confused. I'm here, what does it have to do with them? Why is it that when I come, their hard days come to an end?

And it seems that my grandfather has played an extremely important role, and when people here mention my grandfather, they are very in awe and call him a mountain guard. You must know what it means to listen to them, grandpa left here fifty years ago, when grandpa was still a descendant, they can call him grandpa, obviously grandpa's prestige here has reached a very high level

。

Patriarch Xu Changhe seemed to be very tired of the old man with triangular eyes, he looked back at the old man a few times from time to time, the old man didn't think so, Xu Changhe was also helpless, so he could only turn around and take us away.

The area of this hill guard is not very large, and after less than ten minutes of walking on the village road, there are several green brick houses in front of it.

(End of chapter)

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