Because the past is true, the past that you don't want to mention must be cruel, and the story can be fictional, and the imaginary pain will only stay on the expression, and will not penetrate into the human heart and corrode your internal organs.

Cai Qianqing's hands on his knees trembled slightly, and the face that had been blurred in his mind gradually became clear, and he looked at Shen Qingmeng's face, as if he saw the girl in a dress, a French hard straw hat, and lace flats.

She wasn't particularly pretty, but she was born very different from other girls, she had curious eyes that always seemed to ask why? The small mouth under the high bridge of her nose would be mischievously cocked from time to time, and no matter what happened, her voice was so gentle, never yelling, never shouting.

"The Xia family and the Li family are the two largest families in my hometown." Cai Qianqing said slowly, "Actually, my surname is not Cai, my original surname was Li, because of Yulan, I returned my surname and first name to the Li family, and it has nothing to do with it from now on." ”

Shen Qingmeng didn't ask questions, just sat quietly opposite and listened.

Cai Qianqing's hometown, because of the relationship between the Xia family and the Li family, has a very cliché name: Xia Li Township.

It can be seen from the arrangement of the names that the Xia family is in front, the Li family is in the back, in the heart of the Li family, the Xia family has always been above the Li family, and the Li family has worked hard for several generations, just to surpass the Xia family from the family business, and then held a squire meeting to rename Xia Li Township as Li Xia Township.

This matter was completely incomprehensible to Cai Qianqing as a child, he didn't understand what the meaning of this kind of ranking was, and when he became an ignorant teenager, he felt that this matter was unreasonable, and he couldn't even find such a ridiculous joke on "Xiaolin Guangji".

Therefore, he was often scolded and reprimanded by the elders of the family and the teacher, thinking that he was disobeying his ancestors, so he also escaped from the book house from time to time, climbed over his own mountain, and sneaked into the Xia family's territory, but he only took such risks for the sake of Yulan.

Since Cai Qianqing and Xia Yulan met for the first time under the magnolia tree when they were 8 years old and became playmates, almost every day Cai Qianqing would go to the tree to wait for Xia Yulan, whether she came or not, because Cai Qianqing has lived in a particularly depressing environment since he was a child, and all he saw was a family with intrigue and selfishness.

Therefore, he likes to stay with Xia Yulan very much, even if he doesn't say a word.

The reason why Xia Yulan is called that name is because the Xia family deals in medicinal materials, so there are a lot of magnolia trees planted in the family, and it happens that she was born in the hot summer, and the magnolia blooms around the summer, hence the name.

Xia Yulan is the eldest child of her generation in the Xia family, and there are many siblings below her. However, Xia Yulan has been very sensible since she was a child, and in addition to reading and reading every day, the rest is to help the family do what she can.

The Xia family is completely different from the Li family, the Li family has a clear class, divided into the main family and the Hakka family, after the death of the male master of each generation, the children under the knee who are selected as the heirs, who will be the main family in the future, and the other brothers and sisters are all Hakka, and must obey all the arrangements of the main family, otherwise they will be repossessed of the farmland and house, and driven out of the Li family.

And the Xia family does not distinguish between priorities and priorities, although the family also has the backbone, but it is much more enlightened, and even from Xia Yulan's father's generation, it has been clearly ordered that the women in the family cannot bind their feet, and the women must also be literate and read, so Xia Yulan was sent to France by the family when she was 16 years old.

After Xia Yulan left, Cai Qianqing was very lost, soaking in the stacks of books every day to pass the time, carving with a knife on the table, counting the days, looking forward to Xia Yulan's return, at that time, he had realized that he had a love for Xia Yulan.

Three years later, Xia Yulan returned from abroad, she was already the eighteenth change of the female university, and she was very moving, plus that dress, it was even more eye-catching, but unfortunately, in the past three years, the Xia family was attacked by bandits in the mountains many times, and the business plummeted, and the Li family also took the opportunity to fall into the ground, tear up the contract with the Xia family, raise the interest on the loan, and take the opportunity to annex the Xia family's industry.

Even so, the Li family was still not satisfied, they were no longer satisfied with changing Xia Li Township to Li Xia Township, and decided to directly change the name on the village reputation stone to "Li Township".

However, even if the Xia family is dilapidated, there is no way to uproot it in a short time, so the Li family held a clan meeting in the ancestral hall, and the Li family unanimously decided to wipe out the Xia family and never turn over, and under the instruction of Cai Qianqing's master, the iron-clad master, he adopted a vicious treacherous plan.

At that time, the Xia family didn't know what was about to happen, Xia Yulan's father persuaded the family to cheer up, and joked that it was okay if there was nothing left now, so he simply sold the rest of the family property that he couldn't take away, and moved the family to Shanghai.

Xia Yulan also longs for Shanghai, she doesn't love her hometown, but she has seen the outside world in the past few years abroad, she knows very well that with the strength of her Xia family, there is no way to save her hometown from feudal absurdity, if she stays, the Li family will not let go of the Xia family, even if the descendants of the Xia family live greedily, they will be like everyone else is a frog at the bottom of the well, and they are blind.

The day before the tragedy, Xia Yulan and Cai Qianqing met again under the magnolia tree, Xia Yulan informed Cai Qianqing of the news that the Xia family was leaving, but she didn't expect to get Cai Qianqing's reproach.

Cai Qianqing thinks that she has read poetry and books and understands more truths than Xia Yulan, and Xia Yulan is now a wicked woman who does not love her hometown, worships foreign countries, and is no longer virtuous and virtuous.

Xia Yulan didn't quarrel with him, she knew very well that Cai Qianqing's excitement at this time was largely due to his inner reluctance, but she had no choice, who called the two of them one surnamed Li and the other surnamed Xia, it was originally a bad relationship.

Xia Yulan took out the box, opened the box, and let Cai Qianqing see the contents clearly.

Cai Qianqing was very surprised, because it was a night pearl, which was an heirloom of the Xia family, and he was fortunate to take a look at the Xia family's birthday that year, so he liked it, and later Xia Yulan also joked that if he really married him in the future, he would persuade his father to take the night pearl as a dowry.

Cai Qianqing didn't dare to pick up the box, just looked blankly: "This is ......"

"A farewell gift." Xia Yulan said softly, and stuffed the box into Cai Qianqing's hand, "My father said, this bead is handed down from the ancestors, called to drive away evil spirits, and has the effect of calming the mind and nourishing the mind, although I don't know if it's true or not, I only know that it must be a night pearl, and I know that you like it very much, so I persuaded my father to give it to you." ”

Cai Qianqing was extremely surprised: "Your father is willing to give me the heirloom?" ”

"What is a family heirloom? What is a family heirloom? Can a bead represent the Xia family? No. Xia Yulan was still smiling, "My father said that the heirloom of the Xia family only has eight words - filial piety, loyalty, faithfulness, courtesy, righteousness, honesty, and shame." ”

Cai Qianqing pinched the box and looked at the beloved in front of her: "Can't you stay for me?" ”

Xia Yulan shook her head slightly: "Even if I stay, now you don't have the ability to protect me, you can't even protect yourself." ”

Cai Qianqing grabbed Xia Yulan's hand: "I can do it!" I can really do it! ”

Xia Yulan shook her head: "In the future, if you have the opportunity to go out and see the outside world, you will know how to identify what you need and what you should abandon, our ancestors left a lot of things, but there must be dross among them, and the good ones will stay, and the dross will find a place to store as a memorial, and it can no longer be used, because throughout the ages, no one in the world will make mistakes, and the ancestors are the same, so the imperial system will disappear and the Republic of China will be established." ”

Although Cai Qianqing remembered Xia Yulan's words, she didn't understand the meaning.

At that time, he didn't know that it was the last time he saw Xia Yulan.

The next day, when Cai Qianqing went to the magnolia tree on time to wait, she heard the shouts of the villagers beating gongs and drums.

Suddenly, his heart beat faster, and with a bad premonition, he ran down the hill towards the crowded pond.

Pushing aside the crowd, he saw Xia Yulan's parents hanging from the big tree by the pond.

"Where's Magnolia? Xia Yulan! Cai Qianqing rushed to the master standing under the tree and questioned the iron-clad master with a heart of stone.

The iron-clad master just looked at the pond, and at this time, several big men tied up the five flowers from the pond, and Xia Yulan, who had drowned, carried up.

At that moment, Cai Qianqing's eyes were black and he sat on the ground, while the big men placed Xia Yulan's body in front of him and turned to leave.

"The eldest daughter of the Xia family was evil, the demon entered the brain, the lord and wife of the Xia family were controlled by the demon, drowned their daughter, and after sobering up, they were heartbroken, hanged themselves, and followed their daughter." The iron-clad geographer stood there and said something faintly.

Why? Cai Qianqing sat there paralyzed, looking at the body of her beloved, her mind was full of these three words.

"I'll just say she's a witch!" An old lady next to her spat at Xia Yulan's body, "Look at her! Wearing foreigners' clothes and speaking foreign words, what is this not a witch? ”

After that, an elderly man next to him also said angrily: "When Lao Tzu joined the Boxer Rebellion, he knew that these foreigners knew that they could do witchcraft!" Otherwise, we wouldn't have suffered so much, and the Qing Dynasty wouldn't have died! ”

Boxer? Great Qing? Black art? In a trance, Cai Qianqing looked at the group of people in front of him, this group of villagers who are usually amiable, have turned into a group of demons.

At this time, he finally understood what Xia Yulan meant by the frog at the bottom of the well, blind with his eyes open.

He knew very well that the death of the three members of the Xia family was the work of the Li family, and the Li family took advantage of the ignorance of the villagers.

Later, the Li family released rumors that all the disasters that happened in Hongxiang this year were blamed on the Xia family, and the reason was that if it wasn't for the disasters brought by the Xia family, how could the Xia family be ruined?