I hesitated: "Since the Chen family is all martyred, how can you be the grandson of the Chen family?" And Professor Chen said that his great-grandfather lived in Shanhaiguan before moving to Beijing, what is going on? ”

"Professor Chen's ancestor was also a grandchild of the Chen family, and his ancestor married a large family that had only one daughter, so he asked for the ancestor to join him," said Mr. Chen. Chen agreed, and the ancestor died soon after, so he was not buried with the Chen family a few years later. As for me......"

I hurriedly said, "Are you the descendant of that Chen Zhen?" ”

Mr. Chen shook his head and said: "No, Chen Zhen is General Chen Tuo, Chen Tuo is the name given by the emperor after he joined the army, in order to reward him for his outstanding military achievements, breaking the enemy army, and expanding the meaning of breaking and expanding." ”

The fat man hurriedly said: "Then I know, you must be a descendant of the person whose name is blacked out on the family tree!" ”

Mr. Chen couldn't help but be a little stunned when he heard the fat man say this: "Blacked out? ”

The fat man said, "Yes, it's blacked out." There are only two names in the last generation on the family tree, one is Chen Zhen, and the other is blacked out, so I can't tell what it is at all. At first, we thought that the one who was blacked out was Chen Tuo, but it seemed that there was someone else. Hehe, what did your ancestor do to make the Chen family hate it so much, and paint it so black. The fat man gloated.

Mr. Chen was not angry, and said, "It seems that the blackened name is indeed the ancestor's. The ancestor's name is Chen Zhi, who belongs to the same generation as Chen Zhen and is a half-brother. Chen Zhen has been smart and studious since childhood, and is the proud junior of the Chen family, and later joined the army to bravely resist the enemy, which is even more glorious for the Chen family. The ancestor Chen Zhi was weak since he was a child, and when he was a child, he was regarded as a freak and an ominous person because he successfully predicted that a peasant family in this county would be violently killed by a wild beast attack on the whole family, so he was locked up at home since he was a child, never allowed to go out, and rarely had contact with the outside world, so few outsiders knew about this descendant of the Chen family. But Chen Zhi's ancestor is really talented, smart and arrogant, because he was treated like this by his family, and seeing that the whole family loved Chen Zhen and was proud of Chen Zhen, it was inevitable that he would be unhappy in his heart, so he gradually changed his heart, became extreme and sensitive, and it was difficult to get along with others. Later, in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the war between the Qing army and the Ming army was white-hot, and Li Zicheng's peasant army tried in vain to attack Beijing. I guess he must have wanted to do something to let the Chen family look up and down, and be ashamed. However, the Chen family was a die-hard faction of the Ming Dynasty, and after learning about this, the family was furious and jointly rebuked Chen Zhi's ancestors. Unexpectedly, Chen Zhi's ancestor did not repent, not only resolutely refused to agree to cut off contact with the Qing army, but instead scolded the Chen family for being pedantic and stubborn, and predicted that the Ming Dynasty would definitely perish. This incident finally annoyed the Chen family, and sent someone to send Chen Zhi's ancestor away from Shanhaiguan to a small village in the south, and removed him from the family tree.

Later, Chen Zhi's ancestors moved to Guangdong, where they settled down and had children. After hearing that Li Zicheng's peasant army entered Beijing to defeat the Ming regime, the Chen family still struggled to resist the Qing army with their own strength, but Wu Sangui defected, and the Qing army was able to enter the pass in large numbers. On the day the Qing army entered the city, the Chen family all retreated into the tomb of Wuliang Mountain and committed suicide. After Chen Zhi's ancestor sent someone to hear the news, he fell to the ground and cried, leaned over and kowtowed three times to the north, and never mentioned anything about the Chen family again. However, before he died, he told his descendants about this qiē, and the descendants passed it on from generation to generation, and it was passed on to me. Chen Zhi's ancestors went to England with a British cruise ship in the late Qing Dynasty, and then to the United States, where they have since settled. Mr. Chen let out a long sigh after telling the story and did not speak for a long time.

After listening to this story, the fat man and I were greatly surprised, it turned out that the Chen family had so many secrets. I said: "The high style and loyalty of the Chen family are indeed admirable and admirable, and they are willing to commit suicide and martyrdom in the Chen family. I wonder if that Chen Zhi ancestor had a trace of remorse in his heart after hearing this? ”

Mr. Chen said: "It is said that Chen Zhi's ancestor did feel remorse, and he ate fasting Buddha in the second half of his life, and never asked about political affairs again. ”

The fat man said: "This Chen family is too good to do it, hundreds of people in the whole clan committed suicide because of such a change of dynasty that is in line with the law of historical development." If you want me to say that the extreme is not Chen Zhi's ancestor at all, but the Chen family. ”

Mr. Chen nodded and said: "From the point of view of our modern people, the suicide and martyrdom of the whole clan is indeed a bit extreme, but in terms of people's thinking at that time, it is reasonable. However, I have always had a question in my heart, which is one of the reasons why I came to find this Chen family tomb this time. ”

Unexpectedly, Mr. Chen had other ideas, and the fat man and I suddenly became curious. Mr. Chen continued: "Before Chen Zhi's ancestor passed away, he told his descendants all the things that happened to the Chen family, but there was only one thing that he did not say. He said that this incident was one of the reasons for the martyrdom of the entire Chen family, but it was also the biggest secret of the whole clan for hundreds of years. Only the descendants of the Chen family can learn of this secret. He had been told the secret since he was sensible, and had sworn a poisonous oath that he would rather die than tell it. Chen Zhi's ancestors kept this promise all their lives, and no one sued him, including his wife. But he did not follow the ancestral precept of the Chen family to tell this secret to his children, saying that since the Ming Dynasty has fallen, let this secret be buried forever with the passage of time! ”

I wondered: "What does this secret have to do with the fall of the Ming Dynasty?" Since it is the big secret of the Chen family for hundreds of years, it must be extremely important, but Chen Zhi's ancestor said that this secret should be buried after the fall of the dynasty, what is the strange thing about this? ”

Mr. Chen nodded and said, "I've always been very strange, presumably this secret has something to do with the Ming Dynasty." Therefore, I made up my mind to find the Chen family's tomb this time for three reasons: first, I wanted to find the jade double-seal plum blossom note; The second is to find out what this secret is; The third is to bury the bones of Chen Zhi's ancestors in this Chen family's ancestral tomb. With a wave of his hand, a man behind him walked over with an urn and a tablet in his hand.

The fat man said angrily: "It's understandable that you are looking for your ancestral grave, but what does it have to do with the three of us?" Calculated behind the scenes, too insidious, and your ancestor Chen Zhi has the same virtue. ”

When Mr. Chen heard the fat man say this, a trace of anger flashed on his face, but he calmed down and said: "Hu Bayi and Wang Kaixuan, the names of the two of you are not ordinarily loud in Panjiayuan, including that Miss Yang, whose reputation in Panjiayuan is also well-known. According to a blind fortune teller, the three of you have been in and out of the tomb of King Xian in Yunnan and stole the ancient treasure phoenix gall. ”

The fat man said: "Sensei, put a high hat on us, Lao Tzu won't eat your set." The blind man sold us again. ”

I said: "You know that this Chen family tomb is mysterious, and the tomb must be very dangerous, so the design is to let the three of us give you the front, first help you find the Chen family tomb, and when you are about to get the treasure, you will 'mantis catch cicadas, yellow finches behind', and capture us in one fell swoop, you can sit and enjoy the benefits of the fisherman, isn't it?" ”