Chapter 81: The Mysterious Old Nun
In the Yuan Dynasty, the cemeteries of the Mongol princes, in order to prevent theft, they often took such measures: they would bury the dead in the grassland, and leave no graves, remove the turf before the burial, and then plant the turf back to its original place after the burial. In this way of burial, no trace will be left and people will not be found.
But how do you find these cemeteries during the sacrifice? It turns out that when the deceased is buried, the family will kill a baby camel in the cemetery and let its blood be sprinkled on the ground, and this process, the mother of the baby camel should watch from the side, so that the mother camel will remember the place deeply. And the camel has a strong sense of orientation, so when it comes to the sacrifice, as long as the mother camel finds the place where the baby camel was killed, the cemetery of the ancestors is also found.
Therefore, the most fearful thing for all those who have carefully built a mausoleum for themselves is to be discovered. This discovery made Xiao Tong suddenly enlightened, and the reason why grandma used this costly and laborious way to build a "yin house" has only one purpose, that is, secrecy.
Craftsmen are found from thousands of miles away, and on the way to them, they will blindfold them, and then after working for a while, they will send them away in the same way. This ensures that the craftsmen will not know the location of the "Yin House", and they do not let the same craftsmen complete the project because they do not want the craftsmen to master the structure of the "Yin House". Moreover, for each group of craftsmen, they will not tell them what they are building, but only specify specific work for them to do.
So why did Grandma go to great lengths to build such a huge and secret "Yin House"? There may be only one reason, she has to bury a lot of gold and silver in it!
When Grandpa Li Yuanwai died, he especially wrote in his will that he should be simple, not to build a luxurious tomb, not to bury any valuables, and said that whether in the underworld or the yang, the most important thing is not gold and silver treasures, but good thoughts and diligence.
Therefore, Li Yuanwai's burial is very simple. It is not much different from ordinary people, the only thing that is a little extravagant is the huge stone tablet in front of the tomb, which was carved at the unanimous request of the local squires, officials, and ordinary people to record in detail the countless good things that Li Yuanwai did in his life.
Unexpectedly, the huge wealth that grandpa had accumulated in his life was about to be buried in the soil by this vicious grandmother. What makes Xiao Tong even more puzzled is why does grandma bury so much wealth? Although grandma is mean, ruthless, and moody, according to his long-term observation, grandma is not fanatical about money, nor is she stingy, and she often spends a lot of money on rewards for her henchmen, and she does not feel sorry for money at all. So why did she hide so much money in her grave?
This made Xiao Tong puzzled. Another point, Xiao Tong saw in the book that many emperors will kill the craftsmen who built the mausoleum, this is so that the location of the mausoleum will not be revealed, so will grandma do the same? Because the last group of craftsmen responsible for the completion of the project is bound to carry a large amount of gold and silver, so this group of people is also the most likely to find ways to rob the tomb, how does grandma deal with these people?
In the courtyard where the Zhang family lives, every late at night, there are always two figures, sneakily coming and going, Xiao Tong knows that they are the two most trusted servants of grandma, and every qiē of grandma's plan is carried out by these two people. These two servants, both of whom have been with the Zhang family for nearly 20 years, can be regarded as loyal, even when Li Yuanwai was alive, these two people were responsible for taking care of the courtyard where the Zhang family lived, although the Zhang family was very unpowerful at that time, but these two people were still respectful to the Zhang family, without the slightest neglect, on the one hand, they may indeed be loyal to the Zhang family, but on the other hand, it may also be that the Zhang family did not reward them with less money.
Even in the last few decades when the Zhang family was most neglected, Li Yuanwai never deducted Zhang's food and clothing, and how much money should be given or how much should be given, which only fully reflects Li Yuanwai's "goodness". Although the Zhang family was very depressed mentally, she was still materially rich, and in addition to the prescribed monthly salary, she also continued to reward them with a large amount of money for the two servants who served her.
So these two people are naturally attentive to Zhang. The Zhang family was snubbed up and down the Li family, which made the Zhang family very lost and desolate, and she could only vaguely experience her pivotal position in the Li family in the early years in these two people.
As soon as Li Yuanwai died, the Zhang family regained the power of the Li family, and these two people naturally "one person attained the Tao, and the chicken and dog ascended to heaven" were quickly reused by the Zhang family. He is solely responsible for the day-to-day management of affairs, as well as the personnel rights of the servants. The two of them, like the Zhang family, were originally marginal figures of the Li family, and their character was not very good, so when Li Yuan was outside, most people rarely looked at them, but this is good, the salted fish turned over, the villain was ambitious, and for their own jobs, most of the servants had to look up to them and snort. "The sub-line of the mountain wolf, the ambition is rampant", once this kind of villain takes the position, the kind of flying and domineering can be imagined. The maids of the Li family, who have a bit of a look, have suffered, and many of them have been molested and even raped by these two boys. People grit their teeth with hatred for these two things, but because the Zhang family supports them, they can't help them, so they can only endure it.
In addition to Zhang's two henchmen, Xiao Tong also noticed that there was also a mysterious figure involved in Zhang's operation. This so-called mysterious figure is the owner of the nunnery that the Zhang family often goes to.
The owner of this nunnery and the Zhang family have been friends for decades, and the two can be said to be like sisters, and the illegitimate son of the Zhang family and the Jews was secretly born in the nunnery, under the cover of the owner of the nunnery. This old nun was originally about the same age as Zhang's, and she was over seventy, but she didn't look a little old, her face was still delicate and smooth, almost no wrinkles could be seen, and her figure was maintained very well, looking like forty at most.
Xiao Tong has seen this nun a few times, I don't know why, every time I see her, I always feel that this old nun has a special charming charm, especially her handsome eyes, which will always make Xiao Xiao's heart beat wildly. Xiao Tong knew that this old nun was definitely not an ordinary person.
Xiaoyun's father and other brothers don't seem to care about what the Zhang family is doing, no matter what the Zhang family's conduct is, she is her closest relative after all, and everyone receives more money than when her grandfather Li Yuanwai was alive. Also, when Li Yuanwai was alive, the family education was too strict, and everyone was very depressed, which is good, as soon as grandma is in charge, she can play how she likes, and she doesn't care at all, so Xiaotong's brothers and brothers are busy having fun every day, and they are very happy and happy, who would think that the Li family is facing a huge crisis?
So Xiao Xiao felt that he was so lonely in this family, but thinking of his grandfather's loving gaze and his ardent expectations and love for him, he couldn't help but cry sadly, but at the same time, his heart was also full of incomparable strength. Especially in the past year or two, grandpa didn't treat him as a child at all, but seemed to treat him as an adult, or even a friend, and told him about the history of the family, even the history that should not be told to him. Among these many secrets are those about Grandma Chang and the Jews.
Xiao Yun's face was red when he heard it, he didn't know why his grandfather said this to himself, but he knew that this was his grandfather's incomparable trust in him, and there seemed to be some kind of expectation hidden in this trust.
But after all, he was an eighteen-year-old child, and he really didn't know what to do in the face of the ruthless grandmother, in the face of that mysterious and unusual old nun. But fortunately, there is one more person in the family who can help him, and that is Mr. Zhao.
This Mr. Zhao came to the Li family two years ago, and it was Mr. Grandpa's private school specially invited for him, and the strange thing is that after Grandpa invited this Mr. Zhao, he only taught Xiao Tong alone, and the other grandchildren asked other gentlemen to teach. Xiaoxiao's brothers and brothers complained in private that their grandfather was too partial, because they liked Xiaoxiao, and they hired a master to open a small stove for him alone. The same grandson, why are they treated so differently!
Li Yuanwai's son also relied on his father's partiality and complained to his face, which can be regarded as a grievance for other sons. But at that time, Li Yuanwai neither got angry nor explained, just listened quietly with a cold expression.
Xiao Tong still clearly remembers that when Mr. Zhao first came to their house, he didn't give Xiao Tong a lesson at all, but whenever he had time, he chatted with Li Yuanwai and the two of them, and every time they chatted, they talked alone behind closed doors in the house, and no third person was present, as if they were talking about something top secret.
Xiao Tong still clearly remembers that just a few months before his grandfather's death, it was a light and breezy afternoon. Grandpa specially called him to the backyard, in the study on the lake. Although he grew up in this big mansion since he was a child, he is so familiar with every grass and tree in the yard, but for Xiao Tong, his grandfather's very special "study on the lake" is extremely unfamiliar, this is the most mysterious room in the yard, and he has entered this study no more than three times since he can remember.
It was in that study, I don't know why, that grandpa told him in detail about Mr. Zhao's magical life experience. Grandpa's first sentence shocked Xiao Yun: "That Mr. Zhao is not an ordinary person, he is a descendant of Emperor Jianwen."
The descendants of Emperor Jianwen? Xiao Tong has read a lot of history books, and of course Emperor Jianwen knows it. Emperor Jianwen was the grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, and the second emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Originally, Emperor Jianwen's father was made the crown prince, but he died before he became emperor. So, when Zhu Yuanzhang died, he passed the throne directly to his grandson Emperor Jianwen. And Zhu Yuanzhang's other son, Yanwang Zhu Di, saw that his nephew was the emperor, of course he was not convinced, so he raised troops to attack the palace, and the official history says that Emperor Jianwen died in the fire when his uncle Zhu Di attacked the palace.
But all kinds of signs show that this Emperor Jianwen is actually not dead, and all kinds of unbelievable magical experiences have been derived from this.