After Li Mao followed Xu Jiuye out, he inquired about the location of the Xu family's own family and the Xu family's ancestral hall from passers-by, and sure enough, thirty years have passed, things are wrong, and the old ancestral hall of the Xu family is still in the countryside, but a new ancestral hall has been built in the county, and it seems that everyone knows it.

Li Mao and Xu Jiuye soon came to the vicinity of the Xu family's new ancestral hall, the scale of the Xu family's new ancestral hall surprised the two of them, it occupies a scale second only to the county government, and is much more majestic than all other buildings in the county.

The Confucius Temple, which is often used for sacrifices in the county, is now dilapidated and cannot bear the needs of sacrifices, so this year the government will borrow the Xu family ancestral hall to hold this year's Dragon Boat Festival memorial activities.

Although this decision has a certain amount of selfishness, it is the official to help the Xu family show its reputation, but most of the locals in Miluo have no opinion, because there is indeed no more suitable place to hold sacrifices in the county than the Xu family ancestral hall.

There are many people in Miluo County who have admired the Xu family ancestral hall for a long time, but they can only admire the majesty of the Xu family ancestral hall outside, but they have no chance to enter to see it.

This time the government came forward to rent, which means that the children of the non-Xu family also have the opportunity to go in and see the luxury and solemnity of the big family, so most Miluo people feel that this is a great decision, which can give everyone more after-dinner topics.

When Li Mao and Xu Jiuye came to the Xu family ancestral hall, they happened to meet Xu Changqing accompanying the county lord of Miluo County to come out of the Xu family ancestral hall.

Although thirty years have passed, Xu Jiuye still recognized the tall old man next to the county at a glance, it was Xu Changqing, the eldest son of the previous patriarch of the Xu family, and he was also the contemporary patriarch of the Xu family.

Xu Changqing, as the eldest son of the Xu family, has enjoyed all the glory and wealth since he was a child, wears brocade clothes, eats jade food, and receives the best education, so he has a big figure and extraordinary bearing, although he is sixty years old, but he looks like a person in his early fifties, and he is more like a dignitary than the county lord on the side.

Xu Changqing is such an outstanding figure, Li Mao also recognized it at a glance, and he had to admit that the rapid rise of the Xu family was mostly due to this contemporary patriarch of the Xu family.

Xu Jiuye just glanced at Xu Changqing in a hurry, and didn't look at it much, for fear of being recognized by Xu Changqing, although he knew that Xu Changqing had probably forgotten that he existed, but he still didn't want to be recognized in this situation.

Li Mao never forgot it, and he wrote down the appearance of Xu Changqing and several important people of the Xu family at a glance, including the short and fat county man.

When Li Mao and Xu Jiuye saw Xu Changqing looking this way, they pretended to turn their heads forward calmly, pretended to be passers-by, and walked unhurriedly into the distance, and when they reached the nearest street corner, they quickly turned around, and soon disappeared from everyone's sight.

Xu Jiuye didn't know kung fu and didn't know what was going on behind him, but Li Mao clearly felt that Xu Changqing should be alert, but Xu Changqing didn't know the reason why the two of them were watching, so he couldn't accurately judge who was watching him, so he naturally didn't know who to intercept.

Li Mao and Xu Jiuye walked out of the two streets until they breathed a sigh of relief, and seeing that no one was following behind them, Li Mao asked: "Ninth Uncle, that is the current patriarch of the Xu family, right?"

Xu Jiuye looked up at the way he came, and said abruptly: "How can you not know, Xu Changqing, a generation of the Xu family, although thirty years have passed, he is still so extraordinary, I still have to call him a big brother." ”

Li Mao said: "Well, Uncle Jiu's original name shouldn't be called Xu Jiu, right?"

Xu Jiuye smiled and said: "Don't say it, I almost forgot my previous name, I am also a descendant of the Xu family's 'Chang' generation, I used to be called Xu Changze, and I don't want to use this name when I go to the Western Regions, because I am ranked ninth in the family, so I have always been named Xu Jiu." ”

Li Mao said: "Uncle Jiu, tomorrow the whole city of Miluo will remember your name." ”

Xu Jiuye laughed and said: "The first time I left my hometown, I was embarrassed, and the second time I left my hometown to become famous in one fell swoop, I can't escape the four words of leaving my hometown, it seems that the old man is a wandering life! Thank you for not leaving the virtuous nephew and accompanying our family to Miluo, otherwise I really don't know what to do this time?"

Li Mao said: "Uncle Nine, don't be polite, I will miss the kindness you gave me for the rest of my life, please don't treat me as an outsider." ”

Xu Jiuye only felt a heat in his eyes, hurriedly lowered his head, and whispered: "Okay, we are a family." ”

Li Mao saw that Xu Jiuye was a little emotional, and hurriedly changed the topic: "Uncle Jiu, let's go to the old mansion first, and then go outside the city to see the cemetery of our uncle." ”

Xu Jiuye raised his head and looked around, and sighed: "Then there is an old mansion, it should have been around here, but there have been too many changes here, and there is no trace of it back then, it seems that I really have no reason to stay."

Let's go, nephew, let's go straight out of the city to see the graves of my parents and little sister, I don't know if the tombs can still be found?"

Li Mao comforted Xu Jiuye: "Ninth Uncle, the tomb of my uncle must still be there, after finding it this time, we will secretly pick up the bones and bury them again in Jinling Mansion!"

Xu Jiuye nodded and said firmly: "Well, if we leave again this time, we won't come back, take away everything that should be taken away, and leave everything that should be left." ”

Li Mao saw that Xu Jiuye had made up his mind, so he ran to find a carriage, and after paying the coachman double the fare, the coachman happily ran with them out of the city.

The tomb of Xu Jiuye's parents was originally buried far away from the city, but with the continuous expansion of Miluo County over the years, this tomb has become closer and closer to the city.

Li Mao and his family walked in the city for a long time, and soon after leaving the city, they arrived at this cemetery.

The cemetery here has been deserted, it has long been a mass grave, and most of the bones of the owner here have long been removed, leaving only a few hundred orphaned graves, most of which are missing even the tombstones.

When Xu Jiuye and Li Mao approached the cemetery, they felt a chill in their hearts, this place is too barren, many tombs have become the residence of wild foxes and lonely rats, I don't know if the tombs of Xu Jiu's parents and little sister are still there?

The two men began to search for the mass grave, because the terrain here is quite changeable, and there is nothing to refer to, so they can only pick up the broken stone monument from the ground and identify it.

After looking for half an hour, Li Mao was lucky and found a remnant tablet, on which a few crudely carved handwriting could be faintly seen, "Test first...... Xu Wu ......".

Li Mao hurriedly called Xu Jiuye to identify it, Xu Jiuye only glanced at it, and then held on to this remnant monument with tears gushing and crying silently.

Li Mao had no choice but to comfort him warmly on the side: "Ninth Uncle, don't be sad, it's a great luck to be able to find the tomb of my uncle and ancestor in this kind of place! We still need to confirm the tombs of my uncle and grandmother and little aunt." ”

Xu Jiuye choked up for a moment and said, "Virtuous nephew, I lost my temper for my uncle." This is indeed my father's tombstone, and the words on this tablet were carved by a stonemason with my own eyes, because there was no money left in the family, and the cheapest stone tablet was used, and I made my parents feel wronged. ”

Li Mao comforted: "Uncle Jiu, it's all over, don't be sad, you first confirm whether this is the tomb of your uncle and their ancestors, and then I will ask people to pick up their bones, and we will find a feng shui treasure in Jinling and bury them well." ”

Xu Jiuye said: "Well, I still remember that my mother's tomb is on the east side of my father, and my little sister is on the west side, let's confirm whether this is the case first, and then decide whether to raise bones." ”

Xu Jiuye, as an elder generation, is still quite resistant to the matter of opening the coffin and raising the bones, and he is still hesitating at this time.

Li Mao naturally understood Xu Jiuye's thoughts, so he didn't continue to chase him and ask again, but lowered his head and began to tidy up the tomb of what was suspected to be Xu Jiuye's father, cleaning up the weeds and rubble on it, revealing a small dirt bag.

Xu Jiuye first came to the tomb on the east side and checked it carefully, there was nothing like a stone tablet to prove who this tomb belonged to, Xu Jiuye hesitated for a long time, and then moved to the tomb on the west side.

There was nothing to prove his identity in the tomb on the west side, and Xu Jiuye said silently in his heart: "Little sister, I'm sorry, the eldest brother only came to pick you up now, so you have to wait for a long time." In order to prove that my father and mother and you are here, my eldest brother has to dig up the grave and open the coffin for verification, don't blame me. ”

After Xu Jiuye finished silently reciting in his heart, he was about to find tools to excavate Xiaomei's tomb, but there were no suitable tools around, and Xu Jiuye suddenly saw a hole on the back of Xiaomei's tomb that was slightly larger than an adult's fist.

Xu Jiuye stepped forward to investigate curiously, and just walked near the entrance of the cave, bent down and squatted down to look into the entrance.

Suddenly, a small skull appeared in the entrance of the cave, and pounced on Xu Jiuye.

Xu Jiuye was shocked, and retreated backwards in a panic, but sat on the ground with his butt, but the little skull didn't want to let go of Xu Jiuye, and pounced on him head-on.

Xu Jiuye was so shocked that the roots of his hair stood up, and he subconsciously waved his hand at the skull under nervousness, but the fierce little skull had no lethality, and was actually beaten out by Xu Jiuye with a wave of his hand.

Then with a squeak, a yellow shadow sprang out from behind the skull, and quickly ran away from a distance, Xu Jiuye became deaf and bright because of excessive fright, and he clearly saw that the yellow shadow turned out to be a weasel, running very fast, almost only one or two breaths before disappearing into the mass grave.

Xu Jiuye had a layer of white sweat all over his body, and after seeing that it was a weasel, he immediately realized that it was not a haunted or a skeleton, it was estimated that the weasel stole into the grave and was about to take the skeleton, but it happened to be hit by himself.

But after less than a breath, Xu Jiuye immediately realized that something was wrong! That grave was probably his little sister's grave, and the little skull that was slapped by himself just now was probably his sister's skull, because the little sister was only nine years old when she left, so the skull would definitely not be very big.

Xu Jiuye didn't know where the sorrow came from, he got up with a miserable howl, quickly rushed to the place where the little skull fell, and looked for it on the ground like crazy.

When Li Mao heard Xu Jiuye's miserable howl, he was also startled, thinking that something had happened, and hurriedly rushed over.

Seeing Xu Jiuye holding a skull that was obviously a child in both hands, and kept crying, Li Mao was startled, and hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Uncle Jiu, what's wrong with you? Who is this skull?"

Xu Jiuye looked at Li Mao with teary eyes and said, "Virtuous nephew, this is my little sister's skull, I almost let Huang Weasel take it away just now, I didn't recognize it at once, and I threw her far away, she must have hurt from the fall."

Little sister, don't blame the eldest brother! It was the eldest brother who came back late to let your bones suffer such a catastrophe!"