In the ancient city of Dali in western Yunnan, Mo Wenli and his wife were overjoyed to see their son returning, and Su Niang even took his hand and asked Han Wen Nuan with endless words.

Dongdong and Xiaofei Yunding stayed on Jizu Mountain so that Yin'er could continue to transmit information with Jin Danzi, and the little mountain ghost was even more excited when he saw Su Liyou.

"Remnant, you won't leave when you come back this time, right?" asked Su Niang.

Mo Yan replied, "Mother, my master's soul is still waiting in the underworld to save him. ”

Su Niang asked in surprise, "Can a person's soul return to the Yang World?"

Mo Yan nodded: "As long as you haven't been reincarnated to the Xuan Realm, you should be able to come back, but you have to wait until Elder Fang's 'Golem' magic skill is completed." ”

"Remnant, what you said doesn't understand," Su Niang's eyes turned red, and she sighed, "If your grandfather is still alive, how happy you should be to see your grandson grow up." ”

"My mother has never mentioned my grandfather, so I have never dared to ask, can I say it to the remnant now?"

Su Niang wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeves, pondered for a while, and finally said slowly: "Remnant, you are eighteen years old this year and have grown up**, and you should also let you know about your mother's family." ”

Mo Yan moved a stool and asked his mother to sit down and speak slowly.

"Remnant, my mother is the daughter of a rich family surnamed Xu in Dongtai Zhangcha, Yangzhou Prefecture, Jiangsu, your grandfather's name is Xu Shukui, and the family has been scholarly for generations, and he is a local person," Su Niang said slowly.

I remember that it was a windy and beautiful morning, the firecrackers of the Xu family sounded gongs and drums, and the relatives and friends who came to congratulate them were endless. Xu Shukui has been smart and studious since childhood, at the age of 17 he participated in the children's examination and even broke into the county, the government, and the hospital to become the youngest talent, this time with his 66-year-old friend Suzhou Shen Deqian, a world-famous poet, was lifted together, and made an appointment to go to Beijing to take the exam together in the coming year.

However, "there are unforeseen circumstances in the sky", and the festive atmosphere of the Xu family has not yet dissipated, news came from the capital, it turned out that according to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty, all the articles in the provinces should be sent to the capital to be handed over to the officials of the Ministry of Rites for "grinding". The title of that year's examination was "The Monarch's Envoy Takes Courtesy", and the word "suicide" in the sentence "The one who commits his own life" in Xu Shukui's article was considered "disrespectful" by the officials of the Ministry of Rites, so he was disqualified from the examination and never hired. The disheartened Xu Shukui stayed in the "One Pillar Building" of the study house he built, wrote books and poems, and wrote more than ten kinds of poems and novels, such as "One Pillar Building Chronicle Poem", "One Pillar Building Small Theme Poem", "One Pillar Building and Tao Poem", "Five Color Stone Legend" and "Eight Caves".

After that, Xu Shukui was depressed and passed away soon after, and the literati at that time were proud of publishing their own works, so his son Xu Huaizu, that is, Su Niang's elder brother, printed his father's three poetry collections and "Xueyong Lecture Notes" first, but he did not expect it to cause a shocking disaster.

The incident originated when Xu Huaizu bought a field of Cai Jiashu, the supervisor of Dongtai County, in the same town, for 2,400 taels of silver, but he died of illness not long afterward, and the two children under his knees were still young. Cai Jiashu was very annoyed, so he wanted to find something to touch the Xu family's moldy head, just when he was thinking hard about how to deal with the Xu family, a citizen of Rugao County named Tong Zhixuan came up with the idea that the Xu family's privately published "A Pillar Building Small Title Poem" has "Ming Dynasty Zhenxi, go to the Qing capital in one fell swoop" and other poems are "very rebellious words", let Cai Jiashu go to the yamen to sue the Xu family for [***].

After the Xu family got the news, they knew that this matter was not trivial, so they rushed to the county government to submit the book, and when Cai Jiashu reported it, it was already slow. Cai Jiashu reported the "reverse book", Dongtai County did not dare to be careless and immediately reported it, and submitted the poem to the Jiangning Book Company, which was responsible for concentrating on the seizure of [***] in the prefectures and counties of northern Jiangsu.

Cai Jiashu saw that the "reverse book" was returned, thinking that the Xu family had bribed the relevant officials, so he submitted a complaint to the yamen of the political envoy of Jiangsu, and sued the Dongtai County Yamen and the Jiangning Book Bureau together. After understanding the situation, they knew that Cai Jiashu had made false accusations for personal gain, so they refuted the text: "The book plate has been submitted to the county, and if there is any obstruction, it should be destroyed. And on the plaque sent to Yangzhou Prefecture, it was noted: "Lecture on the scriptures and articles, sent as a song and chant, if the words and sentences are misconducted, involving doubts, and there is no disobedience to the truth, the person who raised the head will be guilty of the false crime, according to the law." "Yangzhou Governor Xie Qikun received the plaque and immediately ordered Dongtai County to escort all the prisoners to Yangzhou for trial, and at this time it was still handled as a civil case.

Liu Yong, who was a scholar in Jiangsu at the time, happened to come to Yangzhou, knowing that Qianlong had been annoyed by the disadvantage of the Han officials' confiscation of [***], and that this matter could be done to the emperor, so he handed over the case to the governor of Liangjiang and the governor of Jiangsu. Qianlong was furious after reading Liu Yong's secret fold and "A Pillar Tower Poetry Collection", and thought that "Zhenxi in the Ming Dynasty went to the Qing capital in one fell swoop", "The great tomorrow will meet again, and put the pot on the side", "Take Zhu Fei's positive color, Hu Nai is also called the king" and "Ruining my clothes and crown is really hateful, and smashing the nest in the Ming Dynasty" is the first naked anti-poem.

He then secretly ordered Gao Jin, the governor of Liangjiang, Sa Zai, the governor of Liangjiang, and Yang Kui, the governor of Jiangsu, to strictly investigate them, issued several edicts in succession, and escorted the prisoners into Beijing. Among them were Tao Yi, the political envoy of Jiangsu, Lu Yan, his staff, Xie Qikun, the prefect of Yangzhou, Tu Yuelong, the prefect of Dongtai County, and Jiangning Bookstore, as well as several men, women, and children of the Xu family.

After the autumn, the verdict came down, and although Xu Shukui and Xu Huaizu had died, they still filed their corpses according to the law of Ling Chi of the Qing Dynasty and showed them to the public. The men of the Xu family were all beheaded over the age of sixteen, and the rest of the people were confiscated into the flag slaves, their property was confiscated, and the book engravings were burned.

Tao Yi, the political envoy of Jiangsu, died of illness and was beheaded in prison, confiscated his family property, and his wife and concubine were confiscated into the flag slaves. Staff member Lu Yan was beheaded, his family property was confiscated, and his wife and daughter were confiscated into the flag slaves. Xie Qikun, the prefect of Yangzhou, was assigned to the Mohe military station in Heilongjiang, and Tu Yuelong, the prefect of Dongtai, was responsible for one hundred canes, and he was exiled for three years and then sent to Yili.

And Cai Jiashu was only released for both merits and crimes, and he didn't catch anything, but he harmed dozens of people in the Xu family.

Liu Yong made remarkable achievements in the impeachment of Xu Shukui's case, and was promoted to the right servant of the household department.

Since then, all the people surnamed Xu in Dongtai Zhangcha have been incognito, and they have gone away to avoid trouble, and a scholarly family that has been inherited for many generations has slowly faded out of people's sight.

Su Niang was already crying silently when she talked about this.

"Mother, what about later?"

"My mother was still young, and she was sold into slavery with her female relatives in the house of the official eunuch of Zhenghongqi in the capital, and she was humiliated, and her face was framed for stealing food and offering fruits, and she was burned on her head by the family Ding Liu Bald with a charcoal brazier. One day, I sneaked away while they were not at home, and since then I have been wandering around and begging for a living, until I met your father in Dali City and returned to Mojiayi. ”

Mo Yan looked at his mother's face, since he was a child, he had heard other children talk behind his back that his mother was ugly, and it turned out that her face was burned.

"What's that flag man's name?" he asked hatefully.

"The surname is Niu Hulu, and it is said that he was an errand in the palace. ”

"Is it Niu Hulu and Shen?" asked Mo Yan.

"No," Su Niang shook her head and said, "Niu Hulu Chang Bao." ”

Mo Yan only learned about his mother's life experience today, and he also understood her hardships for so many years of silence.

"Mother, is there anyone else in my hometown?"

Su Niang shook her head: "At that time, my mother only knew that there was a big disaster at home, and I was escorted to the capital together. ”

"Did you go back later?"

"In one year's wax moon, my mother begged all the way from Xixi Town to Zhangcha's hometown, the cold wind was biting, it was snowing heavily, and she was frozen and hungry and fainted at the door of Shijia Noodle Restaurant in the east of the town. Thanks to Old Man Shi's bowl of hot noodle soup, he was relieved and did not freeze to death, and he did not recognize his mother, because his face was ruined at that time. After dawn, my mother went to the Jiaojia woodland where my father and brother were buried, the tomb had already been dug up and overgrown with grass, and I cried there for a while before leaving, and never went back incognito. ”

"Mother, what was your name at that time?"

"Xu Suniang. ”

This night, Mo Yan lay in ** and couldn't sleep all night, her mother's family suffered such a misfortune, but she never revealed a single star, and her mother was too bitter. Don't worry, mother, this matter must not be finished, and the remnant must seek justice for you.

For the next ten days, Mo Yan guarded his father and mother and didn't go anywhere.

Looking at the animal skin bag called the "storage bag" by the little mountain ghost, as well as the stones, jade plates and jade slips full of spiritual energy, Mo Yan thought that the young man must have come from the spirit world, and he didn't know what year when he breathed in the lungs, he and those spirit birds came to the world through the cave like a pipe, but unfortunately he was captured by those ciliated tentacles and died there silently.

This jade plaque may be a symbol of identity, engraved with one of the eight trigrams "Gen" hexagram symbol, as for the jade slip, the ancients Zeng Yun: "The jade slip is really descended, and the golden book is passed." "Originally, it was a Taoist thing, called the "Jade Jane Golden Book", and it should have handwriting, but there was nothing on it.

It was late at night, Mo Yu was lying in ** and still couldn't figure out a reason, yawning a few times in a row, and he fell asleep at some point.

The jade slip appeared in his mind, and it became so big that many brown characters appeared in it, so he looked down with interest.

The first thing that came to mind was the words "Genshan School Qi Refining Technique".

Mo Yan woke up suddenly, opened his eyes and saw that he was still lying on his back, and the piece of jade was pressing on his forehead. (To be continued.) )