The villagers didn't seem to be too satisfied with my great-great-grandfather's words, but his words undoubtedly gave them a backbone. In their opinion, as long as my great-great-grandfather said that it was fine, it was 80% fine.
After the village chief led the villagers away, my great-great-grandfather frowned. He said that it was fine because Village Chief An and the others thought it was fine. From the looks of it, it couldn't be a small matter.
My great-great-grandfather went to the inner room and took out his master's tobacco pipe. He put some tobacco in it and smoked it one mouthful at a time. My great-great-grandfather usually doesn't smoke. He only takes a few puffs when he encounters a difficult situation. Firstly, it's to relieve his worries. Secondly, he hopes that his teacher, Wang Shoudao, will be able to tell him what to do.
My great-great-grandfather was smoking as he thought about the matter at the barren slope. The county magistrate had clearly said that the jars were buried, but the jars were still sealed. Then, where did these children's cries come from?
My great-great-grandfather smoked second-hand smoke all over the house, but he still couldn't figure out what was going on. His master, Wang Shoudao, didn't even show up to tell him what was going on or what to do. "However, my great-great-father is sure of one thing at this time. Someone must have touched the jar and released the ghosts of those children. This is what my great-great-father doesn't want to see and face the most.
At noon, just as my great-great-grandfather was preparing lunch, he suddenly heard someone calling him from the courtyard," Mr. Liu, is Mr. Liu home? Is Mr. Liu home?"
My great-great-grandfather found the voice familiar. When he went out of the room, he saw a person standing at the courtyard door. That person was dressed as an official. He recognized him. He was the constable from the county government.
In fact, my great-great-grandfather had the intention to go to the county government after lunch and ask the constable how to deal with those jars. Coincidentally, the constable came to him himself, so he didn't have to go again.
The constable was alone and didn't bring his subordinates. However, at this time, my great-great-grandfather saw that his face was pale and he looked very depressed, as if he had encountered some disaster. It could be said that he was a completely different person from the previous constable.
My great-great-grandfather hurriedly led him into the house. It was just lunchtime. My great-great-grandfather took out some dry goods, a jar of old wine, and two hot dishes. The two of them ate and drank.
After drinking a few cups of wine, the constable's pale face turned red. He put down the wine cup in his hand and sighed." Mr. Liu, I came to see you this time because I don't visit you for nothing."”
Actually, even without the constable saying it, my great-great-grandfather could tell that something was wrong the moment he entered the house. He quickly asked,"Official, if you have anything to say, just say it. As long as I can help you, I will definitely help.”As he spoke, he picked up the wine jar and poured the wine for the constable.
The constable stared blankly at the wine glass. After my great-great-grandfather filled it up for him, he grabbed the wine glass and drank it in one gulp.
" Mister Liu, I came to look for you today to tell you two things. The first thing is that the Imperial Court has approved the reward memorial that the head of the manor had submitted to us…"
When my great-great-grandfather heard this, he smiled and said,"That's a good thing."
" What's so good about it…" The constable shook his head and continued,""In Tianjin, because of the missing children, the people killed a few Westerners and burned a few churches. Those Westerners were really f * cking despicable. They refused to let us go and wanted to start a war with the Qing Dynasty. Even the artillery ships sailed over…When we submitted the memorial, Lord Zeng Guofan was negotiating with the Westerners. I don't know how the memorial got into Lord Zeng's hands. Lord Zeng only approved four words and sent it back to us.”
"What four words?" asked my great-great-grandfather.
"Keep your mouth shut."
"What do you mean?"
"Keep your mouth shut means to shut up and never mention this matter again.”The constable sighed again. He had obviously drunk too much and was talking too much." I was hoping that this case would make a meteoric rise. It's over, it's over. There's nothing to say. Keep your mouth shut... The church in Tianjin burned and the foreigners were killed. If the foreigners knew that the missing child case was done by our own people, they would be even worse. Lord Zeng told us to shut up. It's right to do it. As the saying goes, a family's dirty laundry should not be aired in public. Sigh... Later, because of our memorial... Lord Zeng felt that he was in the wrong and didn't want to make a big deal out of it. So, so he compensated the foreigners with 460,000 taels of silver. How many lives and a few broken churches could it be worth so much money?”
When the constable said this, my great-great-grandfather and he sighed at the same time.
The constable continued," Mr. Liu, I've seen through it. We Chinese people only know how to harm our own people. Look at those cults. Ah, if you're so capable, why don't you go and harm the foreigners? Why don't you see how the foreigners are bullying us? I see that our Qing Dynasty is now facing internal and external problems, and the people are in dire straits…"
The constable was really drunk at this time. His face was red and his neck was thick. What he said was reasonable, but an illiterate commoner like my great-great-grandfather could only nod at this time. He knew these principles, but he could not say these words.
After the two of them drank for a while, my great-great-grandfather asked the constable," Sir, you said that you wanted to tell me two things. What's the second thing?”
The constable was about to put a peanut into his mouth when he heard my great-great-grandfather's question. He was immediately stunned. Then, as if he had recalled something terrifying, his hands trembled and the peanut he was holding fell on the table with a "pa".
The constable threw away his chopsticks and stood up from the stool. He grabbed my great-great-grandfather's hand and said in a trembling voice,"Something happened to Mr. Liu. Something big happened…"
The constable's panicked look at this time made my great-great-grandfather feel very bad. He quickly said,"Don't be anxious, don't be anxious.”
After my great-great-grandfather comforted the constable, the constable sat back down on the stool and lowered his head. He pondered for a while and said to my great-great-grandfather,"Three days ago, someone came from the government office and ordered us to dig out all the things in the cave and hand them over to the government office. They said that to prevent the remaining members of the evil cult from stealing them, they wanted to store them in the warehouse and seal them.”
"Are you guys going to dig?" My great-great-grandfather hurriedly asked.
" Dig, the higher-ups gave the order, who dares not to dig…" The constable sighed and continued,"" Early in the morning the day before yesterday, I took a dozen brothers and dug for a whole afternoon. We dug the outer layer along the original hole. Later, when we were moving things out and moving those jars, one of my brothers accidentally dropped one on the ground and broke it…"
When the constable said this, my great-great-grandfather's expression changed and he sobered up a lot.
The constable did not seem to notice it at all and continued," Strange things happened as soon as the jar was broken. The brother who broke the jar suddenly went crazy and pulled out the knife from his waist. He slashed at everyone he saw. At that time, there were me and four or five other brothers in the cave. Except for me who reacted quickly and didn't hit him, the rest of the brothers were all injured by him. As my brother slashed, he cursed and said in the voice of a teenager,"'I'll chop you up and let you dig my heart out!'Damn, you scared me to death…"
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。