"Isn't there any food relief in the ancestral hall?"
"The clan leader is dead, the clan elders are dying and running away, and there is no one who can speak out. Besides, the Bing clan has suffered terribly during this trip. All their money and food have been robbed. If it hadn't been for the Australians
After I came here, I sent some food relief, but I don't know how many people will starve to death." Chen Yue felt aggrieved, "Besides, now that my second uncle has taken power and is in charge of the ancestral hall, it's hard for anyone to say anything."
The second uncle in Chen Yue's mouth is actually her biological father. However, Chen Yue despises and hates this biological father and does not treat him as a relative at all.
"What? The second uncle is in power?" Chen Lin was shocked after hearing this. The second uncle used to eat, drink, whore and gamble, and did many ridiculous things. Back in the weaving workshop, he had stolen and sold silk and satin that was ready for delivery, and in the end the weaving workshop had to pay money.
He only apologized and made Chen Lin's father very embarrassed. From then on, he was not allowed to enter the weaving workshop and only gave him some pocket money every month.
Even if there are no elders in the clan, whoever is in charge shouldn't have this prodigal's turn!
The Chen Lin family is one of the three branches passed down from the Chen family, and is the direct descendant of the sect. Although his father has never served as the clan leader, he has always been an upright clan elder in the clan. He has also always held the position of head of the case.
The father died and the brother took charge of the case. This can be considered a true story, but the second uncle is famous for being ridiculous. What do the clan think?
"Why not let Third Uncle be in charge of the case?"
Chen Yue looked around and said, "We'll talk about it later. You just came back, so you'd better go home and take a look first."
Chen Lin was full of suspicion, but he knew that the girl must have something to say, so he stopped asking. The sister was right, since everyone was back, it was better to go home first.
The three of them returned home together, only to find that the place was just like what Chen Yue had said. The walls collapsed and the houses collapsed, and everything was devastated. The huge Sanjin courtyard didn’t even have a hut left to live in. There were even more large and small debris left in the courtyard.
One's many potholes.
Needless to say, everything in the house was robbed, and most of the furniture and furnishings were damaged. Although these furniture are not very expensive, they have been passed down from generation to generation. They have been repaired, maintained, and purchased day and night.
With the family behind them, only the wreckage is left on the ground. The rebels, for some unknown reason, smashed them all into pieces and threw them all over the ground.
My father's favorite jasmine tree was originally as thick as a bowl. The tree was full of flowers in summer, and the fragrance could be smelled all the way outside the courtyard. However, someone cut it in half.
Looking at the mess in the courtyard, Chen Lin sighed, it was truly a catastrophe!
Chen Yue thought he was feeling sorry for the family and comforted her: "Brother A Lin, just be okay. Now that dad is gone, you are the backbone of the family..."
My mother passed away at an early age, and my father did not continue his marriage. He only had a concubine, but she had no children and died last year. After his father left, he and this girl were the only ones left in the family.
Thinking of this, he felt sad and asked: "Where is Abba's coffin parked now?"
"Abba's body was only found two months ago," Chen Yue said with tears rolling down her cheeks. "It was so badly soaked that my third uncle recognized it from a stamp he carried with him... The elders said this
The body cannot be saved, so it is better to bury it in the ground as soon as possible - it will be buried on the same day."
Thinking of his father's tragic situation, Chen Lin couldn't help but burst into tears. After a long time, he said: "Ah Yue, go and prepare some incense and wax for burning paper for me. I will go and pay my respects to my father's grave."
The two went to pay homage to their ancestors' graves. Chen Lin felt sad when he saw that the cemetery was also severely disturbed. All the sacrificial vessels originally stored in the graveyard had been looted, and all the doors and windows were destroyed. When they arrived, they cried and offered sacrifices in front of their father's grave.
After that, the brother and sister got up. Chen Lin asked to go to the weaving workshop to have a look, but Chen Yue shook his head and said:
"Brother, you'd better not go to the weaving workshop."
"What? Was it destroyed too?"
"There was no damage to the weaving workshop - the rebels only took away the inventory, houses and looms, and the damage was not much. It restarted a month ago..."
"Start construction?" Chen Lin was surprised. After the war, everything was in dire straits, and now the people of the tribe had trouble even eating. How could they get the money to start construction?
The silk weaving business is very expensive, and all the raw silk purchased is cash. The silk and satin sold can only be paid back after three accounts. Since the rebels have looted the raw silk stock, how can we start work without raw materials? Even if the clan pays
Re-purchasing, it is winter now, silkworms have not even started hatching, where can the cocoons come from?
"How can we start work without raw silk?" Chen Lin turned around and left, "Let's go to the weaving workshop!"
Chen Yue took his arm: "Brother! If you want to go see me, I won't stop you, but I have a few words to tell you first..."
Chen Lin was surprised and knew there was something fishy here, so he stopped and said, "You tell me."
"Brother A Lin, the second uncle is in charge of the weaving workshop now..."
Chen Lin was startled and sneered: "This is not surprising. He has now become the head of the ancestral hall." He suddenly thought of something and asked: "Why did the elders of the clan let him be the head of the ancestral hall?"
Chen Yue looked around and saw that there was no one around, so she pulled Chen Lin into the cemetery, found a place to sit down, and then whispered:
"Brother A Lin... don't be angry. I'll tell you quietly that my second uncle is now in cahoots with the thief Kun!"
"What?!" Chen Lin was shocked and asked quickly, "Seriously?"
"Yes!" Chen Yue nodded heavily and continued: "When the rebels looted Nansha, everyone was scrambling for their lives and ran away. I followed my third uncle and his family to Sanliang City, my aunt's natal home, and hid.
It took more than two months. Later, the Australians issued a notice saying that the ground in Guangzhou was calm and the people who had fled could return to their hometowns. For those who did not have travel expenses, there were free shuttle boats in major cities and towns to take them away. I
I watched with my third uncle and his family for a few days, and when I saw that everything was safe, we took the Australian boat home together.
"When I returned to the village, I saw that most of the people who had escaped had returned. Everyone was busy cleaning up the houses and collecting the corpses. The Australians also sent some money and rice to the village for relief. My second uncle met the Australians when he was escaping.
, I don’t know why, but I became the official of Nansha Village’s ‘liaison officer’.”
"This is not an official, Zuo is just a Baojia type."
"But he started to tremble through this 'liaison'. Because he could communicate with the Australians, the elders of the tribe also looked up to him and asked him to do things. Unexpectedly, it didn't take long for him to use the Australians'
Because of his power, he asked the clan to let him be the head of the ancestral hall. The elders of the clan were desperate to escape, and the rest had no idea. After being forced by him, they had no choice but to let him be the head of the ancestral hall. The third uncle
I didn't agree, so I had a big fight with him in the ancestral hall and left the next day."
Chen Lin understood that his incompetent second uncle took advantage of the troubled times to seize power. Needless to say, the weaving workshop was also taken away by him. The third uncle had a calm temperament and was the most calm among the three brothers. He
Ever since I was a child, I have never seen my third uncle get so angry that he would have a big quarrel with his second uncle and run away in anger. This is definitely not all because he was in charge of the case."
"Where did the third uncle go?"
"Third uncle's family went back to Sanliang again - originally they were going to take me with them. I thought there was no news from you, brother, so I wanted to wait for you to come back, so I stayed."
He suddenly remembered another question and asked: "There is no raw silk on the market now. And the second uncle has never been in charge of the weaving mill. Who is in charge of the weaving mill?"
Chen Yue looked around again before saying: "Now the people in charge of the weaving workshop are Kun people."
"What?!" Chen Lin almost had his jaw dropped. The Australians came to the village to set up a weaving workshop? This was beyond his expectation. He quickly asked: "Is it a real Kun or a fake Kun?"
"It's fake Kun - in fact, none of them have shaved their heads. But they can all speak Kun dialect, and a lot of new machines were shipped - they were all shipped by Australian ships! The second uncle also said that these people came from Qiongzhou Prefecture,
He is an effective general for the Australians,"
Sure enough! The second uncle was incapable of managing and operating the weaving workshop. If the weaving workshop fell into his hands, the only result would be that it was stolen and sold out. The reason why it is able to operate now is obviously because of these fake people.
But what is the purpose of these fake Kuns going all the way to Nansha to open weaving workshops? When it comes to silk reeling and silk weaving, there are many workshops outside Guangzhou. Why go all the way to Nansha?
He became more and more confused, but now that the Kun man in front of him had intervened in the weaving workshop, the possibility of him taking it back was very slim.
"You must not go head-to-head with your second uncle," Chen Yue reminded. "Second uncle now has the backing of a gangster, and no one in the village dares to provoke him. Just a few days ago, Uncle Zhi from the sixth room was accused of violating his wishes.
, he caught him and beat him up in the ancestral hall, and said he would be fined one stone of rice. Everyone went to beg for mercy and promised to pay after the rice harvest next year, and then he was released."
"After all, he is only one person, so the village just lets him run wild? Even if the Australians support him, they are just a few fake people. I have seen many fake people in Guangzhou. The Australians are the strictest in restraining their subordinates and do not allow them to do anything.
I'm afraid these fake men won't dare to openly support him when he does something illegal."
"I don't know about this anymore. People in the village were frightened when they heard the words 'kun thieves' and 'Australians' - Brother A Lin, do you still remember the Australians besieging Guangzhou a few years ago?"
Of course he remembered this. The Australian warships sailed along the rivers and collected grain and grass everywhere. Anyone who dared to resist and refused to obey was massacred, and countless wealthy families were ruined.
"...The most irritating thing is that those people with foreign surnames who used to work in the weaving mills are now supported by fake kuns and won over by the second uncle. They are all willing to be the second uncle's minions and run rampant in the village. Now the Chen family
But I don’t dare to speak loudly anymore.”
Chen Lin remained silent, originally thinking that even if his father was gone, the elders in the clan could maintain a good situation. With a hundred yuan lent by his cousin, he could slowly renovate the house, restore the weaving workshop, and reorganize the family business.
Now it seems that I want to keep things simple.
He thought for a moment and said, "Mei, I'd better go to the village for a walk and see what's going on."