Chapter 174: The bottom of the well in the old house? [First update]
"Come on, stop pretending!"
Chen Muyu waved his hand, "I can't use this elixir now, so just keep it if I give it to you. Otherwise, if I take it back, you may be depressed for several days!"
After saying that, he stood up and said, "The day after tomorrow is grandpa's death anniversary. I'm going back to Chenjiayan in the afternoon. Do you want to go back?"
Hearing this, Qin Hong hesitated.
He didn’t speak for a long time, and the expression on his face seemed a bit complicated.
“I can’t leave here, so why don’t you give your grandpa some incense for me?” After a long while, Qin Hong sighed.
Chen Muyu didn’t say much. There were no grievances or grudges among the older generation. Chen Muyu, the younger generation, had no right to ask.
Perhaps Qin Hong still has some unresolved knots in his heart.
Chen Muyu didn't force it. After all, Qin Hong had never been to the anniversary of his grandfather's death in the past two years. Of course, he didn't know whether he had been there in private!
"I'm leaving!"
Chen Muyu nodded in agreement and prepared to leave.
“You wait a moment!”
Qin Hong stopped Chen Muyu, then turned around and entered the back room.
Chen Muyu stood in the yard, not knowing what Qin Hong was doing in the house. It took a while before he came out.
His hand was taking something out of his pocket, and his movements seemed to be giving Chen Muyu lucky money, which made Chen Muyu a little hopeful.
With a jingling bell, what appeared in Qin Hong's hand was a bunch of keys.
Chen Muyu looked at Qin Hong in confusion.
The key was placed in Chen Muyu's hand. Qin Hong said, "There is a secret door in the well in the backyard of the old house. After you go back, if you are interested, you can go and have a look. Don't let others know!"
"Um?"
Chen Muyu was a little surprised.
“Let’s go quickly!”
Qin Hong did not think too much about the explanation and urged Chen Muyu to leave.
…
Going out of the door, he looked at the keys in his hand. They were quite ordinary small lock keys. There were six of them in total. They looked quite new. It should be because Qin Hong had taken good care of them.
There is a secret door under the well in the old house?
What is this operation?
What did Qin Hong hide? Or did the ancestors of the Chen family leave something behind?
With doubts, Chen Muyu left Ganlin Village.
…
Chenjiayan Village.
This time, Chen Muyu, his father’s third uncle, and two aunts will also come back, but they will only come back on the anniversary of his grandfather’s death.
It is custom in the village that newly erected graves cannot be cleared of weeds for the first three years, and can only be taken care of after the expiration of the three years.
This year happens to be the expiration of three years, so everyone has to come back and work.
The three of them first went to the primary school in Longtan Township and gave them some books and materials.
This is a common practice. My grandfather often did this when he was here. Whenever he collected scraps and received some usable books, he would collect them and bring some to the school every time he came back.
This tradition continues to this day.
However, when he came back this time, Chen Muyu also heard the news that Longtan Township Primary School seemed to be no longer open next year.
The closure of the school is not a matter of funding, but it is also difficult to recruit students.
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Although Longtan Township also has a large population and a lot of school-age students, because it is not far from the town and the transportation is convenient now, many people go to the town to study, which makes the existence of the rural primary school very embarrassing.
Teachers from township primary schools will be completely integrated into towns next year, and students will also go to schools in towns.
Chen Muyu was somewhat emotional. When he was a child, he also attended a rural primary school. Although there have been changes over the years, this two-story building actually carries many childhood memories.
Originally, he planned to spend some money to completely renovate the township primary school. Now it seems that it is no longer necessary. He will go to the town primary school to have a look when he has time.
Chenjiayan is still quite far away from the township. One is at the foot of the mountain and the other is on the mountain. In the past, if you took the mountain road, you would have to walk for more than an hour. Now that there is a highway, it is much more convenient. It only takes ten minutes by car.
The place names in the township are very casual. Zhangwan, Songgou, Nieshan, and Dupo are basically given surnames based on geographical characteristics. The same is true for Chenjiayan, because it is on a cliff and there are many people named Chen.
That’s how I got the name.
The old house of the Chen family is a zigzag-shaped building, covering an area of two to three hundred square meters, with a large patio in the middle.
Zu Shang can be regarded as a wealthy family in the village, but it was later broken. Chen Muyu remembered that when he was young, there were five households living in the patio.
The remaining four households were all grandfather's cousins. It was quite lively at that time, but less than twenty years later, things had already changed.
The older generation has passed away and the younger generation has left. The old house has long been abandoned, and the grass in the patio has grown almost one meter deep.
The four rooms in the main hall were left by my grandfather, and the ones next to them belong to other families.
In the past few years, the house has been repaired several times. Although no one from the other houses came back, I still simply helped them repair it during the repairs, at least to ensure that the house did not collapse.
In my grandfather's generation, these cousins were still close, but after my grandfather passed away, the relationship between the younger generations was not so deep, especially in Chen Muyu's generation, which family has a younger brother and which family has a younger brother?
A younger sister, I just heard more about her.
Even the few friends I had good fun with when I was young have not kept in touch with each other for a long time.
There are five households, except for Chen Muyu’s family. One household has built a new house in the village. One household has gone out to work and has not come back for several years. The remaining two households have died.
After Chen Muyu’s family settled in Qingshan City, Chen Muyu’s brother-in-law Xu Xinggui took care of the old house.
It is said to be taken care of, but actually, I am afraid I have never even entered the door.
Grandpa’s family is also from Chen Jiayan, but they are just outsiders who moved in later. Chen Jianzhong is like a rabbit eating the grass on the edge of the nest.
Grandpa and grandma also passed away long ago, especially grandpa. Chen Muyu has never seen what he looked like, and the only impression he has is his grandma's kind face.
But it has been twelve years since my grandmother passed away.
My brother-in-law has been living with his grandmother. After her grandmother passed away, Chen Muyu’s family helped him. He is now in his forties. A few years ago, under the introduction of Chen Muyu’s mother, he took a wife and gave birth to a son.
It's also a pleasure.
Xu Xinggui has a problem, that is, he is lazy. A few years ago, his parents took him out to work in a scrapyard for a while, but he was tired and came back within two months.
Chen Muyu’s mother couldn’t do anything about him, even though she made him the youngest.
Supper was eaten at my brother-in-law's house. My aunt was a diligent woman. She killed the chickens and stewed the meat. It was a sumptuous dinner.
When we came back in the afternoon, my father and my third uncle started to clean up the old house. They repaired what needed to be repaired and mended what needed to be repaired. My uncle also went to help for a while, which was a way to show off in front of his brother-in-law.
After dinner, my uncle mysteriously pulled my father into the back room and said he had something to talk about.
Chen Muyu just shook his head in his heart. He didn't understand what could happen to his uncle, it was just borrowing money from his father.
Over the years, Chen Muyu has really seen too many of the same scenes.
