Yanghe Village is located near the mountains of Sishan Mountain and is named after a small river called Yanghe. Most of the people in the village are surnamed Yang and share the same clan.
The Yang River meanders through the Si Valley and merges into the Heishui River, which is also one of the tributaries of this large river.
The alluvial flow of the Blackwater River left a large amount of fertile soil on both sides of the river. These fields alone supported an unknown number of people on both sides of the river.
On the way to Yanghe Village, Cui Qingfeng had already told Ye Xuan the general situation.
Zhang Dazeng stayed at a villager's home in Yanghe, but soon after he left, a villager discovered that his ancestral grave had been torn apart. He was so angry that he reported the matter to the county government.
Ye Xuan and his party drove their horses into Yanghe Village. There was already a village elder waiting to pick them up and led the four of them to the Yang family's ancestral grave.
The cemetery is covered with lush grass and has been carefully restored by several generations. There are many large trees that are hundreds of years old, with their canopies stretched out to shield them from the scorching sun.
When you set foot here, you will suddenly feel a cool breeze blowing on your face, which is quite refreshing.
Graves stand among the trees. The tombstones in front of the graves record the life of each deceased. Because of the sunlight shining through the branches and leaves of the trees, the place does not feel gloomy during the day.
Ye Xuan and three detectives stood in front of a stolen tomb. They were surrounded by the Yang family's children, talking all over the place without giving any useful information.
There were neither coffins nor bones in the tomb, so it was completely empty.
Ye Xuan ordered the temple protector and Fat Hu to guard outside, listening to "Zhou Tiehu" talking to the village elder, and squatted down to check the collapsed tombstone in front of the tomb.
The stone tablet is made of poor materials and is riddled with holes after countless years of corrosion.
Most of the text on it is missing. You can vaguely see two characters for "wood" side by side. After the character for "wood", there is another character for "loyalty".
Could it be that a couple with the same surname Yang was buried together, and the husband or wife had the word "loyalty" in their name?
None of the other tombs in the Yang family's ancestral tomb were robbed by Zhang Da, but something happened to this one. This may be related to the identity of the tomb owner. Of course, it may also be that the descendants of the tomb owner have a grudge against Zhang Da.
Ye Xuan secretly speculated in his heart, but heard 'Zhou Tiehu' say: "Zhang Da has no relatives in Yanghe Village, why would he come here to stay? Whose family will he stay at?"
Right now, the fake Zhou Tiehu thinks more clearly than the real Zhou Tiehu.
At least I won't talk useless nonsense.
Someone walked out of the crowd, bowed slightly to 'Zhou Tiehu', and replied: "Master Cha, Zhang Da stayed at my house at that time, and he gave three taels of silver..."
Three taels of silver is a huge amount of money. Not to mention staying overnight, even staying for a month is not a problem and the host will provide food and accommodation.
Ye Xuan glanced at the respondent and found nothing unusual.
'Zhou Tiehu' looked at the collapsed tombstone on the ground and said in deep thought: "The handwriting on this tombstone is hard to see clearly. Do you know the name and life of the tomb owner? Does he have any descendants?"
The surrounding villagers looked at each other and shook their heads to express ignorance.
At this time, the village elder cleared his throat and said slowly: "The ancestral tombs are arranged in order of seniority. This one is near the center. The old man counted it and it must be the tomb of the seventh generation ancestor.
In the generation of the seventh generation ancestor, the Yang family had only one family, and only had a family of more than 20 people.
Check the family tree and compare it with the words left on the tombstone, and you should be able to find out the names of your ancestors..."
Although the old man spoke slowly and took a breath midway, his thinking was not chaotic and his words were very organized.
Ye Xuan glanced at the surrounding tombs and counted the rows in his mind. There were nine rows in total.
According to what the old man said, the Yang family has been based in Yanghe Village for nine generations and has existed for hundreds of years!
The village elder then gave some instructions to the young men around him, and some people rushed to the ancestral hall, and soon retrieved the thick family tree.
The old man turned over the sheepskin family tree and turned to the page of the seventh generation ancestor. He looked at it for a moment and sighed: "I can't see the words clearly. I have to bother the messenger to read it myself."
As he spoke, he handed the family tree to the three detectives with both hands.
Cui Qingfeng also took the family tree with both hands and handed it to Zhou Tiehu: "Sir, take a look."
"There are two characters on the tombstone, the word "Wooden", and the word "loyalty". How could there be someone with a different surname in your ancestral grave?" Zhao Qing observed the tombstone for a while, consciously grasped a major clue, and immediately started shouting.
Most of the villagers looked at him, but they just thought he was a fool and didn't want to pay attention to him.
"Master Zhao Cha, go visit your ancestral graves more often. Maybe you can see an ancestor named Guo or Xiao!" A villager sneered from behind in the crowd.
Zhao Qing thought for a while and then realized it. His face suddenly turned pale. He stopped talking and moved closer to look at the family tree.
Ye Xuan approached Cui Qingfeng and looked carefully at the names on the family tree.
Cui Qingfeng's fingers crossed the pages of the book, making a rustling sound. Ye Xuan followed his fingers and quickly scanned a personal name.
Husband Yang Yilang, wife Li Xiuhua, husband Yang Sheng, wife Zhou Danniu, husband Yang Li, wife Zhou Niu...
I looked at the names of many couples, but I didn't see any couple with the last name Yang.
Could it be that I have gone astray?
As Ye Xuan thought about it, he suddenly saw two names——
Yang Zhongyong, Mu Fenglan.
This is the only couple among more than twenty people whose surnames both have the word "木" in their surnames, and they have no descendants - at least there is no record in the family tree!
"That's it." Zhou Tiehu pressed his finger on the lower part of the word "Mu Fenglan" and asked strangely, "The tomb should belong to these two couples. But they have no descendants?"
He let go of his fingers, and Ye Xuan, who had just made some connections, quickly picked up the family tree and focused his eyes on the character 'Feng'. He saw that the strokes were scrawled, and the vertical line seemed to have been added at random, destroying the structure of the entire character.
The word "Feng" was not originally like this. What was it originally?
Ye Xuan thought to himself - it's the word spring!
My wife should be called Mu Chunlan!
Mu Chunlan...
Chunlan!
This matter involves the daughter of the Chun family and the god Chun. What did Zhang Da get from digging up this tomb?!
Ye Xuan's heart was filled with turmoil, but his face remained calm.
If you say in front of others that your ancestors are related to evil gods, you will probably be buried in an empty grave by the Yanghe villagers on the spot.
He returned the family tree to the village elder.
'Zhou Tiehu' saw that there were no other clues here, so he turned to ask the villagers if they had seen any traces of Zhang Da in other places recently.
After some inquiry, someone said that they had seen Zhang Da near the mountain temple in the back mountain, but it is estimated that there is no trace of him now.
'Zhou Tiehu' had other plans. After hearing this clue, he naturally ordered Ye Han and the two detectives to go with him to the Houshan Mountain Temple to have a look, and declined the offer of Yanghe Villagers to be their guides.
The two detectives found it strange that their boss was so determined, but they didn't think much about it.
Only Ye Xuan felt nervous - it seemed that 'Zhou Tiehu' was planning to lead him and others into the deep mountains and forests, and then take the opportunity to trap and kill them!
You have to find an opportunity to remind Cui Qingfeng that more helpers mean more power!
He looked up at the sky and saw that it was almost noon.