"Isn't there any food relief in the ancestral hall?"
"The clan leader is dead, the clan elders are dying, and they are running away. No one can say anything. Besides, the Guobing clan suffered a lot this time. All their money and food were robbed. If it weren't 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 is in power and in charge of the ancestral hall, it's hard for anyone to speak up."
The second uncle in Chen Yue's mouth is actually her biological father. However, Chen Yue despised and hated his biological father and did 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 usually ate, drank, whored and gambled, and did many ridiculous things. Back in the weaving mill, he had stolen and sold silk that was ready for delivery. In the end, the weaving shop had to pay and apologize, which made Chen Lin's father very embarrassed. From then on, he was not allowed to enter the weaving workshop, and he was only given some pocket money every month.
Even if there are no elders in the clan, whoever should be in charge shouldn't have this prodigal's turn!
The Chen Lin family is one of the three branches handed down from the Chen family, and is the direct descendant of the sect. Although his father has never served as a clan leader, he has always been an upright clan elder within the clan. He has always held the position of being in charge of the case.
The father died and the brother took charge of the case. This was considered a true story, but the second uncle was famous for being ridiculous. What did 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 first."
Chen Lin was full of suspicion, but he knew that the girl must have something to say, so he stopped asking. My sister is right. Since everyone is back, it’s better to go home first.
The three of them returned home together. But I saw that this place was just like what Chen Yue said, with walls collapsed and houses collapsed, and everything was devastated. The huge three-entry courtyard didn't even have a single hut left to live in. There are many potholes of different sizes left in the yard.
Needless to say, everything in the house was robbed, and most of the furniture and furnishings were damaged. Although these furniture cannot be said to be very expensive, they have been passed down from generation to generation from their ancestors. They have been repaired, maintained, and added to by generations, and they have been with the family day and night. Now, only the debris is left on the ground. For some unknown reason, the rebels smashed them all into pieces and threw them all over the place.
My father's favorite jasmine tree was originally as thick as the mouth of a bowl. In summer, the tree is full of flowers, and the fragrance can be smelled all the way outside the courtyard. But someone cut him off at the waist.
Looking at the mess all over the courtyard, Chen Lin sighed, it was truly a catastrophe!
Chen Yue thought he was feeling sorry for the family business and comforted him: "Brother A Lin, just be okay. Now that dad is gone, you are the backbone of the family..."
My mother died early, and my father did not have a second marriage. He only had a concubine, but she had no children and died last year. After his father left, only he and this girl were 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 - and bury it 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 me to burn paper. I will go and pay my respects to my father's grave."
The two of them went to pay homage to their ancestors' graves. Chen Lin felt pity when he saw that the cemetery was also severely disturbed. All the sacrificial vessels originally stored in the cemetery were looted, and all the doors and windows were destroyed. After arriving at their father's grave and offering sacrifices in tears, the brother and sister got up. Chen Lin proposed 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 there was not much damage. It restarted a month ago..."
"Start work?" Chen Lin was surprised. After the war, everything was in ruins, and now it was difficult for the clansmen to even eat. Where do you get the money to start work?
The silk weaving industry is extremely expensive, and you have to pay cash to buy raw silk. The silk and satin sold can only be paid back after three accounts. Since the rebels had looted the raw silk stock, how could we start work without raw materials? Even if the clan spends money to purchase new ones, it’s winter now and the silkworms haven’t even started hatching yet. Where will 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 Ah Lin, my second uncle is in charge of the weaving workshop now..."
Chen Lin was startled and sneered: "This is not surprising. He is now the chief of the ancestral hall." He suddenly thought of something and asked: "Why did the elders of the clan let him be the chief 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 Kun Thief!"
"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. 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. I I watched with my third uncle and his family for a few days, and when I saw that they were 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 ‘liaison officer’ of Nansha Village.”
"This is not an official, Zuo is just a Baojia type."
"But he started to tremble through this 'liaison'. The elders of the tribe also looked up to him because he could communicate with the Australians. They 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 in 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. 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 mill was also taken away from him. The third uncle has a calm temperament and is the most calm among the three brothers. Ever since he was a child, he had never seen his 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 is in charge. "
"Where did the third uncle go?"
"Third uncle and his 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 stay until you came back."
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 person in charge of the weaving workshop is Kun."
"What?!" Chen Lin's jaw almost dropped in shock. Australians still come to the village to set up weaving workshops? This was beyond his expectation. He quickly asked: "Is it the real Kun or the 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,"
as expected! The second uncle has no ability to manage and operate the weaving workshop. If the weaving workshop falls into his hands, the only result will be that it is stolen and sold out. It is obviously possible to operate now thanks to these prosthetics.
But what is the purpose of these fake Kuns going all the way to Nansha to open a weaving workshop? 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 interfered with 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 thief, 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 they are not allowed to do anything. If he does something illegal, these fake men won’t dare to publicly come out to support him.”
"I don't know about this anymore. People in the village were frightened when they heard the words 'kun thief' and 'Australian' - Brother A Lin, do you still remember the Australians besieging Guangzhou a few years ago?"
Of course he remembered this. Australian warships sailed along the river to collect grain and grass. Anyone who dared to resist and disobey was slaughtered, 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 the fake Kun 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 the situation well. 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 be simple.
He pondered for a moment and said, "Mei, I'd better go to the village for a walk and see what's going on."
(End of chapter)
