Ask Sword

Perhaps because of the wealth of Qishui Village itself, the ancestral hall was relatively luxuriously built. On both sides of the Zhumen, there are couplets with "the origin of ancestors' virtues, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith, Da Chung nourishes poetry, filial piety, thrift and diligence", and a plaque of Qishui ancestral hall hangs above it.

"Um?"

Ji Xingwang frowned slightly, "Why is it Qishui ancestral hall instead of XX's ancestral hall?"

"It may be because the origin of the villagers who originally formed Qishui Village was complicated."

Li Ang said: "According to that Zhuo Wenbai, Qishui Village itself was formed by the gathering of refugees from different places.

Unlike ordinary villages, there are only one, two, or three or four surnames in a whole village. That's why it's not called the ancestral hall of a certain family such as Que's or Watson's. "

"Watsons?"

Ji Xingwang repeated it, and he couldn't help feeling puzzled in his heart, thinking silently: "I've only heard of Qu Hou, Qu Tu, Qu Nan, and Qu Lu, but I haven't heard of Watson.

Was there the surname Watson in Central China?

Could it be"

He glanced at the monk named Lu Fei out of the corner of his eye, his face remained calm, and his thoughts turned sharply, "Is he from overseas?

The airtight clothes she wears are to cover up her black or white skin color,

The hat and scarf are to cover up the distinctive eye color and the high bridge of the nose.”

"Let's find a way to go in and have a look first."

Li Ang said: "It's not yet dawn, considering the current situation that the villagers in Qishui Village have turned into ghosts, the situation in the ancestral hall may not be very optimistic.

Some ancestral halls will be used as venues for weddings, funerals, birthdays, weddings and other events, and some will be used as yizhuang for temporarily storing the remains of clan members.

If the people in Qishui Village could turn into ghosts, then the corpse might turn into something weird. "

He told the other three to back off a little, kicked off the ground silently, jumped onto the wall, and looked down.

In the ancestral hall, the imaginary scene of ghosts walking at night did not appear. In some rooms, candlelight was flickering, and figures were flickering.

Like Qishui Village, the villagers in the ancestral hall also turned into some kind of ghosts, but they were all blocked by wooden doors and did not wander around on the road.

Li Ang waved his palm, signaling for others to also jump on top of the wall, cross the wall, and land on the ground.

The twins' senses did not clearly point out the exact place of Yu Yuan's death. The four of them pressed against the wall and explored along the ancestral hall. In a small room, they found the ancestral tablet of Qishui Village on the niche, and a thick stack of family trees. , which recorded in detail the name, blood relationship, birth and death year, etc. of each villager in Qishui Village.

"The earliest record of the birth of a new villager can be traced back to the first year of Shouyan in the former Sui Dynasty. The latest record of the birth of a baby is the second year of Ningyi in the former Sui Dynasty—that is, a few years before the demise of the former Sui Dynasty. It lasted for a total of 180 years .”

Li Ang pondered: "Because Qishui Village disappeared at the end of the Sui Dynasty. It is equivalent to the time point we are in now, which is roughly the time period when Qishui Village disappeared as a whole."

"Maybe it's the eve of the disappearance of the village."

Ji Xingwang flipped through the genealogy, suddenly frowned and said, "It's a little strange."

Guan Anyan asked, "What's wrong, teacher?"

"The lifespan of villagers on the family tree."

Ji Xingwang said: "During the first 80 years when the village was built, none of the villagers in Qishui Village lived longer than 75 years old.

In the hundred years since then, the average life expectancy of the villagers in Qishui Village has been greatly extended, and it has become a Longevity Village. "

"Is this abnormal?"

Guan Anyan wondered: "Even if Qishui Village is placed on Jiangnan Road, it can be regarded as a relatively wealthy village. The villagers have black fish in the lake to sell, and they will not be unable to survive when the year is bad and the grain income is reduced. The average life expectancy is naturally higher. Much taller."

"That shouldn't be such a coincidence,"

Ji Xingwang shook his head and said, "Besides that, there is one more thing that I care about.

One must know that even in today's Yu country, in a wealthy village like Qishui village, many infants and young children die young.

In order not to make his parents sad and to reduce the length of the family tree, he will choose not to record him in the family tree. Only children over the age of five, or ten, are their names entered in the genealogy.

But in this genealogy of Qishui Village, there are also records of those infants who died prematurely.

And it happened to be a hundred years after the establishment of the village that this habit started. "

"this"

Guan Anyan hesitated, "Does it represent something?"

"No,"

Ji Xingwang shook his head, "But I always feel that there is a connection behind these things."

"The evidence is not complete now, and more clues are needed."

Li Ang flipped through the last few pages of the genealogy, and sure enough, he saw the names of Zhuo Wenbai's family—the daughter of their husband and wife is named Zhuo Lu, and it must be the "Lu'er" mentioned in the evening.

"Its daybreak."

Yu Yong, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said.

Everyone looked at the window, only to see the faint morning light shining in the sky, shining in through the window paper.

clang clang clang——

Haotian bells sounded in the distance, Li Ang opened the window and found that the thick fog outside was quickly dissipating with the arrival of the sun.

"Get out of here first."

At this time, there were noises from all the rooms in the ancestral hall. Li Ang greeted his companions, and the four quietly walked out of the secret room, left the ancestral hall, and looked around in the distance.

"These villagers are back to normal again?"

Guan Anyan said in surprise.

The villagers who reappeared in the ancestral hall, apart from still looking a little dull, have turned back to normal people, as if the "nocturnal wandering" who turned into a ghost last night had no sequelae.

Perhaps because of the so-called "Qishui Village Celebration", besides the adult villagers, there are many children in the ancestral hall.

"Go and ask."

Li Ang thought for a moment, then walked into the ancestral hall to try to communicate with the villagers.

But whether it is an adult villager or a child, they can only mutter a few words over and over again, and can't get any useful information.

"Hi fellow, I'm actually an ordinary businessman in the north of Yu State. I'm also a lover of folk culture. I'm very interested in the content of your village. Can I find a place to chat in detail, and I'll get paid."

"Leave, you don't belong here."

"Okay, fellow, I was seen through by you. In fact, I am a secret agent of the imperial palace. This time I came to Taiyuan County to investigate the local people. As long as you are willing to cooperate, it is not a problem to be promoted to a high official and honor your ancestors."

"Leave, you don't belong here."

"My fellow, you don't cooperate with my work, which makes me very embarrassed and very unhappy."

"Leave, you don't belong here."

After some communication, all the villagers responded in the same way. Yu Yong couldn't help showing a grim look, drew out the dagger at his waist, and stepped forward.

"etc!"

Ji Xingwang focused his eyes slightly, threw out the talisman, and summoned a strong wind to block Yu Yong's progress, "What are you going to do?"

"Do you still need to ask? My brother died in vain. There must be an explanation."

Yu Yong shouted in a deep voice: "This group of villagers is ignorant, obviously they are no longer alive. Kill one, just to see if they will turn into ghosts.

When the whole village turns into evil spirits in the evening, it is better to deal with them now, so as not to worry about the future. "

"."

Ji Xingwang paused when he heard the words. Indeed, judging from what he saw last night and the reactions of the villagers now, they are indeed not normal living people.

But just killing people like this is really against the morality of Luli Academy.

"Stop making noise, it's just dawn, and there's still a long time before evening,"

Seeing this, Li Ang said: "It seems that only Zhuo Wenbai's family is different in the whole village. Why don't you go back and have a look first?"