Origin Chapter 79: Looking for the concubine

The epitaph records the life of the tomb owner, some of which were written by the tomb owner himself during his lifetime. The content is more realistic and more like a memoir. But most of them were written after the death of the owner of the tomb, and later generations asked literati to help write them. This type of epitaph is often taller, with more words of praise, more like singing praises.

Qian Yunzhi's epitaph is the second case. It was written by someone else after his death. More than 50% of the entire epitaph is a tribute to virtue and has no practical significance. The rest are recorded by Qian Yunzhi. A lifetime of experience.

Qian Yunzhi was in his 70s when he died. His experience of more than 70 years can be summed up in just over a hundred words, one can imagine how brief it is.

Those things before Qian Yunzhi's return to his old age are not meaningful. If there are clues, they will definitely be hidden in some of the things he did after he returned to his hometown.

Like other officials who have returned home after retiring, Qian Yunzhi also built bridges and paved roads after his retirement to provide relief to the victims. Although this man was a military general, he believed in Buddhism and spent most of his later years eating fast and reciting Buddhism. .

However, believing in Buddhism and being a monk are two different things. According to the epitaph, Qian Yunzhi had two sons, one was born directly and the other was born next to him. The other child is a child from the sidelines, that is, the child of a concubine. There is not much record on the epitaph about this child, but it only says, "The youngest son died of illness, and Qian Lao was sad and sad, depressed, and his life was shortened. ’

After reading the epitaph, Wu Zhongyuan said to Wang Xinran, "Go and get their genealogy."

Wang Xinran didn't ask why, nodded and got up and left.

Wu Zhongyuan stayed where he was, frowning and thinking. "Young son" was usually used to describe children under the age of eight in ancient times. It can be seen that after Qian Yunzhi retired, his concubine once gave him a child. Because the youngest son died of illness, Qian Yunzhi was very sad, and finally died in depression.

Soon, Wang Xinran brought the genealogy. There was a record of Qian Yunzhi's direct son, but there was no record of his son.

Wang Xinran naturally knew what Wu Zhongyuan was looking for. Seeing that there was no concubine's name on the family tree, he asked, "What's going on?"

"Boys who die young are not written into the genealogy." Wu Zhongyuan said casually. In ancient times, patriarchs were more important than women. Boys born in partial houses would also be recorded on the genealogy, and girls would not be written on the genealogy even if they were born in the main house. Therefore, the reason why the sons did not appear on the genealogy was not because Because of his lack of status, but because he died when he was very young.

"Can't I be buried in the ancestral grave without being written into the genealogy?" Wang Xinran asked.

Wu Zhongyuan nodded.

"The tomb of the son-in-law is also around." Wang Xinran said.

Wu Zhongyuan knew what Wang Xinran meant, "Wait, let me think about it."

Wang Xinran did not insist on digging up the tomb of Qian Yunzhi's eldest son, because the descendants of the Qian family were watching from not far away. These are their ancestral tombs and cannot be dug one by one.

Before considering who Qian Yunzhi might give the spirit stone to, Wu Zhongyuan re-evaluated the possibility of Wu Lu giving the spirit stone to Qian Yunzhi. The possibility of giving money to Yunzhi is very high. Wu Lu's tomb was also dug up before. There were only some wine jars and weapons in it, and there was no gold and silver to accompany him. This shows that Wu Lu regards money as dung and has no savings. Lapis lazuli is very precious, and suddenly he got such an expensive souvenir from his boss, Wu Lu had to pay back something because of his feelings and reason, and the Hetian jade in his hand, also known as Koutian jade, was a very precious jade in ancient times. Wu Lu It was only given as a gift in return.

After confirming this, I began to think about what to do with Qian Yunzhi after he obtained the spirit stone. Qian Yunzhi is a fourth-rank military attache who has returned to his hometown, which is equivalent to the retirement of a deputy provincial or departmental leader. He must not be short of money. , For the souvenirs that subordinates gave to him, he would definitely not **** them for money, nor give them to outsiders casually.

But in Qian Yunzhi's tomb, no spirit stone was found, which means that Qian Yunzhi probably gave the spirit stone to his relatives. Who would he give this spirit stone to? The eldest son, or the youngest son who died early?

Seeing that Wu Zhongyuan kept frowning, Wang Xinran called the archaeological team and asked them to explore the condition of the tomb on the right side of this tomb. According to ancient funeral regulations, sons were generally buried on the right side of their parents.

The Luoyang shovel is a good thing. It was first invented by tomb robbers and later adopted by the archaeological community. After drilling a few holes around it, they came to the conclusion that the tomb on the right was also intact. The date is slightly later than Qian Yunzhi's tomb.

"Let's gamble again." Wang Xinran said.

"Betting on other people's ancestral graves?" Wu Zhongyuan frowned and shook his head, "Don't worry, let me think about it again."

"Don't think about it, Qian Yunzhi is very likely to leave the jade to his eldest son." Wang Xinran said.

"I don't think so." Wu Zhongyuan shook his head.

"What do you think?" Wang Xinran asked.

Wu Zhongyuan did not answer the question, "What are the opinions of those experts at the headquarters?"

"No response," Wang Xinran shook his head. "Historians are usually very old, and it is impossible to stay up all night."

Wu Zhongyuan said, "When Qian Yunzhi returned to his hometown, his eldest son was in his thirties, and he had long since left home to become an official. In ancient times, it was not like today, where planes and cars were used casually. His eldest son was in the south. In office, it is impossible to come back to see him often."

Wang Xinran nodded, "You are right, but this does not prove that Qian Yunzhi did not leave the jade to his eldest son."

"The jade quality of the Lingshi is very good. The ancients believed that jade has spirituality and is a better funeral object than gold and silver. If he really left the Lingshi to the eldest son, the eldest son would not keep it himself. It will definitely be put in a coffin for him to be buried with." Wu Zhongyuan said.

Wang Xinran did not refute, because after thinking about it, Wu Zhongyuan did make sense.

"You think that spirit stone is in the grave of his youngest son?" Wang Xinran asked.

"It's very possible." Wu Zhongyuan nodded.

"The reason?" Wang Xinran asked.

“Chinese people have the custom of appreciating jade and playing with jade. Although the quality of Lingshi is very good, it is not big enough to be used as ornaments or bracelet hairpins. Rough stones that are thrown around in a round drum are the most suitable for handles.” Wu Zhongyuan said, "If the spirit stone is really played with by Qian Yunzhi, he will most likely put the spirit stone in his younger son's coffin."

Without waiting for Wang Xinran to interject, Wu Zhongyuan continued, "Whether it is a family member or a lover, if the yin and yang are separated, they will always leave the things they love to the other party and let them accompany the deceased instead of him. Often used things, seeing things and thinking about people, to comfort love."

Seeing Wang Xinran frowning, Wu Zhongyuan said again, "This is not what I said, this is what the university professor said."

Wang Xinran nodded and said, "You just said that a child who died young cannot be buried in his ancestral tomb. If the spiritual stone is really in his tomb, then the possibility of finding it is very slim."

Wu Zhongyuan shook his head, "Not necessarily, Qian Yunzhi loves this child very much, maybe he will make an exception, you ask them to look in front of Qian Yunzhi's grave to see if there is any grave."

Wang Xinran did the same, and asked the archaeological team to do the survey again.

While the archaeological team was investigating, Wang Xinran was in contact with the headquarters, while Wu Zhongyuan continued to frown and ponder.

The area to be surveyed this time is very wide. It took more than an hour for the archaeological team to search the area surrounded by Qian Yunzhi's tomb, but no tomb was found.

"Is there any news from the headquarters?" Wu Zhongyuan looked at Wang Xinran who was stretching.

Wang Xinran said, "They also don't think the spirit stone will be in the tomb of Qian Yunzhi's eldest son. They don't recommend us to dig it up. It's easy to intensify conflicts."

Seeing that the sun was about to hit this area, Secretary Qian came over to ask for a genealogy and hope that the two could restore Qian Yunzhi's tomb to its original state.

Being sure that the spiritual stone was not in Qian Yunzhi's tomb, the two ordered the archaeological team to carry the epitaph back to the tomb and sealed the tomb. The gray bricks were not damaged and were still used, but the white ash is rarely used now. Can only be applied with cement.

After restoring the tomb to its original state, Secretary Qian took the old men with them on the pretext of going out to work today. They also knew that without their permission, it was impossible for the two of them to dig without authorization. I don't want them to dig again.

The archaeological team was also very tired. Seeing Wu Zhongyuan, he couldn't figure out why. Wang Xinran also let them go back.

Soon, everyone was gone, and in the end only the two of them sat down on the rocks at the foot of the mountain in frustration.

For a long time thereafter, no new clues came from the headquarters, and the search was deadlocked.

After a long time, Wang Xinran snuffed out the cigarette butt, "Where are the children who died young usually buried?"

"There are no fixed rules for this. In short, it cannot be buried in the ancestral grave." Wu Zhongyuan shook his head.

"Will it be buried north of Qian Yunzhi's tomb?" Wang Xinran asked.

Wu Zhongyuan waved his hands again and again, "Impossible, the north is the greatest, the son buried in the north of the father is riding on the head of Laozi."

"Where's the stuff?" Wang Xinran pointed left and right.

"The west is the ancestors, the east is the descendants." Wu Zhongyuan said.

"Is the mother of the child who died prematurely one of the three women's bones in the tomb?" Wang Xinran asked.

"It should be," Wu Zhongyuan said. "There are rarely three women and one man in the joint tomb of husband and wife, usually two women and one man."

"Huh?" Wang Xinran was puzzled.

Wu Zhongyuan explained, "The ancients had two legal wives, one was a regular wife and the other was a flat wife. Only they were eligible to be buried with their husbands. Concubines were not eligible to be buried with their husbands. Qian Yunzhi asked concubines to It is an exception to be in the same spot as oneself, but it is actually not in compliance with the regulations.”

"Since he loves this concubine so much, he shouldn't bury their children far away," Wang Xinran said.

"It makes sense." Wu Zhongyuan nodded.

"Where will it be buried?" Wang Xinran looked around.

Wu Zhongyuan didn't answer right away, he pondered for a long time before he said, "The child died at a very young age, and they will probably bury him where they can see..."