Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

"Old lady, a visitor from afar is coming. Hurry up and prepare something to entertain the guest." After pushing open the courtyard door, the old man shouted towards the house.

When they entered, an old lady with the same strong body walked out of a side house, holding a teapot in one hand and a bag of disposable paper cups in the other.

"Thank you!" Liang En immediately stepped forward and took the cups and teapot, then poured water for everyone, and then looked at Fan Meng who was sitting at the table and taking something out of his hiking bag.

Soon, Fan Meng took out a large metal biscuit box from the innermost part of his hiking bag, and then took out an old notebook wrapped in layers of plastic bags.

This book is a thread-bound book made of a pile of yellowed paper sewn together. Judging from the style, it is already old. On the front, there are four large characters of the Fan family genealogy written in calligraphy.

After seeing this book, the old man immediately became serious. He quickly went to a side room and washed his hands in the basin. Then he dried his hands with a towel and read the genealogy at the table.

"——So that's it. It seems I should call you Cousin Zhongmeng." After spending more than ten minutes reading the genealogy, the old man's expression suddenly became much kinder.

According to the tradition of the Fan family, Fan Meng's full name should actually be Fan Zhongmeng, but for modern people, they rarely add the family name to their names.

"Uh - hello, brother!" After hearing what the old man said, Fan Meng was stunned for a long time before he could say a word. After all, for him, it felt like being called cousin by such an elder. Too strange.

Because of this kind of kinship, everyone quickly became familiar with each other. Fan Meng talked about his family branch while listening to the old man's description of his hometown.

Just as they had seen before, the Hewan Village where Fan Meng's hometown is located is a small mountain village in the mountains. In the entire village, there is only a narrow strip of land near the river that is considered good farming land.

As a Hakka village where ethnic groups live together, they are united and hard-working enough. The terraced fields on the mountains on both sides of the village that have been converted into forests are the best evidence.

It's a pity that no matter how hard they try, they can't change the fact that this valley is barren, so they have to continue to emigrate as the population grows, and even migrate overseas to survive.

"Fortunately, now that the economy has developed, there is no need to immigrate or even drown babies like a hundred years ago." The old man said with a smile on his face.

"Nowadays, most young people either go to college or work in the city. They are no longer crowded into this village and living a miserable life like in the past."

According to the old man, although those young people have left the village, the old men who can host the ceremony of recognizing their ancestors and returning to their clan are still living in the village, so if there are no accidents, the ceremony can be held early tomorrow morning.

Fan Meng felt very happy with this reply, because it meant that he could successfully fulfill a dream of his father, grandfather, and the seniors in the family.

So in the rest of the day, Liang En and the others helped Fan Meng purchase various needed supplies under the command of the elders and prepare for the ceremony the next day.

According to this elder, in the past, the ceremony of recognizing one's ancestors and returning to one's clan required a flowing feast for three days and three nights, and people were invited to set up a stage and perform operas to make it lively and lively.

It's just that there are fewer people in the village now, and various traditions have also changed due to the changes of the times, so it is enough to treat everyone to a meal after the ceremony.

But even so, the preparations were not that simple. Fortunately, logistics and transportation are much more convenient now than in the past, so it only took them one day to make various preparations.

That night, Liang En and the others stayed in a small courtyard on the side of the ancestral hall for entertaining guests. Somewhat unexpectedly, this ancestral hall was located in the center of the village and looked much more gorgeous than the surrounding residences. , also much newer.

"This was built by a rich man from our village just two years ago. He said it cost 70 million." Fan Meng's old cousin said while opening the door with a key. "It seems that he will do it after retirement." Come back here to retire.”

Perhaps because it is a retirement home for a rich man, the whole room is in very good condition. Not only does it look beautiful from the outside, but the water, electricity and gas in the residential area are also fully equipped, which is almost on the same level as the previous hotel.

The ceremony started before dawn the next day, and before that, Fan Meng had already gotten up an hour early to make various preparations.

"It seems that Fan Meng will be very tired today." Liang En looked at Fan Meng who was wearing a Chinese tunic suit and muttered quietly, and then went back to sleep.

After all, from now until noon, there is a series of tasks within the Fan family, such as ancestor worship, continuation of music and so on. Outsiders like Liang En and the others are obviously not suitable to participate.

It wasn't until a young man came to inform them at noon that Liang En dragged Jeanne to attend the celebration banquet in the ancestral hall square.

Interestingly, because Fan Meng briefly introduced Liang En's identity and the reason for his visit, they were treated as VIPs and sat at the main seats at the banquet.

For Chinese people, respecting academics and scholars is a habit passed down from generation to generation, so scholars like Liang En will naturally receive preferential treatment.

The dishes here in Fujian mainly retain the original taste of the food. People who like it will feel that the local food can taste the most basic taste of the food and have a special umami taste, but people who don't like it will feel that the food tastes the most basic. Too dull.

Liang En quite liked the taste, but Jeanne was not too interested in this kind of dish without too many spices, but in any case, both of them ate a lot.

After his stomach was almost full, Liang En started chatting with the people around him. Out of professional habit, after exchanging pleasantries for a few words, Liang En brought the topic to cultural relics.

"As far as cultural relics are concerned, we do have one here." A middle-aged man who is Fan Meng's nephew said, "There is a place called Bandit Village in the valley here that looks quite old." "

Ah - yes, the bandit village. "Another gray-haired old man also showed a clear expression, "But that place now only has a little wall that reaches the person's chest. There is probably nothing of value. "

During the rest of the banquet, Liang En roughly understood the general situation of the ruins known as the bandit village from the words of those around him. According to the Fan family, the Bandit Village was already a pile of ruins when they moved here more than two hundred years ago. They named this place after the foundation of the watchtower, walls and other military facilities.

The reason why it is concluded that this is a bandit stronghold is also very simple, because ancient armies were often stationed near cities or near important transportation hubs, and it was impossible to be stationed here.

"Anyway, I have some free time these days, so I can go take a look when I have time." After finishing lunch and summarizing the information, Liang En finally made a decision. "Just right to pass the boring time these days."