I didn’t know what was going on until they came back. It turned out that, as expected, there was a dispute after Biao Gong’s death. My father was hit by someone and chaos ensued. Even Biao Gong’s corpse was knocked over. Later, the police came to break up the scene, but we had completely lost face. Uncle Three said that we should call somebody; otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to stay in the village.
My father said to forget it, it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble. And in the end, we were all members of the Wu family. Uncle Three was so enraged that he ended up arguing with my father, who angrily went upstairs.
Uncle Two didn’t seem to care. He watched my father go upstairs and close the door before beckoning us to his room.
Curious, Uncle Three and I followed him and asked him what he was doing. He took out something from his pocket and said, “Look at this.”
“What is it?”
“I found it in Biao Gong’s cuff when you were fighting,” Uncle Two said.
On the table, I saw that it was a medieval key that looked familiar.
“Isn’t this the key to the box where old Biao Gong keeps the genealogical record? We saw it at his house yesterday,” Uncle Three said. “What does this mean?”
“Biao Gong left a message for us before he died. It seems that he wants us to look at the family tree again,” Uncle Two said. “He may have thought of something before he died.”
This was an unexpected change. “Why didn’t you say something just now?” Uncle Three scolded him. “It was more convenient to go earlier, but I’m afraid it’s a bit problematic now.”
I had also read our genealogy, but I really couldn’t understand the contents so I didn’t have much of an impression. Now that Biao Gong was dead, there was a fear that the genealogical record would be stolen, so someone must be guarding it. Since there was a big fight just now, it may not be realistic for us to go to Biao Gong’s house and look through his things.
“Money makes the world go ‘round. Wu Sanxing, don’t tell me you can’t settle this matter,” Uncle Two said.
Uncle Three nodded, “Understood.” Then he called the man who was going to stand watch tonight, whispered something to him, and the man left. I asked Uncle Three how he arranged it, but he said that children didn’t need to know. We would be able to go in tonight to get the things we needed.
I didn’t think Uncle Three’s method was the way to go, but it didn’t matter if he wouldn’t tell me as I didn’t have to bear the burden. Turning my head, I asked my uncle what he thought of my phone call earlier. Uncle Two made a gesture not to mention it and told me not to ask.
I was puzzled and felt like Uncle Two was being secretive. But when I saw his expression, I knew that it wasn’t a convenient time to ask, so I had to give up.
Uncle Three’s guys soon came back and whispered something to him that made him give a simple “Ok.” We had dinner and stayed at home until midnight, then set off with a flashlight.
There were few street lamps in the village at night so some places were dark and had no light at all. Rural people went to bed early so there were only dogs barking on the road. I wasn’t used to walking in the village at night, so I followed closely behind Uncle Three. After walking for about twenty minutes, he stopped and nodded to Uncle Two, who motioned me to keep silent and then turned off the flashlight.
I was baffled. After turning off the flashlight, it took a while for my eyes to adjust to the darkness around me, but then I saw Uncle Three tiptoeing around a corner. I was surprised to find that we were back, and the place in front of me was our own yard.
<Extra 1.26> <Table of Contents><Extra 1.28>
****
Updated 12/4/2021
MereBear's Translation 