QQ Lost

Chapter 32

Xu Haibing watched curiously, and after Zhang Wen amicably shook off the puppy's clinginess, he couldn't help but tease, "Looks like even puppies mature early."

Zhang Wen smiled faintly at his pale face.

Xu Haibing asked with concern, "Are you still feeling unwell?"

Zhang Wen replied, "Much better."

The portly security guard leading the way pushed open two dilapidated wooden doors of a small courtyard, glanced inside, and called out, "My great-grandfather is already up." Xu Haibing and Zhang Wen walked up and looked into the courtyard together.

In the center of the courtyard, an elderly man with thick silver hair, a long, flowing beard, and a gaunt frame leaned back in an old armchair, his drooping eyelids half-closed, babbling softly. His rough hands slowly scattered food to the dozens of chicks and ducklings that were eagerly vying for his attention.

The three of them seemed reluctant to disturb this centenarian, and unanimously entered the courtyard with light footsteps.

The chubby security guard, like a child, knelt down on his hands and knees, slipping past his great-grandfather's sight, crawled behind him, and quietly straightened up, about to shout into his ear—

"Is this Sanzi? He's almost getting married and still not doing anything proper." The great-grandfather, who seemed completely still and oblivious, suddenly spoke in a low, slow voice, startling the fat security guard who was about to scare him.

"It's me, it's me, great-grandfather, I'm the third son from the East Courtyard." The chubby security guard quickly smiled and squatted down to massage his legs.

Great-grandfather reached out and accurately pinched the fat security guard's fleshy ear: "Do you have a memory?"

The chubby security guard winced in pain: "Oh, oh, what memory?"

Great-grandfather tightened his grip: "What did I tell you in heaven?"

"...You, you heaven said, give me back the rope exactly as it was taken away...oh, I'll bring it back to you..."

"Anything else?"

"...You, you said you had to get it back to me within three days, oh, I'll get it back for you..."

"Anything else?"

"...And..." the chubby security guard scratched his head and thought for a moment, "...Well, you also said that if I didn't get it back in three days, you'd beat, beat my butt raw..."

"What day is it today?"

"The third day..."

Great-grandfather exerted force again: "Huh?!"

The chubby security guard howled in pain: "...Oh, oh, the third day, zero, zero..."

Xu Haibing hurriedly took out his phone to show the time to the chubby security guard, who accurately reported: "...five and a half hours..."

"Where is it?"

"I brought it back for you."

Great-grandfather then let go. The chubby security guard rubbed his ear and gestured to Xu Haibing. Xu Haibing turned to look for Zhang Wen and saw her squatting to the side, lovingly stroking the downy feathers of a chick. He quickly touched her.

Zhang Wen stood up and handed the bundle of rope from his bag to Xu Haibing, who then passed it to the chubby security guard, who respectfully handed it to his great-grandfather: "Isn't this perfectly fine? You should check it, Grandpa..."

Great-grandfather's hands trembled as he fumbled for the rope.

The chubby security guard leaned closer: "It's not broken..." He didn't finish his sentence before suddenly stepping aside.

With a flick of his right arm, the great-grandfather sent the rope soaring into the air like a slender dragon. With a sharp "snap," it drew a beautiful long arc in the air!

Before the three of them could recover from their surprise, the rope had already been gathered into the great-grandfather's hands!

Great-grandfather coughed violently, and the fat security guard and Xu Haibing quickly patted his back.

"W-what, great-grandfather, were you a coachman before?" the chubby security guard asked curiously.

Great-grandfather, catching his breath, said slowly, "It's not just me who's a coachman; your ancestors were coachmen for generations. When did we get cars? Back then, being able to ride in a horse-drawn carriage meant you were someone of importance."

The chubby security guard boasted to Xu Haibing, "Oh, so it turns out my ancestor was equivalent to a luxury car driver back then. In today's parlance, that's a white-collar job, the most coveted profession among young women."

Xu Haibing ignored him and leaned down to ask his great-grandfather, "Grandpa, so, this rope you're holding is a horsewhip?"

"That's right..." The great-grandfather asked his great-grandson about the visitor's identity and then bowed to Xu Haibing with the traditional courtesy.

Xu Haibing returned the bow, then continued to probe, "Really? A riding whip doesn't need to be this long..."

Great-grandfather sighed with deep emotion, "...Oh, how many horsewhips it was woven from, how many dynasties it passed through, no one can say for sure anymore..."

Xu Haibing and Zhang Wen were immediately captivated and urged the chubby security guard to let their great-grandfather continue the story, as finding out the origins of this object was exactly what they had been hoping to achieve on this trip.

The chubby security guard, like a child, threw a tantrum to coerce Great-Grandpa into speaking. Great-Grandpa slammed his hand on the armrest of his chair: "Fine, anyway, I don't have many days left, so I won't rot in my coffin... Sanzi, go and get the teapot from inside. I just want to tell you a little story about this whip..."

The chubby security guard agreed and ran into the house.

Xu Haibing and Zhang Wen each found a small stool and sat down, quietly waiting for their great-grandfather to begin his story.

A moment later, the chubby security guard brought out a black-glazed teapot from the house and showed it to the two of them: "This is my family heirloom, it's several hundred years old. I heard that during the Cultural Revolution, my great-grandmother secretly hid it in the kitchen to prevent it from being destroyed by those so-called 'Four Olds'."

Xu Haibing reached out to touch the teapot, but the chubby security guard couldn't bear to part with it and respectfully handed it to his great-grandfather.

Great-Grandpa picked up the teapot, took a sip of tea from the spout, cleared his throat, and began his aged reminiscences in a frail voice.

"...The story of the child losing his mother is a long one... It happened during the Song Dynasty, though I can't say which dynasty or which one. Anyway, the court was in turmoil. To the north, the Jurchens were eyeing the Central Plains, constantly drooling and trying to take a bite out of it. To the south, several peasant uprisings were taking place, and banditry was rampant... Even the most incompetent emperor wouldn't want to hand over his territory to others... So, he sent all the crown princes out, each leading an army to conquer the south and north... But the Jurchens took advantage of the court's weakness, sending secret envoys with promises of high-ranking positions and generous rewards to bribe several important officials. They then secretly poisoned the emperor, telling the public that he had died suddenly from an illness." The situation had deteriorated, and several princes were ordered to return to the capital immediately. However, ambushes were set up along the way, and the princes were assassinated one by one… Within a few days, six of the seven princes were killed, leaving only the youngest, the seventh prince, far away in Fujian. Because he received the news later and set off later, there hadn't been a chance to strike… That day, the seventh prince, accompanied by a group of guards and attendants, hurriedly headed to the capital for the funeral. Not far from the camp, they were ambushed at a mountain pass by a group of assassins. Needless to say, a fierce, bloody battle ensued… In the end, all of the seventh prince's guards and attendants were wiped out, leaving only the seventh prince and his charioteer forced to the edge of a precipice…

QQ Lost (45(2))

"What is a 'driver'? Is it a bodyguard or a martial arts master?" the chubby security guard interjected.

The great-grandfather tapped his great-grandson's forehead: "Boy, a charioteer is just someone who drives the prince's carriage. Besides cracking the whip a couple of times, he has no other skills..."

The chubby security guard slapped the back of his head, gesturing and expounding: "Oh, I know! This charioteer is our family ancestor. In a life-or-death situation, he remained fearless, stepped forward, and used his divine whip to defeat the assassins with a 'swish, swish, swish,' saving the Seventh Prince's life!"

Great-Grandpa wanted to laugh, but instead coughed. Xu Haibing and the chubby security guard quickly patted his chest and back to calm him down: "...If only it were like the storyteller's tale, but the driver and the Seventh Prince were so scared they hid behind the carriage and wet their pants... It was only because the Song Dynasty hadn't yet fallen that the driver finally cracked his whip, trying to make the carriage deflect the assassins who were about to pounce, giving him and the Seventh Prince a chance to jump off the cliff and die for their country... But his hand wouldn't obey him, and the whip flew backward, getting caught on the root of a leaning pine tree at the edge of the cliff... The Seventh Prince clung tightly to his lower back as he jumped off the cliff, but he held on to the whip tightly, refusing to let go..."

"Why? Wasn't he going to die for his country?" the fat security guard asked innocently.

"Why? Because he didn't want to die. He was just like you back then, not married yet, how could he bear to die... As a result, the two of them hung under this pine tree and escaped death..." Great-Grandpa took a breath and looked at the fat security guard, saying, "I didn't even get to keep you in suspense, you broke the silence first. It's true, this driver is none other than our Lian family ancestor, Lian Shijie."

"The Lian family?" Zhang Wen blurted out.

Xu Haibing nudged the chubby security guard: "So your surname is Lian? What Lian?"

"The company commander's company, the company of Lianjiang City," the chubby security guard replied proudly.

"Huh? You even share the same surname as our city?" Xu Haibing retorted mockingly.

"You've got it backwards. It was Lianjiang who used our surname." Great-Grandpa picked up the thread and continued, "...Later, the Seventh Prince was escorted back to the camp by our ancestor Lian Shijie. He sent spies to the capital to find out the truth about the emperor's death, and quickly gathered the various forces led by the other princes to return to the capital and quell the rebellion... The Seventh Prince rightfully ascended the throne and became the new emperor. He remembered his ancestor's merit in saving the emperor and wanted to reward him with official titles and ranks. However, our ancestor truthfully told him that his hand, which held a horsewhip, was too weak to hold a writing brush, and he could not become an official. His only wish was to go home, marry a wife, and serve his parents..."

The chubby security guard lamented, "How come this ancestor was just as useless as me? If only he could have become a minister or governor! That would have been so prestigious!"

Great-grandfather continued in a hoarse, husky voice: "...The Emperor allowed my ancestor to choose any palace maid he wanted, as many as he desired. My ancestor informed the Emperor that he had been betrothed since childhood back in his hometown and dared not disobey his parents' wishes... Seeing his loyalty and filial piety, the Emperor not only granted him permission to return to his hometown but also bestowed upon him a thousand acres of precious land and ten thousand taels of gold... He then built the Lian Family Manor in this area. The entire manor took five years to build, and it was enormous! Not to mention the numerous pavilions, towers, ancestral halls, and temples, there were hundreds of strangely shaped rocks, each weighing tens of tons, all of which were slid across the road bit by bit from thousands of miles away by sprinkling water on the road in winter until it froze..."

The chubby security guard exclaimed, "Good heavens! People in ancient times really had a lot of free time!"

After catching his breath, Great-Grandpa continued, "...The most glorious moment for the Lian family was when the Seventh Prince became Emperor and made his first southern tour. The Lian family was responsible for receiving him, and the Emperor personally planted six trees—cypress, persimmon, paulownia, ailanthus, locust, and poplar—in front of the Lian family ancestral temple, symbolizing 'springtime prosperity in all markets' and 'the enduring legacy of the poplar,' representing the unification of the Song Dynasty and its lasting prosperity... The Lian family manor flourished, attracting crowds to the surrounding area. Shops, teahouses, taverns, inns, theaters, storytelling venues, and bathhouses sprang up one after another, so even today there's a saying: 'First came Lian family manor, then came Lianjiang city'..."

The chubby security guard scratched his head in confusion: "Huh, I don't see any sign of a manor around here. Great-grandfather, are you just making this up, oh, just a beautiful legend?"

Great-grandfather lamented, "If it were just a legend, it wouldn't be such a pity. Over a thousand years have passed, with natural disasters, man-made calamities, and constant warfare. The manor couldn't escape its fate, having been burned down several times and already in ruins. By my generation, it was practically a wasteland... But no matter what, at least I still see an empty shell. The family temple is still there, the ancestral hall is still there, and even the entire family name hasn't scattered... Although of the six trees—cypress, persimmon, paulownia, ailanthus, locust, and poplar—only the locust tree was rooted; the rest were replanted by later generations. But at least there's still a continuation..."

"Where is the whip that saved the emperor?" Xu Haibing inquired with concern.

"...That horsewhip naturally became a family heirloom passed down through generations in the Lian family... According to the rules established by our ancestors, whenever a new generation of offspring is born into the direct line, the entire clan must go to the ancestral temple to burn incense and light candles, and in front of the ancestral tablets, attach a new horsewhip to this one, passing it down from generation to generation, hoping that the Lian family will continue to prosper and enjoy lasting wealth... Because the oldest member of our branch was the steward of the manor, and our descendants have always done odd jobs on the manor, buying and selling, picking up and dropping off passengers were all handled by our branch, so the carriages have always been managed by our branch, and the task of attaching the horsewhip also falls to us. I took over these tasks when I was fifteen or sixteen years old..."

The chubby security guard gave Xu Haibing and Zhang Wen a thumbs-up: "Look at him! My great-grandfather is practically the earliest and youngest logistics minister and general affairs director in our country!"

The two men nodded perfunctorily, continuing to listen attentively to their great-grandfather's story: "...It's not that we're afraid of poverty and hardship; ordinary people can endure it, they can persevere, they can find ways to support their families. What we fear is not even being allowed to live a life of poverty and hardship, but rather the chaos of war, making life unbearable... And then, just when we were fearing it all, the Japanese came. It was 1938, I think, when a division of the National Revolutionary Army fought the Battle of Lianjiang here, battling the Japanese devils for nine days and nine nights, and in the end, the entire army was wiped out... It was truly a scene of corpses strewn across the fields, rivers of blood flowing everywhere..." The sky was bathed in red light; the devastation was beyond description… The Japanese invaders, like mad jackals, slaughtered Lianjiang for ten days, leaving piles of corpses everywhere like stacks of wheat… After this ravages, the Lian family manor was completely destroyed, reduced to a vast wasteland. Crops failed to grow, trees wouldn't sprout, because the soil had been blasted up several layers by artillery fire, leaving no nutrients… If anything remained, only the locust tree planted by the Emperor himself survived. Though bent by the artillery fire, it hadn't fallen and had held on until today… This was an auspicious sign…”

QQ Lost (45(3))

"Oh, is there any explanation?" Xu Haibing asked.

"...The locust tree is the ancestral tree of the Chinese people! It is so tenacious, able to live for hundreds or even thousands of years without dying. Even after it dies, new shoots can sprout from its roots, endlessly regenerating... The elders say that the placenta of the Chinese nation is buried under the locust tree on the Loess Plateau... According to our local customs, the first thing to do after a child is born is to bury the placenta under this locust tree... The placenta is brought from the mother's womb, a testament to the beginning of life, and where the placenta is located is where a person's roots lie... Unfortunately, these old customs were all broken as feudal superstition during the Cultural Revolution..."

"Then, great-grandfather, how come you weren't killed by the Japanese back then...?" the fat security guard asked blankly.

Xu Haibing stopped him and asked instead, "Your great-grandson means, how did you survive such a dangerous situation?"

"...Don't even mention it. I was in my thirties or forties then. The Japanese saw I was strong and could drive a cart, so they kidnapped me to be a laborer. What did I do? One thing: clear corpses out of the city! ...Is that work for a human being? But with a bayonet to your throat, if you didn't do it, you'd lose your head...Do you see that earthen mound not far from the old locust tree? That's the big grave I built, inch by inch, with soil..."

"Sigh, it's too tragic..." Xu Haibing couldn't help but sigh in grief and indignation. He finally knew the secret of the mound covered with white bones.

"...Later, after the bodies were almost all transported, I was just thinking the Japanese would let me go when a Japanese translator secretly came to tell me that the Japanese wanted to kill me to silence me, and that I should run away quickly... I asked him why he saved me, and he said that he was also Chinese, and that his father had gone to Japan in his early years and had an affair with the landlady's daughter, resulting in his birth. His father had told him before he died that his surname was Lian, and that he was from Lianjiazhuang in Lianjiang, China. His ancestor had once saved an emperor with a horsewhip, and that he must return to China to acknowledge his ancestors when he grew up..."

"Isn't that our relative? You're lucky to be alive, or rather, you're incredibly fortunate." The fat security guard couldn't help but interject again.

"...I knew who his father was as soon as I heard him. He's the young master of the Lian family, a man of exceptional talent and good looks, but a bit of a playboy. He likes to flirt, frequent brothels, and drink with women. He's a regular at brothels. His father wanted to find him a wife to settle him down, but he refused, had a falling out with his father, and ran away from home that very night, secretly taking the family heirloom, the riding crop, with him..."

"Oh, so you didn't ask him about the whereabouts of the riding whip?" Xu Haibing interjected.

"...How could I not ask? This is the soul of the Lian family... I was just about to ask if the horsewhip had been taken to Japan, and where it was now, when I heard the sound of a motorcycle outside. The Japanese soldiers who were going to kill me were here. I hurriedly tried to run, but the young master's son reminded me that I couldn't outrun the motorcycle wheels, and told me to hide in the pile of corpses outside. I hid there for three whole days..."

The fat security guard covered his mouth, feeling nauseous.

Xu Haibing also felt a chill run down his spine and pressed, "Then how did the rope get back?"

Great-grandfather finished the tea in one gulp, then lay down for a rest before continuing his reminiscence:

"...Later, seeing that this place had become a mass grave, I started doing funeral work, collecting corpses, and tending graves to make a living... After liberation, things were peaceful for a while, but after 1958, things became unsettled again. Every day, people who had starved to death during the famine were brought here. We barely made it through 1963, and just when we could eat our fill, the Cultural Revolution started. Every now and then, some people who were being persecuted and couldn't think straight would hang themselves from the old locust tree... As I've been talking, by the 1970s, the world had gradually calmed down, and there were fewer people trying to kill themselves. But one night, it was probably past midnight, and I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk around. I happened to see a disheveled woman hanging herself under the old locust tree..."

Zhang Wen leaned forward, completely focused.

"...I saw she was holding a very long rope, but because she was too weak, she couldn't swing it over the tree branch. I quickly ran over and stopped her, but when I took the rope from her, I was shocked!...It was the very same horsewhip that our Lian family had lost!...I asked her, and she was indeed the Lian family's wife, her husband's name was Lian Dong...Her father-in-law, whom she had never met, was the Japanese translator who saved me. He later surrendered to our army, married in China, and had children..."

Zhang Wen could no longer sit still; his mouth was open, and he was eager to speak.

The chubby security guard couldn't help but interject, "I get it! It means the woman who hanged herself is none other than the young master's daughter-in-law who ran off to Japan! Am I right?"

Great-grandfather slapped him on the head: "Nonsense! You don't even know the proper generational hierarchy. She's the young master's granddaughter-in-law, your aunt... She said they were sent-down youths, and her husband had always treasured this rope, hiding it away without ever explaining why... Later, when her husband got into trouble and went to jail, her daughter finally found the rope to play with... The night before last, she was exhausted after working on the river and was taking a bath behind her house when a simpleton from the village suddenly broke in and raped her. The commune militia on night patrol, without any investigation, insisted that she was a convict's relative who had seduced a poor peasant's descendant, tied her up with the rope, and sent her to the county police station to be prosecuted as a female hooligan... She escaped while the guards weren't looking, climbed onto a train back to Lianjiang City to secretly see her mother, and then ran to the old locust tree to end her life, because she knew her placenta was buried there too..."

Zhang Wen finally couldn't hold back any longer and stood up, asking abruptly, "Where did she go after that?!"

Great-grandfather didn't hear clearly, so Zhang Wen stepped forward to approach him.

At that moment, the golden morning light shone from behind Zhang Wen, momentarily dazzling his great-grandfather's dim eyes—

A disheveled young woman was walking towards her!

Great-grandfather sat up, looked at her in horror, and suddenly couldn't catch his breath and fell backward!

"Ah? Great-Grandpa! Great-Grandpa! What's wrong? Open your eyes!" The fat security guard shook his great-grandfather and cried out urgently.

Xu Haibing and Zhang Wen were in a flustered state, wanting to pinch the philtrum and press the chest, but they couldn't bring themselves to do it.

The fat security guard's shouts turned into sobs as he stomped his feet and wailed at the two men, "Waaah...it's all your fault! You insisted on making me bring him to ask my great-grandfather about this broken rope. Now look what happened! The Japanese devils didn't kill him, but you've got him killed! Waaah...you owe me! You owe me a hundred, a hundred-year-old great-grandfathers! Waaah..."

QQ Lost (45(4))

His crying and fuss woke up his great-grandfather, who had temporarily passed out, and the three of them finally breathed a sigh of relief.