novelraw Chapter 278 Guo Siman fabricates her identity as a descendant of a prestigious family
Chapter 278 Guo Siman fabricates her identity as a descendant of a prestigious family
Seeing that they had agreed, Guo Siman hurriedly picked out all the jewelry from the box and stuffed it into her pockets. She also picked out the two bibs embroidered with acacia flowers, as well as some letters and poems, and put them into her handbag. After rummaging through them and finding nothing of value, she gave up.
She glanced at the pipe again, wondering if it was an antique. She boldly reached out and picked it up, and Tong Anfu didn't stop her.
"Then, Grandpa, no, Mr. Tong, I'm going back now!" She ran off with the pipe in her arms, never daring to look back at the family again.
Tong Yuheng put the remaining items into her spatial storage. Following her grandfather's wish, she chopped up the box, intending to burn it. But hidden among the broken wooden planks at the bottom of the box, she discovered a sheet of Xuan paper as thin as a cicada's wing, on which was drawn a picture!
The picture is small, only about the size of a book cover. It depicts a dilapidated temple with a tree and a well in the courtyard. A young novice monk is listening to an old monk's admonition, and the old monk is pointing to the well, seemingly giving the boy some instructions.
Tong Yuheng couldn't figure it out for a moment, wondering what secret the old scumbag had inlaid here. Could this carefully hidden item at the bottom of the box be related to some hidden treasure?
She wanted to show it to her grandfather, but she was afraid he would get angry. Who knew what kind of trouble Guo Yunkai, that son-reaping scoundrel, would cause this time?
Never mind, I'll keep it for myself for now! Maybe I'll discover the secret behind this picture soon?
She stopped dwelling on the picture and actually took all the rotten wood, those improper letters and poems out of her spatial storage and burned them in front of Tong Anfu. Tong Anfu's expression finally improved a little.
After breakfast, the family took incense, candles, and paper money and went up the mountain to pay their respects. Tong Yuheng double-checked the location of his grandparents' graves.
The grave was almost completely leveled, the tombstone in front of it was crooked and the words carved on the wooden plaque were blurred and covered with thorny vines. The grave was surrounded by knee-high weeds, making it look extremely desolate and bleak.
Such graves are not uncommon in this area. They are all because the descendants are too busy to take care of them, and the villagers are also busy making money. They have neither the time nor the obligation to take care of the graves of their fellow villagers.
Tong Yuheng sighed, thinking to himself that the once illustrious Tong family had completely fallen apart. The village should be well-off, yet no one was willing to contribute a single penny to clean up the ancestral graves, leaving the tombs of those whose descendants had wandered far away or who had no offspring in such a desolate state.
Tong Yuheng cleared the weeds around his grandparents' graves, piled the soil on their graves more than a meter high with a military shovel, and made a new tombstone from his spatial storage, placing it there. He offered incense and kowtowed and knelt in worship with his son.
Their discussions with the village chief of Tongjia Village about relocating the graves went smoothly, and the village chief didn't make things difficult. The Tong family also agreed to her request to remove her grandparents from the family genealogy and to reopen a branch genealogy starting with her great-grandmother.
The Tong family genealogy stopped recording anything after that particular era! Apart from the people listed on their own household registration books, who cares about how many years ago the older generations have been dead?
What does it matter which branch you belong to? The present is what matters! Therefore, the Tong family has not updated its family genealogy for more than ten years!
Their ancestors were once so illustrious, yet their current clansmen haven't benefited from it. Instead, they suffered greatly in those years because of their close blood ties, being criticized and persecuted. They harbor resentment towards those talented family members they've never even met!
Some elderly people still keep old versions of family genealogies, but the younger generation doesn't care about them anymore. The Tong family branch originated two hundred years ago when a few close relatives moved here with a scholar who became an official.
The glory of yesteryear is gone, and the family genealogy is no longer being updated. Let whoever wants to keep that stuff do it; there's no need to tell them. Just don't involve them, lest they get dragged into it again sometime, for some unknown reason!
Seeing their indifferent attitude, Tong Yuheng didn't think they had done anything wrong. After all, because their ancestors had been officials and businessmen, they had suffered in that era, and only those who had experienced it knew the frustration of being despised and attacked.
Tong Yuheng hired some people at a high price to clean up the abandoned graves in the Tong family cemetery, but she didn't offer incense. She was worried that if she did, some ancestor might follow her back to the cemetery!
Back at her home in Yan City, Tong Yuheng took out the drawing she had found in the hidden compartment of the broken box and showed it to her grandfather.
Tong Anfu looked at the painting, hesitated for a long time, and then said, "This looks familiar. It seems to be the dilapidated earth god temple next to your great-grandmother's grave!"
"My great-grandmother lived more than ten years longer than that scumbag. He didn't know she would be buried here in the future, so how could he have drawn up a map and hidden it in the Tong family cemetery beforehand?" Tong Yuheng felt like he had encountered a metaphysical problem.
"Who knows, this place isn't far from the Guo family's ancestral graves. But the Guo family's area is flat land, all planted with crops, so I'm not even sure if I can still find his grave."
Tong Yuheng: Don't lose him! I was thinking of scattering his ashes!
This matter was not taken to heart, and the Tong family continued to live their busy and meaningful lives.
Guo Siman took the junk left by her great-grandfather and left after a short time. Several private business owners who had been fooled by her gave her some local specialties and even bought her a plane ticket, dreaming of successfully attracting investment, before seeing her off.
These people are destined to never receive investment, and the contracts they signed are just worthless pieces of paper! When they finally took these documents to file a complaint, they discovered that the company had never sent anyone to investigate or conduct research, and there was no manager named Guo there!
Fortunately, Guo Siman, while freeloading on food, drinks, and hospitality, hadn't dared to swindle their investment funds. These people went to the Tong family to demand compensation, but the Tong family had never acknowledged them as relatives. They had no choice but to accept their misfortune for associating with this swindler.
Guo Siman returned to Hong Kong and found several reporters to fabricate her identity as a descendant of a prestigious family. She also revealed her plans to enter the entertainment industry.
She took out a gold hairpin from among the jewelry, saying it was a token of love given to her great-grandparents. She also forged a late Qing Dynasty official seal, claiming it belonged to a former high-ranking official of the Guo family, and declared herself his direct descendant. Quite the research she did!
In her story, Guo Yunkai is a wealthy young master who is willing to give up his riches and honors for love. He falls in love with his great-grandmother, a girl from a modest family, and the two are forced to leave their hometown for the port city under the oppression of the first wife.
She even took out the undergarment and fabricated extremely erotic stories about them, which made her famous overnight. Using this as an excuse, Guo Siman was spotted by a Category III film director and landed a small supporting role in a restricted film. The director even adapted the story into a screenplay and filmed it.
Guo Siman has abandoned all moral principles, even using her great-grandparents, who had been dead for decades, to gain fame. The Guo family is utterly ruined with her generation!
However, with her shamelessness, she thrives in the cutthroat and rumor-ridden entertainment industry of Hong Kong!