Chapter 162 Old Village Chief

"So it's the third young master who's here. The third young master didn't even say a word." Old Mrs. Li was holding a dustpan and showed a look of surprise when she saw Li Daoxuan, complaining about Li the Third Young Master.

Mother Li followed behind her, and her expression when she saw people was the same as the old lady's.

"Oh! What a rare guest! Why is the Third Young Master here?" Mother Li's tone was still flattering. She couldn't hide the fake smile on her face, and her eyes kept looking at Li Daoxuan. "I would have asked the eldest brother to prepare some delicious food to entertain the Third Young Master earlier."

"You're welcome." Li Daoxuan quickly waved his hand to decline. They were just passing by Lijia Village to send Li Yanming back for a visit. He had no plans to stay there. After all, his old house was also in the village, and there were servants guarding it.

As they were talking, the eldest and second sons of the Li family came back one after another. Finally, Old Man Li walked in slowly with a cane, and showed a look of surprise when he saw Li Daoxuan.

"Third Young Master, why are you here?" Old Man Li asked curiously.

"Grandpa Changzai, we are passing by and decided to send Li Yanming back to visit us." Li Daoxuan said with a smile.

"So you're here to send Yanming back. Thank you so much for troubling you." Old man Li had a kind look in his eyes. He chatted with Li Daoxuan about family matters for a while. They sat in the house for a while before Li Laosan hurried back.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, looked at Li Daoxuan and said, "Third, Third Young Master. The village chief asked you to go over first."

"Okay, I'll be there right away." Li Daoxuan responded, then followed Li Laosan out, leaving Old Man Li and his family behind, looking at the situation in front of them with blank expressions, not knowing what had happened.

Seeing Li Laosan coming back with sweat all over his head and a nervous look on his face, and the two people leaving in a hurry, it must not be a simple matter.

Old man Li was depressed for a moment, coughed twice, and gave the old ambassador a look.

Although the eldest brother was honest, he still had some brains. Seeing his father's expression, he understood what he meant: "Dad, I'll go take a look too."

"Go ahead, the earlier you go, the earlier you come back." said old man Li.

Boss Li immediately went out and chased after Li Daoxuan and the other man.

When Li Laosan and Li Daoxuan arrived at the village chief's house, they saw several white-haired old men sitting in the hall as soon as they entered, and the one sitting at the center was the village chief of Lijia Village.

"Daoxuan, you're back." When the village chief saw Li Daoxuan coming in, he asked with a peaceful smile.

"Grandpa Cheng." Li Daoxuan bowed to the village chief.

There are more or less some relatives among the people in Lijia Village. Even if they haven't had any contact for eight hundred years, as long as they live in Lijia Village, this network of relatives will always exist.

The village chief of Lijia Village is the cousin of Li Daoxuan’s grandfather. In a sense, the two families are relatives, but compared to Li Daoxuan, this uncle is already a relative of the "fourth mourning degree" and is almost out of the "fifth mourning degree".

The "five mourning garments" actually refer to the five kinds of funeral attire worn in the funeral ceremonies of "Zhan Sui", "Qi Sui", "Da Gong", "Xiao Gong" and "Jie Ma", representing the different degrees of closeness of kinship. For Li Daoxuan, his father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather in the direct line are the first, second, third and fourth mourning garments respectively, and his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren are the first, second, third and fourth mourning garments respectively. The sixth-generation ancestor and the sixth-generation grandson are the relatives who have gone out of the "five mourning garments".

If it is a collateral line, there is no such thing as "the first mourning period". It has to start from the "second mourning period". Only uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters and their children can be considered relatives of the "second mourning period", which is a relatively close relationship. Uncles, great-aunts, uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews or nieces, grandchildren of uncles or aunts, that is the "third mourning period". As for grandfathers, great-grandaunts, uncles, brothers, etc., they are naturally distant relatives of the "fourth mourning period". And those brothers or sisters from the "fifth mourning period" are the "fifth mourning period".

The so-called "nine generations of the clan" is, at the lightest level, to include all the relatives within the fifth degree of mourning, from the great-great-grandfather to the great-great-grandson. If it is more serious, no matter if it is the direct or collateral line, as long as they are within the fifth degree of mourning, they will be counted as one.

Therefore, not to mention that Master Li had lived in Jinling for a long time and only returned to Lijia Village during the holidays, Li Daoxuan grew up in Maoshan since he was a child. Even though Li Daoxuan grew up in Lijia Village, he was not close to his uncle.

However, even though his family is extremely wealthy, Li Daoxuan still needs to call him grandpa after returning to Lijia Village. This can be considered a clan relative connection.

This kind of relationship is indispensable in the world. Even if you are a prime minister or a high-ranking official, you have to address your elders in your hometown with respect when you meet them. Otherwise, you will be despised by the people in your hometown, and after a few generations, your descendants may not even be included in the clan genealogy.

"Are you coming back alone this time? Where is Qianyuan?" said the village chief.

"Dad is busy with business in Jinling, so I just happened to send Yanming back to visit him when I passed by this time." Li Daoxuan said with a smile.

"So that's how it is. You must have had a hard time on the road." The old village chief nodded slightly, then frowned and continued to ask Li Daoxuan. "By the way, are the things you and Dazhu said true or false?" After all, this matter was too serious, and he had to ask clearly.

Li Daoxuan knew what the old village chief was asking, and nodded, "From what I see, that's the case."

"Oh, how could this happen. A few days ago, an old Taoist priest said that the feng shui of the village was bad, and I just thought he was trying to cheat me of my money. Daoxuan's words today really made me feel nervous." The old village chief sighed, his hand on his crutch.

He looked at the elders sitting down, pondered for a moment and then said, "Since this matter concerns the safety of the village, we can't just leave it alone. Daoxuan is a wizard from Maoshan. When Yuan came back from the New Year, he praised Daoxuan a lot and seemed to approve of him. Daoxuan must know what to do. You all have to listen to Daoxuan on this matter. If I know that anyone has betrayed me, don't blame me for being ruthless."

The old village chief was quite dignified. After he said this, no one in the hall objected. They all responded yes and expressed their willingness to follow Li Daoxuan's arrangements.

Afterwards, the old village chief asked Li Daoxuan to give a brief speech to everyone and then asked everyone to disperse, only asking Li Daoxuan and Li Laosan to stay.

"Come, Daoxuan, sit down." The old village chief asked the women in the family to move a seat for Li Daoxuan, and the three of them sat in the quiet hall.

"Tell grandpa how serious this matter is?" the old village chief asked seriously.

"It's hard to explain this matter in a few words," Li Daoxuan said. "If we leave it alone, the consequences will be disastrous. I would like to ask, Grandpa Cheng, have you ever found that the poultry in the village are often restless at night and always howl?"

"I've noticed it, too. It's true." The old village chief nodded. "The chickens I raise at home always crow at three o'clock in the morning. At first I thought there were thieves, but after checking several times, I found nothing unusual. Later, as time went by, I got used to it. Now, after hearing what Daoxuan said, it is indeed a bit strange."

"That's right." Li Daoxuan said. "Lijia Village's Feng Shui was originally favorable. Although it wasn't a sign of the coming of purple air from the east, it was still good weather and good harvests. There shouldn't have been any disasters in the past few years, and the children in the village rarely got sick. But now the Feng Shui has changed drastically, and the fortune has reversed. It's like the Azure Dragon and the Black Tortoise fighting each other, which is a bad omen. So the first to sense such changes are poultry, but because beasts are innate creatures, they can often sense things that humans can't. They are the ones who make a sound when the Feng Shui changes."

"So, the feng shui of this village has been changing for a while." The old village chief stroked his beard and thought. "This must have happened before the Lantern Festival, when there were many unusual movements in the village."

"Before the Lantern Festival?" Li Daoxuan was stunned when he heard this. This time was indeed a bit of a coincidence for him.

Putting aside the doubts in his mind, Li Daoxuan asked some more questions.

While eating the fruits on the plate, he told Gong Youwei about what she had sensed at the bottom of the well: "The well was originally a living well. It would have been hard for it to become a Yin water well if it hadn't undergone a major change. I guessed that there must be something foreign in the well, which caused the change."

"Then what Daoxuan meant?" asked the old village chief.

"In my opinion, why don't we ask a man born on a sunny day and a sunny hour to go down and investigate. Maybe he can find something." Li Daoxuan suggested.

"That's fine, but how do we find the person on this sunny day and at this sunny time?" the old village chief asked again.

"This person must be born on the day of Zi, Yin, Chen, Wu, Shen, Xu, and at the time of Zi, Yin, Chen, Wu, Shen, Xu, that is, a person born on a Yang day and a Yang time." Li Daoxuan told the old village chief the birth time of the person he needed, and then instructed. "It is best to be a young and strong man."

After listening to this, the old village chief nodded thoughtfully.

Seeing that things had been discussed, the old village chief wanted to keep Li Daoxuan at his home for lunch. Li Daoxuan was not in the mood to be polite, so he politely declined the old village chief's kindness and stood up to say goodbye.

As soon as Li Laosan and I walked out of the village chief's house, we saw Li Laoda sitting on the stone at the entrance of the village chief's house.

"Brother? Why are you here?"

"You and the Third Young Master left in a hurry. Dad was afraid something might happen to you, so he asked me to come with him to take a look. I saw that there were many people in the village chief's house, so I didn't go in."

"I'm sorry to have made Dad and Big Brother worried. Let's go back now."

Li Laosan helped Li Laoda up, and the three of them walked back.

(End of this chapter)