Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 109 Huang Family Ancestral Hall
Wang Heng originally thought that Huang Yongning was going to entertain the clan elders for a drink today, and he must have already had lunch with him. Huang Yongning was too lazy to deal with these clan relatives anymore.

Looking out the window, he saw that it was still early in the day, so he asked the boy to go back first. He finished writing the big characters, sorted out his pen and ink, and then came on his own.

On weekdays in the academy room, the young man would help him prepare pen and ink. It was rare for him to do these things, so he was clumsy. He always thought that it would be done in a moment, but it took a lot of effort.

By the time he went downstairs and stepped through the hanging flower door of the inner hall, night had fallen, the snow was shining brightly, and there was a light breeze. He was afraid it would clear up early tomorrow morning.The murmur of people in the front yard could be heard in the distance, making the inner hall even more quiet.

It was freezing cold at that time, and the side room where Huang Yongning lived on weekdays had brocade curtains hanging down. It was mid-afternoon, and the little girl who rolled up the curtains hid somewhere.

Wang Heng was about to push open the brocade curtain when he suddenly heard a "clang" in the side room, the tea cup was thrown to pieces, and Huang Yongning's voice shouted angrily: "You bastard, I won't tell him to come now, and you are pointing at someone." Support him and let him realize his eternal dream. Now I alone have the final say in the east building."

This was a bit embarrassing. Wang Hengfang stepped hard and made some noise. The little girl in the back room hurriedly came out to serve and reported loudly: "Seventh Young Master Wang has arrived."

Huang Yongning came forward with a smile: "Seventh Young Master, please come here."

Turning around, he saw the middle-aged housekeeper standing beside him. He did not shy away from Wang Heng and said to the housekeeper: "Go and talk to him now. There will be many benefits waiting for him. If you talk nonsense, let me I know, I can’t spare you.”

The words were stern, but Huang Yongning's expression was just calm. He and Wang Heng sat down separately and chatted. The atmosphere at the table was full of laughter and harmony, and it seemed that his mood improved quickly.

In the past few days, Wang Heng had the intuition that Huang Yongning was very affectionate to him, and they got along very harmoniously with each other. They seemed to have some things in common. Maybe they both came from a small rural eunuch's family, but he didn't know why Huang Yongning married into the Huang family.

Wang Heng knows that he is not good at drinking. He always refuses to drink at any banquet, and he never drinks when going out. Today, because Huang Yongning was angry at first and then happy, he took a few sips with him, and unknowingly drank two glasses of rice wine. After a while, Huang Yongning felt his face and heart pounding, so he asked the waiter to take him back to the west wing on the second floor of the outer hall.

Wang Heng had nothing to do, so he fell asleep. In the middle of the night, he woke up slowly and suddenly felt that his throat was about to burst into flames, but it turned out that he woke up from thirst.

There was a pot of fragrant tea on the round table beside the bed, which Liu's mother had brewed in the afternoon. At this moment, she didn't care that the tea was cold, and sifted a cup to moisten her throat.

After drinking the cold fragrant tea, all sleepiness disappeared without realizing it.I was wondering if the snow had stopped, so I opened the curtain and looked sideways out of the window.

The sky was dark outside the house. I don’t know what time it was. Looking down from the west wing, I could see the shed set up as a dojo in the east building. There were several lanterns hanging on it, emitting a dim light. The snow was not falling heavily, but it didn’t stop. One by one, they rotated and flew down in the air.

Wang Heng sighed in his heart and lay in front of the window in a daze.

Suddenly he saw a man in the corridor downstairs, wearing a long cloak and carrying a lantern, heading south. Wang Heng had good eyesight, and a tent had been set up for the dojo tonight. There were a few more lanterns hanging downstairs, making the room brighter than usual, which made Wang Heng He recognized this person at a glance as Huang Yongning, the Huang family's aunt.

It's snowing at night, where is Huang Yongning going alone?

Wang Heng has lived in Wanhu Village for several days, and now he has some understanding of the terrain in the village.

The east building where Huang's family lived is located in the easternmost part of Wubao. There are no other residential buildings nearby. It is located in a relatively remote area. Facing west and north is the center of Wubao. Walking westward leads to alleys extending in all directions.According to Huang Yongning's current direction, the verandah goes due south. A few hundred steps away, he can only reach Huang's ancestral hall.

Huang's ancestral hall, Wang Heng's mind was spinning, and he suddenly recalled hearing two meaningless words in the fake cave during the day, "Tonight the ancestral hall...", could it be that the person invited by the two people in the cave was Huang Yongning, late at night There is always no good thing. I don’t know how secret it is, but it is not something that an outsider like myself can comment on.

Feeling confused and sleepy, I just leaned against the window and waited for dawn.

Unexpectedly, tonight was not peaceful. For a moment, there was a faint light under the verandah, moving from west to east, then turning south before reaching the east tower.

Wang Heng took a look and saw another person holding a lantern facing south. This person was very bloated and should be an adult man. Wang Heng couldn't recognize who it was for a moment.

His mind was spinning, and his heartbeat was pounding in the center of his chest for no reason. Wang Heng remembered the parting words he said in the academy, how Huang Yuntai was afraid of his clan members and directly called them enemies.

Huang Yuntai was invited to Sanying Bridge, but was never seen again. Wang Heng already knew in his heart that Brother Yuntai must have been killed.

Now, Huang Yongning, who is also a direct descendant of the eldest family, was invited to the Huang family's ancestral hall. Wang Heng frowned. Are these two things related?Will Huang Yongning be in danger?Feelings of uneasiness came over me. If I could come to Xishan Island earlier, Brother Yuntai would have someone to rely on.

Wang Heng was determined not to stand by and watch Huang Yongning get into trouble again.

Thinking of this, Wang Heng was horrified and couldn't sit still.He put on his cotton-padded jacket and tights neatly, and because of the severe cold in the middle of the night, he also put on the leather robe that Liu's mother had given him to replace.

There was no lantern in the west wing, but there was a spare glazed oil lamp in the outer study. Wang Heng felt that holding an oil lamp was more windproof than a candle on a snowy night, so he lit the oil lamp and quietly went downstairs.

Wang Heng walked to the south branch of the verandah, near the place where he had seen Huang Yongning before, and heard four drums coming from the gate tower of Wanhuzhuang in the northwest.

It was already the fourth watch. It would be unbelievable to say that there was no conspiracy to invite guests to the ancestral hall so late.

Huang's Ancestral Hall is located directly south of the east building. There are no residential buildings nearby and it is surrounded by ancient trees. Wang Heng has not been there during the day and only knows the general direction.

The snow was still falling in bits and pieces, and it would not be able to cover the walking footprints for a while. For Wang Heng, he only needed to follow the footprints in the snow to follow the traces of the two people in front of him.

The footprints stopped at the east corner door of the ancestral hall. Wang Heng looked up and saw a dim light coming from the crack of the red painted corner door. He pushed it gently and found that the door was ajar. There was obviously someone inside, because the sound of quarreling immediately came. The kind of loud arguments that don’t hold back.

The winter solstice festival was held in the ancestral hall a few days ago, and it was not cleaned well afterwards. The smell of incense smoke was very pungent.The Huang Clan Ancestral Hall is quite large, and even with candles lit, it still looks very dark.

When Wang Heng pushed open the door of the ancestral hall, he saw a white shadow floating towards the beam of the ancestral hall without any warning. He suddenly turned pale with horror. He rubbed his eyes and looked intently to see where the white shadow was. It was just mottled light and shadow from the candlelight.He patted his chest and prayed silently: "Ancestors of the Huang family, I came to disturb you late at night just to save the direct descendants of your family. Please don't scare me."

(End of this chapter)