Due to the promotion period of "The Truth in Books", Luo Huai and Zhong Jiudao did not go home for the New Year this year. By the time they had time to go home, the first month of the lunar year had already passed.
The two first went to the Zhong family. The Zhong family had never had any experience with same-sex couples, and they didn't know whether to treat Luo Huai as a daughter-in-law or son-in-law. In the end, the head of the Zhong family simply waved his hand and said that it didn't matter whether he got married or not, and just treated him like his own child.
With the precedent of Luo Huai, the partners of the younger generations of the Zhong family will no longer be divided into daughters-in-law and sons-in-law. Both men and women will be treated the same and are all their own children.
After paying homage to his ancestors, Luo Huai obtained a genealogy of the Zhong family, which contained not only names of people but also the deeds of each ancestor of the Zhong family. It was like a strange novel and quite interesting.
Luo Huai initially thought he would be impatient, but he became so fascinated as he watched. Until midnight, when Zhong Jiudao poked his shoulder with the peach soul lamp out of boredom, Luo Huai didn't even notice it.
"Is it that interesting?" Zhong Jiudao asked.
Zhong Jiudao had read the stories in the family tree since he was a child, and he could recite them by heart. If he had known that Luo Huai liked reading the family tree so much, he would have recited them to Luo Huai directly.
"It looks very good," Luo Huai said seriously, "and I'm looking for the ancestor who was summoned to Chu Weiran that day. Do you know which one it is?"
"Each ancestor has his own name and his own runes." Zhong Jiudao replied, "If you want to summon a god, you must first get the consent of the ancestors, so the summoning rune is not something you can just draw casually. That day, a rune suddenly flashed in my mind, and now I can't draw it anymore, but I still remember what the rune looks like, I'll look for it."
Zhong Jiudao finally got the chance to look at the family tree with Luo Huai. He took the family tree and started to read it carefully from the past, all the way to the Republic of China period, before he found the familiar rune.
"This is it." Zhong Jiudao said, pointing at the rune.
"Zhong Suihe, 25 years old..." Luo Huai was slightly stunned when he saw the age of this ancestor, "How could he die so young?"
There are very few records about this ancestor in the family tree. Apart from the introduction of his parents, there is only a simple sentence: "The Zhong family has no skills suitable for Suihe to practice. Zhong Suihe went down the mountain to learn art at the age of 16. He died in the war at the age of 25. His friends carried his coffin back home."
The rest of the ancestors of the Zhong family, either born with poor health, lived to at least their 50s or 60s. Only Zhong Suihe died at the age of 25, and there is no record of the name of the "friend" who brought him home.
The ancestors of the Zhong family have passed away, and the oldest head of the Zhong family was born after the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is unknown what happened to Zhong Suihe a hundred years ago.
Luo Huai spread out his hands, remembering that this ancestor once drew a talisman on his palm to help him survive the disaster.
If it weren't for the protection of this talisman, when Fu Yue and the ghost Gu were destroying his body, Luo Huai's soul would have been injured by the battle between the two ghosts. Even if Zhong Jiudao was powerful, he couldn't save him.
Such a powerful ancestor is only 25 years old.
"Really? I don't know what kind of person Zhong Suihe is." Luo Huai said.
Zhong Jiudao said: "In fact, he may have already been reincarnated."
"How can we still pray to gods after reincarnation?" Luo Huai asked doubtfully.
Zhong Jiudao explained: "The ancestors who can be summoned are either souls that have become minor gods, and their souls are powerful enough to transcend time and space to respond to the requests of their descendants, or they may just be his remnant. Ghosts need to let go of their obsessions if they want to leave the mortal world, but if the cause and effect is too strong, even if the soul is reincarnated, the remnant will not dissipate."
Based on Zhong Jiudao's observation of the ancestor's invitation that day, this was probably just a regret.
"Then why did you suddenly have an idea and draw that talisman, and I just happened to mix the talisman with water and feed it to Chu Weiran to drink?" Luo Huai was puzzled.
Zhong Jiudao thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps Zhong Suihe died at the hands of the ghost Gu. He was obsessed with this and wanted to avenge himself, so he used me to come to the world and settle this grudge."
Luo Huai intuitively felt that this was not the reason. He had an urge to get to the bottom of this matter. He always felt that he would feel very sorry if he didn't know the story behind it.
However, during his time at the Zhong family, Luo Huai searched through all the family's books, but could not find any records about Zhong Suihe.
However, the head of the Zhong family vaguely remembered that his grandfather had mentioned this ancestor, saying that all things related to Zhong Suihe were taken away by his good friend who came back with the coffin. However, their family had no record of who that good friend was.
Since he couldn't find any records, Luo Huai could only give up.
After staying at the Zhong family for five days, Zhong Jiudao accompanied Luo Huai home.
Luo Huai's father and mother had been waiting for them. When Luo Huai called and said he wanted to go home, Luo's father said, "You don't have to go home. You can go directly to S City. Dad and Mom are also going back to S City to worship their ancestors."
After asking in detail, Luo Huai found out that his real hometown was S City. The Luo family in S City was a large family with many relatives. Luo's father and mother were restricted by the death calamity and had never returned to S City. It was not until this year when the calamity was finally understood that they decided to take Luo Huai and Zhong Jiudao back to their hometown to recognize their relatives.
Luo Huai put down the phone and said to Zhong Jiu in a daze: "I have always thought that the so-called calamity of the descendants of the Luo family only happened to me. It turns out that I have such a large family of relatives. No wonder the ancestors were so worried about the safety of the descendants of the Luo family."
It was their first time meeting relatives, and Luo Huai and Zhong Jiudao were both very nervous.
The Zhong family is large and has many relatives within five generations. However, Zhong Jiudao has a high status and has been trained as the heir to the family head. He does not need to greet his relatives, and he has almost no experience in getting along with close elders.
Luo Huai had always thought that his parents were only children, his grandparents were no longer alive, and he had few relatives at home. He had lived a quiet life since he was a child.
Now, Luo's father and mother told them that all the aunts and uncles were included. This made Luo Huai and Zhong Jiudao, who had no experience in getting along with relatives, hold hands tightly all the way, like a pair of young lovers facing a storm.
Fortunately, the Luo family has always been grateful to Luo Huai for bearing the hardships of the entire family. After arriving at his hometown, all the aunts and uncles were very kind. When they heard that Luo Huai's lover was Zhong Jiudao, they didn't resist much. They looked at each other and said "no offspring in destiny" and let it go.
After following his parents to worship their ancestors, Luo Huai learned that his legendary great-grandfather had no descendants, but died at a very young age from serving ghosts. The current generation of their family was adopted by their great-grandfather.
At the beginning, my great grandfather left a prophecy that the Luo family would encounter disasters, and also left a solution, requiring someone to adopt a child under his name, and count it as his direct descendant. This child and his descendants will bear all the disasters of the Luo family, so that others will be safe.
At first, no one was willing to adopt the child. During the next ten years, the Luo family suffered continuous disasters. A young child who had lost his parents voluntarily adopted the child under the name of the great-grandfather. This man was Luo Huai's grandfather.
"No wonder I always feel that my great-grandfather's age doesn't match my age. I always thought that my parents were born when my grandfather was in his 40s or 50s. It turns out that when my grandfather was born, my great-grandfather had been dead for a long time." Luo Huai said.
Zhong Jiudao was very grateful for everything the ancestor of the Luo family had done for the present world. He and Luo Huai went to worship the ancestor, and only then did he know that Master Luo Tian’s name was Luo Yanqing, and he was only 26 years old when he died.
The Luo family has been collecting Luo Yanqing's relics. Today, Luo Huai came back and wanted to know about his great-grandfather's life very much, so they handed the box containing Luo Yanqing's relics to Luo Huai.
Luo Huai opened the box, and on the top of the box were several tablets.
The reason why Luo Yanqing violated the rules of the Heavenly Master Realm, fed ghosts with his own body, and used ghosts to harm people was to avenge his several senior brothers who died in battle when they went down the mountain. These tablets represent his senior brothers.
Luo Huai picked up a few tablets, one of which had Zhong Suihe's name written on it.
Zhong Jiudao and Luo Huai looked at each other. They never thought that their ancestors had such a connection.
There were not many of Luo Yanqing's things in the box. Most of them were belonging to a man named Zhong Suihe. It seemed that it was Luo Yanqing who escorted the coffin back to the Zhong family, and it was he who took away Zhong Suihe's belongings.
When looking through the relics, Zhong Jiudao found a box with a talisman attached to it. Judging from the effect of the talisman, it should be the magic tool that Zhong Suihe used during his lifetime.
Zhong Jiudao opened the box, which contained two dusty pens, one was a writing brush, and the other was a fountain pen from that era, but both pens were broken in the middle by someone.
Judging from the relics, Zhong Suihe should also be a Taoist priest who is good at drawing talismans.
There were also many letters between Zhong Suihe and Luo Yanqing among the relics. After reading the letters, Zhong Jiudao and Luo Huai gradually understood the relationship between the two.
It turned out that Zhong Sui was two years older than Luo Yanqing. When he died in battle, Luo Yanqing was 23 years old.
Zhong Suihe couldn't find any magic that suited him in the Zhong family, so he went down the mountain to learn and became a disciple of the Luoshu School.
In ancient times, there was the River Map and the Luoshu. The Luoshu School was a school that was good at deduction and calculation. Their techniques were mainly used to help people avoid misfortune and seek good fortune. In fact, their techniques were not suitable for Zhong Suihe.
But the Luoshu School is also an ancient sect with a large collection of books. Zhong Suihe found a technique that suits him among the books in the Luoshu School, and found the material that was said to be Zhong Kui's beard to make a brush, and became a Taoist priest who was good at drawing talismans.
Luo Yanqing is the youngest disciple of Luoshu Sect. When Zhong Suihe first joined the sect, Luo Yanqing was only 14 years old, a child with low magical power and afraid of the dark. Zhong Suihe is about the same age as Luo Yanqing, so the master let them live together, with Zhong Suihe accompanying Luo Yanqing.
Luo Yanqing had a great talent for deduction. Just by looking at the fallen leaves on the ground, he knew what would happen in the next few days and thus obtained the true teachings of the Luoshu School.
As early as when he finished learning the last secret book at the age of 16, Luo Yanqing saw the look of death on the faces of everyone in the sect.
At that time, there was war and the whole country was in ruins, with corpses of famine everywhere. Luo Yanqing knew when, where and why his brothers and master would die, but he had no way to stop it.
The master of the Luoshu School spent his entire life calculating the country's destiny for the next hundred years, and died with a smile on his face.
Before his death, he told his disciples: "You stay away from the world and you can ensure a safe life. If you go out into the world and gain experience, you can't change the fate of this country, but you will ruin your own life."
At that time, Zhong Suihe only asked his master one thing: "You can't change the fate of a country, but what about individuals?"
The master smiled and said, "Your life is worth hundreds of innocent lives."
"Enough." Zhong Suihe thanked his master for his years of teaching, resolutely broke the pen in his hand, and went down the mountain to join the army.
Since this ability is limited by the laws of the Heavenly Master Realm and cannot be used, then he doesn't need it. At least he still has a life and can serve this country.
The 16-year-old Luo Yanqing watched the 18-year-old Zhong Suihe go down the mountain. He had been waiting for his letter on the mountain for seven years.
As Luo Yanqing deduced, Zhong Suihe died at the age of 25. He waited for the last letter on a specific day, which was the news of Zhong Suihe's death.
Luo Yanqing's magic can see through the past and present. He doesn't understand why his senior brothers want to go down the mountain to die when something has already been destined.
When seeing Zhong Suihe's body, Luo Yanqing understood that there was no such thing as destiny.
If everyone knows what the fate of the country will be like a hundred years later, and does not work hard because of this "destiny", then the "destiny" will become false.
It is precisely because of countless people like my senior brother, who knew it was impossible but still did it, who knew they could not save the country by their own strength but could save the people around them, and sacrificed their lives for the tiny hope, that the country has a good fortune for the next hundred years.
After understanding this truth, Luo Yanqing looked in the mirror and saw his own dead appearance.
Even so, he has to move towards this "destiny".
He is only good at calculations and is a useless scholar. His physical strength is not as good as those of his senior brothers who have been practicing swordsmanship for many years.
Luo Yanqing did a fortune telling for himself and found that with his physical strength, if he went to the battlefield like his senior brothers, he would die in the artillery fire in the first battle, and would not be able to save anyone. He could only give away his life.
Since this life is "destined" to be lost, Luo Yanqing must maximize the value of this life.
The Heavenly Master cannot use ghosts to hurt people, even if the "people" hurt are invaders.
In order to figure out a viable path, Luo Yanqing made countless deductions, but each time he could only figure out a dead end.
He wanted to be willful, he could be willful in this life, but he could not bring harm to his innocent family members because of his willfulness. He wanted to find a way to survive for his family.
Luo Yan has been clearing up for two whole years, but still has not found the result.
Until one day, when he was looking through his senior brother's belongings, he found a fountain pen in the box besides the broken brush.
This pen was not put there by him, and he didn't know when it appeared in his senior brother's magic weapon box.
Luo Yanqing took out the pen left by his senior brother and used it to carefully calculate. This time, he figured out the way to survive.
It seemed like his senior brother was telling him that if he wanted to do something, he could just do it, and if anything went wrong, his senior brother would cover for him.
Just like the years they had spent together, Zhong Suihe always held his hand and walked through the dark night when they could not see the way forward.
That night, Luo Yanqing coughed up blood due to disobeying the will of heaven. He was extremely thin and knew that he had been tempted to test the will of heaven so many times and that he would not live long.
At the last moment of his life, he made all preparations, left letters to his family on what to do in the future, found some evil spirits who were not destined to die, trapped them in his villa, and fed the ghosts with his own body.
Luo Yanqing has no body, he only left behind a cenotaph. His soul will wander in the human world for decades until Luo Huai, who is destined to end this reincarnation, is born.
But at the moment of death, he vaguely saw the shadow of Zhong Suihe.
It turns out that the senior brother has not left all these years and has been watching everything he does
When Luo Yanqing saw Zhong Suihe reaching out his hand to him, he, who should have stayed in the world to bear the blame, couldn't help but hold his brother's hand.
"Let's go." Zhong Suihe said to him.
"But I still have to wait for the end." Luo Yanqing looked back at the villa.
Zhong Suihe smiled and said, "What can a lonely ghost do? He can do nothing but watch. Don't you want to end this matter yourself? Don't be afraid, I will accompany you."
Seeing Zhong Suihe's look, Luo Yanqing gradually felt relieved. He nodded, and followed Zhong Suihe.
That night, Luo Huai and Zhong Jiudao had the same dream, but from slightly different perspectives.
Luo Huai dreamed that he turned into Luo Yanqing. Since he was young, he had watched his motivated senior brother and always envied him, longing to become a brave man like his senior brother.
Zhong Jiudao dreamed that he became Zhong Suihe, a person who did things first and talked later, just like in his current life.
Zhong Suihe felt that the Zhong family could not find the magic he wanted, so he left home and searched everywhere. Zhong Suihe found that magic could not save the country, so he broke his pen and joined the army. Zhong Suihe died in battle without regrets, but found that there was a junior brother in the sect who cried for them.
I thought that keeping my junior brother here would save his life, but when I turned into a wandering ghost, I realized that the living person is the one who bears everything.
He had no regrets in his life, except that he was worried about this little junior brother who was afraid of the dark.
He saw that his junior fellow apprentice was planning to avenge them. Zhong Suihe wanted to stop him, but he felt that he had no right to stop him, so he disappeared and stayed with his junior fellow apprentice.
My junior brother is a thoughtful person. When he decides to sacrifice himself, he also takes the living people into consideration.
Zhong Suihe knew what his junior fellow apprentice brother was worried about, and he was willing to face it together with him, even if it cost him his next life.
When he had this idea, he became a link in Luo Yanqing's deduction, and Luo Yanqing's calculations finally came to a perfect circle.
As a disciple of Luoshu Sect, Zhong Suihe was able to calculate that the end of this cycle would fall on the person who was destined to be called "Luo Huai", who was also the end chosen by his junior fellow apprentice for himself.
Luo Yanqing is responsible for his own actions, and his reincarnation must be Luo Huai.
But he has already paid with his life for it. Is he going to die just to draw this circle
Zhong Suihe would not allow this to happen. He wanted to find the reincarnated Luo Yanqing to help him through this difficult time.
When Luo Yanqing was calculating, Zhong Suihe was also calculating with him. He found that even if he was included, he still could not save "Luo Huai's" life.
It seemed as if he and his fellow apprentice were destined to be separated forever, in life and death.
Fortunately, the Zhong family has a Valley of Regret, which can retain Zhong Suihe's obsession.
If one day, the child named Luo Huai enters the Valley of Remorse and takes away his remorse, then there is still hope for everything.
But how can Luo Huai, who has nothing to do with the Zhong family, be allowed to enter the Valley of Regret? That is not a place that a normal person can endure.
Zhong Suihe thought about it for a long time but couldn't come up with a solution, so he decided to solve the problem in the next life.
Decades passed in a flash, and Luo Huai entered the Valley of Remorse because he liked Zhong Jiudao.
Cannian, who had been sleeping in the Cannian Valley, felt that the opportunity had come, so he took the opportunity to entangle himself with his junior brother, and quietly stayed by his side, waiting for the moment of destiny.
The next morning, Luo Huai and Zhong Jiudao opened their eyes at the same time, and for a moment they couldn't tell whether the person in front of them was Luo Yanqing or Zhong Suihe.
The two of them paused for a moment, then slowly recalled everything that had happened since they met.
They are not Zhong Suihe and Luo Yanqing. They were born in an era of peace and prosperity, and witnessed the end of a cycle together. They will not end up separated by life and death.
After offering sacrifices to the ancestors, Zhong Jiudao and Luo Huai returned to S City, called Chu Weiran out, brought him to a tablet, pressed his head and lit a stick of incense on the tablet.
"Second senior brother Chu Yaonian? Who is this person and why should I worship him?" Chu Weiran said, touching his head.
"Pray more to grow your hair longer." said Zhong Jiudao.
When he heard that it could grow hair, Chu Weiran didn't care who it was and bowed again.
Luo Huai placed the tablets of several disciples of Luoshu Sect in his villa, and would worship them during festivals in the future, and also let them see the real world.