After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 769 Hometown
Haitang had heard some words about the old members of the Hai family from her grandparents over the years, but the two elders refused to explain in detail, so she didn't know much.

However, the couple must have had an unhappy relationship with the eldest son in their hometown. If not, Hai Xiya would not have made up his mind to abandon everything in his hometown and move to Chang'an with his wife. If it was just to help his cousin, the relationship between them would not be so deep. He chose to be transferred to Chang'an, and he originally wanted to make a career in the Northwest Frontier Army. He could no longer see a way forward in his hometown of Yongping Prefecture. After leaving, he seldom wrote back. This was due to the long distance and inconvenient communication, as well as the bad relationship between him and his brother.

But now, with the passage of time, Hai Xiya has experienced a lot and has a broader mind. Thinking of his late mother buried in his hometown, he wants to return to his roots. He can let go of the unpleasant past with his brother.

Compared to his relief, Ma's resentment towards the eldest house of the Hai family was even stronger. She was born and raised in Chang'an. She was hastily married to a foreign land because her father died suddenly in office. Although her mother-in-law was kind, she was often made difficult by the eldest house. After her mother-in-law passed away, there was no elder to protect her and her husband, and life became more and more difficult. These difficulties were superimposed on the pain of leaving her hometown and being away from her relatives. The grievances suddenly increased tenfold, and she would never forget them for the rest of her life! Now when she thinks back on it, she is still full of anger.

She still feels that the most correct thing she has done in her life is to persuade her husband to come to Chang'an! Even though they only stayed in Chang'an for more than ten years, their life was not very satisfactory, and they spent the next ten years in the border town, but that life was better than staying in Yongping!
Ma couldn't let it go, but she couldn't bring it up in front of her husband, for fear of saying bad things about his hometown and relatives, which would make him angry. Although she obeyed her husband's wishes and agreed to return to her hometown in Yongping to retire, she had already been thinking in her heart that if she could stay in the capital to live with her grandson, she would try her best to stay in the capital; if she couldn't stay in the capital, she would try her best to persuade her husband to move to Yongping Prefecture and go back to her hometown every year to sweep the graves. As for the houses and fields originally allocated to their family in the hometown farm, let the people of the eldest house take them, who cares? ! She is now a respectable official wife, is she going to fight with a few country women over a piece of cloth and a few heads of garlic? !

Ma would not voice her complaints about the Hai family in front of her husband, but she was happy to do so in front of her grandchildren. In addition, Haitang was interested in finding out about her hometown, so she became even more excited. Based on what Haitang had gotten out of her grandmother and what Haijiao occasionally revealed about her experiences in her hometown in her previous life, she could basically guess what had happened to the Hai family in recent years.

The Hai family's hometown is in a place called Jianghaitun under the jurisdiction of Yongping Prefecture. It is close to the sea, the fields are not very fertile, and the grain output is limited. However, because of the hot springs and the advantages of terrain, they have made a living by growing medicinal herbs and fruits, raising pigs and sheep, and trading with the military and civilians of Shanhaiguan not far away for decades, and they live a relatively rich life.

The Hai family was originally a military household in Shanhaiguan. Their ancestor, a military officer, settled in Jianghaitun and moved his family here. Generation after generation, they have multiplied and now have hundreds of people. They were originally a big family in the village, with the highest prestige and wealthiest, and they owned the largest house and the most land.

There were also refugees who had migrated here in the early years. Among them, there was a family with the largest population, whose surname happened to be Jiang. After settling down in the village, they also multiplied from generation to generation and became a wealthy family. The Jiang family did not have as much land as the Hai family, but the family had people going out to do business for generations, accumulating a lot of wealth. They bought land with the money and became respectable rich people. Some family members also found jobs in the nearby county government and became local clerks. With both wealth and power, their ambitions also grew.

The Jiang family did not expand outward, so they set their sights on the Hai family's assets. At first, they only thought of targeting the down-and-out members of the Hai family's side branches and purchasing their land. Gradually, they even set their sights on the assets of the Hai family's main branch.

Since Hai Xiya got the military post inherited from his ancestors and separated from the family and moved to Chang'an, the Hai family has never produced a military officer. The father and son of the eldest house have always lived on their old capital and are not very smart. The Jiang family deliberately planned and slowly gave away the land and property. When Hai Xiya's eldest brother Hai Dongling came to his senses, it was too late. He died of anger, and his son died early, leaving only an orphan and a widow.

The daughter-in-law of the eldest house is Fang, the cousin of Haijiao and Haitang. She was originally the granddaughter of the Hai family. Her deceased mother was the half-sister of the Hai brothers. Because her parents died when she was young, she was taken in by her uncles to be raised. She was engaged to her eldest uncle's cousin since she was a child, and they got married naturally when she grew up.

When Ma followed her husband and left Yongping Prefecture, Fang was already living in Hai's family. She still remembered the character of this niece and niece-in-law who had not yet married into the family, and she had a good impression of her. According to Hai Jiao, after he returned to his hometown after many hardships in his previous life, he lived a stable life and was able to go to school thanks to the care of this cousin.

But the cousin's mother was also in a very difficult situation at that time. The Jiang family pressed forward step by step. For the safety of the children, she secretly sent the children born to her late husband's concubine away from the village, and let them live in the city incognito, so as not to be discovered and murdered by the Jiang family. She only left her own daughter, but her daughter's life was not easy. Among the Hai family's side branches, some were sad and angry about the situation of the Hai family, but they were powerless. Some people colluded with the Jiang family and betrayed the Hai family's direct line, which made the cousin's mother Fang suffer a lot of grievances.

Fang endured all these grievances. She struggled to support several children and took good care of Hai Jiao who had returned. She hoped that he and his illegitimate son Hai Baozhu would be successful in their studies and have a bright future, so that they could support the family and come back to help the Hai family and get rid of the Jiang family's oppression.

However, before that day came, she lost her life.

Hai Jiao refused to elaborate on the situation at that time, nor did he mention what grievances Fang had suffered. He only mentioned that when he hurriedly fled his hometown, his cousin Hai Baozhu had died and his cousin Hai Baozhen was missing. After he went to the capital and became a spy for the Jinyiwei, he also tried to find out the news from his hometown, but he only knew that the Jiang family had climbed up the ladder and was extremely prosperous, but the Hai family members had died one after another. He did not dare to go back, but only hoped that one day he would be able to stand out and not be afraid of the power of the Jiang family, and go back to build a grave for his relatives and burn incense.

Unfortunately, he also did not live to see that day and lost his life in the capital.

Haijiao strongly agreed with his grandfather Hai Xiya's idea of ​​writing letters to the old family members as soon as possible. Even if their family could not go back for the time being, as long as they contacted their cousin Fang and the clansmen and let the Jiang family know that an official had emerged from the Hai family, and a Beijing official at that, the Jiang family would be wary and restrained in their behavior, which would make Fang feel much more at ease.

Unfortunately, there was no response from my hometown, and I don’t know what happened.

Haijiao didn't seem surprised by this, but he didn't say much, and didn't seem that worried. It was as if he firmly believed that the old family members must have received his grandfather's letter, and it was normal for them not to reply.

Haitang could only guess in her heart, could it be that Fang or other members of the Hai family had some unspeakable secret?

(End of this chapter)