[Ode to Joy] My surname is Tan, my ancestor's original surname is Ming

The process of finding Cui Rujing was not as smooth as finding Cui Youzhi.Tan Zongming sent a team to the south to search for several weeks on the unrecognizable Gaodi Street, only to confirm that the Cheng family moved overseas with their family on the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and scattered in all directions. The team with Cui Rujing first went to the United States and then returned to Hong Kong. In 1964, Cui Rujing, who was 22 years old at the time, was married to a descendant of the He family in Macau.This Mr. He and the gambling king are no longer close relatives, but they are the He family after all, and they are willing to work hard. After middle age, they occupy a place in the circle of rich people in Hong Kong and Macau.Cui Rujing had already changed her surname back to Ming, and the fortune-teller changed her scientific name. After she got married, she took her husband's surname, and usually used her English name to show others.

However, it is man-made. On a hot and humid afternoon in early August, Tan Zongming still met the 74-year-old Cui Rujing, Ms. He Mingshu Yang.

Tan Zongming was not without emotion when he saw this old woman living alone in the mansion on Bishop Hill for the first time.She is the biological daughter of Uncle Mingtai, his aunt, and the adopted daughter Cui Erkui and his wife have raised for three years.She was the only descendant of the Ruo Ming family except for Tan Zheng.Even Wang Manchun couldn't help exclaiming when she saw her photo, "This aquiline nose looks exactly like Mingtai!"

Tan Zongming has never seen what Mingtai looks like, but this Mrs. He has a majestic face, and she still has a pair of shrewd and sharp eyes in her old age. She looks at Tan and Wang as if they are interrogating prisoners, and her speech and behavior are even more impolite. After Tan Zongming finished asking questions like checking his household registration, his gaze turned to Wang Manchun again.

"Are you Mr. Tan's cousin?"

"Correct."

"Aunt cousin? Aunt cousin?"

Wang Manchun frowned invisibly, "I am his aunt's daughter."

"As far as I know, Mr. Tan was born in Beijing, his mother is from Beijing, and you are a native of Nantong."

"My mother was separated from her family since she was a child, and was adopted in Nantong. We only met recently."

Wang Manchun didn't change his face when he lied, but Cui Rujing's aura was stronger than hers, "You are just an in-law of the Ming family, and Ling Tang and Aunt Ling have been separated for a long time. What does it matter to you. May I ask what capacity Miss Fan is sitting here?"

Tan Zongming quickly smoothed things over, "In the past six months of searching for Ming's family, Xiaomei has helped a lot..."

"I didn't ask you."

Tan Zongming frowned, and wanted to explain, but Wang Manchun reached out to stop him, and turned to Cui Rujing, "Mrs. He, I'm sorry to bother you. Since you don't welcome me, I'll just go."

"Little beauty!"

"I'm fine. You talk slowly. I'll go back to the hotel first." She shook his arm lightly, "Come back early, I'll wait for you to eat."

The last sentence was spoken in a soft voice, which miraculously soothed the anger that had just risen up in him.

When Wang Manchun left, Tan Zongming sat down in front of Cui Rujing again, "Mrs. He," he no longer struggled with whether to call her aunt, "If you have anything to say, can you just say it now?"

Cui Rujing smiled gracefully, "I have nothing to hide, I really don't know anything about the person you are looking for."

"Then why do you need to dismiss Xiaomei?"

"I'm not pushing her away, I'm asking her to leave." Cui Rujing didn't mean to be tactful at all, "I don't like her, I don't want to see her, it's as simple as that."

"Mrs. He, this kind of irrationality is not in line with your identity and qualifications."

"You are mistaken, my identity and qualifications do not need to be rational to you."

Living in a high position for many years, Tan Zongming has few interpersonal relationships that he can't handle. However, with one Wang Manchun, one Cui Rujing, and two women on the mountain and down the mountain, he has tasted enough to suffer.

It's just that Wang Manchun and him are becoming more and more tacit understanding, but Cui Rujing is not getting along no matter what.According to her, if it weren't for Tan Zongming's extraordinary worth and no suspicion of seeking promotion through relationships, she wouldn't even open the door to them.

When Cui Rujing sent him down the mountain, He Zhengliang, son of Cui Rujing, kept apologizing for his mother, "Jiaci's health is not as good as before, and his temper is getting worse. Cousin Zongming, please take care of him, please take care of him."

Cui Rujing only called Mr. Tan, but this Young Master He called out his cousin one by one, one with a white face and one with a red face, both descendants of the Ming family, what can Tan Zongming say?Only wry smile.

Back at Mandarin Oriental, he went to Wang Manchun for dinner, and told her in detail what he had learned today, "The person who picked her up at Cuijiazhuang should be the one arranged by Mingcheng. Kenci has no value, so there is no need to pretend anymore. The military commander only took away Mingtai's real child, and left Qingshan in Zhangbei to fend for himself."

"In this way, it is really not easy for Cui Erkui and his wife to stay with Qingshan forever."

"So Qingshan has been talking about her all her life, and she hasn't even forgotten Erni who has only been together for three years. But I asked Aunt Rujing if she would like to meet Qingshan and Cui Youzhi, but she refused. She was not even interested in getting to know my parents. "Cui Rujing was too young when she was in Cui's family, and it's normal that she didn't develop a family relationship, but Tan Zheng and her are legitimate cousins, the only two remaining children of the Ming family, and she didn't even want to see them. Their nature is so cold, Wang Manchun couldn't help but sigh, "Minglou and Mingtai have such a good relationship, and they know each other well, so I don't know how they will feel."

"Aunt Rujing's marriage to the He family was arranged by the Cheng family and the Xu family. They have never been in harmony with each other. They had a child who died young and never had a second life."

"Where did the two brothers and sisters, He Zhengliang and He Minliang, come from?"

"I only found out today that they were all born in the outer room, and they were brought back to be raised under the name of the main house. Both Mr. He and the outer room passed away very early, and these two siblings actually grew up with Aunt Ru Jing."

Wang Manchun felt sorry for her, "It turns out that she is also a miserable person."

"Talking with her, I feel that she has a complicated attitude towards the Ming family." Tan Zongming said, "Uncle Mingtai is on the genealogy, and she is from the Ming family. No one can deny this. In her own small Buddhist hall There are also the spiritual seats of Mingtai and Cheng Jinyun. But Mingtai’s uncle’s identity as a double agent made her, like my father, live in the shadow of an unknown paternal line for a long time. The Tan family is fine, decades of social changes in the mainland have diluted this In the 70s and [-]s, Hong Kong and Macau were strictly classed, and Aunt Rujing’s situation was similar to that of the illegitimate daughter of the Cheng family. Her life’s relationship was not going well, so she blamed all of these on the Ming family’s misfortune.”

Wang Manchun was silent for a moment, "Her anger is not unreasonable, the Ming family sacrificed more than one generation."

"I have no intention of arguing who is the culprit. I'm just surprised that her hostility towards you is so strong."

"It's not surprising at all." Wang Manchun looked at the neon-lit Taipa Island outside the window, with a dazed expression, "Wang Manchun almost killed Mingtai, no, if it wasn't for Mingtai's fate, he wouldn't be able to get out of 76 if he changed someone else. No, but Cui Rujing, there is no one like her in the world. Between me and her, there is a life-and-death enmity, and she doesn't like me, that is also destined."

"Don't think about it, Cui Rujing doesn't know anything."

"What does Qingshan know? In that photo, he can't even tell that you look like Minglou, but he can tell that I look like Wang Manchun at the first glance... There are many things that you don't need to know, just your intuition. What you have done It will be engraved on your body, that smell, no matter how many bodies you change, it won’t be able to wash it off.”

After that Qingming night, Wang Manchun never showed the emotion of being immersed in the past, but today, he saw that wandering state on her face again.Tan Zongming's heartstrings tightened, and he quickly held her hand and put it in his palm, "That's Aunt Rujing's problem, it has nothing to do with you, don't think about it anymore. It's still early, I'll take you to the casino."

"It can't stop here." She pulled him back, "According to Cui Rujing, he left the mainland in 1945 and never went back. So who was it that appeared next to Mingcheng in 1950?"

"I don't know, I have no clue."

"Why don't you know? If you can find Mingtai's children, you can definitely find Mingcheng. Tan Zongming, let's think again..."

"Xiaomei, we have tried our best. It is not easy to find Qingshan and Aunt Rujing. Can you be more careful and don't push yourself so hard?"

It was only at this time that Wang Manchun seemed to wake up, "Are you talking about me? I don't think I can't see it. I'm prepared to find it or not, but I don't think it's time to give up yet..."

"Xiaomei, look at me and listen to me." Tan Zongming supported her shoulders, "Whether you admit it or not, the negative impact of looking for Mingcheng has exceeded its own meaning. If rectifying the name of the dead is at the cost of making the living more miserable, then I would rather not do it."

The shadow of the Qingming night was so deeply burned into his memory that every time he thought about it, he was still afraid, as if she would suddenly disappear at any time, and he wanted to confirm that she was by his side right away.And the old affairs of the Ming family are like a cloud of fog, the closer he gets, the more he can't catch her. She who wanders in the Ming family's story seems to be the girl who couldn't love and hated because of love, he even felt that Well, what he likes may not be the alley princess Fan Shengmei at all, what makes him fall in love is always the soul that appears in Fan Shengmei's body for some reason, the soul that belongs to Wang Manchun.

This soul was born in the wrong time, and it was a fate that he forced. In front of her, he was more concerned about gains and losses than ever before.

"Xiaomei, the personnel affairs of the previous generations, I hope to stop here, okay?"

"What do you want, I don't force it, I won't give up anyway."

Look, this is the typical Wang Manchun tone.

Tan Zongming had nothing to do with her, "Xiaomei, you clearly know that we are on the same boat."

"So don't try to persuade me. Mingtai's old grievances are irretrievable, and Mingcheng's matter will not be rushed for a while. Don't worry, I will adjust myself." Wang Manchun has completely recovered his composure, "What did you just say? Go to the casino? I can't, but I can catch cheaters, Tan Zongming, do you want to see him?"

"I don't want to." Tan Zongming bent his palms like handcuffs and clasped her wrists, "If you don't know how to play, just watch me play. Be quiet and don't cause trouble."

The author has something to say:

Oh oh, what should happen will happen, oh oh

Don't say that I gave too much advance notice...