In the town of Qingyang at dawn.
Although it wasn't June yet, the city of Fenghai was already experiencing summer weather since it was located inland.
Many old farmers rode scooters out to their farms while the weather was still cool in the morning and had started working.
Upon closer scrutiny, it was evident that most of the farmers were over 50 years old, and barely any youngsters were involved in this ancient profession.
These farmers could very well be the last generation of farmers in China.
In a few decades, the sight of farmers toiling under the sun would probably become a rare sight. Instead, they would get replaced by loud farming machinery.
This noble and ancient profession would end up going into decline.
"Farmers toiled to help revive China and make it flourish. I hope the new generation won't turn their backs on them."
A few professors had come to the countryside to conduct research. They couldn't help deeply sighing as they watched the old farmers laboring with their backs towards the sun.
Not far from the professors lay an old residence resembling a ferocious beast standing erect in these ancient lands.
The old residence was immensely big.
In ancient times, only royalty was able to possess property like this.
It was certainly unusual for such a huge residence to be found in a rural town in modern times.
Indeed, this old mansion was none other than Old Madam Chu's abode.
The old mansion caught the professors' attention almost instantly.
“Sir, is anyone still living in that mansion? Is it privately owned?" one of the professors asked an old man walking by quizzically.
The old gentleman glanced before replying, "Of course, it's privately owned.”
"Considering its size, doesn't it mean it's against the regulations? Why hasn't the government done anything about it?" asked the professor again.
The old man smiled as he rolled a cigarette and said, "Do something about it? Nothing can be done. The Chu family's mansion is very mysterious. It has stood there since before the founding of the nation. My grandpa said decades ago, the relevant authorities wanted to seize land from local tyrants for redistribution. But do you know what happened in the end?"
"What happened?" All the city professors were instantly curious and leaned their heads over.
"On the second day, all the government leaders in the relevant authorities were removed from office, and even the mayor of Fenghai was transferred elsewhere." "What?'
Everyone trembled with shock in their eyes.
In an instant, the ancient mansion up ahead seemed veiled with a mysterious aura.
However, Ye Fan and his great grandmother had no clue of the conversation transpiring outside the mansion.
Ye Fan and Old Madam Chu had already reached the mansion's inner quarters by now.
Old Madam Chu told Ye Fan when he resided at the Chu residence that the inner quarters were forbidden grounds and off-limits for playing.
Despite the warning, Ye Fan entered before when he was young.
It was during this time when Ye Fan encountered something that would change his life forever.
Hence, Ye Fan couldn't help feeling excited in his heart when his grandmother brought him here for the second time.
"Great grandmother, don't tell me the Yin volume is located in the Chu clan's ancestral grounds?"
After stepping inside the place almost ten years later, barely anything had changed.
It seemed as though time had stopped here.
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