Chapter 13 (1/2)

(long chapter)

The ancestral home of the Rowling family is located in the southwest of the Rowling plain, where a tributary of the Rowling river passes through. The land on the bank is fertile, with several farms and towns around. Down this tributary, you will pass through a beautiful valley.

This is where the great Rowling family originated. Hundreds of years ago, when the ancestors of the Rowling family were just a low-level aristocrat with a small village territory, the blood of the Rowling family began to spread in this land.

The carriage passed through a black forest with lush green trees and fresh air on both sides. Along a flat path, you can see the small valley on the left from the carriage. On the right, you can see a tower in the distance, which is the ancestral home of the Rowling family.

After hundreds of years of glory of the family, the small village of hundreds of years ago no longer exists, and the original ancestral house has a considerable scale after countless renovations and reconstruction in hundreds of years of history!

A crimson stone wall surrounds a castle. The castle is made of huge white stones mined from the nearby valley. It is said that it was originally a hill, but it took hundreds of years to turn it into a valley.

The arrival of the eldest son of the head of the clan naturally attracted special attention. The 300 territory private soldiers who stayed in the castle wore the brightest equipment very early and lined up to wait under the red wall outside the castle. The arched gate made duvet feel very powerful in the carriage. In his eyes, this thick stone wall can be used as a strong defensive circle if necessary!

It is worthy of being the Wuxun family of the Empire. The 300 private soldiers in the castle are obviously well trained. They are upright on horseback, and they are skilled in horse control and equipment. Later Du Wei learned that the 300 soldiers left behind in the castle of the ancestral home of the Rawlings were the best selected from the private armies of the whole Rawlings plain territory. Their training was quite good, even no less than that of the local armies of the Empire.

The black forest outside the castle is also a natural hunting ground, where some hunting activities are held every year, which is also a disguised exercise for these soldiers.

The main building of the castle has two towers, one of which is particularly tall, even higher than the hill in the distance. Du Wei, who has studied family history, knows that this is because the Rowling family once had a strange owner in a previous generation. Although the master was a military general, he was particularly interested in astrology. He even married a female astrologer. The tower was built to make it easier for his wife to observe the stars in the sky at night.

The red carpet had been spread from the gate of the castle to the stop of Dewey's carriage. As soon as Du Wei stooped to get out of the car, an old man with silver hair who had been waiting for a long time came up. The old man was tall and thin, with a scrupulous gray dress. His old-fashioned and serious manner, conservative and respectful manner were also well measured.

As soon as Du Wei got out of the carriage and stepped on the ground, the old man bent down and saluted deeply. Then he said in a low and slow voice, ”young master, I'm hill, the housekeeper here# 8226； Rowling. I heard about your coming three days ago. Now everyone in the castle is ready for your parallax. Please follow me

With that, the old housekeeper turned and carefully led Duwei up the steps. He had no fastidious manners at all. He behaved respectfully and courteously, humbly but not coquettishly. He led Dewey to the red carpet on the steps, while he was very careful to walk outside the carpet and let Dewey enjoy the honor alone.

There is no time to carefully observe the interior decoration of the castle. The only impressive thing is that after entering the gate of the castle, there is a huge flag like a flame on the wall!

This flag is seven or eight meters high and six meters wide, occupying the whole wall facing us! This is the family's badge flag, with two sharp swords crossed, iris wrapped around the blade, red flame burning, and a crown on it!

Walking into the hall on the first floor of the castle, you are faced with such a magnificent flag, which immediately spreads a solemn and solemn atmosphere here!

Then all the servants in the castle, dressed in neat uniforms, stood on both sides of the hall to welcome Dewey. Dewey didn't take much interest in this strange ”review”. He nodded casually, and then whispered, ”my housekeeper, please take me to my study now... As for you, please leave and go back to your work.”

The old housekeeper Hill carried out Dewey's orders meticulously, and soon Dewey was taken to a study

Well, Dewey would rather call this place ”library” if he could!

Because it's so big here!

In the round room, the top of the head is also a high round vault, decorated with some simple plaster patterns, and there are some plaster statues on both sides - many of them are outstanding figures in the history of the family.

This room is surrounded by tall bookshelves... Hell! These bookshelves are two stories high! It's full of all kinds of books. Dewey calculated roughly that there are at least tens of thousands of books here! There are also many iron cabinets to store some important things, such as family maps, or some ancient and important documents, etc.

Of course, as a Wu Xun family, even in the study, also reveals a trace of martial arts atmosphere! On the wall just opposite the door of the study, there is a huge sword with two hands and a huge chopping axe hanging! These two weapons are hanging across the wall! From the flashing cold light on the blade, it is obvious that servants often scrub and maintain them carefully.

There is also a wall of bookshelves, deliberately rattan out of a few huge cabinets, cabinets placed in a variety of weapons, but from the style point of view, these are antiques.

There are short bows made by the imperial army a hundred years ago, old-fashioned Knights chopping swords, long sabres, and black iron and wood bows

Du Wei was attracted by these weapons in the past. He can see that these antiques are well maintained. Although they have passed the baptism of years, some of them can still emit a sharp cold light!

”These are all used by the outstanding ancestors in the past generations.” Hill, the old housekeeper behind him, said in an unchanging voice, ”these are all records of the glory of our great ancestors of the Rowling family.”

Because of the space shape of the room, when speaking here, sound waves will vibrate and echo, which adds a sense of dignity.

He gently stroked the old-fashioned black pear wood desk, and Dewey quietly looked around.

It can be seen that although everything here has been strictly sampled and carefully cleaned, the old traces of that kind of years are also very obvious. Many places on the bookshelf were polished and polished, as well as the huge desk under his hand. Dewey suspected that it was older than the old housekeeper in front of him.

”This used to be the center of power of the Rowling family. It used to be the place where the clan leaders thought and made all kinds of decisions. Everything here has traces of its glory. ” The old housekeeper whispered: ”although the decision-making center of the family moved to the imperial capital, according to the tradition of the family, every patriarch who comes back to the castle for parallax or a short stay is not allowed to go back to the bedroom to rest on the first night of arrival, and must spend the night in this study. In this way, we can urge ourselves not to forget the glorious history of our family and the heavy responsibilities of ourselves. ”

After a pause, the old housekeeper looked at Du Wei and lowered his head: ”you are the eldest son of the current patriarch, the count. You came to inspect the castle as his representative. May I ask you this evening...”

Du Wei nodded his head and said with a smile: ”tradition is tradition, which must be obeyed. I'm no exception, of course. Although I am not the patriarch, I am the eldest son of my father, and I came here as his representative. I'm going to stay in my study for the night according to tradition. ”

The old housekeeper's face softened a lot, and his tone was warm. He said slowly, ”yes, I'll make people ready. And... I know that you are here on behalf of the count to inspect the property of the territory. Where will your work start? After getting the news of your return, I have asked people to prepare the income and expenditure accounts and books of this year's family business. When are you going to start looking at these things? Or wait... ”

Dewey interrupted with a smile. Naturally, he walked around the desk and sat down behind the wide desk. The sofa was hard, but it was still comfortable. Dewey thought about it and said with a smile, ”my housekeeper, I've come after a long journey. Now I feel hungry. Please prepare some food for me first, and then I think I can start to see what you prepare. ”

It seems that the efficiency here is good.