After hearing this, I was so excited that I almost shook. My brothers of the same generation all looked at me with envy, while Luo Tianjin looked at me with a bit of surprise.

This is not surprising. He didn't know me. As the most outstanding one among the fourth generation of the family, he suddenly heard that someone was going to share the honor he had always enjoyed. I guess he felt a little unhappy.

The copper coffin was then dug out, and the family used two large plastic buckets to collect most of the white liquid in the coffin. The reason some was left was to give the white fish room to survive, because no one knew how the white fish appeared in the coffin . According to Fourth Grandpa 's speculation, the most likely possibility was that fish eggs were poured into the copper coffin with rainwater, and then small fish were generated. There were no predators in the copper coffin, so the number of white fish increased, forming a closed ecological environment. After the death of the white fish, the body rotted, and the temperature difference in the sealed copper coffin did not change much, so chemical changes occurred over time due to fermentation.

These white liquids that can continue to burn are actually the fermented corpse fluids of rotting white fish. The reason why water could not be poured into the coffin later was because the gas produced by the fermentation of the dead fish had a sealing effect, and water could not pass through the "air wall" formed by the gas in the coffin.

Of course, all of this is just speculation, not a scientific conclusion, so there is no clear explanation as to how these milky white liquids are formed. However, the value of these two barrels of milky white fish oil is immeasurable, and it is no exaggeration to say that they are priceless, because the eternal lamp is a very important artifact for a tomb. It can guide the dead souls to not go astray in the dark world of death. Therefore, for the descendants of the deceased , if there is an eternal lamp in the tomb, it means that theoretically, the family can be prosperous for a thousand years.

Therefore, the purpose of the eternal lamp is not to make money from making one, but to enable the tomb builders to take on huge mausoleum projects after they have mastered the resources of the eternal lamp.

People may not have a clear concept of building a large tomb. If we simply use economic benefits to measure the value of building a large tomb, then with the population size and consumption capacity of Longhua Village, undertaking the work of building a large tomb can allow the whole village to live a worry-free life for decades.

The large tomb project that Luo Tianjin participated in had such huge economic benefits, so the amount of funds in the hands of the Fifth Old Master was very terrifying , and the appearance of fish oil would surely double the income of Longhua Village exponentially.

So this time after returning to the village, the Fifth Old Master met with me alone for the second time. The sun was very bright that day, and the Fifth Old Master was lying on the bamboo couch in the living room to bask in the sun, with an otter fur blanket covering his knees.

It is said that this blanket is worth 300,000 yuan. Luo Tianjin bought it for him on his 90th birthday. At that time, Luo Tianjin was only 15 years old, but he had already earned 300,000 yuan by "taking jobs".

That was 300,000 yuan in 1995. Even in a place like Shanghai, a house of 60 to 70 square meters would only cost about 100,000 yuan.

"Sit down, don't stand." said the fifth old master.

I sat respectfully on the chair next to him , and the Fifth Old Master said, "Xiao Zhen, you're great. You really helped Longhua Village a lot this time."

I quickly said modestly, "Old Master, it's not that I'm very capable, I'm just lucky. I think you need to keep this little thing in mind."

"What I'm concerned about isn't how much money I can make from this, but the hope that a craft that's been lost for thousands of years can be restored in our hands. This will be a great boon for the entire geotechnical industry. At my age, I can't just focus on money."

"You are right. You have seen everything. How could you still do things like your grandson just to make money?"

The Fifth Old Master laughed heartily and said, "You are quite truthful." He pulled a check from his coat pocket and handed it to me, saying, "This one million is a reward from the Old Master on behalf of Longhua Village. Compared to your peers, you are quite wealthy now, but don't spend your money recklessly. You should be filial to your parents, okay?"

This amount of money almost scared me to death, and I quickly declined, saying, "Grandpa, you are giving me too much. Your grandson can't afford it."

"Silly child, money is only for people to live a better life. How can you not afford this million dollars that you earned with your own ability? But what you do with the money depends on your level of thinking."

A thought flashed through my mind: the Fifth Old Master is testing me to see if I will become a dissolute man who indulges in drinking, whoring and gambling after receiving this one million. If this is really the case, then there is no need to be polite. I'd better "accept his test."

So I took the check and said, "Then I, your grandson, would like to thank you, Grandpa."

"No need to thank me, you deserve it. I didn't call you here today just to give you money. Now that you are a member of Longhua Village, there are some things you must know. I'm sure you have questions about your family. Why was your family the only one out of the five branches kicked out of Longhua Village, yet the only one to inherit the ancestral name? These two points seem a bit contradictory, right?"

"Yes, I really can't figure it out, but I heard from Uncle Seven and the others why the old man was kicked out of the family."

"They only talked about Third Brother's life story. I'm the only one who knows the reason why your family moved out of Longhua Village."

"So my old man wasn't expelled from the family because he killed his brother?"

"Of course not. Geotechnical engineering is inherently risky. If you encounter danger and die, you can only blame yourself for not being skilled enough. You can't blame anyone else. What happened to my third, second, and fourth brothers was a joint project. Since it was a project, it's not up to the third brother alone to decide. All responsibilities are shared equally among the three of us. You can't blame the third brother alone."

At this point I must explain the ranking order of the rooms in the house so that you won’t be confused.

Originally, there were five families in the family, so they were naturally arranged in order. The old man was the third one, so he was called "Third Brother" by the fifth old man.

After our family was expelled, there were only four branches in Longhua Village, so the numbers naturally changed. The Luo family, who is now the third in line, is actually the fourth, and the fourth grandfather who promised to teach me Feng Shui in person was originally from the fifth old man's branch.

In the entire family, only the fifth old master retained the original order of titles.

"Then why was our family driven away?"

The fifth old master sighed slightly and said, "Xiao Zhen, some things cannot be viewed too simply. Your family did move out of Longhua Village, but you were not driven away. It's just like how you can't blame your third brother for the deaths of the second and fourth brothers. There were two reasons why your family left Longhua Village. The first was because of the Japanese invasion of China. After the outbreak of the war, the occupying Japanese army formed a special team dedicated to destroying the Longji Feng Shui of the Central Plains. To do this kind of thing, you naturally need people who understand Feng Shui, especially craftsmen who understand the Dragon Ancestor, Dragon Court, and Dragon Ridge. At that time, my father was ready for the whole family to be slaughtered. He asked your third brother to leave Longhua Village to preserve the family bloodline."

"However, the Japanese didn't reach Longhua Village until the end of the war, so our family was lucky enough to survive. But my father's plan missed a trick. He clearly revealed his favoritism towards my third brother. So when my father died of illness in the later stages of the war, no one in the family, including me, agreed to accept my third brother back. As for the idea that he was blamed for the deaths of my second and fourth brothers, that was the beginning of the story."

"Later, I was the only one left from the older generation. Your uncle begged the family several times, hoping to return. They almost agreed, but then the Ten Years of Unforeseen Events happened. During those ten years, the entire Longhua Village suffered unimaginable losses, and your uncle backed off again. Of course, I can understand his desire to protect himself, but as the head of the family, I couldn't accept a member who only enjoyed the good times but not the bad times, so the matter was shelved again, and this time it has continued until today."

Now I finally understood the ins and outs of why my family was expelled from Longhua Village, and I was very grateful to the Fifth Old Master for telling me the truth without hiding anything.

"Xiao Zhen, our family is considered one of the best in the geotechnical industry. We've undertaken many large projects and have a glorious history. However, in recent years, most of the younger generations have been blinded by money, making it difficult for them to dedicate themselves to true academic pursuits. As a result, each generation is inferior to the previous one. I hope that you can restore our family's reputation in the future and prevent the once-famous Yu family from becoming a mere legend."