胡雪巖魂歸何處

我一生是在中藥行業中度過的，并且有幸進入杭州最大的胡慶余堂雪記藥號。如今已是耄耋之年，往事如煙，人事蒼茫。先輩胡雪巖所創建的胡慶余堂和它曾經發生過的一切，總是那么地吸引我，感染我，成了我一生中的永恒記憶。

在這爿藥店里，我干過炒藥、配方、切膠、制丸等許多勞作，待到年事已高，我便賦閑在家，但我對這爿店的開山師祖、江南藥王的創業精神和經商之道，一直懷著敬仰和欽佩之心！

我對胡雪巖史料的研究，開始于參與胡慶余堂廠史編纂之時。這位晚清商人至今還保存在胡慶余堂的一些實物，讓我這個老藥工出身、非職業史學者對其一一辨蹤解讀，這真是一種緣分！經過了數十年的積累，我終于整理出十余萬字的史稿材料。

在胡雪巖家史、家譜研究中，我先后在上海、杭州等地拜訪了著名文史專家鄭逸梅、黃萍蓀先生，又趕赴安徽績溪查閱地方志、胡氏宗族祠堂譜牒等，并遍訪胡氏后裔30多人，還整理出分布在海內外的胡氏后裔300多人。

在研究了胡雪巖的家史、家譜后，我拿起筆先后寫了《胡雪巖與胡慶余堂》《胡慶余堂的儒家文化》《略談胡慶余堂的中醫藥文化》等傳記、學術研究文章在《浙江日報》《杭州日報》等發表，為揭開歷史的面紗作些補白。

然而至今更令我日思夜想的，是考證和尋覓這位紅頂商人胡雪巖逝世后究竟魂歸何處？

胡雪巖算得上一生輝煌，富甲天下，但最后卻落得一敗涂地，囊空如洗，死后為避尋仇禍端，連喪葬都不敢張揚，因而他的墓葬之地成了一個曠世之謎。

有人曾說胡雪巖破產后，戶部尚書閻敬銘劾奏，請朝廷對其撤職查辦，胡聞訊憤而欲尋短見，還寫了遺囑，云：“墉做生意虧本，累及公款，又累私賬，還苦了親友……其洋四百元，做墳之用，必得年前落葬，年內無日可用，只好開年，愈早愈好，入土為安。”又云：“……華表墳上不用，此物不過后人好看，墉如此下場，要好看何用……”然而胡后來并未吞煙自殺，而是在貧病交迫中死去（見鄭逸梅《話財神胡雪巖之死》一文）。此遺囑原文是鄭逸梅好友、胡雪巖曾孫、近代著名畫家胡亞光提供的。胡雪巖的曾孫胡文楨說：“曾祖父不是服鴉片自殺，他是由于悲憤抑郁而去世的，臨終面色蠟黃，可能患痢疾而死。”胡雪巖曾侄孫胡存孝說：“聽上代說，胡雪巖臨終，家中一老管家做夢，夢見屋上有一天神牽著一只猴子慢慢騰空而去。翌日，胡即氣絕而亡，卒于光緒十一年（1885年），胡雪巖生肖屬猴。”

胡雪巖是空著兩手辭別人世的，最終陪伴他的唯有七尺桐棺（梧桐板所制的劣質棺材），一燈如豆。等浙江巡撫院奉旨派員查封胡宅時，唯見一間白布孝堂，靈幃垂地，再也無其他財產可封。

胡的后輩后來對胡雪巖墓地究竟在何處也沒有定論，歷史似乎有意要遺忘這位晚清的紅頂商人。

我在了解胡雪巖家史之后，決意想要揭開這個謎底，并對此進行了多方勘探。根據胡氏后裔資料載，胡家在杭州留下有一墓葬地，后來當地農民證實，確實有一塊胡氏墓地，還說其中有胡雪巖之墓。后來我趕到黃泥塢調查，聽老農何土根介紹，昔日胡雪巖曾花一萬多兩銀子在這里建造了規模宏大的“胡慶余堂墳莊”。只是經過一個世紀的風雨變遷，原有的石牌坊、石亭子已經不復存在，墓地上的土丘更是一片泥湮，早被荒草蓋沒。聽了農民這番話，我對找到胡氏墓地更增加了信心，于是我掏錢請人在墓群間東尋西找，結果好不容易在一處一米深的黃土里挖出幾塊破碎的碑石，拼湊起來一辨認，只看見有個富裕的“裕”字，按照胡氏家譜排列，“裕”字輩乃是胡雪巖孫輩的排行。后來我又聽另一位老農說，這墓在1962年被人盜過，盜墓人案發后被判刑三年，刑未滿就死在獄中，經手這個案子的是西湖區人民法院。

“這是一條很有價值的線索，法院的結案報告定有詳細記載。”我順著這個思路趕到西湖區人民法院，法院同志熱心地捧出了一疊檔案讓我查閱。翻了許久，我從中查到了胡雪巖之孫胡渭卿（又名裕泉）所填寫的一份“情況發生報告表”，日期是1962年2月23日，表上填寫著的荊山嶺上的所盜之墓并不是胡雪巖墓，而是胡雪巖父母胡鹿泉夫婦合葬之墓。那時胡雪巖正處于飛黃騰達之時，其父母屢受皇帝誥封，墓內自然有玉如意、玉簪等許多陪葬品，盜墓者偷盜此墓并不為怪，這個情況也證實了老農何土根對“胡氏墓群規模宏大”的描述。

我后來又查找眾多資料，見一資料載有人在龍井戚家嶺發現有胡雪巖墓，理由是墓前有巨石碑反撲在地，用手摸去有“光墉”兩字，我驚喜異常，當即趕去，由當地老農陪同爬上戚家嶺，在一竹林深處發現了一塊石碑，但沒有見到碑文，當我第二次再去戚家嶺時，聽說有人用起重葫蘆已將巨碑翻起來了，我上山后清除污泥，定睛一看，發現此碑乃是胡雪巖祖父胡國梁夫婦之墓，碑中刻有“光墉”兩字，那是孫輩落款人的名字，所以可以肯定，真正的胡雪巖墓也不在龍井。

幾次尋訪，疲憊輾轉，無功而返，但我并不灰心。一次我突然想起我在年輕時候，曾聽說有個盜墓老手專盜名人之墓，西湖邊的歷史名人之墓差不多都給盜過，后來此人死于獄中，但他的妻子仍在閑林埠留下鎮，能不能從他老婆口中找點線索呢？于是我找到了這位老人，她第一次什么都不肯說，我不甘心，幾天后再次上門找她，誠懇地說明了來意和目的，她終于開口說：“你去泗鄉看看。”這位老人說出的這句話，重燃了我尋找胡雪巖墓的希望，是年已經66歲的我，邀了胡雪巖曾孫胡文楨、胡文瑩兄弟倆直奔泗鄉（今稱中村）。胡文楨說，他10歲曾隨父胡渭卿給胡雪巖掃過墓，但距今已60多年了，滄海桑田，已想不起確切地點了，只是隱約記得在杭州西郊。

我們趕到中村鷺鷥嶺上，幾名茶農正在炒茶，我請他們作向導，給我們帶帶路，不知何故他們就是不肯。不過從聊天中我聽到了一些神秘傳說：數年前，有個炒茶工場的值班農民睡到半夜，忽然聽到凄涼的女鬼哭聲，嚇得他再也不肯值夜班。這倒使我想起胡雪巖小妾章氏殉情故事：胡雪巖生前妻妾成群，胡敗落后姬妾多作鳥獸散，唯有心愛小妾跪于胡膝下，不愿離去，曰：“妾侍候大先生多年，享盡榮華富貴，今遭劫難，誓終身相隨，生死與共。”章氏一片真情，使胡更為心酸，就在胡雪巖壽終正寢之日，章氏趁人不備，上樓自縊身死，胡母念其節烈，同意厚葬并與胡雪巖同穴。

因為無人帶路，我便與胡氏兄弟一路尋覓，踏著亂石，撥開蒿草，找了多時，終于尋著一座荒冢，只見此荒冢現出兩個深深的黑洞，一塊巨石橫臥于洞前。這是斷碑？于是我再次雇人翻起，只見此碑長120厘米，寬70厘米，厚60厘米，除去污泥雜草，碑文一下子清晰映入眼簾：“向兼子午丙午分金大夫晉封榮考雪巖府君晉封一品夫，太夫人，晉封夫人顯，合葬之”，這正是我們要找的一塊胡雪巖殘碑啊！我們把這斷斷續續的34字碑文與胡氏兄弟保存的家譜文字相對照，除了殘缺的，現存的均一字不差。此時此刻，胡氏兄弟倆面對祖宗墳塋，不禁悲喜交加，而我的心中，也頓時百感交集！

真是好事多磨，我把胡雪巖殘碑運回廠里，原以為此碑可為重建胡雪巖墓作依據，不想卻被原胡慶余堂領導輕易丟棄在烏龍廟倉庫里，后又被正在搞基建的土建隊當廢石砸碎，填于腳下。直到青春寶集團董事長馮根生接管了瀕臨破產的胡慶余堂，這爿老店終于重新煥發了生機，特別是馮根生董事長向全體員工所講的一番極為嚴肅的話，終使重建胡雪巖墓發生了轉機。馮根生說：“胡慶余堂職工不能忘記自己的老祖宗，不能不尊重自己的老祖宗！”在馮根生的重視和支持下，1997年清明節，修葺一新的胡雪巖墓重新屹立在中村鷺鷥嶺上。

編者按：作為胡慶余堂的一位老藥工，趙玉城先生的這篇文章寫來歷歷如訴，感情真摯，文筆樸實，引人入勝。尤其是他尋找胡雪巖墓的經歷，殫精竭慮，備嘗艱苦。

當然，胡雪巖的研究課題在杭州是一門“顯學”，其墓葬何處、出殯情節等等，還望有識之士和知情者繼續發掘、充實，以真實完整地再現這段史實。

In Search of a Tomb

My life story， if summarized succinctly， has related closely with the traditional Chinese medicine. Where I worked till retirement is the Hu’s Qingyu House， the largest TCM pharmacy in Hangzhou. My jobs there varied over years. My work experience there enabled me to admire Hu Xueyan (1823-1885)， the founder of the Qingyu House and the pharmaceutical king of the southern Yangtze River Delta.

My knowledge of Hu accumulated when I joined a taskforce to write the history of the house. The objects at the house left over from the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) opened my eyes to the history though I was by no means an academic historian and my professional training was largely in the TCM drugs.

During the researches over decades， I interviewed more than 30 descendents of Hu Xueyan and two historians， and visited Hu’s home village in Jixi， Anhui Province and sorted out the posterity of over 300 of the Hu clan both at home and abroad. On the basis of my researches， I wrote some research results about Hu and got them printed in Zhejiang Daily and Hangzhou Daily. The written archive I produced on the pharmaceutical king adds up to more than 100，000 characters.

The most unforgettable moment of my researches on Hu Xueyan occurred when I found the lost tomb of Hu Xueyan.

When I got to know the life story of Hu through researches， one disconcerting question about the businessman remained unsolved. Where was he buried? The mystery was there for a reason.

After the incredible grandeur and glory of a business career， the man came down in the world and died in poverty. Though there were rumors that Hu killed himself with an overdose of opium， his great grandsons Hu Yaguang and Hu Wenzheng told me a different story， saying their great grandfather died of illness. In order to keep himself safe from possible intrusion of his foes， it was rumored， Hu was buried secretly. Even his descendents could not tell me exactly where their ancestor was buried.

My search for the tomb began.

The records of the descendents of the Hu family showed that the family had bought a graveyard in a suburb of Hangzhou. It was located in a place named Huangniwu (Yellow Soil Valley). Local villagers confirmed the existence of the graveyard. I was told that there used to be a huge guard house on the burial ground， including a stone memorial archway and a stone pavilion. But after more than a century， I saw no trace of any building there， let alone the archway and pavilion. The mounds there were thickly covered by weeds. I dug here and there and found a few fragments of a tombstone. A carved word suggested that a grandson of Hu Xueyan might have had something to do with the graveyard. I was told that the tomb had been robbed in 1962 and the robber was sentenced to jail for three years， but he did not survive the sentence.

The clue was encouraging. I visited the West Lake District Court. After going through the archive of old cases and reading a report filed on February 23， 1962 by Hu Weiqing， a grandson of Hu Xueyan， I found that Hu Xueyan’s parents were buried there. It made sense. In the heyday of Hu’s life， his parents received honorary titles by imperial mandate. Naturally the tomb with some valuable funerary objects would attract tomb robbers.

Another clue turned up from my further textual research. Someone reported that Hu Xueyan was buried in Qijia Ridge near Dragon Well. The guess was based on the characters carved on a fallen huge tombstone with its face down on the ground. Some had recognized the characters by touching them with his hand from down under. I hurried to the ridge and saw a tombstone in a bamboo grove. But the fallen tombstone made it impossible to read the epitaph. On my second visit to the ridge， I was told that someone had turned the tombstone over with a block and tackle. After removing the dirt from the stone， I was able to conclude that Hu Xueyan’s grandparents were buried there.

I was not disheartened by my failures. One day I suddenly remembered hearing of a tomb robber who had touched almost all the celebrities?tombs around the West Lake. The pro had died in prison， but his wife was still alive and lived in Liuxia Town. I went all the way to visit the old woman， but she refused to tell me anything. A few days later， I visited her again and explained earnestly why I wanted to find the tomb of Hu Xueyan. This time she said briefly: “Take a look around Sixiang”The short remark rekindled my hope. It was 1992， and I was 66 years old that year. I invited Hu Wenzheng and Hu Wenying， two great grandsons of Hu Xueyan， to search for the tomb in Sixiang (Today’s Zhongcun). Hu Wenzheng said that he visited the tomb with his father at age 10. But more than six decades had passed and he didn’t remember where the tomb was located exactly， but he had a faint memory that it was somewhere in the western suburb of Hangzhou.

On April 26， we came to the Egret Ridge only to find a few farmers processing tea leaves there. I asked them to be our guide， but they turned down the request unanimously. While chatting with them， I found why they were reluctant to give us directions. A few years back， a farmer， who had been on a night shift on the tea processing farm， heard a female ghost weeping forlornly at midnight. He was so scared that later he refused to take any night shift any more. I didn’t believe a bit of the ghost part of the story， but it reminded me of the hearsay about Hu’s concubines. After the bankruptcy struck， many concubines left him. One concubine， however， stayed with him to the very end and hanged herself on the day of Hu’s death. The concubine was buried together with Hu.

Without a guide， the two brothers and I started searching. The path was strewn with stones and covered by rampant weeds. We spotted a robbed tomb， two black cavities peeping vacantly at us and a huge stone lying across the holes. Was the stone part of the tombstone? Hired helpers turned the stone over. It was indeed the remaining part of a tombstone. The remaining part measured 120 cm long， 70 cm wide and 60 cm thick and had 34 characters， which later turned out to be a perfect match with the record in the clan pedigree， except for the missing characters. The epitaph bore the name of Hu Xueyan and his glories. At this very moment， the two brothers were overcome partly with sorrow and partly with joy. I felt all kinds of feelings well up in my heart.

I made arrangements to get the broken tombstone back to the Qingyu House. But the management of that time was not interested. The stone was dismissed to a warehouse and later it was shattered to pieces and used in groundwork by construction workers. It was not until the pharmacy was taken over by the China Qing Chun Bao Group that there came a turning point. CEO Feng Gensheng said at a workers?assembly that we should never forget the founder of the Qingyu House.The Qingming Festival in 1997 saw the tomb rebuilt at the original site on the Egret Ridge.

(Translated by David)