Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 754 Linus' New Life

In the early morning of golden autumn and August, in Xingkai Lake No. 100 Village, which is more than [-] kilometers away from Fuerdan City, the big rooster of Zhu Dagui, the village head, shook its feathers as beautiful as the clouds, held its head high, and looked as noble as a phoenix. Stretching his neck, he roared out with a loud "Oooohoo".

After a while, the roosters in the yards of each house began to crow as if they had received an order.So people with dreams climbed up from the kang, and the whole village started a new day of operation like a well-run machine.

The hen was clucking and laying warm eggs in the nest; the fat pig in the pigsty was grunting and chirping, shaking its head and eating the freshly cooked pig food; the milk of the cow was full, and the calf The sinews of the pigs were bulging; the sheep bleated one after another, urging the owner to bring them grass.

On the field outside the village, the pale yellow ocean stretches as far as the eye can see, and the heavy ears of wheat sway gently with the cool wind, shining in the morning light that is about to ripen.Another harvest season is upon us.

A Jew in his 50s, Liness, got up from the kang when he heard the first rooster crow. He rinsed his mouth with two scoops of water from the water tank, washed his face, and waited for his sons and grandchildren to get up and finish washing. People began to pray in the morning.

"Thank you, Lord of the Immortals, for your kindness in returning my soul"

Unlike the daily prayers of the Jews in Europe, the Jews under Beihai Town added praises to Zhao Xin in their three daily prayers. This was also determined by the rabbis in the Tulum area after discussions.It can be seen that the Jewish community is extremely grateful for Beihai Town's accommodation and non-discrimination.

It took more than 20 minutes to finish praying, and the Li family had breakfast, and then they were busy every day with little difference.The men tended the livestock, cut hay, and tidied up the farm tools; the women fed the chickens, washed the clothes, and cleaned up the house; the children carried their schoolbags and went to school.

Like other houses in the village, Li's house has three main rooms and two side rooms, as well as a yard the size of a basketball court.There is a vegetable field and a barn with a horse, seven or eight sheep, and a dozen chickens.Because the Jews have a tradition of not eating pork, the place originally reserved for pig pens became sheep pens.

As a Russian-Jewish Jew, Lines' surname was actually "Volodarsky".It’s just that when I first arrived in Tulum, all Jews were required to have a Chinese name, and the civil affairs clerk in charge of population registration knew a little Russian, so with a swipe of a pen, all the men, women and children of the Volodarsky family had their last names. Li, and his eldest grandson Abraham was soon renamed Li Bohan by the school teachers.

Li Neisi worked in the yard for a while, fed the horses himself, drank two more cups of tea, and then went out to start his daily inspection of his [-]-acre land.

"He, Uncle Li, is he going to the field again, do you have breakfast?" The neighbor from the next yard happened to come out and greeted casually.

"Yeah, it's a wooden thing, look at the wheat." Because there are many Henan people in the villagers of the second village, the Mandarin that Li Neisi has mastered also brings a lot of Henan dialects.

It has been almost two years since he came to Xingkai Lake No. [-] Village. From being cautious at the beginning, Li Neisi finally dared to live with his chest upright, which is inseparable from the enthusiasm of the villagers.

When he first came here, every morning, noon and evening prayers in his house had to close the doors and windows, for fear that the neighbors would hear them.Thanks to the people in civil affairs who told the village head Zhu Dagui some Jewish customs in advance, and Zhu Dagui greeted the villagers again, otherwise someone would think that the Li family has some ulterior secrets and report it to the public security police station .

Along with the Leenes family, there were a dozen other Jewish families who moved from the Tulum area.At that time, they had only settled in Tulum for half a year, and only half of the [-] mu of land allocated to them had been cultivated.Because it is a raw land, the grain laid down is not enough to last until spring.

Since Zhao Xin promulgated the order prohibiting engaging in the usury industry, almost all the Jews who remained were poor farmers.With apprehension, they walked the long migration road to the place designated by Zhao Xin; except for their family and partners, they had almost nothing.When they arrived at their destination, they cultivated and cultivated the strange land by singing, dancing and fooling around.

Although cold, sickness and natural disasters would trouble the Jewish settlers from time to time, what they did not expect was that the "noble king" gave them agricultural tools, livestock, and seeds for free.

However, as winter was approaching, the resident officials sent by the civil affairs department issued a notice, informing that some families would relocate again, and Li Neisi's family was on the list.

The move caused an uproar among the Jewish community.Although the notice said that the new settlement was better than Siberia, many people did not believe it.They thought that Beihai Town was as dishonest as Tsarist Russia. On the surface it sounded nice, but in fact they wanted to deport them to a more desolate and remote place.But in fact, the purpose of Beihai Town is to break the habit of the Jewish community living in groups, and first disperse some people to Han villages to see how the effect is, so as to achieve the goal of "turning barbarians into summer".

Although the Jews elected representatives to negotiate, the attitude of the civil affairs officials was reticent, and it was useless to talk about it.As Jews who were forced to migrate from Poland to Ukraine, and from Ukraine to Siberia, they were used to being bullied by Tsarist Russian officials in the past, so they chose to bow their heads again.

The Lines family bid farewell to relatives and friends in tears, and embarked on an unknown migration journey again with a pile of tattered belongings.However, when they came to Xingkai Lake No. [-] Village by boat and horse-drawn carriage, they were immediately shocked by the endless fields and the rows of green brick and large tile houses in the village.

The village head Zhu who greeted them was very enthusiastic, while the other villagers looked curiously at these new neighbors with deep facial features, high nose, and particularly white hair.Some women looked at Jewish children and girls with even more pity, and said in their hearts that they were really white, much more handsome than their own black boy and black girl.

After settling down, more than a dozen Jewish families realized that the land allocated to them had been reduced from [-] mu to [-] mu, but they still felt that they had made a profit.It is much warmer here than in Siberia, besides, the arable land is ready-made, and even the aqueduct has been repaired in advance, not to mention that there are jaw-dropping tractors to help plow and harvest.

The sudden happiness made Li Neisi feel that he had come to heaven, but the long years of wandering made him afraid that everything was just a dream. When he woke up, he still lived a miserable life of being discriminated against and driven away.

Speaking of the history of Jews being despised and bullied by European countries, it actually dates back to the early days of Christianity.In the late fourth century A.D., with the establishment of the New Testament, the Jews became the ones to wear sin.

Although the founders of early Christianity and even Jesus himself were Jews, Christian anti-Semitism also built Jewish collective characteristics based on the statements of the four major Gospels in the New Testament. "Killing God" has become a Jewish identity to some extent Every Jew is born with "original sin".

During the First Crusade, the crusaders composed of poor people did not attack the Holy Land occupied by pagans at first, but took the lead in fighting against the Jews in Europe.They have a ridiculous logic: Since the Pope calls on us to defeat heretics and destroy the enemies of God, it has long been said in the Bible that the Jews are heretics, and eliminating them can have the same effect.Regardless of whether he is poor or rich, if he is killed, he can atone for his sins and enter the kingdom of heaven.Let's copy guys together!

It was from this day that the anti-Semitic movement in Europe that lasted for thousands of years began.Since then, the large-scale persecution of Jews in Western Europe has intensified, and Jews have been portrayed as disciples of the devil, both in reality and in literature.An evil and lowly race that deserves all oppression.

Many people in later generations have seen from film and television works that a segregated area was set up for Jews during World War II, and yellow hexagrams were worn on their chests.Little do they know that Europe has been doing this since the 67th century, wearing specific clothes, wearing special signs, surrounded by high walls, and Christians standing guard at the door; without permission, you cannot walk around in the city.

Some people may say that Jews can change their beliefs.Sorry, the Christian church does not accept Jewish conversions, so they can only follow their original beliefs, hug together for warmth, and seek spiritual comfort.

In fact, in the history of China, since the Southern Song Dynasty, there was also such a group in Ningbo and Shaoxing in Zhejiang who were burdened with "original sin", and they were not liberated until the end of the Qing Dynasty.

They have been engaged in cheap jobs for generations, cannot study, farm, do business, have money but cannot live in a good house, cannot move at will, and can't even walk with their heads held high or speak loudly.In addition, they also have requirements on dressing so that they can be distinguished from the crowd at a glance.This group is the lazy people in eastern Zhejiang.

According to Gu Yanwu's records in "Rizhilu", the ancestors of lazy people were the descendants of Jiao Guangzan, a general of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Going back to the Jews, because they were often expelled from various European countries, they became people without a country.The reason why they were expelled was because medieval Europe was a feudal hierarchical society in which nobility entrusted fiefdoms as the main form, and outsiders were not eligible to own land.The Jews who did not have the foundation to settle down had to live in the city and engage in various handicrafts and money lending businesses.

The ancestors of the Leenes family opened a glass workshop when they were in Poland, and they turned to the money lending business after the business grew.

Walked around the [-] mu of land of his own house, scattered more than a dozen birds, rubbed a wheat head and tasted it, Li Neisi felt that it was almost done, the harvest would be in the next few days, and he would have to go home soon The two sons checked the sickle again, and in the afternoon, they brought Shi Luzhou and the horse over to thresh the wheat field.

Since coming to Xingkai Lake No. [-] Village, although more than a dozen Jewish households have adhered to the tradition, their living habits have changed unconsciously.The most obvious examples are Kang Kang and New Year Festival.

The Li family used to sleep in beds, even in cold Siberia.Last winter, Li Neisi, who had settled down, took the bread baked by his wife and his eldest grandson Li Bohan, who stuttered in Mandarin but could communicate simply, to the village chief Zhu Dagui’s house to express his gratitude, only to find that Zhu’s “bed” It was not made of wood, but when I got on the kang, I found it was quite warm.This immediately aroused his great interest, and he began to ask for details.

Li Neisi went home and calculated the labor and material costs for half the night. When he had breakfast the next day, he announced to his family that when the spring was warmer next year, he would learn from the Chinese and replace the wooden bed with a kang.

His wife Li Feiji, eldest son Likov (Yakov) and youngest son Li Geli (Gregory) were all at a loss after hearing this, thinking that burning a fire under the bed is simply a fantasy, is it burning the bed or Burn people!After listening to the old man's explanation, it suddenly dawned on me.

Compared with the Chinese, the Jewish festivals are quite a lot.There are no less than ten kinds of Rosh Hashanah, Passover, Zemao, Lantern Festival, Purl, etc., but none of them is as lively as the three Chinese festivals.

Especially during the Spring Festival, in addition to the lively fireworks and firecrackers, there are also various big fairs, Yangko, and opera singing, which is simply dizzying and dazzling.In addition, the Chinese people's grand belief and respect for their ancestors also deeply surprised the Jews who saw the atmosphere of the Spring Festival for the first time.Of course they don't know what it means to "pursue the future with caution and keep the people's morals strong", but they also feel the Chinese people's emotions about blood relationship and family inheritance.

At noon on Lunar New Year's Eve, the Li Neisi family received an invitation, and together with a dozen other Jewish families, they came to the village committee compound of Ercun to participate in the "reunion banquet" for the whole village.

Although the residents of Xingkai Lake No. [-] Village come from all over the world, and not all of them have the same surname, it is not easy for everyone to live in groups outside the Great Wall, so Zhu Dagui invented such an activity five years ago.In addition, in order to thank "Prince Zhao" for taking everyone out of the sea of ​​suffering and living a prosperous life, before the reunion banquet begins, all the villagers have to salute to Zhao Xin's portrait, and have to show their loyalty or something.

Unexpectedly, after the news spread, other villages followed suit, and now more than 20 administrative villages in the Xingkai Lake Land Reclamation Area do this during the Chinese New Year.

Zhao Xin couldn't laugh or cry when he heard about it.Although he told the Civil Affairs Bureau not to make any salutes to show loyalty, how could the common people listen to them? They had a record in their hearts of whoever treated them well, so this "custom" was stubbornly continued.

When more than 100 Jews followed the villagers in a daze and at a loss, and Zhu Dagui said a few auspicious words, the banquet began.The dazzling array of dishes made the eyes of the first-time Jews go round, and the tangy aroma made everyone salivate crazily.

The food is also great!It's even better than the aristocratic lords in Tsarist Russia.

The reunion banquet in the second village is co-organized by each household with money and efforts. Now every family has no shortage of food and money. It is really not a big deal to eat something good during the New Year.Considering that the Jews had just arrived, they were not asked to pay.

"When your family lays down the crops and sells them to the grain station next year, the food will be no worse than my family's. Every family in our village is similar. Don't worry, the good days are yet to come!" Zhu Dagui smiled at Li when he was toasting to the table with a wine glass. Nath described the future.

At that time, Li Bohan, who was competing with chicken legs, interpreted for his family vaguely. Li Neisi and his family, who were sipping wine, nodded their thanks after hearing this.

In March of the Gregorian calendar, the Jewish Passover is here, and according to the custom, roasted whole lamb is eaten.Thinking of the sumptuous banquet during the Spring Festival, the Jews invited the villagers to join them. The women made unfermented bread with eggs, sugar and pine nuts, and the fragrant roast sheep. The atmosphere was very harmonious.

It wasn't until this moment that Li Neisi and the others felt that they had finally become a part of the Second Village.

(End of this chapter)