warring states careerist

Chapter 4

Under the juniper tree, the figures of those who thought they were enlightened gradually dispersed.

The warm wind blowing from the land of Qilu, accompanied by the creaking of the wooden axles of the oxen and horses, tunes out the scale of the bustling city.

The salt fish of Qi State, the fur of Yan State, and the goose feathers of Chu State meet here, and business travelers with various accents are crowded on the streets.

It is not as good as the most prosperous Taoyi in the Song Dynasty, but it still brought a little vitality to this dilapidated duke country, and finally woke up a little bit dilapidated from the siege of the Wei family a few years ago.

Shi didn't know that this major event that happened in Qi State affected the structure of the entire early Warring States period, and he didn't know that the Mohists who he thought could send him to Qingyun with good wind had left Shangqiu.

Carefully holding the bag of seeds hidden in his bosom, avoiding the hustle and bustle of the crowd, avoiding the yelling of those who butchered pigs and dogs, came to the front of his house.

Standing in front of the door, looking at the simple wooden door of his house, he stretched out his hand and pushed and pulled it a few times.

The grooved wood rubbed against the doorpost, making a teeth-stinging sound, but I never got tired of it.

Staring at the smooth groove that has been rubbed, Shi hehe smirked and said, "This is the Hushu who is not rotten?"

As soon as the words fell, a rather sharp woman's voice came from inside the door, obviously with a bit of anger.

"You're not a carpenter, so why don't you care about beetles? If you have the leisure, why don't you help your brother nitrate the leather and make a few more pairs of shoes? Wandering around all day, do you think you are a son of your family?"

The old wooden door was pushed open, and the oncoming person was the sister-in-law with cold eyebrows, a pair of almond-shaped eyes narrowed, and the corners of her mouth full of disdain.

His parents were dead, and he had six brothers and sisters, two of whom died young, and the other two died while serving in the army and building the city wall.There was only one older brother, who married a neighbor's sister-in-law.

There are no unreasonable cold eyebrows in the world, and Shi himself knows what's going on.

There is indeed a reason for my sister-in-law to be cold about my own body.

My family is not rich, and I only make a living by making shoes, but my body doesn't like making shoes at all.

He learns wrestling from the butcher of his master, and learns fencing from the corporal warriors outside the city, but he never makes leather or shoes.

Originally, handicraft workers only had to pay taxes, not taxes.Taxes are for military use, taxes are for sacrifices and state government expenses, and before the rites collapsed and music broke down, the division was very clear, and handicraftsmen did not even have the opportunity to serve as soldiers.

But now that the rites and music are broken and wars are frequent, no one will abide by the rules. Song Xianggong did abide by it, but it has become a joke.

The barrier of taxation has long been ignored by no one, and the tax of private handicraftsmen has been increasing, and the taxation has been unified, changing from tithe to tithe, and the monarchs are still lamenting that the two are not enough.

The world is difficult, the war is endless, just a small family of leather and shoe making, just wandering around but not working, anyone will be full of resentment.

The angry sister-in-law was standing at the wooden door, holding a clay pot with some corn in it under her left side, and a clay pot filled with water in her right hand.

She has been married into the family for three years, and she is only nine years old now, but her hands have long since lost the smoothness of a girl, and are as rough as the skin of a snake, and many wounds will be chapped in winter.

Under the hardships of life, there is such a little brother-in-law, who has no resentment and is a saint.

The apricot-like eyes showed a savage vigor, watching the uncle swaying back from the outside, seeing that he was carrying and clamping him and not coming to help, just standing there stupidly, he was even more angry Do not call one place.

"It's fine if you don't make shoe leather. This day is the time when the mulberries are ripe, so you can pick a few handfuls of mulberries and eat them back. I have to soak the sesame in the afternoon. The rice has not been cooked yet. There was no firewood yesterday, you went outside the city gate, and you didn’t know how to bring a handful of firewood when you came back? You know how to wander around every day, and you have to do big things every now and then, what have you accomplished?”

"Mr. Mo Di wants to love the world at the same time. You don't even love your brother and sister-in-law, but you still love the world? If I were Mr. Mo Di, I would never accept you as a disciple!"

When it comes to urgency, I can't help but subconsciously want to pinch my waist with one hand and point my fingers angrily in order to have fun cursing.It's a pity that there was an earthen pot of corn under his side, he couldn't enjoy cursing so he snorted and turned around to go back to the house.

Shi lowered his head and dared not speak. He had his own three views, and this matter was wrong after all. He couldn't say anything like don't bully the young and poor.

It's not easy to survive, my brother and sister-in-law have raised me for so many years, so I have to listen to ten words.

Squeezing out an embarrassing smile after being ashamed, he hurried forward with a playful smile and reached out to take the earthen jar from his sister-in-law.

"I'm going out to get some firewood right now, and I'll do the soaking in hemp tomorrow."

The sister-in-law, who was about to scold him a few more words, looked at the uncle's playful smile, and then felt the earthen pot in the crook of her hand lighten suddenly, and she froze there, wondering why she changed her sex today?

It is said that Zi Mozi is a saint-like figure, but now it is as expected, my uncle just went to listen to some lectures, but he still knows how to do things?

Looking at the childish face with two dimples from the smile, the rest of the half-stone vented words melted away like snowflakes in June.

I was speechless for a while, so I could only say without words: "Be careful, don't break the earthen pot."

But the crock was held firmly by strong arms, so how could it fall and break?
So to say, it is nothing more than words after some do not know what to say.

The sister-in-law shook her head and followed into the house.

In the dark room, Shi carefully put down the pot and corn, and asked casually, "Where's brother?"

"I went outside the city to measure the shoe size of the scholars, and I will be back in a while."

Shi looked at his own room and shook his head secretly.

There was nothing in the house, iron smelting had not yet been popularized at this time, and copper was even more precious. In the kitchen of my own house, I relied on an earthen pot to cook rice. The house was blackened by the smoke of firewood, and the walls were greasy and unknowingly precipitated. how long.

There is a lovely three-legged clay pot in the corner, like a beast with a limped leg, which is my "stove".The three legs are supported, and you can cook porridge and rice under the fire.

Stone mills have not yet been popularized, so whether it is wheat or rhubarb millet among the five grains, they can only be eaten together with bran in clay pots.

Copper cooking utensils are only used by nobles.Even if the ritual system breaks down, money can override it, but the current price is about two grams of copper for one catty of corn, and one catty of copper is 250 catties of corn, which is definitely beyond the reach of ordinary people.

The big house next to it is where my brother usually makes shoes, and there is a strong smell of tanned leather, which is very smelly.

The clothes on his body, the food in his mouth, are all squeezed out of these stinky skins, even his brother's name is inseparable from the skins, and the single name is a muntjac.

The name of a beast, common hide, and a common name of a shoemaker's house.

The two huts are bedrooms, with small windows and dark holes.There was no bedding on the couch made of random wood, and the straw was spread in a mess.

After sleeping for a long time, the stiff wheat straw has become soft and fluffy.

The status quo is the status quo, and it is also the status quo of most people at this time.

I understand that if I can't do something, I will live like this for the rest of my life.This kind of life can see from 20 to 60, if he can live to [-].The only variable is being conscripted to serve in battle and dying, or dying of a serious illness.

This kind of life where you can see the edge at a glance is the most terrifying.

He found his hut, found a clay pot, carefully hid the bag of seeds that carried his dreams and ambitions in it, and sealed it carefully, so that no mice would get in and eat it.

After hiding this thing carefully, I dug out the hemp rope from the pile of firewood and went to gather firewood.

There is no ax or saw, so you can only pick it up with your hands.

Although it was noon at this time, the common people had two meals a day, and it was far from the time to eat.

The firewood is outside the city, and one afternoon is just enough time.

About to go out, my sister-in-law pulled it from behind and took out two sackcloth bags wrapped in grass ash. I don't know what they were for.

Wrapping the two balls of sackcloth on Shi's shoulders, he still said with a cold face: "I haven't even carried the firewood a few times when I wandered all day, it must be bleeding, and I have to wash the dirty clothes. I wash them too much." Thick and fragile! Put this on your shoulders."

"My sister-in-law still loves me."

She salivated and replied, but the sister-in-law snorted coldly: "Shit! I love this dress! Do you think it fell from the sky? Didn't I sew it all by myself?"

Shi Shi didn't talk, and didn't think about what those two sacks filled with plant ash were.

He took it with both hands with a smile, turned around and was about to leave.

Looking at the little uncle who seemed to have changed in a day, the sister-in-law was a little at a loss, and she was so stunned that she forgot to wash the corn in the next step.

Seeing that the uncle's figure was about to disappear from the chai gate, he thought of something, chased out the door and told him: "The one on the east side of the mountain belongs to the office, the reeds by the river to the west belong to the Sicheng family, and the ones under the east mountain belong to the Sicheng family. Berlin belongs to the imperial family, and Yang Lin in the south belongs to the Ling family. Don’t go there, you will be beaten to death if you are caught. If you can’t memorize too much, you should memorize less. Don’t memorize too much today and get tired tomorrow If you don’t come, you might as well not go if you miss tomorrow’s soaking in anesthesia!”

When the seemingly reprimanded but worried words were yelled, the figure had already turned around the corner of the street, looking at her from a distance, he seemed to wave his hand behind her back, probably meaning he had heard it.

The sister-in-law leaned in front of her door, couldn't help shaking her head, went back and washed the corn in a daze, thought for a long time, picked up the bamboo pole in the house, took a small piece of dried salted fish from the beam, and cut it into pieces. small cut.

……

Carrying the hemp rope, besides the city gate, Shi found a small stream, not because he was thirsty, but the water was very clean and could be used as a mirror.

In the floating light and reflection, there is a young face, wearing a simple turban, the face is somewhat thin and angular, a pair of eyebrows are like two knives across the eyes, and the corners of the eyes are slightly upturned.

Bah's life spat out a mouthful of saliva, and the ripples shattered those waves of light. Occasionally, a few strands of blazing light reflected from the crest of the waves into the eyes, which was a little stinging.

"It's a good skin. I survived with your body, and I have to pay back the debt you owe. Common people, it's not easy to study, I hope you are not a bastard who takes it for granted that your brother and sister-in-law treat you like this, or Say something stupid, or I won't be able to pay it back."

Facing the broken reflection, he said a few words, his knife-like eyebrows frowned, and the impassioned look under the juniper tree had long since disappeared.

Thinking under the juniper tree is too far away, but the hemp rope on the shoulder is too close.

Ambition belongs to ambition, conscience belongs to conscience, it should be like this, it should be taken for granted.

(End of this chapter)