Idle courtiers

Chapter 17 Life is easy, life is easy, life is not easy

The oil lamp was withered and yellow, the light and shadow in the shabby room were shaking, and the nostrils smelled musty.It's still late spring, and if it's the moldy rain season, I don't know what it will smell like.

Rats crawled in and out of the holes in the floorboards and climbed up the beams.

Zhou Nan was lying on the mat, and when he moved his body a little, the straw would rustle underneath, but his heart was peaceful.Since traveling to the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, he has never felt so comfortable.Especially when he saw Yunniang lying beside him, half leaning on the bed, eating walnut cake with a contented expression, he was even more moved.

This kind of snack was too sweet and greasy in the later modern society, so I didn't even bother to touch it, but for Yun Niang who had lived a hard life for ten years, it was a rare delicacy.

Thinking of holding Yunniang's hands and feeling the calluses in her palms before, Zhou Nan felt sad: In the past ten years, without her husband by her side, and being oppressed by her brother-in-law and sister-in-law, God knows how she got through it.

"It's so fragrant, these walnut slices are so oily. My husband, it will cost a lot of money, why would you waste it on me?" Zhou Nan not only brought snacks back this time, but also bought a lot of rouge gouache for Yun Niang. Kind of gadgets.As a woman, Yunniang was naturally happy in her heart.But her husband wasted money so recklessly, she still had a look of reproach on her brow.

"It's worth a few more, you put this away." Jia Rui reached out his hand and found a few pieces of broken silver in the clothes that lay beside the pillow, about one or two or eight coins left, and handed it over: "It's considered this month's household. "

"There are so many, how did you get it?"

"Don't ask, it's legitimate income anyway." Zhou Nan recalled the scene where Miss Mei insisted that she was Zhou Xiucai, and the more she thought about it, the more confused she became.

Since he couldn't figure it out, he simply didn't think about it anymore. He had walked a long way and was already exhausted.Regardless of the harmony between the husband and wife, they fell asleep without saying a few words.

The next day, Zhou Yang and his wife opened the door of the kitchen, steamed a full steamer of dry rice, cooked a rare piece of bacon about two or two in weight, and called Zhou Nan and Yun Niang to come over for breakfast with a cold face. .

Of course, Xiaodou and Xiaolan snatched those pieces of waxed meat.Even the dry rice, when Zhou Nan finished the first bowl and wanted to add more, there was not much left in it.

Zhou Nan felt strange, why did this man change his sex today? Could it be that I pleaded for him in Shizhi County yesterday to avoid the criminal law of thirty boards for three days, and this couple is grateful?

It turned out that he was thinking too much. After dinner, Zhou Yang's family's kind-hearted aunt said to Yunniang: "Eat thin when you are free, and dry when you are busy. Not busy or busy, half dry and half thin. My family has already stayed in the county for two days. Day, farming time waits for no one, so go to the fields later. Two days, the seedlings must be planted within two days. Otherwise, let’s go hungry together!”

Yun Niang is a weak character, presumably she still has the prestige of her loving aunt in the past, she hastily responded: "Okay, I'll go to the ground right now." Putting down the bowl, she stretched out her hand to push the chicken cart in the kitchen.

Strange to say, after ten years of hard farm work, Yunniang's skin is almost darker, but it still exudes a crystal luster, with a healthy and sunny beauty.But her hands were still callused and rough, and they made a rubbing sound when they touched the handlebars.

"Wait, you don't have to go to the ground." Zhou Nan grabbed his wife's hand.

"Oh, Mr. Xiucai, you feel sorry for your wife and don't let her go to the fields. Maybe you can still pay for her work. Last time you transplanted rice seedlings, you couldn't even compare to me, a woman." Cigu said sarcastically.

Yunniang: "Master, you can't do it."

Zhou Nan looked at her and said, "You don't have to go, it's settled like this. I'm in charge of making money to support the family, and you are only responsible for being beautiful and beautiful. Don't say it's you, even I won't go to the ground." I have traveled too many roads in the past six months, and I have seen too many women from poor families tortured by hard work.Many women just turned [-] because of the wind and the sun and the rain and the skin is white. He doesn't want to see Yunniang become like this in the future.

Hearing what he said, Zhou Yang, who had been sullen and silent all this time, became annoyed, and scolded: "Yunniang won't go down to the ground, and you won't go down to the ground either. Is it possible that our family should support the two of you?"

"I have hands and feet, and I can support myself. Besides, I don't need you to support me. Since you don't want to, let's live separately." Zhou Yang and his wife are villains, and they lock the door of the kitchen from time to time. Tell him to have nothing to eat.This kind of life is really bad, Zhou Nan doesn't want to have anything to do with their husband and wife anymore.

Hearing the four words "Fen Jia Dan Guo", Zhou Yang's face turned livid.Ten acres of the Zhou family's ten acres of land was Yunniang's dowry, and if the remaining nine acres were to be divided, he would only have four acres and five cents left in his hands.Relying on the ten acres of land in previous years, after paying the corresponding taxes, the family can not only eat enough, but also have some left over.Now that more than half of it is divided out, I am afraid that the whole family will starve.

He had originally planned to force Yunniang to remarry so that he could take all the land, including Yunniang's ten acres of dowry, into his pocket, but in the end, Zhou Nan suddenly came out.Not only the ten acres of land, but also half of the family property.This is, change comes too fast, like a tornado.

Cigu began to scold: "Boss Zhou, I don't want to say whether you are real or not. Even if it is true, you really think of yourself as a scholar. You can get two stones of imperial rations every year, and you can get granary rice every month. You You were exiled to Liaodong for murdering someone without getting one or two meters in the county school, and now you are a person who can't lift your shoulders and grind your back, and you still say that you can support yourself, it's really laughable."

"Second brother, you twisted me into the yamen the day before yesterday, accused me of being an impostor, and refused to recognize my elder brother. I don't blame you. After all, when I went to Liaodong, you were only ten years old. Your parents died early, No one is in control." Zhou Nan didn't bother to entangle with shrews like Cigu, so he just said to Zhou Yang seriously: "You and I are both adults, and it is impossible to stir food in the same pot for the rest of our lives. If you promise, from today onwards, Let's separate the family. If you don't want to, you and I can go to the elders of the clan to reason. If it doesn't work, we can go to the county government again."

As soon as Zhou Yang heard about the county government, Zhou Yang panicked.What happened in the county town in the past two days was a nightmare for him. Twice, he was almost beaten to death by the county magistrate because he didn't say a word correctly.He was simply confused, why would he be the first to be beaten when something happened, and he couldn't even understand a word Zhou Nan and Zhixian said.Now if I go to the magistrate to reason again, I am afraid that Zhou Nan will be cruel and he will not be able to come back.

As for reasoning with the elders of the clan, that would not work.The last time I went to the county town, this guy didn't know where he got the money from. Everyone in the villagers who went with him into the county government gave a gift, which was something new and something to eat, and the children in the family saw it well. Sound greedy.Especially the ghost girl Xiaolan, after all, she is a 12-year-old doll.

Thanks to Zhou Nan, the people in Zhuangzi were very affectionate when they saw him, shouting one after another.I really asked them to argue, I'm afraid they would all stand on the side of the bird man.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yang's face turned pale, and he could no longer speak.

After a long time, Zhou Yang threw the bowl away, and the couple went down to plant rice seedlings.

Instead of going to the rotten fields to suffer, Zhou Nan simply lay back on the bed and slept in the cage again.Recalling Zhou Yang's flustered application before, he felt amused: This is a class society. Although I don't have any fame now, I was a scholar at least in the past. It can be said that I was in the same class as Shizhi County. , People can betray their own family, but it is impossible to betray their own class.My own people naturally want to help my own people, and I want to live alone, Zhou Yang really has nothing to do with himself.

The class stratification and class barriers in the Ming Dynasty are outrageous. The common people are from Mars, but the gentry and bureaucrats are from Venus!
Yunniang wanted to go to the ground, but was stopped by Zhou Nan, so she had to take his torn clothes and sit behind the window to mend them.

At this time, Zhou Nan saw Zhou Yang poking his head at the door, as if he had something to say.

Zhou Nan didn't get up either, and put his hands on his head, and called, "Second brother, what's the matter with you? Come in and talk." He had roughly anticipated what Zhou Yang was going to say.

Zhou Yang walked into the room and bowed slightly: "I've seen you brother."

Zhou Nan deliberately smiled and said: "Didn't you say that I was a fake, and you turned me into the county government office to deal with my death penalty, why are you so arrogant and respectful today?"

A hint of anger appeared on Zhou Yang's face, and he said in his heart: Mr. Shi is a stupid official and you, a birdman, wear a pair of pants. Daming's naivety is so dark!

He suppressed the anger in his heart, and said in a low voice: "Brother, do you really want to live alone with me? After all, we are a family. My parents passed this ancestral inheritance to us brothers, just to let us keep it. If so If they break up, they will not live in peace in the spirit of the sky. Brother, everything is the fault of the foolish brother, please forgive me, and don't mention this matter again."

Yunniang was kind-hearted, and hurriedly said: "Uncle, please sit down quickly, Mr. Xianggong, after all, we are a family, so there should be no division. I don't think we should divide this family, lest others see our Zhou family's jokes."

According to the ethics and morals of the ancients, a family should get together to live together.It is indeed against public order and good customs for the two brothers to quarrel with each other.In addition to the fact that the separation is hurting feelings, there are also profound economic reasons.A family is calculated based on the average birth of three sons. If the family is to be divided, each person can only get one-third of the family property.After a few more generations, if the "Tweeting Law" is continuously divided, no matter how wealthy the descendants of the family will become abject poverty, or even become tenants of a wealthy family.

"Okay, since Yunniang said no, then let's not." Zhou Nan nodded.

"Brother, are you serious?" Zhou Yang asked urgently.

Zhou Nan: "Yes, it doesn't matter." Indeed, to a modern person, ten acres of paddy fields are nothing.Converted into RMB for later generations, even the down payment for a commercial house in a third-tier city is not enough, and it is not attractive to him.Besides, what can you do after you get the field? Is it possible to plant it by yourself, the ambition of a man is in the field?If I sell it, I'm afraid that people will say that I'm a prodigal son, and it's not easy to hang out in Zhuangzi after becoming famous.

After I pretended to be Zhou Xiucai, I haven't had a peaceful life for a few days, and I'm a little tired.As a graduate of a famous university and a white-collar worker in a metropolis, tossing around with Zhou Yang all day is really a little bit of a loss, but it has drained the ambition in his chest.

"However..." He dragged his voice, and said, "However, I have been studying all my life, so I don't know how to farm, and I can't make a living by it. In this way, the land will still be planted by your family, and you will give me two buckets of rice per mu every year. , six acres is two buckets of stone. The rest, whether it is taxes or taxes, will be borne by your family, okay? If you agree, go to Seventh Uncle and the others to be a witness, and my two brothers will sign and pledge."

Zhou Yang quickly calculated in his mind, the total of two buckets of stone is only more than 100 catties of rice, and it would be less than 3000 catties of yellow grain.Even if it was given to Zhou Nan, he would still have a lot left.You know, with ten acres of land in the family, more than [-] catties of yellow grain can be harvested every year, and I can still earn money.

Nodding hurriedly: "Okay, okay, I'm going to find Uncle Qi and the others right now."

After speaking, he was afraid that Zhou Nan would go back on his word, so he ran out quickly.

Yunniang wanted to say something, her lips moved, but she sighed and stopped talking.

After a while, under the witness of the old man in Zhuangzi, the two brothers wrote the contract and signed it.

Then, Zhou Yang weighed a hundred catties of millet to Zhou Nan under the auspices of Uncle Seven and other old people. In fact, there were only two to three hundred catties of yellow grain left in his family, and half of the monthly population.He also distributed a pot and two sets of bowls and chopsticks to Zhou Nan. From this moment on, the two brothers will eat their own meals.

Zhou Nan took some money to buy meat, and asked two young men in the village to help him build a pot with stones and yellow clay at the door.

In the evening, after eating and lying in bed.Yunniang finally couldn't bear it and said: "Sister-in-law, you should be in charge of the family affairs, and I can't say anything about this time. It's just that there are only three hundred catties of yellow rice in half a year, and the two of us can eat it all in a month." Yes. Even if you drink porridge every now and then, you can only last for half a year, is it possible that you are really going to starve to death?"

"Yes, yes." Zhou Nan touched her belly with his hands, and said with a smile, "It's just you and me now, but if you give birth to Lin'er in the future, there won't be enough food."

"Damn it, who said you're going to have a baby?" Yun Niang blushed slightly.

Zhou Nan: "I really can't farm the land. I can't bear to see you suffering so much in the field. Don't worry, I will make money. How can I not even have enough food? What qualifications do I have to be a time traveler? What is it that only lives in this world?"

Naturally, Yunniang didn't understand the three words "traverser", she quickly covered Zhou Nan's mouth with her hand, and murmured: "Don't say such unlucky words, Mr., I have waited for ten years and I can be regarded as waiting for you back. From now on, let's live a good life. Even if it is hard and tiring, I am willing."

Women in ancient times were so virtuous, and their husbands were their gods. Now that Zhou Nan had made such a decision, Yunniang would not say anything more.However, with the male leading the outside and the female leading the inside, the family's economic power is naturally in her hands.

In fact, the family did not have any property, only a hundred catties of millet and a tael of silver that Zhou Nan gave her.It is impossible to eat and drink like the previous few days.The food was getting worse at a speed visible to the naked eye. The unpolished rice and the side dishes with a little salt made Zhou Nan's mouth full of sour taste when he burped.

After the seedlings are planted, the same is true of other families, and everyone is suffering.You can eat a few meals of real food by staying up until the autumn harvest.They could wait, but Zhou Nan couldn't.He only has three hundred catties of millet every year, and the harvest in the field has nothing to do with him.

After a few days of idleness, Zhou Nan began to think about what to do next.

Ordinarily, as a liberal arts student with scientific learning and examination skills, he should take the imperial examination again.It's like the protagonist in a time-traveling novel, all the way to win the first prize in the examination room, three yuan and one place, and even six yuan.Even if there is no such unreasonable cheating, at least get a reputation.Relying on the title of Juren, he can eat and drink hot food for a lifetime.

The problem is that Zhou Xiucai was also a brat before, and he beat the eldest son of the Mei family to death just because of the dispute over scriptures and righteousness.Not to mention being sentenced to ten years in prison, he was also dismissed.

In other words, even if you want to take the imperial examination, you can't do it.

Looking at the pile of Four Books and Five Classics that had been bitten into shreds by rats in the corner, Zhou Nan's heart ached and he stuffed them directly into the stove and burned them, out of sight and out of mind.

As far as he is concerned now, it is not feasible to study and become an official.Traveling through a field, it's not that I came here specifically to repair the earth.Then, maybe there is only one way to do business.

It's a pity that I worked as an office clerk in later generations, so I didn't know anything about business.Besides, even if he wants to do business, he has no capital!

Although Yunniang didn't say anything, seeing the dwindling food and gradually fair skin, her eyes were obviously filled with melancholy.

No matter how much Ren Zhounan comforted him, he couldn't cheer him up.

Zhou Nan sighed in his heart: Life is easy, work is easy, life is not easy, and it is not easy for me to even survive now.No, I have to do things. If I don’t do things, what is the future and life?

(End of this chapter)