Idle courtiers

Chapter 18

He didn't expect that his food intake would be so large in the days without oil and meat. In later generations, a meal would only be four or five taels of rice and two or three side dishes.After I arrived in the Ming Dynasty, my body was very strong because I walked a long way a while ago.Seeing that there is no oil star in the food, the appetite quickly increased from half a catty of rice to one catty.Three meals a day, plus Yun Niang, two catties of rice can barely eat half full.

Zhou Nan roughly calculated that he and Yunniang could only supplement two thousand calories per catty of rice per day. For modern people, such a small amount of calories is just enough to sustain life. "

As the days passed, the seedlings in the field grew to two feet high.Seeing that the yellow grain in the family is about to run out, and it is still a long time before the summer harvest, the food in the family is about to run out.Not only Zhou Nan, but also Zhou Yang's family. Just yesterday, Zhou Yang and his wife had a fight over dinner, which made Xiaolan and Xiaodou cry uncontrollably.Zhou Nan can't take care of other people's housework, and he doesn't want to persuade them. The two brothers have completely turned their faces since they separated, and they haven't spoken to each other.

Zhou Nan suggested that Yunniang take out the money she had saved on hand for a while before talking, but Yunniang strongly opposed it.The reason is simple, the harvest of crops today is not very good depending on the weather.When summer is collected, the court's taxes will come down.Although Zhou Nan leased the land to Zhou Yang, he didn't have to worry about taxes, but don't forget that in the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the fields, there were also Dingkou.The so-called Dingkou is paid according to the head, and Zhou Nan can't hide it.We can only spend money to buy grain. If the harvest fails this year, the price of rice will rise by a few cents.

Moreover, there is corvée, that is, self-provided rations to build government projects for the country for free.If you don't want to go, you can also pay for the service.

Everything needs money, roughly calculated, this one or two more silver will have to spend half of the tax that I will face in the future.In the past, Zhou Xiucai was famous and could be exempted from corvee service, and he could also be exempted from two stones every year, but now he does not have such a discount.

Thinking of this, Zhou Nan felt furious: Long live the Ming Dynasty, ten thousand taxes in the Ming Dynasty, such a heavy burden made labor and management want to be Li Zicheng.

"Sir, don't worry, why don't you... I will go to my mother's house to see if I can borrow some, and I will pay back the land rent of the three hundred catties of yellow grains given by Uncle Xia Shou?"

The ancients favored sons over daughters, and when it comes to water spilled by married daughters, it is a taboo to reach out to the mother's family, especially Yunniang's family has brothers.It could be said that the food was not borrowed, but it was embarrassing to make a fuss. How could Zhou Nan not understand the sophistication of the world, and was about to speak out against it.Suddenly, someone shouted from outside the yard: "Erniang, is the second aunt at home? I am the little chair in Quanshui Village. The sixth grandfather just killed a pig. Ask Erniang and the second aunt to bring some meat back."

Then a small head with a thick head and a thick head poked out.

"Ah, is it dad who asked you to come over and call us? Little chair, come in quickly, come in quickly, I'll give you some fruit to eat."

It turned out that it was a child from Yunniang's family who came.

Yunniang's family name is Yang, and her maiden name is Youyun.Her home is about twenty miles away from Zhoujiazhuang, which is called Quanshui Village.

Yunniang's mother passed away early, and there was only one old father and one elder brother in the family. There were about [-] acres of sloping land, and they lived in a relatively well-to-do life.Otherwise, Yunniang would not have been able to pay the dowry of ten acres of paddy fields when she got married.

The little chair is the grandson of an uncle's family in Quanshui Village.

Zhou Nan, who hadn't seen oil and water for a long time, turned green when he heard that he was told to cut the meat, and hurriedly said, "Yunniang, go clean up, let's go to Yuezhang's house for a tooth sacrifice."

Yunniang was cooking, and said with a smile: "Sanggong has been slandering meat for a while." As she spoke, she found Zhou Nan's candy that she bought from the county last time and handed it to the small chair.

The little chair ate the candy, happy in his heart: "Thank you Erniang, thank you Second Uncle."

Yunniang was puzzled: "Why kill a pig because it's not the New Year or the festival? Besides, I've already prepared this meal."

Zhou Nan couldn't wait: "Don't do it, go directly to my father-in-law's house and eat."

Yun Niang hesitated: "But..."

"Don't worry, if you have wine and meat, why can't you go?" Zhou Nan said happily: "Besides, when I come back from Liaodong this time, according to the etiquette, I should also visit my family Taishan. You, you, other women When people talk about going back to their mother's house, they don't know what Huanxi looks like, but you seem to be going to the execution ground, it's just weird, could something be wrong?"

"It's okay." Yunniang couldn't object anymore, and sighed quietly: "Okay..."

It takes less than an hour to arrive at Shilidi, and the little chair likes to talk, so the journey is not lonely.The scenery here is different from Zhoujiazhuang. There are bare loess mountains everywhere, and there are no trees on the mountains. Only stones are used to form terraced fields.The fields are not rice either, only wheat and beans are planted.

It is the growing season of wheat, and the green tassels are heavy and drooping, looking lush.However, the weather seemed to be a bit of a drought, the wheat leaves were wilted and covered with dust, and the small canals used to divert water in the mountains were so dry that they cracked a finger-wide gap.

This is the hilly area of ​​Andong County. Zhou Nan has never seen such a scene before, and he is very interested in seeing it.

Turning a few turns on the road between the hills, from a distance, there are six or seven tile-roofed houses scattered in the Xiuzhu farmland at the bend of the mountain.

Yunniang stopped suddenly, with a hesitant look on her face, as if she didn't want to go back to her mother's house.

Zhou Nan wondered: "Yunniang, you're already on the ground, why don't you leave?"

The little chair suddenly said: "I know, I know, Er Niang is afraid of being beaten by uncle."

The uncle he was talking about was Yunniang's eldest brother, Yang Youtian.

"What, Yunniang, what's going on?" Zhou Nan took a breath and asked hurriedly.

Yunniang looked sad: "Master, don't ask me, okay?"

The little chair interjected again: "I know, I know. Last year when Erniang came back to her mother's house, the daughter-in-law of the uncle's house, that is, the auntie, saw that the clothes on Erniang's body were too shabby, so she secretly gave her some of her dresses. As a result When the uncle found out, he called Erniang a thief. He only knew how to steal from her mother’s house to supplement her husband’s family. She gave Erniang a good beating, and even the aunt was slapped a few times. The sixth grandfather watched from the side. , and said he played well."

Hearing what he said, Zhou Nan took a deep breath, then got angry and shouted: "Yunniang, is there such a thing?"

Modern people may not understand what a few pieces of clothes mean in ancient times, when the commodity economy was extremely underdeveloped and productivity was extremely backward.A piece of cotton and linen clothes is expensive. As far as Zhou Nan knows, the best cotton robes on the market now cost one tael of silver, which is equivalent to two months' rations for the whole family of ordinary people.

Many people just tore out the cloth and sewed one on during the Chinese New Year. When it was torn, they patched it up and continued to wear it.New three years, old three years, sewing and mending another three years.Patch-heavy patches are all marked as archery targets.Unlike later generations, not to mention the holes in the clothes and pants, once the style is out of date, it will be thrown directly into the garbage dump.

In the Ming Dynasty, cloth could be used as hard currency.

Yunniang's sister-in-law couldn't see that her sister-in-law was living a hard life, so she secretly gave her some dresses, which was equivalent to giving her money directly.

When Yunniang heard her husband ask, her eyes turned red: "Sir, don't...don't ask..."

Zhou Nan said angrily: "Yunniang, your temper is too soft, no wonder you are bullied."

"No, no, Mr. Xianggong, you are here. If you don't go, father and elder brother will know. How can we meet in the future?"

Zhou Nan sneered: "For a few old clothes, I don't even want the relationship between father and daughter, brother and sister. We don't need to recognize such relatives. Yunniang, let's go home."

Yun Niang grabbed Zhou Nan, but she didn't dare to speak, she just shook her head.

There was a sound of muduo, but at the bend of the mountain, an ox cart came back dragging firewood.An old man wearing a black cloth jacket was sitting in the car. When he saw the three of them, he shouted: "But the son-in-law is here, Yunniang, they are all at the door of the house, why did you stop?"

Yunniang said "ah", "Daddy." She tugged at the corner of Zhou Nan's clothes again, motioning him to come forward and salute.

If I guessed correctly, this person is probably my cheap old man Yang Liuye. Zhou Nan took a closer look, and he was just an ordinary rural old man with wrinkles all over his face.However, he looks big-eared and quite imposing.

He cupped his hands slightly: "I have seen Mr. Taishan."

Mr. Yang Liu jumped down from the bullock cart vigorously, grabbed Zhou Nan's hand, laughed and said, "Son-in-law, I heard you say last month that you came back from Liaodong, and I was going to ask your brother to come and see you. There is still something lacking at home. Isn’t this the busy spring farming, and there is no time to be idle. If you delay, you will be delayed until now. It’s been ten years since I’ve seen you, and you’ve grown taller and stronger. Not bad, not bad. Although you don’t have any fame, but these days No, it’s the same. Go on, let’s go home. Today, the old man killed a pig, which is considered to be a cleansing for his uncle. Tonight, I will rest at home all night. I have already asked someone to smoke the bacon. I will bring back dozens of catties tomorrow. .”

He glanced at Yunniang, his face was full of kindness: "You girl, you have lost a lot of weight recently, and your face is also pale, your body is better, you have to take good care of your body!"

Seeing her father caring so much for her, Yunniang felt warm in her heart, and hurriedly said: "Thank you father for caring, my daughter is in good health! My face is pale, it is because I haven't been out to bask in the sun recently. My husband is sympathetic to my daughter and refuses to let me work in the field. "

Sixth Master Yang was full of enthusiasm, and laughed: "As expected of my son-in-law, he knows how to love others. My dear girl, the husband that my father chose for you back then is not bad, isn't it?"

"Daddy!" Yunniang was embarrassed, her pretty face flushed slightly.

While talking, the three of them arrived at Yunniang's natal house. Yang Liuye welcomed Zhou Nan into the main room, poured hot tea for him and his wife, set out tea and food, sat together talking and laughing, and the family got along well.

Yang's house is all tile-roofed houses, the furnishings in the house are good, and they are kept clean.There are still two vases with flowers on the table in the main room.The floor is covered with bricks. If you don't know it, you may think it is a house in the city. This shows that the Yang family's economic conditions are good, and they can be regarded as a moderately prosperous family in the local area.

The yard was full of blood, and several villagers were shedding the hair of a freshly killed pig, while the sisters-in-law and sisters-in-law were chatting and laughing.

Seeing Yunniang's happy look, Zhou Nan felt strange.Looking at the old man's attitude towards himself and Yunniang today, he is simply a loving father and a filial daughter, not as bad as the little chair said before. Could it be that what the little kid said was a lie?
After talking for a long time, Yang Liuye suddenly asked: "My son-in-law, how many young and strong children are there in your Zhou family village? They must be able to punch and fight, and they must dare to bleed."

Dare to shed blood and sacrifice?

Zhou Nan: "What does Master Taishan mean by this?"

Yang Liuye: "You answer my question first."

Zhou Nan: "It's all right after the busy farming period. Although there are not many, there are still thirty or fifty young and strong."

"Three fifty people, that's great, that's great." Yang Liuye rubbed his hands and said excitedly: "Tomorrow you go back and bring them all here, just say that I killed a pig, and you want to treat everyone to a drink."

Zhou Nan: "Taishan, my little son-in-law doesn't even understand, why invite so many people for nothing?"

"Fight!" Yang Liuye's eyes burst into two gleams: "The people in Zhanjia Village are really annoying. With the three or fifty people you have in hand, let's see if I don't beat them all out."

(End of this chapter)