This is Xiahe Village, an ordinary yet extraordinary small village.
It is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and has beautiful scenery. There are lush trees on the mountains, abundant fish and shrimp in the water, fences in front of the village, loquat trees behind the village, and melons and beans in front of and behind the houses. It has the simplicity of fences and thatched cottages, as well as the indifference of green mountains and green waters.
In modern times, this place can definitely be called the most beautiful village, but it was different in ancient times. There was only poverty and backwardness without beauty.
There is a high slope at the west end of the village, from which you can have a panoramic view of most of the village. On the high slope, there is a chubby little kid about five or six years old looking at the village with emotion.
What can the green mountains and green waters do? The transportation is inconvenient, and they rely on the weather for food and suffer from natural disasters. People who are struggling on the poverty line, what else can they appreciate besides food! It is better to give him a multi-grain steamed bun than to let him watch the rising sun from the mountains.
Isn't it a bit strange for a child to sigh like this?
Actually, although his body is that of a five or six-year-old child, his inner self is that of a graduate student of ancient Chinese who has been repeatedly abused on the road to employment in the 21st century, has no money, no power, and no girlfriend. After 100 consecutive job-hundred failures, he sighed before going to bed that it was extremely difficult for a liberal arts student majoring in ancient Chinese to find a job that matched his major. Unexpectedly, he woke up and turned into this little kid named Zhu Ping'an and nicknamed Xiao Zhu.
This body had a disease before he came here, and he probably didn't survive it. I don't know how I woke up and became a dead body.
After many days of indirect inquiries, I learned that this was the Ming Dynasty, the era when the Four Books and Five Classics and Eight-part Essays were popular. I could only look up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, and I was really professionally matched...
Since I have come, I will make the best of it. Think about the embarrassment of having no place to display my expertise in the 21st century. Now that I have a job opportunity, it would be a waste of God's gift if I don't seize it, not to mention that I was an orphan with no ties in my previous life.
"Xiao Zhu, Xiao Zhu, go home, be careful not to be beaten by your mother and cry again."
A group of naughty children roared past at the bottom of the high slope, fearing that they would be pressed to the ground and rubbed by their elders if they returned home late.
Xiao Zhu! This nickname is also drunk. Even Hu Zi and Shitou are better than this name. Of course, he was just complaining, and he also knew the reason why children were given cheap names in ancient times.
In the eyes of the ancients, the reason why it was difficult for children to survive was that they had to go through a series of obstacles created by ghosts from birth, and if they failed to pass the obstacles, they would lose their lives. Livestock were different. They had a cheap life and did not need to go through obstacles, so their survival rate was so high. So people thought that the more cheap and less human-like the name given to children, the better. Haven't you seen that the survival rate of livestock is so high? The more livestock-like, the easier it is to survive, and the easier it is to deceive the King of Hell and the little ghosts. If they are treated as livestock, they don't need to create obstacles.
When Zhu Pingan heard that there were little boys in the village named "Dog Sister" or even "****", he suddenly felt a sense of relief after surviving a disaster. Compared with the first two names, Xiao Zhu and Zhu'er are still much lighter in taste.
It has been more than ten days since he came to this era. Zhu Pingan has gone from being uncomfortable to reluctantly accepting this fact.
In this era, naming habits are secondary, and the most important thing is living habits. This is an era of old morality and old ethics. It's OK if there's no electricity or internet. The Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues, the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, and the fate of ghosts and gods are all popular. So the time-traveling protagonists in those novels are full of the protagonist's halo, and they are so powerful that they can win the hearts of the world and become invincible with their golden fingers. This is pure nonsense. If you travel through time and do this, you would have been burned to ashes by the village elders. In this feudal society where ethics eat people, if you are slightly abnormal, you may be burned as a demon.
This is not an exaggeration. Old Wang in the village was forced to drink a large bowl of water mixed with ash and talisman paper because he talked in his sleep for several nights; Wang Ermaizi from the neighboring village learned to speak like a Hu Ji in the county town. When he returned to the village, he just said a few words and was regarded as possessed by a ghost by the village elders. He was tied to a pillar and exposed to the sun for three days before he was done.
How can one person fight against the whole world?
So, in the more than ten days since he came to this world, Zhu Ping'an has been trying hard to play the role of a child. Be careful and try not to do anything out of line, so as not to be tied to a wooden frame for barbecue. He doesn't want to speak for himself (with salt).
It's getting late, I have to go home quickly, otherwise I will be scolded again. Zhu Ping'an took a short step from the high slope, running down the direction of home.
Why do I feel a cool breeze blowing at the root of my thigh? Could it be that my short legs have taken a lightning speed?
After Zhu Ping'an ran down the slope, he stopped and looked down to see a small noodle under his crotch, waving in the wind.
Open-crotch pants?
How can you let a person with a psychological age of more than 20 years wear open-crotch pants? Can you still let him have fun?
This is intolerable! I must fight for the right not to wear open-crotch pants when I go back.
Along the way, the thatched huts and adobe houses are arranged irregularly. Although Xiahe Village is close to the mountains and rivers, it is still a remote and poor village, because the locals only use the mountains and rivers to meet their living needs. To build a house, they go up the mountain to cut a few trees and drag them back home to make beams; when there is no rice to cook, they go up the mountain to find some wild vegetables and fruits, and go down to the water to catch two small fish and throw them into the pot. The feudal peasant economy still relies on the fields for a living. Most villagers rely on one acre and three mu of land to fill their stomachs. There are only a few landlords who are relatively wealthy.
The landlords have large families and hundreds of acres of fertile land. If they rent it out, the annual rent is enough for ordinary people to struggle for a lifetime. With money, they can buy land or set up a few shops. Money makes money and life is sweeter than honey. Interest makes interest life sweeter than honey. Poor families could not make ends meet with the output of their own one mu and three fen of land, so they could only rent land for farming. In ancient times, there was no policy to reduce or exempt land tax. After working hard to grow grain for a year, it was good enough to be able to feed the family after deducting the exorbitant taxes and rent.
The Zhu family was relatively better off. They still had more than ten mu of good land, which was considered a middle-class family in the village. However, they could not stand the large number of people. In addition, the eldest uncle did not work, and the cost of studying for the imperial examination was quite high, so the old Zhu family was also stretched to the limit.
Of course, judging from the outside, the Zhu family lived a decent life. Compared with the common thatched huts and adobe houses in the village, at least the Zhu family had a civil structure, but in fact, the Zhu family lived worse than the average family in the village.
As soon as Zhu Ping'an entered the door, he happened to meet his mother Chen in this life. Chen was standing at the gate of the yard with a frown on her face, staring at him. When she saw that he had returned, her eyes melted like ice and snow in spring. She was waiting for him to come back. Chen was in her thirties, dressed like a young woman, with a bit of sassyness on her eyebrows. She used a hairpin with peeling paint to pin her hair up, and there were two patches on her clean double-breasted skirt.
"Mom, I will never wear open-crotch pants again." Zhu Ping'an, with his short legs, started to fight for the right not to wear open-crotch pants as soon as he stepped into the big door.
As soon as he finished speaking, Chen grabbed his ear.
"Little bastard, you are so crazy. I worked hard to raise you, and I saved money to make clothes for you, but you still despise me. How old are you to not wear open-crotch pants!"
"Mom, ah, it hurts, I am not a two or three-year-old child anymore." Zhu Ping'an cried for mercy, and his chubby hand pulled Chen's arm and tiptoed to relieve the pain.
Bullshit, you are only five years old. Chen looked down at her five-year-old son and said this. She felt inexplicably funny. Her little son was more lively than his brother.
Although it was funny, Chen's strength did not decrease. This brat was not honest to begin with. He had been sick a few days ago, and he became tougher after recovering. He ran outside all day long.
"You still feel pain. You are wild all day long and no one can see you. I am relieved when you are kidnapped by a beggar." Chen glared at Zhu Ping'an. She was still frightened when she thought of a child missing in the county town. Fortunately, the village was safe with people coming and going.
"Second sister-in-law, which boy is not wild? It's better to be tough. Don't punish Xiao Zhu." Third aunt Zhang, who was washing dishes by the well in the yard, looked at Xiao Zhu with some envy and persuaded Chen to calm down. Zhang just turned 30, but she only has one daughter, Zhu Pingyu, who is one year younger than Zhu Ping'an, so she is particularly envious of Chen for having two sons.
"Old Third, please don't beg for mercy for him. This brat will tear the roof off the house if he is not punished for three days." Chen said, and pulled little Zhu Ping'an's ear to the kitchen.
"Tell me, will you dare to stay out of the house for meals in the future?" Chen said loudly, and took out a peeled boiled egg from the steamer. She looked out from the window and saw that no one was paying attention to this side, so she quietly put it into Zhu Ping'an's hand.
Zhu Ping'an's eyes sparkled when he saw the egg. After eating simple meals for more than ten days, he finally had meat.
This was impossible to refuse.
"Oh, it hurts, mother, I won't dare to do it again." Zhu Ping'an took the egg, but he screamed in a pretentious manner.
In the 21st century, eating is one of his few hobbies. When "A Bite of China" was broadcast, he saved money and ate all the cheap food he could. He can definitely be called a senior foodie.
It is pure natural and pollution-free, soft and delicious, and tastes great. It feels many times better than modern eggs. Of course, it may also be because he has been eating simple meals since he came here and has never tasted meat.
Little clever, Chen smiled, tapped Zhu Ping'an's forehead, and whispered, "Eat quickly, when you are at the table, your heart will be on the edge of the sky again."
At this time, Zhu Ping'an's heart was very warm. Whether it was his fierce mother or his dull father, or his brother who was about ten years older but mature and honest, his family members in this life were all kind to him from the bottom of their hearts.
The father was kind, the mother was kind, and the brother was kind, and there was warmth everywhere.
This was also the main reason why Zhu Ping'an accepted the fact of traveling through time. As an orphan in the 21st century who had never felt the warmth of family, he felt the love of an old cow licking a calf here, and he was gradually willing.
"Mom, you are so good. When I grow up, I will be filial to you." Zhu Ping'an hugged Chen's thigh and said with emotion. I am your son, and I will be filial to you in the future.
Chen watched her youngest son act like a spoiled child and was obviously very pleased. She felt that her youngest son was much cuter than her eldest son. She had asked the eldest son to come over before, but that fool was just like his father and said that cheating was not a real man. Chen was almost mad at him and had to drive him out. Fortunately, her youngest son was not so old-fashioned. She tapped him on the forehead with a smile, "I'll be thankful if you don't make me angry. Wipe your mouth quickly to avoid being seen later."