Chongcheng County is located in the Jiangnan water town, where there are dense water networks and fertile land.
Walk ten miles west from Chongcheng County and you will find a village called Miaoqian.
A river more than ten feet wide runs from west to east through Miaoqian Village. There is a stone bridge on the river. There are steps paved with stone slabs beside the bridge, extending all the way to the water. Villagers will fetch water here to wash clothes. If there is a boat coming to Miaoqian Village, it will also stop here.
This is the small pier in Miaoqian Village, which the locals call the river pier.
It was already summer and the weather was very hot. Every evening, the villagers would come to the riverside to cool off, and some would also come here to wash and do laundry.
When Jin Xiaoye brought Li Damao and Li Ermao over, there were already quite a few people here.
Beside the stone bridge, some people put benches together and played dice and bet on soybeans.
Jin Xiaoye’s father-in-law was one of them. The short man, who was half a head shorter than Jin Xiaoye, was holding a bag of soybeans and was particularly conspicuous in the crowd.
Jin Xiaoye glared at her father-in-law who was so absorbed in the fun that he forgot everything else, and dragged her two sons to the river to wash.
Today, Li Damao and Li Ermao followed her to the fields and rolled in the mud, so they needed to rub it off.
"Mom, it hurts!"
"Mom, be gentle!"
"Mom, it's itchy!"
…
Jin Xiaoye's hands were very strong, and Li Damao and Li Ermao screamed in pain as she rubbed them.
Only after the two mud monkeys were scrubbed clean and allowed to put on clean pants to go play in the temple did the exhausted Jin Xiaoye start washing clothes.
The villagers saw this and showed sympathy.
People who were some distance away from Jin Xiaoye began to whisper, "Jin Xiaoye is so unlucky. Not long after getting married, her husband ran away."
"Her cheap father-in-law is unreliable. He doesn't like to work and only likes gambling."
“Outsiders just can’t be trusted.”
"But Jin Xiaoye can't blame anyone else. She chose that man herself."
"She still refuses to remarry..."
…
Jin Xiaoye’s husband Li Qingzhi fled to Miaoqian Village five years ago to escape famine. It is said that he was a scholar whose hometown suffered a disaster and his entire family died.
At that time, the Yao River happened to be flooding, drowning countless people. Even on their side, the harvest was reduced by half due to the heavy rain... At that time, many people fled to their side, and Li Qingzhi was one of them.
The village generally did not allow such refugees to stay as they had no money or land and could not stay. However, Li Qingzhi had money, so he bought two acres of paddy fields in Miaoqian Village, bought more land and built a small house. He also recognized Li Laogen, an old bachelor in Miaoqian Village, as his father, and thus became a resident of Miaoqian Village.
He even married Jin Xiaoye, a capable girl from Miaoqian Village.
At that time, many people envied Jin Xiaoye. Firstly, Li Qingzhi could buy land, so he must have money. Secondly... he was a scholar. Even if he failed in the imperial examination and could not become an official, he could still make money by helping people copy books in the county or being a shopkeeper.
But who would have thought that just two months after marrying Jin Xiaoye, Li Qingzhi disappeared.
There were rumors at the time that Li Qingzhi looked down on Jin Xiaoye and abandoned her and ran away.
From then on, Jin Xiaoye went from being the envied young lady in the village who married a scholar to a poor abandoned person.
What's worse is that Jin Xiaoye was pregnant. Seven months after Li Qing left, she gave birth to two sons in one go.