This is Xiahe Village, an ordinary yet extraordinary small village.
The scenery is beautiful with mountains and rivers. There are lush trees on the mountains and abundant fish and shrimp in the water. There is a fence 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 houses, as well as the indifference of green mountains and clear 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 but no 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 slope, there is a chubby little kid about five or six years old, who is looking at the village with emotion.
What does it matter if the scenery is beautiful with green mountains and clear waters? Transportation is inconvenient, people depend on the weather for food, and suffer from natural disasters. What else can people who are struggling to make ends meet appreciate except food! It is better to give him a whole grain steamed bun than to let him watch the rising sun from the mountains.
Isn't it a bit strange for a child to express such sentiment
In fact, although his body is that of a five or six-year-old child, his heart is that of a 21st century graduate student majoring in ancient Chinese who has been repeatedly abused on the road to employment, has no money, no power, and no girlfriend. After 100 consecutive failed job applications, he lamented 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, when he woke up, he turned into this little kid named Zhu Ping'an and nicknamed Xiao Zhu.
This body had been ill before I came here, and probably didn't survive. I don't know how I woke up and found myself dead.
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 can only look up at the sky at a 45-degree angle and feel injured. It's really a professional match...
Make the best of it. Think about the predicament of having no place to apply your expertise in the 21st century. Now that God has given me an opportunity to find a job, it would be a waste of God's gift if I don't seize it. What's more, I was an orphan with no worries in my previous life.
"Little pig, little pig, go home, or you'll be beaten by your mother and cry again."
A group of naughty kids roared and rushed past at the bottom of the hill, fearing that they would be pressed to the ground and rubbed by their elders if they returned home late.
Xiao Zhu! This nickname is ridiculous. Even Hu Zi or Shi Tou are better names than this one. Of course, he was just complaining. He also knew the reason why children were given vulgar names in ancient times.
In the eyes of the ancients, the reason why it was difficult for children to survive was because 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 lowly lives and did not need to go through obstacles, so their survival rate was so high. So people believed that the more lowly and less human-like the names given to children were, the better. Haven’t you seen that the survival rate of animals was so high? The more animal-like, the easier it was for them to survive and the easier it was for them to deceive the King of Hell and the little ghosts. If they were treated as animals, they would not need to create obstacles.
When Zhu Ping'an heard that there were little boys in the village named "Dog Sister" or even "Dog Shit", he suddenly felt relieved that he had survived a disaster. Compared with the first two names, "Little Pig" and "Pig'er" are much lighter in taste.
It has been more than ten days since he came to this era, and Zhu Ping'an has gone from being uncomfortable to having to accept this fact helplessly.
In this era, naming habits are secondary, and the most important thing is living habits. This is an era where old morals and old ethics prevail. It’s okay if there is no electricity or Internet, but the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues, the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, ghosts and gods, fate, etc. are all popular. Therefore, those novels about time-travel protagonists with the protagonist’s halo, who come out with a tiger body that shakes the world and is invincible with a golden finger, are 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 burnt talisman paper and ashes because he talked in his sleep for several nights. Wang Ermaizi from the neighboring village tried to learn how to speak from Hu Ji in the county town, but after he said a few words when he returned to the village, the village elder thought he was possessed by a ghost and tied him to a pillar and exposed him to the sun for three days.
How can one person fight against the whole world
Therefore, in the ten days since he came to this world, Zhu Ping'an has been trying hard to play the role of a child. He is cautious and careful, trying 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 was getting late, and he had to go home quickly, or he would be scolded again. Zhu Ping'an ran down the high slope towards home with his short legs.
Why do I feel a cool breeze blowing at the base of my thighs? Could it be that my short legs are moving at lightning speed
After Zhu Ping'an ran down the slope, he stopped and looked down, and saw a small noodle fluttering in the wind.
Open crotch pants
How can you let a person who is mentally in his twenties wear open-crotch pants? Can he still have fun
This is intolerable! I must fight for the right to not wear open-crotch pants when I go back.
Along the way, the thatched huts and adobe houses are arranged irregularly. Xiahe Village, although surrounded by mountains and rivers, is still a remote and poor place, because the locals only use the mountains and rivers to meet their daily needs. To build a house, they go up the mountain to cut a few trees and drag them 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 small peasant economy still relies on the fields for a living. Most villagers rely on one mu and three fen of land to fill their stomachs. There are only a few landlords who are relatively wealthy.
Landlords were wealthy and had hundreds of acres of fertile land. The rent for one year was enough for ordinary people to work hard for a lifetime. With money, they could buy land or set up a few shops. Money made money and life was sweeter than honey. Poor families could not make enough money from their own one acre and three mu 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 food for a year, after deducting the exorbitant taxes and rent, they were lucky to have enough food for their family.
The Zhu family was relatively well off, with more than ten acres of fertile land, and was considered a middle-class family in the village. However, they could not support so many people, and since the eldest uncle was not productive and the cost of studying for the imperial examinations was quite high, the Zhu family was also struggling to make ends meet.
Of course, judging from the outside, the Zhu family lives quite well. Compared with the thatched huts and adobe houses commonly seen in the village, at least the Zhu family's compound is a civil structure. But in reality, the Zhu family does not live as well as the average family in the village.
As soon as Zhu Ping'an entered the house, he happened to meet his mother in this life, Chen. Chen was standing at the gate of the yard, staring at him with a frown on her face. When she saw that he had returned safely, her eyes melted like ice and snow in spring. She had been waiting for him to come back. Chen was in her thirties, dressed like a young woman, with a bit of a fierce look on her eyebrows. She used a hairpin with peeling paint to pin her hair into a bun, and there were two patches on her clean double-breasted skirt.
"Mom, I don't want to wear open-crotch pants anymore." As soon as Zhu Ping'an, with his short legs, stepped into the adulthood stage, he began to fight for the right not to wear open-crotch pants.
As soon as he finished speaking, Chen grabbed his ear.
"You little bastard, you are making a fuss. I worked so hard to raise you, and saved money to make clothes for you, and you still despise me. How old are you? Don't wear open-crotch pants!"
"Mom, ah, it hurts, it hurts, I'm not a child of two or three years old anymore." Zhu Ping'an cried for mercy. His chubby hand held Chen's arm and he stood on tiptoes 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 chubby and much more lively than his brother.
Although it was funny, the strength in Chen's hands did not decrease. This brat was not honest to begin with. He had been sick a few days ago. After he recovered, he became even stronger and ran outside all day long.
"You still feel pain. You're out there all day long and no one can see you. I'm relieved when you're kidnapped by a beggar." Chen glared at Zhu Ping'an. She was still frightened when she thought about the missing children 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 Xiaozhu." Third aunt Zhang, who was washing dishes by the well in the yard, looked at Xiaozhu with some envy and persuaded Chen to calm down. Zhang just turned 30, but she only had one daughter, Zhu Pingyu, who was one year younger than Zhu Pingan, so she was particularly envious of Chen for having two sons.
"Third brother, please don't plead for him. This brat will tear down the house if he is not punished for three days." Chen said, grabbing Xiao Zhu Ping'an's ear and taking him to the kitchen.
"Tell me, will you dare to stay out and eat outside again 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.
Eggs. Zhu Ping'an's eyes lit up. After eating simple meals for more than ten days, he finally had some meat.
This is simply impossible to refuse.
"It hurts, mom. I won't do it again." Zhu Ping'an took the egg but pretended to scream.
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 in the mouth, and tastes really good. It feels like it’s many times more delicious than modern eggs. Of course, it may also be because I have only been eating simple meals since I came here and have never tasted meat.
Little clever boy, Chen smiled, tapped Zhu Ping'an's forehead, and whispered, "Eat quickly, when we're at the table, your mind will be on the big room again."
At this time, Zhu Ping'an felt extremely warm in his heart. His family members in this life, whether it was his fierce mother or his dull father, or his older brother who was about ten years older but mature and honest, were all kind to him from the bottom of their hearts.
The father is kind, the mother is generous, and the brother is generous, and warmth is everywhere.
This is also the main reason why Zhu Ping'an accepted the fact of time travel. As an orphan in the 21st century who had never felt the warmth of a family, he felt the care and love of an old cow licking its calf here, and gradually he became willing.
"Mom, you are so kind. I will be filial to you when I grow up." Zhu Pingan hugged Chen's thigh and said with emotion. I am your son, and I will be filial to you in the future.
Chen looked at her youngest son, who was acting like a spoiled child to her. She was obviously enjoying it and felt that her youngest son was much cuter than her eldest son. She had asked her eldest son to come over before, but that fool was just like his father, saying that cheating was not a real man. Chen was so angry that she had to kick him out. Fortunately, her youngest son was not so conservative. She tapped him on the forehead with a smile and said, "I'll be thankful if you don't make me angry. Hurry up and wipe your mouth so that you won't be seen later."