cite Han

Chapter 181 Abandoned Baby

Liu Jing sent away his sister-in-law Lai Ci and nephew Hutou, and it was midsummer and May in a few days.

In the understanding of the people in the Han Dynasty, May is an evil month with many taboos. Therefore, "Customs of the Customs" written by Ying Shao, the prefect of Mount Tai, said: "As the saying goes, if you come to an official in May, you will not be appointed." The room is bald."

The reason why my sister-in-law Lai Ci chose to leave at the end of April is because it is taboo to travel far in May.

In fact, when Liu Jing became an official the year before, he also chose to go to the county mansion to report to the meritorious officials on April [-], instead of delaying until May.

May is an evil month, and May [-]th, the Dragon Boat Festival, is regarded as an evil month and an evil day.

The great Confucian Wang Chong mentioned in his book "Lunheng": "It is taboo to mention the sons of the first month and the fifth month. It is not allowed to kill the father and mother with the sons of the first month and the fifth month. If they are raised, the parents will die."

This custom can be said to have a long history. One of the "Four Sons" of the Warring States Period, Mengchang Jun Tianwen was born on May [-]th, so he was almost abandoned by his parents.

Taiwei Hu Guang, who lived in the six dynasties of Emperor An, Emperor Shun, Emperor Chong, Emperor Zhi, Emperor Huan, and Emperor Ling, was also born on May [-]. His parents were taboo, so they "hid him in a gourd and threw him He. Someone raised it... because it was born from a gourd, so it was named Hu."

Therefore, on May [-]th, the trend of abandoning babies and even drowning them was extremely prevalent. Liu Jing hated this custom, especially the behavior of drowning babies, which he absolutely could not tolerate.

He once heard his elder brother Du Xi talk about the incident. His father, a good friend from the same village, Jia Biao and Jia Weijie in Dingling, Yingchuan, was the leader of the party in the past, and he was as famous as Xun Shuang in the same county. The small people are poor, and they have too many children to raise.

Jia Biao set up his own ordinance in the county: "Whoever does not raise a child will be charged with murder." The county was shocked by it. In a few years, thousands of babies died because of him, all named "Jia".

What Jia Biao did was very much in line with Liu Jing's wishes, so at the beginning of May, he formally promulgated a decree, informing the entire county: "Mother and child can kill each other, against the heavens and the law. Anyone who dares to kill an infant is the same crime as murder."

As soon as this ordinance came out, it immediately caused great controversy in the entire county of Ling County. Liu Jing has now written it in Enwei, Ling County. .

The custom of infanticide has a very long history. For thousands of years, everyone has practiced it, and gradually it is taken for granted, and it is not regarded as an immoral thing.Even the imperial court turned a blind eye to this and did not interfere with this folk behavior.

Now Liu Jing suddenly told the people that drowning an infant is an illegal act, and it will be the same crime as murder, which is simply inexplicable.

Liu Jing doesn't care what the people think, anyway, he has issued an order, and anyone who dares to commit crimes will be severely punished.This kind of atmosphere will definitely be killed.

However, what Liu Jing didn't expect was that his approach did effectively curb the trend of drowning infants, but the phenomenon of abandoned infants multiplied.

When Liu Jing inspected the embankment on May [-], he saw more than one case. He couldn't help feeling anxious, and immediately mobilized all the county officials to patrol the waters of Xiang, Lei, and Cheng. save it.

In just half a day, the officials successfully rescued 97 babies and 92 survived.

Among them, there were 28 male babies and 64 female babies, accounting for more than two-thirds of the baby girls.

This ratio of male to female is quite "normal". After all, male babies can carry on the family line and are also an important labor force after they are raised.On the other hand, baby girls provide limited help to the family, and they will eventually get married when they grow up. According to today's customs, they have to pay a dowry, which is a complete loss of money.Therefore, there are few who abandon male babies, and many who abandon female babies.

When Liu Jing returned to the county monastery, facing so many crying babies, he couldn't help but feel a headache. He rushed to the whole city and recruited dozens of wet nurses to feed them.

But this is not a long-term solution. Liu Jing gradually had an idea in his mind, and returned to the county house immediately to discuss with his wife Deng Yuan.

Liu Jingxing returned in a hurry, and just stepped through the pavilion gate of the county house, and saw his wife Deng Yuan chasing a few butterflies dancing among the colorful flowers.

Liu Jing couldn't help but stop, quietly admiring his lively and lovely wife. She was wearing a bright yellow gauze dress today, as thin as a cicada's wing and as light as smoke. , beautiful printing, exquisite fringe, can be described as extremely gorgeous.Deng Yuan shuttled among the flowers, like a fairy among flowers who came out of a fairy tale.

Deng Yuan was reminded by Ashu, Axi and other maidservants to notice Liu Jing, and embarrassment immediately appeared on his beautiful face, and he thought: "It's only half past noon, and it's not yet time to leave, why is Liu Lang Just came back? It's really bad luck for him to see me lose my appearance. "

Seeing his wife showing a shy look, Liu Jing couldn't help laughing and shaking his head.Perhaps it has something to do with the education he received since he was a child. In front of him, Deng Yuan always wanted to show the stereotyped image of a good wife who "doesn't change her face when she is angry, and never loses her temper when she is happy".

The problem is, she has a lively and active personality, and doing so is just suppressing her own nature.Therefore, I often have one face in front of him, and another face behind his back.

Deng Yuan bowed his head and came to Liu Jing, because he was chasing butterflies just now, he ran very fast, drips of sweat dripped from Bai Yu's flawless face.

Liu Jing took out a white handkerchief from his bosom to wipe her sweat, and asked with a smile, "How many butterflies did Shao Jun catch?"

"Two." Deng Yuan replied in a low voice, then quickly changed the subject: "Liu Lang, why did you come back so early today?"

Liu Jing took his wife's hand, walked to the hall, and briefly told her about the rescue of nearly a hundred abandoned babies today.

Deng Yuan is not an ignorant woman, on the contrary, she is very smart, familiar with scriptures and historical books, and has far beyond ordinary people's knowledge.Of course, Liu Jing knows this best, but when encountering things, he usually discusses them with her.

After hearing this, Deng Yuan frowned slightly. She agreed with her husband's proposal to promulgate the ban on drowning infants, but this result was unexpected.

Liu Jing walked into the hall, poured himself a glass of water to drink, and said: "Now nearly a hundred babies are temporarily placed in the county temple, but this is by no means a long-term solution. The county temple is the center of a county. There are a lot of people coming in and out, and the baby is fragile and will be unbearably disturbed, leading to premature death, so another arrangement has to be made."

Deng Yuan gently opened his lips and said, "If there are two people, maybe they can be adopted, but these nearly a hundred babies... what is Liu Lang going to do?"

Liu Jing confessed his intentions to his wife: "I intend to set up a nursing home to feed abandoned babies until they grow up. Not only these babies, but all orphans without parents can live there. Young Master, what do you think?"

(End of this chapter)