Poor children

Chapter 12 Mother and son sacrifice blood to God and beg for another son

一
The third lady has been going to Baiyun Temple for some days. She meditates, chants sutras and worships Buddha every day. This was originally a place of pure cultivation, but it has been polluted by dirty people.

It turns out that the third lady has been here all these days, but she has never seen Mr. An. Last time, I heard gossip from the princes and ladies who were guests at the palace, saying that Mr. An got married at the beginning of the month.
The third lady came to Baiyun Nunnery to meet in a hurry, but after waiting for a few days, no one else came. The third lady was pacing back and forth in the room angrily, and almost heard the door ring, and looked up to see Master An coming into the room

She immediately stepped forward and raised her hand to hit, but Mr. An grabbed her wrist.
"You said this was fine. I just came here. Why did you hit me?"

"Mr. An is so great now. I heard that he got married a few days ago?" The third lady broke away from Mr. An and sat down on the chair. "What are you doing here after getting married? You're at home. Let’s enjoy the blessings of being together. From now on, we will never see each other again.” After saying that, he picked up the veil, covered his face and cried bitterly.
"What are you talking about? Do you think this is the one I am willing to marry?"

"Why did you marry if you didn't want to?"

"She is the granddaughter of the prince's young master, and the emperor personally arranged the marriage. Do you want me to resist the decree?" Lord An said.
"What kind of marriage does the emperor recommend to you?"

"Right now, I have managed a few things well. The Emperor will naturally like it. Besides, I have already passed my thirties. Because of you, I have never married. Several of my colleagues who are the same age as me have children. We already have several of them, Mr. Hu from Tianjian Division is one year younger than me and he already had a grandson a year ago. The Emperor is considerate of me and wants to marry me, how can I not accept the decree?"

"You also have children! It's just that you are calling others daddy right now..." the third lady said

"Are you sincerely disgusting me? It's not all your idea that she calls someone daddy. Who do you dare to let know?"

Mr. An added, "Did you know that when those talkative people saw that I was still unmarried at my age, they only said that I had broken sleeves behind my back? They also said that I kept some actors and actresses in my house and secretly had fun with them all day long." , you should also think about me!"

The third lady laughed and said, "I can't believe that I have known you for so long before I know that you still have these hobbies. I really underestimate you. If there is a young man in your family who can still look down on you, why don't you give me two for fun?" ?”

"My ancestor, you'd better think about how many sins I've done for you. Even if I marry a wife and take a concubine, I still don't follow your lead..."

two

A vegetarian meal was laid out in the charity hall, and Liao Chen sent a little nun to invite it. The two of them went to the charity hall to have a meal.

At that time, the three of them sat down, and the little nun withdrew after serving the meal, leaving only the three of them in the room to eat.

"Godmother, I want to have another boy," the third lady suddenly said
Liao Chen put down the bowl and looked at her, "My son, do you know how many sins you have to commit and how many lives you have to kill if you want to have a child?"

"Who is my godmother? Now she is afraid of killing people?" "As an old woman, I have nothing to fear. It's just that you are still young, my daughter. I am thinking about you. If you do too many evil things, I'm afraid you won't be able to do it." Good death"

"I can't control so much! If I don't have a boy, all the people in the house over there will belong to the one in the north courtyard. How can I be willing to do that?"

"Having caused so many lives, you will definitely be punished in the future. You'd better think about it clearly." Chen Dao
"I have already thought clearly, and I will not feel at ease if I don't fight for the last one."

"Then you go find a wife and bring her back to raise her," Liao Chen said to Mr. An.

"I'm paying attention. It's not easy to find a suitable one, and you have to wait for some time..."

"Wait? Wait until when?" Before Mr. An could finish speaking, the third lady became angry again, "Wait until the one in your family gives birth to a baby?"

It turns out that these three ladies are eager to have a son because they want to take over both sides. Firstly, they are afraid that all the titles and property in the palace will belong to the second lady and the two young masters in the future. Secondly, they are afraid that Mrs. An will take away her position if she gives birth to a son and a half. She doesn't leave any side behind
"You're angry again," Mr. An said, "I'm just trying my best. What are you doing with all these things? How have I treated you over the years? Tell your godmother, I've always been obedient to you. You Why are you so heartless? You said so many hurtful words and poked me in the lungs."

three

Poor children's residence
After crying for a while, the poor girl probably fell asleep due to tiredness from crying. When she woke up again, Mrs. Su had come back. She bought a shroud with three pieces inside and two outside, which was pretty good. On her feet was a pair of black velvet embroidered shoes with soles. The embroidery of lotus flowers on the ladder is also considered meticulously done by hand.
Several cooks went to the well to fetch water, washed Aunt Zhang's face and wiped her body, and put on clothes one by one. Because the person was stiff and heavy after death, the four strong cooks were sweating profusely from exhaustion. It took me a while to put on my clothes.

The pauper took the toothless comb at home and carefully combed her grandmother's hair
Everything was ready, and suddenly I heard someone shouting outside. It turned out to be a few boys from the coffin shop coming to deliver the goods. Mother Su called them into the house, and worked together to lift the person into the coffin. The cook took a piece of white cloth Putting it on the poor boy's head, the boy carried the coffin again, and the group walked towards a mass grave outside the city specifically for the poor.
We chose a small slope in the mass grave, and a few boys dug a hole with spades and pickaxes. Aunt Zhang's coffin stood beside the hole, and the poor girl knelt beside her blankly. She couldn't even cry now. But who would have thought that he would start to suffer from problems from then on, and he has never cried again since then...

After digging the pit, several people put the coffin into the pit, took out a few long iron nails to nail the coffin lid tightly, and then climbed up from the pit and used shovels to dig soil to fill the grave.

The pauper suddenly stood up, ran two steps and jumped into the pit. The boy who was filling the soil didn't react for a moment, so he dug more soil into it. She was so small that she was almost buried in the soil.

This jump of the poor boy frightened the crowd, and he quickly jumped into the pit and pulled her up, and the crowd brushed off the dirt from her body. Her sudden action really frightened the cooks, the cooks They could only grab her tightly, but the poor boy was just in a daze, neither crying nor shouting, and still knelt down
After a while, there was a new tomb in front of me. Mrs. Su was so greedy that she didn't even carve a stone tablet on it. She only had this dirt bag, but it was already better than the others in this messy hillock. This is the burial place of the poor. , some people's families are too poor to buy a good coffin, and the boards are so thin that you can poke holes with your fingers. Some people can't afford a coffin at all, so they just wrap it up with a piece of bamboo and bury it. There are also some unidentified people begging for food on the street. Yes, it would be good if someone with good intentions dragged it here to bury it

Although this aunt has been poor all her life, she is now considered a blessed person. She never married, and she died alone and without anyone to send her to. Because she was very kind to her mother who was a poor child, and she also raised a poor child. Although Not blood relatives, but closer than blood relatives, so when she was old and moved to the west, someone bought her a shroud and a coffin for her burial, all because of her kindness.
There are good and evil causes and effects in the world. Originally, this old lady should have no one to die, but because she saved the mother and daughter, her luck changed, and it is considered a decent death.
four

Everything was settled, and it was already getting late. The cooks wanted to go back to prepare dinner and pick up the poor child. They wanted to go back together, but they couldn't bring her up.
She didn't answer when I asked her, and she didn't answer when I asked her, just knelt on the edge of the grave blankly. The cooks couldn't help her, and hurried back, so they had to leave her alone.
Gradually, the sky darkened, and there were a few "croaking" crows in the distance. Once it got dark, the place became very quiet. There seemed to be a little light flickering in the distance, and it was still far away from the city. There is a distance, and there is no one around...

(End of this chapter)