Ming Zhengzhi, I am Zheng Kezang

Dong Xiaoyi supported his white-haired old lady, and looked at the wasteland full of weeds and trees in front of him, tears came down.The Dong family used to be a big family in Changguo, but when the border was closed back then, the ancestral land could not be kept at once.His father just argued a few words, ate a meal from the county, and died within two days after returning home.Seeing that his father was dead, his mother was sick, and his fields were gone, he took his family and joined the anti-Qing rebel army in a fit of anger. It has been more than 20 years since his wife and two sons got to know each other early on while escaping from the Qing army. Originally, he thought that he would never have a chance to own his own land again in this life, but he suddenly followed the brigade to Dongning, and was awarded the [-]-acre wasteland in front of him.

"Son, this land really belongs to our family?" The old mother narrowed her cloudy eyes and looked at this small territory, as if she still couldn't believe it. "There is no need to pay taxes for the first three years, and the land tax will be halved for the next two years, and there is no need to pay poll tax?" the old lady asked, and Dong Xiaoyi responded, and suddenly the old man burst into tears. "His father, our family is up again, his daughter-in-law, why didn't you live long enough to take a look?"

"Mother, this is a festive day, don't cry, the days will be better in the future." Dong Xiaoyi wiped his face carelessly, and then persuaded his mother with a crying sound. "Go home first, Yan'er probably has already cleaned up the house, and when tomorrow starts, my son will work hard to open up the land, and maybe he will be able to grow a crop of vegetables within the year."

Dong Xiaoyi’s village has a total of 26 families, which happens to be the “A” of Dongning’s basic unit. The appearance is monotonous, but at this moment, in Dong Xiaoyi's eyes, it is the paradise in his dream.

Back home, the youngest daughter, Dong Yan'er, had already rearranged the house. Speaking of which, when the Dong family came to Taiwan, they only had two clothes and a linen quilt. The other dishes, tables, chairs, and cabinets were issued by the officials. , what Dong Yaner has to do is to clean one side again, and the other is to raise the stove and boil water for cooking.

But when Dong Xiaoyi returned home, an uninvited visitor had already arrived in the yard: "Yan'er, who are these?"

"Auntie, dad, you're back." Seeing grandma and dad slowly moving back, Dong Yan'er immediately went up to meet them and introduced them one by one. "This is the aunt of the Li family next door, and this is the elder sister He Niang from the Xiepai family in the west of the village, this aunt Gao." In fact, the Dong family's A is not fully filled, so far it is only half full. Among them, one Jiachang household and two households moved from Tainan, and the other nine households came from Quanzhou, Xinghua, and Malacca Shitai. It is said that they came to meet each other by fate, so although there are some obstacles in communication , but the communication with each other started immediately. "These firewood and dishes are all sent by Aunt Li and the others."

"Why bother all the townspeople." Dong Xiaoyi immediately bowed to thank him, although he didn't know what he was talking about, but seeing the action and understanding what was going on, several women who understood what was going on responded with a blessing.

"We will be neighbors from now on, and we should take care of each other." Xie Paishou's wife said very heartily, but Dong Xiaoyi's chattering Hakka dialect made Dong Xiaoyi speak like chickens and ducks. "By the way, it's better to help the old man to rest in the house first."

Dong Xiaoyi managed to understand a little bit, so he apologized and helped his mother closer to the house. The old lady just sat down and grabbed the son's man: "People send firewood and vegetables, but don't care if they keep it." What are you thinking, don't let others look at you, it's not good to offend your neighbors, after all, we are just newcomers."

"Speaking of which, even the rice is on credit from the government, my son really doesn't know what they are plotting against us." Dong Xiaoyi smiled wryly. "However, mother, don't worry, my son still knows about these things."

As soon as Dong Xiao went out of the house, Li Shen and the others were still surrounding Dong Yan'er and commenting. Seeing Dong Xiaoyi coming out of the house again, Aunt Gao praised with a smile on her face: "Yan'er is diligent, Mr. Dong Brother will be blessed in the future."

"The Li family, the Xie family, and the Gao family. They just moved here. What are you doing here?" Before Dong Xiaoyi could figure out what Aunt Gao was talking about, a voice rang out from outside the fence. Soon, a person pushed open the door of the yard and walked in. "Don't give me all to go home."

Like a mouse seeing a cat, these women ran away in a hurry. At this time, Dong Xiaoyi saw clearly that the other party was picking up the head of his family at the entrance of the village, so he hurried over to salute and listened to the head of the family. A Nanzhili official dialect with a strong southern Hokkien accent said word by word: "Originally, my brother just moved here today, and I shouldn't bother you, but when I passed by, I heard that your place is lively, so I have to explain something. "

Dong Xiaoyi, who finally understood what Shou Jia said, hurriedly invited him into the main room to take a seat, but the other party waved his hand: "No need, I don't have much to say, I will leave after I explain."

As he spoke, A first swept Dong Yan'er, who had hurriedly hid in the firewood room: "The police officer wrote on your household license that your eldest niece will be fifteen years old after the new year? No engagement? Those wives are afraid That's what it's for."

For Dong Yan'er?Dong Xiaoyi was confused, and heard Jiashou continue: "There are many men and few women in this domain, and marriage is quite difficult. Maybe their brothers or natal brothers are not yet married, so they want to take advantage of Brother Dong's new arrival. , but our own system does not allow them to mess around."

At this point, Jiashou stopped, and waited for Dong Xiaoyi to digest the meaning of the words before continuing: "Brother Dong is now a widower, and he has no heirs to inherit the family business, so according to the statute of the feudal clan, it is possible to hire a wife." Yes, but I don’t know if Brother Dong has such a meaning, if he has such a serious meaning, then I will report it and choose a good guy for my brother in Quanbao or even Quanli.”

Recruiting a wife, of course you have to recruit a wife, otherwise the family business can't last long, but Dong Xiaoyi thought more, so he tentatively asked: "The girl is still young, can this matter be discussed slowly?"

"The law of this feudal clan states that a woman must marry at the earliest fifteen and at the latest seventeen. If she fails to marry within the time limit, her father and brother will face a lawsuit. The eldest niece will be seventeen after the new year. There is not much time limit." Plainly stated. "Besides, my brother just got the land, so it's not easy to get used to it. I think my brother is not too young. If you find a helper earlier, you can pay off the official loan earlier, and you can save a lot of interest. "

"Jiashou is right. It's just that Dong's family has just arrived in Dongning and they don't have any savings. How did the dowry come from?" After returning home, they will be discriminated against, which is why Dong Xiaoyi said so.

"Brother is confused, you are recruiting a wife, not a daughter, what kind of dowry do you want to prepare?" Jiashou chuckled, and continued to torture Dong Xiaoyi's nerves with ugly Mandarin. "Furthermore, the rules of this feudal clan only pay attention to the man's dowry, not the woman's dowry. Although I don't have that much income in recruiting a wife, it must be more than enough to repay the food money owed to the government. The cost is enough”

"Mother, that's the thing." After seeing off A-shou, Dong Xiaoyi went back to the house and reported to the old mother. "Before Jiashou left, he urged me to settle the matter early so as not to make it difficult for the neighbors to get along with in the future. The son thinks about it too, but he still asks his mother to make the decision."

China has always paid attention to early birth, early childbearing, and many children and grandchildren. For example, in "The Book of Songs, Daya and Fake Le", there is a eulogy of "a thousand fortunes, a hundred blessings, and hundreds of billions of descendants". Therefore, it is normal for girls to get married at the age of thirteen, four, or five. Yes, even child marriages are not uncommon. Men and women get married and share a room at the age of seven or eight, and there is a reason why Dong Yan'er has been able to procrastinate until now.

"Yan'er is amazing." The old man said quietly. "Although the man died before we got married, I hope the widowed family will not be taboo? And since we have married, we should observe the festival, our family"

Dong Xiaoyi hurriedly interrupted the old lady: "Mother, my son also told Jiashou just now, but Jiashou said that there is a regulation in Dongning, and widows must remarry before they are 35 years old, otherwise the elders of the husband's family and the mother's family will marry again." They were all arrested by the government to stand in the shackles."

"What?" The old woman was taken aback. "Isn't it allowed to keep the festival?" Mrs. Dong is also the daughter of a scholar's family. Naturally, she read "The Legend of Martyr Girl" when she was a child. Although she may not be willing to see the Dong family's descendant and her granddaughter living alone all her life, it is still unbelievable. "It's a bit insane to ignore the etiquette and human relations."

"Mother, you can't say that." Dong Xiaoyi looked around in panic, naturally he had no ear to the wall. "Dongning is struggling with the Tartars now. It seems that there is still a war to be fought. What do you rely on in a war? It's a human. If you don't force marriage, can this person be conjured out of thin air?" Dong Xiaoyi said angrily. "It's already this time, what kind of etiquette is there!"

The old lady was silent, and then nodded: "Since the government has this law, we can't disobey it, but Yan'er, as a father, you should go and persuade me, my poor granddaughter."

At this time, I heard the door suddenly slamming, Dong Xiaoyi looked back immediately, and saw Dong Yaner covering her face and running towards the firewood house to the west, he told his mother, and chased after her. In the firewood room, I saw my daughter crying like a tearful person.

"Yan'er, I have suffered for you these past few years." Dong Xiaoyi also had tears on his face. "But now it's all right. We are the only one in this family who came from Zhoushan. No one will gossip and say that you are a broom star. Everything will start again."

"Father!" Dong Yan'er threw herself into Dong Xiaoyi's arms and wept loudly.

"Okay, okay, such a big person." Dong Xiaoyi stroked his daughter's hair, raised his head slightly, and through the small window in the woodshed, he saw the darkening blue sky, as if he was Persuading her daughter also seems to strengthen her confidence. "Don't cry, everything will be fine"