Good farming at the foot of Changbai Mountain

Chapter 6
The sudden bad news crushed the Xu family all at once.The old lady was unconscious, and the old man was also on the verge of collapse. Wei was holding his son and crying bitterly there.The rest of these people also had tears in their eyes.

The two sergeants who delivered the letter were also very sad when they saw this situation. The tall man took out 50 taels of silver and put it on the kang, "Uncle, here are 30 taels of pension money allocated by the court, and the other 20 taels are Deputy General Xu's salary for this year. In addition, Deputy General Xu has made great contributions in resisting the enemy, and the imperial court has granted his family members no longer to perform military service. This is a document." The tall man took out a document and handed it to Xu Zhixin.

The short man took out some scattered silver, which was about 30 taels, "Uncle, this is collected by the sergeants in our battalion. It's not much, so keep it at home. Vice-general Xu is a good guy. We They all admire him."

Xu Zhixin returned the scattered silver to the short man, "Mr. Jun, we will accept the pension from the imperial court. You don't want it if you can collect the money. Everyone has a family and a family. Don't worry about my family. No more suffering for the family."

The short man insisted on keeping the money, "Brother Xu, these are generally those who have no worries at home. Many of us soldiers are also orphans. Only when there is no way to survive will we go to the army. We have no worries, and it is useless to ask for money." .”

Xu Zhixin had no choice but to accept the money. At this moment, the old lady woke up slowly, "My son, why are you willing to abandon your parents, wife and children? You love my mother so much, my Yonger." The old lady burst into tears.

Seeing this, the two soldiers got up and said goodbye, "Uncle, Brother Xu, there are still many things to do in the barracks. Since the things have been delivered, we will not stay here and leave." After finishing speaking, The two of them went out to ride horses.

Xu Zhixin sent the two of them out, saw that they were gone, and then returned to the house. "Father, mother, what do you think we should do? Since the ashes of the second brother have been sent back, we should bury him as soon as possible, so that the second brother can rest in peace."

The old man waved his hand, "Zhixin, you can figure it out, I can't think about anything now. Just do whatever you like."

The old lady cried until she was silent, just sobbing.Wei Shi was supported by his son and leaned against the side of the kang cabinet, his body limp.Wen Cheng and Wen Chang were crying too hard, and they were twitching there.Seeing the situation at home, Mrs. Xue felt sad, "The head of the family, go as you see what to do. There is no one else in the family who can support this stall. Find someone to send a letter to the town and the county, and let the third child It’s a big deal that the fourth child is back.”

Zhixin listened and nodded, "Sure, then I'll take care of it. You stay at home and watch over your parents, and don't make any trouble. I'll try to come back as soon as possible." Xu Zhixin turned around and left.

After a while, the old lady gradually calmed down, wrapped up the ashes urn, and put it in the suite of the east room.There is a cabinet there, and there are several tablets on the cabinet, which should be the tablets of the ancestors of the Xu family.The jar was placed at the bottom of the row, and then Mrs. Chen lit three sticks of incense and inserted them into the bowl of the incense burner. "Yonger, you are home. This time, you will never leave home again," said the old lady. Then, the tears fell again.

Coming out of the back room, the old lady looked at the Wei family, "Yurong, don't be sad, the matter has come to this point, it is useless to be sad. The future is still going on, don't look at anything else, there are Wen Cheng and Wen Chang Well, the two children are still young."

Wei Shi seemed to come back to his senses at this moment, looked at the old man and the old lady, then at the two children, then looked back at Xue Shi, and then stared at Xue Shi viciously. "It's you, your family, who killed our family's Zhiyong. It's you, you are the murderer." After speaking, he rushed towards Mrs. Xue.

Mrs. Xue didn't react for a while, so Mrs. Wei rushed forward and stretched out her hand to scratch Xue's face for a while.Jinghan next to him saw that he didn't want to do it, and went up and grabbed Wei Shi's hair, "We are also very sad that the second uncle is gone, second aunt, what are you doing? Why are you beating my mother?" Jingya next to him also hugged Wei's waist, pulled back.

Here Wen Cheng and Wen Chang were all stunned, I don't know why the mother suddenly went to the aunt.Wen Cheng reacted fairly quickly, and hurried forward to pull his mother and aunt away. "Mom, my father died on the battlefield, what does it have to do with my aunt?"

"Who said it doesn't matter? Back then, the government conscripted soldiers. At that time, your grandfather, your uncle, and your father were all old enough at home. But your grandfather is the head of the family, so you can't go. Your uncle married your aunt, and your aunt just now I was pregnant, so I couldn’t go. Only your father was left. He was engaged to my family before he got married. So your father was conscripted and went to the battlefield. Your father fought bravely on the battlefield, made great achievements, and then returned to his hometown Married me. Two months after marriage, he went back to the barracks again, and didn’t come back until you were one year old. Later, Wenchang came back again, and he only came back every two or three years in these years. Unexpectedly, he died in battle now The battlefield. Tell me, it wasn’t his family that caused it, or who? If it wasn’t your father who went to the battlefield, your father wouldn’t have died.” Wei Shi still looked at Xue Shi fiercely.

Jing Han is speechless, can this also be blamed on her own head?It was out of helplessness that the second uncle was sent to serve as a soldier. Could it be that his father was right to go to the battlefield?No wonder mother and grandma are so tolerant towards second aunt, so it's here.

"Wencheng's mother, you can't say that. No one can avoid the imperial court's conscription. At that time, the second child was voluntary. Later, he had the opportunity to leave the barracks. It wasn't you who asked him to stay in the barracks." Let's go, there is a lot of money for a year. Can't you earn these at home?" The old lady couldn't listen anymore, and said. "The money that the second brother has brought back over the years is in your hands, and we didn't ask for a single penny." The Xu family has always felt ashamed of the second child, so they have let the Wei family not compete with her for anything all these years. , I didn't expect to say that now.

"I don't care about that. Anyway, they are the ones who caused my man's death. I just ask them to pay for it." Wei Shi was ignored by the old lady, and he just played tricks.

"Oh, don't bother, please calm down. Second daughter-in-law, don't make trouble here either. When Zhiyong was conscripted, our two families broke up the engagement. You were the one who waited for Zhiyong, When he comes back to get married, we all understand this and appreciate your sincerity, so we have treated you better than our own girls these years. What's the use of talking about it now? Let's cheer up and bury Zhiyong properly It's right to raise Wencheng and Wenchang." The old man finally spoke. "Old lady, put away all the money and save it for Wencheng and Wenchang to marry a wife. We must raise these two children properly so that we can have a family and a career."

After listening to the old man's words, Mrs. Chen was about to pack up the money. At this moment, Mrs. Wei came forward suddenly and took all the money into her arms. "This is the money left by my head. Why do you take it? You still have a son who didn't talk about a daughter-in-law, and a daughter who didn't get married. Who knows if you will use this money? No, I will take this money." Come on. I can't trust you." Wei Shi said, hugging Yinzi tightly.

The old man let out a long sigh and agreed, "Yes, then you can take it. Wencheng and Wenchang are your sons, so you can take it."

Wei Shi hurriedly pulled all the silver, carried it back to his room, and hid it.

Seeing Wei Shi's appearance, the old lady also sighed, and said nothing more.Xue covered her face, the scratch just now felt burning pain, "Mother, I'll go back and wash my face first, I won't be able to get off the ground today, so everyone should rest as well, the second brother's business still needs to be done. After finishing speaking, he led his four children back to the East Wing.

Back in the East Chamber, Jing Han and Jing Ya looked at the red marks on their mother's face, tears came out again. "Why does Second Aunt do this? It doesn't matter whether it's indiscriminate or not, she came here for Mother. What does Second Uncle have to do with Mother when he goes to the battlefield?" Jing Han muttered.

"Jinghan, this matter is unreasonable. For so many years, I have always let her go because of this. I didn't expect your second uncle to be like this. Oh, family, don't be like her." Xue said helplessly Sigh, I have been married to Xu's family for more than ten years, and I have always been guilty of this, so I will be more tolerant of Wei's various behaviors.

"Mother, what about the future? This second uncle is gone, will my second aunt remarry?" Jinghan asked puzzled, because she really didn't understand the rules of this era.

"The customs here do not prohibit widows from remarrying. However, since your second aunt was able to wait for your second uncle for several years, she should be able to be his widow now, right? This mother can't tell." Xue shook her head, not sure Wei Shi's pulse, Wei Shi is only 27 years old now, which is too young.It seemed cruel to leave someone so young as a widow.

"Forget it, it's useless for us to worry so much, let's take our time in the future." Wen Han said.

Ladies chatting with you and me, Zhixin came in from the outside.When Xue saw it, she asked, "How is the matter going?"

"I found someone to deliver the letter, and checked the date. Grandpa Sun said that it is best to be buried on April [-]th. Our family has a cemetery, so we can just bury it in the old cemetery. Now the coffin is missing. I have asked the messenger to tell the old man It's four, let him think about buying it in the town." Zhixin told his wife about it. "The spring plowing is about to happen. Now that something has happened, I'm afraid the spring plowing will be delayed. So, let's go to the field tomorrow. If the plowing is delayed, what will happen to the family's food?"

"Success, let's do as you said, Jingya and Jinghan will also go, at least you can order something to grow, just slow down. It's time to grab the spring, you really can't delay it." Xue raised her head. Looked at the two daughters. "Girl, I have to work in the fields this year, so don't feel tired."

Both Jingya and Jinghan laughed, "Mother, we won't cry tired, don't worry."

Only then did Zhixin see the red marks on his wife's face, "What's the matter, why are there so many marks?"

Jinghan told his father what happened just now, and Zhixin became angry when he heard it, and insisted on going to Wei Shi.It was Mrs. Xue who held him back, "Father, forget it. You see, she is sad enough at this moment." Zhixin didn't go to see Mrs. Wei.

(End of this chapter)