Since ancient times, peasants in all dynasties have had to serve forced labor in addition to farming and paying taxes, and the Ming Dynasty was no exception. The so-called forced labor, to put it bluntly, means that he works for the government for free for a period of time every year, and while he has no wages, he must also bring his own food and tools, and rely on himself for food, clothing, housing, and transportation.

The Ming Dynasty stipulated that a man who was crowned at the age of fifteen was counted as an adult and had the obligation to serve in forced labor, and Xu Jin would be fifteen years old next year.

And among the many conscriptions, dredging the river is undoubtedly the most painful and dangerous. Normally, the dredging of the river is selected after the autumn harvest, which does not affect the agricultural time, and the second is that the river is in the dry period, which is convenient for cleaning up the silt.

However, the weather turns cold at this time, and the taste of the cold winter wax moon soaking in the muddy water can be imagined.

You must know that the medical conditions in ancient times were extremely bad, and even the death rate of the emperor's children was very high.

Therefore, every time the river is dredged, many people will die, most of them will die of disease, and some will be drowned.

Because of this, many people are reluctant to dredge the river, and would rather spend money to serve with silver, but the rich are only a minority, and the vast majority of farmers can't even eat, so they can only go to service.

Of course, the taxes and conscription in the Ming Dynasty were quite light, for example, the taxes of the Qin Dynasty were as high as two-thirds, that is to say, to collect 100 catties of grain, and to hand over nearly 70 catties to the government, which is very perverted. Moreover, the Qin Dynasty's conscription was also very heavy and harsh, the famous Chen Sheng Wu Guangze Township uprising, because of the heavy rain on the road when serving the conscription, there was no way to get to the designated place on time, and the missed period was to be beheaded, so it simply rebelled.

Xu Jin naturally didn't want to serve as a servant, with his own body and bones, if he went to dredge the river, the chance of hanging up was 100%.

After Xu Youguang reminded Xu Jin of the matter of conscription, he chatted a few more words and left. Xu Jin frowned and pondered for a while, and suddenly heard the sound of sobbing, turned his head to look, and found that Xie Xiaowan's little girl was lowering her head and wiping her tears, and her thin body was still trembling slightly, which made people feel distressed to look at.

Xu Jin was stunned and said, "Why are you crying?" ”

"I'm sorry, it's all Xiaowan's fault, the rice is gone, so Xianggong is hungry!" Xie Xiaowan wiped her tears and blamed herself.

Xu Jin couldn't help but suddenly, and said with a smile: "If the rice is gone, it will be gone, I'll go to the fourth brother to ask for some, don't cry!" ”

Xie Xiaowan raised her head, sniffed and said, "Xianggong, don't you blame me?" ”

"What do you blame? You borrowed money to give me medicine to heal me, or I'd already be dead!" ”

Xie Xiaowan said in a panic when she heard this: "Xianggong, don't talk nonsense, it's unlucky!" ”

Xu Jin couldn't help but be a little funny, but when he saw the little girl's nervous appearance, he felt inexplicably warm in his heart, and subconsciously reached out to wipe away the tears on her face, and said slowly: "Silly girl, okay, I won't say it!" ”

This old-fashioned "silly girl" came from the mouth of a fourteen-year-old boy, which sounded very strange, but in the ears of Xie Xiaowan, who was in the prime of her life, she had a sense of happiness of being spoiled by her husband, and lowered her head shyly with a red face.

The little girl was already good-looking, but her form at this time was faintly charming, and Xu Jin had the urge to hug it.

"Ouch, it's really shameless, ashamed!" Xu Jin secretly despised himself, but when he thought that the little girl in front of him was his honest wife, it seemed that he was ...... It's not too much to hug it.

"Uncle Ten! Uncle Ten! ”

Xu Jin was entangled, and a rough voice shouted in outside the courtyard, turned around and looked, and suddenly slammed his tongue.

But I saw a young man as strong as an ox standing outside, estimated to be nearly 1.9 meters, and he was wearing a jacket (short-sleeved long shirt) on a cold day, revealing his solid arms and carrying a large cloth bag on his shoulder.

"Erniu, come in, is there something wrong?" Xu Jinqi said.

This young man is the second son of Li Zheng Xu Youguang, his name is Xu Huang, he is only sixteen years old this year, this head is really amazing, it is said that he rescued Xu Jin from the river today.

Er Niu Han smiled and said, "Dad just asked me to send some food to Uncle Ten!" ”

Xu Jin's heart moved, and he smiled: "Second brother really has a heart, come in!" ”

Erniu entered the yard with a smile: "Auntie, where is the rice urn, my mother said that she wanted to take the cloth bag back!" ”

Xie Xiaowan hurriedly led Erniu into the house, and the latter poured all the rice into the rice urn, which was unexpectedly full, estimated to be nearly three buckets of rice.

Xie Xiaowan said with some uneasiness: "Erniu, if you give us so much rice, is your family's food still enough?" Why don't you take half of it back? ”

Erniu hummed: "Auntie, don't worry, my family's food is enough for the winter, Uncle Seven, I'll go back." ”

Xu Jin nodded and said, "Erniu, thank you for me." ”

"Hey, save it!" The earth cow put the cloth bag on his shoulder and walked away in a hurry.

Xie Xiaowan looked at the urn full of rice, a little dizzy with happiness, and said authentically: "Xianggong, what a lot of rice, the second uncle is really a good person, we have to thank him well when we go back!" ”

Xu Jin smiled and hummed, Xu Youguang is quite discerning, no wonder he can be the governor.

……

"Dad, the rice was sent to Uncle Ten's house, Uncle Ten asked me to bring a message to thank my father and mother, oh, my aunt is still worried that our family will not have enough food, let me bring half of the rice back, I said no!" When Erniu returned home, he reported to Lao Tzu 1510.

Xu Youguang snorted, and Pei Shi, the mother-in-law who was doing needlework next to him, said dissatisfiedly: "Boss, our family doesn't have much food in stock, why do you want to send food to the nerd of Lao Shi, and send so much!" ”

Xu Youguang said: "Hey, what do you know, that kid is not simple, I can't guarantee that I can win a man, and now we can build a good relationship, and we can get some light in the future." ”

Pei Shi said suspiciously: "Just that nerd, it's not easy to speak, it's far worse than his old man, if you can be a showman, you will be in the sky, and if you can be lifted, there will be a ghost!" ”

Xu Youguang said hesitantly: "Mother-in-law, today Guo Papi came to the door to ask the old ten to collect debts, what do you say the result is?" ”

"What's going on?" Pei Shi put down the needle and thread curiously.

Xu Youguang told the story again, and Pei Shi said in surprise after hearing it: "Hey, Guo Papi is a human spirit, and he actually suffered a loss from Lao Shi, but it's really amazing!" ”

Xu Youguang said proudly: "Hey, I said, Lao Shi suddenly opened his mind after soaking in the river, let's have a good relationship now, if this kid is really in high school in the future, how can he not miss our family!" ”

Pei Shi couldn't get used to her husband's hard work, and pouted: "Is it really enlightened, and the boy's test in spring next year will be clear." ”

……

A bowl of fragrant white rice and a plate of boiled cabbage was Xu Jin's first lunch in the Ming Dynasty.

Xu Jin was also hungry, and a bowl of hot rice bottomed out in an instant, and a small hand immediately reached out to serve him a bowl.

Xu Jin took most of the bowl again, and then he breathed out a breath of heat comfortably, when you are so poor that you can't open the pot, you start to feel how happy it is to have food to eat.

Xie Xiaowan sat opposite, there was only a small half bowl of rice in the bowl, holding chopsticks and eating slowly, peeking at Xu Jin from time to time, secretly happy in her heart, Xianggong can eat so much, it proves that his body is already well, as long as Xianggong is good, he can work in the field with confidence, and the future days will definitely be better, if Xianggong can be admitted to Xiucai or something in the future, it would be better, of course, it doesn't matter if he can't pass the test.

Being able to eat enough and have hope for life is the happiness in the eyes of the little girl, simple and simple!

Xu Jin stripped off the rest of the rice in a few bites, and when he raised his head, he met Xie Xiaowan's gaze, who lowered his eyes shyly.

Xu Jin frowned, because he only found out at this time that Xie Xiaowan only had a small half bowl of rice in her bowl, and she had eaten two large bowls, but she hadn't moved much, and most of the boiled cabbage had gone into her stomach.

If it were modern times, a girl who ate so little might be to lose weight, but now it's obviously not, this girl wants to save rations for herself.

Xu Jin was both moved and a little ashamed: "Xiaowan, why don't you eat?" ”

"Xianggong, I'm eating!" Xie Xiaowan said.

Xu Jin couldn't help but snatch the little girl's bowl over, and the latter's little face suddenly turned a little pale, and he looked at Xu Jin with some fear, not understanding what he wanted to do.

Xu Jin added all the remaining rice in the pot into Xie Xiaowan's bowl, just filled a large bowl and put it in front of her, and said in a commanding tone: "Eat, eat it all!"

Xie Xiaowan looked at Xu Jin in amazement, and her black grape-like eyes gradually covered with a layer of mist.

"Uh, don't ...... What's wrong, scaring you? Xu Jin said a little apologetically.

Xie Xiaowan lowered her head, wiped the corners of her eyes, and said, "No...... No...... It's Xianggong who is so good to me! ”

"Alas, what an easy little girl!" Xu Jin sighed in his heart and smiled: "Isn't this how it should be?" Eat, let's eat, see you're all thin into bamboo! ”

Xie Xiaowan blushed and picked up the rice bowl and took a bite, and said cowardly: "Xianggong, I can't eat so much!" After speaking, he quickly picked up half of the rice into Xu Jin's bowl.

Xu Jin couldn't cry or laugh, but it seemed that if she didn't eat it, this girl would definitely not eat it, so she only picked up the rice bowl.

Seeing this, Xie Xiaowan ate happily, and put a piece of cabbage into Xu Jinjin's bowl. Xu Huang also smiled and put a piece into Xie Xiaowan's bowl, and the latter's eyes suddenly bent into two rounds of moon buds, and he looked at Xu Jin from above the edge of the bowl while picking up rice.

Xu Jin's mood was suddenly inexplicably good, he had never eaten any delicacies from the mountains and seas in his previous life, but at this moment, he felt that this meal of rice and vegetables was the most delicious.

Since the experience of being betrayed by his wife, Xu Jin no longer has any love loyalty, husband and wife are just birds in the same forest, and they fly separately when disaster comes. This may be a bit extreme, but in a modern materialistic society, it is common for husbands and wives to share prosperity and hardship.

It is precisely because of the injury that Xu Jin has experienced that failed marriage, he has no idea of remarrying, and he would rather spend money to buy it when he has a need, and never touch the love between men and women again.

However, at this time, the wall built in Xu Jin's heart seemed to be a little loose. If there is still a person in this world who will never abandon and love each other, then it should be now, right?