Then, Xiong Huai asked people to spread several mats, and then Xiong Huai sat on the west side by himself, let Deng sit on the north side with his children, let Deng County Yin Yexun sit on the south side, and the others stood around.

After it was done, Xiong Huai asked Deng Shi: "Madam, just now the widow visited the kitchen of your mansion, and saw that the kitchen utensils in the kitchen have been cleaned, and the widow wants to ask, the previous years of war, the whole country in order to resist the invasion of the five countries, all of them have spent a lot, I don't know if the food in the lady's house is enough now." ”

When Deng Shi heard this, he looked at Deng Xianyin opposite, showed a trace of sorrow, and responded: "Back to the king, the food is enough." Although we consumed a lot of food for the sake of my father and others, not long ago, the price of grain rose sharply, and our family sold a little old grain, and now that the war is over, the price of grain has fallen again.

Therefore, the concubine only needs to buy some beans, with some bran, and some wild vegetables, which can support the next spring. When the wheat and rice are harvested in the coming year, there will be no shortage of food in the concubine's family. ”

Hearing Deng's voice, many of the old nobles of Deng County who followed suddenly showed dissatisfaction, and the king personally asked, this little woman would actually say that she wanted to eat chaff to live, isn't this a shame on the face of the people of Dengdi, a shame on the face of the king?

However, unlike the nobles, the surrounding villagers all nodded in agreement when they heard Deng's voice.

"Bran... Wild herbs..." Xiong Huai muttered silently in his heart, and then asked, "Madam, I don't know what you usually eat?" ”

Hearing this, Deng said softly: "Back to the king, if it is a good year, we usually eat some beans and corn, and even eat some flour during the festival.

If there is a shortage of food in a famine year, we can get through it with soybean beans, rice bran and wild vegetables. ”

Speaking of this, Deng Shiyou looked at the king of Chu and said gratefully: "However, in the past few years, because of the benevolence of the king, a stone mill has been set up in the village, and all the wheat and rice can be easily made into flour. Therefore, in the past few years, everyone in our village has planted wheat in winter, and even in the famine year, and even in the previous wars, we have not run out of food. ”

When the surrounding nobles and people heard this, they couldn't help but praise it: "The king is benevolent..."

Xiong Huai heard everyone's praise, and sighed in his heart that the people were really simple, but he didn't dare to say on his face: "The widow is ashamed that he failed to discover the great role of the stone mill earlier..."

After a pause, after the surrounding praise stopped, Xiong Huai asked again: "Madam, now that you are the only adult left in your family, I don't know how you will live in the future?" How to raise a dog to adulthood? ”

When Deng Shi heard this, her eyes immediately moistened, but when she looked at the child in her arms, she held back her tears and said: "Please rest assured, the concubine is strong, plus the concubine Teng given to the puppy by the king, you can cultivate seventy acres of land every year, twice a year in winter and summer, so that you can harvest twice a year, and the grain harvested is far more than what our mother and son need to add a concubine."

Moreover, now that the king has given us the royal field, we only need to cultivate our own field, and we do not need to give priority to cultivating the royal field. Even the king exempted us from taxes for five years, and the puppy did not need to serve before the crown ceremony, so as long as there was no great famine for many years, our family would not be short of food, and even wait for another two years, and maybe we would be able to eat meat during the festival in the future. ”

As she spoke, Deng's face showed a look of longing, and then, in her longing, she suddenly saw the people around her, and immediately saluted the King of Chu again: "It's all up to the benevolence of the king, and our family will slowly get better in the future." ”

When Xiong Huai heard this, he frowned and said: "The two women cultivate seventy acres of land every year, and the brother and sister of the national doctor are young, not only can they not help, but they also need someone to take care of them. In this way, it will not be too hard to cultivate so much land. ”

Deng Shi smiled indifferently: "King, the concubine is not afraid of hard work, as long as she thinks that she can harvest a lot of grain every year, the concubine is full of energy." ”

Xiong Huai let out a long sigh when he heard this, and then asked: "Madam, the widow heard that not long ago, a doctor from the middle school wanted to marry you and promised to take care of the brother and sister of the doctor, but you refused. Why is this, is it not good to remarry someone else and have something to rely on from now on? ”

When Deng heard this, he immediately hugged the children beside him tightly: "Back to the king, the concubine is not talented, and he does not want the dog to live under the fence since he was a child. ”

Xiong Huai immediately sighed: "When you are alive, you are worthy of your son, and under Jiuquan, you are worthy of your deceased husband, which is considered virtuous." For the virtuous people, the widow has always respected, and now that he has met it, he can't help but express the widow's heart.

Where is Deng County Yin? ”

When Ye Xun heard this, he immediately responded: "The minister is here." ”

"The widow is the mother of the national doctor, Deng Shixian, who specially gives him two stones of flour per month, and gives him a pound of pork and a pot of wine every year when he sacrifices to the shrine for the New Year."

"The minister commands."

As soon as Ye Xun's voice fell, on the other side, when the Deng family heard that the king had a reward every month, and it was the best flour, he was overjoyed, and he bowed a little choked: "King Xie, King Xie..."

At the same time, when the others saw that Deng had won a heavy reward, they looked at Deng's gaze and immediately showed praise and envy.

At this time, Ye Xun wasted no time in saying: "King, the minister has something to say. ”

"Speak."

"It's the king." Ye Xun arched his hand and said: "The king, the minister thinks that it is very inappropriate to reward the Deng family alone, this battle of Hanbei, all the adult males in the family died in the war, not only I have many in Deng County, but also many in other counties in Hanbei, but now the king only rewarded the Deng family, but did not reward others, and the minister thought that the king was unfair." ”

"Hmm!" Xiong Huai nodded: "What Deng County Yin said is that the same merit is the same tragedy, and it is indeed unfair for a widow to reward only one person, so that the scope of reward will be expanded to the sixteen counties of Hanbei County, and all those who are similar to the Deng family, worthy of the deceased husband of the ancestors, and worthy of their children, all enjoy the same reward." ”

"The Great King is benevolent." Ye Xun praised loudly, and then, after thinking about it, he asked again: "King, if a woman enjoys the reward, but in the future, she meets a lover and marries again, so what?" ”

Xiong Huai frowned, and responded: "Since she has remarried, then she is worthy of the ancestors' deceased husband, and the noble quality of her children is gone, in this case, the reward will be suspended." ”

"It's the king, the minister understands."

Soon, the king of Chu expressed his condolences to the people of Dengdi, and the news that he decided to reward all the women who raised their children alone in Hanbei County was spread from this village to all parts of Dengdi, and spread quickly to all counties in Hanbei County under the spread of well-wishers.

In the afternoon of the same day, in a village not far from the next door, Dr. Deng Quan's round eyes said: "If you don't get married, why don't you marry suddenly, she even accepted my dowry, how can you say that if you don't marry, you won't marry?" ”

Deng Quan's servant replied: "Doctor, it is said that in the morning, the king rewarded the mother of the doctor of Deng Gouguo, who was widowed at home and raised her children alone, and personally praised the noble character of the Deng family. Therefore, I heard that as long as she insisted on being widowed like the Deng family and raising her son alone, she could also be rewarded by the king and praised by the people, and become a virtuous woman in the king's mouth.

Therefore, when she heard about it, she repented and said that she would not marry and would raise her son alone. ”

"What?" Deng Quan was dumbfounded when he heard this, when the king went to Deng Gou's house in the morning, he also followed, originally he still had respect for the Deng family, but now...

Deng Quan slammed his thigh and complained: "Damn, didn't you say that the king has always encouraged widows to remarry, why did the king suddenly reward the Deng family, causing my daughter-in-law to be gone." ”

Then, Deng Quan remembered the edict of the king yesterday, requiring all the scholars to build the temple for themselves, as if the difficulty of calculating the matter of the succession to the viscount field has increased exponentially.

Thinking about it, he couldn't help but shake his head and sighed: "Sure enough, there is no cheap thing in the world." It seems that I should save some money to marry a noble lady who has just passed the marriage! ”

······

That night, in the county government of Deng County, when Xiong Huai learned that there had been many widows withdrawing from their marriages during the day today, he couldn't help but sigh: "If you can stop this unhealthy trend, preach justice, and lead people to goodness, then the widow's hard work today and future expenses will not be in vain!" ”

When Chen Zhen heard this, he immediately bowed his hand and said: "If the saint and gentleman live in one place, the thieves will be eliminated, the thieves will be deceitful, the people will not close their doors at night, and the road will not be forgotten. ”

Xiong Huai nodded.