Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 3 Uncle
Seeing that it was getting late, the two men collected some dry firewood and dried it in the sun for a day, which weighed about 100 pounds. They were ready to return to Jingkou.

The hardest and most tiring job for a woodcutter is not chopping wood, but how to transport the chopped wood back home.

In those days, there were jackals, tigers and leopards everywhere, and the roads were not easy to travel. Firewood was worthless in the wilderness, but when transported back to Jingkou, the hundred or so pounds of dry firewood could be exchanged for eight liters of rice, which was barely enough for a family of four to survive.

Chopping wood seems to be a good livelihood, but it is actually too much for normal people to cope with walking dozens of miles every day to chop wood in sparsely populated mountains and wilderness.

Sometimes you may even encounter danger.

In times of war and chaos, you can encounter anything. Even if you don’t encounter wolves, tigers or leopards, you may be captured and made into an “immortal”.

As the sky darkened, the howling of wolves and the cries of owls could be heard everywhere, each one more eerie than the last.

Liu Daogui looked back and saw four or five wolves hanging in the distance with green eyes.

These wild wolves are extremely cunning and understand human nature. They specifically attack people when they are tired and sleepy, and when they attack, they specifically target the throat. Several woodcutters in Jingkou were targeted by old wolves when they returned home at night. When the woodcutters were not paying attention, the wolves would slap the woodcutters' shoulders with their claws. The woodcutters thought they were acquaintances, so when they turned around, their throats were exposed and bitten off. When they went to look for the woodcutters the next morning, only a dry skeleton was left.

"They want to eat me, but I want to eat them too! Lie down and pretend to be dead, trick them up to come up, peel off a few wolf skins, and make a mattress for my mother!" A fierce light flashed in Liu Yu's eyes, without any fear at all.

Wolf meat smells fishy, ​​but it is meat after all, and wolf skin is also a good thing.

"Row."

Out of trust in Liu Yu's military strength, Liu Daogui lay down obediently.

But these days, wolves are smarter than humans.

It seemed to have noticed something and was just cruising in the distance. I walked forward and tried for most of the hour but still didn't come up.

Liu Daogui's stomach was rumbling.

Liu Yu sat up suddenly and said, "Damn it, these beasts are really evil. It's a waste of time."

Liu Daogui said weakly, "You came up with such a stupid idea! How could they come up without being able to smell the blood? Let's go. If we continue to endure this, we'll starve and pass out first."

"The wolfskin mattress is gone." Liu Yu sighed and left dragging the firewood.

This journey is not easy. There are wolves following behind us, so we must stay vigilant at all times.

I could only walk and stop, and the road was difficult to walk on. It took me most of the night to get back to Jingkou.

"Ji Nu, A Gui——"

Before I got home, I heard my mother Xiao Wenshou's miserable and anxious cries.

The two brothers ignored their fatigue and took two steps at a time, "Don't worry, mother, I'm back."

Then there was a cry of joy. A fire rose at the head of the village, illuminating several figures. The person in front had a slightly hunched back.

"Mother, the child is back."

As soon as they saw their mother, the two brothers felt warm in their hearts.

"How can you two be so ignorant?" Xiao Wenshou picked up a dead branch on the ground, wiped his tears, and started to whip it down with a "swish".

A woman who raised three brothers is certainly not a soft-hearted person.

"I'm already in my twenties, and you still beat me..." Liu Yu is a well-known man outside, but when he returns home, he is still punished by the family rules.

"You're in your twenties, so I can't beat you up?"

Xiao Wenshou's hands never stopped.

But no matter how they were punished, Liu Yu and Liu Daogui could not be hurt.

Niece Liu Xingdi stood in front of Liu Yu with a runny nose, her little arms spread out, "Grandfather, please don't hit my grandfather."

With his granddaughter blocking his way, Xiao Wenshou couldn't fight back no matter what.

Xiao Wenshou's uncle, Xiao Yuanzhi, who was standing by, quickly supported him. "Sister, calm down. Ji Nu and A Gui meant well. It's good that they're back. It's good that they're back."

Liu Dao Lian said, "Brother should come back sooner, as this makes mother so worried."

Liu Daogui said unhappily, "Do you think we don't want to?"

Xiao Wenshou's anger stemmed from his deep love for his son, but after someone tried to dissuade him, he stopped fighting. The group returned to Liu's house, a three-room thatched cottage with drafts on all sides, right next to the inner city wall of Jingkou.

Jingkou City was originally not big, but there were too many refugees moving south. The entire Jinling County was crowded with refugees from Qing, Yan, Xu and Yu states. They had no choice but to build houses around the city walls, and Jingkou City expanded several times.

This trend is still expanding.

Fortunately, there is the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, so there is no need to worry about the Hu cavalry moving south.

The stove was steaming. Liu Daogui was already starving, and when he opened the lid of the pot, he saw fragrant white rice porridge.

The Liu family usually survived by cooking wild vegetables and bran. They could only eat white rice a few times a year. Even when the rice in the fields was ripe, they would exchange it for bran, corn and other coarse grains to survive.

Liu Yu scooped up a bowl and just as it was about his mouth, he held it with both hands and handed it to Xiao Wenshou, "Mother, eat first. I'm not hungry."

"Mom is not hungry. She has already eaten. You eat."

Liu Yu and Liu Daogui then started eating.

"Slow down, slow down, don't hold on." Xiao Wenshou felt distressed.

"Thanks to my uncle, otherwise our family would have run out of food." Liu Daolian licked his lips and swallowed his saliva.

Liu Daogui wolfed down the food, drinking two bowls in a row before he felt like he had returned to the real world. He put down the wooden spoon and glanced at the rice bag in the corner. It was about ten pounds and there was a hundred coins. "Uncle, why are you here?"

The Xiao family, like the Liu family, was from a poor family. However, their maternal grandfather Xiao Zhuo was the magistrate of Taoyang County, and their maternal great-grandfather Xiao Liang was a censor in the imperial court, so the family heritage was not broken.

My uncle used various connections to get himself a position as a filial and honest official.

Although Liu Daogui's grandfather Liu Jing was the prefect of Dong'an, he was originally a refugee leader and led the Pengcheng Liu family south to Jingkou.

Everyone knows what kind of status the refugee leader holds in the eyes of the imperial court. The imperial court uses him when there is trouble, and suppresses and guards against him when there is nothing to do.

So by the time of his father Liu Qiao's generation, he had gone from being a fifth-rank prefect with a rank of two thousand stones to an eighth-rank county official, which was a minor official. The Liu family also fell into the "official family".

"I'm planning to arrange a marriage for A-Lian, a daughter of the Lu family from Fanyang."

Xiao Yuanzhi is a modest gentleman, with a gentle temperament, which is opposite to Xiao Wenshou's.

"Lu?" Liu Daogui was stunned.

The marriage is a good one.

The main members of the Lu family stayed in the north and did not move south. They served in the Later Zhao, Ran Wei, and Former Yan dynasties and remained a prominent family in the north. Only the side branches moved south, but were not valued by the Jiankang court and were gradually marginalized.

If his father Liu Qiao were still alive and still the county Gongcao, the two families could barely get along, but now the Liu family is so busy that it is difficult to bring it up.

Xiao Wenshou burst into tears, "It's all your fault that your father passed away so early. There's no one to support the family, so we've fallen to this point."

Liu Daogui began to feel uncomfortable. "Uncle, are you sure about this?"

Xiao Yuanzhi raised his eyebrows and said, "Of course it wouldn't have been possible in the past, but I'm about to take up the post of Imperial Secretary, so the Lu family will definitely give me some face no matter what."

The Yellow Gate Assistant Minister was of the fifth rank, with a salary of six hundred stones. He wore a military cap and crimson court robes and was a close attendant of the emperor. It was an important position during the Han and Wei dynasties. The famous ministers Xun Yu and Du Shu both held this position before they became successful.

However, in the current dynasty, the gentry grew stronger, and there were countless assistant ministers and palace guards, most of whom were used to house the children of the gentry, and they were not as prominent as in previous dynasties.

Ultimately, it depends on family background.

The Lanling Xiao family's foundation is obviously better than that of the Pengcheng Liu family. The surnames of the immigrants who crossed the river include Wang, Xie, Yuan, Yu, and Chen. Although the Xiao family is not among the mainstream, they are still a noble family.

Although there have been no top figures to boost the family's fortune over the years, they have been operating in Southern Lanling County for many years and have a deep foundation, and they have some connections in the court.

During the Yongjia Rebellion, the country was in ruins. The Xiao family crossed the river and settled in the east city of Wujin County, Jinling (now Changzhou City). They established Lanling County as an overseas Chinese, which was adjacent to Jingkou where the Liu family of Pengcheng lived.

Moreover, the Xiao family "emigrated south" as a legitimate aristocratic family, and had some ties with wealthy families such as Wang, Xie, Yuan, and Xie. It was reasonable for them to lend a hand.

Different backgrounds will lead to different futures. As an orthodox aristocratic family, the Xiao family has lived much better than the Liu family in recent years.

"Oh, that's a great joy." Xiao Wenshou's face was full of joy.

"Congratulations, uncle, on your promotion!" Liu Daogui was really happy for Xiao Yuanzhi.

(End of this chapter)