Di Ming

Chapter 9 Staying Overnight
Seeing Ning Qingchen sleeping contentedly after being fed, Jilan couldn't help but lower her head and kiss her little face, saying:

"Since you drank my milk, I am your wet nurse."

Even though Ning Qingchen wasn't her child, she couldn't help but smile with maternal instinct.

This made her, who wasn't particularly beautiful, suddenly become beautiful.

She gently rocked Ning Qingchen, singing a Jurchen children's song:
"Mother Flat-billed Duck, she has a duck's head. Don't be surprised, she pecked ten thousand holes in the icy sky. She flattened her beak so that we could see the sun, moon, and stars..."

Ning Qingchen slept even more soundly as she was lulled to sleep by her nursery rhymes.

Ning Caiwei took her younger sister back. Zhu Yin thanked Jilan and then returned Xiao Zhenge to her.

Zhen Ge also fell asleep.

Then, the two baby girls were placed together in a cradle on the kang (a heated brick bed).

The side of the rocking chair was covered with strings of animal teeth. These were for warding off evil spirits. They would prevent the child's soul from being stolen by the ghosts of the forest.

Jilan sat up and searched through the wooden box on the east side of the kang (heated brick bed) for a while, looking at it with great familiarity, and finally found a wild boar tusk.

The Jurchen people loved to collect animal teeth, especially the tusks of wild boars and the incisors of old sows.

The most precious are the "old teeth" that have been passed down for hundreds of years. Having been stained by time, they have become the best "spirit pendants" and are generally only owned by shamans and nobles.

What Jilan found was a wild sow's incisor, which looked as smooth and warm as jade. It was an old object that had been around for decades and could be considered a "spirit pendant".

According to custom, boys wear the tusks of a male wild boar, while girls wear the incisors of a female wild boar.

Jilan threaded colorful thread through the sow's incisors to make a simple pendant, which she hung around Ning Qingchen's neck while she was fast asleep.

“Your wet nurse has a gift for you,” Jilan said softly. “I hope that under Mother Fodo’s blessing, you will grow up quickly like a willow bud, growing one year at a time.”

Zhu Yin whispered to Ning Caiwei, "Jilan gave your sister a wild boar tusk; it's a valuable item for them, Lingpei."

Ning Caiwei had to express her gratitude again, and Zhu Yin had to translate.

Soon, dinner began, and the kang table was filled with food.

Unlike the Han people, the Jurchen people always ate dinner.

Because the Jurchens often went hunting and fishing at night, which required them to expend physical energy.

At this time, the diet of the lower-class Jurchen hunters was still very simple, far less abundant than it had been after they entered the Central Plains in history.

Zhu Yin and Ning Caiwei noticed that even the tableware on the table was made of red clay pottery that was neither round nor flat, and was very crudely fired.

The earthenware bowl is very large, almost like a basin.

The number of bowls and chopsticks must be even.

A bowl of mixed flour steamed buns, a bowl of fried fish with perilla seeds, a bowl of pork and blood sausage, and several bowls of sour soup.

The most familiar dish to young guests is Sachima.

Sachima is also called "dog milk candy dip", but it is not actually made from dog milk.

The so-called "dog's milk fruit" is actually a delicious wild fruit found in the forests of Northeast China.

Next up was the steaming hot pot in a clay pot. This was a common dish for Jurchen hunters.

Even when hunting in the wild, they would set up a fire to heat earthenware pots, slice the fresh game they had hunted into pieces, put them into the pots to cook, and eat them with salt and wild leeks.

The Jurchen people loved pork, especially the tenderloin of black pigs. They didn't like to eat venison and mutton, which were considered precious by the Han people.

Right now, the sliced ​​meat on this table is black pig tenderloin. It was frozen meat that the Jurchen boy Mehe had scraped off a block of ice.

Of course, how could the Jurchens, who loved to drink, be without wine?

A jar of cloudy rice wine was also placed on the kang table.

The large earthenware bowl was filled to the brim.

Zhu Yin and Ning Caiwei had very mixed feelings when they saw the food and wine on the table.

To be honest, as two pampered modern people, it's impossible not to feel disgusted when dining at the same table with the Jurchen people from over four hundred years ago, given the extremely simple conditions.

But they have no right to complain.

The host's intentions are truly good!
For the host, today's hospitality to guests from afar is truly generous; the best food and wine have already been served.

Normally, they wouldn't dare to eat and drink like this!
"Come on! Let's drink! Let's eat meat!"

"Where did the little guest come from? Where is he/she going?"

Why is no adult accompanying you?

The host family was very hospitable, eating meat and drinking wine while chatting with Zhu Yin.

Zhu Yin also displayed a generous and easygoing demeanor, behaving like a little adult and making the other party laugh heartily from time to time.

Ning Caiwei couldn't understand, so she could only smile and eat with a reserved demeanor.

I wouldn't say it's delicious.

Because of the lack of seasonings and the simple cooking techniques, the taste is very rough, or even crude.

These are all rare, original, and natural foods, with their own natural aroma, so their nutritional value is definitely not an issue.

The Jurchen people enjoyed drinking and also liked friends who could drink a lot.

Although Zhu Yin was not yet nine years old, his alcohol tolerance was unmatched by the Jurchens of that era.

He drank several bowls of rice wine, and nothing happened to him.

Before the meal was even finished and after only a few bowls of wine, Zhu Yin had already become familiar with the host.

"Wow, this Niu Niu has such a high alcohol tolerance. If he grows up, he'll definitely be a hero."

"What a little man! He can drink so much at such a young age. He's a lucky boy."

"You're really capable! You've drunk six bowls of wine and you're not drunk at all."

The hosts all praised the young Han guest, expressing their delight.

Zhu Yin was speechless.

Drinking is considered a skill? And what about other abilities? A hero?

That's nothing!

The Jurchen youth was a little drunk after drinking three bowls of wine. He felt ashamed and couldn't hold his head up in front of Zhu Yin.

“Niu Niu.” The host put down his wine bowl. “Liaoyang City is too far away. It will be difficult for you to go back now.” “Wait until the snow melts before you leave. You can stay here for now. It’s not too late to leave when Mother Nemo (the Snow Goddess) returns to heaven and the snow melts.”

Zhu Yin bowed with his hand on his chest and said in his increasingly fluent Jurchen language:

"Uncle Boroli (Autumn), Zhu Yin thanks you for your kindness, but I'm afraid of bothering your family."

The man shook his head. “What are you disturbing? We rarely see guests from afar around here, let alone Han guests from Liaoyang.”

“You are still the one who brought my granddaughter into this world; it’s fate. Settle down here in peace. My house, Boluoli’s house, will be your home for now.”

"However, life is a bit tough for us forest dwellers, unlike the Han lords in Liaoyang. You can eat whatever we eat."

“If you leave in the snow, Mother Fodo will blame me, Boroli, for being stingy, and Mother Banda (the Hunting God) will never let me hunt precious mink again.”

Zhu Yin poured him a bowl of wine and said to the host and hostess, "Then thank you Uncle Boluoli and thank you Aunt Tuoluo (Peach Blossom)."

And so, the matter was settled.

Let's wait until the snow melts before we leave.

He did not mention meeting Nurhaci, because this was the Wangjia tribe, which had not yet been unified by Yezhupi and was temporarily an enemy of Nurhaci.

Boroli added, "Your puppy needs to nurse, otherwise the Dog God and the Hunter God won't be happy."

Turning to the Jurchen boy, he said, "Mehe (9-11 AM), after you finish eating, take this puppy to the neighbor's house to nurse. Come back when you're full."

"His female dog has given birth and is producing milk. Oh dear, this black dog is lucky."

Zhu Yin was thinking of finding a female dog to nurse Black Tiger when Bo Luoli brought it up first.

Meh agreed, immediately picked up the black tiger, and excitedly went out to the neighbor's house.

Soon, the mother dog's furious howls came from inside the neighbor's fence.

"Wang Wang Wang Wang..."

Clearly, it was very hostile to the black tiger that came to nurse.

It wasn't born there; the smell is wrong!

However, no one knows what method Mech used, but the mother dog's barking quickly softened.

It seems that she compromised for some reason and agreed to let Black Tiger nurse.

Zhu Yin was immediately relieved. Ning Caiwei also smiled.

She was also worried that Black Tiger would starve.

“Niu Niu (the child).” The hostess, Toro, laughed, pointing at Ning Caiwei, “Who is she to you? You two don’t look like siblings.”

Zhu Yin hesitated for a moment before replying, "Toro, she is my family's child bride, and will be my wife in the future."

Toro nodded with a hint of smugness. "I knew it. Her relationship with you was unusual. She was probably your child bride."

"You Han Chinese child brides are really interesting, getting engaged at such a young age. Sigh, I don't know what the Great Ming Khan was thinking."

The Great Khan of the Ming Dynasty was, of course, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

The Jurchen people valued late marriage and believed that early marriage was unlucky. They thought that the Buddha Mother would not bless them, and they would not get married until they were eighteen or even twenty years old.

Ning Caiwei knew they were talking about her and couldn't help but ask, "Zhu Yin, what is Auntie talking about?"

Zhu Yin whispered, "She said we weren't siblings and asked what our relationship was. I said... you're my family's child bride."

Child bride? Ning Caiwei was slightly taken aback, her lips parted slightly, and then she said:

"You're right, we were engaged. I was your child bride."

She was incredibly intelligent; how could she not know that being a child bride was the safest and most reasonable identity?
Suddenly, Boroli stood up and said, "I'm going hunting. I can't just eat dinner for nothing."

After saying this, he offered a simple sacrifice to the hunting god, then, carrying two ice lanterns, he and his eldest son, armed with bows and spears, marched out in full force.

This was the norm for Jurchen hunters. They lived in harsh, cold regions, and life was extremely difficult. Only by constantly hunting and fishing could they survive.

Then, Toro led Zhu Yin and Ning Caiwei to the east wing and arranged for them to stay.

There were no cotton quilts or blankets, only animal hides and various kinds of animal hides.

The smell hit me right in the head.

There was also a heated brick bed here. Toro lit a fire, and the little house immediately became warm.

"You will stay here," Mother Toro instructed. "Don't go out at night. You are too young and could easily be captured by monsters or have your souls stolen by mountain spirits."

"And there's Granny Wolf, and Old Man Bear..."

After giving a few instructions, Toro's mother left an oil lamp behind, then lifted the curtain and went out.

As for Ning Qingchen, she stayed in the cradle next to Jilan instead.

Because she still needs to nurse at night.

In the small east wing, only two children remained.

The two of them got dressed and climbed onto the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed), covered themselves with animal skins, and immediately felt much more at ease.

It seemed as if the entire world had suddenly fallen silent.

Ning Caiwei suddenly frowned and said, "I need to go to the bathroom... no, I mean the outhouse. But there's no toilet in this house."

Zhu Yin remembered his master's instructions and said:

"The outhouse is outside the fence, together with the pigsty and sheepfold, not in the yard. If you need to use the outhouse, you have to go outside the yard."

Ning Caiwei felt a chill run down her spine when she heard that she had to go outside the fence late at night.

This is deep in the mountains and forests; the fence is there to keep wild animals out.

"Why did the Jurchens build their toilets outside the courtyard? It's such a hassle."

Zhu Yin shook his head: "There's no way around it. Ordinary hunters' yards are very small, and they also have screen walls, shrines, and sacrificial altars, so how can they be next to the toilet?"

Ning Caiwei asked, "Will you come with me?"

Zhu Yin nodded: "Okay."

P.S.: Dear readers, "Tiao Ming" has been renamed "Late Ming Splendor". Thank you for your support! Good night! Following the story is very important, please don't leave it unfinished. If too many people leave a book unfinished, the author won't have enough resources to recommend it.

Also, the Jurchen tribe won't be written much more; there will be at most twenty more chapters before the protagonist returns to the Central Plains.

(End of this chapter)