Traveling through ancient times, I led my family to prosperity

The current economic situation is not good. Even if the family is wealthy, marrying a daughter-in-law means having one more mouth to feed. This is a happy event in peacetime, but it is a big deal in a famine. In a famine, human life is worthless, and people are selling their children everywhere. Wang felt that Xiaoru's marriage was probably a failure.

Zhao Ermaizi and Zhao Shan came to Old Sheng's house to beg for money again, but this time they were driven out by Old Sheng and his group. They didn't care about reputation anymore. He could say whatever he wanted about Xiao Lan being pushed down the mountain. When your family is hungry and cold, and is on the verge of death every day, who would care about reputation?

Zhao Ermaizi and Zhao Shan knew that they could no longer extort anything from the old Sheng family. They were not to be trifled with, and described the process of Sheng Nuo's murder of Xiao Lan in vivid detail, and the matter became known to everyone.

Of course Sheng Nuo denied it flatly, but he couldn't control whether others believed it or not.

The people in Shengjia Village couldn't help but think of Sheng Nuo's engagement of Xiao Ru to Zhao Shan. It seemed that he pushed his daughter into the fire pit for his own reputation. Now the world is in chaos, the county magistrate and the yamen runners are too busy collecting corpses and suppressing burning, killing and looting every day. It has been so long since Sheng Nuo murdered Xiao Lan, and no one will pay attention to it.

There were obviously fewer refugees in the village that day than usual. Zhang Qingfeng came back from the town to buy salt and answered this question, "The soldiers in the county came out and said that they would open the granaries to release grain. All the refugees and displaced people rushed to the county, and there are much fewer refugees in the town today."

With food, they had hope of survival. No matter how hungry or tired the refugees were, they were like chickens with blood pumped up. Some ran while some walked. In a short while, the roads were filled with groups of refugees rushing to the county town.

The refugees behind watched the refugees in front of them heading towards the county town in groups, and they followed them one by one without caring what was happening in front of them.

When they heard the news that the granaries were opening to release grain and that the county magistrate was going to distribute medicinal materials for relief, they became even more excited.

Some people ran so fast that they never got up again after being tripped, because the people behind them were also rushing forward excitedly, stepping over these people without hesitation, thinking only that if they ran faster, they could get the food, eat their fill, and survive.

Some people lost their children while running. The children who were left behind cried loudly, but they could never find their parents again. I don’t know if these parents did it on purpose. In short, looking around, everything was chaos.

The scene of all the refugees running forward together was truly horrifying. Everywhere there were skinny, ragged refugees, and the sounds of crying, shouting, and cursing mixed together. This was different from the dead atmosphere in the past. Today, everyone's face was filled with uncontrollable excitement and joy.

Along the way, Zhang Qingfeng saw many half-naked corpses, and there were crows croaking above their heads. These scenes really scared Zhang Qingfeng. After returning, he drank two bowls of Tusu wine to calm his nerves. However, it was a good thing for the refugees that the county could open its warehouses to release grain and distribute medicinal materials. It seemed that the emperor of the Daqi Dynasty should have issued a decree. As long as the refugees stopped running around, the world would slowly stabilize.

The next day, yamen runners came to the village to find the head of the village and asked him to take people to the county town to collect medicinal materials and relief grain. Xiao Lan felt more at ease. It seemed that the court had really started to provide relief for the epidemic and disaster.

After this disaster and epidemic, nearly 3,000 people died in Dafeng County. In several villages, the entire village was hit by the plague. Coupled with the lack of food and water, no one survived. Shengjia Village was considered to be the best. Of the more than 70 households in the village, only 60 remained.

That day, Sheng Kai came to Xiao Lan's house and said that the old man and Cui wanted to discuss something with him. Sheng Kai got up and followed him, and Xiao Lan followed him happily. Cui and Chunhua, the eldest brother's family, the second brother's family, and the fourth brother's family were all in the house. Xiao Lan wondered if something big had happened in the old Sheng family again.

It turned out that Xiaoru's marriage was finally settled. She was going to marry into the Sun family in the county town and become the concubine of the eldest son of the Sun family.

Old Master Sheng was smoking his pipe at home, and the room was filled with smoke. The Sheng family had never had a concubine, but the daughter of the eldest family was going to be someone else's concubine. The old master was very angry.

In this era, concubines were objects bought by the master's family with money, and those of low status were not even as good as a cow. Generally, girls from respectable families would not be willing to be concubines. Only girls from poor families and those who had nowhere else to go would become concubines in order to get more money to subsidize their families.

In this era, the system of monogamy and polygamy was practiced. Men could only have one wife who was married to them through a formal marriage, but they could have many concubines. As long as they had money, they could buy as many as they wanted. The wealthy families who could afford concubines would not care about the money they spent on concubines. When they got tired of concubines or were unlucky, it was very popular to change concubines or give them away as gifts. They did not regard concubines as human beings at all. They were just accessories of wealthy families, or even just used by wealthy families to fill the door. Concubines had a low status. Even if they were beaten to death, it would not count. Concubines had a low status, and the children they gave birth to were also illegitimate children. Their status was also very low, and they would always be servants of the legitimate sons born to the main wife. As for inheriting the family property, illegitimate children could only get a tiny bit of the property.

Xiao Lan thought that Xiao Ru was forced by Sheng Nuo to become someone's concubine. When she looked up and saw Xiao Ru's smug look, she was puzzled, because she was willing to do so in her heart.

When Mr. Sheng learned from Sheng Nuo today that Xiao Ru was destined to be with the Sun family's uncle, he was still wondering, didn't the Sun family's uncle marry a wife a long time ago? Which Sun family was Sheng Nuo talking about?

Before he could wonder for too long, the old man knew that Xiao Ru was going to be a concubine in the Sun family. This really pissed the old man off. Their Sheng family didn't have the tradition of giving concubines to others. The eldest son had read so much that he was actually ruining the family's reputation.

"Dad, the eldest brother of the Sun family has had no children for so many years. Although Xiaoru married him as a concubine, the eldest brother promised me that he would treat Xiaoru well. She would be a concubine in his family. If he had a boy, he would raise the child as his own son."

"Your concubine is also a concubine. Boss Sun has so many concubines. Even I, an old man who deals with the landlords all day long, have heard a lot of gossip from him. You are trying to push Xiaoru into the fire pit. How can you be a father like this?" Old Master Sheng said sternly, knocking on his pipe.

"Dad, Xiaoru is also happy about this. Besides, Uncle Sun said that the betrothal gift is eight hundred taels. Look at the life we ​​are living now. We eat bean porridge with bran every meal, which makes our throats bleed. With this money, our lives will be better." Sheng Nuo said.

"Boss, you can't just see the money, you have to think about Xiaoru. Boss Sun is about the same age as you. You have heard about what his wife is like, right? How many concubines he has..."

"Master, please stop talking. I agreed to this marriage. I will not regret it even if I am tortured to death in the Sun family." Xiaoru said.