The end of natural disasters: the daily life of child brides in ancient times

Just when the Qin family was busy with autumn planting, something happened to the Lu family again.

When paying grain taxes before, the Lu family handed over all the grain seeds in order to make up for the increase.

Seeing that the autumn wheat had been planted in the village, Old Man Lu began to get anxious.

After thinking about it for a few days, he still couldn't bear to sell the land, so he set his sights on the second girl.

San Ya at home is only three years old and may not grow up yet, so it will be difficult to sell her.

Erya is already six years old, so she can at least exchange it for some grain seeds.

Now that the refugees outside are causing chaos, the Lu family dare not go to the town or county, and can only look for suitable families in the village and nearby villages.

Families of the same age in the village would definitely not find such a young child bride, as it would cost a lot of food to raise her.

Among the teenage boys in the village, Qin Lang was the only one who was naive and needed to find a child bride in advance. The other boys all had good reputations and would have no trouble finding wives when they reached the age.

After searching around, he spotted the seventeen-year-old street urchin Li Chengcai whom Lu Qingqing had noticed before.

This time, Old Lady Lu came in person and was received by Li Chengcai's mother.

No one knew what the two talked about, but the next day Li Chengcai and his family went to the Lu family with grain seeds and took Erya back.

Everyone in the village said that the Lu family had thrown aside their pride this time and sold Erya to the Li family.

The Li family even asked the village chief to write a document, but now they can't go to the government to register.

When the Li family wanted to take Erya away, Erya's mother refused to let go and held Erya tightly. But no matter how much she begged, Erya was still taken away by the Li family.

After Erya left, Mrs. Lu Wang had a big fight with Lu Laoer and was beaten so badly that she couldn't get out of bed.

After a few days, the villagers gradually stopped talking about this incident and started talking about the fact that Erya was beaten.

After Erya went to the Li family, she took on most of the Li family's work, working from early morning to late night.

The only task he couldn't do was carrying water because he was too weak.

The more Chengcai's mother thought about it, the more she felt she had lost out. It was a huge loss to spend so much food to buy this little girl.

Although Li Chengcai liked to offend the women in the village, he was not interested in a little kid who looked like a bean sprout, and he didn't care how his mother treated her.

A few days after Erya arrived, she started being beaten by Chengcai's mother.

At first, he was more restrained, but later, when he saw that nothing happened after beating, he became more and more unscrupulous.

Most of the women in the village were soft-hearted. Seeing Erya's pitiful appearance after being beaten, they began to talk to each other.

The news spread around and somehow ended up being known to Mrs. Lu Wang, who dragged her injured body to the Li family.

When she saw Erya with a bruised face and nose, she cried out of heartache and wanted to take Erya away.

Chengcai's mother, who was feeling a little guilty when she saw Lu Wang coming, immediately stepped forward and grabbed Erya.

"Hey, hey, hey, this is what our family bought with grain, what do you want to do with it!"

However, Mrs. Lu Wang was reluctant to leave Erya here any longer, so she gave birth to this daughter.

I haven't been pregnant for six years and I love my daughter like a treasure.

Unlike Lu Li's prejudice against girls, she truly loves Erya.

This time, Old Man Lu and his men sold Erya, and Mrs. Lu Wang was completely forced into a corner.

As the two were struggling, Li Chengcai and his father came back. Seeing that she couldn't take Erya with her, Lu Wangshi refused to leave and just held her daughter tightly.

Seeing this, Chengcai's father didn't dare to grab Lu Wangshi, so he went directly to Lu's house to call for help.

When Old Lady Lu and Old Second Lu arrived, they saw this scene and worried that the Li family would go back on their word and ask them to return the grain, so they forcibly dragged Lu Wangshi back home.

For a moment, the woman's shrill cries and the little girl's sharp cries mixed together, and everyone nearby could hear them.

More and more people gathered around, and the village chief came over. After asking what had happened, he asked the villagers to disperse and go back home.

He also looked down on Old Man Lu's behavior of selling his granddaughter, but after all, it was their family affair and he had no right to interfere.

He still remembered what Old Man Lu said to his uncle. He couldn't possibly provide food for Old Man Lu to raise his granddaughter.

His family had a hard time, and his wife was frugal enough to keep them from starving.

At this moment, the Lu and Li family members had no choice but to sit together to discuss this matter.

Mrs. Lu Wang immediately expressed her wish to take her daughter back with her.

However, Mrs. Lu firmly disagreed with returning the grain seeds, saying that they had no grain seeds left to return.

And it is even more impossible for Li Chengcai's family to let the person who bought it with food go for free.

Amid the stalemate, the village chief proposed a compromise solution.

Although Erya was sold to the Li family, they were from the same village. From now on, the Li family members were not allowed to beat or scold Erya at will. If anyone heard the Li family beating or scolding Erya at will, the clan would handle the matter.

The Lu family, especially Lu Wangshi, were not allowed to come to the Li family's house without permission and disturb their lives.

After Old Lady Lu and Chengcai's mother agreed, the matter seemed to be resolved, but no one asked Erya what she thought.

No one noticed that Mrs. Lu Wang was staring at Old Lady Lu and Old Second Lu in front of her, her eyes full of hatred.

......

When the autumn crops in the village were planted, the temperature gradually became cooler.

After obtaining Grandma Qin's consent, Lu Qingqing now gets up early every day to practice stick training with Qin Lang.

The training was the simplest stick technique, mainly to build up strength first. After gaining more strength, I would practice bow and arrow.

The weather got cold earlier this year than in previous years. Lu Qingqing was worried that it would be very cold this year, so she started collecting firewood early.

Because of the drought, all the vegetation in the mountains was sun-dried to death. Although it rained a little, it did not affect the collection of firewood much.

Grandma Qin has already started making cotton-padded clothes for Lu Qingqing. Thinking that she bought a lot of cotton, she planned to make a thick winter coat.

As long as it doesn't rain during the day, Lu Qingqing and Qin Lang go to the back mountain to collect firewood. Every few days, they will go to the fields to pull weeds in the evening.

The wheat and cabbage in the field have already sprouted. With the rain, the fields are growing well, especially the cabbage, which is growing very fast.

Grandma Qin was at home making clothes, cooking, and busy with housework. The whole family was preparing for winter.

After being busy for more than half a month, the firewood room at home was filled to the brim and the open space in the space was also filled with dry firewood, but Lu Qingqing was still worried that it was not enough.

In winter, heating the kang here consumes a lot of firewood. So he dragged Qin Lang up the mountain to chop firewood. At this time, other people in the village had already gone up the mountain to chop firewood.

All the empty rooms in the house were neatly stacked with firewood, and even the shed used for cooking in the summer was filled to the brim.

Even Grandma Qin said that the firewood was enough to last for two years, so Lu Qingqing stopped.

Feeling the aches all over my body and looking at the bulging muscles on my arms, I could only comfort myself by considering it as exercise.

At this time, Grandma Qin had already made cotton-padded clothes for the three of them.

Lu Qingqing's cotton-padded jacket was newly made, and she only brought a set of replacement clothes, no cotton-padded jacket.

Grandma Qin used a lot of cotton in her new cotton-padded jacket, so the jacket is thick and looks very warm.

Qin Lang's cotton-padded jacket was a longer version of his previous year's jacket. Grandma Qin had taken out the cotton inside and re-stuffed it, making it soft and fluffy with new cotton.

Grandma Qin also fluffed out the old cotton and added some new cotton into her cotton coat.

Next up is making the quilt.

At this time, the firewood at home was ready, and there was no work outside, so Lu Qingqing and Qin Lang also started making quilts at home with Grandma Qin.

I had to unravel the threads of the quilt at home and take out the cotton to loosen it up. This job was both time-consuming and labor-intensive.