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

After Lu Qingqing explained the leg-binding technique to the elders, County Magistrate Yao was the first to approve of this method.

He had heard before that many mountain herders in Lingnan also tied their legs like this, and Lu Tianxin had already tried it, so this method seemed to be feasible.

Seeing this, the elders of the tribe also agreed.

Seeing that everyone in the village had finished their meal, Lu Tianming asked someone to call all the men in the village over.

When everyone was gathered, he said:

"I called everyone here because Daya from the Qin family came up with a great idea that will make your legs less painful after a long journey and speed up your progress. We tried it this afternoon and it really works. Now, let Daya explain this idea to everyone, and you all should listen carefully."

The men in the village were a little disdainful when they saw Daya and a little girl coming out to talk about something, but Lu Tianming explained the method so powerfully that everyone quieted down and listened.

"Grandma Qin heard about this method from a traveling merchant in the south. Qin Lang, Uncle Tianxin and I tried it this afternoon. After traveling all afternoon, my legs don't hurt anymore."

Lu Qingqing called Lu Tianxin and his son over to demonstrate. As Lu Qingqing spoke, Lu Tianxin tied his son's legs.

Lu Tianxin took the wide strip of cloth that had been prepared earlier and began to wrap it from the calf upwards. Lu Qingqing directed him from the side, making sure to wrap it tightly around the ankles and fold the cloth strip when moving upwards so that it could be wrapped tightly.

Use a little less force on the calf, and even less force upwards towards the calf.

Lu Qingqing watched Lu Tianxin finish tying him up before continuing to talk to the villagers:

"Everyone, when you tie your legs, you must follow the technique I just mentioned. The ankles should be the tightest, the calves should be 70% to 80% tight, and the area below the knees should be 40% to 50% tight."

"This strength still requires practice. If it's too tight, it'll be uncomfortable to bend your calf, and if it's too loose, it won't be effective."

After Lu Qingqing finished teaching, Lu Tianming came out and said:

"Da Ya has already taught you how to bind your legs. Go back and teach your family. Don't take it lightly, or you'll not only have pain in your legs, but if other people with bound legs are faster and leave you behind, don't complain."

After Lu Tianming finished speaking, he asked most of the villagers to go back and try it.

Lu Tianming took Lu Qingqing, Lu Tianxin and others to walk around the team, and if he saw someone who didn't know how to do it, he would go over and teach them.

At this time, many people in the village had tried it on their legs, wrapping it around their legs as Lu Qingqing taught them. Some people who were unsure about the strength would chase after them and ask about it when they saw them passing by.

But some people were reluctant to cut the cloth strips. When Li Jinbao's mother saw her son trying to cut the cloth strips with old clothes at home, she cried and shouted to stop him.

"Why cut such nice clothes into strips? It will ruin the nice things. Daya is a troublemaker. She will chop up these clothes instead of giving them to grandma as a filial gift."

Lu Tianming happened to be walking nearby, and when he heard this, he said coldly:

"Daya proposed this method for the benefit of the villagers, not to force you. Those who don't want to bind their legs don't have to. But one thing is, don't let me hear you say bad things about Daya because of this method. If I find anyone who undermines the unity of the village again, don't blame me for kicking him out."

A fierce woman from the nearby house, who was already binding her legs, chimed in:

"That's right, I felt irritated just listening to you speak. It's because you're Daya's grandmother, otherwise I would have torn your mouth off a long time ago! Daya came up with this idea so that everyone could travel faster, but when you spoke of it, it became a disaster. How stupid!"

After the old woman finished speaking, some daughters-in-law from the nearby Lujia Village echoed her, and a few people who had previously agreed with Jin Bao Niang's words also became quiet.

When Lu Qingqing heard Lu Tianming and the villagers defending her, she felt warm in her heart, but she was not actually angry.

She did not propose this method purely out of selflessness. Now the whole village is united, and this method can indeed speed up the villagers and prevent the barbarians from catching up.

In addition, you can also improve your favorability in front of the elders of the tribe so that they can help you when you encounter problems in the future.

After walking around for a while, they went back.

Lu Tianming arranged several people to be on night duty, and these people were distributed around the entire venue.

Lu Qingqing's ox cart was not far from Lu Tianming. Since Lu Tianming was on duty tonight, they could also have a good rest.

I had a dreamless night. At dawn the next day, I heard a man's scream, followed by chaos.

"Second brother! Daddy's son!"

Old man Lu cried and shouted, looking at his second son who had stopped breathing.

The expression on his face still maintained that of pain, his hands tightly clutched the clothes on his chest, and he looked like he couldn't breathe. Old Man Lu felt distressed and regretful.

Last night I heard the second son shouting that he was feeling uncomfortable, but he was too tired and didn't respond even though he heard it.

He heard the second son tossing and turning on the mattress, which made him so noisy that he had to cover his head with the quilt before falling asleep.

When Old Mrs. Lu heard the old man's cry, she ran over and saw that her second son was dead. She immediately burst into tears.

Although she favored her youngest son, she also raised the second son with great difficulty.

The person she was meeting was gone, and she cried with tears and snot while holding Lu Laoer's body.

Aunt Lu looked at the painful expression on the face of the dying Lu Lao Er and suddenly lowered her head. She almost couldn't control her expression.

After so long, she finally got it done.

Last night, when she saw Lu Laoer drink the water, she knew it worked.

At night, the men slept on the same blanket, and she would quietly listen to the movements on the other side.

She knew the poison had taken effect when Lu Laoer tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep, and kept complaining about feeling uncomfortable.

At night, she listened to Lu Laoer tossing and turning on the other end, gasping for breath a few times before he calmed down. Only then did she fall asleep with a smile on her face.

The person who stopped her from finding Arya is gone, and she can protect her daughter from now on!

Lu Tianming and the village chief heard the noise and came to check what was going on. They were shocked to see that Lu Laoer was dead.

After checking the situation, we didn't see any obvious insect bites, and there was no blackening on the face due to poisoning. Judging from the movements before death, it seemed like he was gasping for breath, so it could only be attributed to sudden death due to physical problems.

There was no condition to make a whole coffin now, so Old Man Lu directed his two sons to dig a hole nearby and buried Lu Lao Er.

Aunt Lu put the water bag close to her body under the pretext of sorting out the relics.

Before Lu Lao Er was buried, Aunt Lu called Er Ya over to kowtow to him. In front of all the relatives of the Lu family, Aunt Lu brought Er Ya to kneel in front of Old Man Lu and Old Lady Lu, crying and begging:

"Dad, Mom, the head of the family is gone, and Erya is his only bloodline. Please redeem her!"

As he said that, he led Erya to kowtow to the two of them.

The villagers who were watching around started talking about it, mostly saying things like how Lu Lao Er had only this one bloodline and it was sold out, and that the Lu family was not respectful.

The sound reached Old Man Lu's ears, making him so angry that his face turned red and his head buzzed.

Although everyone in the village knew that he sold his granddaughter before, not so many people talked about it to his face.

Old Man Lu forced himself to calm down. His second son was already dead, and he had no descendants. If this daughter-in-law and that money-losing girl continued to follow them, they would just be eating for free.

Thinking of this, Old Man Lu made a decision.

He forced a smile with a stiff face, motioned Old Man Lu to help Second Aunt Lu up, and said:

"Second brother, you've been married to my family for so many years. Even though you didn't give birth to a child to carry on the family line, at least we've been together for so many years. Now that Second brother is gone, I know you miss Erya. How about this? I'll give you food, and you go and redeem Erya."

When Aunt Lu heard this, she finally smiled sincerely, hugged Erya and laughed, and then she started crying again while laughing.

But then Old Man Lu continued:

"But there's one thing. The second son is dead, and the eldest and third sons are not young anymore. I and I are planning to split up the family business."

Second Aunt Lu knew what Old Man Lu was thinking, but dividing the family was exactly what she wanted, so she nodded.

Li Chengcai's mother was among the crowd watching. When she heard Old Man Lu say that he wanted to redeem Erya, she hurriedly said:

"Mother Erya, I know you and your son want to be reunited, and my family is not unkind. It's just that Erya has been eating our food for so long, you have to give us some more."

When Old Man Lu saw that the Li family wanted more food, he poked Old Lady Lu and motioned her to go and negotiate.

Old Mrs. Lu endured the headache and pulled Chengcai's mother aside. The two argued for a long time and decided on the amount of grain to be returned.

Only then did Old Man Lu take out the food he was going to give from the car and handed it over with a distressed look.

But when I thought about how I could divide up the second brother's family soon and save some food rations, I felt better.

Aunt Lu took the document written when she sold Erya and asked the village chief to help her look at it. It was the previous one.

After confirming that there was no problem, he gritted his teeth and tore the document into pieces. He then raised his hand and the pieces were blown away by the wind.