【Quick Wear】My Years as a Mother-in-law

Xia Qing carried the heavy responsibility of the Li family's prosperity. He was the youngest child in the Li clan. Children younger than him were born only last year, and many more would be born this year, but they would all be younger than him. Most of the older children had died in natural disasters...

The teacher is strict, the brother feels sorry for Shuxiu, the sister is unruly, and the mother is even stricter. The little kid can easily develop psychological problems under such a comparison.

Yun Xi discovered it after teaching Xia Qing for a few days.

That day, Mrs. Wang used chicken bones and the last of the dried seafood to make soup based on the ingredients at home, and added mushrooms and dried bamboo shoots to enhance the flavor. She made a pot of soup and everyone cooked it together.

The hot pot was very warm, and everyone felt sleepy after the meal. Yun Xi waved her hand and invited everyone to take a nap. After the nap, they did not continue reading, but went out to make snowmen and have snowball fights.

From this day until the New Year, everyone prepared for the New Year's sacrifice according to the rules. On the 27th day of the New Year, Yun Xi's family was going to slaughter a pig. She didn't know how to kill pigs, but Li Erniu did. To be more precise, those in the village who could hunt could easily kill a pig.

Li Erniu formed a pig-slaughtering team. Other families in the village only raised one pig, and all of them were given to Li Erniu to slaughter. The reward was five pounds of meat, and how to distribute the meat within the pig-slaughtering team was their own business.

Seeing the fat pig that Lady Wang had driven out, Li Erniu couldn't help but ask, "Sister-in-law, how did you raise this pig? It looks like it weighs 180 kilograms!"

Yun Xi was modest. "That's an exaggeration. It's only about 160 kilograms. I feed it with pig grass, pig swill, peanut meal, soybean meal, corn dregs, and occasionally cornmeal."

There is no way around it. The two pigs at home are black pigs, not the quality of white pigs in later generations. It is already the limit to feed them to 160 kilograms. However, black pork is more fragrant, with more lean meat and less fat.

Li Erniu was silent. Cornmeal? How generous!

After the pig was killed, Yun Xi gave Li Erniu eight pounds of meat. The reward was slightly higher because the pig was bigger. She was not stingy at all with so much meat to eat.

More than 100 kilograms of pork is still a spectacular sight. Yun Xi asked the children to clean it up together, washing it, smoking it, and leaving some fresh meat to eat.

After the New Year, many babies are carried by their parents during New Year's greetings. If these children live past the age of three, they will be recorded in the family tree. What if they don't live past the age of three? There is no way around it, raising children in ancient times was too difficult.

After having fun until the tenth day, Yun Xi held Xia Qing in her arms and talked by the fire in the main room. It was too difficult to force a child to mature early, but if Chunsheng could support the family, she would have forced Chunsheng long ago. If she could, she would have taken the imperial examination or joined the army to fight the enemy long ago, but unfortunately she couldn't.

At this moment, she understood what Tanchun said: If I were a man, I could go out and build a career, which would make sense. But I am a girl, and I have no right to say a word.

It is so difficult for girls to succeed in this era.

Yun Xi asked him softly, "Xia Qing, do you know how many people there were in the original Lishugou Village? And how many members of the Li family are there?"

Li Xiaqing was stunned for a moment, blinked, and then whispered, "Seven or eight hundred people. The Li family has thirty-two households, a total of three hundred and twenty people."

"Yes, more than 300 people, and natural disasters continued one after another. In the end, the elderly and children died, and only 100 of us survived. So many people with different surnames fled the famine, and not a single one has returned. The ending is obvious." Yun Xi turned and asked, "How many people from Xiaowangzhuang survived?"

Li Xiaqing is very smart and seems to understand something.

“Nearly half of them came back.”

"Yes, nearly half. Why? Why is it that even if the Li family spent all their money to buy food, the food is still not enough to last for four years? Why can the people in Xiaowangzhuang do it? I remember that the people in Xiaowangzhuang left decisively before the natural disaster just started." Yun Xi looked at the child.

Li Xiaqing lowered his head. "Because they are richer?"

"Not only that, there is another source of information. Someone from the Wang family is an official in the capital, and maybe he got some information. Another reason is that they are wealthy. They can exempt a lot of land from tax, and thus have accumulated a lot of wealth, so they have the confidence to flee the famine." Yun Xi looked at Xia Qing.

"You haven't read history yet. If you did, you would know that natural disasters don't just disappear once and for all. Perhaps in ten years, fifty years, a hundred years, or even longer, this land will be struck by disaster or man-made calamity again."

"We don't know how long we can remain safe. In the face of natural disasters and man-made calamities, those who survive will either be rich or powerful. Mother Qian will find ways to earn money, but power needs to be accumulated by the Li family over generations. If your generation can at best pass the imperial examination and become a scholar, your next generation might be able to serve in the county government, and your grandson might even become a county magistrate..."

“This is all progress.”

"A thousand miles begins with a single step."

"All beginnings are hard."

"Xia Qing, thank you for your hard work. Mother will always support you."

……

After that conversation, the five-year-old Li Xiaqing seemed to have grown up all of a sudden. He read books and practiced calligraphy on his own initiative, and everyone spoke and did things in a much softer tone unconsciously.

This year the snow didn't stop until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Fortunately, the houses in Lijia Village were sturdy, and diligent snow clearing didn't cause any problems. No houses collapsed due to heavy snow, but instead we went to Xiaowangzhuang to help with disaster relief several times.

After the snow stopped, Wang Niang cleaned up the snow in and outside the house. Yun Xi started fishing with the fish basket again. Li Chunsheng took Li Meizi to ferment manure. The manure was still fermenting in the big pit. However, during the snowy days, a lot of manure had accumulated in the toilet and livestock house, and the smell was a bit strong.

Yun Xi asked Madam Wang to carry the wood ash, and she herself carried a lot of straw to the fertilizer pit.

"Mom, should we raise more pigs this year? Every household is running out of fertilizer right now," Li Chunsheng said with a worried look on his face. "Even though the floods left behind a lot of fertile silt, it's still not enough. The fertilizer needs for the fields will increase significantly next year."

Yun Xi thought for a moment and said, "We need to raise pigs, four or so. I'll see if there are any traveling merchants. If not, we can go to Rongcheng to buy some. As for fertilizer, when we send you to the academy, Madam Mei Ziwang and I will drive the carriage together and buy some night-scented osmanthus in Rongcheng to ferment it."

"It can only be this way."

When the weather was still cold, Yun Xi went to see her mulberry trees. They were all alive and well. She also had to find a way to buy some silkworms, as taxes would be officially levied starting next year.

Who would have thought that the tax exemption would start from the first year of Jianxing, which was the year of the earthquake. At first, everyone thought that the three-year tax exemption would start from the second year of Jianxing and last until the fourth year of Jianxing.

That’s right, this year is the third year of Jianxing, the last year of tax exemption.

After the new emperor ascended the throne, he changed the reign title and exempted taxes. The other common people did not know that Jin State was now surrounded by enemies and was not peaceful. It had just experienced a natural disaster. Internal and external troubles always troubled the emperor on the dragon throne. Fortunately, there was still some money in the treasury to maintain the army.

Why is there money in the treasury? Because the previous emperor watched the people suffer from the disaster without taking any measures, let alone disaster relief. Isn't all the money in the treasury sitting there to give birth?