Daily life of farming and supporting a family on the ancient Loess Plateau

Ji Yongling knew that in many dynasties of ancient history, the traditional Confucian ethics of "the husband is the head of the household" and "the husband is superior to the wife" were followed, and the wife's status in the family was very low. However, due to her lack of historical knowledge, she was unaware that the wife's low status was recognized by law, that is, it was acknowledged by everyone.

For a wife, her life can only be spent obediently "following her husband" and "following her son".

The husband enjoys various rights, while the wife bears various obligations; this is the true nature of the general marital relationship in this dynasty.

The imperial laws overwhelmingly stipulated the rights and obligations between husbands and wives, reducing wives to mere objects subordinate to their husbands. They could be beaten, bought and sold, or even tortured and killed, causing wives to lose all their dignity in marriage.

These wives led lives filled with blood and tears, and this was the norm, permitted by the government.

The fate of women at the bottom of society is like an inescapable chain.

Seeing that Ji Yongling remained silent and staring blankly, Hu Xirong anxiously paced around the mule cart, saying, "Ling'er, come back to your senses! We're not afraid. That Zhu Gouniu deserved to die. So what if he's dead? It's just a pool of blood. What's there to be afraid of? Just think of it as slaughtering a pig for the New Year."

Ji Yongling was still lost in her own thoughts.

Hu Xirong had no choice but to break off a willow twig from the roadside and wave it around Ji Yongling, muttering to herself: "Go north after leaving the south gate, and you'll see a man biting a dog. Pick up the dog to throw at a brick, but the brick bites your hand instead. Throw it into the river, and you'll get splashed with yellow dirt. Don't worry, don't get angry, no one can take your place in this suffering; no worries, no sorrows, too many worries and sorrows, and you'll die young—"

Before she could finish chanting, Ji Manqing snatched the willow branch from Hu Xirong's hand and shouted, "You old woman, if you don't know how to chant, don't spout nonsense! Listen to these crooked words you're reciting, are you trying to chant the child away with your life?!"

Hu Xirong retorted angrily, "If you know how, then you do it! The child is terrified, he's lost his mind, aren't you worried?!"

Ji Manqing snorted disdainfully and said to Ji Yongling with a grin, "Ling'er, your fourth aunt has never been to school and only knows how to spout vulgar and meaningless nonsense. Your fourth uncle will give you something more elegant."

After saying that, he coughed twice, cleared his throat, and began to sing: "Stone mounds and ridges, steep slopes and hollows; a series of gullies and ridges; the girl on the opposite bank sits on the kang (heated brick bed), for you I lost two front teeth, suffered a concussion, all to earn money for the dowry; and you, riding a donkey and leading a sheep, followed Wang the Cripple and Ma the Cripple, stayed in bed until dawn..."

"Ouch—" Ji Manqing's singing stopped abruptly as Ji Manchuan kicked his buttock hard, making him cry out in pain.

"Third Brother, what are you doing kicking my groin?!"

"Listen to what you're singing! Is that something a child should sing?" Ji Manchuan angrily cursed. "I really want to rip your tongue out and see what it is!"

"What's wrong with that? Isn't this the tune the old men in the village used to sing when we were old?" Ji Manqing took two steps back, away from Ji Manchuan, and said, "Third Brother, you don't understand! The kid's all grown up now, what's there to be afraid of!"

Hu Xirong said gloatingly, "With your lousy voice, you sing like a donkey braying 'uh-huh.' We really don't understand it; I guess only the mule in front can."

Ji Yongling chuckled.

Even in this era of widespread resentment and anger, there were many unequal couples like Li Shi and Zhu Gou Niu, as well as many couples like Hu Xirong and Ji Manqing who found joy amidst hardship.

It doesn't seem too bad.

Seeing Ji Yongling smile, Hu Xirong and the others breathed a sigh of relief and felt at ease.

Ji Manchuan also thought his daughter was frightened and felt it would be better to liven up the atmosphere on the road, so he shouted to Ji Mantun, who was pulling the cart behind, "Second brother, you sing well in the Qinqiang opera, give us a piece."

"Alright, I'll recite a bit for you. 'The Queen Mother laughs at our dark face, our black headdress, our black clothes, our whole body is black, a black man with an incomparably dark appearance'..."

Ji Mantun's rough and unrestrained voice, paired with a passage from "The Case of Chen Shimei," against the backdrop of the blood-red sunset on the Loess Plateau and the vast horizon, instantly gave the group of people on the road a sense of chivalry and exhilaration.

After belting out Qinqiang opera, they sang folk songs...

"His eldest uncle and his second uncle are both his uncles, high tables and low benches are all made of wood, taking two steps forward and one step back is the same as not taking any steps at all, gold nuggets and silver nuggets are never enough, the sky is above and the earth is below, you kid don't be so arrogant! Taking one step forward and one step back is the same as not taking any steps at all, a donkey and two cows are both livestock..."

Ji Manqing's rough, braying "donkey tune," accompanied by the rumble of mule cart wheels, echoed continuously across the loess land...

.....

On the very day that Ji Yongling and his group went to the market, the old Ji family courtyard was bustling with activity.

Ji Yinqiao set off early in the morning and traveled quickly to Niujiatun.

She first went to her older brother Ji Laosi's house. Her mother was over seventy years old, which was considered long-lived in the entire Ningping County. She had been living with her older brother Ji Laosi all these years.

Ji Laosi had nine sons, all of whom were married. The eight eldest sons had moved out and lived separately, while only the youngest son, Jiuwa, still lived with the old couple.

Ji Yinqiao pushed open the courtyard gate and saw Ji Laosi sweeping the yard. The wind was blowing loudly in the kitchen, and wisps of smoke were rising from the chimney. She smiled and said, "Brother, you haven't eaten yet."

When Ji Laosi saw that it was his sister, he stopped sweeping and asked, "Why are you here so early in the morning? What's up?"

Ji Yinqiao placed the satchel on the stool in the yard, and while taking things out of it, she said, "I came to see you and your mother. I brought you and your mother some cornmeal. Ask my sister-in-law to cook some for everyone. Where is your mother?"

Ji Laosi stared at the bag of corn grits that Ji Yinqiao had taken out for a few moments, then turned to the cave dwelling where Ji Laotai lived, raised his chin, and continued to sweep the broom in his hand.

"Mother—" Ji Yinqiao lifted the straw curtain and called out to Old Lady Ji, who was sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed) by the window, smoking a pipe.

Grandma Ji exhaled a puff of smoke and asked, "Why did you come here?"

Ji Yinqiao briefly explained her purpose, without mentioning that she was there to get medicine for Huang Daopo, only saying that someone had paid for her to buy the medicine.

After listening, Old Lady Ji raised her droopy eyelids, revealing her cloudy eyes, and said, "You know, Ji Lao Er is a stubborn mule. His family said they would only give the village children one dose of medicine for free, and they really meant it. No one can have an extra dose."

They said that if a child from another village came to drink medicine, they had to pay two coins, and they could only buy one dose. That day, Hu Jipo's sister-in-law's grandson was in our village, and Ji Lao Er's wife, Yang, refused to give the child the medicine. Can you believe it?! That child was with a group of other children; it was just a matter of a bowl of water, but Yang said she wouldn't give it, and that was it. She's truly heartless!

Ji Yinqiao sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), nodded, took the pipe from her mother, filled it with tobacco leaves from the bag hanging from the pipe stem, handed it back to her mother, and said, "So, it seems I can't get these ten packets of medicine powder?"

Grandma Ji curled her lip: "Don't even mention ten packs, not even one pack will do."