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

Seeing Jia Ronghua go out to find Zhao Yunxia, ​​Ji Yongling patted Ji Yongfei on the shoulder and pulled her into his room.

It was completely dark outside, and the room was pitch black as well. Ji Yongling turned on the lamp, and the room was instantly bathed in an orange glow.

Ji Yongfei stood on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) looking at Ji Yongling's room. The furnishings inside were very simple: a kang, a cabinet, a chest, and a table. All of this looked particularly simple and warm in the flickering flames and orange light.

Her gaze lingered on the open paper on the table for a while, filled with an indescribable envy and longing.

“Sit down, what are you doing standing here!” Ji Yongling said.

Ji Yongfei sat silently on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and after a long while said, "Sigh, you and Third Aunt were able to take me in today, but I don't know if you'll be able to in the future?"

Ji Yongling smiled and said, "What are you talking about? What do you mean by taking me in or not? You're not without a home!"

Ji Yongfei sighed, shook her head, and said, "I really envy you... Hey, to be honest, I had a fight with my mother today, and I stormed out. I originally wanted to go to my grandparents' place, but I was afraid it would get dark and my grandmother would worry too much, so I ended up coming here instead."

Ji Yongling, puzzled, asked with a smile, "What's the fight about this time? Mother and daughter don't hold grudges overnight, things will be fine tomorrow, don't overthink it!"

Upon hearing this, Ji Yongfei's eyes reddened. She pursed her lips and said, "Oh, if only that were true! You don't know, my mother actually wanted to tell me about her to one of my aunt's relatives."

Ji Yongling frowned slightly. Ji Yongfei was a year younger than her; it wasn't time to arrange a marriage so early! But marriage takes time, and even if it was arranged, it didn't necessarily mean she would marry him immediately. So, she comforted her, "Oh? It's not a big deal. You and your aunt's side aren't related by blood, so it's not like you can't marry him."

Ji Yongfei gave a wry smile and said, "We're not related by blood, but the man is a pockmarked guy! I'm a perfectly normal young woman, not stupid or naive, why would they marry me off to a pockmarked guy!"

Ji Yongling's face darkened slightly. What was Zhao Yunxia up to now?

Ji Yongfei wiped her eyes and said, "As you know, my dad and my brother both went to work in the county, and my mom has been secretly seeing my maternal grandmother's family. It's one thing for them to see each other, since my dad usually turns a blind eye, but today my aunt, who hasn't been married into the family for long, came to my room and specifically asked my mom to send me out to talk."

I knew my aunt was up to no good, and sure enough, she told my mother she wanted to arrange for me to marry the child of one of her relatives, a wealthy man. My mother was overjoyed to hear the groom was from a wealthy family and immediately said she could decide without even asking my father.

Ji Yongling laughed. Zhao Yunxia was forgetting her lessons. How could she make such a big decision about her children's marriage? Although Ji Mantun had been tolerant of Zhao Yunxia all these years, this was a patriarchal society. Ji Mantun was still alive. How could she make such a decision by herself?

Ji Yongfei's tone was filled with helplessness and bitterness as she continued, "Then my aunt hesitated for a long time before finally saying that the man's son was a 'pockmarked' child, a result of smallpox, which he contracted as a 'divine punishment' when he was seven years old. When my mother heard that he was a 'pockmarked' child, she hesitated."

But my aunt said the groom's family was offering a high dowry, and if the marriage went through, they would give a large sum as a thank-you gift to the matchmaker. She hoped my mother would consider it, since my uncle had incurred some debts when he married her. Upon hearing about my uncle's debts, my mother immediately decided, without hesitation, that she would definitely get my father's approval for the marriage.

Ji Yongling frowned as he listened. Zhao Yunxia was really confused!

Although surviving smallpox, even with a face full of pockmarks, is incredibly lucky, and there have been famous emperors in history with pockmarks, how can an ordinary wealthy person compare to an emperor at the pinnacle of power? Besides, Ji Yongfei is in the prime of her youth, valuing her appearance; how could she accept that the man she would share a bed with in the future would be a man with pockmarks?

Moreover, it is unknown whether Ji Yongfei's aunt concealed other smallpox sequelae from the man.

Ji Yongling's shoulders slumped limply as she murmured, "Tell me, in my mother's heart, is no one more important than my maternal grandmother's family? Sigh, my mother has only ever taken advantage of my father's good temper towards her. I wonder if my father will be easily swayed and listen to my mother? My mother might as well just sell me to an official's family as a maid to get money to pay off my uncle's debts!"

Ji Yongling took Ji Yongfei's hand, patted it, and comforted her, "Don't think nonsense, your second aunt wouldn't go that far!"

Actually, she felt a little guilty saying that. She wasn't confident enough to guarantee that Zhao Yunxia wouldn't do that.

Like Zhao Yunxia, ​​children who have received less parental love crave it the most. In order to obtain that meager amount of love from their parents, these children may unconsciously develop a "people-pleasing personality." They will try their best to meet their parents' expectations, even sacrificing their own feelings and needs, just to gain that pitiful amount of attention and recognition from their parents.

Perhaps in future generations, people like Zhao Yunxia will understand their problems through other means, achieve self-healing, rediscover their emotional needs, and learn to love themselves.

But in this day and age, Zhao Yunxia has no idea that her almost pathological attempts to please her family, even if she sacrifices her entire life and even her children, may not earn her parents any return whatsoever.

Actually, from another perspective, she is also a pitiful person, but it is the people around her who suffer.

Ji Yongling gently comforted her, "Yongfei, don't worry. Your second aunt's opinion alone won't count! Your marriage is a big deal. There's also your second uncle and grandparents involved. Our family is all about looks. The first requirement for a marriage is that the person must be good-looking, so this definitely won't work out!"

Ji Yongfei sighed and shook her head: "My father and brother work in the county, and my mother is in charge of everything at home. If she really agrees and secretly exchanges marriage certificates with my aunt, I'm afraid my father will be too late when he gets back, and nothing will change."

Ji Yongling fell silent.

Ancient times were not modern times. Modern people value contracts and agreements, but the ancients valued promises. The importance the ancients placed on credit is incomprehensible to modern people. They believed that a promise was worth a thousand pieces of gold, and that a gentleman's word was as good as his bond. Even verbal agreements were to be kept as if they were nails, and they would fulfill them for a lifetime!

However, Ji Yongling still comforted her, "No, exchanging the gift certificates isn't that easy! I'll go with you to find your second uncle tomorrow and have him come back and talk to your second aunt."