There were a few cockcrows outside the window, and the sky was getting brighter. Fang Yingwu, a villager in Shanghuaxi Village, Zitong Township, Chun'an County, Chunzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province in the Ming Dynasty, opened his eyes from his sleep.
He lay numbly on the bed, very confused about the situation. He was originally an orphan in the 21st century. He studied hard and became a master's student in the History Department of Zhejiang University with a specialization in Ming and Qing history. Why did he go to Qiandao Lake while traveling?
After falling into the water, he turned into this young man with the same name from the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty?
Is he reincarnated with memories, or is his soul taking over someone else's body? Moreover, Fang Yingwu has countless fragmented information fragments in his mind, which originally belonged to the young man from the Ming Dynasty. In other words, they also belong to him now.
It's his, after all, the two objects of time and space have merged into one.
Looking through his memory, he first remembered his father in this life. His surname was Fang Tao Qingzhi. Eight years ago, in the fifth year of Chenghua, he passed the examination as a scholar. However, in the seventh year of Chenghua and the tenth year of Chenghua, he failed in the provincial examination twice.
So he went on a study trip two years ago. There is no news about him so far, and he can be considered a missing person for the time being.
Fang Yingwu couldn't help but be dumbfounded as he continued to recall his father in depth. This father was actually only fifteen years older than him, and he was only thirty this year!
Asking herself to call a thirty-year-old man daddy? Fang Yingwu felt very psychologically disturbed... Fortunately, his father was still missing, so he did not have to face this embarrassing situation for the time being.
As for his mother, Fang Yingwu had no specific memory. He only knew that she died in childbirth when she was giving birth to him, which was very sad. He vaguely knew that her surname was Hu, and she seemed to be from other villages in the same town.
There were two brothers in my father's generation. Although my father became a scholar and father-in-law, my uncle still made a living by farming. However, after my grandparents passed away, my father and uncle did not separate their families, and the two houses were still in the same courtyard.
But my father can be said to be a model of "not hearing anything outside the window, and only reading the books of sages." He lived alone for many years in the county school to study for knowledge, and he only wanted to make progress. Even if he had not traveled far away to study in the past, he would not
Go home often.
Therefore, Fang Yingwu has been eating and drinking in his uncle's room since he was a child, and rarely sees his father a few times. As a result, he will inevitably encounter a few complaints and complaints from his uncle and aunt about "eating and drinking for free". Living under the shelter of others is probably like this.
, in which the bitterness is not enough and it is just like outsiders.
Thinking of this, Fang Yingwu, a high-achieving student with a bit of arrogance in his previous life, felt very uncomfortable and was too lazy to continue digging out his memories, so he got up from the bed and walked around the house.
At first glance, you can see that the courtyard wall is just a fence, and the house is made of yellow mud walls, with thick thatch as the roof. In this village located on the hillside, most of the dozens of houses are of this style, and can be made of bricks and tiles.
They can definitely be called a wealthy family in the mountain village.
There are east and west wing rooms in his courtyard. The west wing room belongs to his uncle's family, and the east wing room belongs to their eldest son. Now he is the only one living there.
After Fang Yingwu sighed, he re-entered the east wing of the house and saw that there were only three major items in the house - a rickety wooden bed, a wooden cabinet with peeling paint, a wooden table with a layer of dirt on it, and the stool was missing. Look.
Fang Yingwu suspected that these household items were all made when his father got married more than ten years ago.
Such living conditions are really unbearable... Fang Yingwu sighed again. He stood bored in the room. This was just a bare house. If there might be any other possessions, they would only be in the room.
In that cabinet with peeling paint.
Thinking of this, Fang Yingwu opened the cabinet and removed a few pieces of coarse clothes. He found a few books. The most interesting thing was that there was a piece of paper tucked inside the book.
After unfolding it, it turned out that this piece of paper was written by his father before he went on a study trip. It said: "Because my son has grown older and has become more sensible, my son will handle all the affairs of the eldest son in the family. I will discuss with him afterwards."
Just listen to it. I hope all my relatives can help me a little, and take this as my faith."
Fang Yingwu couldn't help but shook his head. He was such an irresponsible father. He just patted his butt and left immediately. What's the use of leaving such a piece of paper? He was just a fifteen-year-old boy, and he was asked to act for the elder's affairs.
What can you do? Besides, the head of the house doesn’t have anything to deal with now.
While I was fuming, I heard someone outside the house shouting: "Brother! Do you want to go to a social school to study?"
This voice should belong to his uncle's cousin Fang Yingyuan, who is two years younger than him. He probably came to ask him to go to school together. Fang Yingwu put down his worries and said yes, and then left with his cousin. This seemed to be an instinct.
.
The mountainous area is narrow, which is not conducive to the settlement of large villages. Most of the scattered small villages and fields are scattered in the flat areas. There is a river in the mountains called Huaxi, which is a small tributary of the Xin'an River in western Zhejiang, so there is Shanghuaxi.
The names of the villages, Zhonghuaxi Village and Xiahuaxi Village.
In fact, the three villages are very close to each other, but they cannot be together due to the isolation of the terrain. The social school that Fang Yingwu's cousins are going to is located in Zhonghuaxi Village, and a declining temple is used as the social school building.
From the age of eight, Fang Yingwu has been reading and writing here. In seven years, he has memorized the Thousand-Character Essay on Hundreds of Family Surnames, read the Four Books and Five Classics, learned antithesis, and copied several eight-legged essays.
This social school is initiated by the government, but it usually relies on student education and donations from big households. I heard that the number one sponsor last year was Wang Sheng and Wang Dahujia of Zhonghuaxi Village. Wang Dahu has the best of two, he is Huaxi
The richest people in these poor villages on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and the most famous beauties on both sides of the Huaxi River were also born in his family.
Thinking of Wang Da's family, Fang Yingwu's head felt a little achy for some reason, as if he was extremely unwilling to recall it. Before Fang Yingwu could find any clues, they had already arrived in front of the social sciences.
Just as he was about to step in, a social studies clerk suddenly stopped Fang Yingwu with his hand and said with a bit of helplessness: "The private school teacher in the hall has said that from today on, you don't have to come."
Fang Yingwu was stunned for a moment and asked in confusion: "Why is this?"
The servant explained: "It's April now, and you haven't delivered the repairs this year, and you haven't asked the husband for mercy. The husband said that this is rude, and the courtesy will be cut off, so you can't come in to listen to the lecture."
Although Fang Yingwu was stopped, Fang Yingyuan entered the school unimpeded. Seeing this, Fang Yingwu secretly thought, the repairs are the tuition fees. His uncle has always been responsible for delivering the repairs to him and his cousin. Could it be that
This year, my uncle only gave Shu Xiu his cousin's share, but left out his own share?
I just did it without saying anything, and I didn’t find out until I was stopped today. This is really a behind-the-scenes move that favors one thing over another and ruins one’s future!
Fang Yingwu suddenly felt a pang of anger. It should be noted that nowadays, it is believed that "everything is inferior, but reading is good". If you can't study, you will have no way to make progress. From now on, you can only go home and farm, and those who have capital can also do business. For him, he was once
For top students, of course they are unwilling.
There was no point in making a fuss here in the social sciences. Fang Yingwu turned around and went back the way he came. It was time to go find his uncle to argue. Not long after, he followed his memory and returned to Shanghuaxi Village.
Outside my house, I saw a strong man in his twenties or eighty-year-old flashing out of the door. He was dressed in coarse brown clothes, with a hat on his head to protect him from the sun. His face was rough, which was obviously due to being exposed to wind and sun from farming all year round. For this man, Fang Yingwu Nao Relevant information naturally flashed out, including his name: Fang Qingtian, a professional farmer, and his title of uncle...
The uncle was holding farm tools at the gate of the yard and was about to go to the fields. Fang Yingwu came up to meet him and asked, "Why didn't my uncle tell my nephew that he had cut off the gift of tying the knot to my nephew? I didn't know why for a while. "
Fang Qingtian was well prepared and immediately replied: "I forgot to tell you about this. When I remembered it today, you had already gone to social studies. Seeing that you are growing up and have little potential in your studies, you should share the worries of your family. So from today on, go to the fields with me!"
Do you really want to become a farmer and farm? Or do you want to force yourself to work in the fields as a hard laborer? Fang Yingwu could not continue to question his uncle's little idea of preventing him from going to school but still sending his son there. He was surprised at first, as if he heard something incredible. things.
In his previous life, he was a top student who relied on his grades to get around the campus. Although he was an orphan and could not open his mouth and clothes to open his hands, he still had a fine tradition of being indifferent to food and work.
Pastoral labor with one's back facing the paddy field? Sorry, I've only seen it on TV, but it was never an option in his real life.
It is said that the Fang family has a total of eight acres of land, which is an ancestral family property. Now the eldest brother, Fang Qingzhi, and the second brother, Fang Qingtian, have not separated their families. Therefore, there is no detailed division of property rights, and it is only regarded as shared by the two families.
The eldest son, Fang Qingzhi, has been studying in the county to eat the royal grain and does not have to rely on the fields for the time being. However, the family of three in the second house and the local supplies, a total of four people, basically rely on these eight acres of land and some income from sericulture, so life is very tight.
Seeing that his eldest nephew came of age, Fang Qingtian made his own calculation - the paddy fields in the south were not as good as those in the north and required intensive farming. Eight acres of land required two laborers. In the past, the two of them worked in the fields, but this year he decided to He hit his eldest nephew.
The eldest nephew, Fang Yingwu, is getting older. The older he gets, the better he can eat. Why does he need to study? He can already act as a laborer. If Fang Yingwu starts to sell his hands and work hard to farm, there will be no need for his wife to work in the fields. If you work in farming, you can be completely freed up to raise silkworms and reel silk, earn more money, and still have a lot of money left over for repairs. It is the best of both worlds.
With extreme reluctance, Fang Yingwu was forcibly dragged down the hillside by his uncle, and came to the edge of a paddy field at the foot of the mountain. In some places in the field, several rows of seedlings had been planted.
At this time, his uncle gave him another handful of seedlings and urged him impatiently: "The farming season is very tight. You plant the seedlings here first, and I will go to another field." The Fang family's eight acres of land are not concentrated in one piece. , divided into two shares.
"Then I..." Fang Yingwu, who didn't want to be polite and polite, was very unconvinced.
Fang Qingtian seemed to know what his nephew was going to say. He glared and blocked his words, half scolding and half threatening: "You lazy guy has been resting in vain for so many years. If you continue to be lazy, you won't even have dinner in the evening!"
April is the busiest time for farmers in this county. At the beginning of the month, they have to harvest spring flowers and plant rice, and at the end of the month, they have to transplant rice. In an era where agriculture is the key and people really starve to death, there is nothing more important than farming. Already.
Sometimes, the county magistrate even refuses to accept all people's lawsuit requests in April on the grounds that they cannot delay people's farming time. This is called the litigation suspension period.
Fang Yingwu stood blankly on the edge of the paddy field, still holding a handful of seedlings in his hand. The bright April sunshine shone on the water surface, and his handsome figure was reflected vaguely. But now his identity is no longer
He is a top student in the History Department of Zhejiang University and a second-class senior citizen in the Ming Dynasty.
Yes, according to the order of scholars, farmers, industry, merchants, military, craftsmen, cooks, and lowly people, farmers are of course the second highest ranking citizens and are highly valued on paper. If there is such a concept as a citizen these days.
If he remembered correctly, his uncle asked him to complete half an acre of land today, which was a very heavy workload. Fang Yingwu wiped his sweat in fear, feeling that the April sunshine was so intense for the first time.
Half an acre sounds light and does not seem big, but it may take half an acre every day until the end of the farming season. Moreover, the farming work of transplanting rice seedlings is very hard and tiring. It will break your waist, soak your feet, and there will be water in the water.
Leeches...how could Fang Yingwu endure this?
Thinking of this, Fang Yingwu raised his fist tightly holding the seedlings, and couldn't help but let out a loud and powerful voice of the times: "I am not here to farm!"
This scene was written into the "History of the Ming Dynasty·Fang Yingwu's Biography" - When Yingwu was a boy, he stood on the edge of a field and said, "How can my ambition be between the streets?"
However, at this time, only a few passing villagers happened to hear Fang Yingwu’s strong voice refusing to surrender to fate, and they laughed together and said: "Brother Qiu, why are you talking nonsense? What else can you do if you don’t want to farm? Unless you follow suit.
Your father also became a scholar, but that was even harder than farming!"
Qiu Ge'er is Fang Yingwu's nickname. Probably because he was born in autumn, he has had the nickname Qiu Ge'er since he was a child. Then someone joked: "If you have sex with the young lady from the king's family in the neighboring village,
Once we get married, we won’t be able to enjoy the good things and enjoy the entertainment, so we will have to be like the rest of us. It’s a pity, it’s a pity.”
What's a pity? With the Wang family's young lady? Just thinking of this name, Fang Yingwu's head started to hurt again, it was still the subconscious that was causing trouble.;