South Zhili, Dongzhuang, Shanyang County, Huai'an Prefecture.
An ordinary medium-sized village with more than 500 households and a population of more than 3,000.
Fifty-two-year-old farmer Dong Youshou, whose face is covered with wrinkles carved by time and whose back is slightly hunched over from years of hard work, has been very preoccupied in the past few days. Every day he runs to the irrigation dam outside the village, smoking low-quality dry cigarettes.
Looking towards the south with a worried face, he secretly begged his ancestors for blessings from time to time in his heart, hoping that his two sons, Dong Yunlin and Dong Yunfeng, could return safely.
It’s been ten days.
It has been ten days since his two sons joined the 50-member "begging team" organized by Zhuangli and left their hometown for Harbor City.
The scale of the "begging team" organized by Dongzhuang is still small. Lizhuang in the east and Lujia Town in the west have organized "begging teams" of two to three hundred people, and they have also gone to Harbor City to ask for favors.
There are even bigger ones.
The purpose is to go to Harbor City to kneel down and beg for mercy, hoping that Xujiazhuang will expand the village quickly and merge them into it, hoping to become a member of Xujiazhuang.
In fact, to be honest, as an elderly person who has lived for more than half a century, Dong Youshou has lived both hard and good days in his relatively long life, but the hard days of not having enough to eat and not having enough warmth account for the most part.
Ninety percent, good days only account for 10%.
The last three years, Dong Youshou thinks, are the best years of his life, unmatched by any previous years.
Because I can have enough to eat, there is no longer a shortage of food.
Occasionally I can eat meat.
There are several more sets of new clothes, and there are fewer and fewer patches on them.
We can even see some hope of getting better and better.
He was personally very satisfied and felt that the prosperous age might be nothing more than this.
but……
In his family, except for himself, the happiness index is getting lower and lower. The two sons complain more and more, the two daughters-in-law are also sad every day, and the grandchildren, who should be innocent and happy,
Affected by the family atmosphere, she became timid and sensitive, and was often subjected to domestic violence by her parents.
By the way, what's going on?
Family conditions have improved significantly, so why does happiness fall instead of rising?
The main reason is that Dong Youshou's eldest daughter, Dong Yueniang, married into a well-off family in Baoying County next door more than ten years ago. However, it was very unlucky that not long after the eldest daughter married, her father-in-law and mother-in-law fell ill one after another.
Half of the ten acres of farmland owned by the patient was sold, but he still died unfortunately.
Dong Yueniang worked hard and gave birth to five children in six years, but her family only had five acres of land. Although she and her husband worked hard, they still lived in poverty and could barely make ends meet.
I will go back to my parents' house and borrow some food to survive.
Of course, Dong Youshou couldn't help him even if he was dead. Anyway, he would help him with thirty kilograms of rice or fifty kilograms of rice once or twice a year, which made his two daughters-in-law complain quite a bit.
However, in the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, Xujiazhuang carried out the second round of expansion, and Baoying County was included. The village where the eldest daughter lived happened to be within the planning scope of the collective estate.
So it changed.
The life of the eldest daughter Dong Yueniang soon underwent earth-shaking changes. To use a popular word to describe it, it means turning around.
At the end of the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, the eldest daughter stopped coming to borrow millet. Instead, she brought things in large and small packages, including whole pig heads, canned food, two hundred kilograms of polished rice, two bolts of good cloth and other New Year's goods.
A wheelbarrow can only be pushed, and its value is no less than ten silver dollars. It is enough to pay back all the favors borrowed in the past, and there is still a lot more. The two daughters-in-law have nothing to say and can only smile at each other.
.
At the end of the sixth year of Chongzhen's reign, the eldest daughter sent more New Year's goods, including twenty kilograms of pork alone, five cans of milk powder, and three kilograms of toffee. In addition, she had gained weight, her husband looked better, and she had five children.
All of them have grown at least a head taller.
In the seventh year of Chongzhen's reign, he returned to his parents' home to celebrate the New Year. Bicycles. The eldest daughter Dong Yueniang came here on a bicycle. She could actually afford a bicycle that cost 500 silver dollars?
At the end of the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, the number of bicycles increased to two. The five children of the eldest daughter Dong Yueniang were all very tall as if they had been fed chemical fertilizers. It is said that they all entered school and their academic performance was very good.
At the end of the ninth year of Chongzhen, which was the year that just passed, the eldest daughter Dong Yueniang not only sent a large number of new year's goods, but also secretly stuffed 150 silver dollars into Dong Youshou's hands, saying that this was the salary she had saved privately and gave it to her father.
Ask him to repair his family's house, and preferably build a new house. If he doesn't repair it, her five children won't want to come over to celebrate the New Year. The conditions are too simple and they are really not used to living there.
This made Dong Youshou feel unhappy. He felt a little uncomfortable and complicated. He was disgusted. Was his eldest daughter beginning to dislike her parents' family? But he still told his son and daughter-in-law about this matter and asked them if they wanted to repair the house.
Unexpectedly, there was not only a lot of opposition, but also anger and dissatisfaction.
"My eldest sister has only had a good life for a few days, and she starts to dislike us."
"He's just a white-eyed wolf. If it hadn't been for our help back then, my eldest sister's family would have starved to death several times."
"The adobe house we live in has been there for decades. What's the use of repairing it? It would be best to tear it all down and build a cement-reinforced red-brick house. But building such a house would cost at least 500 silver dollars. What's the point of giving 150 silver dollars to my eldest sister?
Use it? We are so poor, how can we get enough for another 350 silver dollars?"
"That's right, the eldest sister is so stingy. She helps people to the end and sends Buddha to the West. She would rather buy two bicycles than change us to a better house."
"The eldest sister has changed. She is not the same person as before. She has become more selfish."
Hearing these criticisms from his sons and daughters-in-law, Dong Youshou wanted to retort. His eldest daughter, Dong Yueniang, sent food and flowers every year. She was generous and generous. Compared with the life-saving food she received back then, she returned it ten times and a hundred times.
Why do you become a white-eyed wolf? If your eldest daughter heard these words, wouldn't she be heartbroken?
Dong Youshou knew very well why their mentality was so abnormal, and he also knew what caused it.
envy.
In the final analysis, it is due to jealousy. They are jealous of their eldest sister's family, and their life is much better than theirs now.
Regarding this kind of mentality, the "Oriental Times" published an article to criticize it, saying that some people's mentality is too gloomy and they cannot see the good life of others. Even the relatives and friends around them often have a kind of "I am afraid that my relatives will have a hard life, and even more so."
The mentality of being afraid of your relatives riding a golden dragon (bicycle) and "seeing others making money is more uncomfortable than losing money yourself" is really too small and extremely unhealthy, and should be adjusted and corrected quickly.
But human nature is often like this. It just can't stand comparisons, especially comparisons where the innate conditions are similar but suddenly a huge gap opens up. It can easily lead to mental imbalance and even extremes.
So is there any way to solve this problem?
Join Xujiazhuang!
They also have to join Xujiazhuang, stand on a similar starting line, and have the same development opportunities.
People who discovered the crux of the problem spontaneously organized themselves and launched the "Begging Team" action. They wanted to go to Xujiazhuang Harbor City in groups, to kneel down and beg, to seek opportunities to change their destiny, and to no longer want to suffer in pain.
Comparison, spend even a day in unbearable jealousy.
So Dong Youshou's two sons decisively joined Dongzhuang's "begging team" and went to Harbor City.
But Xujiazhuang is not someone to be trifled with, let alone an honest or kind person who can be coerced into trouble, but a strong person who cannot be provoked. If Xujiazhuang gets tired of being harassed, it is not impossible to use violence to disperse them.
risk.
This actually involves quite a bit of risk.
But Dong Youshou did not stop him and could not stop him. Both of his sons were willing to die. If they could not achieve their goals, they would be willing to die in Xujiazhuang!
The two daughters-in-law expressed support.
None of the grandchildren objected.
besides.
What surprised Dong Youshou even more was that Dong Juzheng, the largest landowner in Dongzhuang, who owned nearly 2,000 acres of fertile land, also stood up this time to express his support for the petition of the "Begging Team" and also gave 3,000 silver dollars as travel expenses.
Sponsor their petition - You know, three or five years ago, this Mr. Dong was scolding Xujiazhuang every day, but this time he became the largest sponsor of travel expenses. What does Mr. Dong mean by this?
No matter what!
Dongzhuang's "Begging Team" just set off. I wonder if they can come back. Will they come back with good news?
Hey~
Thinking of this, Dong Youshou let out a long sigh.
Based on his own life experience, he felt that people should learn to be content with what they have. It should be noted that greed is not enough and the snake swallows the elephant.
Although under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, the tax burden was indeed a bit heavy, but because his eldest daughter was in Xujiazhuang, only 10% of the output was taken away during the actual summer grain harvesting process, and the head tax was a few hundred more symbolically.
As long as you write articles, nearly 90% of the harvest will go to yourself, which is already very good. How could you have thought of such a good thing before? At least 30% would have to be taken away by subordinate officials.
Corvettes were rarely required, and they could be waived by paying a small amount of money.
And under the threat of Xujiazhuang, the government did not dare to be too greedy and harsh... Dong Youshou felt that today's government was still okay. Of course, the farther away from Xujiazhuang, the more it could be described as a 'man-eating beast'.
The exploitation is no different in the past, or even worse.
Even if you can't join Xujiazhuang, living next to Xujiazhuang is still very lucky and bright, and you can live a life full of ambition and hope - provided you restrain your comparison mentality.
At this time.
A group of young men were running from a distance, getting faster and faster, and they were shouting and cheering.
"Xujiazhuang is merciful. The saint and Bodhisattva agree to expand the estate!"
"We have had a good life, and we will soon be able to live a life like other people's!"
"Success, our petition was successful!"
"Xujiazhuang is going to expand to 1,100 properties in the Jiangnan area. Not only do we have the opportunity to join, but we have a great opportunity!"
"Hahahahahaha, after all the hardships come the joys, we are finally going to have the joys after all the hardships!"
Hear these excited cheers.
I also saw the figures of my two sons gradually becoming clearer.
Dong Youshou couldn't help but get excited and walked towards them.
…
soon.
Dongzhuang exploded up and down, like a boiling pot, and people all looked ecstatic and danced in a carnival.
Li Zhuang next door is like this.
The same is true for Lujia Town in the west.
The entire Zhengyang County, Huai'an Prefecture, and even the entire South Zhili were plunged into a sea of carnival celebrations tonight. Firecrackers and fireworks on the market were sold out and all were set off. Good wine and food were brought out, including chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, etc.
Many innocent animals that were usually reluctant to be slaughtered lost their lives today. In short, the entire Jiangnan region has entered an atmosphere that is more lively and festive than the Chinese New Year.
In Dong Youshou's home, sitting at a table filled with sumptuous dishes, the family is thinking about a better life in the future:
"When it is merged into Xujiazhuang, I will work hard to catch up with my eldest sister and her family as soon as possible." The eldest son said.
"That's right, I have to get out of my way and live a better life than my eldest sister's family." The second son said.
"The saint and Bodhisattva are kind and have given us justice, so when the land is expropriated, our family's fifteen acres of land will not be compensated with land. We must learn to be grateful as a human being," said the eldest daughter-in-law.
"Of course we can't ask for any compensation. If we dare to ask for compensation, others will not only refuse, but will also give money to Xujiazhuang. If this happens, our qualifications to enter the village will be taken away," the second daughter-in-law said.
"Yes, yes, if you want stability, you must seek stability. As long as you join Xujiazhuang, everything will be easy." said the old wife Song.
Dong Youshou secretly shook his head. It was indeed a good thing to join the Xu family manor, but how precious is the land? Fifteen acres of fertile land is the foundation for a family to thrive. People in the past would rather die of illness and starvation than sell or give it away.
of.
However, he heard that Mr. Dong, a member of the Dong Ju family in the village, seemed to be planning to give all his 2,000 acres of land to Xujiazhuang without any compensation. This was such a big deal that no prodigal son would dare to do this!
This made Dong Youshou feel more balanced in his heart. He no longer felt that the sky was falling when his fields were gone, and he felt very distressed and regretful.