At noon during the last dog days of summer, the scorching sun was scorching Lantang Village. The usually quiet and peaceful village was now unusually hot.
In the Shen family yard at the east end of the village. As the autumn harvest was approaching, Shen Qing was dragging the farm tools out of the woodshed one by one to repair them, polish them, remove rust, and put them in tidy order.
Shen Qing is a young man, tall and thin, like a newly sprouted poplar tree. He will be nineteen years old by the end of the year. Normally, young men in the village start looking for partners when they are fourteen or fifteen, and get married when they are sixteen or seventeen. Shen Qing is almost nineteen years old and still hasn't settled down. Apart from his well-known fierce character, he doesn't look like a boy at all. If it weren't for the not-so-bright pregnancy mole between his eyebrows, he would look like a handsome and tall man.
But no matter how handsome and tall Shen Qing was, young men nowadays considered beauty to be like women, and they pursued a petite, slender, fair, tender and delicate figure. For a boy like Shen Qing, who has wheat-colored skin, thick eyebrows, bright eyes, angular features and a tall stature, the elders in the village would just let it go. At most, they would say a few words behind his back that his pregnancy mole is light in color and he is not likely to have children. The boys of Shen Qing's generation often looked at Shen Qing with frowns in their eyes, and often said behind his back that Shen Qing was ugly and did not look like a brother.
Normally, a boy would be slightly taller than a girl, but Shen Qing was half a head taller than any other man in the village. This is also a major reason why it is difficult for him to get married. Not being pretty enough is secondary. Which man would be willing to marry a man who is half a head taller than himself?
In the past, there were parents who were attracted by Shen Qing's ability and wanted to marry him to a woman. However, as soon as their family hinted at it, the boy would throw a tantrum and threaten to disagree. He made a scene several times and was laughed at by the whole village. Shen Qing also suffered a bad reputation and has been delayed until now.
Shen Qing held a bunch of farm tools and sat down under the window of the main room. He cleaned and polished them carefully while listening to the movements in the main room with his ears perked up.
Today, his two uncles Miao Xing and Miao Wang rushed over from Shiqu Village early in the morning with six or seven people, all of them were young and strong men. Zhao Youdang, the village chief of Lantang Village, was also in the room. Together with his grandparents, his parents, and his second uncle and his wife, the room was full of people. They were talking about his father, Shen Zhigao, who was going to divorce his wife. The noise in the house was so loud that the roof was about to fall off. Shen Qing was listening attentively when a piece of mud hit his foot, leaving a brown stain on the worn navy blue shoe surface.
Shen Qing frowned and looked up. His cousin Shen Zhuang was sitting not far away, grinning at him with his hands full of mud: "Silly man, you said that your uncle divorced your mother and married that Widow Li. Do you have to call Widow Li mother?"
Shen Zhuang's sister, Shen Xiaojuan, was sitting at the door of the wing room sewing a handkerchief. Upon hearing this, she also covered her mouth and laughed.
Shen Qing pursed her lips and said nothing, she just held the hatchet in her hand and stared at Shen Zhuang coldly. Shen Zhuang felt frightened by what he saw, but his mean nature still came out. He threw the mud in his hand at Shen Qing and ran away.
Normally, Shen Qing would have stuffed all the mud into Shen Zhuang's mouth, but he had more important things to do at the moment, so he put it aside for the time being. He glared at Shen Zhuang fiercely, but his butt did not move, and he continued to concentrate on listening to the voice in the main room.
What was going on in the main house was no longer a secret in the Shen family yard and even in the entire Lantang Village. Didn’t you see that there were a lot of people gathered under the wall of his house, wandering back and forth stealthily, all waiting to watch the fun?
I don't know how many times this has happened in the past half month: Shen Qing's father Shen Zhigao and the widow Li from the village have been having an affair together since some time ago, and now the widow Li is more than three months pregnant.
Widow Li said that she went to the county clinic to see a doctor to take her pulse, and that this baby was guaranteed to be a boy - she didn't know which doctor, the reincarnation of Hua Tuo, could make such a determination based on the pulse when the baby was only three months old. After hearing this, Shen Zhigao hurried home and made a fuss, demanding to divorce his wife Miao and marry the widow Li.
The low crying sound of Shen Qing's mother Miao was heard from the main room.
Miao is also a miserable person. Soon after she married Shen Zhigao, she gave birth to Shen Qing. Because it was a boy, her parents-in-law and husband were a little depressed. But seeing that the couple were still young, and Miao had just gotten pregnant after getting married, it seemed that the child would be easy to bear. The villagers also believed in blooming before bearing fruit, so they didn't say much. I just hope to have more boys in the future. It would not be bad for the first child born in Shen Qing's family.
Two years later, Miao gave birth to her second child, and it was indeed a boy. The whole family was so happy that they named the child Shen Zhang. Shen Zhigao and his parents, Old Man Shen and Old Lady Shen, loved the child as their own flesh and blood. But when she was giving birth to her third child, Miao accidentally fell and the fetus was not in the right position. After two days of difficult labor, the baby in her belly died. Although Miao managed to save her life, her body was severely injured and she could no longer give birth.
Although it was a pity, the family already had a boy named Shen Zhang, so they let go of the regret after a while. However, when Shen Zhang was six or seven years old, he went out to play in the water during the summer and drowned.
With his only child gone and his wife unable to have another child, Shen Zhigao couldn't breathe and passed out immediately. After waking up, he was devastated and drank heavily for several months. Gradually, he became hostile to Miao and Shen Qing.
If the man in charge doesn't protect her, others will be even less likely to take her seriously. From then on, all the dirty and tiring work at home was done by Shen Qing and his mother. They were always in a bad mood and would beat and scold them at any time. It was not until Shen Qing grew up, taller and stronger, that Shen Zhigao stopped fighting with them.
From then on, he treated Shen Zhuang, the son of his second brother Shen Zhiwei, as dear as a little girl.
I thought Shen Zhigao would be doomed to fail in his lifetime because of his nephew, but I didn't expect that he had hooked up with Widow Li at some point and even had a child with her. Now, Shen Zhigao claimed that Miao had violated the seven grounds for divorce because she could not give him a son, which made him exterminate his family line. He wanted to divorce Miao and make room for Widow Li.
It is not easy for people in the village to get married, and no one divorces. Shen Zhigao was illiterate and grew up listening to storytelling at a tea stall. When he heard about the “Seven Grounds for Divorce” he immediately used it as a banner.
He didn't understand, but the Miao brothers brought people who did understand. Shiqu Village is closer to the county town than Lantang Village and is naturally richer. Two scholars came from the village and the village also set up a school. Moreover, unlike Lantang Village which is a village with mixed surnames, 80% of the people in Shiqu Village are surnamed Miao, and people of the same clan are naturally more united and protective of each other. Today, the Miao brothers wanted to support their sisters, so they specially asked the old scholar from Shiqu Village and sent his eldest son to come along.
This man's surname is also Miao, and if he insists on being related to Shen Qing, he has to call him cousin. At the age of twenty-seven or twenty-eight, he passed the examination for a student and was known as a child prodigy. Although I haven't been able to make any further progress in these years, I still have some respectability in the countryside.
After hearing what Shen Zhigao said, Miao Tongsheng rolled up his sleeves and smiled: "The woman who is divorced seven times is infertile. Not to mention that your wife gave birth to Qing Ge'er for your Shen family and raised him to this age, she also gave birth to a boy in the past. If you can't raise a child, it's not in your destiny, but it's not that the married women in our Shiqu Village can't give birth. Besides, the rule of being childless requires you to be over 50 years old, and both of you are not old enough to have a child. Even if you bring this matter to the officials, it's still the same. You can't divorce her! But you, you have a wife at home, but you committed adultery with the widow Li - adultery is illegal, if you report it to the officials, you and your lover will be exiled!"
Zhao Zhigao was frightened. How could he know anything about criminal law? Why should he be exiled for having an affair with a widow? But seeing how confident Miao Tongsheng's words were, he panicked for a moment and hurried to see the village chief who knew the most about criminal law in their Lantang Village.
Zhao Youdang, the village chief of Lantang Village, glared at Shen Zhigao and coughed lightly: "How can we farmers understand these things? They are all known among the villagers, and no one has ever brought such matters to the government."
Adultery is indeed a crime punishable by exile, but the officials will not investigate unless the people report it. The officials do not have the time to focus on what the common people do in their beds. In addition, villagers rarely go to the government and are even more afraid of going there. The clan, village head, and village head are often the laws of this small world. In the past, when adultery scandals occurred in nearby villages, they were usually dealt with by just beating the person up. Only in villages with extremely strict or even old-fashioned customs would the person be expelled from the village or even drowned in a pond.
If the villagers bypassed him as the village chief and went directly to the government to file a complaint, it would also be to give him face as the village chief.
Miao Tongsheng smiled when he heard this: "Of course, if he hadn't kept saying that we should follow the seven grounds for divorce, I wouldn't have mentioned the criminal law. We have so many relatives in-law in Shiqu Village and Lantang Village, and it would not be good to bring the case to the government and ruin the relationship between the two villages."
Village Chief Zhao felt a little embarrassed after hearing this. As the village chief of Lantang Village, he must protect his shortcomings. Otherwise, who in the village would believe in him and obey him? But what Shen Zhigao did was not at all right in this matter, and it made him, as the village chief, unable to hold his head up in front of people from other villages!
He understood exactly what Miao Tongsheng meant. This was not only a matter between the Shen and Miao families. If it wasn't handled properly, it would also be a matter between the two villages of Shiqu and Lantang! A good girl from Shiqu Village married here, gave birth to children and took care of housework. There was nothing wrong with her. But she even ruined her health by giving birth to a child for your family. Now that half of your life has passed, you want to divorce your husband just because he has an affair with a widow?
If he, as the village chief, takes sides and refuses to uphold justice, the reputation of Lantang Village will be ruined. In the future, who among the girls and boys from other villages - especially those from Shiqu Village - will dare to marry into the Lantang Village?
Miao Tongsheng is pointing at him!
Village chief Zhao weighed the pros and cons for a long time. He didn't want to ruin the reputation of the entire village because of Shen Zhigao's family. After thinking for a long time, he felt that he had come up with a solution that was satisfactory to both parties, although it was a bit unfair to Miao, so he said gently: "Although we farmers are all single-wife families, and it is not customary to take a child into the second room, but since Widow Li is pregnant with the Shen family's child, we may have to break this rule. Qing'er's mother, you can bear a little injustice, just let her come in and serve you. The child she gives birth to in the future will also be the head of the Shen family. He must call you Auntie and Widow Li Second Auntie, and he must respect you."
Miao lowered her head, her eyes blank. She had been suffering in the Shen family's courtyard for so many years that she was as thin as a bag of bones. Adding to the worry and panic of this incident, she felt even more shaky, as if she could be blown down by a gust of wind. She is obviously Miao Xing's younger sister, but she looks a few years older than Miao Xing, with quite a few white hairs on her temples.
At this moment, there were traces of tears on Miao's face, and she was holding the corner of her clothes in her hands. She had no idea what to do and looked at her brothers in panic. Miao Xing and Miao Wang looked at each other. Although they felt that they had let the couple off a little, it seemed that there was no other way. They were ready to propose some more conditions, gain some benefits for the Miao family, and then agree to it. However, before they could open their mouths, Shen Zhigao said firmly, "No!"
He swallowed his saliva under the angry gaze of Village Chief Zhao, but still gritted his teeth and continued: "Jiaofeng said that she doesn't want to be a mistress, and the son she gave birth to can't be raised by a concubine. If she is asked to be a mistress, she would rather buy some medicine to abort the child!"
Widow Li used the child in her belly as a threat and persuaded Zhao Zhigao a few times, and Zhao Zhigao was determined to let Miao make room for her. He looked at Old Man Shen, Old Lady Shen and Zhao Youdang pleadingly: "Dad, Mom, I can't have no descendants! Village chief, Brother Youdang, we grew up together, you have to help me!"
Village Chief Zhao was so annoyed that he wanted to kick him twice.
Old Lady Shen loved her eldest son the most. Seeing that her son already had white hair on his temples but still had no children, she had no choice but to agree. It would be fine if I really couldn't have it, but now my grandson is in my belly, how can I bear to give him up? The whole family was determined to kick Miao out of the house, which made the Miao brothers so angry that their eyebrows stood up. They refused to deal with Zhao Youdang, grabbed Shen Zhigao and shouted that they wanted to see the official.
Miao Xing was a very burly man. Shen Zhigao was held by his collar so hard that his feet could hardly reach the ground. As soon as his feet left the ground, his "smart" brain took over the high ground. Shen Zhigao suddenly had a flash of inspiration: "Jiaofeng said she doesn't want to be a mistress, but she didn't say she doesn't want Miao to be a mistress?"
The exception made by the village chief gave him great inspiration.
After Shen Zhigao said this, the Miao brothers didn't do anything, but Shen Qing, who was eavesdropping outside the window, couldn't help it anymore. He threw the half-packed farm tools to the ground, picked up a shiny hatchet, turned around and went to the main room.
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