Chapter 252 Public Sentiments
This kind of thing does happen. In order to make it easier to raise their children, some families always give their children all kinds of strange nicknames. There are also many boys who are directly called by the nicknames "sister" or "mei".
Some people even dress boys in skirts and pierce their ears when they are young and raise them like girls because some people believe that girls are easier to raise than boys.
Therefore, giving a girl a name and wearing a girl's clothes is equivalent to leaning the fate towards that of a girl, making the child more likely to survive.
The current emperor also has a well-known nickname, cat slave.
In short, the nickname can be as cheap as possible.
Zhou Xi said: "No, my youngest sister's nickname is Manbao. My family doesn't allow people to have cheap names."
After a pause, Zhou Xi added: "None of my children died young; all of them survived."
Therefore, people in Qili Village no longer give their children vulgar names. Instead, they prefer to sort their children in order of birth, like the Zhou family did, in the order of first, second, third, and fourth. They think that this way of sorting their children may help their descendants prosper.
The village chief and all the elders in the village felt that the greatest contribution of Old Zhou and Qian in their lives was not that they cultivated the land well, nor that they built a large brick and tile house for their family, but that they raised eight children. No, including Zhou Yin, it was actually nine.
Nine children, none of them died in infancy, which is very rare, not to mention in the countryside, but even in a big city with abundant medical resources.
Of course, from a superstitious point of view, the villagers unanimously believed that their children had good nicknames. Look, there are so many names lined up, it seems that God would not be willing to take any of them away.
Wei Zhi had lost two children, a son and a daughter, neither of whom lived past the age of five. He was very curious about how the Zhou family raised their children.
So I squatted on the edge of the field and started chatting with them.
Zhou Xi asked He to go back first, and he did not shy away from talking about how her mother took care of them when they were young. Of course, she did not have much say in raising children, but Feng, who had given birth to three children and raised them, was very experienced.
Wei Zhi listened and listened, then simply rolled up his sleeves and went to the fields, taking the hoe left by He to help them work.
Guard: ...
He has never farmed!
His father was an earl since he was born, and he was thrown into the imperial guards as a guard before he reached adulthood. He had held a knife, a sword, and a bow, but he had never held a hoe!
But his boss is farming, what should he do?
Are you standing on the ridge and watching?
I'm so anxious, what should I do?
Seeing that Wei Zhi's movements were quite skillful, Zhou Xi did not stop him and even wanted to give him her straw hat, but Wei Zhi refused.
He asked, "How many children do you have in your family now?"
Zhou Xi smiled and said, "Not many, ten."
Wei Zhi: ...This is not much.
Zhou Xi smiled and said, "My fifth and sixth sons are not married yet, so they are also considered children."
Wei Zhi nodded and asked, "How old are you? Are you ready to get married?"
"I'm fifty-six now. I was planning to get married this year, but the flood happened. Now I don't know what the autumn will be like, so I'm putting it off for now and will wait until next year."
Wei Zhi said he understood.
The country has a tax on older youth. If a person is over a certain age and has not yet married, not only the woman has to pay the tax, but the man also has to pay the tax.
If they haven't gotten married after two years of dating, the government will forcibly assign them to a wife or a husband. This is what the government calls "sending a wife" or "sending a husband."
She is only sixteen years old, and there are still six years before she has to pay taxes. In folk culture, some people get married early, but there are also many who get married late.
For example, in their class, there are those who get married at the age of fifteen or sixteen, and there are also many who are still single at the age of twenty-three or twenty-four.
Especially for those who have achieved success, not to mention the emperor, even their families cannot force them to get married, so they can naturally do it as they please.
Wei Zhi was very curious and asked them how much the betrothal gifts here were usually, whether there was a dowry, what was usually given as a dowry, and what were the customs of welcoming the bride.
These are also the public sentiments. Since you have the opportunity and time, just ask them.
Several people talked about parenting, marriage, retirement, and children's education.
Wei Zhi casually asked how many children were studying in their family, and then he found out that there was only one.
Not to mention Wei Zhi, even the guards who were squatting by the vegetable patch, pretending to be working hard to help pull weeds, raised their heads in surprise.
I have never heard of a family that allows its daughters to go to school but not its sons.
Zhou Xi knew what was going on as soon as he saw their expressions, and he quickly said, "It's really because my youngest sister is very smart. Mr. Zhuang from the academy likes her very much, so he accepted her as his disciple. Otherwise, with our family's financial situation, how could we afford to send a child to school?"
Feng said, "My aunt taught the children at home after she came back from school. For example, my two daughters, Ertou and Erya, have learned quite a few characters. Erya, in particular, has already memorized all the characters in the Thousand Character Classic. My aunt said that once you can recognize all the characters in it, you can read books and study on your own."
Wei Zhi nodded, "That's right."
But I was very curious, how smart is this child?
"Hey, little brother, why did you pull out all my seedlings?"
The guard looked stiffly at the "weed" in his hand and asked, "Isn't this grass?"
Zhou Xi looked at the seedlings he had pulled out and the weeds left behind, and looked at him with sympathy. How stupid he was that he couldn't even tell the difference between seedlings and weeds.
Wei Zhi coughed lightly and said, "Go and help fetch water to water the vegetables."
The guards were as if they had been pardoned. They immediately stood up, picked up the two wooden barrels and responded.
Before Zhou Xi could stop him, Wei Zhi said with a smile, "Let him go. He's a young man with a lot of strength, so carrying water is more suitable for him."
Zhou Xi: Actually, what she meant was that she could pick it, which would be easier.
However, the guard was already carrying a bucket in both hands and coming over from the river.
After helping with the work, Wei Zhi formed a deep friendship with the three women of the Zhou family. Zhou Xi and Feng and Fang all warmly invited them to visit the Zhou family.
Wei Zhi declined, but walked back with them and crossed the bridge together because he wanted to visit Mr. Zhuang.
This was a serious matter, so Zhou Xi and the others couldn't try to keep him. They could only send him to the school gate and say goodbye.
After Manbao and Bai Shanbao got their meal, they obediently went to the courtyard to eat with their master and cook for him.
Mr. Zhuang's courtyard door is always open, allowing people to come in and out, so Wei Zhi knocked on the door, and when no one responded, he walked in.
After walking into the yard for a while, I heard voices coming from a room.
Mr. Zhuang also heard the noise of the door, but he thought it was the students who were naughty and bumped into it while playing, because everyone knew that there was no access control in his courtyard, so if anyone wanted to see him, they could just come in directly.
So he was still lecturing the two children who were lowering their heads.
When teaching a new lesson today, he called on two children to answer questions. However, neither Manbao nor Bai Shanbao gave answers that satisfied him. It was obvious that the two children had been slacking off in their studies during this period.
(End of this chapter)
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