"Let's go! Let's go and take a look together."
Zhang Shixun pulled Li Shishi and Ding Dusai together, and the three of them went downstairs and walked towards the front yard.
The snow on the ground was already quite thick, and it would bury your ankles if you stepped on it.
When I walked to the gate, I saw a small figure standing in the stairwell outside the door.
Before Zhang Shixun could speak, she said, "Master Zhang, Brother Zhang, I have come to seek refuge with you."
"Who are you……?"
"I'm a bead."
"String... string of beads, which string of beads?"
"I knew you would forget me soon, and sure enough," said the little girl, and burst into tears.
Li Shishi stepped forward, took the little girl's hand and said, "Princess Yufu, why are you here?"
When Zhang Shixun heard the words "Princess Yu Fu", he suddenly remembered that he had seen her in Fanlou, and there were two other princesses at that time.
The hot girl pestered him for his address, saying that she would come to see him one day.
He just laughed it off and thought she was joking.
I didn't expect that she would actually come, and it was on a snowy night.
"Brother Emperor wants to marry me off, wuwu...!"
"What?" Zhang Shixun was furious when he heard this. "How old are you? He wants to marry you off right away?"
"I...I just turned thirteen, woooo!"
Thirteen years old, he is still a child.
"You, the emperor brother, are too..." Zhang Shixun wanted to curse.
I only knew that the emperor had no family affection, but I didn't expect it to be to this extent.
"The Emperor said that the Emperor's Yanfu Palace can't accommodate so many people. All sisters who are thirteen years old must be married off as soon as possible."
"This... this is illegal." Zhang Shixun clenched his fists.
Ding Dusai gently pulled his arm and whispered, "Sir, this is not against the law. The laws of the Song Dynasty stipulate that men can get married at the age of 15 and women at the age of 13."
Zhang Shixun fell silent as soon as he heard this.
Early marriage is not unique to the Song Dynasty, and the reasons are not complicated.
Due to natural disasters, man-made disasters and limited medical care, the average lifespan of ancient people was only in their thirties.
With this lifespan, if a woman gets married at the age of 15, she is considered to have been married for half her life.
Most importantly, early marriage and early childbearing are beneficial to the country's population growth.
Only by rapidly increasing the population can the national strength be rapidly improved in the shortest possible time.
Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, once imposed a singles tax, requiring women who were unmarried by the age of 15 to pay a certain amount of tax each year. During the reign of Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty, the tax was increased fivefold if a woman remained unmarried beyond the age of 15.
The same was true in the Tang and Song dynasties.
Girls can get married at the age of thirteen.
Even the royal family was no exception. The famous Empress Changsun married Li Shimin at the age of thirteen.
"Don't stand outside like an idiot, come in quickly." Li Shishi held Chuanzhu's cold little hand, feeling very distressed.
"Oh! That's right!" Zhang Shixun said hurriedly after she reminded him, "Hurry up and take the beads to the back upstairs. It's warm there."
Several people returned to the upstairs of the back house with the beads.
The water on the stove has boiled and is bubbling.
Zhang Shixun hurriedly took the kettle, poured a glass of water and handed it over.
"Chuanzhu, warm your hands first... By the way, have you eaten?"
Chuanzhu took the teacup and said, "No...I didn't eat it."
"It's just right. The hot pot here is not cold yet. I'll make you some mutton hot pot."
He put the hot pot back on the stove and asked casually, "Where did you get this from?"
"I've been staying at my uncle's house for the past few days. When no one was paying attention, I hid on the food delivery cart from the kitchen and slipped out."
"The uncle you're talking about, is that Wang Zongchu?"
"Um!"
Zhang Shixun and Li Shishi looked at each other and shook their heads.
Ding Dusai looked at the beads and said worriedly, "This is a big trouble. We shouldn't have brought her in just now. We should have sent her back directly."
When Chuanzhu heard this, tears started streaming down her face.
When Zhang Shixun saw her pitiful appearance, he felt pity for her.
"Since we're here, we might as well make the best of it. It's snowing so heavily outside, I won't send you anywhere. Just stay here tonight, eat and drink your fill, and have a good sleep. We'll talk about it tomorrow when the snow stops."
After hearing this, Chuanzhu shook his head vigorously, "I finally escaped, I will never go back."
Li Shishi asked hurriedly: "Why don't you go back? Are you trying to escape the marriage?"
“That’s just one of the reasons.”
"Oh! There's another one?"
Chuanzhu nodded, but closed his mouth and said no more.
Li Shishi wanted to ask more, but Zhang Shixun winked at her and said with a smile, "Eat first. It won't be too late to talk after dinner."
After the pot boiled, Zhang Shixun made a new bowl of seasoning, asked Chuanzhu to sit at the small table next to the stove, and handed her a pair of chopsticks.
"We've all eaten, you can eat."
Chuanzhu took the chopsticks, looked at the sliced mutton on the plate, and asked, "What is this?"
"Mutton slices, hot pot."
Zhang Shixun picked up a pair of clean chopsticks, picked up two slices of mutton, cooked them in the pot and put them in her bowl.
Chuanzhu picked up the mutton, took a small bite tentatively, then his eyes lit up, and he stuffed the whole piece of mutton into his mouth and started eating it in big mouthfuls.
Zhang Shixun wanted to help her rinse it, but Li Shishi stopped him with a smile, saying, "Sir, let her learn to rinse it herself. That way it will taste better."
"Okay!" Zhang Shixun pulled a stool and sat down.
The three of them sat around the fire, watching Chuanzhu eat alone.
Chuanzhu felt embarrassed when they looked at her, and said with a red face: "I can't eat if you look at me."
All three of them laughed.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
