Chapter 86 Chapter 86 Contact.
The needlework for these two sets of clothes, plus this letter, are enough to confirm that Tian is indeed still alive and is very concerned about her two daughters at home.
If silver was sent directly by mail, it would pass through many hands on the way and would inevitably be taken away by someone else. But these two sets of coarse linen clothes are very inconspicuous. The postman would not look down on them and sew the broken silver in the interlayer. Only those who really cherish these clothes would hold them and look at them carefully, and naturally they would be able to feel the lumps of broken silver inside. It can be seen that the postman put a lot of thought into delivering this approximately one or two taels of silver to his daughter.
"Mother is still alive!"
"God bless! Mother is still alive!"
The two sisters hugged each other and cried for a while, making Ji Xu's eyes wet. She said:
"The most important thing now is to write a letter to Mom, letting her know I've returned home. She doesn't need to stay away any longer, so she can come back soon and be reunited as a family."
She was an orphan in her previous life, and she thought she couldn't call out "Mom". But when the words came to her lips, they came out very naturally, as if it was an instinct. It was really strange.
"Sister, you're right. Luckily, I can write, so I don't have to go out and find someone to write for me. I'll go get some pen and ink right away."
Ji Feng tucked her eyes in, went to the east room to get some writing brush and ink, and a wooden stick for them to practice calligraphy.
Ji Xu took the wooden stick and compared it with the letter, saying:
"This letter has grooves, and it needs a cover to prevent prying eyes. I'm afraid my own wooden post won't work. I guess I'll have to buy their special letter paper. I'll go to the post office tomorrow and ask."
Nowadays, there is a post office every ten to thirty miles, which is mainly responsible for delivering official documents. If the common people pay, they can also send letters by post. There are also "police posts" in important military locations.
The person who is responsible for traveling and delivering documents is the postman.
The nearest post office to Benguli is thirty miles away, so it would be too late to go there now.
The next day, Ji Xu closed his shop for the day and took some time off. He drove early in the morning and asked for directions to the post office.
There were only a dozen or so houses scattered around the post station, and the rice fields in front of and behind the houses were full of rice seedlings, which caused green ripples to appear when the wind blew.
Women worked in the fields. Most of them were relatives of postmen and were called post households. The land and houses of post households were allocated by the government. They were treated better than ordinary people and were exempt from land rent and fodder tax.
While the postmen were delivering documents outside, they were farming and weaving at home.
The children of the postal workers were running around in the fields, holding nets in their hands, trying to catch the red-winged dragonflies.
Seeing strangers coming in ox carts, they stopped curiously, tilted their heads to look, and one of them brave enough asked:
"Where are you from? What are you doing here?"
They were all about the same age as his sister, and Ji Xu felt close to them. He said:
"I'm from Benguli, looking for Chen the postman, and want to send a letter to Youzhou."
There was no address on Tian's letter, and she only knew that it came from Youzhou. If she wanted to reply, she would have to find Chen the postman and inquire about the detailed origin of the letter.
"Mr. Chen? His house is over there. I'll take you there!" The children said kindly, pointing to a house.
In front of the post house, there was a three-story wooden tower. A small official was guarding it. When he saw someone coming, he lowered his head and asked, "What are you doing here?"
Ji Xu told her the purpose of his visit and let her go.
As soon as I arrived at Chen You's house, I heard a series of clucking sounds from the chicken coop in front of the house.
One chicken even flapped its wings and flew out, with large patches of feathers missing from its butt, and the chicken inside was still screaming.
"Oh no, I think a weasel has come in!"
Ji Xu saw that there was a crack in the door of the chicken coop, so he guessed that the chicken coop at home had also been attacked by a weasel. At that time, the sisters heard the chickens' screams and hurriedly took big sticks to beat the beast away.
Ji Xu jumped off the ox cart, picked up a broom from the corner, and moved the wooden roof of the chicken coop. Sure enough, he saw a short and tall weasel with yellow hair all over its body, about to bite the chicken's neck!
Although he was afraid of rats, he couldn't bear to see his chickens being bitten to death, so he swatted the weasel with a broom and pinned it to the corner. The chicken then fled out from the roof.
The children also gathered around and wanted to kill. Chen the postman's wife, Fang, heard the children's report and hurried back from the vegetable garden, throwing down the basket.
She was leaning over the chicken coop, and seeing the weasel being pinned down by the broom, she grabbed it with her bare hands, cursing:
"Damn it! He killed two of my tender chicks the other day, and now he's doing it again!"
Put it in a cage and kill it for dinner.
"Good boy, thank you for your help."
She said to Ji Xu, asking her the purpose of her visit, and while greeting people, she said:
"My husband has gone to deliver the documents to Lingshui County. It will take half a day. Please go inside and wait.
Our post office here is not like those places that can deliver documents on horseback. We have to run on foot. Once we receive a document, we have to deliver it. If it is delayed for half a day, we will be fined one tael of silver. Who can afford this?"
The "置" that Fang mentioned is also similar to a post station for delivering documents, but it is responsible for expedited documents, so there are horses and even vehicles.
The postmen here can only travel on foot, and sometimes they can walk two hundred miles a day.
When Ji Xu heard this, he sighed and said, "Yesterday I received a letter from the postman Chen. I didn't expect it to be so difficult. He's away, but my aunt has kept the house in perfect order."
Fang was very happy and took out the dragon tongue she made at home and gave it to her to eat and talked to her.
At noon, we finally waited for Chen the postman.
With his wife's help, he didn't even bother to drink the water. He first helped Ji Xu check the bamboo slips in his hand and said:
"It was sent from the post office in Guangdeli, Jixian County, Youzhou."
Ji Xu asked, "Does the address have to be specific to a particular household, or a temporary residence in a certain village pavilion?"
Postman Chen said, "This address is only available to postmen. There is no more specific address. How come you didn't mention it in your letter?"
This is exactly what is puzzling. The letter is simple and does not mention these things.
"I'm sending a letter to Guangdeli, Ji County, and the recipient is my mother, Tian Guinu. Will she receive it?"
Postman Chen said, "If she lived in Guangdeli, she could receive it. If she were somewhere else, I'm afraid she couldn't."
Ji Xu still wanted to give it a try, so she bought a set of letters here, brought her writing brush and ink from home, borrowed a wooden desk from Chen Youren, and wrote stroke by stroke:
Mother, please be well. I miss you so much...
The letter stated that she had now returned home safely, the latest news at home, and her sisters' eagerness for their mother's return.
The letter was only about a foot long, and the last words were getting smaller and smaller, squeezed together. He had not yet finished what he wanted to say, but he had to stop writing. He stamped the letter, tied it up with a rope, and handed it to Chen the postman to seal it with a clay stamp.
Postman Chen said, "Your handwriting is quite elegant. I've been delivering documents for so many years, and this is the first time I've seen such a style."
Ji Xu smiled, but it was hard to say whether this was eight-point calligraphy, so he just said:
“I learned it by chance.”
"This place is three thousand miles from Youzhou. The postage is calculated at one coin per two miles, which is one thousand five hundred. The letter is one hundred coins per letter, so the total is one thousand six hundred."
A letter cost more than one or two taels of silver. No wonder ordinary people rarely sent letters at that time. Fortunately, the family had income and savings, so they could still afford it.
Postman Chen said, "It will be delivered to Guangdeli very soon, around the 20th day."
Hearing him say it was fast, Ji Xu couldn't help but miss the electronic communications of later generations, WeChat, and phone calls. No matter how far away, one could still get in touch in minutes. That was truly fast and convenient.
After the Qingming Festival, the Ji family's main house was bustling with activity.
Jin always went to the fields with his head held high and his chest puffed out, like a big rooster.
"My daughter is engaged to the Zhao family, who run a business in the county. Do you know the Zhao family? They run restaurants and gambling dens, two separate businesses!"
The second branch also had matchmakers who proposed marriage to Ji Xu, including a butcher and a shoe seller, both of whom were young men, but Ji Xu rejected them all.
Jin Shi found out about it and told the joke about the Qi woman exposing herself in the vegetable garden.
"I think this Xu girl is just like the Qi girl. She thinks the East family is ugly and the West family is poor. She only wants to eat at the East family and stay at the West family!"
The people around him laughed.
"There's no such good thing."
The woman who was close to her said sourly, "Your daughter is the best match!"
Jin's face lit up as she said, "How many are as pretty as my daughter? If she's such a picky girl, when she becomes a resentful girl, she'll be picked on by others!"
Just as he was talking excitedly and laughing, something splashed into his mouth.
When they looked up, it turned out to be Ji Feng on the ridge of the field, using the ladle for watering the vegetables to fill water and splash them. Who knows if the ladle has ever been mixed with urine!
He screamed in surprise, "You little bastard, I'll take you away!"
There was a bad taste in Jin's mouth. She spat twice and pointed and cursed.
"Come on! Ji Feng is not afraid at all. When my mother comes back, I'll tell her and she'll tear your mouths apart!"
The people who heard this just didn't believe it. Jin said, "Are you crazy? The grass on Tian Guinu's grave is already two feet high."
Ji Feng snorted, "I just received a letter from her from Youzhou the other day. She's alive and well! If you keep saying dirty things, you'll be in big trouble when my mother comes back!"
After hearing this, the two Jins didn't dare to offend her. If Ji Feng was a hot-tempered person, then Tian Guinu was crazy and few were as reckless as her. She disregarded her filial piety and reputation, and even dared to talk back to her aunt and uncle. Besides, no one was as crazy as her in her determination to go out alone to find her daughter.
Jin felt an indescribable feeling in her heart, but at the same time she thought that it was just right for her to come back so that she could see how well her daughter had married and piss her off.
On this day, Jin used her own money to buy half a pig, slaughtered a chicken and bought wine, and made Ji Yuan's wedding grand and festive. Most of the families in Benguli went to the wedding.
When it was time to send the bride out, he refused to go. He moved the wooden table and blocked the gate, standing with his hands on his hips, cursing:
"Where's Zhao Lang? He sent a maid to pick up the bride! Tell him we're not getting married!"
Behind the maid was a sedan chair carried by two servants, and there was not even any team playing drums or cymbals.
Even the poorest families would still pay attention to the word "grace" when marrying off their wives and daughters, let alone the Zhao family. They didn't bother asking for a good name, but they thought that they were just merchants and didn't understand, so they kept the wedding so simple. It was clearly bullying! She would suffer in the future if she married into the family.
The maid was also a person of dignity. Upon hearing this, she lifted the sedan chair and was about to leave. Ji Fu hurried over to persuade her, said some nice words, and coaxed her into the yard to drink.
He pulled Jin to the east room to talk, "Look at what you've done. You drove them away, and what has become of our daughter Yuan? She's become a laughing stock in Benguli.
My son-in-law is tied up in his shop business and can't come. It's a great privilege for our family to marry into the Yuan family. And you still have the nerve to tell me about the Qi girl's double-faced story. I think you are the Qi girl, so greedy! You want this and that."
Because the wedding had come to this point, Jin was stuck. After a lot of complaints, she had to send Ji Yuan to the sedan chair with tears in her eyes.
Before the banquet was over, Jin was busy going in and out. She accidentally kicked a betrothal gift box placed in the west room, and it flew away two feet away.
She felt uneasy and hurriedly opened the boxes, one after another, but they were all empty.
"Ji Fu!"
She no longer cared about the husband's responsibility to the wife, and cursed loudly in front of outsiders.
"You bastard! You even lied to me about your own daughter's marriage. Where's the betrothal gift?"
She had originally planned to pack up the betrothal gifts and put them in her daughter's dowry, but the Zhao family skipped the step of proposing the betrothal gift, and the betrothal gifts were only just brought together with the sedan chair. This was the beginning of the disaster!
They are all empty boxes, no wonder they were not delivered until today!
Ji Yuan had been in the sedan chair for two quarters of an hour when Ji Fu pulled her into the east room and told her the truth.
"Because I messed up my business at the gambling house, my boss didn't want me anymore. I rented my ox cart to do some work..."
The courtyard was bustling with activity when the door to the east room opened with a loud bang. Jin was seen rushing out like a gust of wind. Ji Fu called out from behind:
"Why are you going there now? You'll be too late to catch up if you leave now!"
Ji Yuan was wearing the wedding dress that her mother had embroidered for her. Sitting in the bridal sedan, she could not hear any drums or cymbals, only the silence. She felt uneasy and anxious.
The maid outside said, "The new bride has entered our Zhao family and should be respectful. My wife will be..."
She was just beginning to wonder when she faintly heard her mother's voice:
"A Yuan!"
She lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and looked out. She had no idea how Jin had caught up with her all the way.
When he ran to the sedan chair and stopped it, he was sweating profusely, with sweat marks on his chest and back, and he couldn't breathe for a while.
"What are you doing, woman?" the maid accused.
"A Yuan, come down. We won't get married."
Jin opened the curtain of the sedan chair and pulled her out.
"Mother! What happened?"
Ji Yuan just followed, feeling relieved for some reason.
Jin said, "Your uncle has deceived us! He owes the Zhao family gambling house twenty taels and wants to sell you to his family as a concubine. The term 'principal wife' is just a deception for you and me!"
"Stop! If your family won't give it to me, then give me the silver!" The maid and the boy came to pull him.
Jin pushed them and said, "Whoever owes it should go and collect it. My daughter is not married into your family and is not registered in your household registration. If you try to stop me again, I will sue you for being a roving bandit!"
After saying that, he suddenly exerted brute force, pushed them away, and pulled Ji Yuan away.
Ji Fu and others were at the entrance of Benguli. They didn't expect that Jin could kidnap the person back. His face changed for a moment. Without saying a word, he just came to take the person away.
Ji Yuan was so frightened that he couldn't hold back his tears. He refused to obey and never let go of Jin's hand.
"Mother! Mother, save me!"
Jin thought of Tian Guinu. What would she have done if she had her temper? The next moment, she screamed and wrestled with him, her nails slashing at his face and eyes.
Her hair had already come loose from running, and she looked very disheveled. Now she looked even more like a mad woman.
Ji Fu was defeated for the moment, and hid his sleeves to avoid the attack, shouting:
"You bitch, you dare to hit your husband! I'm going to divorce you! You bitch!"
Just as the chaos was in full swing, Ji Zhi came running over and said in a panic:
"Tiger Boy is missing!"
The second wife and the first wife were not on good terms, so they did not go to the banquet.
The three sisters were calculating that if Tian received the letter, she would either set out for home or write back first, and then they would receive the letter in twenty days. If she came back directly, it would take a few days longer.
I heard a noise outside. It was the village headman beating a gong to urge people to gather at the village pavilion. No one from each family should be left out. When I asked why, the village headman said:
"The thief committed a crime and Ji Fu's youngest son is missing."
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