Chapter 2 Chapter 1 Concubine

Sixty years ago, Han Zelin crawled out of his mother's belly and rolled in the ditch every day, watching the seeds unearth, germinate, head, set, thresh, and go into the warehouse.After sixty years of wind and sun, the water on his body evaporated, and he was shriveled and dark, standing there with his hands behind his back, like a burnt old tree stump. Forty is a watershed moment for Han Zelin.Before the age of forty, he begged, helped, and worked as a tenant.At the age of forty, he bought his first piece of land.It took Han Zelin twenty years to expand from three acres of land to eight hundred acres of land.

The Han family has always had a short lifespan. Counting up to four generations, no one in the grandparents can live past the age of forty-four.Han Zelin accepted his fate, and at the age of forty-three, he prepared his own funeral.On the day of his forty-fourth birthday, he put on his shroud and lay down in a coffin and slept all night. The next day, he opened his eyes and went to cut rice.After struggling for a whole year, there was no illness or disaster, and I climbed over the short-lived hurdle smoothly.Thanks to Han Zelin, he painted the coffin once a year and offered it like his ancestors.

Han Zelin never celebrates his birthday, so why do he do it?Isn't it just to find fault and have a meal?The mouth is fragrant on the top, and the buttocks are stinky on the bottom.Han Zelin is stingy, he is a master who has to suck his fingers after wiping his ass after shitting, and he is determined not to spend money to put sesame oil on other people's mouths.After sleeping in the coffin for one night, he opened his eyes, and the days that followed were picked up for nothing. After 365 days, he put on a shroud and lay down in the coffin for a while, feeling happy, his mouth loosened, his wife and children They can also take the opportunity to mix in a bowl of longevity noodles.

Today is Han Zelin's 60th birthday.At dawn, he put on the shroud with seven layers of collar one by one, lay down calmly in front of the whole family, looked at the silk lining inside the coffin, and felt the satin under his body , smelling the scent of cypress and paint, Han Zelin was so happy that his eyes were wet.A Jiazi reincarnates, and he wants to make his future life a little bit louder. The coffin stood in the west wing room, half a person tall and four inches thick. It was painted once a year, and it was painted seventeen times. It was purple and black and shiny. Seven or eight people.After they saluted the old man, they stood beside the coffin with their hands down.Han Zelin took out pastries, peanuts, broad beans and other dried fruits from the corner of the coffin, and distributed them to everyone according to their relatives, which was regarded as an honor for the younger generation.He sat up and lay down, lay down and sat up again, smacking his lips and said with emotion: "What a longevity material, what a good longevity material, it feels more spacious every year when lying in it."

His wife, Feng Shi, has buck teeth. When she smiles, her front teeth stick out, and when she is not smiling, her front teeth hang out. She said: "It's not that the life is more spacious, it's that the person has shrunk." "It's good to shrink, to save space and clothes." At this moment, Han Zelin tapped the coffin board lightly with his fist, and listened carefully to the pleasant sound from the dried cypress: "Listen to this movement." Feng Shi, who was wearing a brand new light-colored tunic, said: "It's just a longevity material. If it's a son, we've served it for seventeen years, so at least it's time to support us."

Han Zelin said: "You see it is a longevity material, but I don't think it is. If it is not here to block it, Lord Yan would have sent me ten posts. Look at Lao Liu, if he listens to me... Hey!" Feng sighed: "Oh, people are destined. Even if you ask him to crawl out of his mother's womb again, he won't be able to escape the short-lived hurdle." She subconsciously stretched the light-colored silk she was wearing twice with her hands Team shirt. Lao Liu is Han Zelin's younger brother, ranking sixth, 20 years younger than Han Zelin.When Niang died, the sixth child was not yet ten years old, and Han Zelin single-handedly pulled him into adulthood.At the age of eighteen, he married his house wife, and the two brothers separated, and he was asked to pick a family and go there by himself.Lao Liu and Han Zelin are two-way people, Han Zelin likes to run in the fields, and Lao Liu likes to hang out at the gambling table.Fortunately, Lao Liu has a dark face and is not good at whoring, otherwise he would really have a "helpful" posture. "The white-faced gentleman, you have learned how to intervene, don't just seek to intervene in money." The so-called Ming Dynasty "has no excuses, does not care about physiology" vagabonds.Therefore, the land that fell into his hands when the family was divided, let him bet one after another to the winners.The wife and children need to eat and drink, and the sixth child has the cheek to borrow money from his brother.Han Zelin scolded him furiously: "Are you still a human being? The two ears of a rabbit are more useful than yours. From the time you started selling the first piece of land, I advised you that farmers can't sell land for anything. Our Han family has been running from famine to today, isn’t it because someone else sold the land and we bought it? I buy the house, you prodigal, chasing others to gamble like a wild ghost, losing all the money and land, if the tongue If you can bite it down as a bargaining chip, you dare to bet on the gambling table."

The sixth child said: "I will never gamble again. If you lend me twenty taels of silver, I will pay you back when I am free." Han Zelin shook his head resolutely. "Twelve." "I don't borrow one or two." "I'll pay you back with interest." "What do you get for it?" Lao Liu smacked his fat and short fingers and did not speak. Han Zelin said: "It is better to support a bamboo pole than a well rope! Sixth, you are a well rope that cannot be supported." He said it harshly, and he had to help when it was time to reach out for help. Who told him that he was the brother of his own siblings?Han Zelin is not the merchant who "spreads the flowers in the countryside, appreciates everywhere. The orchid hall, the painting hall, and the singing and singing every night", he is a small landlord.So, after much deliberation, he lent the ten mu of land by the river to Lao Liuzhong for a period of one year, and then returned the land after harvesting the grain into the warehouse.

"Planting some seeds on him is really blinding the good land." Feng felt sorry for the land. "He is my own brother. If I don't lend him land to plant, I will have money to help him support his family. Which one is better for you?" Feng Shi stopped talking. Since Taizu established the country with agriculture, he implemented the policy of emphasizing agriculture and mulberry, and reusing it to enrich the people. Farmers like Han Zelin, who depend on the land for their lives, have indeed benefited. No, as soon as the mud river thawed in Kaichun, Han Zelin urged Han Laoliu to plow and sow seeds.The rice seedlings protruded out of the soil, and they grew when they saw the wind. They were so thick that people could see a good harvest.The rice was earing, and Han Laoliu, who hadn't been at the poker table for several months, was so itchy that he secretly went to the poker table behind his brother's back.After fighting all night, he lost all his trousers and clothes. He ran home with his bare buttocks, and fell to the ground with blood from his nose and mouth when he pushed the door open.When Han Zelin arrived, Han Laoliu's eyes were wide open, and he had already driven west, without leaving a word for his wife and children.Han Zelin was sad and angry at the same time. He sighed and said, "Six of our brothers counted his life short, and he didn't even pass forty."

Mrs. Feng said: "Blessed is born with a poor life, Lord Yan told him to go, how dare he not go?" Han Zelin directed his family to make birthday materials, and Feng led the women's family to sew shrouds for the dead and filial hats for the living.The sixth son's funeral was hurriedly arranged. Thirty days ago, the sixth son of the Han family was lying in a coffin and buried in the soil. Thirty days later, the eldest son of the Han family was lying in the coffin to celebrate another three hundred and sixty-six that he picked up for nothing. fifteen days. Han Zelin touched the satin shroud on his body, listening to the slight sigh of the silk as his rough hands ran across the fabric.

He asked, "How many collars does Lao Liu wear in his shroud?" Feng said, "Three floors." "It's a little less, but he shouldn't feel wronged. If I don't send money, he will have to go to the underworld to kowtow to his parents and ancestors." "The money our family spent on him is enough to make a man of gold." "Don't count on the golden man, it's true not to spoil the rice. Tao'er!" Han Tao who was standing beside him hurriedly agreed: "Father!" Han Zelin said: "Our family lent you the land to your sixth uncle. He is gone. The rice in the field will be taken back to our barn, and we will leave enough rations for your aunt and the others."

Han Tao said, "Okay, I will take someone to collect it tomorrow." Han Tao's two sons, Zhong'er and Wang'er, muttered and exchanged the food given by their grandfather.More for less, sweet for bitter, the brothers turned their faces and started fighting.Zhong'er suffered a loss and cried at the top of his voice. Han Zelin resented that when he was lying in the coffin, his family members were crying beside him. Was he celebrating his birthday?Or a funeral?With his triangular eyes sideways, he slammed the coffin board twice.Fearing that her grandson would be beaten, Feng quickly pulled Zhong'er into her arms, and she shouted outside: "Caihe!" The maid, Caihe, trotted in. She rolled up her sleeves, her hands were wet and dripping with water. Feng Shi asked: "Just a few clothes, haven't you finished washing?" "It's finished washing, and it's drying." Caihe wiped her hands vigorously on the front of her clothes. Feng said with a sullen face, "A cat? You've hit your neck twice, and your snoring belly is going to the sky. Is there no work in the house or in the yard?" "The room is finished, and the yard is cleaned." "Is there any work to do with idle talk and empty talk?" "Grandma, tell me about something I haven't seen." "Am I the one who grinds my teeth with you?" Feng Shi asked. Caihe looked at Feng Shi, not understanding what she meant. Feng's finger was on Caihe's forehead: "You are so anxious that people's ears can pop out, why don't you take Zhong'er and Wang'er out?" Caihe took Zhong'er with one hand and Wang'er with the other, turned around and walked out.Caihe was wearing a purple gown with thick silk with light green edges, and a pair of pearl-topped brown shoes on her feet.No vermilion powder was applied, just lightly evened the face.However, Han Zelin still smelled a refreshing sweet fragrance, and it was as if a cool breeze had blown through his head, which was extremely cool. He sniffed his nose twice, but couldn't figure out what it was.He sat up abruptly: "Then who, wait a minute!" Caihe turned around and stared at him with watery eyes.Han Zelin was startled, why does this girl look at me like this?Straight up, don't you know that you are afraid? Caihe looked at her boss in the shroud, and almost laughed when she remembered the shadow puppets playing on the cloth wall during the Chinese New Year.Caihe likes to laugh, she laughs innocently and unscrupulously.Feng Shi said that her smile was a roguish laugh, and that only women who are promiscuous laugh like this.For this laugh, Caihe was often beaten.The purple handprint on her face was still there, and when she turned around, she laughed "hee hee ha ha" again.Gritting her teeth with hatred, Feng scolded her as an old sow who was cast into a human fetus by mistake, and no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't get out of human form. Caihe is a foreigner who came here with her parents fleeing famine eight years ago. Her mother died of illness, and her father traded her for a thin-skinned coffin for her mother. She disappeared for eight years.Caihe grows like weeds and blooms like wild flowers in Han's house, and never holds grudges when beaten or punished.Feng scolded her, her butthole was so big that she pulled her heart out.Caihe is pretty, with two deep dimples on her flower-like face.She has a slender neck and a thick bun. She has no money to make a sachet to embroider on her body, but she still smells good when she walks.What kind of fragrance is it?Han Zelin couldn't tell the difference.He suddenly felt hungry, and there was a "gurgling" sound in his stomach, a pocket of saliva came out of his slack lower lip, and he swallowed loudly.Caihe couldn't hold back in the end, and burst out laughing with a "puchi", she knew that she had caused trouble, so she hurriedly pulled up her sleeves and blocked her mouth. Feng raised her two half-bald eyebrows and scolded her: "Don't speak rashly, don't move rashly, you don't remember how many times you say it." Han Zelin asked, "What's your name, girl?" "Master Hui, my name is Caihe." "Caihe...Caihe..." Han Zelin smacked these two words back and forth, looked at Feng Shi and said, "You ask Caihe to sew a pair of thick socks for me." Feng's heart skipped a beat, and she asked, "Sew socks?" "Ok." Feng said: "This girl is clumsy, she can do some rough work, but she can't handle needlework. Let me sew socks for you." Han Zelin's face "pata" down.Because of poverty, Han Zelin did not marry his wife until he was thirty years old.Feng Shi was afraid of him from the first moment she saw him, and she was afraid of him for decades.Han Zelin was buried in the fields all day and rarely spoke to Feng.As long as you open your mouth, you can speak golden words.Last year when the food was harvested, Han Zelin went to the county twice, and when he came back, he said that he wanted to take a concubine to warm his feet.Feng Shi has been married to him for thirty years, and this is the first time she heard such words.Her man is an earthworm, with his head stuck in the ground, and nothing but dirt can whet his appetite.I'm old, I'm old, why are you suddenly running around and making a fuss?Feng Shi was so worried that her intestines were tied up, she couldn't touch her head, she couldn't pull her tail, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep.The little concubine whose face was not clear stomped her feet in the head, causing a crack in her forehead, and the cold air came out "swish".Pain woke her up.It costs money to take a concubine, and the husband is stingy, and every penny in the family is strung on his ribs.Rolling one down can make you sweat in pain.A few hundred taels of silver were taken down, and his old life was lost?Money is his life, who is more important, life or a woman?He knows it better than anyone else.Feng put his heart back into his stomach, and left the matter behind, and Han Zelin didn't bring it up again.I thought the matter was over, but I didn't expect to kill him again today unexpectedly.The time and place were well chosen, and the tone was non-negotiable.Accepting Caihe as a concubine is a good move.It not only saves money, but also relieves hunger.If you don't give in, you will be the one who suffers.If you make a concession, you will be the one who suffers.Feng's heart fell into the bowl of five flavors, the sour, hot, sweet, salty and bitter sting made her shiver all over, not knowing whether it was cold or hot.How did the Han family have such a good time?It was she who followed behind her husband's butt and dug it out with one hoe after another.In this life, she can endure all kinds of hardships, but she can't suffer.Jingui, a woman from the city, not only sits on top of her head when she gets married, she also has to be served with good rouge and powder, good tea and good food.Then she is the one who is sweet and bitter, and her good days are over.Who is Caihe?It was her kneading kung fu noodles.Stretch it out to be noodles, roll it out into a round shape to make a cake, stuff it with stuffing, and squeeze it with both hands to make dumplings.How to eat is up to you.It's better to follow the master's mind and give the lotus to him.Save money, but also lose favor. Feng's belly was full of anger, her four front teeth arched her thin lips high, she smiled and said: "Caihe has been with me since childhood, and I have taken care of her for eight full years. This girl is simple-minded, and she can't do anything smart. Washing your clothes and warming your feet is something you can do. If the master doesn't mind, let her serve you from today on. Make your bed and make a quilt, and be a concubine with a dustpan." Feng's words were accurately pressed on Han Zelin's acupuncture points, he let out a comfortable "hum", took out a handful of broad beans from the corner of the coffin and handed them to Caihe.Han Zelin didn't even have twenty broad beans in his hand, but this is an honor that only the Han family is entitled to. Caihe was dazed, staring at Broad Bean in a daze.Mrs. Feng reminded her: "Things are expensive, but they are unpalatable. Remember this is a favor from our Han family." The road that was walking along the way suddenly turned a corner, and the inertia threw Cai He out, her eyes were blurred and her knees were weak.She was dizzy and gave a big gift to Han Zelin.Turning around holding the broad beans that looked like red coals in both hands, her gaze collided with Feng's. Feng's eyes were more white than black, and his eyes were cold, reminding her of a snake standing upright.The cold air climbed up the top of the head along the spine, Caihe shivered, her ankles went limp, and she almost knelt down for Feng Shi. Feng stretched out his hand to grab her, and said, "Why are you being polite?" She whispered a "hissing" voice in Caihe's ear, "You are my ancestor from previous lives. We have to build a Buddhist altar to enshrine you properly." Caihe's hair was in a daze, standing there like a log, she didn't know how to answer her words, let alone whether to leave or stay.Han Tao and his daughter-in-law lowered their eyelids and neither of them looked at her. The old man's move caught them off guard. Han Zelin said to Feng, "Tell Man Sheng to make an extra bowl of longevity noodles." Feng Shi was taken aback. Han Zelin went on to say, "Give her another egg." Feng Shi took a deep breath and pushed the fire back into her stomach. She said to Caihe, "Go and talk to Man Sheng." Hearing eating, Caihe's body became hot.This girl was greedy for food since she was a child, and when she encountered something she couldn't see clearly, she would chew hard and eat whatever she caught. The three words "Longevity Noodles" were covered with fragrant juice, which almost caused Cai He to stick out a hand from her throat.She nodded her head and shut her mouth tightly, lest her saliva flow out like Mr. Han.Caihe turned around and walked out, bumping into Dun En who had just entered the door. Dunn said, "Why are you running? Is a ghost chasing you?" Feng lowered her voice and reminded him: "Today is the master's birthday, so you can't talk nonsense." Dun En said: "Did Lord Yan send a post to pick a date? If he chooses, he will not be called Lord Yan anymore!" He shouted at Han Zelin in the coffin: "Wait for your bowl of birthday noodles until I turn from soybeans to bean curds, why don't you let me eat? Are you planning to starve to death and compost the field?" Han Zelin was so angry that he said: "If you can't eat enough, you can't fill it up. It's like a starving ghost reincarnated." Dunn said: "A person lives for a mouth, and the mouth is the whole content of a person's life." Seeing the broad beans in Caihe's hand, he grabbed a few and threw them into his mouth, chewing them. "A gentleman is afraid of a villain, and a living person is afraid of a dead ghost. A villain, I was born by a starving ghost." Deng En is Han Zelin's distant cousin. When he was young, he was a good hand in the crop field.He has contributed a lot to the entrepreneurial history of the Han family.In order to win over him, Han Zelin once made a wish, saying that when he bought 500 mu of land, he would reward him with the fertile land on the riverside that Dun En had padded with his own hands.Now that Han Zelin owns 800 lands, he will keep silent about making a wish.Dun En mentioned that Han Zelin must be the one who came to talk to you, and I had to talk to Han Zelin.Dunn felt depressed in his heart, and fell into a strange disease. He was hungry when he opened his eyes, and he couldn't eat enough.The more you eat, the thinner your body becomes, and your feet shake when you walk, let alone work in the fields.Han Zelin despised him, and couldn't drive him out due to other people's eyes, so he had to stay in the yard and do some chores.Unexpectedly, the old disease did not heal, and he added a new problem.While talking and walking, he would suddenly fall to the ground unconscious.Apart from eating, this pumpkin is really useless.Dunn's bones softened, but his temper hardened.Because of the land by the river, he chased and intercepted him every day, and even his sixtieth birthday did not make Han Zelin happy. Han Zelin crawled out of the coffin with a sullen face: "Shaogua has gone halfway, you always put your nose on your face like this, I really can't give you face!" Dunn chewed broad beans and said, "An eighty-year-old mother-in-law married someone. Is she born or grown? Tch! Your face is not as wide as the sole of a shoe. Do I want it to grow wheat or rice?" "You eat the rice from my field, wear the cloth spun from cotton in my field, and drink the wine brewed from the grain in my warehouse. I will feed you, drink for you, and raise your old man, so why not?" Can't you get a conscience?" "There's a hole in the chamber pot, leaking urine, right? Boss Han, don't take it one at a time. The Han family's 800-acre field, which acre of the Han family's 800-acre field, I worked hard to make a ditch, a ridge, a ridge, a flower, a flower. For the sake of the Han family, I have exhausted all my lamps, and the little food and drink you gave me is worth my 20 acres of fertile land by the river? You return the land to me, and I have divided it, so as not to waste my time." Han Zelin took a soft breath and said, "You're a stickler. You said you have no family and no job, your health is poor, and your head is sweating from the exhaustion of eating. What can you do if you are separated? Carry a hoe? Or work?" Let the hoe carry you. You can’t take care of the land, so you can’t let it go unused, can you?” "I can't serve you, I'll rent it out." "The land has been rented out." "It was rented by you. You didn't tell me when you rented the land to Lao Liu, and you didn't give me the rent back." "The food hasn't entered the warehouse, and it's not time to collect the rent. What can I give you?" Dunn said: "Boss Han, there are two ways to get money. There are good ones and bad ones. The only way is to do it well. If your jaw drops in the strong wind, you can't keep up with it. This time you just made a hole in the sky." Come on, I also listen to it as a passing fart." Just as Han Zelin was about to speak, Deng En stopped him: "Don't tell me about tomorrow, tomorrow will be tomorrow, until your tomorrow, my bones can be used to beat drums..." Before he finished speaking, his tongue suddenly stiffened, and he leaned forward. He reached out to grab the nearest Caihe, and Caihe instinctively moved aside.Dunn fell headfirst to the ground, his teeth clenched, his eyes rolled up, looking very scary.Caihe looked back at the Han family in fear. Feng said: "Leave him alone, he will get up by himself in a while." Dunn woke up quickly, lying on the ground and looking around in a daze, he recognized Caihe, and stretched out his hand to her, Caihe knelt down to help him up. Dunn blamed Caihe and said, "Why don't you give me a hand, girl? Look at how painful I was when I fell." Caihe helped him dust off the dirt on his body. "What did I just say?" Dunn asked. Caihe said, "You're talking about the land." Dun En straightened up and rolled his eyes for a while, then he said to Han Zelin, "Yes, I want to tell you about the land by the river." With a sullen face and no answer, Han Zelin crawled out of the shroud and took off the shroud one by one. Dunn said: "A few people trampled on the field early in the morning, and they didn't listen to how they yelled. Their posture is more like a master than you." When Han Zelin heard that someone was harming the crops, he asked anxiously, "Who is it?" Dunn said, "I don't know him, it doesn't look like he's from our county." Han Zelin put on his usual clothes and said to Han Tao, "Let's go and have a look in the field."