xymnovel Chapter 45 How many wives?
Chapter 45 How many wives?
Not only did the pregnant woman kneel down, but the children and several couples behind her also knelt down in unison, clinging tightly to the head of the household and preventing him from going forward.
As the pregnant woman crawled forward on her knees, supporting her belly with one hand and clutching Wei Zheng's official robe with the other, she hoarsely pleaded, "Please, don't take my husband away."
Shen Ce was so shocked by what he saw that he was speechless. He quickly pulled the woman up from the ground and explained, "You've misunderstood. We are just passing officials. We saw that there were people here, so we just wanted to come in and ask for some water. We didn't mean to recruit your husband into the army."
Seeing Cheng Chumo still standing there motionless, Shen Ce kicked him hard in the buttocks and yelled, "Cheng Chumo, what the hell are you waiting for? Is that smoked chicken in your hand something for you to eat?"
Cheng Chumo was still in a daze when he opened the door and his gaze fell on the group of women in the courtyard. He glanced at them and saw that they were pregnant with twelve or thirteen women and had five or six children, but they were all very young, only about three or four years old.
As for their mothers, they didn't look very old, probably around twenty. Their appearance wasn't important; what mattered was their numbers.
A group of women blocked a burly man from behind, some even sitting on the ground and hugging his legs to make him come forward.
Cheng Chumo was flustered by the large number of women around him, looking at this one and that one, until Shen Ce's big foot landed on him, which brought him back to his senses.
He hurried inside, found a little guy who was already drooling, reached out and stuffed a fat chicken into his mouth, laughing, "Eat, eat quickly, it's from your brother."
The little boy, facing chicken he had never eaten before, had eyes full of longing. His mouth was already wide open, almost touching the chicken, but he suddenly stopped, turned to his mother, and excitedly said, "Mom, the chicken Uncle gave me, I can already taste the salt even before I've touched it. Can I have a bite first?"
The woman beside her, dressed in a neat short-sleeved outfit, hunched over and quickly stepped forward, pulling the child behind her. With her head drooping, she said with a fawning smile, "Sir, we heard everything that was said outside the door. This chicken is for you to eat. We are just ordinary farmers; we don't have the luxury of eating chicken. Please come inside; there are stools there."
After saying that, he grabbed the boy and ran into the house. When they got to the door, they saw that it was open and the three of them could see the scene inside.
Wei Zheng also put away his stern expression and put on the appearance of an old neighbor. Together with Shen Ce, he helped the pregnant woman to the stone stool in the courtyard before coming to the center of the courtyard and speaking to everyone with his hands behind his back.
I am the Crown Prince's second steward, here to check on the people of this area on his behalf. I was walking along the official road when I saw houses here, so I went to investigate.
The people in the courtyard stared at the two armored men with disbelief, and involuntarily took a step back.
Seeing this, Shen Ce threw his sword, scabbard and all, to the ground, moved a stone stool to the side, sat down in the courtyard, and explained, "If we were officials forcibly conscripting people, would we be conscripting the men you protect, or you women?"
"So much time has passed since we discovered you. The soldiers on the main road should have surrounded this place by now. Why have they waited until now?"
Shen Ce knew that these survivors were terrified of being captured, deceived, and had experienced so much life and death that they were particularly concerned about life and death, which made them nervous.
The man surrounded by the crowd gently patted the hand that was gripping his clothes and said softly, "Hongyu, let go. They don't look like government officials arresting people. Besides, no one wearing a red robe would step into the courtyard."
Hongyu, standing to the side, blinked a few times, seemingly recalling the scene from before, and slowly, her hand loosened.
The man squeezed out of the crowd, stood in front of everyone, and showed a simple and honest smile. Not knowing how to greet him, he knelt down, put his hands together, raised them above his head, and kowtowed heavily to Wei Zheng as if worshipping a Bodhisattva.
Inside the room, five little children sat in a circle around a low table, fighting with two fat chickens. The adults watching were envious, but none of them joined in.
Shen Ce looked at the strong man, patted him on the shoulder, and joked, "With so many young ladies, you must be in really good shape to be able to take care of them all by yourself."
"Sure," Li Erwa said decisively, then looked around at everyone, scratched his head, and chuckled, "I didn't initially intend to marry so many, but there aren't many men around, and they can't survive without men."
Li Erwa spoke casually, but when his words reached Wei Zheng's ears, he discerned a different meaning. He had thought that the land of Hebei would be exceptionally impoverished, but he had not expected that the population would be so sparse.
Unconsciously, he clenched his crimson official robe, mimicking Shen Ce's tone, and asked with a smile, "Is there anyone who has married more women than you?"
"I'm the only man left in our village. If you go another two miles, there are two men who are a bit older than me, but they haven't married as many as I have. I don't know about the ones further away." After Li Erwa finished speaking, the women around him looked at him with grateful eyes.
Shen Ce sat to the side, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked. This wasn't a contest of lust, but a contest of kindness.
Every time a man marries a woman, he is responsible for supporting her; that is, literally, to raise and sustain her.
During times of war, when a family has no able-bodied men or large livestock, all that is left is to wait for death. To expect orphans and widows to be able to cultivate the land is simply a pipe dream.
Shen Ce looked back and saw that some of the women were probably over thirty years old, but he didn't see their children. He didn't dare to ask or think about it.
Li Erwa was kind-hearted and took in many women who had lost their husbands. Fortunately, there were large tracts of barren land around them, with enough vacant land. As long as they could get through the first two years, they could make a living from then on.
The children were sensible; they ate about half of the two chickens, and no matter how others tried to persuade them, they wouldn't eat the rest, saying they wanted to save them for their parents.
A daring little fellow, with his head hanging on his heel, ran up to Shen Ce and whispered in his ear, "Unless... there are two more fat chickens this big, we won't keep eating."
Haha, Shen Ce was amused by the sensible and clever child. He quickly asked Cheng Chumo to go to the car to get more, and also to get a few sesame cakes and flatbreads, and to call Yan Liben over.
This scene before us—isn't this the real life of the people in Hebei that Li Er wanted to see? This painting is far more intuitive than dry, unsubstantial advice.
Yan Liben truly deserves his reputation as a master of figure painting. In just half an hour, more than a dozen figures came to life on the paper. The only question is, what should he name them?