The workshops on both sides also have plans. Zhou Ji and Feng Ji on the Yongning City side were handed over to the first house, while those on the Dinghu County side were given to the second house.
Since he stays to take care of business, the first and second bedrooms will not be moved to Shizhou Mansion for the time being. As for a place to live, Lin Dazhu and Lin Erzhu are going to look around the workshop tomorrow to see if there is any house available for rent.
Regarding the arrangements for the children at home, except for the younger ones who are following their parents, others like Wanqing, Wanying, Wanxue, Mo Xuan, Mo Hao, and Mo Sheng will naturally move in with their third uncle. From Shizhou Fucheng.
…
After the Lantern Festival, the Lin family started moving. First, the first and second bedrooms moved their luggage to the rented house, and then moved to Shizhou Mansion.
Before leaving, Lin Yuanqiu assigned the matters at hand to Yan Tongzhi and He Tongsuan.
Then there was the military camp where specific matters were explained to Li Jinshan and Wang Yongqing. Lin Yuanqiu would naturally not let go of the burden here until Xinzhizhou came to take over. Thinking about it now, fortunately, the two places are close to each other, so it won't be inconvenient to come here.
The carriages were hired the day before yesterday. Except for one of our own carriages, the rest were hired from car dealers in the city. In the two years since they came to Yongning Prefecture, the Lin family has bought basically nothing. Among all the luggage, quilts and clothes account for the majority, and the rest are scattered in about ten boxes, so they were all moved to the car without much effort.
The lead driver drove the carriage forward slowly, but when he came around to the gate of the government office, he quickly stopped and said, "Look, sir!"
Lin Yuanqiu was a little puzzled when he heard the suddenly louder voice, but when he opened the curtain of the car, he was shocked by the scene in front of him. He saw that the usually empty door of the government office was now full of people. There is an old man with white hair, a woman with a child in her arms, and someone who looks like the name of the village due to its simplicity.
The most conspicuous thing was the group of young men who lined up and stood neatly at the front of the crowd. After spending five or six days together, Lin Yuanqiu naturally recognized that they were all young men of the temporary escort team.
So these people came to see him off?
Sure enough, after seeing their Lord Zhizhou get off the carriage, all the people immediately rushed forward, knelt down and kowtowed, and expressed reluctance. Some people even brought home-made pancakes and steamed buns to show Lord Zhizhou. Must accept it.
An old woman with gray hair raised the bamboo basket in her hand high above her head, "Sir, this is the pancake spread by the old lady. Please accept it. My lord, without you, the old lady would have died of hunger long ago. How could she be here now?" What a great day!”
Lin Yuanqiu stepped forward quickly, helped the old woman up, and then said to the people, "Everyone, please rise. As the magistrate of Yongning, I should relieve the sufferings of the people. These are all my duties and should be shared." . Today I have something important to tell you. From now on, the auspicious Ruyi cake will be the famous product of Yongning Prefecture and Dinghu County. Everyone, please remember not to raise the price arbitrarily, nor to lower the price arbitrarily in order to sell more. Otherwise, this business will disappear sooner or later, do you understand?"
Thinking that their magistrate still cared about their livelihood, all the people had tears in their eyes, and they all nodded and said, "I understand, sir, I understand."
At this time, Lin Yuanqiu did not know that it was precisely because of his instructions that the Jixiang Ruyi cakes in Yongning Prefecture and Dinghu County had been the best-selling persimmon cakes in the following decades.
Finally, Lin Yuanqiu's carriage was filled with all kinds of people's wishes, including eggs laid by his own chickens, dried vegetables dried by his own, not to mention steamed buns and pancakes, all of which were stuffed into the carriage and ran away. , even the basket in Lin Yuanqiu's hand was not pushed back.
Everyone in the Lin family felt that today was the proudest day of their family, especially Lao Lintou and Wu. Looking at the various foods in the car, tears of excitement flowed down their faces.
Yan Tongzhi and He Tongpan, as well as all the scribes and government officials, followed the carriage to the city gate.
We have worked together in harmony for two years, and when we are about to separate, we will definitely feel sad. Although we know that the adults will come back in the future, it is still different.
I don’t know what Xinzhizhou is like.
Alas, it would be great if Lord Zhizhou had stayed in Yongning Prefecture.
…
It's more than sixty miles from Yongning City to Shizhou Mansion. Originally, Wu asked the people in the first and second bedrooms not to go to Fucheng, so as not to have to go back and forth. Anyway, there were servants and a mother-in-law, and there was no shortage of manpower to do the work.
But how could Lin Dazhu and Lin Erzhu be relieved? As well as Zhou and Liu, they also wanted to settle their parents-in-law before coming back.
In the end, only Gao Cui, Qin Hehua, Wang Yunxiang and Ding Ju from the first and second bedrooms did not follow them to Fucheng.
Although spring is approaching, the weather is still very cold before the first lunar month.
Being shaken by the carriage all the way, little Bao'er quickly fell asleep. Zhong Yurou took out a cotton-padded jacket to wrap him up, and then held her son in her arms to prevent him from accidentally catching a cold.
Lin Yuanqiu, on the other hand, was attracted by the group of people outside the window. He quickly moved to the car door, opened the curtain and looked out.
There were only a dozen women in ragged clothes, each carrying a bundle of firewood, walking along the official road expressionlessly. Lin Yuanqiu even saw that several of the older women were only wearing A pair of straw sandals that leak air everywhere, in this cold weather.
Seeing that Master Zhizhou was looking carefully, the driver driving the carriage hurriedly explained, "Sir, these women are all Wushan wives."
"Wushan Wife?"
Lin Yuanqiu wondered. He knew that Wushan was a high mountain on the Shizhou Prefecture side, but what did Wushan's wife mean?
The coachman flicked his whip and continued to explain, "Sir, a Wushan wife is a woman who marries Wushan."
After thinking about it, the coachman continued, "Every three years, Wushan will marry a woman."
The more Lin Yuanqiu listened, the more absurd he felt. In two lifetimes, this was the first time he heard that Shan actually married Shan.
…
Chapter 211 Wushan Wife
Lin Yuanqiu never expected that his political affairs as the prefect of Shizhou would start directly from rectifying ignorant feudal superstitions.
When he heard that there were not only Wushan Wife, but also Taoshan Wife and Youshan Wife in Shizhou Mansion's jurisdiction, Lin Yuanqiu's heart almost burst into flames.
The reason why he was so angry was not just because of the matter of marrying Shan Shan, but also because the coachman later explained the ins and outs of this matter to him in detail.
Wushan, Taoshan and Youshan are the three highest mountains in Shizhou Prefecture. Because the mountains are connected together, their shape looks like three sitting statues from a distance. Therefore, Wushan, Taoshan and Youshan have always been regarded as sacred mountains by local people. Everyone thinks that the reason why they can eat well is due to the blessing of the mountain gods, so they go to the foot of the mountain to worship during the fourth festival every year.
Later, I don’t know who came up with the idea of marrying the mountain god, and the reasons given were high-sounding. How can the mountain gods not be ignorant of cold and hot people? If things go on like this, if the mountain gods get angry and get angry, we all won’t Can't you get any blessing?
When everyone heard this, they thought it made sense, so the matter of marrying the mountain god was settled.
Doing such "good deeds" often requires people who take the initiative to take the lead, and ordinary people will naturally not be able to take the lead. In the end, the matter of arranging marriages for the three mountain gods was divided among the three families of Shizhou Prefecture.
These three families are the Yang family, the Zhang family and the Chen family.
What is a big surname? Naturally, this surname means a large population. With a large population, the local power will also increase. In addition, if a few more children, scholars, or people in the clan are admitted, then will be distinguished from other ordinary people.
As for why he took over the matter of arranging the marriage for the mountain god, Lin Yuanqiu felt that it should be profitable.
After all, since the three families took over these matters, the surrounding people's offerings to these mountains were all at the disposal of these three families. As for the money needed for the marriage, it was also given by the believers.
In fact, what made Lin Yuanqiu angry was not who these offerings belonged to. He didn't bother to care who embezzled the money and whose pocket it fell into.
But harming people is absolutely not okay.
The reason why Lin Yuanqiu was angry was that the lives of these girls who were married to Shan as his wife were really miserable.
Most of them were children from poor families, and their parents ruined their daughters' lives just for the sake of those ten taels of silver.
According to regulations, any woman who marries a mountain god as a wife will receive a certain amount of food for the first three years. But after three years, after the mountain god married a new wife, the original one could no longer be regarded as the wife of the mountain god. Without her reputation, there would naturally be no food supply. In the future, they would have to find ways to eat, drink, and relieve themselves. .
After living in the mountains for three years, the families of these girls would not let them go home. They thought it was unlucky to be abandoned by the mountain gods. Naturally, it is even more impossible to get married with such a status. Who dares to snatch a woman from a mountain god, even if he has.
Her family won't accept her, and she wants to get married but no one wants her. In the end, the girls who had nowhere to go had to live in a grass hut on the mountain. With no land and no land, they could only cut firewood and sell a few copper coins in exchange for some coarse grains, and then dig some wild vegetables to feed themselves. This was sad. One can imagine.
As the prefect of Shizhou, I didn't know about this kind of unscrupulous thing before. Now that I know about it, I definitely won't let it go.
Hearing that Lord Zhizhou was here, he wanted to go over and have a look. The driver named Liuzi immediately nodded in agreement, "Sir, it's only about twenty miles to Wushan. The little driver is fast and steady, and we can get there in less than half an hour. "
Liuzi has long been dissatisfied with such immoral things.
By the way, he is still a bachelor, but these few mud mountains are good. Over the past few decades, he has married countless wives.
Hearing that their little grandson suddenly had to change his route to do something, Wu and Lao Lintou were a little worried and didn't know what had happened. After seeing that there was nothing strange on their little grandson's face, the two of them felt relieved a little, but asked Yuan Qiu to bring all the servants with him.
Zhong Yurou was very angry after listening to it all the way. Naturally, she hoped that her husband would stand up for these girls, so after telling her husband to be careful, she quickly carried Bao'er to the carriage of her mother-in-law and uncle.
Lin Sanzhu didn't ask his son what he was going to do. Anyway, he knew intuitively that it must be something important. So he got out of the car and quickly got into his son's carriage.
"Brother, this is the letter of appointment. You go to the government office first." Lin Yuanqiu handed the letter of appointment from the prefect to Lin Yuanfeng. "If the government office has any questions, just show this to them directly. If they ask about me, Just tell me I'm going to do something."
Lin Yuanfeng took it and wanted to ask what he was doing, but when he thought about it, the fifth brother had always been measured, so he and his second brother should just move the house properly.
Soon the two carriages left the convoy, turned around, and headed towards the right fork.
Compared with the official road just now, this road was a little bumpier. Lin Yuanqiu opened the curtains and saw paddy fields on both sides of the road. After driving for a while, he could see a clear river on the roadside.
Changing scenery at every step, same territory, different scenery. Lin Yuanqiu found that Shizhou Mansion seemed to be more suitable for living in the northern part of the Great Wall.
Especially compared with Dinghu County, there are mostly wastelands covered with miscanthus, and only 30% of the land is paddy fields.
Therefore, there is a disadvantage in terms of grain production.
"Sir, look, those are the mountains in front of you." Liu Zi pointed at the mountains not far away and said loudly.
Just now, Lin Sanzhu had heard his son tell him about Wushan's wife, so after hearing the coachman's announcement, Lin Sanzhu immediately stuck his head out of the car window and looked ahead.
On the left side of the road, there are rolling mountains, and Wushan, Taoshan and Youshan, which are close together, really look like three sitting statues.
But no matter how much it looks like a statue of a god, isn't it also three mountains made of stones and mud? If even the mountains had to marry a wife, wouldn't the world be in chaos?
Perhaps it was for the convenience of worshiping the mountain god, so there was a wide road leading directly to the foot of the mountain.
After getting off the carriage, Lin Sanzhu realized that he had been a little too worried. Originally, he came here to learn about his wife's situation in Wushan after hearing what his son said, and he was worried whether the villagers here would be difficult to deal with. But now he saw that except for a few red-walled mud houses built like temples, there were other private houses. Didn't see anything.
Perhaps I heard the sound of horse hooves, and after a while, several people walked out of the room where the mountain temple door plaque was hung.
Lin Yuanqiu saw that these were several lean old men, each wearing a thick coat that looked like a Taoist robe. He thought that these should be the people guarding the mountain temple.
When the leading old man saw that the clothes on Lin Yuanqiu and Lin Sanzhu were not ordinary cotton, and there were servants following behind them, he thought they were rich men who came from other places to worship the mountain god, so he hurriedly walked to the side. He gave two steps to clear the way into the mountain temple.
Lin Yuanqiu didn't have time to talk about this. The Sixth Son had just said that the abandoned mountain wives lived in these mountains, and he planned to go up and have a look now.
Just as he took a step, he heard the door creak, and then three young girls, about fifteen or sixteen years old, walked out from another small room.
Several girls held earthenware jars in their hands. The earthenware jars contained dried vegetables and rice soaked in water. Looking at the chimney standing on the roof, it was obviously a kitchen, and they were preparing to cook lunch.
Lin Sanzhu lowered his voice and said, "Yuan Qiu, these girls are probably Shan Wu."
"Yes." Lin Yuanqiu nodded. These should be the ones who are newly married.
Seeing the expressions on the faces of several girls that were incompatible with their age, Lin Yuanqiu understood more about his determination to save people.
Looking up towards the mountain, you can see many sheds made of branches and pine needles.
Liu Zi, Ping An, and the servants all moved quickly. After finding the mountain road, they quickly went up the mountain along the road.
Lin Sanzhu and Lin Yuanqiu, on the other hand, were walking with some delay because they were wearing long robes. Lin Yuanqiu lifted up the hem of his clothes and was about to tuck them into his trousers when he suddenly heard Ping An and the others who were walking in front exclaim on the mountain, "Dead people, there are dead people here! "
dead?
Upon hearing this, Lin Yuanqiu hurriedly tucked the hem of his clothes into the waistband of his trousers and walked forward quickly. Lin Sanzhu followed suit and also tucked the hem of his clothes into his trousers.
The sudden exclamation quickly caused people living in other huts to run out. Seeing so many people suddenly coming up the mountain, the girls were stunned for a moment, and then hurried to the shed.
When Lin Yuanqiu and Lin Sanzhu arrived, they saw a pale woman lying on a pile of miscanthus in the thatched shed, which was not much bigger than a hut, covered with a patched quilt. Beside her, there were three girls wiping tears squatting, and two more were sobbing outside the hut.
Lin Yuanqiu didn't care how short the shed was compared to his height. He always wanted to see if the people inside were alive or dead.
After lowering his head and bending down to enter the hay shed, Lin Yuanqiu didn't waste any time. He quickly stretched out his fingers to explore the other person's breath. He didn't feel the burning breath on his fingertips. Could he really be dead?
Looking at this face that looked about twenty years old at most, Lin Yuanqiu felt a little uncomfortable.
Then he thought that there was still a pulse that could be confirmed, so he reached out to touch the jugular pulse again. This time he could clearly feel the beating under his fingertips. Although it was weak, it was enough to prove that the person was still alive.
