When Wu Yaozi, a young man, dug with a shovel, he split the nest where the queen ant lived close to the edge, revealing a half-foot-long passage. In the oval cavity at the end of the passage, he spent half a day to get it. The result - a pile of white ant eggs.
Amid the cheers of a group of children surrounding him, he pulled off the small cotton bag from his waist, ignored the thoughtless attacks of the soldier ants, and carefully swept all the ant eggs into it with a small broom. Then he picked up the white and fat queen ant - behind her was a white belly that was dozens of times larger than her body, like a white flesh worm.
A Burmese child named Ah Shui next to Wu Yazi counted the meat worms and found that there were six segments in total. They were white and tender and seemed to be delicious, and his mouth watered naturally.
Upon seeing this, Wu Yaozi quickly and carefully placed the queen ant in a small tube made of wide leaves rolled up. One or two ant eggs cost thirty cents, and if there is no queen, it only costs twenty-five cents. Therefore, this white flesh insect is worth five cents, which is equivalent to a hat. If Ah Shui secretly eats him, Wu Yaozi can't beat him to death.
Under the envious eyes of a group of children around him, Wu Yaozi dug several large pits half a person deep in succession. When the sun went down, he filled his cotton pockets half full before heading home with a shovel. On the road, Wu Ah Shui, who was walking beside him, said in Burmese: "Brother Yazi, can you teach me how to dig ants? I also want to make money."
Wu Yazi glanced at Wu Ashui's body, nodded and said in Mandarin: "Can your father come here? There is a lot of farm work these days." The two of them each spoke their own language, but they actually understood each other.
As a descendant of the Hunan people who moved here five years ago, Wu Yazi is considered to be one of the first batch of Han people to come to Myanmar to seek life - in fact, he is a Miao. But it doesn't matter, as long as they are from the Central Plains, regardless of whether they can read or speak Mandarin, the Governor of Myanmar will treat them equally.
In Myanmar today, every village and fort has different pronunciation and customs. The Burmese language is mixed with dialects from various parts of the Central Plains and even the languages of ethnic minorities. Customs and habits also vary greatly with the immigrants coming from different places, rendering the entire Myanmar colorful.
There are lyrics from later generations that say that the reason why the world is beautiful is because it does not distinguish between various colors. Now the biggest problem for the Governor-General's Palace of Myanmar is that there are too many colors. And it’s not Myanmar that’s to blame—Gong Xian has restored it to its original state—but the diversity brought about by immigrants—the immigrants who came are too complicated.
Governor Luo Wanhua has held more than a hundred teaching training courses in Myanmar. It took a lot of effort to unify the accents of these teachings, which made him doubt his life. Luo Wanhua even doubts that half of the people in Myanmar in fifty years will be able to speak Mandarin, let alone share the same customs.
...
Wu Yaozi's home is the best bamboo house in the whole country. Its shape is exactly the same as the stilted house in his hometown in western Hunan: the first floor is a livestock pen, and two yellow cattle are tied to the pillars. They stand on the dry ground and eat grass with their heads down. The pile of piglets was wallowing in the mud.
Although it is the dry season in Myanmar, there is always a layer of mist under the floor where the sun cannot reach it, as if it is steaming upwards. But people living on the bamboo buildings do not find the smell unpleasant. On the contrary, they are often intoxicated by the lively air.
Wu Yaozi shook his head and no longer tried to convince his father to move the cow pens and pig pens away. He himself had made up his mind that once he got married and lived alone, he would have to move this smelly livestock pen to another place. After all, judging from his one year of education, it was not "hygienic" for people to live in livestock pens.
Since the tenth year of Wanli, there has been peace and stability for several years. Burma, which has sufficient money and food, together with the Central Plains, began to vigorously promote early childhood education. Wu Yazi was lucky enough to go to school in Myanmar for a year, where she learned more than 300 simplified Chinese characters and learned some knowledge on health and epidemic prevention.
At first, everyone in the court thought it was simple, thinking that the immigrants were all Chinese and did not need Chinese education. As a result, the Myanmar government discovered that if the immigrants did not learn Mandarin and simplified Chinese characters first, there would be no way to effectively govern the local area - many immigrants could not even speak Han Chinese. Neither the county magistrate nor the officials could understand, let alone the negotiations between the Burmese people, the government, and the Han people.
This new territory of the Ming Empire generates a lot of jokes every year: Ten years ago in Wanli, a governor who returned to the mainland from Burma said that it was too easy to be an official in Burma, not to mention the low diploma requirements - even a mute could do it. After all, he had been an official for three years and communicated with the county magistrates within his jurisdiction by using written words and gestures. All Burmese people, both Han and Burmese, had learned sign language without any teacher.
Luo Wanhua also heard a joke this year. When a new county magistrate took office, the county magistrate repeatedly asked him: "Sir, do you want to eat shit at noon?" The county magistrate didn't know the reason and was extremely embarrassed. Later I found out that the county magistrate asked: "Sir, what would you like to eat for lunch?"
Later, when this person met someone from a neighboring county in the governor's office, he couldn't help but treat it as a joke. After hearing this, the magistrate of the neighboring county said: "What the hell are you? The boss in this county even forgot to say anything, and started quarreling with me when he came up. I almost made him angry and beat him up."
...
Wu Yaozi went upstairs, where her mother was serving food, and a fairly fair-looking Burmese girl was helping her. His father, Wu Baishan, who was named by the county magistrate, was sitting behind the table, looking very dignified as the head of the family.
Wu Yaozi first opened the cotton bag in his hand and showed it to his father. Wu Baishan said in the Miao language of his village: "I've done a lot of digging today. Hey, let's bake it after dinner. Can I have a tael of these?"
When his wife heard what he said, she glanced into her pocket and said, "You can bake these for two taels." After Wu Baishan heard this, the wrinkles on his face suddenly became vivid, and he slapped his youngest son beside him on the head and said, " Don't go to school tomorrow, go dig ants with your brother."
Wu Yaozi said angrily: "Dad, let the beggar study. What can he do as a little boy? Now that the family has no worries about food and clothing, he can still make a career by studying and become an official in the future. Our fort commander has a boy in his family, and he is not a bastard. Big bargain."
Wu Baishan's wife also advised: "Nowadays, all the Han adults go to elementary schools. Our family gets a lot of money and food, and we have to beg to go to school. We will suffer a loss, so let Yaozi go there tomorrow."
After hearing this, Wu Baishan stared and threw his chopsticks and said: "What's the use of studying! The boss is now a soldier and fights Annan with Lord Gong. He will naturally be rich when he comes home! I won't say anything if I beg you to go to school. 伢I’m looking at a man who wants to marry a wife, but if his family doesn’t save much, do you want him to marry a Burmese girl?”
His wife was quite knowledgeable and said: "Yaozi is filial to his children. I have to count on him when I get old. What about marrying a Burmese girl?" After speaking, she pointed to the little girl who was serving food and water and said, "I think Aying is good. His sister Aguo is also grown up, so it would be a good idea to let her get married too, so that she can have more branches and leaves."
Wu Baishan said depressedly after hearing this: "They are not from the same country, and I can't understand what they are saying! Are you marrying a wife, or are you planning to marry a pig?"
Wu Baishan's wife heard what he said was unpleasant, and she also got angry and said: "Nowadays, all the Burmese Han women have eyes on their heads, and they all want to climb high branches. Where are there so many high branches for him to climb! Our county magistrate, Mr. Wang, married into My daughter-in-law is a Burmese girl. According to you, she is not as knowledgeable as you?!"
Wu Baishan sneered and said: "You know nothing! The daughter married by Mr. Wang's family is the daughter of a Burmese official. The official is several levels older than Mr. Wang and works in the Governor's Mansion! Who is A Guo or A Ying's father? No. Burmese mud legs?”
This sentence made his wife completely angry, and she cursed: "You have only been a landlord for a few days! You don't want to be a human being! You want to climb a high tree, and I, a mud-legged woman, am not worthy of you. You should divorce me as soon as possible." , so that you can find a Burmese official’s daughter to be your wife!”
The more the two of them argued, the louder they got louder, and the Burmese girl who was serving them hid in the kitchen with her face flushed. Qi Lai stared at the big eyes and the small one. He had rice cakes in his hands and even forgot to eat them. When Wu Yaozi saw that his parents were showing signs of fighting, he quickly stopped him and advised:
"Dad, Mom, don't make any noise! I won't marry either Aying or Aguo. I'm going to take the boyhood exam and go to Yangon in the future, so I won't live at home. When I become rich in the future, I will bring you and your two elders to Yangon. Go and enjoy your happiness, this land and house are left to beggars!”
After hearing this, his father glared at him and said, "How dare you!"
After hearing this, his mother cried and said: "What a sin! It was so good to eat chaffy vegetables in the village at that time. I came to Myanmar to fill my stomach, but my conscience was eaten by dogs! These two boys can't be blamed!" After saying that, a He picked her up and begged, "Yao'er, mommy depends on you. Grow up quickly so that mommy won't be bullied by bullies."
"Which one do you think is a bitch?"
"Say whoever recognizes it!"
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