Yang Huairen has long known that these ethnic minorities living in the mountains of the southwest border are still in a semi-feudal and semi-slave social form, which is manifested in their strict hierarchical system.

Zimo, the meaning of "power" in the Yi language, is the highest class among the Yi people called Tusi by the Han people, to put it simply, it is the lord class of a minority ethnic group, hereditary, recognized by the Song Dynasty, and issued a certificate of the ruling power of his territory, which recognizes their lordship.

In the court of the Great Song Dynasty, in fact, many people also did not agree with the existence of this slavery system, but most of the places where these systems existed were some wild border lands and mountainous areas, and the emperor was far away, and the Great Song Dynasty did not have enough ability to govern, so they had to let these ethnic minorities govern according to their own systems.

And not only that, the local officials of the Han people in the vicinity of their territory basically did not dare to interfere in their internal affairs, as long as they did not cause trouble, the officials tried not to deal with them.

In the large area of Daliang Mountain and Xiaoliang Mountain, there are more than a dozen large and small Zimo, which are basically divided and divided according to the ethnic or blood relationship, as well as the area of the inherited ancestral land.

Nuohe, meaning "subject" or "master" in the Yi language, is called the Black Yi by the Han people, and is the second ruling class only below Zimo, which is understood by the Han people as a group of people who have their own land and means of production, similar to the class of nobles or wealthy.

A territory belonging to Zimo may be large, so he will divide the territory into small pieces, and then appoint these related or in-law Noho to help him effectively rule the people in the territory.

Qu Nuo, known to the Han as Bai Yi, was the common class, the highest class of the ruled class, and the most populous class, more than half of the total population of the Yi people.

Quno had a certain degree of personal freedom, but he still belonged to a group of people who were subordinate to Zmo, and had to pay taxes to Zmo every year and perform a certain amount of unpaid labor.

Ajia, which means "hands and feet inside and outside the door" in Yi language, is called "Anjia Wazi" by the Han people, and the population accounts for one-third of the total population of the Yi people.

Aga is a kind of slave class, and his personal rights are completely subordinate to Zmo, but he still has a certain amount of means of subsistence and production, and he only works for Zmo for free.

The lowest class is Xiaxi, which means "the siblings next to the master's pot village", and the Han people call it "Guozhuang baby", which is a kind of slave class with no personal freedom at all, and the master can dispose of them at will, even including life.

Yang Huairen knows that this is unfair, but the status quo is like this, and it is not so easy to change.

Judging from the words of the old Han of the Yi nationality, their village should be a village where Qu Nuo and Aga live, and Zimo and Nuohe only let them plant crops on their behalf, leaving only a small amount of harvest for them to sustain their lives, so it is not difficult to explain the poor scene they have seen since they entered the village.

The three children put away the small packet of dry food that Yang Huairen gave them, they should have seen such delicate food, and they were not willing to eat it immediately, but collected half of it, took the other half and cut it into slices, and then placed it on a thing made of stoneware that looked like a pot.

They replaced the boiling clay pot, hung the clay pot again, and heated the dry food for Yang Huairen and them to eat, while they took the bowls and poured water for the guests one by one, but they had no intention of eating together.

Lan Ruoxin asked, "What?" Why don't you sit down and eat together? ”

The two boys looked directly at the cooking cakes in the clay pot, but they didn't answer as if they couldn't hear it, and the little girl bit her lip and replied, "You are guests, you eat first, and we will eat later, it's the same." ”

Yang Huairen felt that these children were really kind-hearted and lived a simple life, but this made Yang Huairen feel more and more that they were too pitiful.

The old man said embarrassedly, "There is really nothing to entertain guests in the mountains, and please don't mind a few guests." ”

Yang Huairen took out the remaining packets of homemade snacks and biscuits, stuffed them into the little girl's arms, and shouted, "I mind, why don't you mind?"

I also know that you are saving, and I want to keep it for a little bit to eat, but there is not a lot of food to eat, I will give it to you, let us have a big meal today, I will cook! ”

As he spoke, he unpacked a bag of biscuits, grabbed a few pieces, and shoved them into the hands of the three children, and raised his hand to signal them to taste it.

The children looked at their grandfather as if they were asking, and only after receiving the promised look did they carefully put the biscuit in their hands to their mouths and took a small bite.

It's not surprising for children to behave in the face of unfamiliar food, but when they eat the biscuits, the oily and sweet smell makes them smile from the bottom of their hearts.

"Is it delicious?"

Yang Huairen asked with a smile, "If you are not used to eating it, there is another kind of dim sum, which is salty." ”

The three children nodded hurriedly, and the eldest child said, "It's delicious, I've never eaten anything so delicious, thank you, distinguished guest." By the way, what is this delicious thing called? ”

"Call cookies."

The older man still had some knowledge, he looked at the snacks and biscuits in his granddaughter's arms, although they looked different from what he had seen, but he also recognized the desserts that the Han people ate as refreshments, and asked, "How many guests, these...... Is it a snack? ”

"That's right."

After hearing this, the old man suddenly reached out and dragged his granddaughter over, took a few packets of snacks and biscuits in her arms, and handed them back to Yang Huairen from the new, "A few guests, although the old man is a mountain man, he also has some knowledge, these snacks you took out must be very expensive, right?" You better take it back and eat it yourself, the three children of the old Han Dynasty thank you for your kindness. ”

Yang Huairen understands what the old man means, maybe their life is very hard, and they have encountered huge difficulties that are difficult to solve, but they have never lost the personality and self-esteem that a person should have, and they don't need charity.

Yang Huairen thought for a while, "Well, even if these things are the money for a few of us to stay here temporarily, what do you think?" ”

As he spoke, he stuffed the bags with food back into the little girl's arms, and then looked up to see that the old man's face was still a little hesitant, so he said, "You invite us to stay, we invite you to dinner, this is the fairest, nothing to be embarrassed about." ”