"Boom! Boom! Boom! Xiuniang seemed to hear her own heartbeat, which became more and more violent, her face was flushed, her hands and feet seemed to have nowhere to go, her mouth was slightly open, like a fish jumping from a pond to the shore, breathing heavily, even if she couldn't breathe in a little bit of air.

The woman in the outer room had disappeared at some point, and the empty hall was full of messy mud that people had brought in from outside, and the room was empty, except for a few worn-out stools, which could not be sold for money to remain.

The air was filled with the smell of pig manure and chicken droppings, as well as the smell of rot from unknown sources, and everywhere was trampled on the mud, and the rain was constantly falling down through the cracks in the roof into the house, and the water vapor was so thick that people could not breathe well.

But when Xiuniang saw the sedan chair being carried over, her breathing was smooth all of a sudden, nothing could affect her mood, her breathing was smooth, and her originally soft body suddenly had strength.

There seemed to be a tall figure waiting for her in the distance, a feeling of rebirth, a complete, pure hope.

Xiuniang suddenly burst into tears, she walked to the well in a few steps, lowered her head, and reflected herself with the well water.

The well water is shaking, and you can still see a delicate and fair face, the melon seed face seems to be shrouded in a warm light, a few strands of broken hair hang down in front of the forehead, the originally clear eyes are covered by the mist at this time, and the pink lips are not bloody at this time, and they seem to be trembling slightly.

"Xiuxiu, you're beautiful." The mother, who was full of wrinkles and a little bent in the waist, approached, with fluffy white hair, wrinkles on her face and hands, and many cracks, which were scratches from the weeds in the field while working.

"Mother, I'm leaving." Xiuniang's tears flowed down her cheeks and dripped to the ground with the rain, and she said softly: "I will ask Shizi to cure my father's gambling illness and take my mother to the town." ”

The moment she lifted the sedan car, Xiuniang glanced back again, the dilapidated and crooked thatched house, the foul-smelling yard full of mud, although this is where she grew up, the strange thing is that she has no nostalgia.

"Meet the Son." Xiu Niang's father saw that it was actually the prince who came to pick him up in person, as well as four tooth generals, a sedan chair, with five or six attachés and servants, and a group of more than ten people came in from the village, which has caused a sensation in the entire Yizi Guanzhuang.

Xiu Niang's father rushed out to meet first, Xu Zixian didn't have a good impression of this rotten gambler, waved his hand for Xiu Niang's sake, and said: "Get up, Xiu Niang, I'll stay, you have a good life at home, don't gamble, don't use my name to make trouble." ”

This doesn't seem to be talking to the old man, but according to the law of Great Wei, the wife's father is the father-in-law, and the concubine's relatives are not relatives, plus Xu Zixian's status is too high, so it is quite normal to do this.

Xiu Niang's father only agreed, but he didn't dare to refuse.

The head of the village soon rushed over, and personally took dozens of strong men to flatten the muddy floor at the intersection of Xiuniang's house and the village with thick mats made of straw.

"You wait for each one to make a living." Xu Zixian said to everyone in the village: "Don't deal with Li Cheng and his son, his position as a manager has been removed by me, and he will have a new manager in the future." ”

Everyone in the village agreed, but Xu Zi first saw that everyone had different mentalities, some were surprised, some were happy, some were excited, and some looked uneasy and looked evasive.

Li Cheng and his son have been operating in each village for many years, and what Xu Zixian saw when he came all the way over, there were only 100 households in Yizi Zhuang when he first established the village, and now there are still 100 households to pay the real seal to the Hou Mansion, but there are at least more than 200 Dingkou, and many of them have been divided, but they have not reported to the government, which is one of the sources of hidden households.

There are also some fugitive and homeless people, the natural villages that have gradually formed in the past few decades, mainly farming, growing vegetables, doing small business, working part-time, fishing and duck herding on the Minjiang River, these villages are mainly mixed surnames, Xu Zixian came all the way and found three small villages, each village has more than 40 to 50 households, and Dingkou is estimated to be between 200 and 300 people.

This is quite a considerable hermit, Xu Zixian has realized, the clan is already the result of restraint, such as the Qi Palace, the Zhao Palace, several princes and many marquises, the total number of hidden households is really astronomical, no wonder the imperial court during the Xuanzong period was anxious, and the hidden household of the Great Investigation Sect was ......

Civil and military officials also have a system of grace and shade, and the Jinshi are born until the nine grades have grace fields and exemption quotas, and the officials of the nine grades are twenty acres of land and two bodies are exempt from military service, but judging from the situation of the clan occupation and hidden households, it is estimated that the civil and military officials are by no means a few.

It is no wonder that there are so many types of taxes in the Great Wei Dynasty, and the intensity of tax collection is even more dense than that of later generations, but the tax revenue is still declining every year, and it is quite normal for this situation to decline.

With Taizu's eloquence, all kinds of exhibitions are to try to eliminate the ills of the dynasty, Xu Wei has been more than 400 years, which shows that Taizu has a good hand, and now it is still at the stage of dynastic change.

Xu Zi stopped his thoughts first, and at this time, he didn't care about these miscellaneous matters, and said to the woman in front of him: "Xiuniang, let's go." ”

Xiuniang was still standing beside the sedan chair, and there was no nostalgia for the home behind her in her eyes, but she seemed to know that this walk would cut off the past and never return.

The muddy road, the trees with most of the leaves dropped, the low dirt wall overgrown with weeds, and the courtyard full of mud and stench, Xiuniang stood on the muddy ground, as if her body was very light, and she was not contaminated with these dirty things.

She wore a light white cross-collared back, and her robe was very old, but it was probably her best dress, and her beautiful face with such a robe was like a pearl shining in the mud.

Xu Zi jumped off the horse first and opened the sedan curtain himself, he was actually a little nervous at this moment, this was the first woman he wanted to have in this life, so beautiful and outstanding, gentle and graceful, this is a typical old-style southern Chinese woman, growing in suffering, growing like a weed, but not yet crossed by life and suffering.

She seemed to glance at Xu Zixian shyly, then stepped onto the sedan chair and sat down upright.

There were children's cheers all around, and there were also women's envious discussions, Xiuniang's face slowly turned red, her chest rose and fell slightly, she seemed to want to take a closer look at Xu Zixian, but she lowered her gaze again, her hands were twisted on the robe on her knees, and her knuckles were twisted white.

Her complexion is very white, but she doesn't have too much delicate feeling, after all, she may not know how to take care of her skin, and she has suffered too much, her eyebrows are a little messy, after all, there is no time to retouch, she looks like a little woman from an ordinary family, she has suffered, and at this time she finally suffered.

"Gone." Xu Zi put down the sedan chair first, looked at Xiuniang, and said, "Take you back to the other courtyard." ”

"Shizi." Xiuniang bit her lip and suddenly said, "Can you go around from the west of the village, I want to see Xie Quan's house." ”

"Don't get me wrong." Xiuniang's face turned pale, and she said in a smug voice: "I want to see how it is over there, I don't think about this person and that family, I just ......"

"You just want to go over and say goodbye to all the past?"

Xiuniang shook her head, nodded again, and said, "What the prince said is really good. ”

Xiuniang didn't tell the truth, she just wanted to vent the happiness in her heart, and she wanted to see if Xie Quan was having a worse time now.

Shizi is very good and smart, but he doesn't know women very well.

The sedan chair was lifted from the door of Xiuniang's house under the escort of the brigade, and then detoured to the east of the village, someone pointed to a dilapidated courtyard, also next to the village road, and whispered to Xu Zixian: "This is Xie Quan's house." ”

The house seemed to be more dilapidated than before, with weeds growing and a strong smell of wine far away, and a half-paralyzed man lying in the doorway, still holding the jar of wine in his hands.

"After Xiuniang left, Xie Quan was left alone," the village head said: "No one pays attention to him, no one cares about this kind of bad gambler and drunkard, and no one in his clan cares about him." ”

Xu Zixian understood what Zhuang Tou meant, in this situation, Li Cheng and his son may not make a comeback, Xie Quan must be finished anyway, so no one in the village cares whether Xie Quan lives or dies, this person will not live long.

At this time, Xie Quan seemed to wake up, turned his face on the ground, and began to curse people like a dream in the mud, from the clan relatives to Xiuniang and all the villagers, one by one, and the scolding was dirty.

Jin Baoyi was a little angry, and said to Xu Zixian: "Shizi, go down and teach him a lesson?" ”

"Forget it." Xu Zixian didn't pity the drunkard in front of him, but he didn't feel the need to send his subordinates down to do it, shook his head, and said, "It's not worth dirty hands." ”

At this time, Xiuniang opened the sedan curtain and looked, her heart was full of happiness, before Xie Quan was drunk and pinched her and beat her, and said that her life was not good, Kefu, there will be no good end in the future, and she will definitely be sold to Goulan, I am afraid that she will not be good-looking, she will not be able to sell much, and she will not receive any business......

Now she is sitting in a sedan chair upright, and she is about to go to live in another courtyard and become the concubine of the prince.

It is impossible to become a wife, the law of the court does not allow it, but Xiuniang is already extremely content, she knows that this is her best destination, she didn't dare to have this idea when she was in the prince's mansion, but countless times she dreamed of the current situation.

In the eyes of the surrounding crowd watching secretly, Xiuniang whispered to Xu Zixian: "Shizi, let's go." ”

She boldly said again: "I will be forever grateful to you, and I will serve you well." ”

Xu Zi looked at her first, the beauty was like jade, there was only gratitude and love in his eyes, he felt a burst of joy in his heart, as if he had done something great, at least in the recent period, this thing is very comfortable and happy now, as if taking an innocent and poor beauty away from the sea of suffering, it is indeed worth being happy and happy.

Xu Zixian had treated a little rabbit when he was a child, the injured hare was very vigilant, he took the rabbit home, fed it vegetable leaves, slowly healed the injury, and carried it to the wild to be released, when the rabbit walked one step and three times, the light in the eyes and the current Xiuniang is quite similar.

Xu Zixian was very happy and satisfied at that time, the gift of the strong to the weak will make the strong satisfied, which is really a strange psychological state.

For Xiuniang, in addition to her beauty and docility, Xu Zixian seems to be the boy who rescued the rabbit at the beginning, the strong rescued the weak, and he is very happy, this is how it feels.

It's also strange to say, after treating this rabbit, Xu Zixian still likes to eat spicy rabbit heads, and he himself can't understand why.

"Gone." Xu Zi first twitched the horse's buttocks with a horsewhip, and the group walked outside the village entrance, a large number of Zhuang men in short robes bent down on the side of the road, and the women holding the children hid farther away, muddy roads, low cottages, large stretches of farmland, sparse trees, and ponds at the entrance of the village...... It's like an ink painting.

Xu Zixian thought about it, these Guanzhuang households are relatively relaxed, from the robes, it can be seen that not only the primary color, many women are wearing dyed dresses, not too old, people are not noodles, quite, the men are strong, the women are also ruddy, they should be quite content.

But judging from the environment that Xu Zixian saw, these villages are still far from being rich.

It may be the current standard for the so-called great rule of the world, abundant barns, and no hunger for the people, but in any case it is not enough, far from enough.