At dusk, the slanting sun slowly falls to the Mingsheng Lake in the west of Jiuyao Mountain, the sunset on the horizon is like fire, the Liujiawu is reflected red, the birds are singing back to the forest, and the smoke of the dock fort built against the mountain curls up.

Chen Caozhi jumped off the ox cart and looked at the dock fort in front of him in surprise, which is very similar to the earth building of Yongding in Fujian Province in the later generations, although it is not as large as the Yongding earth building, but the earth and stone rammed building, the annular round building of the upper and lower three floors is obviously the original style of the Yongding earth building later, I really didn't expect to see this castle-like dock wall earth building here.

"Grandmother—grandmother—"

"Uncle Ugly—Uncle Ugly—"

Two young children ran out of the gate of the dock fort, both with front hair and eyebrows, back hair shawls, eyebrows like ink paintings, eyes like paint, two snow-white and pink little faces are extremely cute.

This is a pair of children left by Chen Caozhi's brother Chen Qingzhi who died three years ago, the boy Chen Zongzhi, eight years old, the girl Chen Run'er, six years old, Zongzhi and Run'er's mother is the daughter of the Ding clan of the Qiantang clan, her name is Ding Youwei, after Chen Qingzhi's death, Ding Youwei was forcibly brought back to Qiantang by the Ding clan, forcing Ding Youwei to remarry-

"Uncle Ugly lied to Run'er, he went out in the morning and said that he would be back soon, which made Run'er wait for a day, hum, Run'er doesn't like Uncle Ugly!"

Six-year-old Run'er has dark eyebrows and bright eyes, snow-white skin, like a porcelain doll, a small dimple on her left cheek, and a pink face that smiles a little charming.

Eight-year-old Chen Zongzhi said like a little adult: "Yes, Uncle Ugly deceives people, Uncle Ugly doesn't believe what he says." ”

Chen's mother Li looked at this pair of little beauties and said with a smile: "Your ugly uncle didn't lie to you, he bought you cakes." As he spoke, he took out two sweet cakes from his baggage, one for Zongzhi and one for Run'er, this is the Buddha's birthday cake in Lingyin Temple.

Even if Chen Caozhi doesn't have the memory of soul fusion in his past life and this life, he will be happy to see such a cute child, squatting down to pinch the face of his nephew and niece, this is his habit, he wants to pinch his face when he sees the cute child with baby fat, and said: "Zongzhi, Run'er, see what is in the small fish bag on my waist?" ”

Zong Zhi and Run'er reached out to the small fish bag on Chen Caozhi's waist together, and each took out a wooden leaf grasshopper, which was made by Chen Caozhi on the road to pick slender leaves, lifelike, Chen Cao carried a bag on the road in his previous life, the journey was lonely, and he learned to make and weave some small toys, which is now suitable for coaxing children.

The two children shouted with joy, and Chen's mother Li smiled: "When will Chou'er make this up, my mother doesn't know." ”

Chen Caozhi said: "The child still has a lot of skills, and the mother will know it slowly." ”

Chen's mother, Li Shi, smiled kindly, although she felt that her son's words and deeds were a little different from the past, but this difference, every mother likes it, and she will only think that her son has grown up and his mind is lively, where will he be suspicious of anything else.

A thin old man walked out of the dock fort and saluted Chen's mother, Li Shi, and said, "The younger brother has returned, and the foolish brother has something to discuss with the younger brother-in-law, and the other two elders of the clan are already waiting in the 'Orderly Hall'. ”

This old man is Chen Caozhi's cousin Chen Xian, the oldest man in Chen Jiawu, can also be said to be the patriarch of the Qiantang Chen family, who was the chief bookkeeper of Qiantang County in the early years, but since Chen Caozhi's father Chen Su and brother Chen Qingzhi died successively, Chen Xian was immediately excluded back to his hometown.

Although Chen's mother Li was tired, she also knew that there must be something important in the clan, so she responded: "Uncle Lao waits, and the old woman will come." ”

Chen Caozhi took Zong Zhi and Run'er's hand into the gate of the dock fort, carefully looked at everything in the dock fort, built this kind of dock fort is to survive in the troubled times, the outer wall of the earth and stone ramming has a fairly strong defensive ability, look at the door panel, it is half a foot thick, the material is hard green oka wood, the diameter of the whole dock fort is about forty-five meters, about nine meters high, there are three floors up and down, there are more than 100 rooms, the bottom layer is the kitchen and the servants, the tenant's residence, the second floor is the warehouse, the third floor is the living room of the Chen clan, and the middle of the dock fort is the ancestral hall of the Chen family, worship the ancestors, deliberations, weddings and funerals are held in the ancestral hall.

Chen's mother Li went to the ancestral hall of the "Orderly Hall" to discuss the affairs of the clan, Chen Caozhi was stunned for a while in his bedroom on the third floor on the west side of the dock fort, and then went to his study next door to take a look, pen, ink, paper and inkstone, but there are very few books, and it is not the kind of book one by one, of course, it is not a bamboo slip, but it is a book scroll, there are silk books, there are paper books, like the painting scrolls of later generations are piled on the bookshelf, about more than 100 volumes.

Chen Caozhi casually took out a volume, unfolded it about five feet long and two feet wide, and looked at the hand-copied Han Liti ink book on it, each word was as big as a thumb cover, but it was "The Book of Poetry, National Style, Shuoren"——

"Men are very good, and they are dressed in fine clothes. The son of the Marquis of Qi and the wife of the Marquis of Wei. The sister of the East Palace, the aunt of Xing Hou, Tan Gongwei is private. The hands are like soft wattles, the skin is like clotted fat, the collar is like a grub, the teeth are like a rhinoceros, the head of the mantis is like a moth eyebrows, the smile is clever, and the beautiful eyes are looking forward to ......"

Chen Caozhi looked at several volumes and found that these nearly 100 scrolls looked like a lot, but in fact there were only two books, one was the "Mao Shijian" annotated by Zheng Xuan, a great Confucian in the Eastern Han Dynasty, that is, the "Book of Songs", and the other was "The Analects" annotated by Zheng Xuan's teacher Ma Rong.

"The Book of Songs" and "Analects" Chen Caozhi is no stranger, he read it intensively when he was in college, but he did not reach the level of being able to memorize it, and at this time he thought about it a little, and found that he could almost memorize these two books backwards, which should be the result of memory fusion, it seems that although this young man is not smart enough, he is very hard-working, and his memory is also strong.

Suddenly, I heard Run'er downstairs crying, crying and shouting: "Ugly uncle, ugly uncle, come on, grandmother is crying-"

Chen Cao was startled, put down the book scroll and walked downstairs quickly, and said in his heart: "Why is my mother crying?" Didn't my mother discuss in the ancestral hall, could it be that the clansmen deceived my orphans and widows? ”

Chen Caozhi's handsome face had a hint of frost and coldness, and when he came to the Chen ancestral hall in the center of Wubao, he saw an old man in a blue shirt impatiently instructing Zeng Yuhuan, Laifu's wife: "Hurry up and take this girl away, the ancestral hall is deliberating, what are you doing with the children, the women are verbose!" ”

Run'er cried: "You bully Run'er's grandmother, you are a wicked person!" When I saw Chen Caozhi, I ran crying.

Chen Caozhi took Run'er's little hand, looked squarely at the triangular eyes of the old man in the blue shirt, and said, "The sixth uncle is so majestic, will he only send it at the children?" ”

This old man is also Chen Caozhi's cousin's uncle, named Chen Man, I didn't expect such an underage and always docile cousin to dare to speak to him like this, just about to have a seizure, seeing that Chen Caozhi had already led Run'er into the "Orderly Hall", he followed up and said angrily: "Fourth brother, look at this son of Chen Su, who has no elders in his eyes, he dares to confront me in person!" ”

The fourth brother is the patriarch Chen Xian, and at this time he was discussing something in a whisper with Chen Caozhi's mother, Li.

Chen Caozhi approached and bowed to his cousin Chen Xian, then knelt down beside his mother, Run'er also knelt obediently, Zong Zhi also ran in at this time, and the three generations of four people from the ancestors and grandchildren arrived.

Chen Xian saw that Chen Man was angry and refused to rest, so he asked, ", why did you contradict your sixth uncle?" ”

Chen Caozhi said slowly: "The nephew did not contradict the sixth uncle, the nephew admired the majesty of the sixth uncle's elders, and scared the six-year-old boy to cry. ”

"You-"

Chen Man's beard trembled, a little like he was dancing with his teeth and claws, but he opened his mouth again, choking on Chen Caozhi's words.

Chen's mother Li said: "Ugly, why are you here?" Quickly take Zongzhi and Run'er back. ”

Chen Caozhi saw that there were tears on his mother's cheeks, and said: "Mother, the child is fifteen years old this year, and according to the "Jin Law", he will be an adult next year, and the children at home can share their worries for their mother." ”

Chen Man finally relieved himself and said loudly: "Very good, Chen Caozhi, you also know that you will be an adult next year, right, adults will serve, do you still think that you can stay upstairs all day and recite what 'Yi Yi Si Gan, secluded Nanshan'?" You see, you're not a child of the scholars—"

Chen Caozhi ignored this inexplicable sixth uncle and asked Chen Xiandao: "Fourth uncle, what is the big thing in the clan?" Why is my mother crying? ”

Chen Xian was slightly embarrassed, coughed and said, ", you know this matter, it's okay, you are a male who is about to become an adult in the West Building, you can discuss this matter with your mother——"

The descendants of the Chen family who live in Wubao are divided into four branches, Chen Caozhi's father is one of them, because he has been living on the west side of Wubao, the clansmen are called by the West Building, and the others have three branches, the East Building, the South Building and the North Building, all of which are blood clans within the five suits, Chen Xian is the South Building, Chen Man is the North Building, as for the East Building, because there is no male in this generation, it can be said that the heir is broken, Chen Xian succeeded a son to the East Building as the heir, so that the East Building continues.

Qiantang Chen family Ding is not prosperous, many men die young, from Yingchuan moved here for nearly 150 years, but so far the east, south, west, and north four floors of all the minors are counted as only 21 men, the west building is only Chen Caozhi, Chen Zongzhi's uncle and nephew, Chen Xian's south building ancestors and grandchildren of three generations a total of six men, the north building Chen Man's descendants are the most, there are four sons and five grandchildren.

I only heard the patriarch Chen Xian say: ", the county's annual inspection and assessment of household products will start in July, I am no longer the county's master bookkeeper, and since the death of your brother Qingzhi, I have no officials in the Qian Tang Chen family, "Jin Law" stipulates that the ninth grade official can occupy ten hectares of land, and your father and brother left a total of twenty hectares of thin land, twenty hectares is two thousand acres, why do you and Zongzhi need so many fields? And Qingzhi has passed away, and you and Zongzhi can no longer enjoy the right to be exempted from miscellaneous labor and shade households, that is to say, next year when you turn sixteen, you will be incorporated into the Li Party Ding register, and you will have to serve for the government for at least 20 days every year. Wouldn't it be good for you to allocate ten hectares of land in the west building to the north building, so that you and the sect will still have no worries about food and clothing, and have a clan brother to serve on your behalf? ”

Chen Caozhi said: "It's so ruthless, I have to divide half of my family property for twenty days a year, this is obviously bullying me that there are no adult men in the West Building, scaring me with service, I came through thousands of years to serve hard labor for the government?" He said lightly: "Cao Zhi's frailty, if the sixth uncle takes pity on him and is willing to let his brother serve on my behalf, then Cao Zhi is grateful, this is also the righteousness of the same ancestor to help each other, as for allocating half of the land to the North Building, this is absolutely impossible-"

When Chen Man heard this, he was anxious, and blurted out: "You said it funny, there is no benefit, who wants to serve on your behalf, when I am a fool!" ”

Chen Caozhi asked with a smile: "If I don't allocate the land, the sixth uncle really won't help me?" ”

Chen Man said angrily: "You are dreaming! ”

Chen Caozhi asked Chen Xian: "The fourth uncle also refuses to help me?" ”

Chen Xian said: ", if you want to open the door and start a household, then you have to bear your own taxes and miscellaneous labor, and your uncle can help you for a year or two, but not for a lifetime." ”

Chen Caozhi nodded, and said calmly: "The fourth uncle is right, people always have to rely on themselves, and they will be sixteen years old in a year and a half. ”

Chen Man sneered on the side: "It's easy to say, don't cry for your father and mother if you can't endure hardship then!" ”

Chen's mother Li said with tears: "Ugly, you have been sick since you were a child, how can you endure hardships and suffering?" I will allocate ten acres of land to your sixth uncle, and then I will have a care. ”

Chen's mother, Li, felt old and frail, and was most worried that once she left, she would leave her weak children and grandchildren to be bullied, so she tried her best to have a good relationship with her clansmen.

Chen Caozhi said: "Mother, how can the land left by my father and brother be dispersed in my hands, my mother doesn't have to worry, my son should be able to bear it, and my son has grown up." ”

Chen Man's face was stupid, and he said coldly: "Don't be hard-mouthed, don't blame me for ignoring me when the time comes." ”

Chen Caozhi helped his mother out of the "Orderly Hall", and when he heard Chen Man's words, he turned around and said: "My father is the county magistrate of Bapin, and my brother is the magistrate of Bapin County, why can't I be a character official with the privilege of exempting from servitude?" ”

Chen Man opened his mouth again and was stunned on the spot.

The patriarch Chen Xian was secretly surprised, and said in his heart: "This son has always been shy and wooden, but today he suddenly talks eloquently, if there is divine help, and he is handsome and elegant, and has a good demeanor - could it be that the sky does not give up, and I am the one who is rich in the Tang Chen family, who is in Chen Cao?" ”

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