Chapter 41: All people today are better than brothers

Jing is a 15-year-old young man, half a head shorter than Heifu. He has freckles all over his nose and cheeks, and a pair of big eyes. At this moment, he is raising his eyebrows and excitedly looking at his first weapon.

This is a sword about nine inches long, cast in bronze, with a circular handle. Jing holds it and cuts through the inverted roots of the big banyan tree, and the thin roots and branches break with a sound.

He can't help but praise: "Brother Zhong, this sword is really sharp! How much did you buy it for?"

"It's only more than a hundred yuan."

Heifu held two grass carps bought in the market in his left hand and a heavy saddle in his right hand. He said lightly, but Jing stuck out his tongue: "If it is changed into rice, it will be enough for me to eat for more than a month."

In this era, although iron tools have been widely used in agricultural handicrafts, iron weapons are still not very mature. Especially in the Qin State, bronze weapons were preferred because as standard weapons in the army, not only their performance but also their cost had to be considered. There were a large number of copper mines in the Jianghan area. Using the nearly perfect casting process, large batches of bronze weapons were much more cost-effective than slowly forged iron weapons.

Even so, the young boys in the countryside who had no income wanted a bronze dagger but could not get one. After getting the weapon, he kept pulling it out of the scabbard, and couldn't let it go. He said proudly: "Let's see who dares to mess with me in the future! I will give him a sword!"

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

Hei Fu frowned and began to regret buying the sword. His brother was impatient and often quarreled with others over a disagreement. Sooner or later, he would cause trouble, so he scolded:

"I bought you a sword because you are 15 years old and will become an adult soon. The sword is a man's weapon, so it can be used for self-defense, to resist thieves and protect the house, but it cannot be used for bravery and violence. You must know that the law has a pre-determined rule. If two people fight, the government will send those who fight privately to do hard labor. As for biting off someone's nose, tearing ears, breaking fingers, etc., they will be punished with endurance. If you use a sword, the punishment will be more severe."

He said in surprise and put the sword away obediently.

But after a while, after passing by two little village girls who were pointing at them and whispering, he said happily: "Brother Zhong, you don't know that now the young people in the village all respect me. Because I am your brother, they surrounded me and asked me to tell them about your deeds of capturing three thieves and taking away the blade with bare hands. The two neighbor's daughters were also stunned when they heard it just now. They all said that you are not like this in daily life. Look at the way they look at you... hehehe."

In fact, when Jing first heard people talking about the rumors about Heifu, he almost dropped his jaw in shock. In the past ten years, the impression that Brother Zhong gave him was that he didn't talk much and was taciturn. Although he had some strength, he was far from a "warrior".

Who would have thought that Brother Zhong would become famous throughout the county when he went out to serve for the first time? He was also surprised at first, but later he was proud and took the initiative to brag.

"Brother Zhong, when will you teach me your skills of capturing thieves?"

Jing couldn't wait for him. He always felt that Brother Zhong must have secretly learned martial arts from somewhere.

"We'll talk later."

Heifu didn't care about him, but kept greeting the villagers.

When he left here to serve more than a month ago, who was willing to ask him more questions? Now, no matter whether they were men or women, old or young, they would stop and greet them on the road with a friendly attitude. Even the arrogant Tian Dian and Wu Lao, when they met him, would warmly invite him to their homes...

Heifu had to respond one by one. His mother once told him that the most important thing in the life of the village is the harmony of neighbors. Don't let the neighbors think you are arrogant and look down on others. The villagers are very simple, but they are also chicken-hearted. The smaller the place, the more so.

His house is at the end of the sunset, so Heifu passed by the doors of forty or fifty households along the way, and greeted thirty or forty times, declined countless invitations, whether true or false, and finally moved to his own house.

Coming here, Heifu felt more at home.

Heifu's home is a standard public scholar's home. It is larger than the homes of ordinary soldiers, but not as big as the homes of the village head and Tiandian. However, the open space outside the house is not wasted. There are more than 20 mulberry trees, but the mulberry leaves have long fallen, leaving only bare branches.

In spring, these mulberry trees are the apple of their mother's eye. Every time at that time, the old lady and her daughter-in-law would take turns to get up at night to add mulberry leaves to the silkworms that are growing wildly. So the whole night, the house is filled with the rustling sound of silkworms eating mulberry leaves, like a gentle breeze and drizzle... The mother always doesn't let her three sons do this work, thinking that they are clumsy and can't take good care of the spring silkworms. In fact, Heifu knows that she loves them.

A house of five mu, planted with mulberry trees, can be clothed with silk when fifty... Unfortunately, Mencius is too idealistic after all. The poor are reluctant to wear raw silk and woven silk cloth themselves. They would rather sell them at the market, or even use them directly as money to exchange for more practical farm tools and salt. In Heifu's memory, his mother was already over fifty years old. She had woven countless pieces of cloth in her life, but she had never worn silk.

In summer, this small patch of mulberry trees became the world of his younger brother Jing and his nephews and nieces. He would bring the two little kids around three or four times a day to pick up all the mulberries on the branches and the ground, so as not to let the turtledoves and neighbors get them cheaply. The purple-red mulberries were sweet and sour, and were a rare snack for the residents. In years of famine, they were even the hope for the whole family to fill their stomachs.

Going around the bare mulberry trees and coming to the outside of the courtyard wall, he saw that the wall was about six or seven feet high, with yellow mud mixed with straw exposed, and no wall plaster. The wooden door was low, and it had not been repaired for many years. It was exposed to wind and rain, and many cracks appeared. Most of the paint had also fallen off, so it was black and white, and it looked very undignified.

"Didn't I ask my uncle to repair the courtyard wall and gate after he came back with the money?"

Heifu frowned again.

Jingze said nonchalantly: "Brother Zhong, you know what kind of person my uncle is. He doesn't want to spend a penny if he doesn't need to spend it. The money you asked him to bring back is all with my mother. He said he wanted to build a new house for you, but he was afraid that there would not be enough money at that time, so he dared not use it to repair the old house."

Heifu didn't think so much. If everything went well, he would take up his post in Huyang Pavilion, dozens of miles away. He would not come back for ten days or half a month, so it would make no difference whether the new house was built or not.

At this time, Jing was already knocking on the door and shouting: "Mother, uncle, I've brought my second brother back!"

Soon, the door opened, and Zhong came out with a smile on his face, but he scolded Jing: "I asked you to pick someone up, but you came all the way empty-handed. What kind of words are you talking about? You are so old, why are you still so ignorant?"

As he said that, he took half of the things in Heifu's hand. Jing just stuck out his tongue, jumped into the door first, and shouted again: "Mother, Sister Qiu, second brother is back, and he also bought fish. Let's eat something good today..."

Heifu and Zhong shook their heads helplessly. This third brother has been spoiled since he was a child and doesn't know the difficulties of the world.

His house is very similar to the rural families in the later world, with one house and two inner rooms, divided into front and back yards.

Pushing the door to enter the front yard, the first thing is a doghouse. A big yellow dog smelled the familiar smell and had been barking for a long time. At this moment, he rushed over in one step, sticking out his tongue, and walked around Heifu.

Zhong said: "This yellow dog likes to be close to you. If you are not here for a month, it will be listless and lie down without moving."

"That's natural. I brought it back in the first place."

Heifu also smiled and touched the yellow hair behind its neck. The big yellow dog squinted his eyes with great enjoyment and wagged his tail non-stop.

Although people eat dog meat these days, guard dogs at home are absolutely not to be eaten. As the saying goes, "Those who have no dogs in the past and no pigs in the future are mediocre." That is to say, if you can't afford to raise a dog in the front yard and a pig in the back yard, it means that this family is so poor that they can only work as servants.

The pigpen in the backyard has been empty for a long time, but the big yellow dog in the front yard has been raised for almost five years. It has played with Heifu and his brother since childhood and has been watching the door for many years. It is also considered a member of the family.

"Zhongfu!"

As he spoke, two clear children's voices sounded in the yard, and a pair of young children rushed over.

The one running in front was a boy with two hair tied in a bun, about 6 years old, barefoot and dirty, but fortunately he finally wore a newly modified short trousers, so he no longer had to go bare-buttocks.

The one running behind was a little girl with hair in front and braided in the back, less than 5 years old, wearing clothes that were obviously too big, running stumblingly, and seeing that the brother in front did not wait for her at all, she almost cried.

These were Zhong's children, and also Heifu's nephews and nieces, named "Yang" and "Yue".

They ran over one after the other, and the boy was the first to bump into Heifu's left leg, and he looked up and laughed proudly. The girl came later, but she was not to be outdone, and her slender arms hugged Heifu's right leg...

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