Chapter 1: Chapter 1 – Xiao Family

Chapter 1 – Xiao Family

Hot.

The weather was unusually hot.

For three years in a row, the weather was hot with little rain.  The rice fields in the south that were far away from the water sources were facing severe water shortages and the ground started to crack.  As a result, the crops failed year after year.

Jing Country was not the only country that suffered from a shortage of food.  Several large and small neighboring countries also suffered severe disasters in the past few years and countless people died of starvation.

Due to disputes over grain and fertile land, the wolf’s wild ambition could no longer be hidden and thus the war inevitably started. 

No one wishes for war because everyone wants to live and work in peace and contentment.  Everyone desires to live a good life until the age when he can see his grandchildren and finally dies peacefully with a smile on his face while lying on the bed.

However, people’s ambitions could never be fulfilled because their desires were far too many.

The common people were already in dire straits and struggling to the point where they were worried if there would be food tomorrow.  On the contrary, the situation created an opportunity for those with higher status.  The more chaotic the situation, the more troops would be sent to create greater chaos so that benefits could be reaped.

In Minjiang County, twenty miles on the outskirts of Furong Town is a village called Wolong Village with a small population and an abundance of water sources.  However, the village is famous not for its outstanding people but for its ruthlessness.

The small village’s population is around three hundred to four hundred people with less than a hundred families.  The Village Administrator’s surname is Xiao and is the brother of the Family Head from a branch of an extended family.  He is around 40 to 50 years old and is regarded highly by the villagers.  The younger generation calls him Grandpa Xiao or Uncle Administrator.

In Wolong Village, the common surname is Xiao and almost half the villagers carry the same surname.  If any of the villagers do not carry the surname Xiao then they are probably in-laws or related in some way to the villagers with the surname Xiao.

In the east of the village, stood a rarely seen brick courtyard dwelling that was just completed less than half a year ago.

The owner of the courtyard is an old man who is the ninth child among his siblings.  The illiterate rural peasants call him Xiao Jiu* while his peers call him Xiao Jiu* and the younger ones call him Uncle Jiu or Grandpa Jiu.

(Jiu means nine/ninth and Xiao Jiu has two meanings.  The peasants call him by his name, Xiao Jiu {Ninth Xiao}, while his peers call him Xiao Jiu {Little Nine})

However, people usually call him Old Man Xiao because after working under the sun and rain in the fields for so many years his skin had turned rough and dark and looked old.

Old Man Xiao has three sons and a daughter.  His daughter married very early and he could only get to see her maybe 3 to 5 times a year.  His eldest son, Xiao Jingshan married a wife with the surname Wu and they have three sons by the name of Dabao, Erbao, and Sanbao*, which shows they are the precious children and descendants of the Xiao Family.

(Dabao, Erbao, and Sanbao – Bao means precious, treasure or baby.  Here it should mean treasure, so the sons are named Eldest Treasure, Second Treasure, and Third Treasure.)

The third son, Xiao Jingrong married a mean and narrow-minded wife who gave birth to two children in three years.  In total they gave birth to three children in four years........a son and two daughters and the youngest baby girl was still feeding on her mother’s milk.

There is a saying that the father loves the eldest son while the mother favors the youngest son which is actually true! 

The second son, Xiao Jingfeng is like an unwanted child.  His two brothers married between the ages of 16 to 17 and became fathers at a young age.  However, he is still single at the age of 22 without even a shadow of his wife in sight, and has to work silently in the fields all year round.

According to his father, they could not do anything because the family does not have any money.  To get him a wife, they have to take out at least three taels of silver as dowry.  Besides, they still have to prepare the wedding gifts and dinner which would cost at least five taels of silver. 

Would any girl be willing to marry into the family and suffer hardships?

In reality, it was because of the eldest brother and third brother who harbored selfish intentions.  They encouraged their parents to prevent the second son from marrying so that he could be treated as the one and only laborer in the family.

Without a wife means there are no worries.  No matter what they wanted him to do, he would do it without any worries!  There would also be fewer disputes and fewer mouths to feed!

Then a draft order arrived.

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The imperial court issued a strict order that households with two or more adult males in their families must send one of them to join the army and one month later, someone would be coming to take him away.

The Xiao Family was thrown into chaos.  In fact, not only Old Man Xiao’s family was in chaos but the whole village was shrouded in misery as they did not want their descendants to be soldiers in that kind of sad and miserable situation.

It is war!  There is a high possibility they would never return.  Who would be so foolish as to rush to the front and volunteer to die?  Life is the most important!

The same rings true for Old Man Xiao’s family.  He has three sons and although he does not value the second son much, he is still reluctant to send him to his death.  The flesh is on both the palm of his hand and the back of his hand, no one should be sacrificed.

Especially since his second son is still not married yet.  If anything is to happen would it not be the end of his descendant's line?  If this second child has no descendants, then who will offer prayers to him a hundred years later?

Old Man Xiao had a headache.  He was undecided about who he should choose to send and was in a dilemma.

His sons were also trying their best to avoid being drafted into the military and were pushing the responsibility on each other.  With evil intentions, the eldest brother and third brother were eyeing the second brother and tried their best to make him go.

In fact, if one does not wish to be drafted into the military, a contribution of 10 taels of silver can be made instead.  As the imperial court is short of food and money, the common people can pay a military service tax to avoid being drafted.

Although their mother, Mother Wu, had the money, she refused to take it out.  The eldest daughter-in-law, Xiao Wu is the niece of Mother Wu in her maiden family.  Therefore, the two women are relatives in both their husbands’ family and their maiden families. 

Fertile water should not be allowed to flow into other people’s fields!

Let the eldest son go?

Xiao Wu quarreled with her mother-in-law, Mother Wu, and even brought out her maiden family to protect her husband.  The third son was Mother Wu’s precious son, so she would never agree to let him join the military even if she dies.

“Get married!  Leave behind a descendant before joining the military!”

The reason was that no one was willing to go.  As expected, during a quarrel, the second son Xiao Jingfeng who was not loved by his father and not favored by his mother was forced to join the military.

He pursed his lips tightly and did not say a word but only looked at his family with his deep eyes.

Heartache was not enough to describe his mood. 

However, he understood that since his eldest brother and third brother have families, he should shoulder the responsibility no matter how unwilling he was. 

He would not allow his nieces and nephews to be without their fathers’ love and his eldest sister-in-law and third sister-in-law also needed their husbands to support the family.

But instead of waiting for Xiao Jingfeng to speak up voluntarily, he was forced to go.  Everyone in the family from the elders to the young ones looked at him silently with obvious meaning.

He was bitterly disappointed and was not interested in marrying a wife.  It was uncertain whether he would be able to return home in the future and did not wish to ruin the girl’s life.

He refused to marry but under strong pressure from Mother Wu, he eventually married Li Jing’er, a girl that had passed the marriageable age after she chose to stay unmarried to show filial piety.  She was 17 years old with thick hands, big feet, and tall stature. 

The two people consummated their marriage and after spending less than twenty days together as husband and wife, he left with the army.

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