wait for another year

It was snowing first, and the two of them rode slowly around Suzhou City, especially Anye and Xingcheng Erfang, where there were many old, weak and impoverished.

Although the common people were not as willing to light charcoal and firewood as the people in the palace, fortunately, the officials and rich and good people in the city had provided winter clothes several times, so despite the freezing weather, not many people died of hunger and cold.

The nursing home proposed by Shen Mi all lit charcoal fires in the main hall, and about a dozen elderly people crowded into one room, keeping warm and chatting together, which was quite enjoyable.

"If you can do something, it's not like raising them for nothing. Let's go out of the city to have a look." Seeing this orderly scene, Xuanyuan Hui couldn't help but feel complacent, and excitedly wanted to leave the city.

Zhao Xu stopped him with a whip, "Your Majesty, are you sure?"

"The countryside is definitely not as good as the city, I know," Xuanyuan Hui smiled, "but it's bitter cold and hungry, if I don't go to see it, then it doesn't exist? At least I went to visit and spread fire, and it's also for those Lizhengs A reminder."

Seeing that his heart was bright, Zhao Xu stopped persuading him, "My lord has grown up after all."

Xuanyuan glared at him, "You're not a few years older than me, so don't use your father's tone to take advantage of me."

Looking at the surrounding villages, it was easy to get firewood in the countryside, and Lizheng was fairly well-versed, so the situation was much better than they had imagined.

"You two masters, the city gate is closed, tonight..." Suan Ni stepped forward to report.

Zhao Xu looked around, "Why don't we spend the night at the farmhouse tonight, so that the prince can taste something new?"

Xuanyuan Hui squinted his eyes and wandered around, pointed forward with his hand, "Let's go to this one."

That family is quite wealthy, seeing that they are well dressed, they are very polite to them.

As soon as they entered the main room, they saw several cattle and sheep pacing up and down slowly.

The master laughed naively, "The family is not rich, so these few beasts are worth some silver taels. Don't blame you nobles."

Zhao Xu smiled, "Where is it, we are bothering you."

Xuanyuan Hui was already circling around the sheep with great interest, and even picked up the pasture on the ground to feed, but was almost bumped by a ram. He was a little embarrassed for a while, and he was relieved when he saw that no one was paying attention.

Zhao Xu had finished talking with his master, and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, rest."

After all, they are ordinary villagers, even if they are wealthy, they cannot be compared with the palace.The two huddled together on a low couch made of loess, and covered their bodies with two large cloaks.

Xuanyuan Hui took Zhao Xu into his arms, and said with emotion: "People say that poor and lowly couples suffer from everything, but it's because I'm incompetent. Wronged Nineteen Lang followed me to endure hardships and suffer from hunger and hunger."

He was obviously a little overexcited today, Zhao Xu didn't bother to talk to him, closed his eyelids slightly, and was about to fall asleep.

Seeing that he fell asleep, Xuanyuan Hui stopped bothering him, and just lay silently thinking about his thoughts.Outside the window, the north wind howled, and in the main room not far away were cattle and sheep yelling, and the person lying beside him was not a beauty, but a seven-foot man just like him.

But here there are no hypocrisy, intrigue, no need to beware of plots, carefully framed, and no need to worry about food harvests and human tax burdens.

At this moment, he is just a young man who has not reached the weak crown, lying on the side of the most trustworthy person with great peace of mind, even if it is only such a short night, he is even lucky, and he really wants to sing about his ambition.

"Why isn't your lord still asleep? If you haven't had enough fun with that little lamb, go." Zhao Xu's voice came over muffled.

It was rare for Xuanyuan Hui to be caught straight once while his childlike innocence was still alive, so he couldn't help but groaned and didn't answer.

Zhao Xu moved closer and said with emotion: "I used to feel that my life was miserable, but now it seems that it is a great fortune to be born in the family of a Duke. It's a luxury."

"Then I'm afraid the two of us won't get married either." Xuanyuan said indifferently, feeling a little disappointed.

"Not necessarily." Zhao Xu's old god was there.

"Ah?" Xuanyuan Hui raised his eyebrows, "Ordinary couples are both men farming and women weaving, what can two men do? Can you ask and answer?"

Zhao Xu smiled, "It seems that although the lord came to Suzhou, he still knows very little about the people's livelihood and the people's conditions. Now let me tell the lord that no matter in the south of the Yangtze River, in the north, in the towns or in the countryside, there are many families where two men live together. Life."

"Oh? I know that I am very masculine, but most of them are arty sons of rich and noble families, playing with the dragon and sun, why are common people like this? Two men can't reproduce, what's the use of being together? "

Zhao Xu said sternly, "When wealthy families marry male wives, it's either because of private affairs in the house, or because they are deeply in love. But more people marry male wives, but they are trapped by their livelihood. In recent decades, my court Although it still claims to be Qing Dynasty at home, in fact, there are problems with the administration of officials and people's livelihood, especially the land...From the beginning of Renzong, two generations of monarchs abolished the gentry to occupy the land, and the land can be bought and sold freely."

Xuanyuan Hui frowned slightly, "Merger. The rich have thousands of hectares of fertile land, and the poor have no place to stand."

"That's right." Zhao Xu nodded, "You think, if you marry a wife, you have to ask for a bride price? Well, even if the other party has nothing to ask for or is an orphan, then the man works the fields and the woman does the housework. wrong?"

"What do you mean?" Xuanyuan Hui seemed to understand.

Zhao Xu sighed, "But some people can't even support themselves, let alone their wives and children? But if you marry a man and two men live together, you can work together and pass the long night..."

"But if it's not manly, I'm afraid I don't even want to touch it. What are we talking about to pass the long night?" Xu Shi and Zhao Xu were too familiar, so Xuanyuan Hui asked in a daze.

Zhao Xu was choked by him, and finally choked out a sentence, "Perhaps even if the lights are off, it doesn't matter if it's a man or a woman."

After a while of silence, Xuanyuan murmured after a while, obviously a little embarrassed, "If there is no need to carry on the family line, it would be a beautiful thing for husband and wife to support each other."

Xuanyuan Hui was full of military and political affairs, and he was far less proficient in common affairs than Zhao Xu, so Zhao Xu crushed it and told him, "Because a man's wife cannot inherit incense, so I ruled that those who marry a man's wife cannot inherit the family. This is why male and female wives have become the usual method used by the inner house. But this kind of poor couple, if they have always been poor, it’s fine, but if they have surplus money later, some conscientious ones will accept a few concubines to continue the incense , treat the original spouse with courtesy; those who are cruel and merciless may even divorce the husband and wife, which is why there are many elderly men in the nursing home."

Xuanyuan Hui was stunned, "But a husband and wife are also men, why did they fall to such a miserable state?"

"How many male wives do you think are like-minded? There are also some male wives who were sold by their families when they were young, and they are not as delicate as women. , it will end poorly."

Xuanyuan Hui became angry for a while, "It's just hateful!"

The author has something to say: Eun's worldview about men and wives is pure nonsense

Maybe my understanding of male wives is different from others?I always feel that under the premise of extremely backward productivity in ancient times, some people begged for male wives probably for survival, and the ratio of male to female was seriously out of balance and there were not so many females...