Mo Dongyang

The author has something to say: Opening a hole, long article, a little slow~~ a little cruel~~ I hope you like it!

I was 14 years old when I entered the palace. At the age of 14, in my countryside, I may have been married by those rough men in the fields whose complexion became darker and redder due to hard work and drinking, and gradually degenerated from immature girls to vulgar people. Country woman, looking at the low chimney in the narrow and dirty yellow mud stove house; the rows of hanging meat on the roof are so smothered by the smoke of firewood that the original color cannot be distinguished; the dim light mixed with the The fine dust spends the remaining long years in a mediocre way.

I was supposed to be betrothed to Dayang, who owned a tavern in the next village, but I escaped from marriage.Dayang is one of the few wealthy families in these ten miles and eight villages.In the early years, I opened a small wine inn near the official road and made some money, so poor families wanted to marry their children to get some blessings.However, those heads of households who were able to get by, never fell in love with Da Lang and made him the son-in-law of their own daughter. There was no other reason. Da Lang was born ugly, not to mention fat, short and short, with crisscrossed faces This kind of appearance is not satisfactory, he is also addicted to gambling and drinking, he gathers to gamble and drink in the smoky tavern every day. The stinking meatballs.

If Dayang hadn't had some spare money, he was destined not to be able to find a wife.And because of the money, Da Lang not only doesn't have to worry about not having a wife to get through the door, this man who is born with a handicap also has the right to choose.Poor families are willing to sell their daughters because of their livelihood. They don't care where they come from, they just want to be safe for a lifetime.

But I, unfortunately, was born in poverty.

I know why Dayang chose me, because I am the only good-looking poor girl in this dilapidated village.

My mother died when I was ten years old, and my father, whom I never met, told me that I had no father.

After my mother passed away, I was sent to the home of my mother's distant cousins, but my arrival undoubtedly made the family of eight even worse.When I was sent to this dilapidated farmhouse when I was ten years old, I looked at the woman who had just returned from farming in front of me, shaking my body hard with her hands covered in yellow mud. The dry, cracked and black-spotted hand was like a thousand-year-old bark, dry and hard, and it hurt more and more when it rested on my body. I couldn't help shrinking behind my uncle in fear, sticking out my shofar-braided head, eyes full of eyes. All terrified.The woman complained loudly in dissatisfaction, scratched off the dead branches and leaves above her head with her hands, then turned around and gave me a cold look.

I don't know what the woman and uncle said afterwards, but I am sure that I will not live in this family for too long, even though a ten-year-old doll at that time had no ability to predict her future.

But indeed, during the third year when I lived carefully in this family, this woman happily sold me to Dayang in the next village.

I almost quickly adapted to the rhythm of life in this isolated and dilapidated village. After a month here, I learned to cook rough food, feed poultry, darn clothes, weave straw sandals, work at sunrise and work at sunset. When they need me, I do things quietly. When I finish my work, I can only sit by the haystack in the dry well in the courtyard and wait for their orders from time to time.Because I know that only in this way can I make a living in this small village, but even so, I still can't escape the bad luck of marrying Da Lang.

But fortunately, I still praised some coins for myself. Most of them came from Dalang, and only a small part was when I sneaked into the mountain to pick the wild oranges on the tree and sell them into the city when the wife's family was away from relatives. Some copper plates I got from here.As long as I sneak to Dayang's tavern in my spare time, I will also get some rewards, such as some pastries, dried fruits, gadgets, but more copper coins.Of course, these are not free, I have to endure the deliberate teasing of Da Lang's greasy hands on my body, and the disgusting smell of sweat on his body.I know that I am safe, because in this cozy small village, the villagers all abide by the customs and wedding etiquette that have lasted for hundreds of years, and this has given me a good shelter. What a move, that's why I dare to boldly ask for what I want from Dayang.

Whenever I come out of a dirty tavern, I will quickly clean the sticky copper plate and the smell of wine on my body by the stream in the woods at the head of the village.Hurry back to the courtyard before the evening meal, and wait for nightfall to carefully hide these hard-won copper coins in the cloth bag.I knew that if the woman found out about this, my legs would be broken, but unfortunately I couldn't care less.

There are not many days left to marry, and I am about to leave.

There are three days left before I get married. I got up at Zishi. At this time, the whole village was dead silent. The villagers who had worked for a day had long since fallen asleep. Outside the wooden window, several neighbors’ domestic dogs were barking incessantly, and the sound of heavy snoring next to the bed kept coming and going. I carefully took out my prepared luggage from the cloth pillow at the head of the bed, and wrapped it in linen in the kitchen. The cakes for the wedding banquet sneaked out of the woman's house and disappeared into the endless woods on the edge of the village.

Escaping marriage is quite easy, they always think how well-behaved and docile I am, so they have no defense against me.

The only valuable things on his body are the jade pendant around his neck, a bag of copper coins, and a tattered book.

The book and the jade pendant were naturally left to me by my mother. I heard that my mother was the daughter of an unregistered householder in the county and could read some words, but I don’t know why she fell down here.My mother never mentioned too much to me about the old things in the past. She brought me up by herself, and lived a poor life by relying on a small bun shop in a corner of the county.In her spare time, my mother taught me how to read in the busy and noisy market, or looked lonely at the old locust tree on the corner of the street, and told some stories about the capital intermittently.I don't know how my mother knew about the inaccessible capital city far to the north, she has never left this small county town.I can only vaguely guess that my biological father might be from that bustling imperial capital, but I can't ask, I'm afraid my mother will scold and reprimand me for it.

Now I have nowhere to go, and I can only go to the splendid metropolis in the north - Bianjing.

Before the sun rises, I must reach the county seat, and then find the caravan heading north in the northeast corner of the market, and pray that they will take me away.Otherwise, I would be caught by Da Lang soon after I fled.Thin shadows rush through the night like a ghost. I pass through mountains, grasslands, streams, and mountains. The rough sackcloth behind me is soaked in sweat. Covered by my breathing, I looked a little creepy in the empty mountain forest. I quickened my pace, forcing myself to ignore the inexplicable movements around me, and ran forward with the intermittent mottled moonlight scattered among the branches and leaves.

When I arrived at the county seat, the morning sun hadn’t risen yet, but the sky was slightly white. I was covered in dew and mud from the forest. It was so muddy, I had to steal the clothes of the children in the farmhouse in front of the city gate and change into them. , with a boy's hair in a bun, hurried to the southeast corner of the market.

The morning market has already opened, and small merchants and hawkers in the county set up stalls on the side of the road to start a busy day of business.I was hungry after running all night, and when I reached the bun shop, I couldn’t walk on my feet. The huge steamer in front of me was steaming, exuding a sweet and greasy aroma mixed with pasta and meat. I was really very hungry. I want to eat, but considering that joining the caravan is considered a personal expense, the few copper coins in my flat purse may run out in a while. I clutched my stomach that kept screaming, with a troubled expression on my face.Seeing me staring blankly at the steaming buns, the stall owner thought I was a little beggar who had escaped from nowhere, so he picked up a broom and raised his hand to blow me away.

"Little beggar, don't stand in my place and hinder my business if you don't have money, get out of here!"

A gust of wind passed over my head, I was really startled, subconsciously squatted down, picked up a few cinders on the ground, and ran away in a hurry.If you can't buy steamed stuffed buns, it's also good to grab some carbon residue.At the southeast corner of the city gate, several caravans were ready to go. I squatted on an earthen platform and devoured the broken pieces of pastry left over from last night. I smudged my face with yellow mud, fortunately I was still a child, at this age people can't tell the difference between male and female.I found a business traveler who was about to leave. They wanted to transport precious medicinal materials from the county to Jingzhou.

I tried to ask a middle-aged man who seemed to be in charge if he was going north soon.The manager told me impatiently that they were going to Jingzhou soon.

"Is Jingzhou far from Bianjing?" I asked.

The thin manager waved his hand.

"It's not too far, eight miles."

I begged and said, "Can you take me along with you? My parents are both dead now, so I can only go to the north to work hard."

The director finally looked back at me with a vague sneer.

"The north, this is really not a good place to go. The Hu people on the border are constantly invading, and the war in the north is turmoil. Now the people there are all fleeing to the south. I advise you not to go."

In the end, under my training and spending almost all the coins in the sack, the manager agreed to accept me as a handyman and join the team that was about to leave the city.

The red sun rising in the east gradually dried up the damp ground of the county seat, and many people began to pour water on the front of the door, trying to cover up the billowing dust left by the convoy driving all the way north.As the sun rises, we are farther and farther away from the southern counties and towns. The rumbling wheels are moving forward on the official roads that have been in disrepair for many years, surrounded by dilapidated scenery.Shrubs are overgrown, wormwood is everywhere, and the ridges of the fields are barren and sparsely populated.On the bare hillside due to the burning of the mountain, there were only a few crows crying and crying. Many people in the convoy spat viciously in the direction of the hillside and cursed non-stop.

This is not a good sign, but the journey has begun, and no one has the right to choose.I don't mind such an ominous omen, it doesn't mean anything. Contrary to the sad faces of others praying for peace in a low voice, I can happily hum the little tune my mother taught me before she died.

Because, I can finally get out of here.

Finally, I want to step out of this land that I have never called my hometown, as if I have never acknowledged it. This kind of determination and indifference, I have naturally continued for many years, until many years later I did not Young again.

However, these are all things for later.