Lady Cultivator

The east is pale, and the rooster crows to start a day in the farm life.

Every family wakes up from sleep, women start to boil water for cooking, and men either carry water or tidy up farm tools, ready to eat and start a day's work.

This is a village under Liancheng of the Jin Kingdom. There are three or four hundred people in the village. They have only one surname and belong to one family. Therefore, the village is named Mojia Village after their surname.

At the east end of the village, there are several scattered houses, one of which is a brick house with a single-door courtyard, which is very conspicuous among these earthen houses. It is conspicuous because its raw materials are obviously much better than other houses. The roof tiles are thick and the wall bricks are neat. At a glance, you can tell that it was not burned by the local people's local method, and the courtyard wall is not like other earthen houses. The bark is not made of root branches and rattan, but is made of delicate bamboo strips. But it is more dilapidated than other houses, the broken tiles on the roof have not been cleaned up, the courtyard wall is broken, and the vegetable field in the courtyard is messy.

At this time, the door of the small courtyard opened, and a little girl with braids and a sallow complexion came out. She is about six or seven years old, very thin, with a sallow face and old clothes, but her whole body is neat and tidy, her hair is not messed up, and her clothes are also very clean.

I saw that she pulled up the chicken coop first, drove the chickens out, then walked to the kitchen in the side room, opened the door, and washed her face with cold water. After washing her face and rinsing her mouth, she rolled up her sleeves, measured a handful of rice, scooped water from the water tank to wash it, then moved a small stool to the stove, stood on the stool, put the rice into the cauldron, and started to light the fire.

Liancheng is located in the south of Jin State, with a mild climate, which is very suitable for growing rice, so rice stalks are used for fire. Fortunately, otherwise, a girl of this age would not be able to split firewood.

Not long after, there was a knock at the door of the main room, and a pale woman walked into the kitchen.

The little girl who was lighting the fire quickly jumped up: "Mom, why are you up? Go rest for a while, the meal will be ready soon."

The woman smiled and patted her head: "Tian Ge, mother does these things, you go and play."

"No," the little girl insisted, pulling her into the room, "Mom, you can't blow the air, I can do these things."

"It's just a small thing..."

"I'll do the little things, mother, do you still want to faint and worry me?"

The woman was blocked by this sentence.

The little girl said again: "Mother, you should have a good rest. I won't do these things when you are well."

The cuteness in the words made the woman smile, but there was bitterness mixed in, and her tone softened: "Okay, mother will get better as soon as possible, and Tian Ge won't suffer from it in the future."

The east was glowing red, and the porridge also exuded the fragrance of rice. The little girl scooped up two bowls carefully on the small bench, and then scooped up some pickles from the jar in the corner of the room, and carried them to the main room one by one.

The bland porridge and pickled vegetables, no extra dishes, one is a patient, the other is a child, no wonder their faces are not rosy at all. The woman looked at her daughter with a look of distress, but the little girl didn't see it, and just buried her head in the porridge.

After breakfast, the woman took care of her daughter again, then took off the cloth bag hanging on the wall, hung it on her shoulder, and instructed: "I went to school, listen to the teacher's advice, and study hard."

"Well, I'm going to school."

As the sun rose, the little girl walked towards the ancestral hall in the west of the village, stepping on the dew all the way, and there were boys running and laughing on the road from time to time.

Seeing her walking on the road, a boy about ten years old secretly followed behind, and suddenly rushed up, grabbed her braid and pulled it, laughing loudly: "Mo Tiange, your braid is so ugly, you Let’s shave your head.” After speaking, he ran away in a hurry.

Mo Tiange, whose braid was pulled, gave him a hard look: "Give me back the hair rope!"

But the child winked and made a face: "Repay you? Why do you have to pay you back? If you have the ability, come and grab it, come and grab it!"

How could a child stand this provocation, Mo Tiange tossed his braids,

Just go after the boy.

"Haha, how stupid, I'm here!" The boy's figure is very flexible and strong, which is not comparable to her thin body, and every time he turns around, he throws her away, making her very angry.

After a while, Mo Tiange was out of breath after chasing him. At this moment, a girl's voice came from far behind: "Brother, what are you doing?"

Hearing this voice, both of them stopped.

A seven or eight-year-old girl ran close, and when she saw Mo Tiange's disheveled braids, she immediately glared at her: "Brother, you are not allowed to bully Tiange, return the things!"

The boy who was fierce just now suddenly put on a bitter face: "I was just teasing her."

The girl raised her eyebrows and stared at her brother: "You still say it! If you don't pay it back, I'll go home and tell Dad that you bullied my sister."

The boy's face became even more bitter: "What kind of sister is she? She doesn't live with us."

"Our grandpa Tiange is also called grandpa, why isn't he younger sister? If you say it again, I'll go back and tell dad right now!"

"Okay, okay, I'll just give it to you." The boy tucked the hair rope in his hand, and hurried away first.

Seeing him go, Tian Ge whispered: "Tianqiao, thank you."

Mo Tianqiao raised a smile: "You don't need to thank me, it's his fault. Here, pay this back to you!"

Mo Tiange took the headband and tied her braids indiscriminately.

"Let me do it." Mo Tianqiao saw that she was tying up sloppily, so he simply unbraided her braid and rebraided it. She was half a head taller than Mo Tiange, and she could braid her hair smoothly without having to squat down.

After braiding, Mo Tianqiao carefully took out a paper bag from his pocket and opened it: "Tian Ge, come and eat cakes."

Mo Tiange took what she handed over, which was a piece of sweet potato pancake. She whispered, "Thank you."

She usually has no cakes and candies to eat, and her mother has been sick all the time. Although she is still hungry, she doesn't have much food left. Only when her grandpa buys candies during the holidays, will she get some.

Tianqiao and her brother Tianjun are the uncle's children. Tianqiao treats her very well and always shares his snacks with her.

"Let's eat together."

"Um."

The two ate together and walked to the ancestral hall together.

The ethnology of the Mo family is located in the ancestral hall in the west of the village. An old scholar in the village is the master of the school, and he teaches the children of the family to read here. Since it is an ethnology, all children from Mojia Village can go to school without paying tuition fees. However, the villagers planed food in the fields for generations, most of them just hoped that their children could recognize a few big characters in the future, and they could count and count. The children came to study in the morning and went to help the family in the afternoon. Only a few children with high hopes stayed until the afternoon.

The two of Mo Tiange entered the ancestral hall, and the room was already full of children. The youngest was six or seven years old, and the eldest was thirteen or fourteen. They were all boys, and only the two of them were girls.

People in the world believe that a woman's lack of talent is virtue, and the same is true of the Mo Family School. The daughters of Mojia Village rarely go to school, and they all help the family with housework from the very beginning. Know a few words.

Mo Tianqiao was like that. She is the direct grandchild of the head of the Mo family. Because she is the eldest granddaughter and is a sibling of the eldest grandson's mother, her family also regards her highly. Not only did she take her name from her brother, but she was also sent to the school together.

She and Tian Ge are the only two in this generation who were named according to their seniority.

However, Mo Tiange's situation is different.

Mo Tiange's mother was originally the fourth daughter of the patriarch's family, now known as the fourth lady. She was not born of the patriarch's wife, but was born outside when the patriarch was young, so the family treated her very coldly. Moreover, she was sick in the womb, and she suffered from minor illnesses all year round, so she was more and more neglected by others.

Ten years ago, a scholar came from the village to live here, met her several times, and for some reason proposed to the patriarch to marry her. Although the patriarch didn't like this daughter, he was also afraid that others would have ill intentions, so he asked her to marry her and stay in the village, but the scholar didn't object. Soon the two became relatives and lived in the village.

It's a pity that in the third year, the scholar wanted to travel far away, but he never returned.

Because her father never came back, she was the only blood. Not only did Tian Ge have a surname of Mo, but her name also followed her seniority, and she was always raised as a boy.

When the school was full of noise, there was a cough from inside, and the children in the room immediately fell silent, and an old master with half-white beard and hair and dignified complexion came out from the inside.

Seeing that the students were all sitting obediently and no one was making noise, the old master nodded in satisfaction, took a volume of books from the desk, and asked, "Have you memorized the first paragraph of yesterday's "Disciple Regulations?"

The classroom became even quieter. These children are just for literacy. Where can they read seriously, half of them will be good enough to teach ten characters.

The old master frowned, called his name and said, "Mo Tianjun, you recite it."

Mo Tianjun stood up quickly, but his face was wrinkled, and he was not as arrogant as when he bullied Mo Tiange just now.

He just listened to him and began to recite: "Parents call, don't slow down. Parents order, don't be lazy. Parents teach, you must...you must listen carefully. Parents must obey."

The old master nodded: "Yes, continue."

"Winter is warm, summer is hot. In the morning, you will save, and in the evening, you will be calm. When you go out...you will be told, but you must..." When he read this, he scratched his head and thought for a while, but he couldn't recite it.

He secretly looked up at his master's face, but seeing his serious face, he quickly lowered his head again.

"Hmph!" The Master snorted coldly and said, "What did you do last night? Why did you recite so little?"

Mo Tianjun muttered twice, but did not dare to answer.

"hand."

Hearing this, Mo Tianjun's face was as bitter as gallbladder, but he didn't dare to disobey his master, so he stepped forward and cautiously stretched out his left hand.

The master held the ruler with his skinny hand, and patted his palm. Mo Tianjun was startled, flattened his hands flatly, and turned his head away.

The ruler was raised high, and it hit his palm with a "smack". The children in the whole school dared not make a sound, for fear that he would be the next one.

After hitting five times, Mo Tianjun's palms were already red, and the master put away the ruler: "Next, Mo Tianwei."

"Yes." Another child stood up and began to recite, "Parents call, don't slow down. Parents order, don't be lazy. Parents teach, you must listen carefully. Parents must obey..."

The child was stumbling, and finally memorized it all, the master finally frowned: "Go back and memorize it again, next one."

Feeling Tianqiao's movements, Mo Tiange asked in a low voice, "Tianqiao, what's wrong?"

Mo Tianqiao made a bitter face, and replied in a low voice: "I don't know how to recite it, I don't know if I can recite it all later."

"Hurry up and recite it now, there is still time."

"That's right." Mo Tianqiao quickly opened the pages of the book and began to recite silently in his heart.

"Mo Tiange."

Mo Tiange stood up quickly: "Yes, Master."

She thought for a while, and began to recite: "When parents call, don't slow down. Parents order, don't be lazy. Parents teach, you must listen carefully. Parents, responsibility, must obey. Winter is warm, summer is warm. Morning is quiet, sleepless." Then it will be fixed. If you go out, you must tell, and if you go against it, you must face it. There is permanence in residence, and karma does not change..."

"After three years of mourning, I am always sad. The place of residence changes, and the wine and meat are cut off. The funeral is full of rituals, and the sacrifices are sincere. Treat the dead as you live."

A slight smile appeared on the Master's face: "Okay, the recitation is very good, you can start to read 'Chu Zedi' today."

"Yes, Master."

She breathed a sigh of relief, opened the book, and read the next paragraph.

Although these strangers don't care about whether they are good or bad in their studies, the old master is a full-fledged scholar and treats his studies very strictly. It is not easy to get his approval.