Chapter 4

Chapter 4 The Scholar’s Wife

This was good!

If everyone lived soberly and clear-head and looked at the people and things around them rationally, wouldn’t the world have a little prejudiced, and be more warm and loving?

However, Liu Fang thought: Humans probably cannot see through it. And most of them have insatiable desires. Greed was like a valley that can never be filled. They were always caught up in their own greed. That’s what causes all misfortunes, right?

Most of the people who were sober and clear-head actually live a very painful life. Because, there were too many things in the world for these people to compromise, and when they compromise, these people will forget their own sobriety and calmness.

Alas~ everything was like this, why do you have to force it? How can it be forced?

Only hope that in this world, there will be fewer things that were forced to compromise and more sober and calm people.

In autumn, the cold wind began to blow in the capital. Liu Fang has always been afraid of the cold. Even though she began to practice martial arts and strengthen her body since childhood, she was still “afraid of the cold”. It’s a psychological feeling, not necessarily a physical one.

Therefore, she put on a thin padded jacket early, and her cloak was always ready.

On this day, eldest sister’s mother-in-law, Madam Zhen invited their mother to go to the suburbs to offer incense in a temple. Madam Liu naturally brought Liu Fang with her. The seventeenth elder sister, An He who has been staying at home to embroider for the dowry and hadn’t gone out for several months can’t hold back anymore, she also acts coquettishly wanting to go together.

Madam Liu had no choice but to roll her eyes and agreed in a sullen mood, and kept saying, “Go, go, have enough fun, when you get married and have children, you can’t play even if you want to play. “

Seventeenth elder sister was so frightened that she almost wanted to regret her marriage, which made Liu Fang burst into laughter.

On the day of offering the incense. They set up early in the morning, Liu Fang was naturally fully armed and prepared properly, and Madam Liu was not worried at all.

When it comes to An He, she wears so little on cold days to look attractive. She was wearing a flowing tulle skirt, Madam Liu felt cold when she saw it, and almost stepped forward and stripped her.

There was no other way, An He could only go back and change into a normal autumn skirt in grievance before she could go out.

Liu Fang: …what is the point of this? ╮(︶﹏︶)╭

Madam Liu takes a carriage by herself. Every daughter and son in the mansion has at least two carriages ready when they went out, and they can take any carriage.

But An He want to squeeze with Liu Fang, so the two of them sat in one carriage.

Followed by several carriages with items for going out, as well as the carriages for the maids and servants, also followed by a team of guards marched forward mightly.

The Duke was a first-rank title. Although it can’t be compared with the first-rank prince. There were also rules and regulations for the guards, the number of people assign was 500 for the protection in the mansion and for travel.

The Duke Mansion was located in the imperial city. In addition, there were imperial guards guarding it. The Duke Mansion guards only need to patrol the safety of the mansion on daily basis and gave protection to the masters when they travel. In a real sense, there were really not many times to risk their lives.

The imperial city of the Great Jin Dynasty was not the same as what Liu Fang knew in her previous life.

The imperial city here was actually the place where the founding fathers, noble families, and royal clans lived. There were various mansions in it, and only the top wealthy families of the Great Jin Dynasty can live in them.

The size of the imperial city was something that Liu Fang had never seen before. At least, from her point of view, a city as big as this in ancient times can already be used as a real city, the capital of a country nowadays.

But here, This large imperial city was only inhabited by those noble families, and most of the inside was still empty, which was really a waste.

However, the emperors of the Great Jin Dynasty were not stupid to the end, the imperial city was big, and the palace city was also big. Up to now, neither of the two emperors liked to have concubines. There were not many women, sons, and daughters. As a result, whether it was the palace city or the imperial city, they were all enough to live.

Therefore, in order not to let those mansions left by the previous dynasty be deserted, and also to save the expenses of repairing these mansions.

The emperors of the Great Jin Dynasty liked to rent the empty palaces and houses in the imperial city to wealthy merchants to hold banquets, or to open a part of them for the common people to visit.

In this way, the money generated was enough for the daily maintenance and repair of the palace and the empty houses in these imperial cities. It can also allow the common people to see the rich and noble style of the imperial city.

After leaving the imperial city, it was the lively inner city, and passing through the inner city was the outer city with the most population.

This city after another, when combined, was the entire capital, and there was a large area of ​​forest villages and towns in the suburbs of the capital. The capital of the Great Jin Dynasty was no less than the capital where Liu Fang lived in his previous life.

In the previous life, there were nearly 10 million people living in the capital, but the current capital of the Great Jin Dynasty has only about 3 million people, which was really vast and sparsely populated!

Therefore, no matter the outer city, the inner city, or the imperial city in the capital, the streets were very wide, and the houses and shops were very neat and well-proportioned. The only difference was that the houses in the imperial city are very large, the houses in the inner city were big and small, and in the outer city, there were many small houses and few big houses.

But the courtyard house was the most basic, and the largest was half the size of the Duke Mansion.

[A siheyuan (四合院) is a historical type of residence that was commonly found throughout China. Siheyuan refers to a courtyard surrounded by buildings on all four sides. It also appears in English translation as courtyard houses and, less often, as Chinese quardrangles]

In short, buying a house in the Great Jin Dynasty was more cost-effective than buying a house in modern times, at least it covers a large area and there was no public share. The house was spacious enough to live in!

Of course, there was no need to mention the kind of ten or twenty people crowded into one yard. Then it was the same as the modern ten people crowded in a house with two bedrooms and one living room. There were not enough houses and there were too many people.

The normal living area of ancient times surpassed modern times, no matter which time and space were the same.

This was not the first time Liu Fang has seen the prosperity of the Great Jin Dynasty, but she will sight every time she sees it. If it was like this in her previous life, there was no population explosion and she didn’t have to worry about the house then she wouldn’t have to die from overwork.

However, a large population also has the advantages of a large population, and a small population also has the disadvantages of a small population. In short, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. This was something that can’t be helped.

The wheel of history was always moving forward, and the power of an individual was too small in the face of the general trend of history. The only thing she can do was to live her own life well and live a stable and worry-free life, so she has no regrets.

Of course, if possible, she will also be a person who contributes to the world. The premise was that she was capable enough.

Now, she can still be a little girl with peace of mind, and she will be a good wife and mother in the future.

Anhe was the most restless among all the elder sisters. For a while, she let the maid go to buy snacks, and then pointed to the cloth village and chatted with Liu Fang about the new fabrics. She was never quiet along the way. Making Liu Fang want to shut her up.

It’s so noisy!

There were several Buddhist temples in the suburbs of the capital. The most famous one was Anguo Temple. As the name suggests, this was the national temple of the Great Jin Dynasty. Because the royal family surname was An, and the eldest brother of the first emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty became a monk here, it got its name.

Therefore, the incense here was the most prosperous, and it only entertains noble families, royal clans, and other officials families. It wasn’t impossible for ordinary people to come here to offer incense, but most of them were afraid to bump into the nobles. Thus not many of them come here.

In this way, over time, Anguo Temple has become a place where the noble families offer incense and worship the Buddha. And ordinary people can hardly be seen here.

However, there was a market at the foot of the mountain where people gather, selling food, drink, incense and candles.

Anguo Temple was not very far from the capital. The carriage can speed up as soon as it leaves the city, but it takes more than half an hour to reach the foot of Anguo Temple.

There was a spacious road on the mountain. The drives directly drive the carriage to the mountain and stops at the gate of the temple. There was a spacious square for parking the carriage, and there were also monks who guard the carriage.

Liu Fang and her party were going up the mountain in a carriage. Suddenly, the carriage stopped causing Liu Fang, Anhe, Shu Mo, and Xiang Ting, who were unprepared to collide.

“Ouch! It hurts to death!”

Anhe covered her forehead, Xiang Ting and Shu Mo supported each other and each of them also covered their forehead.

Liu Fang’s response was quick, she grab the carriage with both hands so she didn’t bump.

Seeing that An He’s forehead was swollen, she quickly stabilized herself and asked, “Seventeenth elder sister, are you all right?”

“Dizzy, my forehead hurts.” Anhe eyes were red with aggression Looking at Liu Fang with tear hanging in her eyes, pouted: “It hurts…”

Liu Fang:…Okay, it’s normal for elder sister to act like a spoiled child when she got hurt.

Seeing that the car had stopped. Liu Fang let go of her hand, shifted her body, sat beside An He, hugged her, and blow up her forehead: “Okay, Seventeenth elder sister, it doesn’t hurt anymore. Xiang Ting, Bring some ointment and apply it to seventeenth elder sister, and you and Shu Mo also apply it.”

“Alright, Eighteenth young lady, this servant will go.” 

The ointment was on the carriage behind. There was no medicine in this carriage, only tea, and snacks that Anhe bought snacks along the way.

Seeing that Xiang Ting went out of the carriage to get the medicine, An He pouted, she held back her tears and didn’t cry, then leaned against Liu Fang aggrievedly: “Xiao Anfang, blow it again, It still hurts…”

Liu Fang: What can I do? ╮( ω )╭ can only continue. Alas~

Xiang Ting brought the medicine over after a while, smeared it on Anhe, and then smeared the medicine on herself and Shu Mo, then said: “This servant has asked, it is said that the carriage in front had hit a person, so collide with us.”

Liu Fang also thought the same thing. She just didn’t know which family it was, and who was the one who get bumped into it.

After a lot of trouble and probably the front has been dealt with, the carriage began to move forward again. This time the carriage pace was much slower.

When Liu Fang’s carriage passed by the scene of the incident, they saw a woman covered in blood kneeling on the ground on the side of the road, surrounded by a circle of people dressed in the same clothes, probably the servants of a family.

The woman was sobbing pitifully. The servants who surrounded her rolled their eyes impatiently, and they were all big and tall, with a fierce look on their faces. When others saw it, they couldn’t help but think: Is this bullying?

Anhe was covering her head with a handkerchief. She glanced through the gauze of the car window and ignored it, but Liu Fang twitched the corners of her mouth and looked at the sky speechlessly: Does this woman think everyone else is a fool?

The woman was still sobbing and said, “You, even if you are from Junzhu‘s mansion, you can’t bully the commoners like this. The little girl was hit, can’t she ask for justice?”

[Jun zhu (郡主) A title given to the daughter of a prince]

At this time, a group of scholars happened to go up the mountain. Hearing the woman’s words, they stopped, and one of them said angrily to the group of servants: “It’s abominable, which junzhu is so lawless, to do such a cruel thing to the good people in broad daylight? Is there any law? ?”

Servant: … what did they say? what did they do? Harm the good people? !

One person rolled his eyes and said: “This young master, my master told this young lady to go to the hospital to see the injury first, and my master will naturally pay for the expenses. As for what this young lady said about being hit, the right and wrong of it will naturally be judged by the Jingzhao Mansion, so my master is not afraid. Besides, under the watchful eyes of everyone, everyone saw that it was this young lady who went to my master’s carriage. It wasn’t my master’s carriage that collided with her on purpose. Young Master, if you don’t know it, don’t make a false statement, otherwise, the title of my master is not just for show. It’s more than enough to sue you, what do you think?”

The scholar’s face and ears were red, and he replied with a stern expression, “Only one side of your words, who knows the truth?”

The other scholars glanced at him and turned their heads silently, one of them quietly took a step back. As he was about to turn away and leave, he was seen by the woman and shouted loudly.

“Young master, please check carefully. The little girl didn’t mean to hit junzhu‘s carriage. It was because the carriage was so fast that the little girl couldn’t react in time. Please help the little girl !” 

The scholar who has been seen by the girl: ……? ?

Everyone present looked at him collectively: …

Suddenly, the scene became quiet.