Chapter 10: Thinking of Family Gratitude and Filial Piety

Han Gang clearly saw Li Laizi's impatient look. He was always happy to do anything that would make his enemy uncomfortable, and there was also something he wanted to figure out.

"Li Zheng, the vegetable field by the river bend..." Han Gang cut straight to the point, but as soon as he mentioned it, he saw the ferocity in Li Laizi's eyes intensify. He knew he had hit a sore spot.

"Let's talk about this a few days later!" The village head of Xiaolongwan burst out, turned his head, and walked away. He secretly cursed, why did this scholar recover so quickly? If he had stayed sick for another half month, the Han family would have spent all the money from the land they mortgaged, and he wouldn't have to worry about anything.

Staring at Li Laizi's retreating back, Han Gang snorted coldly. He had seen the ferocity in Li Laizi's eyes, but now that he was well, no matter what tricks Li Laizi played, he could handle them.

By evening, Han Gang's parents, Han Qianliu and Han Aili, returned, exhausted, with empty baskets. Han Qianliu was carrying a jar that smelled of alcohol but contained only the dregs. Han Aili's basket held half a leg of lamb, wrapped in lotus leaves, which she handed to the little maid to prepare in the kitchen. Hearing the clear and loud reading of books coming from his son's room, the couple exchanged smiles, feeling that all their hardships were worth it.

Han Yunni quickly prepared dinner, skillfully handling the lamb. She cut the meat to make porridge and used the bones to make soup. Setting the table, she called Han Gang out, and the family gathered around the table.

Han Qianliu and Han Aili were both in their forties. Due to years of hard work, they looked older than their actual age. Han Qianliu was about the same height as Han Gang, around six feet, which was considered tall in Guanzhong. They had similar features: thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a square, strong face, making him look dignified.

Compared to Han Qianliu's height, Han Gang's mother was shorter and not particularly beautiful, but she was a capable woman, both inside and outside the home, and the backbone of the Han family. Because Han Gang's maternal grandfather had been a headman, and his uncle was now a headman in Fengxiang, about a hundred miles away, a large axe that had cut down dozens of bandits hung on the wall at home. Han Aili, coming from a military family, had a much harder temperament than the always smiling Han Qianliu. When she raised her rolling pin, no one in Xiaolongwan village dared to breathe heavily.

Han Qianliu sat at the east end of the table, Han Aili opposite him, and Han Gang at the lower end. The little maid had to stand by and serve, eating in the kitchen only after everyone else had finished. Although the Han family was poor, they still followed the rules of society. If there were guests, even Han Aili would have to eat in the kitchen.

The three of them sitting around the large table made it seem empty and cold. Originally, with Han Gang's elder brother and his wife, it was a family of seven. When Han Gang was not away studying and his second brother was still at home, the five Han family members would gather around the table, with his elder brother's wife and Han Yunni serving, making for a lively meal.

But after both of Han Gang's elder brothers died in battle, just three months later, his elder brother's wife was called back by her family, taking with her the twenty acres of dowry land. According to etiquette, a widow should mourn for three years after her husband's death, but in the northwest border region, there were not so many rigid rules. Han Gang only heard from Yunni that the former elder brother's wife would remarry after the New Year.

If Han Gang had not integrated the original owner's memories, he might have been surprised by this, but since he had, he found it perfectly normal. Neo-Confucianism was not yet a prominent school of thought, and there was no concept of "starvation being a minor matter, but loss of chastity being a major one." After a husband's death, it was very common for widows of childbearing age to remarry, even if they were unwilling, their families would force them to.

If a widow could bring a large dowry, her suitors might even wear out the threshold. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, two prime ministers, Zhang Xianqi and Xiang Minzhong, fought over a widow with a dowry of 100,000 strings of cash, taking the case all the way to the emperor, causing a commotion in the court. Such was the social climate, and the idea of steadfastly maintaining chastity was unrealistic.

Han Gang picked up his chopsticks and bowed his head to eat his convalescent meal, as usual, a bowl of mutton porridge and a few side dishes. The meals were the same every day, but Han Gang had no complaints. He knew the hardships his parents endured and how hard it was to get these things.

Han Qianliu and Han Aili ate much simpler meals than their son. Like ordinary farmers of this era, the Han family's daily menu was very simple and monotonous. A bowl of vegetable soup noodles, which were actually just noodles, but in the Song Dynasty, all foods made from flour were called "bing" (cakes), and there were also "cooked cakes."

These cooked cakes were what Wu Dalang sold, originally called steamed cakes, but renamed cooked cakes a few decades ago to avoid the taboo of Emperor Renzong's name, Zhao Zhen. In reality, they were just steamed buns. The steamed buns of this era contained meat fillings, which were the meat buns of later times, while vegetable buns were called plain steamed buns.

The side dishes were various pickled vegetables. The Han family did not eat the fresh vegetables they grew themselves; they sold them to the wealthy in the city to earn money.

The flour used to make the soup noodles and cooked cakes was coarse, with one dou (about 10 liters) of wheat yielding nine and a half sheng (about 9.5 liters) of flour, including the bran, rather than the fine white flour that only yielded half the amount. Such a meal could fill the stomach but had little flavor, and with only two meals a day, the stomach would often rumble for half the day.

This was the life of ordinary families in the Song Dynasty, just like the Han family. Originally, the Han family was relatively well-off, and at least every ten to fifteen days, after selling vegetables in the city, they could buy some alcohol and meat to reward themselves. But now, with the family's sudden poverty, any meat bought was for Han Gang to recover, and Han Qianliu, who wanted to drink a little, could not afford the money.

Instead, he fetched some free alcohol dregs from a familiar wine shop, poured them into an old wine pot with hot water, and sipped to satisfy his craving. Although they ate coarse food, seeing Han Gang eat heartily, the couple were both delighted.

Han Qianliu and Han Aili might not fully understand, but Han Gang, with the memory of two years of study, knew that his two brothers' deaths should have entitled them to compensation, with money and silk totaling about five to six guan (strings of cash) and seven to eight bolts. However, this compensation, like water flowing through the desert in the government offices, disappeared after passing through several hands. If the full compensation had been given, the Han family's finances would have been more comfortable, and they could have redeemed an acre or two of vegetable fields without any problem.

Han Aili ate quickly, while Han Qianliu held his bowl, sipping the watered-down alcohol dregs slowly. Han Gang's eyes, not nearsighted from years of reading, could clearly see the two lines of small characters tattooed on the back of Han Qianliu's left hand. The small characters were blurred by wrinkles, but Han Gang could barely make out "bow... hand... four."

Han Gang understood this. These were the unit numbers of the Qin Prefecture militia organization to which Han Qianliu belonged, the fourth archer unit. As a member of the lowest military rank, the border archers, who were one in three men in Shaanxi, he was only tattooed on the back of his hand. If he were in the regular army, he would have been tattooed on the face. His second brother, who died in battle, had been tattooed on the face, and the higher ranks in the militia, such as the guards and strong archers, were also tattooed on the face.

Two meals a day, barely enough to fill the stomach, and often having to go to war, with no compensation after death—this was the life of an ordinary family in Shaanxi during the Song Dynasty.