The older woman glared at the younger woman and scolded her: "You are so rude. Which is more important, soliciting customers or treating guests? This senior sister is our honored guest."
After saying that, he quickly said to Zheng Haizhu: "My name is Li Huaihua, and this is my sister-in-law, Liu Ping'er. My husband and brother are both guardsmen. They were exhausted when they were in the squad, so I took Ping'er with me."
, I started this business."
Li Huaihua preconceptionally believed that Zheng Haizhu was also in the flesh business, and saw that she was just passing by and took the initiative to do charity, so there was nothing to avoid, and she revealed her details in a few words.
"Banjun" is a system unique to the Ming Dynasty, and Zheng Haizhu has been familiar with it for many years. At this time, the imperial court sent out squadrons from the guards every quarter. Many of them went to the border to work as coolies and build military facilities, and they had to bring their own food.
.It is common for the guards who have their turn to go to work to be unable to withstand the disease once they contract the disease due to fatigue and poor nutrition.
Zheng Haizhu had already turned indifferent and was about to say goodbye and leave. When he heard that the two girls were family members of the Shanhaiguan Guard Station, he immediately changed his mind and ordered Xu San and Huang Zude to wait outside, while he followed Li Huaihua into the low and dilapidated house.
In the shack.
The space as big as a palm is divided into three. The space at the entrance is equipped with a low table and stools. On the left and right sides, two wooden boards covered with straw mats are blocked by bamboo mats full of holes. They are raised with a few stones.
It looks like a bed. In several corners, there are earthen pots, fishing nets, rice vats and bamboo baskets with clothes exposed.
Zheng Haizhu sat down, took the hand-warming pottery cup from Liu Ping'er, and asked Li Huaihua: "Sister Huaihua, if your men are guards, the court should have land allocated to them, how come..."
Li Huaihua stared at the woman in front of her, who had the same dark face as herself, and said with a sense of exploration: "Sister, looking at her face, she has been through the weather in our north, but her accent is like someone from the south. I guess she just passed through Shanhaiguan?"
Zheng Haizhu nodded: "Well, I'm not from Ji Town."
"Then it's no wonder you don't know. Many of the farmlands of the guards in Ji Town are occupied by the gentry. Especially if men like us died, they would even take away the fields along with them."
"Oh," Zheng Haizhu asked cautiously, "then, if they make the decision and allow you to marry a man from their manor, wouldn't you also have someone to rely on?"
Li Huaihua sighed: "Where can such a good fortune come from? What is your surname, this sister?"
"Surname Zheng."
"Sister Zheng, please don't look at me, Liu Ping'er, and the other women who have built shacks around us. Now we look worse than sparrows in a thatched nest. When we were still dutiful little wives, we looked very attractive. Those
Jin gentry, how could they be willing to marry me off to the farmers? We are all taking them as their concubines. At first, some sisters became concubines, thinking that they would no longer have to work hard in farming and raising mulberry fields. Unexpectedly, the houses of wealthy people were more beautiful than the Palace of Hell.
It's also scary. Once the master's favor is over, the eldest lady can find an excuse to beat the concubine to death. Everyone thinks that it is better to escape to the seaside and make a living as a private nest, even if they go to hell in the future,
I’m too embarrassed to see my husband, but at least I can live a few more years.”
As soon as Li Huaihua reached this point, his sister-in-law Liu Ping'er couldn't help but interrupt: "Looking at it now, I may not be able to live a few more years."
"What?" Zheng Haizhu put down the pottery cup and asked her softly.
Liu Ping'er's lips became more bitter: "In the past few years, many sisters who have lost their support in Shanhaiguan have gathered here, and the court came to collect flower silk money. The collection became heavier and heavier. Last year, it was half a tael of silver per month.
, after the first month of this year, it rose to eight silver coins."
"Eight coins!" Zheng Haizhu couldn't help but lost her voice in surprise, "The monthly salary of the frontier army, without additional grain, is only one tael of silver."
"But no, these men are such bastards. Some of them paid a small amount of money to sleep on our bodies, and some of them jumped out and asked us to each raise a soldier. When they mentioned us back, they called us bitches one after another.
Liu Ping'er said bitterly.
Li Huaihua on the side looked at Zheng Haizhu with a slight change in her eyes when she heard the words "monthly pay of the border army".
Judging from the pomp and circumstance that she brings a servant with her when she goes out, she must be serving a big shot.
It sounds like he is so familiar with military affairs. Could it be that he is a close friend of some general or even the adjutant general?
Look at her boys... no, ordinary boys don't have that kind of figure, they clearly look like they come from a military camp.
For a brief moment, a thought suddenly came to Li Huaihua's mind.
Don’t miss the opportunity God has given her to have two sisters-in-law today!
Li Huaihua looked at the women hurriedly passing by outside the door, running towards the port like wild dogs begging for food.
If she seizes the opportunity, she and her sister-in-law may no longer be one of them.
Li Huaihua then pursed her lips, swallowed, and plucked up the courage to say: "Sister Zheng is a kind-hearted person, and she must have a benefactor to take care of her. Huaihua boldly asks if she can enter her sister's house again.
Two rough messenger maids?"
Zheng Haizhu put down the pottery cup and stared at the attentive woman: "You guys want to leave here?"
Li Huaihua left the bench without hesitation and knelt at Zheng Haizhu's feet with a bang: "Sister Zheng, you are the Guanyin Bodhisattva sent by God. Please take me and Ping'er away."
When Liu Ping'er saw her sister-in-law's sudden move, she was stunned at first, and then she quickly reacted, knelt down, and began to kowtow.
Zheng Haizhu said in a calm and cold tone: "You guys sit back first. I don't like others kowtowing to me. My generals never do this either."
"General, general?" The two women raised their faces, their expressions changing from pleading to surprise.
"Well, I don't make a living in a brothel, nor do I work as a concubine for some big man. Don't call those men benefactors. How can they be benevolent to us women? As for me, I am a benefactor to the court.
Those who lead troops in battle. Your husband was a soldier in the garrison during his lifetime, but the one I led was a soldier in the camp."
When Li Huaihua and Liu Ping'er heard this, their mouths opened wider than the pottery cup on the table.
After a while, Li Huaihua suddenly slapped her thigh: "I remembered that last time, a military master who entered the pass from Ningyuan, after finishing with me, said that there is a heroic woman among the women in the Ming Dynasty, who mounts his horse to kill the enemy.
Called Qin, Qin..."
"My name is Qin Liangyu," Zheng Haizhu said calmly, "but General Qin and I don't like to hear the word hero among women. A hero is a hero. What are the differences between men and women?"
Li Huaihua seemed to be hit in the pit of her stomach by this fresh statement. She stayed for a moment and then said again: "Sister Zheng, oh no, the maids under General Zheng's tent must be rough, right?"
Zheng Haizhu smiled.
This Li Huaihua has a character that sticks to her guns, and temporary changes do not affect her target topics.
There is a military branch that is suitable for her.
"Sophora japonica, Ping'er, is this all you have to do to achieve your goals? Being a maid is the only way to get out of the pit of fire?"
The two women looked at each other, looked back at Zheng Haizhu, and asked timidly: "Then, what else can we do?"