Diqin Designer

Chapter 139 Qin Soldiers Return Home
In a certain county in Qin, the sun was setting in the west, and another day was about to end. Smoke rose from various places in the village, and people ended their busy day and prepared to feast.

In a certain family's yard, an old man with gray hair and half of his left leg missing leaned against the wall and opened the wooden slip that he had read countless times.

As he read and stroked the wooden tablet, he felt as if he could see his son far away through the words on it.

He was illiterate at first, but because he kept flipping through the books, he was able to recognize the words.

However, even though he had learned to read the words on the wooden slips, when would his son return?

Inside the courtyard, a child of about four years old was playing in the mud. Seeing the old man looking at the piece of wood again, he ran over and looked up and asked, "Grandfather, Grandfather, is Dad coming back?"

The old man looked down at the child, holding the wooden tablet in one hand and touching the child's head with the other: "Does An miss his father? Ya should know that An misses him and will be back soon!"

The child wrinkled his face and said in disbelief, "Grandfather said the same thing a few days ago, but I didn't come back to see An today. Grandfather, did I forget about An?"

The old man said, "No, An is his son and this is his home, why wouldn't he come back? Something must have delayed him."

The child asked again: "When will you come back? If father doesn't come back, An will grow up!"

How would the old man know when his son would come back?
It has been more than a month. He should have returned long ago, but why hasn't he returned yet?

Is there still a war to be fought? Is Ya still fighting?

But Ya said on the wooden slip that the last State of Qi that could resist the Qin Dynasty had been destroyed, and the world had been unified, so how could there be any more wars?
Even if Ya had died in the battle, he should have sent back a message. Now we don't know whether he is alive or dead, which is more worrying.

Seeing that the old man did not answer, the child tugged at the old man's hand and asked, "Grandfather, Grandfather, when will you be back?"

A woman walked out of the house and saw the child pestering the old man. She said with a fierce face: "An, if you pester your grandfather again, watch out for your skin!"

Seeing his mother coming out, the child quickly dropped the old man's hand and ran out of the yard.

The old man glanced at the woman and said, "An is just missing his father."

The woman didn't answer and turned to walk into the house.

At this moment, the yellow dog in the yard suddenly barked, and a male voice sounded outside the yard, "Are you An? Why are you outside the yard?"

Hearing the male voice, the old man was startled at first, then he suddenly looked outside the yard, his wrinkled face full of excitement.

Two figures walked out of the house, one was the woman from before, and the other was an old woman, both of them were equally excited.

After waiting for more than a month, they finally saw their son (lover) return.

Outside the courtyard, a puzzled voice of a young child was heard: "Who are you? How do you know I'm An?"

The three people in the courtyard thought to themselves: "He is the father you have always thought about!"

Hearing the child's question, the male voice outside the yard fell silent for a moment, then rang again: "Of course I know you, because you are my son, I am your father, and I gave you the name 'An'. When I left home, you were only this old, and now you are this big."

After hearing this, the child screamed and hurriedly ran from outside the yard to inside. Seeing his grandfather, mother and great-grandmother were all in the yard, he pointed outside and said to the three of them: "Grandfather, there is a man outside who claims to be my father. He also knows my name is 'An'..."

As the child was talking, the man had already walked into the yard. The child hurriedly said, "Grandfather, mother, it's him!" The woman glanced at the man, touched the child's head, and said, "An, he is indeed your father!"

The child was stunned for a moment, then walked to the man, raised his head and asked, "Are you really my father?"

The man squatted down and nodded to the child, "Yes!"

The child happily shouted "Father!" and rushed into the man's arms.

The man picked up the child and said to the three people standing in the yard, "Father, mother, and my dear, I'm back!"

The glow of the setting sun shines on the earth, and the sky and the earth are getting dark and the day is about to end. In the writings of many literati and poets, it is often full of sadness. But at this moment, this family's home is full of joy. From time to time, a childish voice of "Father!" is heard, followed by an "Hey!" in response.

In the little daylight left today, the family began to enjoy their meal. Farmers were not so particular and did not eat separately. The family sat around a table and although the food was ordinary, they were enjoying themselves.

The man had a child sitting in his arms, peeling a cooked egg while talking to his family. The old man asked, "Ya, are you going to leave again after coming back this time?"

Hearing the old man ask this, the others looked at the man almost at the same time, and even the child in his arms fell silent.

After peeling the cooked egg and placing it in the old man's bowl, the man said, "I'm not leaving. Father, mother, and my dear, you can't imagine what the king has rewarded me for my meritorious service."

When they heard the man say he would not leave and that he had made great contributions and was rewarded by the king, they felt relieved. They were afraid that another war would break out and the man would be conscripted to fight again.

No more going to war, the family can be together and live in peace.

Moreover, now that the world is unified, we, the old Qin people, have conquered the world for the king, so we should be able to live a good life, right?
The woman asked, "What is the reward? A field or a house?"

The man smiled proudly and said, "I told you that you would never expect this. Not only do I have land and houses, but the king has also granted me an official position. I need to report to the county tomorrow, and then I will have to observe government affairs..."

At this point, the man scratched his head and said in a way that the others could understand: "Observing government means learning how to govern a place from the county magistrate, county magistrate, chief clerk, and prison official."

"In the future, I can not only be promoted based on my military achievements, but also if I can govern the local area well, I can be promoted based on this. Maybe I can even be summoned to Xianyang by the king in the future!"

The old man, the old woman and the woman looked at each other in bewilderment. Their son (husband) was going to become an official?

From the sound of it, there is still a chance to become a high-ranking official and go to Xianyang to meet the king?

The man then remembered something, and the smile on his face disappeared. He said seriously, "Father, mother, and my dear, there is one more thing I need to tell you. The place where the king ordered us to serve as officials is not in Guanzhong, but in the land of the six countries. Therefore, if I serve as an official, you will also have to move with me to another place."

The old man, the old woman and the woman fell silent. It turned out that not everything was good. If one wanted to be an official, one had to leave his hometown and move to a foreign land.

But in this era, although it is difficult to leave one's homeland, people are still quite pioneering, courageous and brave, and are not so averse to migration.

The old man asked, "Ya, what do you think?"

The man said seriously, "I want to go. This may be the best opportunity in my life. If I miss it, it will be hard to meet again. And if we are willing to serve as officials in those places, the king will give us not only large tracts of land and houses, but also exemption of corvée and taxes for the whole family for twenty years."

According to the Qin Dynasty's military merit system, one had to reach the "Bu Geng" level to be exempted from serving as a guard soldier, but one still had to perform other duties. Only when one reached the "Gong Cheng" level could one be exempted from military service.

(End of this chapter)