fake gentry

When Liu Chong saw Xie Hong come out, he winked at him and quickly ran into the cave.

"Uncle Cen..."

Chen San was somewhat taken aback: "Young master, Xie has guessed your identity."

Liu Chong's face turned pale, and he said in a low, urgent voice, "How is that possible? We didn't leave any clues."

Chen San's tone was extremely complex: "It's my fault. I wanted to test him, but I didn't expect him to have me wrapped around his little finger."

Liu Chong's expression turned somewhat indignant: "Uncle Cen, you're always so suspicious of this and that, and now you've backfired, haven't you?"

Chen San was somewhat embarrassed and shook his head, saying, "He might not be a member of the Sima family. The Sima family would never learn such crude farming techniques. But he is definitely not a member of the Xie family. The Xie family is not of high social standing and urgently needs talented people to cultivate their reputation and gain fame. They would never hide such an outstanding member. Perhaps he is a member of the Wang family. When the rebel Dun rebelled, he was afraid of being resented, so he impersonated a member of the Xie family."

Liu Chong immediately became excited: "I'll go and kill this traitor!"

Chen San hurriedly advised, "My lord, you must not! I was just guessing, but no matter who he is, we must not act rashly. You stay here, and I will go down the mountain with him to sell honey."

Liu Chong's eyes lit up, and he said, "I want to go too."

Chen San secretly lamented, "My lord, you cannot go down the mountain."

Liu Chong, who had been on the run for months and was incredibly restless, refused to go no matter what: "I want to go."

Chen San...

At this moment, Xie Hong's voice came: "Is Master Chen ready? If we don't set off soon, we'll miss dinner."

Liu Chong excitedly grabbed his knife and ran outside. Chen San hurriedly asked, "What are you doing, sir?"

"Selling honey!"

In the end, Chen San couldn't persuade Liu Chong otherwise, so he had no choice but to take three refugees down the mountain with him.

Chen San had to personally accompany Xie Hong.

Without needing to prepare anything, he and three refugees each carried a pottery jar, with Liu Chong acting as Xie Hong's bodyguard, and the group of six set off down the mountain road.

After walking along the main road for a full hour, Xie Hong was both hungry and scorched by the sun when a large expanse of terraced fields finally appeared before him.

The rice seedlings, about a foot tall, gleamed a tender green in the sunlight in the paddy field, and at the end of the field, near the foot of the mountain, there was a small fortified village.

"Jiangxi can be cultivated for three seasons, and rice is generally harvested twice. It should be early rice now."

Xie Hong led the five men along the main road toward the fortified village.

This fortified village was built against the mountain and surrounded by a wooden fence about 15 feet high. It was constructed by crisscrossing thick round logs and the outer side was sharpened like a chevaux-de-frise. At each of the four corners of the fence stood a two-story wooden corner tower, twice the height of the fence.

The fortified village has a large gate at the front, with a gate tower on top. The gate is covered with blue tiles and thatched roof, and has lookout holes and arrow slits. There are also elevated wooden corridors between the corner towers, which can provide rapid support in case of attack.

Inside the fort are earthen houses made of stone and rammed earth, built against the mountain, some with three floors and some with two floors.

Just after passing through the wooden fence, Xie Hong discovered a large area of ​​low thatched earthen houses on both sides of the fortified village.

These must be the self-cultivating farmers of this era. Although they had fields and houses, they still belonged to the lowest level of society, only slightly better off than the vagrants and the untouchables.

Above them were poor families, and these poor families had money to build fortified villages for self-protection during chaotic times.

Above the commoners were the gentry, who owned vast estates and lands, protected by private armies and retainers.

There was a strict class hierarchy and a severe social stigma among the three groups.

These people living outside the fortified villages would hide inside the villages when they encountered refugees, and only come out to farm after the refugees left.

"Brother Liu, you should wait outside the gate first, so as not to frighten the people inside the fort. You can come and trade after I open the gate."

Liu Chong sneered, "You're not going to use this opportunity to escape, are you?"

Xie Hong laughed heartily: "I'll miss you."

Liu Chong felt a chill run down his spine.

Xie Hongcai ignored everything else and drank half a can of moldy porridge in a day and a night. He was so hungry that he couldn't stand it anymore and had to find something to eat first and let these guys cool off.

He walked directly toward the nearest earthen house.

About twenty paces from the earthen house, a man came out of the house.

The man was short, with hunched shoulders and back. He was barefoot, wearing a gray-brown coat, and looked to be in his fifties. His cheeks were sunken, and his eyes were lined with deep wrinkles. He was carrying a broken earthenware jar and seemed to be preparing to go out to fetch water.

Upon seeing Xie Hong, the man knelt down abruptly. The earthenware jar rolled to the side.

Xie Hong was starving, and trying hard to control his expression, he asked calmly, "Is there anything to eat at home?"

The man clearly couldn't understand what Xie Hong was saying. He knelt on the ground, looking at Xie Hong with fear, and uttered a string of indistinct syllables.

It was somewhat similar to the dialect of Jiangxi, but it was also mixed with a very heavy local accent. In addition, the speaker spoke very fast, so Xie Hong couldn't understand a single word.

So Xie Hong gestured with his hand to indicate that he was drinking water and eating.

The man realized what was happening, scrambled to his feet, and ran into the house, shouting something as he ran.

A woman emerged from the earthen house; she was much younger than the man and was carrying a child of about three or five years old.

She was shocked when she saw Xie Hong, then handed the child to the man, took a step back, and actually bowed deeply to Xie Hong.

"This servant greets my lord."

Seeing that the other person could also speak Luoyang dialect, although not standard but completely understandable, Xie Hongqiang suppressed his excitement: "Quickly, quickly, get me a bowl of water and some rice to eat."

He barged into the house without any hesitation, then paused as he entered, turned around, and said, "The water needs to be boiled, add some salt."

The man and woman exchanged a glance, the man's eyes filled with fear: "Woman, there's...nothing at home..."

The woman remained calm and whispered to the man, "Go and fetch half a piece of dried meat, a new bowl, and a willow branch."

Xie Hong went inside. It was a single mud house with a rammed earth floor, surrounded by various odds and ends, farm tools, and Xie Hong even saw a fenced-off pigpen in the corner, but there were no pigs inside.

A straw mat was laid in the middle of the earthen house, but nothing was on it. The walls were plastered with a mixture of yellow mud and straw, and in some places, the plaster had peeled off.

The thatched roof overhead was blackened and shiny with soot, a testament to years of cooking smoke. A vine hung from the roof beam, from which hung a blackened cauldron.

Xie Hong's gaze lingered on the cauldron for a long while.

If this thing were in modern times, wouldn't it be worth a house in the capital?

The straw mat was clean, obviously much better than the broken straw mat in the cave. Xie Hong didn't stand on ceremony and took off his shoes to sit down, casually putting the Han sword aside.

The woman began to busy herself, while secretly glancing at Xie Hong's silk shoes that he had taken off, and was secretly shocked.

She was once a maidservant of a low-ranking noble family. In the fifth year of the Yongjia era, she and her master fled south and encountered refugees. Their entire clan was slaughtered, and only she and a few other maidservants escaped. Two years later, they finally settled here.

The young man's silk shoes were made of Shu brocade, a luxury only the top aristocratic families would afford; a single pair of shoes would probably be worth tens of thousands of coins.

Whose young master has fallen on hard times?

The woman quickly boiled water, took out an unused coarse earthenware bowl, washed it clean, wiped it again with a new kudzu cloth, poured water into it, and respectfully handed it over.

There was indeed some salt in the water, which made it taste a bit bitter, but Xie Hong drank it with relish.

The woman started cooking rice and a piece of cured pork about two fingers wide. The aroma filled the house while it was cooking.

After everything was prepared, the hostess placed the rice, meat, and a piece of pickled mustard greens in a new earthenware bowl, put it on a small table that resembled a large tray, and then specially shaved two willow branches to make chopsticks, and respectfully placed them in front of Xie Hong again.

"I have nothing at home, please don't be offended, my lord."

After serving the food, the couple and their child knelt on the rammed earth ground in front of him.

The child was clearly malnourished. He leaned against his father's chest, sucking on his fingers, his eyes fixed on the plate of meat in front of Xie Hong.

Xie Hong didn't bother with formalities and started eating right away.

The rice grains in the bowl were of varying sizes, mostly broken rice, and some were covered with a rough husk, clearly indicating that the husks had been removed but the rice had not been finely pounded.

This is the best that this family can offer.

The rice was astringent but surprisingly had a refreshing aroma, and the cured meat was incredibly delicious. However, the half piece of mustard greens was so salty that it tasted bitter.

After finishing his meal, he deliberately left three slices of cured meat. The hostess then brought him half a bowl of salt water to rinse his mouth, took away the small table, and made him kneel down again.

Xie Hong was so comfortable he almost groaned; at least he had a hot meal.

"Where did you come from? How long have you been here?"

The woman respectfully replied, "I escaped from Nanyang County in the fifth year of the Yongjia era. Ten years have passed since then."

Suddenly a voice came from outside: "Dong Qi, come out."

The man's face turned ashen instantly, and a look of terror flashed across the woman's face as well.