Because the area surrounding Xun Family village was relatively flat and the land was fairly fertile, crops grew better there than in other places, which meant that the villagers lived a slightly better life.
Of course, this "better life" was only relative. The villagers could all fill their stomachs, didn’t need to sell their sons or daughters, and as long as they worked hard, no one would starve to death.
Xun Qiancheng’s father was a stone mason who could carve steles and gravestones, as well as make millstones and mortar, so his family lived a fairly decent life. Coupled with the fact that Xun Qiancheng’s mother was also skilled at running a household, the couple built the only pure brick-and-tile courtyard in the village and owned more than thirty acres of land. In the entire village, even the village head could not compare to them.
However, Xun Qiancheng was an only child and his parents inevitably spoiled him a bit. Nevertheless, he was quite gifted when it came to studying, even seeming to have been awarded the title of scholar. But afterwards, he didn’t study seriously, and his father called him back home.
With his father pressing him, Xun Qiancheng didn’t do anything too outrageous.
Latter, his father found a marriage match for him, a young woman from the Bai Family of Baimu County. Bai Family’s old man was also a stone mason, working in the same trade as Xun Qiancheng’s father, but since they operated in different areas, there was no conflict.
But it was said that Xun Qiancheng had met a girl in the brothel, and he was so enchanted that he lost his soul to her. Naturally, he was reluctant to marry the girl from the Bai Family, but his father wouldn’t allow it, and in the end he obediently went through with the marriage. However, after being married for a year and the Bai Family girl not becoming pregnant, Xun Qiancheng called her a hen that couldn’t lay eggs.
Yet, Bai Family’s daughter finally fell pregnant the next year and gave birth to a daughter, who was Xun Hui. But just as she finished her confinement period, her father-in-law, while quarrying stone to save his son, was injured and passed away in less than half a month.
Bai Family’s daughter managed the funeral affairs with her mother-in-law, but Xun Qiancheng insisted on blaming her and her daughter as jinxes and drove them back to their mother’s house, telling them to return only after his father’s seventieth day following death rituals had passed.
Even when they came back, with his father no longer there to hold him back, Xun Qiancheng began to behave even more unruly, and ultimately caused his mother’s death from sheer exasperation.
Bai Family’s daughter felt helpless, but what could she do? She could only manage the household by herself and keep life going.
But when Xun Hui was six years old, Bai Family’s daughter finally fell ill and passed away.
Yang Ruxin let out a sigh. In fact, she had once asked Xun Hui about her family’s situation, but each time Xun Hui would just sigh and shed tears, only saying her mother had been educated and was particularly skilled in needlework, and refused to say more. Now, it seemed that the woman from the Bai Family was indeed a very good woman.
It was a pity that a good woman had not met a good man.
Just after Bai Family’s daughter’s funeral had passed the seventh day, Xun Qiancheng brought back a woman who was pregnant, who was now Mao Family’s daughter, Xun Hui’s stepmother.
"It was in March, I remember it was just when the weather was warming up and everyone was starting to get busy in the fields," Xun Gang shook his head. "The whole village said that Xun Qiancheng was fooling around, but he didn’t care at all..." he sighed, "After all, it was someone else’s family affair, and besides condemnation, it really wasn’t right to say much... Little Hui stayed overnight at her mother’s grave that day; I was the one who carried her down from the mountain..."
Yang Ruxin nodded.
After Mao Family’s daughter married into the Xun Family, she gave birth to a daughter, Xun Zhen, in June, followed by another daughter, Xun Fen, in the second year in December; after that, she did not conceive anymore.