The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 266 Do you like me? Do you want to marry me?

The boy and girl had a great time.

They read side by side, they rode and hunted, and they talked about everything under the sun.

The boy was surprised that the girl's archery skills were just as good as his. In fact, because she used a short bow, she could shoot faster than him and was more accurate than him in shooting small animals, such as rabbits.
The girl was also intoxicated by the boy's stories, the Han people's rules and regulations, cultural relics, poetry and literature:

"A jasper tree stands tall, with thousands of green silk ribbons hanging down..."

She tilted her head back slightly, and through the window screen, she looked at the light green of the willow trees in the distance. Where she grew up, there were no willow trees, no trees with such graceful figures;

Even if there are trees, at this season, the ground is covered with ice and snow, and a white wind blows from time to time, and it is far from the time for the trees to sprout new green leaves.

It is said that there are better scenery inside the pass, with natural beauty, yin and yang dividing the dusk and dawn, green mountains on both sides facing each other, a lone sail coming from the sun, three autumn osmanthus, ten miles of lotus flowers...

"I really want to... I really want to see it with my own eyes..."

But she was more fascinated by history books, fascinated by those saintly kings and wise kings, heroes and beauties:

"A hundred cavalrymen defeated ten thousand enemies, and captured two kings in one battle... Tian Khan is really amazing..."

"Can you even tolerate a minister who once wanted to kill you? If it were me, I'm afraid I couldn't do it. I really can't stand it... Is this the magnanimity of a wise ruler?"

"Shameless! So shameless! The emperor lost the world, why did he put the blame on a woman? He robbed that woman! She is his daughter-in-law! - Does this mean she is the descendant of the Khan?"

From winter to spring, and from spring to summer, they spent more and more time together, and their feelings grew deeper.

In the small city of Yinzhou, inside and outside the city, from Tiaobing Mountain to Zhenxi Fort, from Qinghe Bay to Qingyun Temple, their footprints are everywhere.

They went hunting together and had picnics on the grass together. The boy's riding and shooting skills became more and more agile, while the girl's dress and manner of speech became more and more like those of ordinary Han girls.

Finally, as summer gradually passed and autumn began to blow, and the caravan brought a reply letter to the girl's father's family, the boy finally mustered up the courage to make a request to his father:
"Father, I love Jinzhu. I want to marry her - please make the decision, father!"

He looked up, his heart pounding, and stared at his father's majestic face. However, what he got was a blow to the head:
"You want to marry her? That's impossible!"

"Why not? I'm not married, and she's not married—" the young man argued vigorously. He knew that the girl was not a Han woman, but what about a Tatar noblewoman?
That's a noble lady too!
There are also tribal forces behind it!

Why can't he marry her!

"There are military households around here who have married Tatar women!"

"Are you the same as them?" The father was furious. He took off his whip and whipped the boy without saying anything, causing him to jump all over the ground.
"You are my son! The eldest son of Earl Ningyuan! Your wife will be granted an imperial decree! Your mother has already found someone for you and is just waiting for the proposal!"

"Then I won't marry her either! I want to marry Jinzhu!" The young man turned around and ran away. Before he ran out of the door, a big foot kicked him up and kicked him directly against the wall:

"Get back here! Your parents' orders and the matchmaker's words are yours. Marriage is a big deal and you can't make the decision on your own! - Besides, how do you know she's not married?"

"what?!"

The boy slid down from the wall, sat on the ground with his legs apart, and looked up at his father:

"Marry? How can she get married? She hasn't even reached the age of marriage yet!"

She hasn't even reached the age of marriage this year, and he found the golden beads in Toluohan's tent last year...

Such a young girl, getting married?
Are you kidding?
"look by youself!"

The father threw a letter and it hit the boy directly on the head.

The boy grabbed the letter blankly, read it from beginning to end, and then read it from end to beginning again.

His hands were shaking so badly that he had to put the letter on his legs and hold his right wrist tightly with his left hand.

Even with blurred vision, I still stared at each word, as if I had returned to the age of enlightenment, when I had to stare at a word for a long time before I could remember what it was:

After looking for a long time, he suddenly yelled "Ah!" and jumped straight up from the ground. He rushed out of the back hall like a whirlwind, toward the side door, grabbed a horse and rushed out -

"Have you ever been married?"

He ignored the maid's repeated attempts to stop him, rushed in front of Jinzhu and started yelling at her.

Jinzhu was making a quiver under the window. When he heard the question, his hand trembled and his finger was pierced by a sharp spike. Blood immediately gushed out.

She put her fingertips in her mouth and looked up at the boy, her face half confused and half painful, as if she didn't understand what he was asking.

"Why didn't you tell me you were married?"

The young man's eyes fell on the quiver, he was stunned for a moment, and his expression suddenly softened.

The pattern on this quiver was in the shape of a tiger descending from a mountain, which was what he had once said he wanted.

"Li Guang shoots rocks, Sun Lang shoots tigers. It's a pity that I didn't take you with me to hunt tigers. Otherwise, I could have embroidered a tiger on my quiver..."

She gritted her teeth and used her strength to pierce the thick leather with a sharp awl again and again to make him a new quiver, and embroidered the pattern on the quiver.

For a moment, she was speechless. Instead, the girl held her finger in her mouth for a moment to stop the bleeding, and suddenly laughed sadly:
"So what if I told you that I got married much earlier than you thought?"

[Note: Chief Editor: Bai Shouyi; Chief Editor: Wang Yuquan, General History of China 16, Volume 9, Medieval and Ming Dynasties, Part 2015: Shanghai People's Publishing House, 06-] The boy took a step back, speechless. You are so young, are you kidding?
According to the laws of this dynasty, having sex with a girl under the age of twelve... "even if they are together, it is considered as forced" is punishable by hanging!

Which man is so crazy that he disregards the law and has no shame? !
"That man led his troops to the west and asked for a marriage alliance. My father offered me to him..." The girl's lacquered eyes were cold:
"In fact, there are other cousins and sisters who can offer their services, but they said that only my father's biological daughter, the daughter of the most noble birth, is the most sincere...

Then, that man wanted me..."

"How dare he? How could he?"

The boy's numb mind finally came to its senses:

"How old were you at that time..."

"So what? The wise man around the man told him that this was allowed, and that was what their saints did...

Really, I envy you Ming people girls..."

The boy stepped back step by step until his back hit the wall. He suddenly yelled and turned around and ran back, running farther and farther away:
This is impossible!

This is impossible!

Why would this happen!

This world is simply crazy!
"You already knew it, didn't you?" He rushed back to his father like a whirlwind and asked. The middle-aged man stared at his son coldly until the boy shrank back, then he slowly replied:
"So what if you know? So what if you don't know?"

"Knowing that, you still indulged me to be with her all these days?"

The young man asked in disbelief. The middle-aged man looked cold:
"She is a noble lady of the Tatars, not a Han woman. Chatting with her about hunting is nothing. She will have to go back to the grasslands eventually. What's wrong with letting you relax before going to Beijing?"

"Going to Beijing?"

"Have you even forgotten this? You are my son, a son of military honor. You must go to the capital to serve as a guard of honor and protect the imperial family!"

The boy shook his head frantically, his mind was a mess, and he couldn't find his tongue at all. The middle-aged man didn't care about his son's mood and continued calmly:

“When she gets married, if she remains unknown, she will not have any contact with you, and even your in-laws will not care about these past events;
And if she can take power in the tribe - although this is rare - it would not be a bad thing for you to have such an acquaintance!"

The young boy looked up at his father blankly. He had never seen this side of his father before, the side that, besides training soldiers, fighting wars, and caring for orphans and the disabled, was also scheming against the various tribes on the grassland.

After a long while, he regained some sense and asked softly:
"What about her?"

"she?"

"What will happen to her? She has lived here for most of the year and has been close to me. What will happen to her if she gets a reputation like this?"

"You've read history books in vain!" The middle-aged man finally laughed out of anger:

"Who would care about this among the men on the grassland? Just look around and see how many men marry their stepmothers? There are even many who marry their step-grandmothers!
Those people only care about how many slaves, cattle and sheep she has, or even how many military tents and warriors she has. Who cares about these crap?"

The boy bowed his head in silence. His father waved his hand and sent him away:

"The person who is going to pick her up is coming soon. Since you are worried about her reputation and her future, you don't have to go see her!"

The conversation between father and son came to an end.

The young man stepped back and forth from the military tent in a daze, feeling as if his head had been hit by a violent iron hammer, his brains had been beaten into a paste, and then twisted together extremely roughly.

He found a corner, hugged Xiao Jin who had always been loyal to him, and muttered softly:
"In the end, I was the only one who looked like a fool..."

Xiao Jin gently nudged him with his head, stretched out his paw, and began to write. The boy looked down at the strokes on the sand and read one word at a time:
"But she likes you!"

But she likes you!
I like you!

The boy's eyes lit up. Yes, love can't be faked. She looked at him with sparkling eyes and listened to him speak;
When she accompanied him out of town to hunt, rode and shot with him side by side, and shared a string of laughter;
She frowned as she held the pen, and under his guidance, she traced the calligraphy stroke by stroke;
As she sat under the window, making his quiver...

Being offered up by her father and possessed by Toluohan, was that her own wish?
Is it up to her to decide?
The boy's mind finally settled down. He stood in front of the girl again and asked carefully:

"Do you like me? Have you ever thought about marrying me?"

　Baidu Encyclopedia cites "A General History of China":
　　Zheheng Aha presented the nine-year-old Sanniang to Altan.

　　The version about the age of nine was written by a historian, not made up by me...

　　If you think this version is too outrageous, there is an even more outrageous version in the History of Ming Dynasty:
　　Ba Han remarried the daughter of Aoerdusi, the granddaughter of Altan Khan, who was beautiful, but Altan Khan took her away. …

　　...After Altan went to the market, he served the court very carefully. ... His wife Hatun led his son Huang Taiji and others to present horses to express their gratitude...

　　In the spring of the fifteenth year, Zili Ke succeeded him. His wife... was the granddaughter of Altan Khan who was taken away by him and married to three kings...

　　I looked left and right, and read it three times. I said, "You are not a human being! Why don't you take your granddaughter away and make her your wife?"
　　Then this granddaughter "married three kings"...

　　I can only say that many of the practices of nomadic peoples are... well...

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(End of this chapter)