Old East Mountain in Fuyuan County was the territory of the Hai family. Most of the land in the surrounding 20-odd villages belonged to his family. They were rented to tenants to grow crops. Master Hai was the chieftain here.
The Hai family lived in Lu Qingxi. There were more than 400 families living in this village, most of which were Yi people. The stockade was surrounded by mountains on three sides, facing west and east. In the middle was a dam, and a small river meandered through it.
The river water flowed out from the dragon pond in the Hai Family's courtyard, and its exit faced east. Every spring, many Yin River fish would swim out of the Dragon Pond. They were palm-sized, slender, and delicious, but only Master Hai could enjoy them.
The river bank and the surrounding foothills were filled with tall bamboo. On both sides of the river were rice fields and vegetable fields. The mountains were covered with all kinds of trees, wild tea, and azalea. People called it the Little Jiangnan in the depths of the mountains.
The Hai family's courtyard was behind the village. It consisted of a large stone house and three rows of tile-roofed houses on the left, right, and back.
In front of them was a wall with a gate. On both sides of the gate were a three-story square turret. The stone house was surrounded in the middle. It was a majestic, tall, three-story stone house.
The outer walls were all built from six sides of bluestone from the foot to the top, and the house was built with stone pillars. The middle courtyard was also inlaid with square bluestone blocks, and was more than ten feet long and wide.
The two main doors were made of iron sheets.
There were five rooms in the main hall and five rooms on the left and right. The living room was downstairs, the second floor was occupied by people, and the third floor of the side hall was occupied by the accountant and the servants who served the master and the two grandmothers. The three sons lived in the rooms on the two sides. The old master's personal bodyguards lived on the third floor of the right room, while the third floor of the left room was filled with many valuable things.
More than a dozen servants lived on the upper floor of the long tile-roofed house on the right side. The downstairs was piled with grains, potatoes, and sundries. On the left side of the building, there were all kinds of handymen who cooked and fed the pigs. Downstairs were the kitchen and canteen. There were four circular granaries behind them.
There were also two big wolfhounds in the courtyard. Outside the back room was a large orchard and vegetable field that was surrounded by a wall. The Outflowing Dragon Pool was also surrounded by a half-arched, flat-topped, wide stone bridge. Outside the back door of the Dragon Pool was a stone mountain that was fifty to sixty feet tall. On the stone mountain, there was a turret.
There were peach and pear trees planted in the orchard. There were two pavilions covered with glazed tiles in the orchard. There were marble tables and stools in the pavilions. This meant that Old Master Hai liked landscape architecture very much. The water from the Dragon Pool flowed through the middle of the orchard.
The orchard was surrounded by large vegetable fields, with all kinds of vegetables that could not be eaten all year round. Beside the vegetable field, there were more than ten pigsty and stables close to the wall.
Old Master Hai was already in his early sixties and was very fat. Although he was a chieftain, his power was not very great with the compulsory rule of the National Government.
This person appeared to be kind-hearted. Although he had many servants in his family, they were only there to guard against bandits and rarely hurt the common people. When the Yi people were in trouble, he would even give them sympathy and charity.
However, there was a vicious rule in the dark.
There was a custom here. On the night before a woman got married, she could not sleep at home. She had to sleep in another girl's house. She didn't want to be too sad when they were separated at home and affect the wedding the next day.
He took this opportunity to secretly make a rule that beautiful women would be covered with a black cloth on the night of their marriage. The clan leader would secretly send them over to sleep with him. He thought that this was like an old cow nibbling on young grass to taste the freshness.
The clan leader brought it over and sent it to the back door of the turret. Then, Old Master Hai's personal servant took it in and arranged for Old Master. The clan leader was sleeping in the turret and waiting. After the woman slept with the old master, the clan leader would bring her back before dawn.
However, he was not allowed to tell anyone, not even his parents. If he told anyone, he would be in trouble. Of course, no girl would be too embarrassed to tell others about this.
Therefore, no one knew if the first child after marriage belonged to Old Master Hai or their own man.
Buckwheat Flower was one of the victims. She had always kept this grudge in her heart, and no one knew.
Old Master Hai had two wives, both of whom were Yi girls. She had three sons. The eldest son, the second son was born by the first wife, and the youngest son was born by the second wife. The eldest son had been doing business outside and there had been no news of him. The second son was already in his thirties. After getting married, he did not care about anything. He only went out to smoke and gamble. He did not return home for a few days.
The youngest son was about fifteen years old and had gone to primary school. He was relatively smart, but he was also a person who liked to play with sticks and ghost dances.
Most of the household chores were handled by the concubine, but the master was still Old Master Hai. He still had the final say in the household, and the two daughters-in-law did not dare to say anything.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。