Chapter 36 – 33: Rules for Going Out
“Brother Da An, Brother Da An, are you home?”
In front of a mud house, Lu Qing shouted.
“Who’s there, who’s calling me?” A tall figure sprinted out from the house and, seeing Lu Qing, he was immediately overjoyed. “Is that you, Ah Qing? What brings you here today?”
“Da An, who is it?”
Before Lu Qing could answer, an elderly voice floated out, and an old man holding a bamboo pipe also emerged from the house.
“Grandpa, it’s Ah Qing who’s come!” Wang Da An called out directly.
“Grandpa Wang.” Lu Qing greeted the old man.
“Well, if it isn’t Ah Qing, come in, come in, have a seat inside.”
The old man, seeing Lu Qing, was also pleasantly surprised and eager to pull him inside for a drink of water.
“No need, Grandpa Wang, I am here to see Brother Da An for something. I won’t disturb you further by coming in,” Lu Qing hastily declined.
“Right, what did you need me for?” Wang Da An asked.
“I was thinking of going to the market. Didn’t you say last time, Brother Da An, that if I wanted to go to the market, I should come see you first? There are some customs I need to know about.”
“You’re going to the market?” Wang Da An was surprised, but then he remembered, “Oh right, today is the market day.”
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The market was held every five days, and today was precisely the fifth day since the last one.
“Ah Qing, what do you plan to do at the market, sell fish?” Wang Da An inquired.
“The fish aren’t urgent, I just want to check the market out first to get the lay of it, and maybe pick up a few things while I’m there.”
“I see. I don’t have an issue with that, it’s just that Grandpa was thinking of asking me to go cut some pigweed,” Wang Da An said, scratching his head.
After puffing on his pipe a couple of times, Grandpa Wang spoke, “Well then, Da An, you might as well take Ah Qing with you. He’s now head of a household and should learn about going out and the customs involved.”
“Sure, Grandpa, you can count on me to teach Ah Qing!” Wang Da An said cheerfully.
He was quite happy to avoid cutting pigweed; that was a much too tedious task.
“Let’s go, Ah Qing. We’ll talk as we walk.”
Wang Da An started leading Lu Qing out.
When they got to the entrance of the village, Wang Da An pointed to a large tree.
“Ah Qing, the first rule of heading to the market begins right here.”
“Here?” Lu Qing looked at the tree, somewhat puzzled.
Of course, he knew of the tree. It wasn’t very tall, but it was sturdy with thick branches and lush leaves. The trunk was so thick, several men would be needed to wrap their arms around it.
It somewhat resembled the banyan trees of his previous life.
Moreover, this tree seemed to hold particular importance.
Not only was it common for people to offer incense to it, but village children were also warned from a young age to avoid playing near it, much less climbing it.
Anyone caught breaking this rule would, at the very least, receive a sound thrashing, and at worst, be made to kneel in the ancestral hall on an empty stomach.
As a result, village kids treated this tree with a mix of respect and distance, preferring to play with mud elsewhere rather than near it.
However, Lu Qing’s memory did not supply the real purpose of the tree; he had simply thought it was for worship and protection.
Now it appeared, according to Brother Da An, that the tree had another use?
“That’s right, this tree is our village’s Divine Tree, as well as a letter tree. Every person who leaves the village for business, whether for the market or heading to the city, must leave a sign here indicating their destination.”
“In that way, if someone doesn’t return on time, the village can use the marker they left to know where they’ve gone.”
“This tree has such a purpose?” Lu Qing was surprised.
He had never considered that the tree he had been fearful of in the original owner’s memories had such a history.
“How does one leave a mark on it, then?” Lu Qing asked.
“Right here.”
Wang Da An stepped forward and lifted a stone slab at the base of the tree.
When he returned, he was holding two pieces of red rope.
Brother Da An handed one of the Red Ropes to Lu Qing and pointed to the tree, saying,
“Do you see those old branches on the Divine Tree? The one on the left, it represents the market; the middle one, represents inside the city; the right one, signifies setting out for places farther away.”
“Whenever you want to leave for somewhere, just wrap a Red Rope around the corresponding branch, so the villagers will know someone has left.”
“And when you return, just take down the Red Rope.”
“Is that all there is to it?” Lu Qing was taken aback.
He had thought it would be more complicated, but it was surprisingly simple.
“That’s right, what else could there be?” Brother Da An was somewhat puzzled by the question.
“Don’t you need to hang up a sign or some other kind of marker? How will everyone know who has left?” Lu Qing asked.
“Why hang up a sign?” Brother Da An was even more baffled.
“You can write names on it or something…”
As Lu Qing spoke, he suddenly realized something.
He had forgotten, most people in the village were illiterate.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, Brother Da An cracked a smile.
“You think everyone is like you, Ah Qing, knowing so many characters, who would write their own name.”
“Besides, it’s not so troublesome. The village is only so big. If the Red Rope isn’t taken down, just ask around in the village, and you’ll know who hasn’t returned.”
On reflection, Lu Qing thought this made sense.
It was him who hadn’t adjusted his thinking, expecting it to be as easy to leave for faraway places as it was in his previous life.
In fact, in an ancient world like this one, the villagers were very cautious about leaving home.
They wouldn’t go out unnecessarily.
Some villagers might never have left the village in their entire lives.
Children were especially forbidden from running around outside.
Under these circumstances, there actually weren’t many people who would leave the village on a regular basis; there was no need for it to be complicated.
However, this made Lu Qing understand why everyone always offered incense under this tree.
Apart from worshipping the gods, the villagers were more often praying for the safety of those who had left.
“Come on, let me tie it on for you.”
Brother Da An tied two Red Ropes on the branch that represented the market.
“Also, the village has another rule: the market isn’t far from our village, if you want to go there, one person is enough, just tie a Red Rope here.”
“But if you’re going to the city or somewhere even farther, then you must leave with at least two people so you can look out for each other.”
“If there’s no one from our village going to the city, you can call out to the neighboring village, see if anyone wants to go together. The rules for leaving in our neighboring villages are pretty much the same.”
“Going to the city is not like going to the market. With more people, it is safer to take care of each other.”
“Brother Da An, is the road to the city very dangerous?” Lu Qing couldn’t help asking when he heard these rules.
Brother Da An paused for a moment before saying, “I wouldn’t say it’s dangerous. In recent years, the road has been pretty peaceful, but my grandfather told me, there were mountain bandits on the road in the past, and someone from the next village was captured. It took several years for him to escape and return.”
“Everyone thought he had died out there. It wasn’t until he escaped back that they realized he had been captured by the mountain bandits.”
“But I heard that later, that group of mountain bandits was wiped out by the County Lord and the City Lord, so the roads have become peaceful again.”
“It was from then on that our villages gradually established the current leaving rules.”
Mountain bandits!
Lu Qing’s heart skipped a beat.
Sure enough, this world was not as tranquil as he had thought.
The term “Lord County Master” also caught his attention.
However, Lu Qing did not ask further. There was plenty of time, he would inquire slowly in the future.
After explaining the rules of leaving the village and tying on the Red Rope,
Brother Da An finally led Lu Qing in the direction of the market.