Chapter 2: The Kind Mother
Rushing out to the front mountain, Chen Jianchen only slightly relaxed his emotions after meeting other tourists. He saw his own donkey escaping and eating grass on the mountain road, so he pulled it along and hurried down the mountain to go home.
Chen Jianchen's home is in Jingyang Village, not far from Fengshan, only five miles away.
Jingyang Village is under the jurisdiction of Jiangzhou, with 58 households and a population of 226 people. The village is surrounded by a clear stream that flows gently, making the scenery look elegant and having some spiritual energy.
On the road, Chen Jianchen's mind was still lingering on that white fox who had performed "out of character". He vaguely felt that this world was not as simple as he had imagined, but what exactly it was like, he couldn't quite put into words. After all, his previous master was just a bookworm who didn't care about anything outside his window and only read sacred books, never leaving the house or even entering Jiangzhou City more than a few times, so his experience of the outside world was pitifully limited.
"Isn't there something like monsters and demons in this world?"
Chen Jianchen suddenly thought of a terrible possibility: "If there really are monsters and ghosts, then shouldn't there be immortals too? Ha, I must have too much imagination..."
The more he thought about it, the more absurd and nonsensical it seemed, so he forcibly suppressed this idea.
About the time it takes to burn an incense stick, Chen Jianchen returned to the village entrance, leading his donkey straight home. The villagers saw him and bowed their heads in respect, calling him "Mr. Chen". After he walked away, the village women whispered to each other with envy, admiring that "Mo San Niang" had finally brought up a promising son, and that great success was just around the corner.
Mo San Niang is Chen Jianchen's mother.
Chen Jianchen lost his father at a young age and was raised by his mother, who worked hard to support him and send him to school. The two were inseparable. But on the day Chen Jianchen passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, he read the announcement with joy, clapped his hands, shouted "Good!", and then fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth, reenacting the classic scene of "Fan Jin's Success". When he came to, everything had changed, and his soul had been replaced. The person who had just crossed over from Earth did not dare to speak out, quietly digesting all the unfamiliar things, including accepting the existence of a kind mother.
On Earth, he was an orphan with no relatives, and had little resistance to Mo San Niang's great motherly love from another time and space, and soon accepted it. After a period of getting along, he truly accepted Mo San Niang as his mother and was very filial.
……
Returning to the humble home, as soon as I entered the yard, I saw my mother with hair as white as flowers struggling to chop firewood. Sweat dripped from her forehead, and she didn't even have time to wipe it away. She's only thirty-six this year, but her beautiful face already has wrinkles, prematurely etched with the marks of time and weather.
Chen Jianchen rushed forward and said, "Mother, didn't I say so? These firewoods will be split by me when I come back." He stretched out his hand to grab the axe.
Mo San Niang, however, held on tight and said, "Liu Xian, how can you do such rough and heavy work? Moreover, now that you are a scholar with a prestigious title, you cannot do such rough and heavy work. If others see you, they will laugh at you."
Chen Jianchen didn't care about the formalities, and snatched the axe away: "What's with this 'scholar' business? At home, I'll always be your son. A son helping his mother with chores is only natural, who can say anything about that?"
In the Tianyun dynasty, scholars were considered refined and noble. This refinement was not only self-proclaimed but also acknowledged by others. As the saying goes, "All things are inferior, only reading is superior," implying that scholars generally didn't do household chores, resulting in the proliferation of bookworms who were "indolent in four limbs and ignorant of the five grains."
Chen Jianchen of the past was also a master who didn't get his fingers wet.
However, times have changed. Although his body hasn't changed, his mindset has undergone a complete transformation. The current Chen Jianchen would never allow himself to sit comfortably in the room reading "Zhuangzi" while leaving his mother alone in the courtyard, sweating profusely - he couldn't do such a thing. His personality had always been strong-willed and unyielding, and having traveled through time and space, he didn't pay much attention to the various rules and regulations of this era.
He swung his axe and started chopping in a practiced manner.
Chopping firewood isn't a technical job, it's more of a physically demanding task. However, Chen Jianchen lacked the physical strength and endurance for it. After chopping for a while, he felt his arms were sore and his palms were burning. He gritted his teeth, not making a sound, and continued to chop with each swing of the axe, a voice in his heart shouting: No matter what, I must finish chopping all the firewood.
On the other side, Mo San Niang looked at it with a mixture of heartache and helplessness, and had to close the gate first, not letting others see Chen Jianchen chopping firewood - after all, the idea that scholars are dignified is deeply rooted, especially for a Xiucai, if he goes to burn firewood or chop wood, he will be considered "losing face" behavior, and will suffer from criticism and ridicule.
It wasn't until a whole hour later that Chen Jianchen finally finished chopping all the firewood, exhausted like a dog, leaning on his axe and panting with his mouth open, sweat had long since soaked through the back of his clothes, and several blisters had even formed on his palms.
"I've told you before, you can't handle such physically demanding work, what if you exhaust yourself?"
Mo San Niang hastily took a towel and wiped her son's sweat.
Chen Jianchen forced a smile and said, "Don't worry, from today on, I'll take care of all the heavy household chores." As he spoke, he secretly vowed to train his body hard, this "weak and frail" physique. He thought back to when he was a sports enthusiast, loving basketball and soccer, but after crossing through time and space, he couldn't bear this body that couldn't even truss a chicken, everything felt wrong.
Looking at him, Mo San Niang was slightly distracted and felt that her son had changed a lot since the day he got his results, being overjoyed to the point of fainting, and after waking up, many changes occurred, becoming somewhat different.
"What was I thinking? As long as my son is standing healthy in front of me, that's the best thing..."
Mo San Niang immediately cast aside the chaotic thoughts in her mind and started making dinner.
The Chen family was very poor, and every year Mo San Niang worked hard to earn money, most of which was spent on her son's education. What was left barely enough for the mother and son to make ends meet. They couldn't afford to eat well, and if they could have meat once a month, that was considered good. But every day, Chen Jian would have an egg to eat. In Mo San Niang's words: "Studying is hard work, he needs nourishment." But she never thought that she herself needed nourishment even more, working from dawn till dusk, busy with household chores.
The heart of parents all over the world is pitiful, no matter which world it is, it's a universal principle.
However, recently, Chen Jianchen's bowl had an egg that became half an egg because the other half was forcibly stuffed into Mo Sanniang's bowl.
"Girl, you work harder and suffer more, so you should eat better."
When she heard this sentence, Mo Sanniang felt a great sense of relief and hid in the room to wipe away tears for a long time.
Filial piety and maternal love are a heavenly joy. It seems that the son has not only obtained the honor of being a scholar, but also truly grown into a mature adult.
