"Brother Da'an, is Brother Da'an home?"
Lu Qing shouted in front of an earthen house.
"Who is it? Who's calling me?" A tall figure ran out of the house and was overjoyed to see Lu Qing. "It's you, Qing! What can I do for you?"
"Da'an, who is that?"
Before Lu Qing could answer, an aged voice came out, and an old man carrying a bamboo pipe walked out of the house.
"Grandpa, it's Aqing!" Wang Da'an shouted.
"Grandpa Wang," Lu Qing greeted the old man.
"Oh, it's Aqing! Come in, come in and sit down."
The old man was overjoyed to see Lu Qing and wanted to invite him inside for a drink of water.
"No need, Grandpa Wang, I need to talk to Brother Da'an, so I won't come in and bother you." Lu Qing quickly declined.
"By the way, what did you want to see me about?" Wang Da'an asked.
“I want to go to the market. Last time, Brother Da’an, you said that if I went to the market, I should come to you. There are some rules I need to know.”
"You're going to the market?" Wang Da'an was taken aback, then realized, "Oh right, today is market day."
The market is held every five days, and today marks the fifth day since the last market day.
"Aqing, what are you going to the market for? To sell fish?" Wang Da'an asked.
"I'm not in a hurry to sell the fish. I want to go to the market first to check out the situation and buy some other things."
"Oh, I'm fine with that. It's just that Grandpa was thinking of asking me to go and gather pig feed." Wang Da'an scratched his head.
Grandpa Wang took a couple of puffs of his cigarette and said, "Since that's the case, Da'an, you should take Aqing with you. He's the head of the family now, so he should know the rules for going out."
“Okay, Grandpa, don’t worry, I will definitely teach Aqing!” Wang Da’an said happily.
He was quite happy to be spared from cutting pig feed, as that job was incredibly boring.
"Let's go, Aqing, we'll talk on the way."
Wang Da'an pulled Lu Qing and walked outside.
Upon reaching the village entrance, Wang Da'an pointed to a large tree at the entrance.
He said, "Aqing, the first rule for going to the market is right here."
"Here?" Lu Qing looked at the big tree, somewhat puzzled.
He certainly knew this big tree. It wasn't very tall, but it was very strong, with lush branches and leaves, and a thick trunk that would take several people to encircle.
It looks quite like the banyan tree from my previous life.
Moreover, this large tree seems to be quite important.
Not only do people regularly offer incense, but the village children are also warned from a young age not to play nearby, let alone climb.
If anyone violates the ban and is caught, a good beating is the least of their worries; in more serious cases, they might be forced to kneel in the ancestral hall on an empty stomach.
So the children in the village all kept their distance from that big tree, preferring to play in the mud elsewhere rather than play on it.
However, he couldn't find any real purpose for the big tree in his memory, only thinking that it was used to pray to the gods for peace.
Judging from what Brother Da'an is saying now, it seems there's another purpose behind it?
"That's right, this big tree is our village's sacred tree and also a tree of faith. Everyone in the village who goes out to do business, whether it's going to the market or to the city, leaves a mark here to indicate their destination."
"That way, if someone doesn't return on time, the village can still find out where he is by the marks he left behind."
"This big tree actually has such a use?" Lu Qing was surprised.
He really didn't expect that the big tree that the original owner was somewhat afraid of in his memories had such a background.
"Then how do we leave a mark on it?" Lu Qing asked.
"Here."
Wang Da'an stepped forward and lifted a stone slab under the tree.
When I returned, I had two more red strings on my hands.
Wang 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 sacred tree? The one on the left represents the market, the one in the middle represents the city, and the one on the right represents going to other distant places."
“From now on, whenever you go out, tie a red string around it so that the villagers will know that someone has gone out.”
"Just take the red string off when you come back."
"Is that all?" Lu Qing was taken aback.
He thought it would be complicated, but it turned out to be so simple.
"That's how it is, what else can we do?" Wang Da'an was somewhat confused.
"Don't we need to put up a sign or other marker? Otherwise, how will everyone know who went on a long trip?" Lu Qing asked.
"Why put up a sign?" Wang Da'an was even more confused.
"You can write your name or something on the sign..."
As Lu Qing spoke, he suddenly realized something.
He forgot that the vast majority of people in the village were illiterate.
Sure enough, Wang Da'an grinned when he heard this.
"Do you think we're all like you, Ah Qing, who knows so many characters but can't write our own names?"
"And it doesn't have to be so complicated. The village is only so big. If you see that the red rope hasn't been taken down, just ask around the village and you'll know who hasn't come back."
Lu Qing thought about it and agreed.
He just couldn't wrap his head around it for a moment, thinking that this place was still like his previous life, where he could easily travel far away.
In fact, in ancient worlds like this, villagers were very cautious about going out.
I don't go out unless absolutely necessary.
Some villagers may never have traveled far from home in their entire lives.
Children are strictly forbidden from running outside.
In such cases, not many people actually leave the village to go out, so it's really not that troublesome.
However, this also made Lu Qing understand why people usually burn incense under this tree.
Besides worshipping the gods, the villagers probably prayed even more for the safety of those who went out.
"Here, let me help you tie it."
Wang Da'an tied two red ropes to the left branch.
"In addition, there is another rule in the village: the market is not far from our village. If you want to go, you can go alone. Just tie a red string here."
"But if you're going into the city or further afield, you should go out in groups of at least two people so you can look out for each other."
“If no one in our village wants to go to the city, you can ask around in the next village to see if anyone wants to go together. The rules for going out are pretty much the same in all our villages.”
"Going to the city is different from going to the market. With more people, we can look out for each other."
"Brother Da'an, is the road to the city dangerous?" Lu Qing asked upon hearing these rules.
Wang Da paused for a moment before saying, "It's not that it's dangerous. Things have been alright these past few years, and the roads have been quite peaceful. But my grandfather told me that there used to be bandits on the road, and some people from the neighboring village were captured and didn't escape for several years."
"Everyone thought he had died outside, but when he escaped back, they found out he had been captured by bandits."
"However, it is said that the bandits were later wiped out by the county magistrate and the city lord, so peace was restored on the road."
"It was from that time that our villages gradually established the current rules for going out."
Mountain bandits!
Lu Qing was startled.
Sure enough, the world was not as peaceful as he had imagined.
The term "county magistrate" also bothered him somewhat.
However, Lu Qing did not ask in detail. There was still a long time ahead, and he could inquire about it slowly later.
After explaining the rules for leaving the village to Lu Qing, they tied a red rope around his neck.
Wang Da'an then led Lu Qing toward the location of the market.
