Chapter 1256: Silly Child

On the second day in Huaxia, these Leaders were first invited to see Shoumin off and bury him.

Although they did not understand this practice of Huaxia, seeing how earnest and attentive Huaxia was, their lingering resentment was dissolved; Shoumin's death was indeed his own choice, not forced upon him by Huaxia.

Huaxia not only placed him inside a large wooden box called a coffin, but also dug a very large grave pit for him, then filled it with soil, and even set up a stone with characters carved on it.

The people of Huaxia said those characters were "Grave of Shoumin," meaning that from now on, this piece of land belonged to Shoumin alone, and if they missed Shoumin, they could come to this mound to talk to him and see him.

It was originally quite a touching matter, but by the end, it felt a bit strange; how could one talk to a dead person, and see him—by looking at a dirt mound? It was a bit too strange.

Yet, one really had to say that Huaxia did it very well, even sacrificing to Shoumin as if sacrificing to a deity; of course, the offerings were only two dishes and a cup of Wine, but one could still see Huaxia's sincerity.

The dishes were left behind and would certainly end up in the stomach of the grave keeper, because Huaxia would not throw offerings into a fire—that would be too wasteful; however, the Wine was poured into the soil, a small cup, not precious, and it was also stained with much soil, making it impossible to drink.

Because of such actions, those Leaders truly had nothing more to say, and they were then willing to converse with these few people from Huaxia.

The people responsible for the funeral were basically all disabled, with broken arms or legs, and there was one who was quite terrifying—half of his face was gone, and only one eye could see; it was very frightening.

There were also a few young people who looked a bit dull and foolish; such children were not unique to Huaxia, as other tribes also had many, all products of inbreeding. Generally speaking, such dull and foolish ones could not survive, because they basically had no ability to labor, and learning was very difficult for them.

If they were sent to pick wild vegetables, they might bring back cow dung; if they went hunting, it would be completely offering meat to wild beasts, so other tribes would certainly abandon them directly upon discovering the signs, to avoid wasting food.

But Huaxia was different; because of the form of individual households, coupled with the promotion of ethics and the clarification of household registration, close-kin marriage and reproduction were becoming fewer and fewer, though they could not yet be completely eradicated.

Because the first and second generations could be restricted, but further down, it would be very difficult to distinguish for oneself, and accidents would certainly occur.

To completely change such a situation, it was necessary to promote "surnames," letting everyone possess a surname; in the short term, those with the same surname could not marry, which would avoid it, and one must follow the father's surname, continuing until the Genealogy, clan records, and household registration were all perfected, so that even if Huaxia did not intervene, they themselves would be able to distinguish who they could marry and who they could not.

In later generations, the restrictions on following the father's surname were not so strict, and generally, the children of a matrilocal son-in-law followed the mother's surname, because the rise of female consciousness, coupled with the requirements of gender equality, led many women to demand that children follow whichever surname they wished.

The development of technology made this possible, because everyone's information was in the household registration system; when going to register a marriage, the Civil Affairs Bureau would naturally tell you, and if you were within three generations of blood relations, it would be impossible to marry.

If not, marry as you please, and follow whichever surname you want for the children, as you please.

During the matrilineal society, one followed the mother's surname; the "surname" itself was a product of the matrilineal clan, because it was born of a woman, while the "clan" was patrilineal, only that slowly, the clan exited the stage of history and became somewhat mixed with the surname.

However, the "surname," as a representation of female power, was dominated by men; the reason was still to avoid inbreeding—following the mother's surname, one knew who the mother was, but did not know who the father was, as after all, a child could only come out of a woman's belly.

If one followed the father's surname, one could know both the mother and the father.

Baifeng certainly understood this principle, but he could not let everyone have a surname right now; if that were the case, how could one reflect the difference in status, and how could one give people the desire to strive?

Plus, in the future, promoting individual households and integrating other tribes were both very long-term processes, and during this period, it would certainly disrupt the progress he was pushing; by comparison, giving birth to some deformed children in a year certainly could not compare to the development of the entire Huaxia, and comparing the two, one would certainly choose the more important one.

If it were discovered that a certain family gave birth to several deformed children in a row, then Huaxia would intervene and force them not to reproduce; if both the man and woman were normal, then it meant they had a blood relationship.

Besides, even with Huaxia's current good conditions, it was not as if a deformed child could survive just because it was born; those with physical deformities were basically disposed of by their parents upon birth, and the midwife would also register the disposal; Huaxia did not yet have the ability to waste resources to support deformed children, nor did it have such good medical conditions.

If they were not intelligent enough but had grown up, then they could only be found work to do; there was always strength for farming, and if there was no strength, then do work like watching the graves.

This era had no grave robbers, and watching the graves was more like being a gatekeeper; when people came to be buried, register them, check the death certificate, and if they came to sacrifice, they could also lead them to find where the grave was.

The most important thing was to arrange employment.

The Leaders of the Suiren Tribe were very curious and asked without any avoidance: "Your bodies are already like this, and Huaxia still supports you?"

The man missing an arm did not care, pointing to his severed arm and saying: "This arm of mine was torn off by a bear while hunting for Huaxia, but I was lucky and survived; they are about the same, basically all maimed for the sake of Huaxia.

So Huaxia understands our contribution; if we die, they give compensation to our families, enough for my family to live for many years, enough for my woman to raise my children.

I am maimed and cannot hunt, but Huaxia also gave compensation, letting my family be at ease, and arranged for me to come here to work; for me, it is work I can do, and the wages are high enough, even more than when I was hunting.

They are all the same; look at Mianju, his half-face was licked off by a bear, but his arms and legs are fine; Huaxia can arrange such good work for him here, it is leisurely, and he gets paid more—would you say Huaxia is good or not?

Those few foolish children cannot do anything else, so they can only come here to accompany us, but they do not have such good treatment, and their wages are only enough to support them; being able to keep them from starving to death is already good enough.

I say, if we people were in the Suiren Tribe, I fear that even if my arm had healed and I hadn't died, it would certainly be very difficult to survive in the future, right? And those few foolish children would not live to grow up, right?"