“Xie Jiujiu, what did I tell you last night? You are not allowed to wash your hair on the first day of the New Year; you’ll wash all our wealth away!”
“Mother, stop shouting. It’s all because of the third child. Last night, you and Wenji let her buy so many fireworks to set off, and neither of you could control her. Look at my clothes—they were newly made for the New Year, and after wearing them for just one day, they were scorched by sparks. You didn’t say a word to her, so why are you coming after me?”
Xie Jiujiu stood under the veranda of the east wing, waiting for the water in the copper kettle to boil. She found it amusing to watch her mother standing on the steps of the festoon gate with her hands on her hips, lecturing her. “Mother, you shouldn’t scold children on New Year’s Day. Don’t forget that. If you scold me, my luck for the whole year will be ruined, and I’ll have to blame you for it.”
“Pah, pah, pah! Don’t say such unlucky things during the New Year.”
Huang Juan had always been helpless against her eldest daughter. Seeing that Xie Jiujiu had already begun pouring hot water into the copper basin, she opened her mouth to say more but ultimately remained silent, turning instead toward the kitchen.
Xie Jiujiu was the eldest child. It was said that in the year she was born, the family’s mediocre restaurant business suddenly took a turn for the better. Her father, Xie Dechang, believed his eldest daughter brought great fortune, so he simply named her Xie Jiujiu.
His reasoning was direct: the Xie family was a large and flourishing clan, yet his own branch had always struggled to produce many descendants. He wanted to borrow the luck of his auspicious daughter, hoping to eventually have a full nine children.
When Xie Jiujiu’s great-grandfather was alive, he had only one son. After getting married, the great-grandfather relied on a shoulder pole, carrying his small business of cold noodles and starch skins from the countryside to the town.
Later, he managed to secure a fixed stall so he no longer had to roam the streets. By the time Xie Jiujiu’s grandfather was ready to marry, the family had finally saved enough to buy land and move to the county seat. They bought an old house, tore it down, and rebuilt it, resulting in the current two-courtyard residence.
From a street stall to a small eatery and finally to the current Yunke Lai Restaurant, the Xie family had operated for three generations; Xie Jiujiu’s generation was the fourth.
The family business had flourished modestly, yet the family members remained few.
In his youth, Xie Jiujiu’s grandfather had one son and one daughter. The daughter was married off into the neighboring county. Her husband’s family was named Zhou, and they owned some land in their village as well as property in a town about half a day’s journey away. Their life was neither wealthy nor poor.
When the marriage was arranged, the elder Master Xie favored the Zhou family for their honesty. His son-in-law was a scholar; though he had passed the imperial examination to become a xiucai in his twenties and had made no further progress for years, having a daughter married to a scholar was still considered a stroke of good fortune.
Her aunt, Xie Erniang, lived a quiet, unremarkable life after the marriage. Unexpectedly, the son-in-law, who had failed to become a juren for years, finally passed the provincial examination five years ago.
Zhou Quan, this scholar-turned-graduate, had earned money at home over the years, whether by serving as a private tutor for wealthy families in the county or by working as a clerk in the county yamen. In short, he brought home silver every month.
Being a smooth and sophisticated man, he didn’t intend to kill himself studying for higher exams after becoming a juren. Instead, he took all the family’s savings and used his connections to secure a post as a Master of Records. He then took Aunt Xie to a remote county in a neighboring province to take up his office.
Once Aunt Xie left, the Xie family had no more close blood relatives nearby. Fortunately, Xie Dechang and Huang Juan later had another son and daughter—the second child, Xie Wenji, and the third, Xie Zhinniang. On the surface, it looked like a warm, bustling family of five.
Unfortunately, Xie Dechang’s luck was not as good as Xie Jiujiu’s. Three years ago, just before the New Year, he was invited out for drinks by a few friends. On the way back, perhaps caught in a chill wind, his mouth became twisted and his eyes skewed the next morning—he had suffered a stroke.
The New Year was fast approaching, and the most skilled physicians in the county seat had already returned to their home villages for the holidays.
It was Xie Jiujiu who took the old family servant, Uncle Wu, the laborer Shuangxi, and the family cook, Mama Chen, on a half-day journey to the physician’s home to plead for his help.
The physician was a kind man and returned with them immediately. But a person’s lifespan is determined by fate. Xie Dechang hung on by a thread in his bed for half a month, finally drawing his last breath the day after the Lantern Festival.
With Xie Dechang gone, leaving behind a household of women and children, the usually fierce and capable Huang Juan was momentarily paralyzed by panic. It was Xie Jiujiu who instructed Uncle Wu to find her three maternal uncles; only then was the situation stabilized.
The eldest maternal uncle, Huang Hai, was a clerk in the Revenue Section of the county yamen. Although he was a minor official not even ranked on the nine-tier scale, he had significant influence within the county.
The Revenue Section managed land records, household registration, and taxes—all matters vital to the common people. The County Magistrate was the “parent official,” whom ordinary citizens rarely saw.
The Assistant Magistrate and the Master of Records were the same; to those above, they were mere low-level officials, but to the commoners looking up, they were great lords one dared not even glance at.
In contrast, clerks like Huang Hai had more frequent contact with the city’s wealthy households, village chiefs, and neighborhood heads.
Huang Hai was a shrewd man, yet he possessed a deceptively honest-looking face. Even if the abacus in his mind was clicking loudly with calculations, not a hint of it would show on his expression.
His brother-in-law had passed away, leaving his sister and her children behind; while this was a difficult matter to manage, it could not be ignored. It was Xie Jiujiu who wiped away her tears and proactively approached her uncle, asking him to take charge of their affairs, which gave his involvement the necessary legitimacy.
The second maternal uncle, Huang Jiang, was a simple and honest man, known for being steady and reliable in his work. After Xie Dechang’s death, he couldn’t make the big decisions, but he was the one who oversaw all the practical tasks, both inside and outside the house.
The youngest uncle, Huang He, was eight years younger than Huang Juan. As the late-born child of the family with two older brothers and a sister, he had been somewhat spoiled since childhood.
He couldn’t keep any of the jobs his family found for him through connections. Having learned some martial arts as a boy, he preferred to loiter in the streets with his band of friends.
He usually earned a bit of “grease” money by acting as a middleman, while relying on his parents to supplement his living expenses. He caused minor troubles but avoided major crimes. His one virtue was knowing who his family was; he was incredibly protective of his own.
With these three uncles present, once the funeral was over and the two families sat down to discuss what to do with the estate Xie Dechang had left behind, both sides exercised restraint.
The Huang family were maternal uncles; they could protect their sister and her children, but they couldn’t directly dictate the Xie family’s affairs. After all, the Xie family was a large clan in LuMing Township of LuJiao Town, and causing a scene would be bad for everyone.
The Xie family’s relatives were mostly in the surrounding towns and villages. By the time they received word of the death and arrived, they were a step too late.
With the Huang family taking the lead in everything, the Xie clan members were full of gossip but found it difficult to speak up. Wary of Huang Hai’s connections in the yamen, they were too embarrassed to voice their hidden desires at that time.
The final agreement reached was that since the children were still young and Huang Juan’s relationship with Xie Dechang had been good, there was no rush for her to take any drastic steps. They would first complete the three-year mourning period before discussing future arrangements.
Because it was improper for the family to show their faces in public during mourning, a manager had to be hired for the restaurant. In the meantime, two of Xie Dechang’s cousins and a younger grand-uncle would oversee things. Once the widow and orphans finished their three years of mourning, they would talk again.
The manager of Yunke Lai was found by Huang Hai. However, those who could actually interfere with the restaurant’s operations were members of the Xie clan. Huang Juan and her three children were left sitting on the sidelines with no say, like meat on a chopping block, left to the whims of the Xie clan’s deliberations.
At fourteen, Xie Jiujiu had been fuming with rage, wanting to flip the table and declare that she didn’t need anyone and could support the family herself.
But then she looked at her ten-year-old brother, who had always been sickly and had fallen seriously ill again after their father’s death—huddled in his rabbit-fur coat and barely holding himself up—and her five-year-old sister, who was as round and soft as a rice ball. She swallowed her resentment, no matter how suffocating it felt.
These three years had been a period of mourning for Xie Jiujiu, but also a buffer. How to maintain a household without a father was not something that could be solved with a few words.
With one person gone, everyone in the family had to readjust. Xie Dechang had been the pillar of the house; without that pillar, Xie Jiujiu had to learn how to carry the weight herself.
Only now did Xie Jiujiu realize why Xie Dechang had spent his life with a smile for everyone and why he never lost his temper while attending to the restaurant.
Patience leads to a smoother outcome. If she had started a fight out of anger right after the funeral, she would only have suffered.
The Xie clan was large and not far away. Unless she could move her mother and siblings away entirely, she would have to deal with the clan. Since she couldn’t break ties, she couldn’t afford to burn her bridges while she was still powerless.
Three years had passed in the blink of an eye. Xie Jiujiu was now of marriageable age. The second child, Xie Wenji, still had a constitution that required care lest a gust of wind make him ill, but the thirteen-year-old boy was already deep into his studies.
Since the family business was a restaurant, they never lacked for food. Xie Wenji had started his growth spurt last year; this year, his voice was changing, sounding like a croaking duck. Xie Zhinniang often teased him, saying he sounded like a frog.
Even the youngest, Xie Zhinniang, was now eight. Last night, given a stick of incense, she had dared to run from one end of the alley to the other setting off firecrackers, possessing the inexhaustible energy of a young calf.
After washing her hair, Xie Jiujiu sat by the window, letting her maid Chun’er dry it. Watching her sister darting back and forth between the kitchen and the main hall, her mood was genuinely good. Once the New Year was over, they could conclude their mourning. Once the mourning garments were removed, many things that had been difficult to handle could finally be settled properly.
However, it seemed someone was more impatient than Xie Jiujiu. On the morning of New Year’s Day, a knock came from the front. Judging by the voice, it was one of the Xie uncles. Xie Jiujiu turned to look at her mother; neither of their expressions was pleasant.
When Uncle Wu, who lived in the front courtyard, opened the gate and invited in two cousins and a grand-uncle from the town, the mother and daughter put on welcoming smiles to greet the guests.
“Wenji, come down quickly. Your younger grand-uncle and uncles are here.”
Xie Jiujiu was the eldest daughter and had been raised by Xie Dechang in the restaurant since she was a baby. Although she was an unmarried girl, no one found it odd that she was the one organizing the reception for the guests.
“No need to fuss, no need to fuss. We just came by today to wish Sister-in-law a Happy New Year and, while we’re at it, discuss the arrangements for Yunke Lai for the coming year with her and my nephew.”
The speaker was Xie Dechang’s third cousin, Xie Baozhu—a sharp man whose shrewdness was written all over his face. He claimed to be visiting for the New Year, but he was really there for the Xie family’s assets.
Arrangements for Yunke Lai? Once her family concluded their mourning, these assets should logically no longer require the clan’s management. Now, he was trying to gloss over the matter as if nothing would change. Before he could speak further, Xie Jiujiu cut him off.
“Third Uncle, today is New Year’s Day. No matter how big the matter is, shouldn’t it wait until after the holidays?”
Xie Dechang had no brothers of his own, so he had always shared his seniority rank with his cousins.
The elder Master Xie had done the same with his cousins. Since their specific branch was small, these “uncles” were actually the sons of a grand-uncle; in terms of blood relation, they were not that close.
“On the seventeenth of the first month, the three of us will be concluding our mourning for my father. It’s improper to do anything while still wearing mourning clothes. Why don’t you wait a little longer? Once I’ve removed these mourning garments, I will certainly visit your home to settle this matter clearly.”