By the time Ji Mengshi and Shopkeeper Hao had finished their discussion, it was nearly the start of the Chen hour. With newly arrived cloth from the south, there were bound to be some damaged pieces. As usual, Ji Mengshi selected a few bolts and weighed out several pounds of thread.
Ji An noticed that among the threads her mother bought were gold and silver threads, indicating she had taken on a major commission. With the New Year approaching, many wealthy households in the county were holding weddings. This was always the busiest time for her mother. However, in recent years, as age had taken its toll and her eyesight had worsened, her father no longer allowed her to take on overly demanding work.
This time, it seemed she couldn’t refuse.
They had arrived with a large bundle but left empty-handed. The cloth, threads, and fabric scraps were temporarily stored at the Embroidery Workshop, to be collected by Ji Cheng after he finished his errands.
Wearing a veiled hat, Ji An walked arm in arm with her mother toward the Yinfeng Building across the street. Just as the mother and daughter entered the shop, Ji Zhongming emerged from the Shuyue Building alongside a middle-aged man dressed in a cross-collar, straight-robe gown.
The two walked side by side, engaged in conversation.
"Although Fan and Qi prefectures are both under the jurisdiction of Shandong and border each other, in terms of literary culture, our Qizhou Fu is slightly inferior to Fan Prefecture. That Chu Mo, despite his young age, topped the Yuanshi in Fan Prefecture. Barring any mishaps, he is certain to be on the list in next year’s Autumn Imperial Examination." At this point, the middle-aged man couldn’t help but sigh. "A seventeen-year-old Juren—his future is boundless!"
Yet, being so young, he couldn’t avoid a touch of arrogance. Passing by the Shuyue Building without entering—did he look down on the Zhang family of the capital, or was he unaware of how many people inside were waiting for him?
With his hands clasped behind his back, Ji Zhongming nodded in agreement. "Indeed, in terms of age alone, he surpasses ninety-nine percent of scholars." He glanced to his right. For this son, he had once held high hopes, but those feelings had since faded.
"However, in the previous dynasty, there was also Fan Yin, who established his career at forty and became a renowned scholar. So, Wenli, you need not be overly anxious."
Wenli was Ji Yan’s courtesy name.
Ji Yan had come to the Shuyue Building today hoping to meet Fan Prefecture’s Chu Mo. "Please rest assured, Father. While I admire him, I do not feel I fall far short." Since becoming a Xiucai, he had studied diligently for thirteen years, taken the examinations twice, and felt confident about next year’s Xiangshi.
As long as his mind was steady, that was enough. Ji Zhongming didn’t dwell on Chu Mo and instead turned to family matters. "The weather has turned cold. Xin Min, after all, is older now and gets up in the morning without needing to be urged. After dressing, he even pulls Xin Jia out from under the covers."
Hearing this, Ji Yan felt relieved. It had been a month since he last saw his three children.
"Over the years, you’ve been away studying and have had little time to manage them. Your mother and I are growing old, and our energy isn’t what it used to be. Fortunately, the eldest keeps things in order at home, and the second watches over them at the private school. Neither of the boys has fallen behind in their studies."
"I am ashamed, Father."
Ji Zhongming smiled. "Your mother mended my clothes this morning, but I had to thread the needle for her. Her eyes are failing. In her youth, to make ends meet for the family, she embroidered day and night without regard for her health. Now that she’s old, the consequences have caught up with her. I wish she would do less needlework, but she always feels the family isn’t well-off."
Three years ago, their eldest granddaughter, Xinran, tripped unnoticed while helping her mother tend the fire. Her head struck the edge of the stove, and blood flowed freely.
Although the town doctor said it was nothing serious, the third son flew into a rage upon hearing the news and rushing home. He didn’t dare vent his anger at his mother, but his words were filled with resentment.
He even compared Ya’er to Xinran, asking why Ya’er never had to lift a finger while his Xinran couldn’t avoid such chores?
Hearing those words at the time, Ji Zhongming felt deeply unsettled.
Ya'er was the child he had with his old wife, and the only girl among their children. What was wrong with doting on her a bit more? Besides, when they spoiled Ya'er, they never neglected the first, second, or third branches of the family. Xinran had suffered greatly when she hit her head in the kitchen, but no one had forced her to go there—she had insisted on helping her mother cook.
Everyone cares for their own wife and daughters. He wasn't dead yet.
It was from that point on that Ji Zhongming began to reflect. Today, speaking these words to his third son was also a warning, to make him understand who had been fulfilling his responsibilities all these years.
Ji Yan caught the underlying tone and knew his father was admonishing him: "I have truly been unfilial. Now, my only wish is to live up to expectations in next year's Xiangshi, earn the title of Xiaolian, and bring honor to our family, glorifying our ancestors."
The words sounded pleasant enough, but Ji Zhongming felt somewhat uneasy inside. Perhaps he should have followed his father's example and divided the family after his sons married.
As luck would have it, just as father and son arrived at Qianxiu Xiufang, Ji Cheng appeared at the street corner driving the donkey cart. After dropping Ji Yan off at Xianxue and returning, Ji An and her mother were already waiting outside the embroidery workshop.
Once the goods were loaded onto the donkey cart and they bid farewell to Shopkeeper Hao, they set off for home. With no outsiders around, Ji An asked, "Mother, what are you planning to embroider with the gold thread you bought?"
"A wedding dress," Ji Mengshi replied, leaning back against the cart's canopy. "The county magistrate's daughter is engaged and specifically requested Master Tong to embroider the intertwining floral patterns on her wedding dress. Master Tong hasn't been able to embroider for a long time, so Shopkeeper Hao had to explain the situation truthfully to the magistrate's wife and recommended me instead."
No wonder, Ji An pursed her lips.
Seeing her daughter's displeasure, Ji Mengshi reached out and pinched her nose, smiling. "I've already spoken with Shopkeeper Hao. From now on, if there are any more intricate, large-scale projects like this, she'll recommend the younger embroiderers in the workshop. I'm getting old, and my eyes, like Master Tong's, aren't as sharp as they used to be."
"This afternoon, when there's nothing to do, I'll apply a compress for you," Ji An said, linking arms with her mother. "For the magistrate's daughter's wedding, they won't just need a wedding dress, right?"
"Ordinary handkerchiefs and embroidered pouches will be made by the workshop. I've taken on the task of embroidering sixty brocade pouches specifically for holding reward silver. There's also a small twelve-panel table screen embroidered with scriptures, meant as a gift for the groom's grandmother. Shopkeeper Hao showed the magistrate's wife the table screen you embroidered earlier. She approved and offered ten taels of silver."
Ten taels of silver! Ji An felt a surge of excitement. "I'll embroider it."
She had subtly inquired with her father before. In Dajing, establishing female household status required a large sum of silver. As for marriage, she felt no resistance to the idea at all. The key issue was, what if she couldn't marry? She certainly couldn't just shave her head and spend her life eating vegetarian food and chanting sutras in a nunnery.
No matter what, she firmly believed that as long as she had money in hand, the path ahead would always be easier to navigate.
"There's nothing to do in winter anyway, so it's a good way to pass the time," Ji Mengshi said, flexing her fingers. "Once we finish this batch of work, it'll probably be spring." Year after year, time truly flies by. She pulled her daughter close, and mother and daughter leaned their heads together. Who knew which family this precious child in her arms would eventually fly off to?
As soon as the donkey cart reached the village entrance, a mischievous boy ran to the Ji family's gate, shouting.
"Your donkey is back!"
Zhushi, who had just finished lunch, hadn't expected them to return so soon. She hurried out to look and, sure enough, it was their donkey. She quickly went to greet them.
"Father, husband, didn't you have lunch in the county?"
"No," Ji Cheng replied, driving the donkey cart straight to the backyard.
The Ji family's backyard spanned two mu of land. One side was fenced off as a small vegetable garden, growing scallions, chives, and the like. The other side housed a cowshed and chicken coop, with a doghouse built beside the back gate. A half-person-tall yellow dog, seeing the donkey return, wagged its tail excitedly and barked loudly.
As Ji An got off the cart, she saw her second sister-in-law Hongshi holding her two-year-old daughter Xin Xin, along with Huang Shi and her daughter Ji Xinran, already waiting. From her sleeve, she pulled out an embroidered pouch and beckoned to the little girl whose hair was a bit sparse.
"Auntie brought you candy."
Although she wasn't particularly close to the younger generation in the family, every time she went to the county town or market town, she would always bring back some snacks the children liked, costing only a few coins.
"Quickly thank your aunt." Hongshi had two sons above her, and when she was pregnant with her third child, she would chant daily that the one in her belly was a daughter. She truly called her into being. After giving birth to a daughter, before the baby even opened her eyes, she insisted her daughter looked exactly like her aunt.
Ji Yu initially agreed, but later, when their daughter turned one and her little features became clearer, he could no longer bring himself to follow his wife's nonsense.
Hearing there was candy, little Xin Xin couldn't hold back the drool from her pink, tender mouth. Waddling on her short legs like she was drunk, she stumbled forward, her chubby hands clasped together. "Thank you, Auntie."
The candy had been bought from a peddler's stall that morning and was already divided by the peddler at the time of purchase. Ji An took out one portion and placed it in the little girl's hand. "Share it with your brothers when you go back."
With her round eyes fixed on the candy in her hand, little Xin Xin could no longer hear what her aunt was saying. Seeing her like this, Ji An's expression softened slightly as she handed the remaining portion to Ji Xinran. As for the eldest branch, she had already given it to her eldest brother earlier.
In her previous life, it had been just like this. Ji Xinran held the candy in her hand, her feelings complicated. "Did Aunt hear any interesting news in the county town today?"
Interesting news? Ji An blinked lightly. Ji Xinran wouldn't ask such a question without reason. Yet she clearly remembered that in the book, the period before Ji Yan's Xiangshi was not heavily detailed.
"No."
Ji Xinran had only asked casually. She tucked the candy in her hand away and went to help carry the cloth back to the main house. Today was the tenth day of the tenth month. Looking up at the clear sky, tomorrow, after her uncle handed over the tax grain, the weather would change, followed by snow.
After the snow, a major incident occurred in Qizhou Fu. The Zhizhou of Qizhou Fu, Luo Binyun, along with his two close associates, disappeared. This Luo Binyun was the biological nephew of the current Grand Secretary of the Inner Cabinet, Zhang Zhong.
Zhang Zhong's eldest sister had only this one child. His disappearance was tantamount to taking the life of Zhang Zhong's eldest sister. The Zhang family in the capital sent people to Qizhou repeatedly, but unfortunately, they found nothing. In her previous life, even when the Tan family was confiscated, Luo Binyun remained missing, neither seen alive nor found dead.
The reason she cared about this matter was that three months after Luo Binyun disappeared, Tan Zhimin, a Langzhong in the Ministry of Justice, was sent to Qizhou to take over as Zhizhou of Qizhou Fu. Tan Zhimin was the father of her previous life's husband, Tan Dong. This man appeared gentle and amiable on the surface but was inwardly sinister, cunning, and extremely fond of cruel punishments.
He was sent to Qizhou also to investigate Luo Binyun's disappearance. However, compared to the prefect Ma Qian's policy of self-preservation, he was overly confident. Believing he had Zhang Zhong's backing, he thought he could bite anyone he pleased.
In the ninth year of Sheng'an, the Tan family was confiscated. Luo Yu, who came by imperial decree, was of the same clan as Luo Binyun and was the adopted son recorded under the name of Zhang Zhong's eldest sister.
Probably even Zhang Zhong hadn't expected that after failing to win favor with Xuanwenhou, Tan Zhimin would have the audacity to implicate him. He claimed Xuanwenhou was involved in Luo Binyun's disappearance but had no evidence to support it.
Xuanwenhou Chu Mo, only thirty years old, commanded an army of three hundred thousand troops—someone even Zhang Zhong dared not provoke lightly.
The Tan family, young and old, had been exiled to Liaobian, a place garrisoned by Xuanwenhou's Northern Expedition army.
Ji Xinran did not know whether Tan Zhimin had survived the journey to Liaobian, but she herself had collapsed and died halfway. At the moment of death, she felt no fear; instead, she was somewhat relieved—relieved that she no longer had to live in constant fear.
Placing the cloth on the couch in the main hall, Ji Xinran let out a soft sigh, her vision blurring.
"Why are you crying?" Ji An stood to the side, holding a large cloth bag stuffed with assorted fabric scraps, watching Ji Xinran coldly. Could something really be about to happen? What—or who—could make Ji Xinran cry?
Ji Xinran hurriedly wiped away her tears. "No, I… I just got dust in my eyes."
Really? She wasn't blind. Setting down the large cloth bag, Ji An turned and left the main room. The pair of gold bracelets tucked in her robe were somewhat cumbersome; she planned to return to her room and hide them. And the small silver ingot she had just obtained today—carrying it around was also rather uncomfortable.
The sky had cleared for a day, but the night suddenly turned cold. Before dawn the next day, Ji Cheng led the village's able-bodied men, escorting the tax grain to the county seat.
Ji An sat by the window with her embroidery hoop, stitching a "Flowers Blooming in Wealth and Honor" pattern while keeping an eye on the world outside. All morning, Ji Xinran paced restlessly inside and out, frequently gazing up at the sky.
If she didn't know that Ji Xinran understood nothing of astronomy or fate, Ji An would have almost thought she was observing celestial phenomena. But judging by this agitation, today either a baleful star was descending upon the world, or a literary star was about to descend to earth!
"Aren't you cold?" Ji Mengshi appeared outside the window.
Her fingers were already purple from the cold—how could she not be cold? Ji An simply set aside the embroidery hoop and folded her hands. "Is it going to snow?"