The orange that ran to the front hall was quite eye-catching, its fuzzy, round neck adorned with a willow wreath.
In the Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Nanjing area, there’s a custom of wearing willow branches during the Qingming Festival.
Wang Yuan stayed at a friend’s house last night. On his way home this morning, feeling guilty and afraid of being scolded, he took out three copper coins and bought a large bundle of tender, evenly shaped willow branches from an old man in a straw raincoat at the bridgehead. This showed he was somewhat concerned about things at home.
Wang Yuan diligently distributed the willow branches to each room and also took some to his grandmother. Wang Xirui snorted coldly, saying, “You did something so trivial, yet you want to hire a drum and lion dance troupe to celebrate.”
Wang Xirui went to the private school to teach, while Wang Yuan hummed a little tune as he went back to sleep.
Wang Xichen cut a small willow branch and tucked it behind his wife’s ear, smiling as he said, “As the proverb goes, ‘If you don’t wear willow on Qingming Festival, your youthful beauty will fade…’ Wearing willow means your youth will last forever.”
Yang Jinniang blushed slightly, “What youthful beauty is there to speak of…”
Zhenyi, hearing this, wove a small willow wreath for Ju Zi and knelt down to put it on Ju Zi’s head, saying, “I want Ju Zi to never grow old.”
Ju Zi’s mother had grown old. Zhenyi didn’t know how old the cat’s mother was; Chun’er said she must have been in her teens.
Ju Zi was nine years old this year, the same age as Zhenyi, and Zhenyi was very afraid of Ju Zi growing old.
Ju Zi bit the willow leaf on its neck; the taste wasn’t very pleasant.
But since it was Zhenyi’s thoughtful gesture, she would reluctantly wear it for one day.
Ju Zi ran to the front hall, while Zhenyi didn’t go. She stayed in the courtyard, keeping Yang Jinniang and the First Madam company, learning to fold paper ingots. The paper was made of gold and silver foil. After cutting it with scissors, it was folded into the shape of ingots for ancestral worship and offerings to the gods. Today was the Cold Food Festival, and two days later was Qingming Festival. More ingots would be sent to the local earth god temple. Afterwards, the temple keeper would set up a procession with drums and music, carrying talismans and offerings, and carry them to the Shangzhen Temple. The ingots would then be burned to pray for the well-being of the people who had made the offerings—this was called “relieving the heavenly burden.”
The First Madam and Yang Jinniang didn’t say it aloud, but they both believed that the old man had offended the gods by destroying temples while serving in Guangdong, which was why he was dismissed from office and exiled. Furthermore, for several years after returning home, he hadn’t allowed them to lavishly worship the gods, thus affecting the family’s feng shui.
Adding to this, Yang Jinniang had a difficult childbirth last year, so this year she wanted to fold more paper ingots to atone for her sins and seek divine forgiveness and protection.
Zhenyi, like her grandfather, did not believe in gods.
However, Yang Jinniang forbade Zhenyi from speaking disrespectfully, and Zhenyi, not wanting to anger her mother, obediently kept quiet.
However, Zhenyi still didn’t believe it; she had always preferred to believe in books.
But recently, Zhenyi often felt lost.
Zhenyi was now studying Confucian classics with her father. Like most scholars of the time, Wang Xichen was a devout follower of Confucianism, and the principles of ruler-subject, father-son, and the natural order of things, as advocated within it, made nine-year-old Zhenyi begin to reflect on the right and wrong of things for the first time.
In this matter, she seemed to be acting contrary to the principles and order of the books; she seemed not to be a reasonable and well-behaved child.
The First Madam’s gaze fell on the dazed Zhenyi: “Zhenyi, why aren’t you going to join the fun in the front hall?”
Yang Jinniang: “She’s nine years old already, how can she still act like a little child?”
“I heard that old gentleman in Suiyuan Garden really wants to take our Zhenyi as his female disciple?” The First Madam: “When do you plan to send Zhenyi to study?”
Yang Jinniang forced a smile, glossing over the question, and changed the subject: “I still need to discuss it with the Second Master… Sister-in-law, do you know which family came to visit today?”
The First Madam: “They’re in business.”
“Merchants?”
The First Madam nodded: “The Jiang family’s cloth shop in the city specializes in printed fabrics… they have three shops alone…” “Four families, please.”
Yang Jinniang then asked, “Who acted as matchmaker?”
“We haven’t hired a matchmaker yet,” the First Madam replied. “Today, the guests are Mrs. and Young Master Jiang… I met Mrs. Jiang and my third sister-in-law while strolling in the garden; they’ve apparently already taken a liking to Shuyi. I’ve also met Mrs. Jiang; she’s an extremely capable and intelligent woman.”
Yang Jinniang: “And this young master Jiang?”
“I haven’t met him before,” the First Madam said with a smile. “But since he dared to bring him here, he must be quite good.”
The First Madam then spoke of the Jiang family. The Jiang family head was in his prime, but it was said that he had been attacked by bandits while trading years ago, injuring his manhood and rendering him unable to have children.
Therefore, this young master Jiang was an only child, and the entire cloth business would be left to him.
Therefore, Mrs. Jiang was consistently picky in choosing a daughter-in-law, determined to select someone suitable.
“But our Shuyi was originally destined to marry into a scholar’s family, to become an official’s wife…” Yang Jinniang sighed.
The First Madam also sighed, “Who can argue with that? But given the current situation…”
The old master’s exile, upon closer examination, involved extremely powerful factional struggles among influential figures, a complex web of connections within the officialdom. Wang Xipu had also faced obstacles at every turn in recent years… Anyone aspiring to a career in government would want to be entangled in such uncertain troubles.
Impoverished scholars’ families might not have the time to be selective, but even disregarding social status, what parent would want their daughter to marry into a family that would suffer?
In comparison, merchant families were a much better choice.
The Wang family’s fortunes are not what they used to be. Wang Xipu is finding it increasingly difficult to advance in officialdom and needs money to bribe officials. Furthermore, Wang Jie’s studies for the imperial examinations will also incur considerable expenses… While they can’t rely entirely on their married daughter for support, having such a relative provides another avenue for assistance.
Leaving aside other factors, the fact that their daughter doesn’t have to marry far away and can still live a comfortable life is already a great comfort to the parents.
“But this Mrs. Jiang is too shrewd, and Shuyi is too young and obedient…” the eldest wife said. “Mrs. Jiang clearly took a liking to Shuyi a long time ago, but waited for over a year. Now that Shuyi has a reputation for being picky, my third sister-in-law is getting anxious… and she specifically chose the day my third uncle returned to Jinling to visit. To put it bluntly, Mrs. Jiang wants to finalize this deal in one fell swoop.”
Yang Jinniang thought about it and was surprised, feeling foolish: “Eldest sister-in-law is so insightful; I didn’t even think of that.”
Yang Jinniang considered herself the most clumsy and awkward of the three sisters-in-law, neither as composed and shrewd as her eldest sister-in-law, nor as well-mannered and organized as her third sister-in-law… If it weren’t for her father, a doctor, accidentally meeting an old man who didn’t care about social status, she would never have had the chance to marry into the Wang family. And yet, she hadn’t been able to give the Wang family a son, which made her feel even more guilty and ashamed every day.
The First Madam, sensing Yang Jinniang’s sensitive thoughts, quickly smiled and said, “I was just guessing… Whatever we say is useless; it’s up to Uncle and his wife to decide.”
Zhenyi thought perhaps they should also listen to Ju Zi.
Ju Zi quickly returned, a loose willow ring in its mouth, shaking off the dampness from its clothes as it entered the room.
Zhenyi hurried over, squatted down, and just as she took the loose willow ring, she heard Ju Zi meow and express its dissatisfaction.
Ju Zi ran happily to the front hall in the rain. As soon as it entered, Jiang Mao, the son of the Jiang family, shouted, “Go away! Where did this beast come from!”
With that, he kicked Ju Zi.
Of course, Ju Zi jumped away.
Shuyi, behind the screen, heard the commotion and got up to look.
Just a moment ago, Jiang Mao was visibly startled, but upon seeing Shuyi, he froze, his expression blank.
Seeing his reaction, Shuyi blushed and quickly turned away.
Madam Jiang first scolded her son for overreacting, then smiled and said, “He was scratched by a cat when he was young; he’s still afraid!”
Wang Xipu, seeing that Ju Zi had disturbed the guests, ordered the servants to chase Ju Zi away.
Ju Zi, carrying a loose willow ring in its mouth, angrily ran back.
Zhenyi re-wove the willow ring and put it back around Ju Zi’s neck.
Ju Zi licked its fur clean inside and out before finally calming down.
Since it was the Cold Food Festival and no fires were allowed, Chun’er brought out spring dumplings and braised lotus root.
Smelling the scent of grass, Ju Zi jumped onto Zhenyi’s lap to sniff the spring dumplings in her hand.
Zhenyi tore off a small piece of orange and placed it in her palm. She tasted it, but it stuck to her upper jaw. She chewed for a while, but couldn’t shake it off, and felt a wave of nausea.
Zhenyi quickly stuffed a green rice ball into her mouth and chewed it, expertly removing the orange. Looking at the sticky green residue on her index finger, she grinned, feigning disgust, and made an “Ew!” before wiping it on the orange’s nose.
The orange, equally disgusted, flicked its paw away, meowed in dissatisfaction, and punched Zhenyi’s arm twice as punishment. Zhenyi, still chewing on the green rice ball, leaned back in her chair and laughed.
Yang Jinniang helplessly reminded her, “You’re making a scene again. Be careful not to choke!”
“How many more years can you make a scene like this?” the First Madam said with a smile. “The next person in the family to be engaged might just be Zhenyi.”
Wang Jie is focused on taking the imperial examinations; marriage isn’t in a rush.
As for Wang Yuan, he had been engaged last autumn, but the engagement had been put on hold, a fact that caused the First Madam some worry.
The engagement was arranged by Wang Xirui for his friend’s second daughter. This family lived outside Jinling City; they were a family of scholars and farmers for generations, of decent means, with a respectable family reputation, and the girl was well-educated and sensible… However, she fell ill shortly after the engagement, with rather strange symptoms.
The other family offered to break off the engagement, but Wang Xirui, valuing his reputation, refused, instead sending money and tonics.
Wang Yuan, however, was very obedient to his father in this regard. He was a carefree and indifferent person, not in a hurry to settle down, and content with his single life. Therefore, the First Madam couldn’t be the one to cause trouble, so she could only observe for the time being.
Seeing her sister-in-law’s worry, Yang Jinniang suggested that the family, in a certain Taoist temple, possessed miraculous talismanic water and could inquire about it.
The First Madam simply sighed.
Over the next few days, Madam Jiang visited twice more, specifically to see Old Madam Dong. Her cheerful voice was filled with affection for Shuyi: “Mao’er is our only son. If he can truly marry Shuyi, it will be a blessing for the Jiang family. The whole family will cherish and pamper her! Not just the Jiang family, but even in this entire city of Jinling, if anyone dares to let Shuyi suffer the slightest grievance, I will certainly throw a tantrum and fight them to the death!”
Old Madam Dong simply smiled and nodded. The Third Madam wasn’t her biological daughter; she could only accompany the discussion but couldn’t make the decision herself.
After discussing the matter with the Old Madam, Wang Xipu and his wife, having clearly weighed the pros and cons, were generally satisfied. So, the Third Madam went to ask her daughter’s opinion.
Shuyi nodded gently: “Either is fine. I’ll listen to Father and Mother.”
Thus, before Wang Xipu departed for his post, the two families matched their horoscopes, exchanged betrothal letters, and the marriage was thus arranged. As for the wedding date, an auspicious day next year will be chosen, and the two families will need to discuss it further.
Fifteen days after Qingming Festival, in the evening, Zhenyi and Juzi sat on the steps in front of the house, gazing at the stars. Seeing the Big Dipper pointing towards the sun in the night sky, they knew that the Grain Rain season had arrived.
While Zhenyi was stargazing, Juzi, lying on the stone steps with her hands tucked in, watched her—it always felt that Zhenyi, this little girl, had been absent-minded lately, and it was hard to tell what she was thinking.
Zhenyi was hesitating about something.
Nine-year-old Zhenyi turned her gaze away from the night sky and looked down at her feet, which were placed side by side.
Zhenyi gently moved her toes, then gently put them down again.
Juzi looked at the pair of small, pale yellow shoes embroidered with jade rabbits and suddenly understood—oh, she was worrying about foot binding again.
Two days ago, Mrs. Lu came again. Orange remained wary, standing guard near Zhenyi’s feet, preventing Mrs. Lu from approaching.
Orange disliked Mrs. Lu—this woman had an inexplicably strong possessiveness towards other people’s feet; it was truly outrageous.
As Zhenyi’s guardian cat, Orange had long ago decided that it would ensure this child’s feet grew up safely.
Orange meowed and flicked its tail, trying to reassure Zhenyi that it was there for her.
Zhenyi rested her chin on her hand, her eyes still blank. At nine years old, a child’s baby teeth were beginning to fall out, gradually developing true consciousness. The environment and experiences nurtured this consciousness, gradually masking its instincts.
Three days later, early in the morning, Mrs. Lu came again.
After Mrs. Lu left, Yang Jinniang called Zhenyi to her room.
The orange followed as if facing a formidable enemy, its tail held high, not bending an inch.
The fifth solar term has ended~
Book progress: 5/24
(Today is White Dew, time to start preparing for winter)