After that ordeal, by the time the group arrived at the post station to rest, everyone had learned from Sheniang's example and frantically began preparing food. Sheniang, ironically, was no longer in such a hurry. She washed her hair first, then bathed thoroughly, and only then felt like she was coming back to life.
Qiuju and Dongmei attended to her bath, and after they finished, Sheniang told them to go bathe as well. The post station was, after all, better prepared—nine dishes in total, with chicken, duck, fish, and even bird's nest all laid out neatly. Madam Yu thought to herself that while eating meat at home was one thing, one couldn't be so indulgent on the road. She therefore had the kitchen prepare some vegetable dishes as well, and when the food arrived,
Madam Yu dined separately with her two sisters-in-law. This time she had personally prepared the dried provisions—several dozen ai wowowo cakes, two large boxes of pepper-salt flatbreads, steamed buns with various fillings, and ten jars of sweet-scented pickled vegetables with melon.
Not to mention two baskets of fruit and two boxes of candied preserves.
In truth, these should have been arranged by Madam Lu, but Madam Lu had too many matters to attend to and couldn't manage it. She would only occasionally distribute some food to everyone on the spot, leaving the group so hungry their stomachs were practically stuck to their backs.
Of course, she was doing her best. For instance, while the rest of them were eating here, Madam Lu had to arrange a place to store the coffin, manage the servants to feed the horses, plan the route ahead, and determine how much rice and flour to bring. The others could be set aside, but the old lady was advanced in years and needed proper care. Then there was Madam Meng, frail and ill, and Madam Cao, recovering from a miscarriage—both needed their medicine decocted.
If the journey had started with some excitement, by now only exhaustion remained. Sheniang and Liniang fell asleep the moment their heads hit the pillows and had to be shaken awake by their nursemaids the next morning.
The journey would take two months at best, three at worst, and they had been on the road for less than ten days. Sheniang let out a wail of despair—though of course, she had an even more important task: watching over her mother.
Setting out from the post station this time, they generally traveled by day and rested at the next station by night. Fortunately, the Great Qi had well-developed post stations, with one available every sixty to eighty li, so they no longer had to go hungry as before. The pace was also more leisurely.
Over a month later, they arrived at Yulin Station. Old Master Pei had died while serving as Vice Minister of Rites and had been posthumously honored by the emperor. Moreover, both the eldest uncle and her father were officials, and the Pei family was a prominent clan, so the station staff received them with great enthusiasm.
Unexpectedly, at the station, her father encountered a former classmate. Madam Yu was just telling Sheniang and Liniang: "This classmate of your father's never succeeded in the imperial examinations, but his family's wealth exceeds the Northern Dipper—rice rots in their granaries. His elder brother is a maritime merchant, while he reportedly does business with the Tatars at the border trade markets."
Just as she was speaking, Pei Yiqing sent word from up ahead for them all to come out and meet him—after all, the two families were close.
Madam Yu had the maids quickly comb her daughters' hair before they went out to receive the guest.
Sheniang saw a tall, imposing man seated beside her father, around thirty years of age, dressed in sapphire-blue lake silk. Had Madam Yu not told them his family were merchants, she would have assumed he was a son of an aristocratic house.
Pei Yiqing introduced him: "This is Fang Xia."
Madam Yu performed a bow, and the man quickly stepped aside to avoid receiving it.
Then Pei Yiqing continued his introductions: "Brother Shao, this is my eldest son, given name Ji, fourteen this year. And these are my two daughters—one ranked fourth in the clan, the other fifth."
Sheniang, along with her elder brother and sister, paid their respects to this Uncle Shao.
This Uncle Shao, given name Tang, presented gifts to everyone. Pei Ji received a pair of fine jade pendants, while Liniang and Sheniang each received a pair of gold filigree bracelets inlaid with gemstones.
Pei Yiqing said, "This is far too generous."
"Don't say that. I owe my ability to enter the academy back then to Zhongmou's help," Shao Tang said with a hearty laugh.
While the two men conversed, Madam Yu led the three siblings back down.
The Pei family was in mourning, so naturally they could not drink wine. Pei Yiqing and Shao Tang talked for a while longer before he returned. When he came back, he saw Liniang and Sheniang playing a game of stone-tossing nearby and quickly stopped them from standing to bow.
He sat across from Madam Yu and said seriously: "Prepare a return gift for me, and have it sent to Brother Shao's quarters later. This gift is for his son."
Madam Yu smiled: "I'll prepare it right away, but you must first tell me how old the child is."
"About the same age as our Ji-ge'er. I hear the boy is a child prodigy—Brother Shao showed me a poem his son wrote at age eight, and it was truly fresh and elegant, with lasting charm. He's bound to accomplish great things in the future," Pei Yiqing said.
Madam Yu rose to have someone open the trunks, saying as she did: "It seems you think very highly of the Shao boy, husband."
Pei Yiqing smiled: "Naturally."
Sheniang, listening from the side, suddenly realized—could the person her father was talking about be the Number One Scholar Shao? After all, the surname Shao wasn't very common. If Uncle Shao was her father's classmate, then the Number One Scholar Shao should have married her elder sister—so how did it become Shunniang instead?
Meanwhile, Madam Yu found a pair of jade buttons and placed them in a sandalwood box. Pei Yiqing thought for a moment, then decided to deliver it personally, and also introduced Shao Tang to his elder brothers.
That night, Sheniang and Liniang returned to their room. Sheniang opened the bracelet that Uncle Shao had given her and quietly slipped it on, but she was still just a child now, her arms thin and slender, and the bracelet nearly slipped right off.
The gemstones on it were truly translucent, without a trace of impurity.
Sheniang raised her hand. "Sister, this Uncle Shao is quite generous. The gems on this are better than the ones we usually wear."
"Of course. The Shao family isn't just ordinarily wealthy—they're extraordinarily, extremely wealthy." Liniang turned sideways to look at Sheniang.
Sheniang had seen fine things in the palace; nearly all the jewels in the world had been at her disposal. But she'd had more pressing worries then, so she could only appreciate them briefly. Now that she was a child again, her mindset had changed considerably. Reluctantly, she placed the bracelet back into her dressing case.
As she closed the lid, Liniang said, "Come to think of it, Grandmother has never given me jewelry this fine."
"If you ask me, our father is an official after all. We'll meet more people of standing in the future, so you don't need to keep hovering around Grandmother. She's kind, but there are plenty of people crowding around her now—you might not get much out of it anyway." Sheniang said.
Liniang was twelve now and had developed a sense of pride. Hearing Sheniang say this, she felt it was true and brought up an incident: "Once, Shunniang was hungry—it was well past mealtime—and Grandmother specially had the kitchen make her egg-yolk wontons in the small kitchen. Afraid she'd find them too rich, she also ordered all sorts of snacks prepared. Another time, I was a bit hungry too, and Grandmother only had them give me a few leftover goose-oil rolls from lunch."
"If it were me, I wouldn't eat them." Sheniang was the same way—even when favored by Old Madam Huo, she was never the type to grovel and flatter.
Liniang giggled. "I can tell. You're that kind of person."
The sisters now spent day and night together, and their bond had grown stronger than before.
Sheniang stretched and slipped into the bedcovers. Liniang wanted to cuddle up to her as they slept, but Sheniang didn't like others pressed against her, so she quickly said, "Sleep on your own."
Liniang pouted. "You're mean."
The two chatted for a while and fell asleep without knowing when. In the morning, they woke, ate a bowl of congee and two kinds of fine pastries, and continued on their way.
Along the road ahead, there were many people selling themselves with straw markers tucked in their hair, as well as numerous starving refugees. Madam Yu had someone hand out a bundle of corn buns to them. Sheniang could only shake her head. "Grieving over the Qin and Han dynasties along the way—ten thousand palaces all turned to dust. In prosperity, the people suffer; in ruin, the people suffer."
Though this was called an age of prosperity, the common folk still lived in hardship.
Liniang, however, couldn't care less about such things and said to Sheniang, "Why do you bother with all this? It has nothing to do with you."
"These people being sold—they might not have lived badly before. Who knows, their lives might have been even better than ours. It's just that their families met with misfortune, and now they've fallen to this. As the saying goes, fortunes turn like a wheel—that's what it means." Sheniang said.
Madam Yu, listening from the side, caught a hint of Zen in her words. When one helps others, one is not necessarily not helping one's future self.
The carriages and horses continued onward. Up ahead, the Fifth Branch was making quite a commotion again. A set of Madam Cao's head ornaments had gone missing, and along with them, a gray squirrel-fur coat.
Madam Yu and Madam Huo were the first to arrive at her side, unable to help asking, "How did they go missing?"
A set of head ornaments was worth at least a hundred taels, and the fur coat several dozen taels as well—this was a serious matter.
Madam Cao gave a cold snort. "I'm not the sort of shallow person who only sees what's right in front of her. We should all preserve each other's dignity. If you return it, fine—I won't hold it against you. We're all one family, after all. But some people refuse to admit it and won't even show their face. Today they steal from me; tomorrow, with bigger ambitions, who knows who they'll steal from."
At these words, Madam Huo and Madam Yu exchanged glances. They could tell Madam Cao was referring to Yiniang.
Thus, both of them offered a few perfunctory words of consolation.
But Yiniang was fiery-tempered and unafraid to go all out. In front of everyone, she dumped out her entire clothing trunk and wept, "I know I wasn't born of my lady mother. She scolds and punishes me daily, and I endure it. But now she's mocking me openly and covertly, accusing me of theft—that's a charge I dare not bear. My dead mother, save your daughter…"
Madam Cao had met her match. In truth, the inn had many people coming and going, and the items could easily have been lost due to careless servants. But those servants were skilled at shifting blame and naturally eager to pin it on Yiniang.
Yet Yiniang, having nothing to lose, made a scene of it. The servants covered their mouths and snickered at the spectacle.
Old Madam Pei had never cared for Madam Cao to begin with. Seeing her stir up trouble every few days like this, she sent Nanny Xiang to scold Madam Cao, which only made Madam Cao hate Yiniang even more.
She felt that she'd only meant to berate the girl a few times and be done with it—she never expected that little wretch to dare challenge her head-on, as if latching onto the old madam made her so formidable.
Madam Cao called her over. Yiniang had expected Madam Cao to be furious, but to her surprise, she merely smiled. "To be honest with you, the fact that our family allowed you to return is already extraordinary. You don't actually think I was the one who harmed you, do you? You should take a look at what your mother did."
"What do you mean by that?" Yiniang felt that Madam Cao's words carried a hidden meaning.
Madam Cao rose and looked at her. "After your mother married into the family, she failed to bear a child, so she went to Xuandu Temple to pray for one. Do you know how Xuandu Temple provided children to those who sought them? The temple kept a reserve of robust disciples, and those seeking children were given a sleeping draught before being coupled with them. That is how your mother conceived you. This was a major case back then. Your mother could not bear it and hanged herself. Your father could not stand the sight of you, a bastard child, so he sent you away."
Yiniang broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this.