“Who is it? Stop keeping us in suspense already!” Aunt Cuihua urged impatiently.
“Oh, you’re always so impatient,” Aunt Wang replied smugly. “It’s the village chief’s youngest daughter—the one called Lan-jie’er. Weren’t they arranging a marriage for her recently? I thought for sure they’d find her some scholar from a well-matched family to marry as the principal wife.”
“Yeah, so what happened? Didn’t it work out?”
“Oh, it worked out all right,” Aunt Wang said with heavy sarcasm in her voice. “But do you know whose household she’s marrying into?”
“Oh come on, stop dragging it out already,” Widow Li complained.
“The County Lieutenant! That County Lieutenant Liu from town!” Aunt Wang finally announced.
Seeing everyone’s eyes widen, she continued with satisfaction:
“Sounds like marrying upward, doesn’t it? But after asking around carefully—you find out she’s going there as a concubine! Not even a second wife filling an empty position. Just a newly taken concubine!”
“No way! The village chief cares so much about face—he’d really let his own daughter become someone’s concubine?” Widow Li gasped in a lowered voice.
“Face?” Aunt Wang sneered. “Can face put food on the table? Or buy a future? County Lieutenant Liu may be older, but he’s a real eighth-rank official! He’s in charge of law enforcement and catching bandits throughout this region. I heard the village chief is desperate to smooth the road for his eldest son’s future and make business in the county easier for the family. That’s why he eagerly sent his youngest daughter over. The birth charts have already been matched—they’re just waiting to pick an auspicious day to carry her into the household.”
“Heavens above…” Aunt Cuihua’s cleaver stopped completely. “Isn’t that basically selling your daughter? How old is Lan-jie’er anyway? Sixteen? Seventeen? That County Lieutenant’s probably almost old enough to be her father!”
“Exactly!” Aunt Wang sighed with a trace of pity. “I heard Lan-jie’er cried and caused scenes several times at home, even threatening suicide. Her mother locked her up. The village chief’s wife even fell ill over it, but the village chief had already made up his mind.”
“What a sin…” Widow Li sighed as she tossed another piece of firewood into the stove. Firelight flickered across her complicated expression.
“I used to envy girls like her—pretty daughters from wealthy families who didn’t have to dig in the dirt like us. But now? Being the proper wife of a farming household, even living on coarse food and simple meals, is still better than becoming some old man’s concubine with no freedom at all. Manzhi may have been foolish back then, but at least she chose for herself…”
“Shh! Stop talking!” Aunt Wang suddenly interrupted sharply, glancing nervously toward the doorway.
The newly minted scholar’s wife, Madam Chen, had entered carrying a stack of washed bowls and chopsticks.
The kitchen instantly fell silent.
Only the bubbling stew and the crackling firewood remained audible.
The women all lowered their heads at once, pretending to focus intently on their work.
Madam Chen placed the dishes onto the counter, her movements slightly stiff. She had clearly sensed the unusual silence and the women’s evasive gazes.
Without looking at anyone, she picked up a clean cloth and slowly wiped water from the rims of the bowls.
Her voice was calm but carried clearly to everyone present.
“Aunts and sisters-in-law, our family has suffered unexpected hardship. Especially at a time like this, with both celebration and misfortune arriving together, we should all be careful with our words. Some gossip is best left as something merely heard and forgotten. Spreading it further harms others and benefits no one.”
She paused before continuing gently:
“We common folk should value honesty and virtue most of all. Everyone has worked hard in this kitchen today. Please continue helping with care. Consider it accumulating blessings for the Lin family… and for Xiyong.”
She deliberately emphasized the name “Xiyong.”
The speech was soft yet firm.
She subtly criticized their gossip while invoking virtue and the prestige of a scholar’s household, leaving the women speechless.
“Yes, yes, Scholar’s Wife is right,” Aunt Wang and the others hurriedly agreed.
Madam Chen said nothing further and simply continued wiping the bowls.
The Lin family banquet ultimately began amid an atmosphere that was outwardly lively but inwardly tense.
Twenty banquet tables had been set up throughout the courtyard, with another three inside the main hall. Every seat was filled with relatives, neighbors, and friends who had come to congratulate the family.
Each table held large bowls of stewed meat, whole chickens, braised roe deer, tofu dishes, steamed fish, vegetables, baskets of mixed-flour steamed buns, and jars of cloudy rice wine.
The loud chatter, drinking toasts, and children’s laughter all seemed to be trying desperately to cover the lingering awkwardness hanging over the gathering.
Old Master Lin and Old Madam Lin forced smiles onto their faces as they moved from table to table offering drinks.
Lin Dayong and Lin Eryong accompanied them.
As the guest of honor, Lin Xiyong sat at the head seat of the main table near the doorway. On either side of him sat Village Chief Wang Shouren and his father-in-law, Scholar Chen, along with several respected village elders.
Lin Xiyong’s classmates sat at another table to the left with Lin Sanyong entertaining them. On the right sat Old Madam Lin’s brothers together with Old Master Lin and others who came to toast.
Meanwhile, Lin Manzhi and her daughters ate separately in the kitchen with the women and children under Madam Liu’s arrangement.
After several rounds of drinking, the atmosphere seemed to loosen slightly.
Then suddenly, a well-dressed woman with sleekly combed hair and a calculating smile stood up unsteadily with a wine cup in hand.
It was none other than the mother from the Zhang family—the family Lin Manzhi had once been engaged to. Everyone called her “Aunt Zhang.”
Clearly drunk, her eyes carried a deliberate haze, yet her voice rang out loudly enough to draw everyone’s attention instantly.
“Oh my! Brother Lin! Sister-in-law Lin! And our newly honored scholar!” she laughed exaggeratedly while raising her cup toward the head table.
“Today is truly a glorious day for the Lin family—your ancestors must be smoking with pride from their graves! I, Aunt Zhang, am delighted for you all! Come, let me offer a toast!”
Without waiting for any response, she tilted her head back and emptied the cup herself.
The guests, unsure what was happening, cheered along politely, and the atmosphere briefly became lively again.
Aunt Zhang set down her cup and dabbed her lips with a handkerchief.
But then her gaze turned sharp as poisoned needles, landing precisely on the thin figure seated in the kitchen.
Still smiling, her tone abruptly became cold and unpleasantly theatrical.
“Oh? Everyone, take a look! That person sitting in the kitchen there… why do they look so familiar?”
She deliberately dragged out her words, successfully directing every eye toward Lin Manzhi.
Lin Manzhi’s body stiffened violently.
The steamed bun in her hand nearly fell to the floor as she lowered her head even further.
Old Master Lin and Old Madam Lin instantly turned deathly pale. Old Madam Lin looked as though she might collapse.
Lin Dayong and Lin Eryong both shot to their feet furiously.
But Aunt Zhang acted as if she noticed nothing and continued in her shrill voice dripping with mockery:
“Heavens above! Isn’t this… isn’t this the famous eldest daughter of the Lin family from twenty years ago? The one with all the ‘ideas’ and ‘courage’—Lin Manzhi?”
Boom.
The crowd exploded into uproar.
All eyes fixed onto Lin Manzhi as whispers surged through the banquet like crashing waves.
Clearly pleased with the chaos she had caused, Aunt Zhang’s expression grew even crueler.
“Manzhi! Twenty years without seeing you. So where have you been making your fortune? My, my, look at your clothes and your grand appearance. Truly… returning home in wealth and glory!”
She deliberately emphasized the phrase “wealth and glory,” drawing low laughter from parts of the crowd.
Lin Manzhi’s shoulders trembled violently, but she bit her lip tightly, neither raising her head nor making a sound.
Her daughters beside her looked equally terrified.
“What’s wrong? Don’t recognize your Aunt Zhang anymore?” Aunt Zhang sneered as she actually took several steps toward the kitchen carrying her wine cup.
Her smile twisted into something vicious.
“Back then, when you were engaged to my eldest son, our family treated you well enough! But you broke off the engagement whenever you pleased. You actually dared run off to the county and seduce some wild man! Shameless! Ruining your family’s honor! Eloping with a man behind everyone’s backs! You disgraced my son, disgraced your parents, disgraced the entire Taohua Village! My eldest son became the laughingstock of every nearby village because of you! You shameless little—”
“Aunt Zhang! Shut your mouth!”
The furious roar exploded like thunder.
Lin Eryong could no longer hold himself back.
Eyes blazing red, he charged over and planted his broad frame in front of his trembling eldest sister.
Pointing directly at Aunt Zhang, he shouted hoarsely:
“Yes, my sister ran away back then! But she already spoke clearly with Brother Zhang first, and he agreed to break the engagement! We returned all the betrothal gifts and even added five extra taels as compensation! And now that my sister has fallen into hardship, you jump out just to stomp on her? What kind of elder are you?”
“Enough!”
A cold voice filled with restrained anger suddenly rang out.
Everyone turned to look.
Lin Xiyong had left the head table without anyone noticing and now stood at the kitchen entrance.
His face was dark with fury.
Though not as physically imposing as his second brother, the scholar’s robe he wore naturally carried an unmistakable air of dignity.
He stared icily at Aunt Zhang.
“Today is my celebration banquet,” he said quietly, yet his voice cut through the entire courtyard’s noise with ease.
“You are our guest, and the Lin family has treated you with courtesy. But if a guest chooses to speak vulgar insults and publicly humiliate members of my family, then do not blame me for abandoning politeness.”
Aunt Zhang faltered slightly beneath the authority of his scholar status and his cold gaze, though she still stubbornly lifted her chin.
“Oh? Such impressive authority from the great Scholar Lin! ‘Humiliating the dignity of scholars,’ is it? Hah! Looks to me like the Lin family’s reputation isn’t much after all! Fine then—I won’t drink your banquet wine!”
She suddenly smashed her wine cup onto the ground.
Wine splashed everywhere as porcelain shards scattered across the floor.
Under the complicated gazes of the silent crowd, Aunt Zhang was practically dragged out of the Lin family courtyard by her two sons.
The banquet ended hastily afterward.
The villagers helping with preparations tactfully dispersed one after another, leaving behind only the messy piles of dishes and several unopened jars of rice wine sitting forgotten in the corner of the courtyard.