Chapter 14Lai Da, his conscience pricked by his misdeed, sprinted all the way home. The distance from the town to his house was seven or eight li, and he nearly wore through the soles of his shoes, working up a hot sweat even in the dead of winter.Little did he know that the Feng family generally stayed up late. Feng Li loved reading by lamplight at night, while Feng He enjoyed a late-night snack. The moment they caught a whiff of something burning, the firewood pile was already extinguished.Old Woman Feng fumed, "Whoever did this deserves to be struck by lightning!""Our family's fortunes are rising day by day, and plenty of people can't stand to see it." Feng Li understood the situation well enough, but he had no intention of reporting it to the authorities for now. Nothing had been stolen, so the constables would just come by, take a look, and leave—probably even grumbling that they'd been pulled away from their New Year celebrations.Yingniang didn't learn of this until the next day. It was too cold in the morning, so she always ate breakfast with her mother by the bedside. When she heard her parents discussing it, Yingniang thought to herself—who else but that Lai Da would hold a grudge against their family and resort to such vicious tactics?But what her father said made sense too. Unless the fire had actually burned something down, the constables wouldn't arrest anyone. As long as nothing serious happened, people would rather let things slide.Some truths are easier said than done.Lai Da waited several days, and when he heard nothing about any misfortune befalling the Feng family, he felt both a gnawing resentment and a sigh of relief.Meanwhile, the two brothers of the second branch of the Feng family brought their wives and children home, but their return was marked by disappointment. The quilts in the house were only dug out from who-knows-where after they arrived, reeking of mildew. Other households had cured pork, fish, and sausages hanging from their rafters, but their family hadn't even managed to buy New Year provisions yet.Mrs. Jian had hoped things would be better now that her in-laws had returned to their hometown, but it was just the same as before. And since both she and her sister-in-law Mrs. Lian were of the younger generation, it wasn't their place to comment.The first branch, however, had prepared an extremely lavish New Year's Eve feast. The dishes on the octagonal table were piled so high they could barely fit, and firecrackers outside crackled loud enough to shake the heavens. Everyone at the table kept piling food onto little Yingniang's plate until her belly was nearly fit to burst.Her uncle Feng He even took her out to the open ground by the door to set off string firecrackers. Feng Li scolded his younger brother, "Don't you go blowing her up.""Big brother, don't worry—these are just little firecrackers the vendors braid together." Feng He laughed.Feng Li said, "Alright, play for a bit and then come inside. The whole family's going to the bathhouse later, and I'm treating everyone."Feng He cheered with delight. Yingniang thought to herself that her father and uncle got along very well. Though her uncle was no longer young, he was still like a child—loving to sleep in, fond of going out to play with his schoolmates—but he was also very obedient to her father and grandmother, and honest to a fault.The rest of the afternoon was spent at the bathhouse. When they returned home, the adults stayed up to see in the New Year, while little ones like Yingniang couldn't keep their eyes open and went straight to bed.On the first day of the new year, the men took their children to visit the ancestral graves. Yingniang was carried the whole way in Feng Li's arms, while Meijun was held by her father, Second Uncle Feng Cang. The little boy walking ahead was Feng Cang's eldest son, Feng Jiakang.Yingniang noticed her cousin Meijun staring at her several times, and she smiled back. Little did she know that Meijun was inwardly astonished, thinking to herself—could it be that because she had been reborn, this cousin who had once been kidnapped was still safe in her eldest uncle's wife's arms? She found it deeply puzzling.She wondered—had her cousin not gone missing at this time after all?Unfortunately, she couldn't remember much from before she was five or six in her previous life. She only knew that this cousin had been lost, but as for exactly when and where—how could she possibly know?Meijun thought her little cousin was adorable, with snow-white skin, a small cherry mouth, and big, sparkling eyes. If she hadn't been kidnapped, she probably would have lived a very good life.Visiting the graves was simply a matter of burning a few sticks of incense, setting off a few strings of firecrackers, and then the whole group trudging back home along the muddy road.Old Man Feng was the eldest among his siblings, so the first day of the New Year was hosted at their house. Besides the Feng family relatives, there were also the maternal uncles and aunts from Old Woman Feng's maiden family, the Zuo clan, as well as Mrs. Jiang's maternal grandparents, uncles, and aunts from the Jiang family. The house was packed with people.Mrs. Jiang was the youngest daughter in her family, already spoiled in front of her husband on ordinary days, and even more so in front of her own mother. She told them, "This year we made two kinds of sausages—one sweet, one five-spiced. You'll all have to try them later. If you like them, take some home with you.""Then I'll have to have a taste in a bit," her mother said with a smile, and took out twenty wen wrapped in a red envelope to give Yingniang as New Year's money.Then all the other relatives gave theirs as well. Mrs. Jiang collected them on her daughter's behalf and gave equally generous gifts in return. Families with more children could come out a few coppers ahead, while those with fewer took a small loss—but Feng Li and Mrs. Jiang didn't care about such trifling sums.The first few days of the New Year were full of novelty, especially with all the lively visiting of friends and relatives. But by the seventh day, Yingniang had developed a deep aversion to all the rich meat dishes. She simply couldn't eat them anymore—the very smell made her nauseous.She wasn't the only one. The adults felt the same way, all starting to pick the tenderest cabbage hearts and eating pickled vegetables with their rice.Feng Cang's father returned to the prefectural city after the seventh day. The only things Mrs. Jian brought back with her were a slab of cured pork and two sausages that Aunt Gu had brought over, plus twenty salted duck eggs from Old Woman Feng. Nothing else.Mrs. Jian looked at her daughter and made a silent resolution—her daughter would never, under any circumstances, end up like her, married into such a shabby, stingy household. This kind of shabbiness wasn't about actual poverty; it was about attitude and habits, living in a miserly, pinched way.The senior branch of the Feng family wasn't particularly wealthy either, but they lived comfortably and well-fed. Meijun felt deeply for her mother seeing her like this—a daughter of a wealthy family enduring such a life, with lice and fleas in the bed back in their hometown, her body bitten red and blotchy.That family had left, and Yingniang's family was about to start the new year as well. The family tavern reopened its doors, and Mrs. Jiang returned to her loom, continuing to weave cloth. It wasn't until the Lantern Festival that Yingniang went out with her parents to see the lanterns.Given the previous arson incident at their home, the Feng family always left one person behind to watch the house whenever they went out. Fortunately, no such act of arson ever occurred again."Fiery trees and silver flowers join in bloom, the star bridge's iron locks are undone. Dark dust follows the horses away, bright moon chases the people along. Wandering singers all fair as plum blossoms, their songs drift with falling petals. The night guard lifts the curfew tonight, let not the water clock hasten the dawn." Feng Li recited Su Weidao's poem, as if he were standing on the streets of Chang'an.Yingniang had an exceptionally good memory in her past life—she was the only one serving Young Master Fu who could recognize characters purely by memory. Though she knew only a limited number, it was still more than most people. Now, as her father taught her line by line, she could recite it after just three or four repetitions.Feng Li looked at his daughter and said, "Our Yingniang is truly remarkable. She takes after me—your father had a good memory as a child too."Mrs. Jiang wanted to buy Yingniang a lantern—there were rabbit lanterns, carp lanterns, lotus lanterns, all kinds. Yingniang wanted both a lotus lantern and a carp lantern, and kept hesitating: "I don't know whether to pick the carp lantern or the lotus lantern?"Feng Li beamed. "Then buy both! What's the big deal? As long as my daughter is happy." With that, he indeed bought both, and had Yingniang carry one lantern. He also said to Mrs. Jiang, "There are lots of people during the Lantern Festival, and plenty of child traffickers hiding among them. Let's stroll a bit further ahead, buy you some hair flowers, and then head home."Mrs. Jiang was delighted.Yingniang finally breathed a sigh of relief. She was born in the thirtieth year of the late Emperor Zhaoshun's reign. In the seventh year of Yongxi, she once heard a kidnapper woman mention that she had been in Yangzhou since the Lantern Festival of the second year of Yongxi. Now it was precisely the Lantern Festival of the second year of Yongxi, and she was with her parents, utterly happy.The three of them walked to a large banyan tree where many people were offering prayers. Yingniang saw that Feng Li prayed for success in the provincial examination three years hence, while Mrs. Jiang prayed for the family's safety.Yingniang was too young to write, but in her heart she wished that she would never be abducted, would always remain in her own home, and would always be happy.**Three years later.On a rosewood table sat a bronze mirror, reflecting the face of a young girl—about six or seven years old, plump and rosy-cheeked, with a pair of bright, clear almond eyes. She smiled, revealing a gap where a tooth was missing—she was losing her baby teeth—and immediately covered her mouth with her hand.This was Yingniang, now six years old. She no longer lived with her parents. Two years prior, her father had finished paying off the usury loans, and last year he had taken out over a hundred taels to build her a two-story embroidery tower in the back, with several side rooms constructed beside it.She lived there alone, and of course the adults weren't at ease with that. Her father had specially bought a pleasant-looking maidservant to keep her company—a girl named Suxin, said to have been named after the jasmine flower she wore at her temple at the time.Besides her, the household had bought three more people: an old woman to cook and handle chores in the small kitchen, another maidservant to attend to Mrs. Jiang, and a boy to serve as Feng Li's page.Their family had always been like this—wear a hat that fits your head. The household wasn't particularly well-off now, so they wouldn't buy many servants just for show. Feng Li had also found these people in Wuchang Prefecture; he didn't hire locally, purely because he felt that local people, being too familiar with the area, could more easily collude with outsiders.How could outsiders easily scheme against you? It was almost always insiders.Today was another Little New Year. Yingniang wore a goose-yellow satin jacket with a stand-up collar, the collar protected by a fine apricot-colored gauze trim, paired with a pearl-white pleated skirt and soft satin shoes embroidered with small sprigs. She couldn't help smoothing the fine pleats of her skirt—this was the most expensive garment she had ever worn in her life.Back when the family had no money, they all wore cloth jackets or coarse cotton skirts. Fortunately, their circumstances had improved considerably by now.She pushed open the door and stepped out. The fog outside was extremely thick—so thick you couldn't see a person a foot away. Suxin laughed and said, "Miss, you're up quite early today."Yingniang didn't know how it was elsewhere, but here in Huguang, many young girls couldn't get out of bed in winter and had their families bring meals to their bedside. It was rare to rise early."I need to go see my parents—Father only returned yesterday." Three years later, her father still hadn't passed the provincial examination. At the end of October, after gathering the harvest, he sold the grain in November and went to the prefectural city to attend literary gatherings and socialize, only arriving home last night.Just as she crossed the threshold into the main courtyard, she didn't see her father, but instead ran into her cousin from the Hou family, Hou Xiu. Hou Xiu was ten years old this year, with delicate and handsome features. Though her mother Cheng Qiqiao and Mrs. Jiang had a mediocre relationship, she and Hou Xiu got along quite well."Cousin, why have you come?" It wasn't yet the time for visiting relatives.Hou Xiu was already at an age of understanding, and looked somewhat embarrassed. Her parents rarely ever came to call before, but today they truly had business. Her grandmother had been unable to relieve herself for a whole month, so her parents had bought some croton seeds for her. As a result, she now had unstoppable diarrhea, lying limp in bed, weak all over, needing to be fed by others.Her mother was very impatient with caring for her, always finding it dirty, and her father had work to do, so he couldn't look after her either.Moreover, their eldest uncle of the Hou family had practically married into another household, so there was no other way. After all, Old Madam Hou was also a member of the Feng family. She was currently receiving treatment in town, and they wanted to have Old Madam Hou stay at the Feng family's residence, which would be convenient.First, it would spare the old lady the hardship of traveling for treatment; second, the eldest branch of the Feng family was wealthy, with both houses and servants to attend to her. If they could look after her a bit, perhaps they might even contribute some medicine money in the future, and then they wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

Yingniang