Chapter 8Although Second Uncle Feng was stingy, whenever any rural relatives or friends held a banquet, even if he didn't come back to attend the feast himself, he would still send gift money. So this time, quite a few people showed up.Yingniang sat on a long wooden bench listening to the adults talk. Seated across from her were the two sisters-in-law of the Hou family—Hou Xing's wife, Mrs. Zhang, and Hou Wang's wife, Cheng Qiqiao.Cheng Qiqiao was clearly trying hard to please her sister-in-law, but Mrs. Zhang treated both Cheng Qiqiao and Mrs. Jiang equally, without any sign of forming cliques. This immediately earned her Yingniang's goodwill. She had once heard her father mention that Hou Xing considered himself to have married into a good family and was constantly worried someone might try to steal her away—especially keeping a wary eye on Feng Li. Feng Li had been furious, feeling that Hou Xing's suspicions toward him were beneath contempt.To her surprise, Hou Xing's wife was not so petty. Upon learning that the Feng family had bought land here, she said enviously, "Our family has lived in the prefectural city for two generations now, and we don't want to go back to our hometown. Our old home is in the mountains of Shizhou—you have to walk a long way just to get out."Mrs. Jiang smiled. "It was pure coincidence. The land here is never sold to outsiders—it's all ancestral property passed down for generations. But it happened that this Wealthy Man Tong had a very filial son who had settled in Wuzhong and built a big business there. The whole family was leaving, so he decided to sell the ancestral estate. At first he planned to sell it to his clansmen or relatives, but none of them were willing to put up real money. Just then my husband heard about it and was determined to take it over even if he had to borrow the funds."Mrs. Zhang sighed in admiration. "Then you've secured a piece of hereditary property. Yunshui is now close to Hankou, not like before—this is truly a good thing.""That's hard to say. I just hope things get even better in the future, and then I'll be at ease." Mrs. Jiang smiled.Yingniang glanced at her mother and thought that when her mother wasn't by her father's side, she spoke clearly and logically, nothing like the way she was in front of him.Just then, Old Woman Feng came over with several fruits for Mrs. Jiang. "A gift from the old neighbor next door—said they're dates from the tree. Try one.""Thank you, Mother." Mrs. Jiang wiped one with her handkerchief, took a crisp bite, and then stuffed two dates into Yingniang's hands.As Yingniang was eating, she heard Old Woman Feng sit down and say to Mrs. Jiang, "I only just found out that Yu-ge'er's bride's father was originally exiled here. They say he was a wealthy householder from Shandong. When he was exiled, his wife and daughter came along with him. His exile term ends in one year, and he's earned great admiration from the officials of Hanyang Prefecture."Mrs. Jiang was surprised. "Is that so? If the officials all admire him, then he must be very capable."The group chatted about this and that, and then they were called to the back to shell quail eggs. In Yunshui Town, the first dish at any banquet was always "Family Reunion Soup"—a bowl of broth containing meatballs, quail eggs, daylily flowers, egg ribbons, and black fungus. The remaining dishes were mostly steamed—in this town, anything could be steamed.But a few dishes were mandatory on the table: steamed lotus root, steamed crown daisy, steamed pork ribs, plus steamed chicken pieces, fish chunks, and large slices of pork. Each was steamed in its own bowl, then flipped upside down onto a plate, with a ladle of Family Reunion Soup poured over the top.Underneath the steamed pork slices were dried flour flatbreads, bought from town and cut into small pieces to line the bottom of the bowl.Besides the steamed dishes, there had to be a whole fish, a plate of roasted chicken, and a sweet soup such as rock sugar lotus seed soup or rock sugar white fungus soup, finishing with a savory dish like shredded pork with pickled mustard greens or shredded pork with green peppers to go with rice.This was the standard banquet spread, though wealthier families might add eight-treasure rice, roast goose, or braised cold dishes.Mrs. Jian was dressed in a cotton shirt with an apron over it today. She had nimble hands and was frying meatballs, scooping out perfectly round balls with a spoon and dropping them into the oil pot.Once they were cooked, she picked one out and gave it to Yingniang and her cousin Meijun.Old Woman Feng was asking, "Have you found the boy and girl attendants to accompany the bride yet?"After the bride entered the household, she would eat at a separate table with ten young boys and girls as companions, so the candidates had to be selected in advance. Mrs. Lai was busy stripping mugwort and only snapped back to reality when Old Woman Feng asked. "Feng Lao'er is handling all that. Why don't you ask him, sister-in-law?""You're supposed to be the mistress of the house—you should take more responsibility." Old Woman Feng was at a loss with this sister-in-law of hers. Mrs. Lai would shirk work whenever possible, but when there was good food to be had, she ran faster than anyone.A normal person, upon hearing that her son had taken up with the daughter of a convict, would certainly try to stop it. But this family didn't bother with any of that—they even thought it was a bargain not to have to pay a single coin of bride price.But Feng Yu wasn't her own son, so Old Mother Feng didn't feel she could say much. Besides, the bride's father's exile term would soon be up, and then everything would return to normal.Yingniang wasn't truly a child. After finishing her meatball, she went to Mrs. Jiang to have her hands wiped with a handkerchief. Mrs. Jiang shook the water from her hands, took out the handkerchief, and wiped her daughter's hands clean.After a busy morning, Mrs. Jiang brought her daughter to the banquet, and the mother and daughter ate their fill. In the afternoon, the groom rode a donkey to fetch the bride. Mrs. Jiang carried her daughter out to watch the bride arrive, while Feng Li and Feng Cang set off firecrackers along the way. Just as Feng Li had predicted, someone came by horse-drawn carriage, and even from a distance, the firecrackers startled the horses.Mrs. Jiang quickly carried her daughter back inside, and barely a moment later, the wedding canopy collapsed—fortunately, nothing serious happened.The bride arrived on a flatbed cart, with a matchmaker up front tossing wedding candies to the ground for people to scramble for. Mrs. Jiang didn't feel comfortable joining in, but Old Mother Feng grabbed a few for her granddaughter.The bride's dowry wasn't very large, and she was still wearing her red veil. Yingniang peeked beneath the veil and thought the bride was rather pretty. But that was all—she was too young, and the family didn't feel comfortable letting her accompany the bride alone. During the evening banquet, when the groom came out to toast the guests, Old Man Feng tossed out a string of coins.That money was mostly for the bride as tea money; the formal gift money went to the groom's family.After dinner, Yingniang was already nodding off like a little chick pecking at rice, falling asleep on her father's broad shoulders.After the wedding at Second Uncle Feng's house was completed, they went to Hanyang Prefecture to hold another celebration. This time, the eldest branch of the family didn't attend, but reportedly all of the Hou family went.Feng Li said, "There are plenty of river bandits and robbers on the water—traveling isn't easy. We all have matters to attend to at home, and we've given them ample gift money and tea money, so we've done right by them."Who would have thought that in just over ten days, Second Uncle Feng and his wife returned, bringing along his in-laws, the couple.Second Uncle Feng said, "Now that Yu-ge'er's wife has come into the household, and my eldest grandson also needs to move out and live on his own, the seven or eight rooms we have just aren't enough. We're planning to do some small business in town. And my in-laws would also like to settle down here."It was clear that although Feng Li didn't particularly care for Second Uncle Feng's family, he had quite a favorable impression of Old Father Lian. In particular, Old Father Lian had once managed land and offered many suggestions—such as building a latrine near the fields to provide natural fertilizer for the soil, and so on. Feng Li had been figuring out land management on his own and was lacking in experience, so hearing these ideas made him feel that Old Father Lian was a man of knowledge.

Yingniang