The fourth year of Yong’an fell in an awkward gap — officials across the realm were nearing the end of their terms, and everyone was maneuvering to shift their positions.
Tao Jizong’s father, whose birth name was Zhou Xingfa, had originally come from a small, undistinguished family in a minor county, the youngest son with no particular prospects. Poverty had driven him to marry into the Tao family as a live-in son-in-law.
Old Madam Tao’s father had been a scoundrel among scoundrels, a petty, grasping clerk in the government bureaucracy — and even a man like that had once found Zhou Xingfa a suitable match. It stood to reason that, back then, Zhou Xingfa must have possessed some quality that pleased his father-in-law greatly.
By the standards of an ordinary father-in-law — no, specifically a father-in-law seeking a live-in son-in-law — the first virtue such a groom needed was honesty; he had to be obedient. Second, he needed a presentable appearance, or the daughter would never agree. Third, he needed to be able to hold a conversation with the daughter, meaning at the very least he should be able to read and write a little, since his daughter herself could read and do sums.
What kind of man had Zhou Xingfa become now? A petty, low-ranking bureaucratic grease-monkey, greedy for money and women, shameless to the core — every fault the world despises, he possessed in full. And yet, strangely, his superiors didn’t dislike him at all — they’d even written him several personal letters urging him to come to the capital to pursue an official post.
Never mind the wrongs done to Old Madam Tao — however Zhou Xingfa had turned out now, no one in this affair could claim to be entirely innocent. He hadn’t even waited for his first wife’s body to grow cold before bringing along the woman he’d since married to seize his children’s property.
Clearly, somewhere along the way, his life had held stories no one else knew.
In truth, he had already been in the capital for some time, and had already made careful inquiries into the Tao family’s affairs, learning everything down to the last detail. Never mind that he’d once held his eldest son hostage — he wasn’t afraid of Old Madam Tao before, and now that she was dead, he certainly wasn’t afraid of her.
Since arriving in the capital, Zhou Xingfa had realized something. All his life he had scraped and hoarded so miserly that even when his own son was in trouble, he wouldn’t part with a few strings of cash to help — yet all that carefully hoarded wealth wasn’t enough to buy his way into an official post here.
One or two thousand strings of cash was, to Zhou Xingfa, the largest sum of money he had ever laid eyes on in his life. And yet in the capital, that sum wouldn’t even buy him a cramped little courtyard tucked in some forgotten corner with a three-bay frontage.
Property prices in the capital had been climbing sharply these past few years.
What’s more, Zhou Xingfa had set his sights on the Bureau of Military Appointments within the Ministry of War — the department responsible for selection, promotion, succession of rank, and rewards of merit. Get a foothold there, and within ten years or so, one could cultivate real power and lasting prosperity for the whole family.
Harboring this enormous ambition, and believing he’d brought a fortune worth of wealth into the capital with him, he began spreading money around and cultivating connections, eventually working his way into an acquaintance with a genuinely untouchable relative of the Tan family — a young master named Wu Xiu, brother-in-law to the current head of the Tan clan, Tan Weitong. This Wu Xiu was a proper aristocratic young master by birth, and everyone in his circle was either wealthy or powerful.
The first time he came to the capital, Zhou Xingfa watched Wu Xiu hand out basketfuls of money to the courtesans of the pleasure district, letting them scatter it down from the second floor across the street just for fun. He was utterly stunned, and swore then and there that he would latch onto this golden opportunity — even if he only got to live one day like that, his life wouldn’t have been wasted.
Later, he did manage to ingratiate himself, following Young Master Wu Xiu around like a devoted dog, even settling two months’ worth of the man’s brothel bills — after which he could no longer keep up financially.
In truth, men like him, hangers-on from out of town clustered around Young Master Wu, numbered in the dozens.
He served with sincerity, drawing on a hundredfold the patience he’d once shown his former father-in-law, and within these two months, Young Master Wu had come to notice him — calling for him wherever he went, willing to keep him close at hand.
He had a good eye for reading people and knew how to talk, coming across as simple, sincere, and honest. But Zhou Xingfa could no longer afford to keep serving him — he had run out of money, and had to find some way to get more.
A man like him only turns to ruthless methods when pushed to the very edge.
Digging around, he learned that his two unfilial sons had gone to Zuoliang Pass — not that it mattered to him one way or another. Never mind the daughters; between his first household and the one he’d remarried into, he had four sons from before and two more since. He wasn’t short on children. What he lacked was that vixen wife’s three-courtyard mansion on Quanhou Street.
And what a location — Quanhou Street, packed with officials of Qingfeng prefecture!
He’d made inquiries. Even if that vixen wife refused to sell, if he could just get one courtyard to live in, it would cut down his greatest daily expenses. He was going to become a capital official soon, after all — surely he couldn’t go on renting forever?
Second, all his neighbors on Qinwei Lane would be capital officials — a tremendous advantage. Whenever some matter came up where he might scoop up a little easy benefit, he could, just as in the storybooks, cultivate a few close friendships in the area, show up with a jug of good wine, joke around a bit, and slip the matter in casually to get things done.
Now that his wife was dead, this house ought to be his by rights. And even if they refused to hand it over outright, he’d play the part of the aggrieved but magnanimous father willing to compromise — if only to let his two daughters, now married into good families, see what a fine father they had. Wasn’t clawing his way into this fortune all for the sake of his descendants, after all?
Zhou Xingfa genuinely believed this, and had come quite openly and confidently — never imagining he would end up beaten black and blue by a mob of women from Qinwei Lane, and finally chased off the property altogether.
The first wave of women who’d settled Quanhou Street mostly had nothing left to lose, so they feared nothing, and with the protection of Qinwei Lane behind them, they weren’t afraid of anyone regardless.
Never mind Qinwei Lane — this Great Liang dynasty had an emperor who valued old loyalties, and no small number of these women had husbands who’d died in the army.
Bullying one widow might be overlooked. But bullying a whole crowd of them? Even His Majesty wouldn’t want that reputation attached to his name.
Zhou Xingfa took his beating and didn’t dare report it — losing face was one thing, but he genuinely couldn’t afford to provoke these people further. That vixen of a wife had spread no end of lies about him — or so he told himself, refusing to believe it was anything but slander, with no understanding at all of what those unfilial children of his had truly suffered, or how rebellious they’d truly been.
He was the type who bullied the weak and cowered before the strong — since these people dared to hit him, he graciously chose to let it go this time.
But the fiercest of the old women had shouted after him: my son is a prince of the realm! Set foot in Quanhou Street again, defile our neighborhood again, and tomorrow I’ll have my son throw you straight into prison!
And so Zhou Xingfa left, bruised all over, and everyone knew perfectly well the man would be back before long.
That evening, the Old Madam returned to the old house quite late, while Qiqian’er, who tended to sleep a great deal these days, had already napped twice and eaten four meals in the old house by then.
The Old Madam took off her shoes and, leaning on Yiyue’s arm, climbed onto the kang — her old bones simply couldn’t move the way they used to — and settled in with a groan of relief.
Qiqian’er set down the needlework in her hands and poured water for the Old Madam, who didn’t drink it, but instead asked what the stack of cloth squares in Qiqian’er’s lap was for.
Qiqian’er looked at the pile of small squares, each sewn from three layers of cloth, and said, “These are diapers I’m cutting for the baby. Why?” She finished, sweetly stroking her belly.
The Old Madam immediately launched into a scolding: “Oh, you’ll be struck by lightning for wasting things like this! Here I thought you’d take a bolt of fine cloth to make the little one’s undergarments — even the emperor’s own family isn’t as wasteful as you! Your sisters-in-law’s diapers were all ready back in the seventh or eighth month, and it’s not just that they have piles and piles of them — I’ve been saving Lanting’s and Xique’s old ones just for you! Several whole bundles of them!”
Qiqian’er absolutely refused to let An’er use anyone’s hand-me-downs, but she also didn’t want to argue with the old woman directly, so she smiled and said: “A’Nai, you really do have a soft spot for me — only I get the good things kept aside… But this cloth isn’t wasted at all. A’Nai, you always go and arrange things without asking me first — do my sisters-in-law only ever have one baby at a time? What if they want a baby girl of their own next? We all get along so well, you shouldn’t make things awkward for them. If you bring this up now, fine, I’ll save the cloth, but then next time they need more, they’ll have to make it fresh again — they won’t say anything, but what if it sits uneasy in their hearts?”
The Old Madam, ever practical, said: “That won’t happen! You want to keep making more? Do you think this house runs like the imperial palace’s own workshop? Just use them one after another — it’s just something to catch waste and hold in the mess, a dozen or so is plenty. I’ll tell you, your father-in-law’s diaper liners, back in his day, were the same ones handed down through several generations of the Chen family…”
Heh…
The Old Madam said this, but half her irritation had already faded — after all, she genuinely believed she was managing the household sensibly according to her own principles; that wasn’t the same as being stingy toward Qiqian’er.
Qiqian’er nodded obligingly. “A’Nai is right. If we run short, we can use some of Xique’s and the others’, but even that won’t be enough. Didn’t you hear your grandson say he wants eight sons! Let’s just grit our teeth and spend a little more — it’s the first pregnancy after all, better to prepare more than not enough, don’t you think, A’Nai?”
All the Old Madam’s irritation vanished instantly, and she broke into a delighted, teasing grin. “Eight! You want to have eight, do you — that’s more suffering than you can imagine. A woman shouldn’t listen to a man’s nonsense talk — they don’t understand a thing, wanting this and that every day. Three or five is plenty to keep you busy as it is, and you don’t even have a mother-in-law of your own to help.
“Eight? Even having two close together would be too much — you can’t compare yourself to other people. Other women have their own mothers-in-law to help. By the time you’re run ragged tending to one, you won’t even get a hot meal in your mouth before the next one’s already made a mess on your face!
“You’ve never raised that many, never suffered that kind of hardship — don’t go listening to that Choutou’s foolish talk. Oh, so is that what you plan to do with your whole life now, just pop out babies one after another?”
The Old Madam had apparently forgotten entirely that the household kept a whole staff of servants to help.
Qiqian’er helped the Old Madam out of her heavy padded jacket, then supported her into a half-reclining position before asking: “We’ll deal with it when it comes, right? If more come along, we can hardly turn them away, can we?”
The Old Madam, clearly quite fond of this particular pregnancy of Qiqian’er’s, reached out and gave her belly an affectionate, trembling pat. “I’ll tell you, a person ought to know when enough is enough. That Old Chen family, from top to bottom, never had more than a thimbleful of courage — and now you want to beg eight star-lords down from heaven? Don’t go dreaming of such extravagant things! This one — heh, this might well be the one and only time luck favors this family so grandly. Ah, has our little Piglet given your mother any trouble today?”
Qiqian’er had just been feeling rather pleased with herself, but hearing that name, she instantly wished to die on the spot. A’Nai had explained once that stealing a star-lord away from heaven wasn’t easy, and fearing the immortals above might come to reclaim him, she’d given An’er the pet name “Piglet”… truly the most demeaning nickname imaginable.
There was absolutely no way Qiqian’er would agree to such a thing — she’d sooner see Chen Choutou dead than allow it — so she quickly changed the subject: “Ahem! Grandmother! So what’s the arrangement with the Tao family now?”
The Old Madam, remembering the matter, smiled and said: “That Jizong is quite a man after all, a good boy. He wants to get the household affairs settled quickly, before that shameless father of his comes back to make more trouble — that’s why he came to us to sort it out! We discussed it with him and helped divide up the family property.”
Qiqian’er was startled at this. “Divided the family? Would the second branch agree to that?”
The Old Madam laughed lightly. “Whether she agrees or not, does it matter? Tao Jizong is the son, if he says divide, then divide it is. You wouldn’t know this, but Guanyin Bodhisattva arranges everything long in advance, there’s a fixed order to all things. That woman thought she was so clever, playing the good person all this time — bah!
“Their family’s affairs aren’t as simple as they look. Zhang Shi has only been thinking of her own good fortune, but back when Tao Lamei was cast off — that was when Zhou Xingfa took the three sons and left — those boys learned their ways from their father, heartless the lot of them! They all signed the divorce papers before they left.”
Qiqian’er was utterly astonished — in her previous life, this had never happened; they had always seemed a family bound closely together, and Old Madam Tao had ruled as matriarch her whole life.
“There was such a thing?”
“Ah! Long ago, back in the hardest days of the previous dynasty, you don’t know this — that was when Huang Shi tried to hang herself, and it was your Aunt Wan who cut her down. If she’d gone even a moment later, the woman would have been stiff already. Huang Shi was timid, too scared to go home right after, so she told your Aunt Wan everything — and that mouth of your Aunt Wan’s, could she possibly hold it in? That’s how we found out Tao Lamei had been cast off. She thought she could hide a scabby sore forever and it wouldn’t stink!”
Qiqian’er gathered up the diapers, quietly vowing never to come here to do needlework again.
The Old Madam then pulled two more large bundles from the kang cabinet, and inside were old clothes she’d saved — some of Xique’s, some of Lanting’s, some picked up along the road, even an old skirt that had once belonged to Dingxiang.
She held the skirt out proudly for Qiqian’er’s approval. “Feel this, isn’t the fabric soft?”
Qiqian’er dutifully touched it and nodded.
The Old Madam, pleased, took it back and began cutting it into eight pieces to make diapers. “When it comes to reading and writing, A’Nai can’t match you. But when it comes to raising children, no one knows better than me! New cloth looks nice, hah, but it’s all been starched — even after several washes it’s never as soft as this. This is much gentler against the skin, right?”
Qiqian’er nodded blankly. “Right… it is.”
She had seen this skirt before — in her previous life, this was the very fabric An’er’s diapers had been made from… It wasn’t that it was bad, exactly, it was just that fate seemed determined to repeat itself. Are we not supposed to be a star-lord, after all?
Fine, so we’re not a star-lord. We’re not short on money either, why does it have to be used clothes?
The Old Madam had no idea what was going through her mind, and continued cutting as she talked. “The Tao family’s property deed is written very clearly. They were only sharing a household in name — each managing their own affairs, long since not really one family anymore! This house counts as being jointly owned by five households, including Tao Lamei’s own. If the second branch wants to fight over it, they can only fight over Old Madam Tao’s own share — but Tao Lamei’s portion has to be divided among all four sons. Jizong is the elder, and being surnamed Tao, he should get the same share as the top graduate. Beyond that — are the daughters not to be considered Tao children anymore? Not even people?
You don’t have much left over, but the least you can do is set aside a few dozen strings as dowry money for the girls too, right? Even if Zhang Shi took this all the way to the Heavenly Court itself, this is still how it would be divided.”
Qiqian’er, deeply moved, nodded. “You’re right. Those girls suffered so much, they’re Tao children too — why should they get nothing?”
Seeing her surprise, the Old Madam patiently explained the tangled family relations in detail.
Old Madam Tao and her husband had separated — she’d taken her eldest son with her; he’d taken the second son, along with the fourth branch’s wife and several granddaughters.
Later, after Zhou Xingfa remarried, the three sons he’d taken with him each found women to settle down with. Huang Shi was the first to receive divorce papers. Tao Jiye and the others were, relatively speaking, men of some conscience — each found a woman to be with but never sent divorce papers to their original wives. Unluckily, though, the women who followed those three sons had, one after another, run off eventually…
As the old saying goes, better a beggar mother than an official father — a child who never learns hardship never truly grows up. Back then, it had been Qiqian’er’s own bolt of brocade that saved the third and fourth sons, and from that point they abandoned their father and grew close to their mother instead.
As things stood now, Old Madam Tao, worried the three-courtyard house might be seized from her, and having caught a favorable window, had taken matters into her own hands.
After the war ended, there had been a great many widows, and to help ensure women could survive independently, in the first and second years of Yong’an the household registry had briefly been relaxed, allowing women to establish their own separate households.
With no one powerful to back her, Old Madam Tao had split the three-courtyard house into five separate registered households under one roof, and that was how she managed to secure the property.
The eldest branch, under Huang Shi, was registered as a women’s household on its own. The second branch inherited the registry under the name of the top examination graduate. The third and fourth branches were registered under Zhou Jiye’s and Zhou Jizong’s names respectively.
That’s what it meant to be a mother — however wronged, however bitter she felt inside, even on her deathbed she had made sure both her unfilial sons still had a home to return to.
Only now did Qiqian’er truly understand — why, back then, she had deliberately bypassed Madam Qiao and Old Madam Tao, extending her protection only to Madam Wan and the others.
The woman might have had no one powerful to lean on, but she was never without her own means. However wicked, however calculating she’d been, she had made sure every child from her own womb was looked after.
Qiqian’er now felt only pity for that fierce maternal devotion. But a person, once gone, is like a lamp extinguished — whatever had come before was now truly finished.
This three-courtyard house had come back around, in a roundabout way, into Old Madam Tao’s grasp after all — only, having schemed her whole life, in death she’d left behind children who had learned to scheme too, and the first to abandon ship had been her very own daughter.
The Old Madam trimmed the candle wick with small scissors and sighed. “Heh! She spent her whole life scheming, thought she had her daughters-in-law all wrapped around her finger obediently — the moment she kicked the bucket, that whole family fell apart.”
Qiqian’er drew a breath, unsure quite what she felt.
There was truly no way to hate the woman fully, and yet no way to feel simple pity either — only a single sigh: “Ah… fallen apart…”
The Old Madam nodded. “Fallen apart! That Zhang Shi from the second branch is planning to hang herself in front of the coffin tonight, saying the house belongs to her top-graduate son. Pah! Shameless woman — has she already forgotten how that whole household of women once supported them? And Huang Shi, and the third branch’s Guo Shi, tonight they both said they’re not staying either — they’re not even that old, only in their thirties, still young enough to bear children — once the mourning period ends, they’ll take their daughters and remarry. Plenty of men out there looking for wives these days, as if the Tao family ever treated anyone all that well. Tell me, Qian’er?”
“Hm?”
The Old Madam asked earnestly, “You think — that three-courtyard house the Tao family has now, how much do you think it could sell for? I heard your Aunt Wan and the others talking tonight — it’s not like the capital, of course, but property in Qingfeng has gotten quite valuable these past few years too. And this one’s got its own water source, plus a garden. Should fetch at least eight thousand strings or so, don’t you think?”
Qiqian’er thought it over and said, “More than seven or eight thousand, surely. A’Nai, things are different now — this is Quanhou Street, and who lives here? Officials who can’t even find room in Six Ministries Lane in the capital itself, this is where they end up. Aunt Wan was talking about the new property prices over on Quanqian Street across the way — a three-courtyard house over there alone would go for over ten thousand now, given the location. And their place isn’t small either.”
Qiqian’er rounded the number, and the Old Madam, always good with figures, counted on her fingers and sighed. “If that’s so, split five ways, each household would get at least two thousand strings — not bad at all. Go a little further out, near Yiting, buy a small plot in some quiet corner for a few hundred strings, then spend a few hundred more building a proper five-bay, single-courtyard house, set up a shopfront too — with Guanyin Bodhisattva’s blessing, that’s a fine life indeed! Wouldn’t you say?”
Qiqian’er nodded. “About right. But Old Madam Tao only just died in that house — to fetch a good price, they’d normally want to wait three years for the value to rise, and that’s if they don’t run into someone in too much of a hurry to sell.”
The Old Madam blinked, then burst out laughing. “Ha! Tao Lamei, oh Tao Lamei — well, she’s gone now… You wouldn’t believe how many people are already eager to buy. The second branch of the Old Tang family came asking today, saying if it’s for sale, let them have first refusal… If you ask me, this Tao family won’t be on our Quanhou Street much longer, ten days, half a month at most…”
Qiqian’er finished tying up the diaper bundle and didn’t think much more of it. But who could have guessed — the very next day, before dawn, Tao Jizong came to repay the loan.
The Old Madam rose hastily, took the money, and stared in astonishment. “This — you’ve already sold it? For how much? Your mother’s still lying in there, isn’t this all a bit too hasty?”
Tao Jizong gave a bitter smile. “Forgive me for not waiting, Old Madam. It sold for eleven thousand strings — the Tang family’s second branch bought it. Old Madam, please go over when you can, my mother — my mother is being carried out for burial today. We’ve already taken the Tang family’s money, and once I leave, my sisters-in-law will pack up and move as well…”
This came out so hurried that the Old Madam grew a little cross. “Child, go ask around — even the least filial of children keep the body laid out for three days for the sake of appearances. Your mother raised you all for nothing, why are you being so careless about this?”
Tao Jizong shook his head helplessly. “I want to, believe me, but loyalty to my country and to my mother can’t both be fulfilled. You know I only barely escaped Zuoliang Pass with my life… The vanguard army marches out tomorrow, and since I know the terrain there, my superiors want me to guide them…”
At these words, the Old Madam fell silent. She let out a long breath, then pressed her palms together and bowed in several directions in turn. “Oh, Guanyin Bodhisattva be praised, our Great Liang is finally sending troops out at last… Everyone’s hearts have been in turmoil for so long — Guanyin Bodhisattva, please bless our Great Liang army, keep them safe, bring them a great victory and safe return… bless them, bless them…”
Having finished her prayer, she took hold of Tao Jizong’s hand to comfort him. “Child, you’re doing something important! Your mother won’t blame you. Just go, and take good care of yourself — your mother is watching over you from above, I’m certain nothing will happen to you. Don’t let your heart carry this burden… I’ll go starting tomorrow, along with your aunties, to Qingque Temple to hold prayer rites for your mother for fifteen days straight!
We’ll make sure her offerings of incense are plentiful, treat the bodhisattvas well and see them satisfied — you just set your mind at ease… this matter is ours to handle now. Whatever heaven she wishes to ascend to, however far she wishes to rise, with enough incense offered, she’ll become whatever immortal she’s meant to be…”
Tao Jizong had thought he’d already resigned himself to everything, but he hadn’t expected the Chen family’s Old Madam to go this far out of her way for him. Not knowing how he could ever repay such kindness, he could only kowtow three more times, blood streaking down his forehead once again.
Neither of them knew, however, that all of this — the grand mobilization of troops — was merely a show, staged by the court to calm the people’s hearts and, at the same time, to lull and unsettle the Tan forces.
Tao Jizong hastily buried his mother, arranged for his wife and daughter to stay temporarily in Madam Wan’s courtyard, and, eager to return to Zuoliang Pass for revenge, set off with the army — though the march moved at an agonizingly slow pace, several thousand men making a great show as they left the capital.
Once past Qingfeng, they stopped every few dozen li in some empty stretch to set up camp, cook, and drill the troops along the way… By the time he had finally, painstakingly made it as far as Xiaonan Mountain, a piece of major news broke on Quanhou Street.
Zhang Shi had taken the top examination graduate and remarried — not far away, either, married to a widower who taught at the ancestral hall up ahead. This teacher’s surname was Feng, a man of considerable talent and a successful examination candidate from the previous dynasty, whose entire family had died in the chaos of war, leaving him the last of his line. Already past sixty, with no hope of remarrying and having children of his own, he had taken a liking to the boy’s talent and the chance to carry on a family line through him.
From then on, the boy once known by his childhood name “Zhuangyuan” — Tao Wentong — took the surname Feng, becoming Feng Wentong, though he continued to live out his life on Quanhou Street all the same.