The Academy was on holiday. Even the four masters had left the Academy because the Qingming Festival had arrived. Offering sacrifices to ancestors was the most important matter for a clan, and the Yun Family was no exception.

Old Niu had left, saying he probably wouldn’t return in the future. This made Yun Ye quite sad. Without the old general sitting in command, he worried the Academy would lose order. Old Niu said mysteriously, “It won’t. When he leaves, naturally someone will come to take over. As for who—I won’t tell him yet.”

The Academy students were like untethered wild horses. They changed into their respective brocade robes and garments, donning their accessories. It wasn’t uncommon to see hats adorned with flowers. Meng Youtong practically wore everything he could hang on himself, jingling and jangling like a general store. He kept saying what a loss it was—buying things back but not being able to show them off, keeping them in boxes was a waste of heaven’s gifts. This time he wouldn’t even take them off to sleep.

Fine clothing and spirited horses, light carriages and rich furs—the style of Chang’an youth was thoroughly displayed at this time.

Yun Ye had just said, “What a pity—we’re missing young maidens, otherwise…”

Before he could finish, a group of beasts howled and charged toward Chang’an.

Old Grandmother had prepared very thoroughly: a whole pig, a whole sheep, fat carp two chi long, geese with silk ribbons tied around their necks, chickens with bound feet hopping on the ground, mountains of pastries, countless paper money, boxes of paper ingots, bundles of incense and candles. Bringing her grandson along and everything would be complete.

Old Grandmother directed things here and there in the manor with quite the bearing of a great general. The household servants were ordered about in circles. She didn’t spare the aunts and madams either—each one with a maid busily hustling about. The marquis manor’s ceremonial equipment was polished until it could reflect images. On the huge banners were ferocious black tigers representing that the master’s family came from a military lineage.

The entire Yun Manor was rather shabby, having only two sets of official robes—one for Yun Ye, one for Grandmother. One was Upper Third Rank, the other a Third Rank Imperial Mandate. With only these two big shots and no feeling of stars surrounding the moon, this greatly saddened Old Grandmother. She rather envied Old Madam Pei of the Pei Family, who though only a Second Rank Imperial Mandate, was surrounded by a large crowd of Third and Fourth Rank Imperial Mandates, guarded in the middle like an ancestor, imposing on all sides.

Old Grandmother glanced at Yun Ye with resentment. She had mentioned several daughters from good families to him, yet he hadn’t taken a liking to any of them. For instance, Duke Yingguo’s fourth daughter, the Wang Family’s second young miss—he even looked down on the Zhangsun Family’s cousin miss. Could it be he wanted to marry a princess?

This wouldn’t do. Princesses weren’t for good families to marry. Not only would they have to live separately, but he could only marry one. If I’m separated from my grandson, what’s the point of this old woman living? What if the princess couldn’t bear children? Wouldn’t that be pushing the Yun Family into a fire pit?

A while ago she’d been constantly sending food to the Imperial Palace, but now she’d stopped. Who knew what had happened?

Being stared at by Old Grandmother made him feel uncomfortable all over. He knew what the old lady was thinking—she wanted to hold a great-grandchild soon. She kept saying she was lonely, but he didn’t understand—with eight chattering little maids, how lonely could she be?

“Aiya, my old ancestor, please don’t look at your grandson with that strange expression, okay? My back is getting goosebumps. If you want great-grandchildren, just wait. In a few years you’ll be afraid you won’t be able to hold them all. Wives—we’ll herd them home in flocks! Just wait for chubby boys in your left hand, chubby girls in your right, surrounded front, back, left and right by little ones. There’ll be times when you’re annoyed.”

Yun Ye’s words made the aunts and madams laugh endlessly. Old Grandmother embarrassedly smacked Yun Ye on the head. “You stinky brat! Those are wives, not geese—still talking about herding them home in flocks! If there really were a flock of little ones surrounding Grandmother, even if I died from exhaustion, I’d be willing.”

The fief was only thirty li from the ancestral shrine, reachable in one hour.

From afar they could see two cypress trees—the kind later generations would call “Master Cypresses.” Now they were only as thick as a young girl’s embrace, their scale-like leaves layered upon each other like two great umbrellas held up before the shrine entrance.

Grandmother had already repainted the shrine last year. Vermilion red pillars, vermilion red main doors, plus a vermilion red old man. This old man wore red clothes and red pants with a red head wrap. If he were a bit fatter, he’d be no different from Afu.

He ran over from afar and prostrated himself on the ground to pay respects to Old Grandmother. Seeing Yun Ye looking somewhat surprised, Old Grandmother said, “He’s an old servant from the family. His mind isn’t quite right. After the Yun Family declined and he had nowhere to go, Grandmother let him live in the ancestral shrine. First, to look after the shrine, and second, to give him a place to settle. As it turned out, he’s lived here for sixteen years. These years we’ve been indebted to him—otherwise the ancestral shrine would have long been abandoned, and you wouldn’t have had the chance to pay respects to the ancestors.”

Old Grandmother was somewhat emotional. She stopped Little Ya from climbing on Yun Ye. Today was an important day—she wouldn’t permit the little girl to be unruly, fearing the ancestors would see and disapprove. Little Ya pouted but didn’t dare cry. Yun Ye was just about to comfort her when Madam carried her away.

That old man was really called Afu. He ignored Yun Ye and only circled around Grandmother, speaking “aba aba.” Grandmother also conversed with him through words and gestures. It seemed they were talking quite animatedly. Yun Ye didn’t disturb them and entered the ancestral shrine to look around.

It wasn’t as grand as in later generations, especially lacking the two enormous cement stone lions, making it seem even more cramped. Bronze bells hung from the four corner eaves. When the wind blew, they chimed ding-dong, ding-dong. This type of bronze bell sound most stirred one’s imagination. Especially here, Yun Ye seemed to have a feeling of time constantly changing. One moment, Fourth Granduncle from later generations sat in a tall armchair tracing out the family genealogy, his mouth ceaselessly cursing those unfilial descendants. The next moment, it was old Afu in red clothes and red pants diligently dusting everywhere. Closing his eyes, he only felt the world spinning, the surrounding walls squeezing toward him.

“Ye’er, Ye’er.” Only after Grandmother called several times was Yun Ye pulled out of his nightmare.

“Ye’er, what’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable? Today we’re offering sacrifices to the ancestors—endure it, it won’t take long. Just now, the ancestors were probably all watching you. Don’t worry, this is the family temple—lonely ghosts can’t get in. Sit on that stool by the door and let the old ancestors get a good look at the Yun Family’s thoroughbred.”

The walls were covered with wooden tablets. The souls of male members of the Yun Family who had died over the past hundred years all seemed to be watching Yun Ye. It didn’t matter. Yun Ye opened his mind and let them look their fill. I’m a legitimate Yun Family descendant, from body to soul—not a fake. What if there’s a difference of fourteen hundred years?

This so-called suspicion and fear of ghosts was exactly this principle. Not caring at all, his whole body felt comfortable. Watching Grandmother and Madam busily arranging offerings, he couldn’t help, so he simply didn’t bother. He clasped his hands behind his back and strolled about everywhere. Little Ya and Daya followed their brother, reaching into his pockets for pine nuts. Yun Ye wasn’t accustomed to putting things in his sleeves, so he had Grandmother sew two pockets at his waist. In winter, putting his hands in his pockets was very comfortable. Cheng Chumo’s clothes were the same. The image of the two brothers strolling the streets with their hands in their pockets was quite eye-catching.

Yun Ye didn’t like having his pockets full of copper coins that clinked when he walked—how ostentatious. He had Grandmother hammer silver into thin leaves and stamp the Yun Manor mark on them. One leaf equaled ten wen, very convenient. As long as they didn’t buy luxury goods or go to the East Market, one leaf was enough for the two brothers to wander for half a day.

There were no cigarettes! He’d never thought about quitting smoking, but now he’d been forcibly made to quit. So he’d developed the habit of always having snacks in his pockets. The two little girls were suffering now. Not only had Grandmother found them a literacy teacher, but she’d also hired an old palace maid who’d left the palace to teach the eight maids etiquette. Last time, seeing Little Ya suffering too much, he’d said a few extra words. Unexpectedly, he was denounced by all the women in the family, saying this was a good fortune they begged for but couldn’t obtain—how dare he criticize? After begging pitifully for ages, they finally let him off. The situation of having several hundred ducks by his ears was too terrifying. He could only ignore Little Ya’s teary eyes and run away covering his face.

Amidst swirling smoke, he devoutly kowtowed to the ancestors. A zhang-long offering table was filled with offerings. Right in the center was a huge fat pig, placed in a wooden box and steamed until it glistened with oil, looking quite appetizing. The sheep was the same. As for cattle—a small marquis couldn’t use them to offer sacrifices to ancestors. If discovered, one would be beheaded. So the Yun Family used a fish as substitute.

Several high monks from who knows where chanted some unknown scripture loudly outside the ancestral shrine, over and over. The aunts and others couldn’t enter the shrine and could only burn the enormous quantity of paper money outside. Red-clothed Afu skillfully threw paper money toward the sky, letting the mountain wind carry it to the distant mountains.

After the monks finished chanting scriptures a hundred times, they left satisfied with large bags of copper coins. The entire Yun Family, carrying improved hoes and shovels, came to the ancestral graves behind the shrine. The burial mounds had been maintained very well, without a single blade of grass on them. Grandmother praised old Afu, giving him a large jar of wine and also rewarding him with the pig’s head. Afu gleefully carried off the wine jar to gnaw on the pig’s head.

Grandmother and Yun Ye both added a shovelful of earth to each grave mound. Tears in their eyes, yet with smiles on their faces, muttering indistinctly about something.

After adding earth, the aunts and madams each wept at their closest relatives’ graves. Holding the bewildered Little Ya and leading the confused Daya, Grandmother pointed at Grandfather’s grave mound and said, “Ye’er, when Grandmother passes a hundred years from now, you must bury Grandmother together with your grandfather. Make a big grave mound. You know Grandmother is used to living in big houses—she’s not used to small rooms, feels cramped.”

“Grandmother, why are you saying such things today? Your body is still sturdy—accompanying your grandson for several more decades is no problem. Didn’t you want to see your great-grandchildren? Why are you thinking about going to accompany Grandfather now? Grandfather has so many relatives by his side—he won’t be lonely. Here there’s only Ye’er alone. Can you bear to leave?”

Tears streamed down Yun Ye’s face. No matter how Little Ya wiped, she couldn’t dry them. Grandmother held Yun Ye in her arms, gently patting him, saying, “I can’t bear to, I can’t bear to leave you!”