No matter how old children get, in their parents’ eyes they’re still children.
Chen Shi felt Yu Wen’s words were too perfunctory, but turning her head and seeing Yu Wen had already fallen fast asleep, she couldn’t help making excuses for her husband, thinking he was probably just too tired. She pondered alone for a long while, feeling she had indeed been too neglectful of her daughter. The next morning, she got up early and personally made a bowl of fermented rice with egg flowers, which she brought to Yu Tang’s room.
In her previous life, Yu Tang had often enjoyed such treatment, but this was the first time since her rebirth. She couldn’t help being startled and quickly crawled out from under the covers, saying, “Mother, what’s the matter?”
Chen Shi didn’t answer, just smiled as she watched her get dressed, saying, “Mother hasn’t had a good talk with you in quite some time. Do you want to come with me to the temple today to eat vegetarian food?”
After Old Master Pei passed away, Chen Shi often went to the temple to burn incense for him.
Yu Tang rinsed her mouth with green salt and said, “Is Chen Pozi not available today? Father and I are planning to visit Uncle Lu’s grave—it’s almost his second week memorial. Father said to burn some paper money for him.” This way, people in Lin’an would know they had brought back Lu Xin’s belongings from Hangzhou and planned to burn them for him.
Chen Shi was somewhat disappointed, but seeing that Yu Tang could go out with Yu Wen, with father and daughter spending time together warmly, she still felt gratified.
“Alright!” She agreed readily and said, “Quickly drink the fermented rice with egg flowers Mother made for you. Once it cools, it won’t taste as good. I’ll have Chen Pozi make you and your father some flatbread to take along.”
Lu Xin was buried at Green Mountain Lake in the suburbs. It took two hours to get there from Lin’an, and the whole way was mountainous with not even a tea shelter—they could only eat dry rations.
Yu Tang agreed and casually changed into a moon-white fine cotton short jacket and skirt, simply styled her hair in a simple bun, drank the fermented rice with egg flowers her mother made, then left her room to have breakfast with her parents.
After breakfast, Chen Pozi had also finished making the flatbread. Chen Shi personally packed some side dishes in a food box and instructed A’Tiao: “Be careful on the road—don’t let Master and Miss go hungry.”
Yu Wen was more worried about Chen Shi and said, “Let A’Tiao go with you! I have A’Tang for company.”
The husband and wife yielded to each other, and Yu Tang smiled with pursed lips, asking Chen Pozi for a basket.
Chen Shi said, “What do you need a basket for?”
Yu Tang gave her father a meaningful look and said, “Isn’t it to carry the incense and candles for Uncle Lu?”
Chen Shi found a medium-sized basket for Yu Tang. Yu Tang and her father left the house and went to buy incense and candles.
Sure enough, as soon as they went out, they encountered many acquaintances. Everyone knew Yu Wen had gone to Hangzhou Prefecture these past few days. Seeing him return and the very next day carrying sacrificial items somewhere, they were all quite curious. Nine out of ten people asked what he was doing, and one person stopped them to ask what fun things there were in Hangzhou.
Yu Wen answered everyone according to what he and Yu Tang had discussed beforehand: “Scholar Lu still had some things left in Hangzhou. I went there to help him collect them. When the seventh week comes, I’ll burn everything for him.”
Everyone praised Yu Wen for being kind-hearted and benevolent.
After being polite for quite a while, Yu Wen finally hired two sedan chairs to go to Green Mountain Lake.
When they reached Lu Xin’s grave, green cypresses surrounded them in verdant color. Red firecracker debris from the burial still remained in front of the grave.
Yu Wen sighed and knelt before the bluestone tablet, burning paper money for Lu Xin, saying, “I don’t know which of your words to me were true and which were false. But true or false, I hope you can forget the matters of this life and soon be reborn into a good family—don’t be as vain and overly ambitious as you were in this life.”
Yu Tang stood nearby curiously examining other people’s tombstones.
Some had both sons and daughters, blessed with fortune, prosperity, longevity, and joy; some had died young; some had left half empty waiting for their spouse to be buried together, while others were already double graves.
The autumn wind blew through, making the empty woods rustle and giving people a chill.
Yu Tang rubbed her arms with both hands and said, “Father, are you cold? It’s eerie here—let’s go back!”
Yu Wen nodded and descended the mountain with Yu Tang.
Many people in Lin’an already knew about this.
Even Ma Xiuniang, borrowing the opportunity to thank Yu Tang, curiously asked about this matter: “What things did Scholar Lu leave behind?”
“Some calligraphy, paintings, copybooks, and such.” Yu Tang said. “They’re all things he used regularly in daily life—it wouldn’t be appropriate to keep them at our house.”
Ma Xiuniang said sympathetically, “Uncle Yu’s luck really is bad, befriending such a friend. When he died, he closed his eyes and knew nothing, yet Uncle Yu has been running around doing things for him.”
Yu Tang didn’t want to discuss this matter further with her and asked with a smile, “What are you planning to wear when your future husband’s family comes to deliver the betrothal gifts?”
That way she could choose something not too eye-catching to complement Ma Xiuniang and not steal her spotlight.
Ma Xiuniang blushed and said, “My mother prepared a vermillion red outfit for me.”
Yu Tang smiled and said, “Then I’ll wear lilac.”
Ma Xiuniang hummed in agreement, then quietly shared private words with Yu Tang: “My mother secretly gave me three ten-tael bank notes, telling me not to tell anyone. After I’m married, I won’t have to reach out my hand to ask Master Zhang for money every time I want to buy rouge or powder.”
Yu Tang had never had such an experience and asked curiously, “Don’t you have twenty mu of land as your dowry?”
Ma Xiuniang said, “My mother said that although those twenty mu are part of my dowry, the income is fixed. The Zhang family isn’t well-off—if I’m extravagant, their family might be unhappy…”
Yu Tang couldn’t help feeling grateful she didn’t have to marry out.
Several more days passed like this, and the news spread throughout Lin’an. Yu Tang felt this matter should be foolproof now—if those people didn’t come to steal Lu Xin’s belongings, they would burn them. Whether it was the former or the latter, they could throw away this hot potato.
These days, Yu Wen was either at home studying that map or carefully inquiring about who in Lin’an did business in Fujian, how big their businesses were, whether they were generous in character, and so on. Once someone even asked why he was inquiring about these things and whether the Yu family was planning to change businesses.
He evaded with vague words, but only realized after returning home that he’d broken out in a cold sweat.
Yu Wen told Yu Tang about this and said, “It just shows I’m not good at doing bad things.”
Yu Tang laughed outright, somewhat worried about whether her father was suitable for going to the capital or Fujian to gather information.
But Yu Wen comforted her: “Once you do it once, there’s a second time—people need opportunities to practice.”
This made sense too.
In her previous life, she never managed anything, yet now she was handling things quite competently.
Yu Wen, afraid she would overthink, simply took out the two paintings Master Qian had copied to admire them, saying, “Tell me, with such excellent skills, why does Master Qian still do this work? Although it pays well, the risk is also high, and it’s impossible to leave his name in history—such a waste.”
Everyone has their own story.
Yu Tang remained noncommittal about this. When her mother came to call them for dinner and she was helping her father tidy the table, she suddenly froze as if struck by lightning.
“This, what is this?” she cried out in shock.