Old Lady Guo was not in the main hall, but rather in the three-bay side room behind the main hall that served as a storeroom.
The warm winter sunlight shone on the trunks of purple-red sandalwood with auspicious cloud copper fittings, looking ancient, dignified, and noble.
Old Lady Guo stood before an open trunk and beckoned to Zhou Shaojin: “Come look at this. How is this appreciation vase?”
The sky-blue glaze was crackled like a tortoise shell. It had a round belly and tall neck, elegant and naturally flowing, reminiscent of a swan’s neck.
It was a Geyao appreciation vase from a previous dynasty, rivaling that “Beauty Under the Moon” piece.
Zhou Shaojin suppressed her surprise and said with a smile, “It’s truly beautiful!”
Old Lady Guo nodded with a smile and said, “This was part of my mother’s dowry. During the war, my maternal grandfather’s family were local gentry and were among the first to be robbed by bandits. Many fine things from the household were lost, but this appreciation vase was hidden by my maternal grandmother in the well in the back courtyard and survived. Later when I married, my mother gave it to me. I’m thinking of placing it on your Uncle Chi’s curio shelf. What do you think?”
“It should be very suitable,” Zhou Shaojin said with a smile.
Old Lady Guo then instructed Feicui who was serving beside her: “Take this out.”
Feicui acknowledged and carefully placed the appreciation vase on the long table nearby, making a note in the ledger.
Old Lady Guo then said, “I remember I also have a Geyao horseshoe-shaped incense burner with crab claw patterns… Feicui, search carefully. It should look very nice displayed together with that Geyao appreciation vase with tortoise shell patterns.”
Feicui smiled and replied “Yes,” found the ten ledgers labeled “Porcelain” among a trunk full of account books, and began turning through them page by page.
Old Lady Guo sighed to Zhou Shaojin: “When you get old, you accumulate so many things that I can’t even remember what I have anymore.”
This made theft easiest.
Years ago, when the Empress Dowager’s Nine-Treasure Necklace went missing, it was because the eunuch managing the storeroom had stolen it. If the Princess Imperial hadn’t been getting married and the Empress Dowager hadn’t suddenly thought of the item, it might not have been discovered even after the Empress Dowager’s death that it had long been stolen from the palace and sold.
However, the several maids around Old Lady Guo all seemed to have good character—such a thing shouldn’t happen.
Zhou Shaojin smiled faintly.
Under the warm winter sun, she was like a blooming narcissus flower.
Old Lady Guo couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
No wonder Jiashan couldn’t forget her. With just this appearance alone, one could never tire of looking at her. As for everything else, it became secondary… That Zhuang woman was even more outstanding than Zhou Shaojin. This truly proved the saying that deep affection shortens one’s life.
Old Lady Guo gently patted Zhou Shaojin’s hand. After thinking for a moment, she opened a trunk labeled “Jiazi” and took out a small box. On the date-red velvet cloth lay a red gold chrysanthemum kingfisher feather hairpin.
The chrysanthemum was the size of a wine cup, set with sapphire-blue kingfisher feathers, with curled slender petals. The golden, trembling stamens were all lifelike.
Old Lady Guo closed the box and handed it to Zhou Shaojin, saying, “The New Year is approaching. Take it and wear it!”
“I cannot accept such a reward without merit,” Zhou Shaojin said. Though she didn’t know its origin, she could tell at a glance it was no ordinary piece. She declined earnestly.
Old Lady Guo smiled and said, “Aren’t you helping me copy scriptures? Accept it! If you feel bad about it, make me a shawl next spring. When I gave birth to your Uncle Chi, my shoulder was exposed to cold air. It’s fine in winter when there are braziers, but in spring it aches faintly. I need something draped over my shoulder to feel better. This year’s shawl, I’ll leave to you!”
Zhou Shaojin quickly agreed and accepted the box from Old Lady Guo’s hands.
She could see that everything in Old Lady Guo’s storeroom was a fine piece. Fearing Old Lady Guo might impulsively give her more things, she stood to take her leave.
Old Lady Guo didn’t keep her and continued searching through the storeroom with Feicui.
Zhou Shaojin had just copied two pages of scriptures in the small Buddhist hall when Ji Ying arrived.
She asked with a smile, “Do you want to go see Liyin Pavilion?”
Zhou Shaojin asked curiously, “Is there something special about Liyin Pavilion?”
Before this, she hadn’t known Hanbi Mountain Lodge even had a Liyin Pavilion.
Ji Ying smiled with an air of mystery: “Outside Liyin Pavilion there’s a Taiji formation nested within a Bagua formation. Ordinary people who enter will definitely get lost. I’ll take you to experience it.”
Zhou Shaojin’s heart stirred.
Could it be the bamboo grove where she got lost last time?
She still remembered that to the east of that bamboo grove there seemed to be a courtyard, with several fiery red pomegranate flowers peeking out from behind the flower wall.
Zhou Shaojin asked, “You understand formations?”
“I don’t,” Ji Ying said. “But Huai Shan does. He said red ropes have been tied on bamboo poles every five steps. If everyone follows the red ropes, they definitely won’t go wrong. But what fun is following what he said? While Huai Shan is directing the young servants to tie the red ropes, let’s run over and play. If we get lost, we can just shout and Huai Shan will come rescue us. What better time could there be than now?”
Zhou Shaojin still had lingering fear from the last incident.
She shook her head like a rattle drum and said, “No, I need to finish copying these scriptures today. I’ll go with you another day!”
Ji Ying was somewhat disappointed and said, “Everything about you is good except you’re too timid.”
Zhou Shaojin felt embarrassed.
Ji Ying laughed and said, “Fine then, I’ll go by myself. Don’t regret it later!”
Zhou Shaojin felt Ji Ying was like a child tempting her to play.
She smiled gently, saw Ji Ying out of the Buddhist hall, and continued copying scriptures.
When she finished copying today’s scriptures and packed up her things, she went to take her leave of Old Lady Guo.
Ji Ying’s shouts could be faintly heard from the bamboo grove.
Zhou Shaojin was greatly startled and quickly had Shi Xiang go find Huai Shan.
Shi Xiang soon returned, saying with a smile, “Miss Ji Ying was carried out of the bamboo grove by Huai Shan.”
“Carried?” Zhou Shaojin was somewhat puzzled.
Shi Xiang imitated Huai Shan’s manner: “Like carrying a little chicken.”
Zhou Shaojin thought of the cold, piercing look in Huai Shan’s eyes when she first met him.
Huai Shan was probably no ordinary person.
Zhou Shaojin pondered this, and after returning home told her sister about it.
Her sister smiled and said, “He’s probably Uncle Chi’s bodyguard, right? Uncle Chi often travels for the family business and deals with all sorts of people from all walks of life. Without a bodyguard like Huai Shan with superior martial skills, how would he dare interact with those shipping gangs and border troops?” Speaking of this, she paused slightly and said in a low voice, “Old Master Li of the second branch is said to have died at the hands of the shipping gang.”
Zhou Shaojin was shocked and said, “Didn’t they say he died of illness?”
Old Master Li of the second branch was the only son of the second branch’s patriarch Cheng Xu and the husband of Old Lady Tang.
Zhou Chujin looked around. Seeing only the two sisters in the room, she said, “When I was little, one day after waking from an afternoon nap, Grandmother and Elder Uncle were sitting outside the canopy bed talking. Elder Uncle had just taken charge of the household then, and times were difficult. Elder Uncle had somehow obtained several salt permits and needed to go to Yongjia Salt Works to collect salt. Grandmother wouldn’t let Elder Uncle go. At that time she said: Look at Second Uncle Li from the second branch—he had money and goods, was shrewd and capable, yet didn’t he still die at the hands of the Cao Gang…”
Zhou Shaojin was skeptical and said, “Hasn’t the court always said the Cao Gang ‘gathers crowds to cause trouble’ and must be eliminated? By that time, the second branch’s patriarch should have already entered court service. If Old Master Li died at the hands of the Cao Gang, why not report it to the authorities? Even if the murderer couldn’t be found, it would at least severely damage the Cao Gang!”
“I don’t know the specifics either,” Zhou Chujin said. “Every year the court says the Cao Gang is ‘the source of lawlessness,’ but when have they ever thoroughly eliminated them? Presumably this Cao Gang has its own exceptional qualities. Even if the second branch’s patriarch was a court official, it wouldn’t have helped. Besides, how would legitimate businessmen provoke these outlaw desperadoes? Perhaps the matter at the time was ‘unclear and unexplainable’—pulling up the radish brings the mud with it!”
Zhou Chujin was somewhat dismissive.
“That’s true,” Zhou Shaojin sighed. “It’s just pitiful for Old Lady Tang, a widow with orphans, to have kept vigil all these years.”
“That’s why they say thirty years east of the river, forty years west of the river. There’s nothing particularly pitiful about it,” Zhou Chujin said. “If Old Master Li were still alive, with the second branch’s patriarch helping to scheme, where would the main branch be today? The second branch’s patriarch is older than the main branch’s patriarch. Old Master Li was also older than Old Master Xun… This is how human calculations can’t match heavenly fate. You have no choice but to accept fate!”
The family’s resources were limited. Being older meant maturing earlier. Maturing earlier meant being able to secure more resources for oneself. This was why legitimate wives didn’t fear their husbands having favored concubines—they feared favored concubines bearing sons older than their own sons.
Zhou Shaojin thought of the family genealogy that had always been held by the second branch’s patriarch.
The second branch’s patriarch must be very unwilling and had placed his hopes on Cheng Shi.
The sisters chatted quietly for a while. Seeing it was getting late, they went to Jiashu Hall.
Who would have expected that Old Lady Guan had a visitor?
Si’er quietly told Zhou Shaojin and Zhou Chujin: “It’s Grand Lady Bai from Cunren Ward. She said she heard about the matter with Lan Ting and Xin Lan and came specifically to appeal to Old Lady for justice.”
Zhou Shaojin’s face flushed red with anger upon hearing this, and she said, “Are we falsely accusing Cheng Bai? How dare she come to Grandmother to appeal for justice! What justice is she appealing for? She should consider herself fortunate we haven’t sought trouble with her.”
“Second Miss, don’t be angry,” Si’er said in a low voice. “She’s not appealing for justice for Cheng Bai. She came to appeal for herself. She says she knew nothing, that when Cheng Bai was alive he was away from home every few days, and as a woman of the household, how could she control what her husband did? She had no idea what Cheng Bai did outside. She also said that when Cheng Bai died, Cheng Lu was only six years old and knew even less about what his father had done. Now that Cheng Bai has done wrong, it will bring disaster upon his descendants. Just thinking about it makes her want to die. She’s been talking for nearly half an hour. Old Lady is extremely annoyed and too lazy to even say a word of comfort.”
Both Zhou Shaojin and Zhou Chujin found this amusing upon hearing it.
Zhou Chujin said, “I used to think that although Grand Lady Bai was somewhat impetuous, she was still reasonable. Turns out it’s because she hadn’t encountered personal pain. Now that disaster has struck, she speaks of ‘bringing disaster upon descendants.’ When a person dies it’s like a lamp going out—if it couldn’t bring disaster upon descendants, then anyone could kill and commit arson before hanging themselves, settling all debts once and for all. Who would fear committing crimes then?” As she spoke, she lifted her foot to go to the main hall. “What does she mean pestering Grandmother like this? Let her come talk to me instead!”