The ink was thick. Chen Dasheng gripped the brush in his hand with all his strength, yet his arm trembled.

He tried and tried, but couldn’t manage to write the characters on the gate.

On the outskirts of Shaoshang, an elderly man in a fox-fur robe, cradling a hand warmer, smiled warmly at them and said, “Our family has spent generations building bridges and paving roads — go ask around, we’re known far and wide as benefactors! I take pity on you all, coming so far from home in this bitter cold to our Shaoshang. We don’t need many people — just put your thumbprint down and you can go up the mountain to work. Once you’ve earned some money, you can settle down and support your family here in Shaoshang…”

They kowtowed devoutly to the kind old benefactor, lined up, and pressed their thumbprints onto that piece of paper, thinking only of how to work hard for their new master, in exchange for money and grain, so they could return home and rebuild their lives.

But instead, they were bound together with rope, string after string of them, and led away by force.

That sky, that day, had been so high.

That earth had been so vast, yet not one path in it belonged to them.

His grandmother, holding Dingxiang’s hand, wailed after them — calling out for her son, calling out for her grandson…

Seeing Chen Dasheng’s hand trembling so badly, Qiqian’er said, “I’ll — I’ll help you.”

With that, she reached out and took hold of his hand, guiding it to trace over the character Chen on the gate once more, then two more characters.

Dasheng!

“You know how to write it now…” Qiqian’er said, looking at the characters, sniffing — he really did know how to write it now.

“My… my grandson?”

Someone behind them called out, voice trembling.

Chen Dasheng turned to look at his grandmother.

His grandmother had grown so old, her hair all white. He wanted to lift his robe and kneel, but the old lady grabbed hold of him first and pulled him toward the house.

No one spoke. Everyone quietly followed, watching the old woman lead her grandson home.

The whole way, the old lady was unusually quiet — no crying, no trembling. She simply held on, with all her strength, gripping tight to the thing she’d once lost, the flesh torn from her own body — finally, one piece of it had come back.

Once inside, she let go, wanting to touch Chen Dasheng’s head.

But Chen Dasheng had grown so tall now that she had to stand on tiptoe to reach.

Qiqian’er stood at the door, watching this familiar scene.

In the past, every time the old lady saw a grandson, she’d done exactly this same thing.

Chen Dasheng slowly knelt. The old lady slowly removed his helmet, his hair net, undid his hair, took off his outer robe, his padded jacket, his inner garments, and finally his boots.

Wearing only a loincloth, Chen Dasheng knelt there while the old lady carefully, inch by inch, missing nothing, felt over her grandson’s head.

His head was fine. His neck was fine. His shoulders were fine. There were some scars from blades and whips — it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s all healed now, it’ll all be fine from now on.

The old lady stroked those scars, drawing sharp breaths, still not crying.

His back was fine, his legs were fine — every inch of skin and flesh, the old lady felt over carefully, until she’d counted all her grandson’s toes and fingers, all there, complete. Only then did she look up and say with a smile, “Good, all whole. However your mother made you when she gave birth to you, my grandson, my grandson, that’s — that’s exactly how you are.”

Chen Dasheng slowly reached out and wrapped his arms around his grandmother’s waist. He no longer had a mother — only his grandmother now.

The familiar scent filled his nose. His grandmother, stroking his head, said, “My grandson, were you scared before? Don’t be afraid, Nai has always been there, always following, always close by, never far from you…”

Chen Dasheng nodded silently, but he remembered — in the new recruits’ camp, when they’d knelt bound on the ground, terrified, despairing, thinking they were about to die — how, on those sharpened wooden stakes, an old woman had suddenly climbed up, all ten fingers bloodied, no one knew how she’d managed it, lying there and shouting, crying out:

“My son! Mother’s here! Don’t be afraid! My grandson! Nai is here, I’m not leaving! Not going anywhere! Don’t be afraid, all of you… I’m here! Mother’s right here…”

From then on, outside the recruits’ camp, there was always an old woman with a little granddaughter, mending clothes for people.

Thousands of miles, over and over, she never left. Even when armies trampled across the riverbanks, she took her granddaughter and hid in the marshes to evade pursuers, her eyes fearless, fixed ahead.

Even walking across a field littered with corpses, she led her granddaughter — eyes wrapped in cloth — singing a folk tune from home as they crossed…

Others in war always talked about what lay ahead. But in their Huo family, whenever they had a moment’s rest, they’d stand somewhere high and look back. No matter how far they’d marched, they were never afraid, because they knew — Mother’s there, Nai’s there… She’d followed them thousands upon thousands of miles, all the way here…

The wooden bucket dropped with a crisp splash into the well below, the windlass creaking out its very human groan.

Seven sets of bodyguard uniforms lay neatly folded on the kang in the east room. Chen Dasheng sat on the kang, wearing the new clothes his grandmother had found for him.

The old lady’s soft murmuring with her grandson drifted out from the room.

“…I’m not sad, look, I haven’t cried. If you want to talk about hard, it was hard when your eldest uncle died — that was real grief. But it wasn’t long before they told me your second uncle, your father, were gone too, and I thought — good, good! The three brothers and your grandfather are all together now. They had that foolish, stubborn strength between them, so they wouldn’t be afraid of anything. A family together, no one to bully them, right!”

“Mm, and Chougou-ge and the others too.”

“…Right! All gone.”

Qiqian’er, carrying a full bucket of water in each hand, passed by the foolish fellows outside the window who’d changed into the Huo household’s steward uniforms. Yu Qingguan quickly stood up, saying somewhat bashfully, “Little— little sister-in-law, let me do that.”

Qiqian’er stepped back awkwardly, forcing a smile as she shook her head. She carried the buckets in, poured the water into the pot with one hand each, then went back out for more.

She went back and forth, not even sure what exactly she was trying to accomplish, only that keeping busy eased something in her heart.

Chen Dasheng plus the six outside, plus one called Yangdan — yes, and later adding An’er and the old lady — ten memorial tablets had been her life’s devotion.

On the first and fifteenth of every month, at Qingming and the Ghost Festival, she’d sent winter clothes for the dead, year after year.

Alone for decades, the only one left alive in this world — all these people had gone so early.

When they’d first arrived at the border, within three years they’d all put down roots there. This one, Yu Qingguan, had even brought his elderly mother, his wife, and his children over.

At the time, they must have thought — good days were finally beginning.

But the good days didn’t last. Foreign enemies gradually encroached, and their superiors, not knowing how to use their men well, threw them away carelessly.

In three years, Chen Dasheng lost six brothers at Zuoliang Pass, then held the line alone for twenty years after.

And the new families they’d built scattered, each going their own way.

Fearing no one would tend to their memorial tablets, Chen Dasheng had them made and sent home to Quanqian Street in Qingfeng City, asking her to look after the offerings.

Over twenty-some years, these men’s children gradually grew up — no father to support them, mothers dead or remarried — and Chen Dasheng raised their children for over twenty years.

Chen Dasheng split his single salary eight ways to support other people’s children, stretching himself thin, dragging down his own family, his own wife and child.

Everyone praised his righteousness, his loyalty.

But what of her, back home? She and An’er scraped by on the meager scraps she’d had to wrestle out of Qiao Shi’s hands.

How she’d hated him back then.

Later, growing old, she’d slowly come to understand — why rely on anyone else? Weren’t her own hands enough? Didn’t she have her own two hands?

Why had she spent day after day waiting on this man? If she’d woken up to this sooner, struggled free and made her own way, her An’er wouldn’t have…

In the end, it always came back to her own lack of resolve.

She let out a slow breath. A lifetime’s unresolved knot had, in truth, long since dissolved into smoke… In her past life she’d finally understood this. Now it was simply awkward again.

“Sister-in-law, the water’s boiling.”

Guan Si’er looked down at the water bubbling in the iron pot, then looked up at Qiqian’er in astonishment — this little sister-in-law had quite the arm strength, hauling two huge potfuls of water back and forth, smoking out the main hall so badly they’d all had to retreat to the east room window.

Qiqian’er looked down at the bubbling pot, then looked up at this young man, and smiled. Forty years of loss like a great dream — seeing you all alive and bright-eyed now, I won’t hold it against you anymore!

This time, if I don’t get your lives properly sorted out, I’ll have lived this life for nothing!

This time, if I don’t help each of you stand on your own two feet, I’ll have lived this life for nothing too!

I managed your lives in the underworld for forty years — if I can’t manage this one in the world of the living, I won’t be able to face Heaven!

Thinking this, Qiqian’er called out toward the east room: “Chen — Chen Choutou, come out here!”

Sitting on the kang eating pastries, chatting idly with his grandmother, Chen Dasheng startled.

His name had never been called out like that before, by anyone — let alone a woman — with such brazen authority.

Realizing it was his wife, he felt a rush of excitement, and also a bit of that awkward, bashful feeling.

The old lady, hearing Qiqian’er speak so boldly, laughed, reaching out to smack her dazed grandson: “Hurry up and go out! Didn’t you hear? Your wife’s calling you!”

Chen Dasheng swallowed his pastry, still grinning foolishly at his grandmother, and said, “Right! Got it.” Then he reached over and passed the pastries on the table out through the window.

Yu Qingguan popped his head up, naturally catching them, and shared them out with the others crouched below the windowsill.

The old lady silently thumped her chest — oh, this spendthrift grandson! Her pastries, pastries the Emperor himself had given her… but since her grandson liked to share them, well, fine, eat up, eat up! Finishing them off would at least save her the worry!

Chen Dasheng put on his brand-new cloth shoes and lifted the door curtain into the main hall.

His eye couldn’t tell whether a woman was beautiful or plain — he’d never been taught to judge such things. But regardless, he felt that this woman, who’d held his hand to write his own name, was different from everyone else — beyond comparison to any other woman.

He wanted to say something but didn’t know how to start, so he stood there awkwardly, at a loss.

But Qiqian’er, feeling half-familiar with him already, seeing him come out, took him to unlock the west room. Inside, she pulled out four or five keys from her waist, picked one gleaming brass one, and turned it in the largest rosewood cabinet, pulling out a small pouch from within.

Chen Dasheng followed along, thinking his wife’s whole in-and-out routine was somehow — hm? He couldn’t quite say it, but it felt impressive.

She turned the pouch over, and a few shining pieces of broken silver spilled into her palm. Qiqian’er tossed them up and down with practiced ease, and Chen Dasheng was captivated all over again.

So pretty, so impressive! His mother had died without ever holding a single coin in her hand. His grandmother kept a tight grip on money too — no one could pry a single coin from her.

How was his wife so capable? Just a few days and already this much silver — how had she gotten it out of his grandmother’s hands?

Chen Dasheng watched, eyes shining, smiling sweetly.

Before she died, his mother used to always mutter about someday prying a few coins from that stubborn old woman — and here it was, not just a few coins, but quite a few “few coins” indeed.

Qiqian’er, satisfied, weighed the broken silver in her hand — this was her recent bad habit, tossing it up daily just for the thrill of it.

She no longer needed to touch anything from the Wenshen Temple stash; she was already a woman of means. Even in her past life, when she’d become an old dowager lady, she hadn’t had this much spare wealth as she did in this life.

Marquis Chang had initially given her two hundred taels; she’d traded well-salt and iron goods for shop premises — she wasn’t even sure how many storefronts she now had, but however many, they were all turning a profit.

Later, when Marquis Chang’s household sent over furniture, they’d also given a good deal of household odds and ends — grain, cloth, three laying hens — plus another five hundred taels on top, accounting for the somewhat-worn cotton batting, the loom, and various farming tools.

Adding the hundred taels the Emperor had bestowed as a reward, she now had eight hundred taels in ready silver, with seven hundred actually in hand.

The Emperor’s gift couldn’t be spent — it could only sit there, or be given to the old lady to play with.

Whatever the old lady grabbed became hers; Qiqian’er had no intention of taking it back.

There wasn’t even a peddler in the whole village, so the ten taels of broken silver she’d set aside earlier had nowhere to be spent.

After weighing it out, separating a few pieces of an estimated amount, Qiqian’er stuffed the silver into Chen Dasheng’s hand.

Chen Dasheng looked at the silver in his hand, baffled. Soon, lowering his head, somewhat embarrassed, he said, “I’ve never heard of— of the woman’s side giving money to the man at their first meeting. Is that the custom here?”

His face burned hot, and he felt heat all over — this really was a wife from right under the Emperor’s own city, so, so impressive, even giving him a meeting gift.

Qiqian’er, hearing this, couldn’t help but laugh — what on earth was he talking about.

A flood of exasperation from her past-life experience rose up in her chest — having spent over a decade raised by the old lady, she’d inevitably picked up some of her mannerisms. She glared at him and said, “What are you thinking! Giving you money? Don’t flatter yourself! Put your head back on your neck properly and think this through — this is five taels. Go to the house across the alley, up three steps, with the red-lacquered gate — that’s Old Madam Tao’s house. She raises goats, go bring one back.”

Chen Dasheng was a bit dazed, completely under the spell of Qiqian’er’s tone, so similar to his grandmother’s, and involuntarily said in a low voice, “One— one goat? For— for five taels?”

Though he’d never spent money in his life, even to him five taels seemed like a considerable sum.

Qiqian’er blinked and nodded: “Yes! Five taels. Is five taels too much? Go buy one outside the village and see if ten taels even gets you one. Nai always says back in the old village goats went for eight hundred coins each, but that was the old days.

I grew up around Qingfeng City, and goat prices there have always hovered around three strings of coins. Everything’s expensive here around Yanjing — goats already go for nearly four strings. The camps buy at that price too, it’s just no one’s selling.

In this whole village, only Old Madam Tao’s family is reasonable to deal with. If you offer half again the price, she’ll be pleased — so give her five taels and bring back one fat goat.”

Chen Dasheng listened, thoroughly bewildered, scratching the back of his head, gripping the silver: “…Why would we need to kill a goat? We brought dried rations.”

Before he even finished, Qiqian’er cut him off again: “You brought your brothers all this way home, and there’s nothing at all in the house to entertain guests with! These people came all this way for your sake! After years of hardship together, in the few days you’re home, shouldn’t you give them something with a bit of fat in it, to build them back up?”

Chen Dasheng, both sweet with affection and flustered, waved his hands: “No, it’s not that— it’s that Nai has goats, I saw several already…”

Looking at this face so like An’er’s, Qiqian’er couldn’t bring herself to hit him, so she could only take a breath, hold back her anger, and say, “You… you really…” forget it! You were always a bit simple to begin with — if I keep explaining this to you tomorrow it’ll be the death of me, and who’ll feel sorry for me then?”

Chen Dasheng was utterly baffled — how could this possibly be the death of her?

Qiqian’er pointed toward the window and said, lowering her voice: “My lord Adjutant! Have you not noticed how old those goats out there are? Those are all old goats. Nai keeps goats to help support the household — ever since you all left and Dingxiang got married, these goats are all the company she has left. If she’d wanted to sell them, she’d have sold them long ago — were they saved for you to eat? Oh, the companions closest to your grandmother’s heart, and you come home and kill one for her?!”

Oh! Oh no!

Chen Dasheng nodded rapidly like pounding garlic, grinning bashfully, baring his teeth. He reached toward his side, remembered his clothes were in the east room, and said, “You don’t need your money, this is yours. I have my own. On the way back, Adjutant Guo said since coins aren’t minted yet, and our salaries won’t come until the month’s end — and even then maybe not on schedule — so each of us was given fifty taels as settling-in money. Plus I’ve saved some over the years, it’s all in the saddlebags on my horse.”

Then he smiled at her, ingratiating: “In a bit, I’ll give it all to you.”

How rare — he’d actually brought money home! And was giving it to her, no less.

Qiqian’er immediately pressed her lips together to hide a smile — things really were different now compared to before.

Seeing his wife smile, Chen Dasheng smiled too.

He couldn’t help himself: “Mm, I’ll give you all of it!”

Pah! Now you want to give it to me — well, I don’t even want it anymore!

Qiqian’er pushed him all the way out to the main hall and instructed him: “Go get your goat!”

Watching through the window lattice how well the two of them got along, the old lady relaxed and smiled.

Of course — her Dasheng was so good, how could Qian’er not love him.

Chen Dasheng walked to the gate, then veered off toward his brothers. He took the silver in his hand and tossed it up and down the way Qiqian’er had, looking utterly pleased with himself, grinning sweetly as he said, “My— my wife… she’s really something! Just like my grandmother.”

Fierce — and quite the terror too!

In Chen Dasheng’s eyes, the best, the most exemplary woman in this world was exactly like his grandmother — someone who could take charge of anything, endure anything. That was what made a good woman.

His younger brothers watched him walk away, then looked at each other, genuinely happy for him.

The old lady leaned against the window, watching her grandson leave with delight, and waved eagerly at Qiqian’er.

Qiqian’er, thoroughly confused, went inside and asked, “What is it?”

The old lady, extremely pleased, smiled at her: “What did you send him to do?”

Qiqian’er said, “I sent him to Madam Tao’s place with five taels of broken silver to buy a fat goat.”

The old lady had been smiling, but suddenly her vision went full of stars, and she sat up, about to leap off the kang.

But before she could, Qiqian’er rushed over to steady her, whispering in her ear: “Those men outside are the skin, the flesh, the bones behind your grandson’s back! They’d give up their lives for your grandson without hesitation! And besides — this is my money being spent, not yours.”

The old lady froze for a long moment, then, still muttering, got off the kang anyway: “Why are you telling me all this nonsense, do you think I wanted to do anything? I’m just — just getting off the kang, I’m — going to find something… I’m — going to the outhouse!”

Feeling oddly embarrassed, she got off the kang, wandered around outside for a bit, then came back.

She knelt and scooted over to the kang cabinet, mustered up three lifetimes’ worth of courage, and finally opened it, pulling out a three-tiered stack of pastry boxes, setting them layer by layer on the low table, arranging them silently as if preparing to receive guests.

Qiqian’er leaned against the doorframe watching, the corner of her mouth curling upward the whole time.

Ever since the palace had given ten boxes of pastries, the old lady had practically camped by that cabinet every day.

Qiqian’er figured — well, as long as they don’t grow mold or spoil, she’s welcome to them.

Seeing her granddaughter-in-law standing to the side, holding back laughter, the old lady swayed her neck and said, somewhat sheepishly, “So… you, want a piece too?”

Qiqian’er wouldn’t touch it, and instead said, “Not now — if I want some later, I’ll help myself!”

With that, she dropped the curtain and left.

Only then did the old lady remember — in this house, inside and out, most everything, including her own cabinets, had keys that belonged to someone else now. Most everything in this house, inside and out, was actually part of the girl’s dowry. No wonder she moved around so freely — she could eat whatever she wanted, do whatever she wanted.

As for herself — aside from three broken-down carts, three head of livestock, a few goats, and a bit of private savings, she really was living under someone else’s roof, in someone else’s name.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. The old lady snatched up a pastry she’d been reluctant to eat and bit into it in a huff: “Damn it all, who am I even saving these for day after day — I’ll just eat myself to death, that’s what!”

Just as she was fuming, she heard a goat bleating outside.

Chen Dasheng came smiling into the courtyard, leading two goats. Behind him, Meng Wanquan followed, also smiling, carrying a basket with a few eggs and two jars of old wine.

Seeing Qiqian’er come out to greet them, Chen Dasheng said proudly, “Look!” He pulled the two fat goats forward to show off: “Madam Tao gave us two goats.”

He waited for praise, but Qiqian’er’s expression slowly changed — from the barely-concealed delight she’d shown outside a moment ago, to a face darkening with displeasure.

Chen Dasheng, unsure what was happening, looked at the two goats, then at Qiqian’er, and asked carefully, “You— are you angry?”

The old lady, watching from the window, saw Qiqian’er giving her grandson a hard time and grew displeased herself, scolding through the window lattice: “Hey, Qiqian’er! Is there no room left in this house for you? My— my grandson’s only just come home, and already—”

Qiqian’er, her heart aching at being scolded by the old lady, held back her temper and said to Meng Wanquan: “Brother Quan, bolt the gate! We’ll talk inside.”

With that, she walked into the house, then turned to the six bewildered young men still standing there and said, “You all come in too. I have something to say to you as well.”

A short while later, aside from Meng Wanquan, who was too embarrassed to take off his shoes, Qiqian’er sat kneeling beside the old lady, while opposite her, seven men knelt in a neat row.

The old lady, feeling her grandson had lost face, was having a hard time restraining herself, glaring at Qiqian’er with a look that suggested one wrong word and she’d give her a hard shove.

Seeing everyone settled, Qiqian’er explained to the old lady: “Nai, when you married me into the Chen family, wasn’t it because you said our family had suffered so much from being illiterate, that even if we had to sell the pot for scrap, we had to bring in someone who could read and do sums, so we’d never suffer a fatal loss like that again?”

The old lady paused: “That’s right, no mistake there. But what does that have to do with my eldest grandson? You’re bullying him like this, I’m telling you, you dare bully him and try me…”

Qiqian’er said quickly, “Please hear me out on today’s reasoning before you lose your temper at me, all right?”

The old lady glared at her but held her tongue.

Once the old lady had calmed down, Qiqian’er turned to the utterly bewildered Chen Dasheng and said, “When you left just now, I gave you five taels of broken silver — what did I tell you to do with it?”

Chen Dasheng thought back and said, “You— you said goats around Yanjing have always been expensive, used to be three-and-a-half taels, now it’s got to be five, and told me to go buy one from Madam Tao’s family to build up the brothers.”

Yu Qingguan and the others immediately looked up, gazing at their little sister-in-law with eyes full of gratitude.

Qiqian’er nodded: “So how did you end up bringing back two goats?”

Chen Dasheng paused again, then recalled hazily: “Old Madam Tao cried the moment she saw me, said I reminded her of her own son, said with the three years of close friendship she’d had with Nai, how could she possibly take my silver? No matter what, she insisted I take it for free. But I couldn’t take something from her for nothing, so I insisted on paying, and Madam Tao insisted I take two goats instead. I— I just couldn’t out-argue her…”

Watching her grandson look so pitifully wronged, the old lady reached for the pipe on the table, but the wretched girl’s voice cut right through her ear:

“Nai’s had three years of friendship with her, and back on the battlefield they escaped together, close as sisters, they say… but in all that time, has Nai ever taken a single coin’s advantage from her? With Nai’s iron-fisted, penny-pinching nature, she’s never managed to squeeze a single needle out of that woman — and now she gives you a five-tael goat for free! Do you believe that?”

Meng Wanquan couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.

Everyone in the room turned to look at him coldly, and he grew so embarrassed he could only say, “Ah! It’s true, that Old Madam is even more, than our Nai, that— ahem, sister-in-law, go on, ahem…”

The old lady let go of her pipe, saying awkwardly, “What’s the point of bringing that up, I— I was just being generous with her.”

Qiqian’er sighed helplessly and turned to Chen Dasheng, serious now: “The truth is, from the first day I married into your Chen family, I knew I’d never get to live the gentle, soft-spoken life of an ordinary wife, the kind who just manages the household and raises the children in peace, content in her own little world…

That’s not for me. I’m just fated to worry over things. Heaven balances things out, and it arranged for me to come here. I didn’t even finish the wedding ceremony before I had to start worrying about this old lady’s coffin… Do you really think this is just Madam Tao being generous out of old friendship? Is Nai’s face really as broad as a millstone? Why didn’t she notice this before? Out of nowhere, she insists on giving an extra goat? You think this is just about one goat?!”

The old lady muttered under her breath: “So it should’ve been three? Dream on! Stingy old thing!”

Qiqian’er ignored her and raised her voice: “Today it’s one goat. That makes her a good person, one of the family, practically two generations of friendship! Tomorrow her children come home, and if things aren’t going well for them, they go find you in Yanjing, asking you to help pull some strings — with the debt of that five-tael goat hanging over you, will you have the nerve to refuse? I ask you — would you?”

Chen Dasheng froze at this, and immediately fell deep in thought.

The old lady wasn’t pleased: “She! What right does she have to—”

Qiqian’er turned and glared at her: “The right that comes from our family eating her five-tael goat, from your grandson not knowing right from wrong, from you taking advantage of her and being too embarrassed to admit it! What right, you ask?”

The room fell silent. Even the old lady, no fool herself, thought this through more deeply, and everyone’s expressions turned grim.

Qiqian’er sighed softly: “The other day, that eunuch attendant She came and said the Emperor thinks highly of you all, even having you guard the Emperor’s own gate, didn’t he?”

That much was true, and all seven of them nodded together.

Qiqian’er sighed again: “And now, everyone who sees you greets you with smiles, everyone’s being nice to you, right?”

They nodded again.

“Are they close to you? Did you have any prior friendship with them?”

Chen Dasheng thought about it and said, “Xiaohua’er.”

“Besides Xiaohua’er.”

“And the Emperor.”

“The Emperor doesn’t count — the Emperor is like a second parent to you! Remember that?”

“Mm.”

Qiqian’er raised her voice: “Louder! The Emperor is like a second parent!!”

They all nodded and said loudly together: “Mm!! The Emperor is like a second parent!!”

The old lady jumped, startled, clutching her chest and stepping back.

Qiqian’er finally nodded, satisfied: “Think it through carefully. It’s like — your parents entrusted you with the most important gate in the household. Those people are nice to you because of your parents’ sake, being friendly to you day after day, scheming up ways to be good to you.

So today it’s a five-tael goat. Tomorrow it’s ten-tael shoes. The day after, it’s a hundred-tael robe woven with gold thread! Once you’ve accepted their five-tael goat, you won’t feel right refusing the ten-tael shoes, and the debt just keeps growing… Then one day, the person who gave you the robe comes pounding on your parents’ door in the middle of the night, begging, saying it’s a matter of life and death, pleading with you, for the sake of old friendship, to open that gate and let them in to beg the Emperor for mercy…”

At this, Qiqian’er slammed her hand down on the table — and the poor little low table collapsed right there with a crash!

The whole room stared, stunned.

Qiqian’er’s small face turned stern, her eyes sharp, as she demanded of these fools: “I’m asking you! Your father’s gate — will you, you bunch of fools, open it or not! Answer me!!”

Chen Dasheng answered immediately: “We won’t!”

Qiqian’er was furious: “Then what about that goat you already ate?”

Chen Dasheng answered without hesitation: “I’ll cough it back up!!”