When Changwu and Yun’er came back, they found Minglan sitting peacefully on a padded couch taking stock of the valuables. Danju sat beside her, docilely peeling oranges and popping them into her mouth section by section. Xiaotao and Luzhi sat across from each other with an account book between them, one reading aloud steadily and the other moving a brush to record. Outside the windows, the morning sky was clear and the water bright — pleasant scenery.
The young couple’s jaws nearly dropped. Minglan gave a very calm report of events: she had packed things up; the bandits had come; she had jumped into the water; the canal brotherhood had arrived; the bandits had fled; they had come back up to the ship.
Simple, direct, precise summary. Minglan felt she was growing more and more reminiscent of Elder Brother Changbai’s way of speaking.
The young couple felt deeply guilty. They channeled their guilt into decisive action. Knowing the gravity of the matter — handled poorly, it could implicate the whole family — they moved swiftly. Yun’er was, after all, the daughter of Kang Yi Ma; when it came to setting things in order, she struck with a clean and decisive hand, not a trace of softness in her, and settled every last servant with such thorough management that when they finally went ashore, everything was as calm and smooth as if nothing had happened.
Changwu’s younger brother, Changsong, had already received word and was waiting with a company of household servants at the dock. The brothers’ reunion was joyful and warm. Young Changdong stubbornly refused to ride in the carriage, insisting on riding alongside his elder brother until he finally wore him down and got his way. Yun’er made a valiant effort to stand upright despite her aching back, exchanged a few words, and was then carefully helped by an attentive matron into a palanquin covered in blue oilskin and indigo-hemmed curtains. Minglan had been about to follow her in, but a matron steered her toward the carriage behind — and once inside, she found Lan sitting there smiling and holding a lacquered eight-treasure fruit box, waiting for her.
Two years without seeing each other, and Lan’s face had grown lovelier, her figure more fully developed. These two years Li Shi had kept a stricter watch over her with notable results — her manner no longer had the restless, impulsive quality of before, and she carried herself with a good deal more of a grown young woman’s grace.
Lan had been longing for Minglan so desperately that she’d felt like clawing at her heart, and knowing today was the day Minglan would arrive, she had spent the morning in an agony of anticipation. After much earnest pleading, she had finally gotten her mother and sister-in-law to agree to let her brother bring her along to meet the arrivals.
The two girls had always been kindred spirits. The moment they saw each other, they grabbed and pinched and shoved in a tangle, you twisting my cheek, me pinching your arm, giggling and laughing, until a matron waiting outside gave a pointed, displeased cough, and they finally settled down a little.
“You little wretch — your elder cousin has missed you to death!” Lan pressed close against Minglan’s arm, her face glowing pink with happiness. Minglan had been working hard to get her hand free to tidy her hair, which had been pulled half out of its coil, and yanked her hand away firmly. “Don’t curse me to death!”
Lan bared her teeth fiercely and pounced again for another round of tousling. Minglan’s skills were no match for hers, and she surrendered both hands in defeat.
“How is the Old Master doing?” When the two girls had quieted, Minglan quickly asked. Lan’s face dimmed. “He got a bit better last month, but then the weather turned cold, and now he’s not well again. These past few days he’s been half-dazed, can’t even form a complete sentence. The physician says… says it may only be a matter of days now.”
A silence fell in the carriage. Minglan patted Lan’s hand and offered comfort for a while, then asked about the Old Madam. Lan managed a smile. “Thank heaven for your grandmother and grandfather. They often share stories from the old days to keep Grandmother’s spirits up. And whenever the Old Master tries to come over and start trouble, Grandpa and Grandma just sit there, and everyone in the room falls quiet.”
“What do you mean by falls quiet?” Minglan asked with great interest.
Lan cleared her throat, put on the air of a dramatic storyteller, gave a smart slap to the arm of the couch, and launched into a vivid re-enactment —
The Old Master: “Big nephew, when your late grandfather passed away, wasn’t there five thousand taels of silver that he left in trust with the Main Branch? I think it is time that was divided up.”
Sheng Wei: “That… I’ve never heard of any such thing.”
The Old Master: “You little ingrate, daring to deny it to your uncle’s face! I still have your grandfather’s handwritten record of the transaction!”
Grandma Sheng: “Oh yes, I do recall such a thing. But that year your uncle needed to redeem the top-ranked entertainer from Cuiwei Tower, and he drew on that sum in advance, didn’t he? Old Master Cui who handled it at the time should still have a record of the transaction. Shall I send a letter to fetch it? Why are you scowling like that — were you planning to be impolite to your sister-in-law?”
The Old Master: “…Why, the sun is lovely today, everyone ought to head home early and rest, and don’t forget to take in the laundry when it gets dark, so anyway, we’ll be on our way now, goodbye.”
Grandma Sheng: “Really, since we are talking, your late uncle borrowed from our Second Branch too, and I still have his written acknowledgment of the debt. We are all getting along in years now — when might we expect repayment?”
The Old Master: “…I just remembered the sun is very nice today, everyone should head home and rest well, don’t forget the laundry if it gets dark, we’ll be off now.”
Lan and Minglan collapsed laughing, folded over on the couch, shaking helplessly.
It had to be said — the Old Master was a remarkable character in his own way. Though perpetually useless, he had always known when to quit while he was ahead and which way the wind was blowing, and so had never completely fallen out with either the Main Branch or the Second Branch. He would fish a little money here, live off others’ generosity there, and be perfectly satisfied.
Sheng Wei was a shrewd man; doing business required harmony and goodwill. He had never quarreled openly with elders, and besides — how much longer could the Old Master live? After he was gone, Sheng Wei, as both the eldest son and the clan head, would effectively be in charge of the whole clan. If the Old Master’s branch still couldn’t pull itself together, and kept stirring up strife day after day, the Main Branch was under no obligation to be accommodating.
The carriage had been traveling for over an hour, and the town was almost in view. Changwu had the horses and carts halted, and everyone rested briefly at the village entrance — the coachman watered the horses and inspected the wheels, and the maidservants and matrons helped the ladies relieve themselves and freshen up. Minglan and Lan finished and were quickly ushered back into the carriage. Once inside, Lan pressed her face eagerly to the window, lifting a thin sliver of the curtain to peer outside. Minglan said curiously, “What are you looking at?”
“When we got down just now, I spotted an old familiar face… ah, here they come, here they come, quick, look!” Lan waved Minglan over urgently. Minglan leaned over in puzzlement, and looking in the direction Lan pointed, she could make out a group of people under a large locust tree at the edge of the village. Minglan let out a soft “Oh.”
Indeed — it was an old familiar face.
A thoroughly bedraggled Sun Zhigao was crouching on the ground, his head in his arms, trembling. His scholar’s long robe was filthy with stains on every side. A large, powerfully built woman stood beside him holding a stout stick, while Mother Sun stood nearby pointing and scolding: “Where did this woman come from, so outrageously aggressive — a man goes out to have a small cup of wine, and you dare beat your own husband? Look what you’ve done to my son!”
The woman said flatly: “I beat him because he deserved it.”
Mother Sun flew into a rage and lunged to attack the woman, who sidestepped neatly. Mother Sun landed heavily on the ground, sprawling flat on her back. The woman roared with laughter. Mother Sun lay on the ground and raged: “You murderous widow, since you came into my household, you torment your mother-in-law day and night, you beat your husband morning and afternoon — what sort of daughter-in-law behaves like this anywhere in the world? Your mother-in-law falls down right in front of you, and you just stand there watching?”
The widow tossed down her stick, unbothered, and said with a grin: “Mother-in-Law, I was a widow when I married your son, it’s true — but I’m your son’s wife now. You call me ‘widow’ from morning to night — surely you’re not cursing your own son?” The bystander villagers all burst out laughing and pointing.
The widow’s face was broad and open, with slightly prominent front teeth — big-eyed, wide-mouthed, and rather spirited and vivid in her own way. She looked squarely at the assembled villagers and said loudly: “I may be a widow who remarried, but on the day I married in, I brought a full dowry with me. The house we’re living in, the land we’re farming — which of those was mine? Mother-in-Law, you eat and do nothing all day — that I can overlook. But at least manage your son a little. He’s a scholar. Either study properly and sit the examinations, or open a small school and earn some tuition money. Instead, he runs around east and west all day long, drinking and carousing with his so-called friends, eating his fill at our expense whenever they come, taking no responsibility for anything at home. If I don’t keep a firm hand on him, we’d be selling the house and the land before long — is Mother-in-Law perhaps planning to wait until my dowry is gone, and then find him another wife?”
The villagers all knew the Sun family’s situation; hearing this, they could barely contain their laughter. Some of the busybodies even threw in a cutting remark or two. Mother Sun, seeing that no one was on her side, lay on the ground wailing and screaming: “Listen to her, everyone — is this how a daughter-in-law should talk? Since time immemorial, a daughter-in-law serves and attends to her mother-in-law, wins her over — who has ever heard of one behaving with such outright insolence? She even has me doing chores — doing this, doing that — half-worked to death! I don’t want to live anymore, I just don’t want to live…”
A few of the older men in the village couldn’t bear to watch, and finally put in a word, saying in a joking tone: “Such a fierce daughter-in-law — just divorce her. Why let her go on treating your mother-in-law like this?”
The widow’s face went dark. She fixed them with a fierce glare and said in a shrill voice: “I’ve been married once already. If anyone makes my days unbearable, I’ll die right there in that household — burn the place down, hang myself — and drag everyone down with me. No one will come out of it well.”
The men immediately shut their mouths. The widow turned back to Mother Sun and continued at full volume: “Mother-in-Law, do you still think you’re some grand lady of a wealthy household? An entire family surviving on ten-odd acres — which mother-in-law in this village doesn’t pitch in and help? I only asked you to look after the chickens and ducks in the backyard — you don’t have to use your hands, you don’t have to bend over — and that’s too much for you! If you want the good days back, you shouldn’t have divorced that auspicious daughter-in-law of yours! Having done it, don’t come around shamelessly hoping she’ll change her mind. Have some self-respect!”
Mother Sun thought of how good the days had been when Shulan was in the household, and choked on a breath.
The widow turned to face the bystanders again and announced in a carrying voice: “Uncles, aunties, brothers, sisters — this mother-in-law of mine is the most muddled woman alive. Her son had married a perfectly fine daughter-in-law. She came with silver and a house and land, and servants as part of her dowry. That daughter-in-law brewed tea and sent it at midnight, massaged her mother-in-law’s legs — she practically served my mother-in-law as if she were the Queen Mother of the West herself. But my mother-in-law still couldn’t be happy with her, and made the girl’s days a torment until she finally drove her away! Such a wonderful daughter-in-law, and my mother-in-law didn’t want her — but she did take a fancy to some creature from a low place, was fooled by two sweet words from that degraded person, treated her like a blood daughter. Later that creature gave my husband a green hat to wear, and then ran off with her lover and the silver besides! My mother-in-law — how is it you still haven’t learned your lesson? Good medicine tastes bitter; honest words are hard to hear. You can’t stand the sight of me — do you want to go looking for another sweet-talking creature to be your daughter-in-law?”
The widow might be rough-looking and large, but her mouth was razor-sharp. By the time she finished speaking, the onlooking villagers were in uproarious laughter, many of the women laughing so hard they nearly split their sides. No one was taking Mother Sun’s side anymore. Mother Sun, shaking with fury, flung herself onto Sun Zhigao, hammering at her own son and wailing, “You stood right there watching your own mother be humiliated and didn’t say a word! I bore you for nothing!”
Sun Zhigao screwed up his courage, pointed at the widow, and said, “Proper conduct begins with filial piety — how dare you anger your mother-in-law like this? And talking back to her on top of it! I have divorced a wife of even better standing than you without hesitation — do you think I wouldn’t dare divorce you?”
Mother Sun found her spirit again and urged him on: “Yes! Divorce her! Then we’ll find someone better!”
The widow let out a great bark of laughter, then cooled her expression and said at full volume to all and sundry: “Find someone better? Dream on. Back then, you two were destitute and had nowhere to turn — if I hadn’t married in, you’d have been cold and hungry in short order. Your son can’t father children! All he does is mouth a couple of lines of insipid verse all day, and chase after flowers and pretty faces — he really thinks he’s Pan An or Gan Luo? If I hadn’t been a widow looking to remarry, who would have taken him? He can’t even produce a son; we’ll have to adopt one from the clan. I haven’t even figured out whether my old age is secure or not. Divorce me by all means — but I wrote everything down clearly before the village elder and the neighborhood head when I married in. The house and the land — I want them back.”
Sun Zhigao’s face went scarlet with shame and outrage. Mother Sun, heart aching for her son, saw the surrounding villagers all grinning and looking at the two of them with amused, odd expressions. Furious and mortified, she said: “You shameless woman — talking about such things in public — is this proper behavior for a woman?”
The widow held her head high and said, “Before I married your son, I had one husband. After I married your son, I had a second. If anyone makes my life unlivable, I will die in that household — burn it down or hang myself — and no one will be left in peace. As for you — your son couldn’t produce children in this regard. All I did was state facts. Why, do you want me to wait until he uses ‘no heirs’ as a charge against me and comes to divorce me, before speaking up? Better to state it clearly in front of witnesses now, let everyone know — that way he can’t try to claim later that I’m the one who’s barren!”
Word had it that Shulan, as if making up for all she’d been denied, had been unstoppable since her remarriage: one pregnancy after another, two sets of twins in two years, one boy and one girl each time. She was currently in her confinement after the latest birth. Her husband’s family, which had been thin in numbers, had gone in a flash from threadbare to thriving; her in-laws, who had at first harbored some misgivings about taking in a woman who had already been married, now beamed with delight every time they saw their daughter-in-law.
Mother Sun was shaking with fury. She snatched up the stick from the ground and swung it hard at the widow. The widow dodged sideways and caught Mother Sun with one hand, shoved her away, retrieved the stick, and brought it down on Sun Zhigao’s back in steady, rhythmic strokes, bellowing all the while: “You think you can go off drinking and chasing women? Throwing money around, hanging around with that useless pack of friends — instead of staying home like you should!” Sun Zhigao yelped and howled, leaping and scrambling to avoid her blows. The widow was a force of nature — she grabbed his ear, beat and scolded him simultaneously. Mother Sun scrambled up and tried to rescue her son, but was no match for her, and all three were soon tangled in a brawling heap. The villagers looked on, laughing and merry.
Minglan watched Sun Zhigao — slovenly, broken down, nothing left of his former arrogant and conceited bearing — and then caught sight of Mother Sun in her rough cotton clothes, which somehow made her think of the way Mother Sun had once sat in the Sheng family’s main hall, head covered in gold hairpins and jade ornaments, silks and satins, looking down on Shulan in front of Li Shi. How things had changed — it was already too painful to look back on.
Before long, the carriages were ready to move. Changsong, knowing that those ahead were the Sun mother and son making a scene, took a different road to avoid them. Lan watched through the window, reluctant to look away, until they were out of sight, and only then let the curtain drop. She turned and settled back into her seat, slowly lifted her teacup, took a sip, and breathed out a long, contented sigh.
Minglan saw her expression of unabashed satisfaction and said with a smile, “Feeling better now?”
Lan shook her head with relish from side to side, looking thoroughly refreshed: “Relieves pain, cures illness, and adds years to your life.”