Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Great Yan Dynasty held that the dead should be honored above all. Zhong Laoer had passed away, and while it might be excusable for the elderly Zhong couple to forgo the journey due to age, Zhong Laosan and his family not even showing their faces was really unacceptable.

The villagers, wary of the Zhong family, only muttered about it among themselves. Though gossip was rife in the village, they knew well which matters they could meddle in and which they could not.

Some wondered if there were some unknown city custom, until the truth came to light—

It wasn't that the Zhong elders were unwilling to come and arrange the funeral, to give Zhong Laoer a proper send-off; rather, they were in a panic back in the county seat dealing with the mess that Zhong Jia Xiao Ge'er had caused!

If not for a Zhong servant letting it slip by accident, they would still be in the dark, thinking that this young man was a good sort—a city-born youth escorting his father's remains back to the village for burial was surely a filial act. But now it seemed he was merely fleeing to avoid trouble.

Combined with Wang Shun's words to the village chief at the Zhong family's old residence gate, the villagers suddenly understood: this Zhong Jia Xiao Ge'er was no treasure, but a hot potato.

The Zhong family was clearly teaching Zhong Yizhu a lesson, leaving not a single servant behind in the village. With that attitude, the villagers felt no further restraint.

Those who had once praised Zhong Jia Xiao Ge'er quickly changed their tune. Some said Zhong Yizhu's upturned eyes made him look restless and unruly; others said he had a bad character and was prone to stirring up trouble, and warned he might bring bad luck to their village.

Behind closed doors, every family told their young men to stay far away from that Zhong Jia Xiao Ge'er, so they wouldn't get seduced by him. Liu Yu even dragged her son by the ear until he swore he would never again pine for Zhong Yizhu, only then did she feel relieved.

...

The Zhong family's old residence was built on the north side of the village. When the Zhongs first settled in Liushan Village, their homestead had to be placed on the outskirts of the village.

Having fled the famine, they could not even afford a proper house at first, living in a thatched shed and eating wild vegetables. Later, when Zhong Laoer struck it rich, the Zhongs demolished the thatched hut and built a beautiful blue-brick house in its place, drawing much envy from the villagers.

Blue bricks were expensive, and the houses built with them were sturdy and durable. But even the best house will rot and fall apart if left alone for over ten years.

From the moment he returned to the old residence that day, Zhong Yizhu knew that his third uncle, who had taken money and claimed to have hired someone to maintain the house, had been lying through his teeth.

Most of the roof tiles had crumbled from years of wind and rain; weeds overran the courtyard; even the lock on the door was rusted and pitted.

In all seventeen years of his life, Zhong Yizhu had never set foot in such a dwelling. He was born after the Zhong family's rise to fortune, and though not raised in luxury, he had been spoiled and cherished by his parents. The biggest grievance he'd ever suffered was his grandparents' coldness and favoritism toward his other siblings.

Whenever he felt wronged, his father would bend over backward to cheer him up—with rare toys and treats in his childhood, and with the exotic fragrances he loved as he grew older.

But now, he no longer had a father.

With a blank expression, Zhong Yizhu followed the servants carrying the coffin into the main hall. Ignoring the dust thick on the floor, he knelt rigidly in front of the coffin.

There were no tear tracks on his face. His usually bright and lively peach-blossom eyes were now clouded with deep sorrow and bewilderment, dry as if they could not squeeze out a single tear. He could not understand why Heaven had been so cruel as to take away such a good father as his.

Wang Shun frowned, fanning away the dust stirred up before him. The sky's light filtered through the broken tiles, spilling onto the floor of the main hall. Glancing at Zhong Yizhu's back, Wang Shun then looked around the dilapidated surroundings with schadenfreude, finally fixing his gaze on the coffin in the center.

Afraid of inviting gossip, Wang Shun eventually had someone go to the village to find workers to repair the house.

Thus, by the time Sun Yunniang arrived at Liushan Village, the scene was completely different—the weeds in the courtyard had been cleared, the roof tiles replaced by a tiler, and the windows newly pasted with paper. At first glance, while the house could not compare to the mansions in the county seat, it was a passable dwelling.

The anxiety that had been hanging over her during the entire journey finally eased a little for Sun Yunniang.

That Wang Shun was already one of the third branch's people. On the road, he had been sarcastic and deliberately made things difficult for them. But her own body was not up to the task; just two days after departure, she fell ill and could not travel. As summer approached, the body could not be kept long, so she had to let Zhong Yizhu escort the coffin ahead.

Once the courtyard gate was closed, Sun Yunniang put aside everything else and pulled Zhong Yizhu's hands to look him over carefully.

The youth had always been slight of build, but now he was so thin he seemed as if a gust of wind might blow him away. The soft flesh on his cheeks had wasted away, and the red marks at the corners of his eyes looked as if they were stained with heart's blood.

"You've lost so much weight."

Her voice choked before she even finished the sentence. The young man she and her husband had raised like a pearl, now forced to face this earth-shattering disaster alone.

They had failed him.

"I'm healthy; losing a little weight doesn't matter. Mother, you go inside and rest first. I'll fetch water and boil medicine for you."

Not wanting Sun Yunniang to worry, Zhong Yizhu changed the subject and helped her toward the main hall. His mother's grief was no less than his own, and her cold was not yet healed, compounded by the fatigue of travel. Even just walking from the carriage to the courtyard had turned her lips pale.

She had stayed in the village only to accompany him, and he absolutely could not let any more harm come to her.

Zhong Yizhu pushed open the door to the main hall. Sun Yunniang looked up and froze.

Wang Shun had only repaired the house for appearances; he naturally would not bother with the furniture and furnishings inside. Now that the mourning hall had been dismantled, the main hall was left with only a few broken chairs scattered about—not even a table.

Zhong Yizhu settled Sun Yunniang in a spot and went to the kitchen to fetch water. When he returned, she was nowhere to be seen.

"Mother?"

He looked around and noticed the door to his own room in the western wing was open. Carrying the water, he walked over and saw through the door that his mother was bending down, stroking the bedding on the bed.

Hearing his footsteps, she turned around. Before she could speak, tears streamed down her face.

"Zhu Ge'er, it's Mother who failed you. I'm useless, I couldn't protect you."

Ever since Zhong Laoer passed away, Sun Yunniang had been consumed by regret—that she had not found a good match for Zhong Yizhu sooner.

In the Great Yan, young men and women of the people mostly married around seventeen or eighteen. Families with more means would start looking two years in advance. Her young man was handsome, and so many families wanted to form a marriage alliance that they had nearly worn down the Zhong family's doorstep.

But she and her husband doted on their boy, and after picking and choosing for over a year without finding anyone they were truly satisfied with, Zhong Laoer had another idea. He suggested finding a son-in-law who would marry into the family, keeping their boy by their side so he would never be bullied.

Sun Yunniang was all for it. She immediately shifted her focus to selecting a husband for the son-in-law. She was meticulous, afraid that scholars might be fickle and merchants too cunning. After a long search, she had only narrowed it down to three candidates.

Since it was a matrilocal marriage, it didn't matter if the son-in-law came a bit later. She thought she still had time to observe carefully, but she never imagined that Zhong Laoer would fall suddenly ill and leave so abruptly.

The Zhong family had not divided their property. Apart from the shop's public accounts, the money Zhong Laoer earned had always been handed over to the family's common fund, controlled by Zhong Laotai. Zhong Laoer was filial and kind-hearted; he even gave Zhong Laosan's family a shop to manage, paying them dividends every month. The entire Zhong family, thanks to him, lived like lords in the county seat—a far cry from the days when they could barely fill their stomachs.

But not everyone is worthy of sincere treatment, even parents and siblings.

After Zhong Laoer died of illness, while Sun Yunniang and Zhong Yizhu were still engulfed in immense grief, Zhong Laosan tore off the mask of brotherly harmony and began scheming for the family's assets.

Only then did Sun Yunniang realize that their vehement opposition to having Zhu Ge'er marry into the family was precisely because they feared the family fortune would be split.

In the Great Yan, young men and women had no right to inherit property. A dowry was all they could claim. Originally, in Sun Yunniang and Zhong Laoer's plan, whether they married their boy out or brought a husband in, they would not skimp on what was due to Zhu Ge'er.

But the third branch, seeing that Zhong Laoer had no son, had long considered all the family's assets as their own. And it wasn't just them—Zhong Laotai and Zhong Laohan thought the same way.

They had acted so well all these years, who would have thought they were only wearing a human mask?

The first thing they did after Zhong Laoer's death was to drive away his trusted aides and seize all the account books and recipes. The second thing was to offer Zhong Yizhu as a gift to curry favor with an official.

By the time Sun Yunniang learned of this, Zhong Yizhu had already been sent back. The usually gentle and virtuous Sun Yunniang flew into a rage, charging into the third branch's courtyard with a cleaver. Though the servants protected the third branch from harm, she gave them a good scare.

Furthermore, Zhong Yizhu had used a concealed dagger to wound the man they had so carefully tried to please, turning their gift into a huge disaster. With their hands full, the third branch could no longer bother with "making full use" of him. They simply sent Zhong Yizhu far away.

Sun Yunniang looked with despair at the self-righteous Zhong elders. With filial piety as the overriding principle, she could do nothing. The only thing she could do was accompany Zhu Ge'er.

In those days, she regretted countless times that she had been too picky and had not found a good match for Zhu Ge'er in advance. This regret reached its peak when she learned that Zhong Yizhu had been offered as a gift, and now, seeing the damp and matted bedding he had been sleeping on for days, it stirred up a great wave of emotion.

If only...

The evil she had experienced in these days, combined with the immense grief of losing her father, had long exceeded what Zhong Yizhu's seventeen years of life experience could have prepared him for. He numbly wrapped himself up, even losing much of his perception of the outside world.

Until this moment, as Sun Yunniang looked at him with such heartache and guilt, he seemed to snap back to reality.

He looked at the messy bedding on the bed and gently shook his head.

"Mother, I'm fine. You haven't wronged me."

When he spoke again, tears were already silently streaming down his face: "I just miss you so much, and I miss Father too."

......

In the Liu family's courtyard, Village Chief Liu Youzong was talking to his wife about the Zhong family matters.

"...In short, this matter is not as simple as it appears on the surface. We can't meddle in the affairs of the prefectural city. I think that young man, Zhong Yizhu, has clear, honest eyes; he's a pitiful soul. If we can help, we should lend a hand."

The village chief's wife, Zhou Shaofen, had a hot temper and immediately frowned, saying, "Are you saying that all the ugly rumors in the village were deliberately spread by the Zhong family's servants? Using such means against a young man—what a bunch of rotten-hearted scoundrels!"

Liu Youzong pressed his temples in frustration: "Keep your voice down. This isn't something we can get involved in. Just keep it to yourself and don't go shouting it everywhere."

"Father, someone is looking for you!"

His oldest son's shout came from outside. Liu Youzong got up and went out; when he got a clear look at the figure standing at the courtyard gate, he was taken aback.

At this time, the setting sun hung low, cooking smoke rose from every household, and farmers were heading home in groups. From time to time, shouts of parents calling their children home for dinner could be heard among the village houses. Zhong Yizhu stood alone outside the courtyard gate; when he saw Liu Youzong, he bowed politely.

"Sorry to disturb you, Village Chief. I'd like to buy two sets of bedding. I'm not familiar with the village—could you tell me if any household sells ready-made ones?"

Zhou Shaofen had been standing at the door looking around. Seeing a handsome young man she didn't recognize, she guessed who he was. She walked over just in time to hear Zhong Yizhu's question and took over the conversation:

"The villagers all make bedding for their own use; no one sells it. I happen to have a new set at home that's just been made and hasn't been used yet. I'll take you to ask at other houses too."

Zhong Yizhu quickly thanked her. Zhou Shaofen waved her hand generously: "It's nothing. Just a helping hand among fellow villagers. You're paying for it, after all—no need to thank me."

With the village chief's wife accompanying him, Zhong Yizhu successfully purchased the bedding he needed. Even so, as he passed some houses, he still caught a few gossipy remarks that were loud enough for him to hear, as well as the subtle malice in the stares fixed on him.

By the time Zhong Yizhu headed home carrying two sets of bedding, the sky had darkened. He quickened his pace, and just as he was about to turn a corner, he happened to encounter a man and a woman who were tugging at each other as they walked.

Zhong Yizhu stepped aside to the roadside, but to his surprise, the pair suddenly stopped right beside him.

"Oh, if it isn't Master Zhong?"

A shrill, acerbic female voice rose high, as if she were afraid others wouldn't hear.

Zhong Yizhu frowned and looked over; he didn't recognize the woman, but her gaze was full of malice.

"What are you doing carrying so much bedding?" Wu Cuijuan pretended to cover her mouth. "Could it be that you have too many men sneaking into your bed and you don't have enough to change them?"

Author's Note:

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