On the first day of the Lunar New Year, after eating dumplings, Li Pan and the other two ran out to pay New Year's visits, carrying the small satchels that Ye Yunniang had sewn for them.

Ye Yunniang stayed at home waiting for the other children to arrive.

Ye Yunniang laid out the roasted melon seeds, peanuts, and crushed sugar cubes she had prepared.

The first to arrive were Xu Jiada Lei and Er Lei.

"Aunt Yunniang, Happy New Year." The two bowed to Ye Yunniang.

"Happy New Year, come and have some candy." Ye Yunniang let the two of them grab candy, melon seeds, and peanuts themselves.

Xu Dalei and Xu Erlei grabbed two pieces of candy, a handful of melon seeds and peanuts, stuffed them into their pockets, and left.

Soon after the two left, another group of children arrived.

Knowing that Ye Yunniang not only had peanuts and melon seeds but also candies, children from not only Chaowanxia Lane but also those from several other lanes came.

Ye Yunniang did not refuse, and each of them received two pieces of candy.

If there isn't enough sugar, take out the large chunks of coarse sugar you bought and break them into smaller pieces.

The children who came to offer New Year's greetings were all very happy to receive candy and eat it.

Ye Yunniang's reputation among the children improved, which in turn improved their parents' impression of her.

If someone wanted to say bad things about Ye Yunniang, they would also say a few words on her behalf.

"Didn't your child eat the candy Ye Yunniang gave him?"

"Eating other people's candy and then talking badly about them."

Ye Yunniang was unaware that the candy she gave away would bring her these benefits.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, married women return to their parents' home.

In Jiangcheng, Ye Yunniang has no family home, and even if she did, she wouldn't go back.

Taking the children to see the street performances on East Street, Ye Yunniang was worried about encountering something bad while watching from downstairs. She asked Liang Maimiao to help her book a private room at Xiangji Teahouse, opposite the performance stage.

Liang Maimiao's brother works as a manager at Xiangji Teahouse. He helped her reserve a private room with a good location and reasonable price.

The mother and her three children watched the acrobatic performance with great interest from a high vantage point all day.

Time passed by as the mother and her three children ate, drank, played, and explored.

On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Li Pan and Li An will start school at the Du Family School.

Without his two older brothers to play with, Li Ping reverted to a state where he would rather lie down than sit, sit than stand, and walk than run.

Ye Yunniang only took him out for a walk in the morning and evening, and didn't ask any more questions.

Ye Yunniang focused her main attention on embroidering Liang Hemiao's wedding dress. She had already finished embroidering the phoenix on the back and was now working on the front.

Liang Maimiao ran in, "Yunniang, big news!"

"What news?" Ye Yunniang put down her needlework and poured tea for Liang Maimiao.

Liang Maimiao took the drink and drank it all in one gulp.

"Zhang Er is to be executed tomorrow at noon."

This is really big news.

The Zhou Dynasty placed great importance on population, and all capital crimes in the localities had to be sent to the Dali Temple in the capital for review before execution could be carried out.

"The Zhang family is making a scene right now."

"What's all the fuss about?"

"Grandma Zhang wants to collect Zhang Er's body tomorrow and set up a mourning hall at home. The body will be kept in state for seven days before the burial."

However, Caixia disagreed, saying that Zhang Er had brought shame upon the entire Zhang family, making them the subject of gossip and slander. He deserved to die, and she refused to allow the bodies to remain in state. She wanted Zhang Da and Zhang San to be dragged directly from the execution ground to the Zhang family cemetery and buried the next day.

"And then what happened?"

"The body was taken to a mortuary outside the city, where it lay in state for seven days before being buried."

"Will you be going to the mortuary?"

“My parents said they will go. We younger generation won’t go, after all, regarding his matter,” Liang Maimiao said with a sigh, “Zhang Erren is quite good. When Da Mai and I got married, he was one of the wedding party members. He was tall and strong, and many people were interested in him back then.”

Ye Yunniang sighed, "What a pity."

"Do you know about Xiumei?" After Liang Maimiao finished speaking, Zhang Da brought up Xiumei again.

Did her family go to bail her out?

"No. Xiumei's mother wanted to redeem her daughter. But her sister-in-law disagreed, thinking Xiumei was shameful. She directly threatened that if Xiumei's mother and brother dared to go to redeem her, she would hang herself with the child."

"All of Xiumei's lovers are strictly controlled by their families. No one can redeem them. She and Ma Hui were sent to the frontier the day before yesterday," Liang Maimiao said, describing Xiumei's situation.

Ye Yunniang felt no sympathy for Xiumei, who was trying to harm her.

"Are you going to the execution ground tomorrow?"

"I'm not going." What's so interesting about beheading? Ye Yunniang refused. "You want to go?"

“My mother is going. She wants me to go with her.” Liang Maimiao didn’t want to go either.

"Aunt Xu likes watching beheadings?" A strange interest.

“It’s not my mother-in-law, it’s my own mother.” Liang Maimiao said, glancing outside. “One of my cousins ​​has lung disease. I heard that eating steamed buns dipped in that stuff is effective.” Liang Maimiao didn’t say the rest.

“It’s the one I was thinking of,” Ye Yunniang said silently, “blood.”

Upon receiving a definite answer, Ye Yunniang felt a chill run through her body.

"How can it cure the disease?"

"I also think it's impossible. But my cousin is on his deathbed. I don't know where he heard it from, but he asked my mother to handle it."

My mother and my cousin have had a very close relationship since childhood. Regardless of whether it would work or not, she wanted to give it a try. Liang Maimiao said this with obvious frustration; she really didn't want to go.

This was the first time Ye Yunniang had heard of this treatment method. "You really want to go? What are you going to do?"

"It has to be sprayed out, and it can't land on the ground." Liang Maimiao felt colder and colder as she spoke, feeling that this was too scary.

“Then you must stand guard on the sidelines,” Ye Yunniang frowned.

“Yes, my mother inquired about it. Others wanted it before; they could pay ten taels of silver to the government office and wait for it nearby,” Liang Maimiao explained.

"Aren't you going to run into Aunt Zhang tomorrow?"

"Of course. That's why I'm in an even more difficult position. How am I supposed to get along with my neighbors in the future?" Liang Maimiao's head was getting more and more so.

"Let your aunt find someone else to accompany her."

"My cousin has calculated it, and my birth chart is suitable." Liang Maimiao was speechless.

Ye Yunniang didn't know what to say about this.

After talking with Ye Yunniang, Liang Maimiao felt much better.

Ye Yunniang, remembering that the executions would take place in the vegetable market the next day, got up and went to the market to buy vegetables.

At the market, contrary to usual, there were quite a few people buying vegetables at this time. There were also many vegetable vendors selling vegetables.

Ye Yunniang also heard many people discussing tomorrow's events.

Many people felt uneasy and came to buy groceries early, planning not to come to the market for the next few days.

Ye Yunniang bought two baskets of vegetables, enough for her and her three children to eat for eight days, then stopped and went home.

When they got home, Li Pan and Li An had already returned from school.

"Mom, why did you buy so many vegetables?" Li Pan stepped forward and took a large basket.

"I'm worried I won't have time to buy groceries when the embroidery for the wedding dress gets to a more crucial point, so I'm buying them now," Ye Yunniang explained.

Li Pan and Li An exchanged glances, realizing that Ye Yunniang hadn't said anything. But neither of them asked any further questions.

The next day, Ye Yunniang sat at home embroidering her wedding dress, but her mind was elsewhere. She kept glancing outside, wondering if Liang Maimiao had returned.

Liang Maimiao did not return home until the children were dismissed from school, and the Zhang family did not see her return either.