Pan Jinhua had three sons and two daughters, all of whom were married.
The eldest son, Li Xuming, married Liu Yun and they had four children: the eldest, Li Qingzhang, is seventeen years old and engaged; the second, Li Qingjing, is fifteen; the third, Li Qingfei, is a girl and is eleven years old; and the fourth, Li Qingzhi, is only eight years old.
The second son, Li Xushi, was the third in his family. He married Mo Qiaoniang and had three children. The eldest, Li Qingruo, was sixteen years old and was supposed to get married this year. The second and third sons were twins, Li Qingduan and Li Qingyi, who were fourteen years old.
The third son, Li Xuchang, was the fifth in his family. He married Qi Wan and they had two children. He was five months pregnant with her child. The eldest son, Li Qingtong, is now seven years old, and the second son, Li Qingjun, is five years old.
She has two daughters. The eldest daughter, Li Mudan, is the second child. She married Jiang Jiangong, a wealthy businessman from Nanze. He is the eldest son of the Jiang family and is now independent. Li Mudan also gave birth to a son and a daughter and has a deep relationship with Jiang Jiangong.
The youngest daughter, Li Furong, the fourth in her family, married Shi Wang, the second son of the Shi family, a renowned family of doctors in Nanze County. They had only two lovely daughters, who are now also studying medicine with the family, preparing to pursue careers as female doctors.
"The aunties have arrived."
Pan Jinhua was lying on a recliner, sorting out the situation of the Li family members, when a maid came to report.
"Quickly, welcome them in." Before the maids could go to greet them, two bright and beautiful women entered from outside. The former was dignified, while the latter was slightly more lively.
"mother."
"Is Mother really alright?"
“It’s nothing, it’s nothing. Would your brother and sister-in-law lie to you?” Pan Jinhua was amused by Li Furong, who spoke next.
"Hmph, these maids and old women don't know how to take care of people. They let you fall into the lotus pond. I was terrified when I heard it." Li Furong was a bit spoiled. As soon as she entered the door, she leaned against Pan Jinhua and acted coquettishly.
The Li family now claims to the outside world that Pan Jinhua accidentally fell into the lotus pond, taking Li Qingduan and Li Qingyi with her. However, the family knows the truth. Li Furong feels that the responsibility lies entirely with the servants. If someone had reminded her two nephews or paid attention to her mother in time, none of this would have happened.
The eldest daughter, Li Mudan, slowly walked in and sat on the other side of Pan Jinhua. "What Furong said is very true. She really needs to be reprimanded. She caused you to get hurt, and she also harmed Duan'er and Yi'er."
Li Furong gets angry whenever she thinks about this. If something happens to her mother, the Li family will be ruined by these servants. Thinking this, she can't help but feel resentful towards her sister-in-law. "I don't know what my sister-in-law does every day. At least disciplining the servants is her job."
"Don't talk nonsense," Pan Jinhua interrupted Li Furong's complaints. "You're still acting like a child. We're family, after all. Don't say such things in front of your sister-in-law. She's already worried enough about this family. She's probably not feeling good about what happened. Don't say anything that will upset her."
"Alright, Mother, you're so good to my sister-in-law." Li Furong nodded helplessly, but she was quite jealous.
"Your mother loves you too, be good." Pan Jinhua smiled, comforting Li Mudan and Li Furong.
The three chatted and laughed about everyday things before Pan Jinhua's expression slowly changed.
"Is Mother feeling unwell?" Li Mudan was always observant and immediately noticed the change in Pan Jinhua.
“You are a thoughtful person,” Pan Jinhua sighed. “Speaking of which, during my period of unconsciousness, I had a dream about your father.”
"father?"
"Mother, did you really dream about Father?"
Pan Jinhua nodded.
"This dream was rather strange, and I'm really hesitant about whether to tell you or not."
"Mother~ what dream did you have that made you like this? Tell me about it." Li Furong pouted as usual.
"Mother, I want to hear it too."
Seeing that the two sisters genuinely wanted to hear it, Pan Jinhua couldn't help but sigh.
"Alright, you two sisters can help me analyze this. When I was unconscious, I dreamed of two people with extremely terrifying appearances. One had the head of a bull, and the other had the face of a horse."
"How bizarre!" Li Furong exclaimed.
"That's right. These two said that my lifespan had ended and they wanted to take me to the underworld. I was terrified at the time, but your father suddenly appeared. Before he could even speak to me, he kowtowed to the Ox-Head and Horse-Face and said that my lifespan had not ended and that the officials had made a mistake. Only then did I realize that the Ox-Head and Horse-Face were actually officials from the underworld."
"It's just a dream, Mother, please don't overthink it." Li Mudan thought that her mother must be missing her father, which was why she had such a strange dream, but it was ultimately a bad omen.
"Sister is right, it was just a strange dream."
“Your father took out some golden light particles from his body and gave them to the Ox-Head and Horse-Face. Only then did the Ox-Head and Horse-Face check the register and found that they had indeed brought the wrong person. Looking back today, if it weren't for your father using that merit to work, I might have been forcibly taken away by the Ox-Head and Horse-Face.”
Li Mudan and Li Furong naturally knew that their mother was referring to the incident yesterday when she suddenly had a hysterical episode and then stopped breathing. It seemed that the story matched up. The two exchanged a glance, but dared not respond. They were, after all, superstitious and taboo.
"Mother, this..."
“It’s not over yet,” Pan Jinhua said with a wry smile. “What happened next was even more bizarre. After the Ox-Head and Horse-Face realized they had brought the wrong thing, they gave me a mirror as compensation. Later, your father told me that it was actually a reward for the merit he had accumulated. In the underworld, merit is extremely valuable, and it’s no exaggeration to say it’s priceless.”
"Then Father has lost his treasure. We must help Father make up for it."
Li Furong had come to believe the dream to some extent; she simply couldn't have made it up herself. It felt as if her mother had actually experienced it.
“That’s how it should be. We’ll choose an auspicious day to go to the temple to light an eternal lamp for Father and add incense oil. I wonder if that will make up for it.” Li Mudan readily agreed, preferring to believe in the existence of spirits rather than the non-existence of them; they always held spirits in awe.
"We should go; it's good to do more good deeds."
Where are we going?
Li Xuming happened to be leading Jiang Jiangong and Shi Wang in from outside. His two brothers-in-law had arrived, and they always had to come and pay their respects to his mother.
"Big brother." Li Mudan greeted her brother.
"Greetings, Mother."
"Is Mother well?"
Jiang Jiangong and Shi Wang also bowed to Pan Jinhua. Jiang Jiangong was dark-skinned and always traveling because of his business; while Shi Wang was fair-skinned and plump. He was the second son and only looked after the family pharmacy. He was also an optimist, easy-going and plump. The two of them stood together, their skin tones clearly distinguished.
Li Furong didn't greet them, but simply shook Pan Jinhua's hand and laughed at their excessive formalities, saying that they should just be at ease as family.
"Big brother, Mother just said she dreamed about Father..." Li Furong quickly recounted Pan Jinhua's dream, and Li Xuming and the other two were also surprised. After pondering for a moment, they all said that it was indeed time to pick a good day to go to the temple.
The group quickly came up with a plan, and Li Mudan and the others started telling Pan Jinhua funny stories about the children. Pan Jinhua was amused by her grandchildren's daily lives, and the strange and eerie atmosphere from before vanished.
After dinner, people from both the Jiang and Shi families came to pick them up, and the group left together.
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