"What does he look like?" Su Jinli's voice was very soft. She lowered her head to wipe Su Yue's fingers stained with honeydew juice, but her fingertips were trembling slightly.
Su Yue tilted her head and thought, "Hmm...his hair is completely white, as white as the clouds in the sky! His face is full of wrinkles, and his eyes are red, as if he's been crying. He has a strange smell on him, different from Uncle Li who sweeps the stables in the mansion, and even worse." She wrinkled her nose, "He also said that he used to be a high-ranking official, and that you...you almost married his son!"
"Yue'er!" Nianli immediately whispered, pulling her daughter behind her. "Don't talk nonsense!" She looked at Su Jinli with an apologetic look in her eyes. "Mother, children don't understand things. Please don't take it to heart. I think the old man is not in good spirits. Maybe he is confused."
Su Jinli said nothing, simply staring at the willow branches swaying in the wind outside the courtyard wall. A few more catkins drifted by, settling in her hair like a thin layer of frost.
Wang family.
This surname, like a rusty needle, tucked away in the most inconspicuous corner of her memory, usually peaceful, was now punctured by her granddaughter's unintentional words, bringing with it a faint, almost sweet, tangible flavor. She could almost instantly recall the playboy in the lake-blue brocade robe, the IOU he'd drunkenly written in the gambling den, her stepmother Liu's fake smile as she held her teacup, and her father's muffled roar as he tore up the marriage certificate.
"What else did he say?" Su Jinli retracted her gaze and fell on Su Yue's curious little face, trying to make her tone sound like she was asking about family matters.
"He said..." Su Yue counted on her fingers, "He asked grandma to be kind and give him some money to buy a steamed bun for the sake of our 'old acquaintance'. He also said...he also said that it was their Wang family who wronged you and made you suffer."
"Bang!"
A loud bang came from outside the Moon Gate, accompanied by hurried footsteps and a man's shout: "Sister! Sister! I heard it! Which blind old beggar dared to block my niece's way? And dared to mention the Wang family? He's rebelling!"
A slightly plump, middle-aged man strode in with great speed. His brocade robe and jade belt, accentuated by his imposing presence, looked like a military robe. He was none other than Su Heng, the current Marquis of Dingbei—the younger brother of the former "Little Overlord." Now the father of three sons, he still possessed a fiery temper. He carried a jujube wood cane, having evidently assisted his way in from the front hall. His face was flushed, his neck thick, and his forehead smeared with sweat.
"Look at you, why are you running so fast?" Su Jinli glared at him unhappily. "You're almost fifty, and you're still as impulsive as you were when you were young. Aren't you afraid that your disciples will see you and laugh at you?"
"What do you mean by disciple or not!" Su Heng leaned his cane to the side, put his hands on his hips and started yelling, like a rooster protecting its cubs, "Sister! Nianli told me everything! Is that the old beggar from the Wang family? I will never forget how his son Wang Erlang plotted against you! If you hadn't overturned the table at the coming-of-age banquet and thrown the bill for his gambling house debt in Liu's face, would our Xiangfu have been able to endure such humiliation?"
He became more and more excited as he spoke, and his saliva almost splashed on Su Yue's face, scaring the little girl so much that she shrank into Su Jinli's arms.
"Look what's happening now," Su Heng said, his saliva flying. "His family has fallen on hard times, and his descendants actually dare to come to our mansion to beg for food? And even dare to mention 'old acquaintances'? I think he just wants to extort money! Sister, don't be soft-hearted, this kind of person deserves to be punished! When I get out, I'll whip him and see if he dares to talk nonsense again!"
"Alright, alright!" Su Jinli rubbed her temples with a headache, "It's not a big deal, is it worth making such a fuss?" She raised her hand to hit her brother, but Su Heng dodged it nimbly.
"Why isn't it worth it?" Su Heng stiffened his neck. "Sister, you are just too kind! If it weren't for you back then..."
"Alright, young marquis." Jiang Yan stepped forward and calmly stood in front of Su Jinli. His tone was gentle but carried undeniable weight. "There's no rush. Since he's just a beggar, he probably won't cause any trouble. I'll have the housekeeper go to the front street and inquire about the old man's background. We can make a decision later."
"What are you asking about?" Su Heng yelled in dissatisfaction, "It must be the descendants of the Wang family! When Prime Minister Wang was caught for corruption, the entire Wang family was executed, but a few side branches were left out. Who knows, those people might have fallen on hard times! Sister, you can't..."
"Su Heng!" Su Jinli suddenly raised her voice, interrupting her brother. She looked up at him, her eyes calm but with a hint of subtle fatigue. "How many years have passed?"
How many years?
From the day she overturned the teacup at her coming-of-age banquet, from the day her father tore up the marriage certificate, from the day she led the other ladies to form a poetry club, write storybooks, and ride horses to the capital, from the day she met Jiang Yan, married him, and gave birth to children... In a blink of an eye, more than 30 years have passed.
Mrs. Liu had died of a cold, and before she died she held her hand and confessed her sins; her father had long since changed from a cold-faced prime minister to a kind grandfather who held his grandson tightly and refused to let go; her little bully brother had also become a marquis who guarded a place, married the daughter of a general, and had children around him.
And she, Su Jinli, was no longer the legitimate daughter who endured humiliation in the secluded backyard of the mansion. She had a husband who loved her deeply, filial and sensible children, grandchildren who cared for her, a bookshop business spread across the capital, and countless friends who respected her. The cold grievances of her past life had long been softened by the honey of this life, and the bitterness had dissipated.
"He's just a down-and-out old man," Su Jinli stood up, straightening her plain dress, the hem of which brushed the cushions on the edge of the rattan couch. "Even if he's truly a descendant of the Wang family, so what? The grudges and grievances of the past should have been buried in the ground along with the decline of their family."
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