Chapter 31
Fan Changyu managed to endure the smoke with great difficulty. She blinked and squeezed out the tears that were brought out of her eyes before she felt better. She looked up and saw Xie Zheng staring at her with an inexplicable expression. She patted her head and asked, "Is there any dust on my head?"
It was windy at the moment, and there was indeed a lot of paper money ashes on her head and shoulders.
Xie Zheng turned his gaze away, closed his eyes and nodded.
Fan Changyu patted himself randomly, but the ashes scattered into a paste and stuck to his body.
Chang Ning saw it, and ran over with his short legs, puffed up his cheeks and said, "Ning Niang, blow it for me."
Fan Changyu lowered his head and asked his sister to help blow away the dust on his hair. However, Changning was small and didn't have enough strength to blow it away completely. She tugged at Xie Zheng's sleeve and raised her head and said, "Brother-in-law, blow it away."
Xie Zheng looked at Fan Changyu. She was half-kneeling on the ground and asking her sister to help her remove the dust from her hair. From his angle, he could just see a part of her fair neck and half of her pretty profile. She had a faint smile on her face because she was talking to her sister.
When Fan Changyu heard Chang Ning asking Xie Zheng to help blow away the dust on his hair, he raised his head and said, "It's almost done, let's go back..."
The last word got stuck in my throat.
Xie Zheng raised his hand and brushed away the smoke and ash on her hair. The force in his hand was very light, just barely brushing her hair, but the slight itchiness caused by fiddling with her hair still made Fan Changyu stiffen for a moment.
It felt completely different from the way she'd done it herself, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.
After twirling away the last trace of smoke from her hair, Xie Zhengzheng returned his hand and said, "Okay."
Fan Changyu met his dark and indiscernible eyes and said dryly, "Thank you."
-
It was almost noon when they returned home from paying homage to their ancestors. Fan Changyu stewed a pig's trotter, cut a plate of marinated intestines, heated up a bowl of braised pork that had been steamed earlier, and finally fried a plate of dried vegetables to relieve the greasiness. The three of them had lunch together.
Dried vegetables are made during the harvest season by boiling, drying and storing the vegetables. Every household in the town knows how to make them. It is said that this method was devised during years of famine in order to store as much food as possible.
Compared to the freshness of green vegetables, dried vegetables have a more mellow aroma. Soak them in water and cut them into small pieces. Stir-fry ginger and garlic in oil and then pour in the dried vegetables. They are more fragrant than meat.
After finishing the meal, almost half of the meat was left, but the plate of dry vegetables was eaten up completely.
The large bowl of fresh meat mixed with dirty minced meat beside the Saker Falcon's cage had also been eaten up. It was squinting its small eyes and using its beak to comb its feathers, which had turned gray from being placed next to the fire pit.
After Fan Changyu cleared the dishes, he took out the red paper for the Spring Festival couplets and lanterns he had bought early in the morning and started to play the drums.
Pasting Spring Festival couplets and hanging big red lanterns are also indispensable customs on New Year’s Eve.
The pen, ink, paper and inkstone were all in Xie Zheng's room. Fan Changyu knocked on his door with a stack of Spring Festival couplets.
There was paper spread on the desk, and the ink was ground in the chipped inkstone. As expected, he sat in front of the lame desk and wrote something.
When his cold eyes swept over, Fan Changyu shook his head and asked shamelessly: "Um... can you write Spring Festival couplets?"
Chang Ning also showed half of his head at the door like a little tail, his eyes curved into two crescents as he smiled: "Brother-in-law is writing Spring Festival couplets!"
Xie Zheng put the half-written paper aside, made room on the desk, and said, "Give it to me."
Fan Changyu then squeezed into the house with the Spring Festival couplets and Changning, the little tail.
After Xie Zheng spread the Spring Festival couplets on the desk, he dipped his brush into thick ink. There was not much ink left in the inkstone. He turned his head slightly and said to Fan Changyu, "Grind some more ink for me."
Fan Changyu seemed to be hesitant to talk, but seeing that he had already picked up the pen and written the first word of the spring couplet paper in a vigorous and elegant manner, he didn't want to disturb him. He glanced at the square of ink, picked it up and began to grind it vigorously on the inkstone.
When Xie Zheng's ink was running low, he wanted to dip more ink, but when he saw the dark mess on the inkstone, he was silent for a moment and said, "Too much."
It's more than just too much. She almost used up half a block of ink to write a pair of Spring Festival couplets.
He couldn't help but glance at her hands.
Thinking of her strength, I felt relieved.
Fan Changyu said awkwardly: "Before I started my research, I wanted to ask you how much you studied..."
She could read and learned to write reluctantly under the pressure of her mother using a cane, but her handwriting was truly horrible. Pens, ink, paper and inkstone were expensive, and she seldom ground ink herself. When her mother forced her to practice calligraphy, she would grind the ink and watch her write. She had no idea how much ink to grind.
Xie Zheng seemed to be used to this situation and said, "It's okay to research too much, but it would be a pity if you can't use it all."
Fan Changyu stared at the ink that he had worn off most of, and suddenly felt a little distressed.
She thought that Aunt Zhao's family probably didn't buy any Spring Festival couplets either, so she said, "Then let's write one for Aunt Zhao's family as well! Use the remaining ink to write a few more and put one on each door of the rooms to make it festive!"
It was the first time that Xie Zheng heard of such a way of pasting Spring Festival couplets. He frowned, but then he found it a little funny. There was a bright emotion in his heart that he couldn't explain.
When he first saw her, he thought the woman was vulgar, but now he felt that within that vulgarity, there was a vigorous and upward vitality.
Like the weeds in the wild, they have no one to take care of them, but they grow upwards with a wild force. They can break through the frozen soil, crack rocks, endure the severe winter, and survive the scorching summer. No matter whether the buds after breaking through the soil are exposed to wind, frost or rain, the roots underneath will continue to grow deeply into the thick soil, constantly providing nutrients for the buds to grow upwards.
He glanced at the woman who was sitting at the side of the desk with her chin on her hand, watching him write, then dipped his pen in thick ink and continued to write the second line of the Spring Festival couplet.
Snowflakes fluttered in from the half-open window. The wind blew his wide sleeves and also blew Fan Changyu's long hair. When he put down his pen, Fan Changyu leaned closer to look at the Spring Festival couplets he had written, and a strand of her long hair just happened to brush the back of his hand.
He paused as he put down his pen, and a drop of ink fell below the Spring Festival couplet.
Fan Changyu exclaimed, "Ah!" and said in annoyance, "Did I disturb you?"
Xie Zhengfei looked back and said, "No, I put too much ink in it."
Fan Changyu looked at the couplet with some distress: "What a pity, the calligraphy is so beautiful, but it doesn't matter, just put it on the door of my room and Changning's room!"
Xie Zheng raised his eyes and asked, "Do you like it?"
Fan Changyu nodded. She studied the couplet and read out the words: "'When the ice melts, the springs begin to pulsate; when the snow ends, grass sprouts.' When the ice and snow melt, spring grass sprouts. I like this implication."
She smiled at Xie Zheng and said, "When my mother wrote Spring Festival couplets for her family, she didn't like to write auspicious words like those sold in the market."
Xie Zheng was shaken by her smile. He didn't respond, but lowered his eyes. He picked up the brush and made a few strokes where the ink spot had fallen. The ink spot that ruined the entire couplet turned into a wild sketch with great artistic conception.
Fan Changyu and his sister exclaimed "Huh" in unison, their eyes filled with surprise.
Fan Changyu picked up the couplet and looked at it again and again: "Can you also paint?"
Xie Zheng said, "I know a little bit."
Fan Changyu stared at the clump of vibrant weeds below his Spring Festival couplets: "That's enough."
He looked up at Xie Zheng for a few seconds and said, "If you sell calligraphy and paintings on the street, I think you can make a lot of money!"
With his good looks and meticulous brushwork, there must be a lot of girls willing to buy his paintings!
Xie Zheng's lips, which had been raised slightly when he heard her compliments, flattened again after he heard the last two sentences.
He said, "I won't paint anything that I don't like."
Fan Changyu knew that this man always had a bad temper, so he was not surprised by his answer. He stared at him as he continued to write his comments.
He picked up the pen and wrote the four characters "忍得春生". His handwriting was square and powerful, as if it also carried the vigor and tenacity of wild weeds breaking through the soil.
Fan Changyu already liked that couplet very much, and he was even more satisfied when he saw this horizontal calligraphy.
In order to make it look more similar, Xie Zheng also drew a few strokes of wild grass on the horizontal scroll and the spring couplet paper in the upper part.
Fan Changyu happily placed the written couplets on the cabinet next to him to dry.
The ink stains on this couplet had already disappeared, and the paper he bought was only enough for writing three couplets. Fan Changyu also wanted to write one for Aunt Zhao and the others, so he immediately decided to post this couplet on the door.
The Spring Festival couplets Xie Zheng wrote for the two elderly people were an auspicious pair of words wishing them good fortune, longevity and health.
When writing the last couplet, Chang Ning leaned on the desk with both hands, put his feet on the table and raised his neck and said, "Ning Niang wants to write too."
Fan Changyu thought that the couplet would only be posted at home for her own reading, so she took out the paper on which she had written the horizontal comment and asked Xie Zheng to help her think of a couplet. After writing it on the paper, she taught her sister how to copy it.
She led Changning to write the horizontal banner, and then wrote the first couplet in her own dog-crawling handwriting.
Although the handwriting was a bit ugly, Fan Changyu was quite satisfied with it.
She put the brush back into Xie Zheng's hand and said, "Write the couplet."
Xie Zheng looked at the characters that were so big that they were about to overflow the entire piece of Spring Festival couplet paper. He was silent for a moment, then wrote the second couplet in cursive script, which made it look less incongruous.
All the fonts he wrote avoided his original handwriting and would not be noticed by people who knew his handwriting.
Fan Changyu wanted to call it a day, but Changning slipped out of the room at some point, picked up the Saker Falcon from the chicken coop in the main room, and looked at Fan Changyu with sparkling eyes: "Print the falcon's footprints as well!"
The way she held the bird was very particular. One of her fat hands was holding the bird's belly, and the other hand was strangling the bird's neck, as if she would just grab the bird by the neck if the bird didn't cooperate.
Xie Zheng felt a little weird when he saw Shanghai Dongqing's frightened and helpless look.
These two sisters must be biological children.
Fan Changyu touched the feathers on the gyrfalcon's forehead, thought for a moment and said, "Okay!"
She took the inkstone, lifted up the Saker Falcon's paw and dipped it in, leaving a falcon's paw print behind the horizontal stroke written by Changning.
The shadow of being hit on the forehead was still there. The Saker Falcon folded its wings and dared not move the whole time. It only stared with its small eyes, looking confused and pitiful.
After making the paw prints, Fan Changyu wiped the ink off Haidongqing's feet with a wet towel, and then said to Changning, "Take it back."
Changning happily carried the Saker Falcon to the main room and put it back into the chicken coop.
Fan Changyu went to the kitchen to find the rice soup that he had not finished at noon, and first pasted the Spring Festival couplets completed by the three people and one falcon on the door frame of the main room. Then he took the rice soup out to paste the couplet that read "Endure the Spring".
When the old couple of the Zhao family heard that Xie Zheng had also written a couplet for them, they came out to see the new couplet that Fan Changyu had pasted for them, and they couldn't stop smiling.
Other neighbors passing by in the alley saw this and asked curiously, "Changyu, your husband can also write couplets?"
Aunt Zhao had always been reluctant to let people look down on Fan Changyu because of the Song inkstone incident. When she heard someone ask her about this, she immediately said, "Of course, that young man is also a man who can read and write. Look at his handwriting. It's better than the Spring Festival couplets sold on the street!"
In this small place, knowing a few words makes you considered a capable person. Not to mention passing the imperial examination to become a scholar, just passing the imperial examination to become a student would make you look much more superior than others when talking about your relatives.
The woman nodded repeatedly after reading it: "It's not bad compared to the Spring Festival couplets that Song Yan wrote for everyone in previous years. Changyu is still good at choosing a husband!"
She smiled at Fan Changyu and said, "Can you ask your husband to write one for me, too?"
In the past, every New Year, Song Yan would set up a stall at the market to write Spring Festival couplets for people to supplement their family income. Neighbors in the alley would ask him to write for them, and he would never charge them. Everyone just had to bring their own red paper to write the couplets. However, when people asked him to help write couplets, most of them would also give him something as a token of their appreciation.
This year Song Yan's family moved away, and it cost more than ten cents to find someone to write Spring Festival couplets. Buying ready-made ones is not cheap either. Most families in the alley don't have Spring Festival couplets at home.
Fan Changyu thought about Xie Zheng's bad temper and declined, "I'm sorry, Auntie, we don't have any extra Spring Festival couplet paper at home."
The woman said directly: "Auntie's family still has the Spring Festival couplets paper that they bought last year!"
Xie Zheng suddenly appeared at the gate. When the woman saw him, she asked with a smile, "Mr. Changyu, can you help me write a couplet for the Spring Festival when you have time?"
What kind of a weird title is “Mr. Changyu”?
Fan Changyu was afraid that his sharp tongue would say something harsh, and was about to refuse for him again, but he heard him say, "Bring me the paper."
Fan Changyu was a little confused, but the woman was very happy to hear Xie Zheng's words. She turned around and walked home: "Wait for me, I'm going home to get some paper!"
As if he was afraid that Xie Zheng would regret it the next moment.
Fan Changyu thought that he probably agreed to it out of consideration for himself, so after entering the yard, he couldn't help but say, "If you don't want to, you don't have to force yourself to agree."
Xie Zheng raised his eyes calmly: "When did I ever say I didn't want to?"
Fan Changyu: “…”
Who said before that one should not paint a picture that is not to one’s liking?
Well, that's painting, writing a few words is fine, she was just thinking too much.
Soon the aunt came with red paper, but she was not the only one who came. There were also several other women and maids who were also holding red paper.
When they saw Fan Changyu, they all smiled and said, "I heard that your husband is writing Spring Festival couplets for others, and your family hasn't written Spring Festival couplets this year, so I came here with a thick face."
Everyone knew that pens, ink, paper and inkstones were expensive, so they naturally did not come empty-handed. Those who had ground tofu at home brought a bowl of tofu, and those who had made rice candy wrapped a few pieces of rice candy and handed them to Changning as soon as they entered the door for her to eat as a snack.
Fan Changyu looked at the person who brought something to the door. He couldn't refuse, nor could he respond on behalf of Xie Zheng. He could only look at Xie Zheng.
He had already brought the writing brush, inkstone and inkstone from the south room to the main room. He received Fan Changyu's gaze and said calmly, "Ladies, please take a seat first."
This meant he had agreed, so Fan Changyu asked everyone to sit by the fire and warm themselves.
Xie Zheng does not write Spring Festival couplets directly, but will first ask the other party a sentence or two about what meaning they want the couplet to have, and then he will put pen to paper.
The wind blew back into the snow, and he wrote with a calm and peaceful posture.
An old woman who lived at the end of the alley went to write couplets. She probably didn't know how to describe the couplets she wanted. She spoke in a hesitant voice with a local accent and in a fragmented way.
Xie Zheng did not show any impatience on his face. In order to hear clearly what the old man said, he even lowered his head slightly and listened carefully.
Fan Changyu was sitting next to the fire pit and was a little surprised when he saw this scene. He had the impression that he always had a bad temper and was arrogant, but he didn't expect that he had such a gentle side.
After writing the couplet, he read it to the old woman and explained its meaning. The old woman nodded continuously and her wrinkles on her face were smoothed out with smiles.
Fan Changyu supported his chin with one hand and looked over there, and somehow he also started laughing.
Xie Zheng suddenly raised his eyes and met her smiling eyes.
Fan Changyu's heart suddenly skipped a beat, the smile on his face froze, and he turned his head silently to warm himself by the fire.
After hearing that Xie Zheng also helped write couplets, word spread quickly and most of the neighbors in the alley came to ask him for help. It was almost evening when no one came to knock on the door again, and the table was filled with all kinds of snacks sent by others for helping to write couplets.
When Fan Changyu saw Xie Zheng sitting down by the fire pit, he was rubbing his wrists quietly and asked teasingly, "Your hands are sore, right?"
Xie Zheng only replied: "Not bad."
Fan Changyu snorted in his heart. This guy just talks big.
Seeing that it was getting dark, she lit the big red lantern and planned to hang it in the yard.
In previous years, her father was the one who hung the lanterns. Fan Changyu had little experience, and the bamboo pole he found was too short, so he couldn't hang it up. He called Changning, "Mother Ning, help me move a stool out."
Changning was sitting at the door eating a piece of rice candy. She ate a little, then broke it into pieces and scattered it at her feet for the Saker Falcon to peck at.
After hearing what Fan Changyu said, she turned around and shouted into the house, "Brother-in-law, help me move a stool and hang the lantern."
Fan Changyu was just about to say that this kid was getting better and better at bossing people around when he saw Xie Zheng walking out of the house.
He didn't have the stool in his hand. He walked closer and naturally took the bamboo pole from Fan Changyu's hand. His palm lightly rubbed the back of her hand, just like when he taught her how to break the move in the pine forest before. The only difference was that this time, his fresh and cold breath was mixed with the faint fragrance of stale candy.
"It's hung up." He hung the lantern under the eaves and took a step back. The smell of stale candy also faded away.
Fan Changyu felt uncomfortable and uttered "thank you" in a dry voice.
For dinner, there was the stewed pig's trotters that were not finished at noon, as well as the homemade New Year's specialties that the neighbors had sent as gifts after writing couplets. Fan Changyu picked out a few dishes and heated them up. He then set up a small pot above the fire pit, cut up slices of fresh meat, tofu, and bamboo shoots, and put a dish of salt on the pot. He then added an egg to the chopped tender pork liver, stirred it all together, and ate it while hot pot on the spot.
This was the pot that she saw diners often ordering during the days when she was helping to make braised pork at Yixianglou.
She curiously asked what it was, and Chef Li said it was a dish created by Manager Yu. Other restaurants also have it, but the taste is far inferior to that of Yixianglou.
Yixianglou was closed on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. The shopkeeper Yu gave her several blocks of solidified red oil from cooking pots and asked her to take them home to eat during the New Year.
Fan Changyu didn't know how the solidified red oil was made, but there were also various condiments such as peppercorns, bay leaves, and star anise in it. After boiling in water, it became a pot of bright red soup. The meat tasted better than the Maoxuewang he cooked last time.
It was a bit spicy, and Changning was greedy and afraid of spicy food, so his mouth was swollen after eating it.
Fan Changyu also felt that the taste of the pot was so overbearing and spicy that he could not stand it. He went to get a bottle of sake and poured a glass for Xie Zheng before he remembered that he was injured.
Fan Changyu took the cup in front of him and put it in front of himself: "I forgot, you are injured and can't drink it."
Xie Zheng smelled the wine and knew it was not strong, so he said, "Light wine is fine."
Fan Changyu ignored him and poured him a cup of warm tea: "The doctor said you can't drink alcohol until your injury heals."
Chang Ning looked eagerly at the cup in front of Fan Changyu: "Ning Niang wants one too."
Fan Changyu also poured her a cup of warm tea: "Children can't drink alcohol, drink tea with your brother-in-law."
Xie Zheng: “…”
The pot was really spicy and addictive. By the end of it, Fan Changyu was drinking sake almost like water.
Her lips were burning with pain, and when she was about to pour some sake, she realized that she had drunk most of the wine without realizing it.
Fan Changyu was a little dumbfounded: "Why did I drink so much..."
Then he comforted himself: "It's okay, this wine shouldn't be intoxicating."
Her face was already a little red, but Xie Zheng and Chang Ning's faces also turned red from the spiciness of the hot pot.
Xie Zheng was not sure about her alcohol tolerance. Seeing her drinking heavily, he thought she had a good alcohol tolerance. At this time, he didn't know whether the redness on her face was due to the spiciness, drunkenness, or both.
He pushed the teapot towards her: "Drink some tea to sober you up."
Fan Changyu's brain was a little slow at the moment, and he thought for a long time before coming to a conclusion. It seemed like he was making fun of his own poor alcohol tolerance?
She stubbornly poured herself another glass of sake and said fiercely, "I can drink a lot! My father can drink a whole bottle of Shaodaozi, and I can drink half a bottle. This little bit of sake is nothing to me!"
Xie Zheng watched her drink the sake in one gulp, then her almond-shaped eyes got smaller and smaller, and finally she fell asleep with her head resting on the low stool.
Xie Zheng: “…”
The child was also the type who would feel sleepy when she was full. Her breathing had already become heavy while she was holding the red seal given to her by her sister to mark her birthday.
On this New Year's Eve, Xie Zheng was the only one still awake.
The lanterns under the eaves cast a layer of warm light on the falling snow. From the distant streets came the sound of firecrackers being set off.
Xie Zheng looked at the woman who was sleeping soundly on the low table. Half of her face was flushed in the firelight. Just by looking at it, one could feel that the temperature of her face would be extremely warm and soft if touched by fingertips.
He looked at it quietly for a while, then looked away. He took the wine jar on the table, poured himself a glass, half-bent one leg, put one hand on his knee, and took a sip from the glass in a casual posture, looking at the snowy scene outside the door.
Maybe it was because he was close to the fire pit, or maybe it was the warm light from the eaves, but at that moment his heart was more peaceful than ever before.
Sixteen years after the Battle of Jinzhou, he finally understood how the new year was spent.
He drank half the bottle of wine in one gulp, but there was still no sign of drunkenness in his eyes.
At midnight, fireworks exploded over the town. He looked at the woman at the other end of the coffee table, who had just uttered a single word in her sleep and fell into a deep sleep after hearing the noise. He said softly, "Happy New Year."
The author has something to say:
I’m writing this to wish my darlings a happy Saturday!
Note: "The ice melts and the springs pulsate; the snow ends and the grass sprouts" is from Bai Juyi's "A Solitary Tour of Qujiang in Early Spring"
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