Chapter 156 Don't you want to?
Unable to resist her second sister's curiosity, Song Chunxue patiently and earnestly recounted her story with Master Zhang.
She didn't know when she fell asleep, but the next morning at dawn, she woke up on time, got dressed, and sat upright on the kang (a heated brick bed) to meditate.
Since discovering that meditation is more restorative than sleeping, Song Chunxue has made time to meditate every day.
She even pulled out the characters she had learned before from her pocket, afraid she would forget them and review them again.
She never dreamed in her past life that she could write the names of her entire family in just a few days.
When the second sister woke up, she saw a dark figure sitting in front of the window, which scared her to death.
"My goodness, Fifth Brother, what are you doing sitting here?"
The second sister patted her chest, raised her hand and pushed Song Chunxue, but found that she didn't move.
She was startled again and quickly got up to pinch her cheek.
"Fifth brother, wake up, wake up quickly."
Having entered a meditative state without realizing it, Song Chunxue was forced to return from a very warm and gentle world.
"Fifth brother, don't scare me, wake up!"
The second sister slapped her cheeks hard. If she didn't wake up, she would have to go find a geomancer to wake her.
"What's wrong?" Song Chunxue opened her eyes, and the light in them made her second sister feel much better.
"You scared me to death! Don't meditate anymore. What if you go into qi deviation?" the second sister said with lingering fear. "Didn't you hear when we were little that someone went into qi deviation while practicing martial arts, sat cross-legged in meditation and never woke up again, and ended up being buried?"
Song Chunxue smiled slightly, "Isn't that a good thing? It's better than dying after suffering from illness."
"Fifth sister, you..." Second sister looked at her with concern.
"Second sister, I'm fine. I do experience what you described, but my mind is clear and I won't go astray. I feel very comfortable meditating, like I'm in heaven, completely relaxed. Why don't you give it a try?"
The second sister quickly waved her hands, "No, no, no, I don't want to. What if I go into a state of demonic possession and can't wake up, leaving behind the children and their father? What will they do? Who will cook for them?"
"..." Song Chunxue fell silent, lowering her eyes to hide the sadness in them. She used to think that way, but she wouldn't anymore.
Once the children are a little older and the third child gets married, she will have no more worries.
At that time, she might really become a nun.
"By the way, Second Sister, what are the two characters in your name? Can you write them?" Song Chunxue asked with a smile. "I remember you went to school when you were little. Would you like to teach me how to write them? And Third Sister and Fourth Sister, could you write them for me?"
The second sister looked at the booklet in her hand in surprise. When she opened it, she found that it contained her crooked handwriting, but each character was neater than the last, and it was filled with the names of family members.
"You can read?" My second sister was astonished. "Didn't you never go to school? How come you can write? When did you learn?"
"This month alone, I used to not be able to write my own name, but now I can recognize everyone in my family," Song Chunxue said casually. "Second sister, please write down the names of all my older sisters for me. If you still remember our parents' names, please write them down as well."
Two lifetimes have passed, and she doesn't even know her father's and mother's names.
This time, she was determined to learn their names.
She even suspected that it was precisely because she was illiterate and couldn't find the way to the underworld that she was given a second chance at life.
“Okay, I’ll write it for you right away,” the second sister said, looking at her with a mixture of relief and complicated emotions. “My name is Song Chunxiang, my eldest sister is Song Chunhua, my third sister is Song Chunmei, and my fourth sister is Song Chunlian.”
My second sister rummaged through the table for a while before finally finding a dusty, dry calligraphy brush.
She put the brush in her mouth, moistened it with saliva, and found that it was too dry and had no ink left.
"I'll go look for it, wait a moment." She wasn't joking this time; preoccupied with her thoughts, she found a charcoal stick under the old table, enough to barely write on.
Song Chunxue handed the booklet to her and saw her trembling as she wrote down the names of several of her older sisters.
“Our father’s name was Song Yuanfang. It is said that our grandfather hoped that he could travel all over the world and settle down in the far south. Unfortunately, our father was too busy having sons.”
“I only remember that my mother’s surname was Li and that she was the daughter of a wealthy family. But at that time, the Li family’s grain was stolen, and they didn’t have as much grain as our poor family. So they traded my mother for a bag of millet and married her off to my father.”
The second sister gazed out the window thoughtfully and said, "If I remember correctly, Mother's name is very beautiful. Is it Li Qingyun or Li Mengyun? Ask your second brother when you go to see him."
Song Chunxue nodded, took the booklet, and couldn't help but laugh when she saw the words on it, which were as big as potatoes.
"Second sister hasn't written anything in a long time."
Song Chunxiang smiled wryly, "Yes, it's been more than thirty years. It's good enough that I can still remember your name."
"By the way, you're not in a hurry to go back, are you? Chat with me some more tonight. I don't know if we'll ever see each other again. I feel like my health has really deteriorated these past two years. My knees and butt hurt whenever it's cloudy."
"Second sister, I'm not in a hurry to leave. What are you busy with today? I'll keep you company."
Song Chunxue slipped off the kang (a heated brick bed). The sky outside was overcast, and she wondered if it would snow.
"There's nothing much to do, just chop more grass for the donkeys, because in a few days it will be too cold to chop grass."
At this point, the second sister slapped her thigh, "I almost forgot, there's nothing to do, why don't you get ready, I'll take you to the Zhou family to meet that man."
"Second sister, I..."
“Listen to your sister, don’t act all mystical. Getting up early in the morning to meditate, I think you’re trying to ascend to heaven.”
“If this continues, you’ll end up becoming a monk sooner or later. Do you know how miserable it is to be a monk? If you don’t stay in the temple and go out to travel, you might die somewhere when you’re old, and there won’t even be anyone to collect your body.”
"If I ever see you meditating again, I'll break your legs!"
"..." She used to think the same way, but now that she heard her second sister say that, she felt that being a monk was so carefree.
“You’re not getting any older. You’ve been a widow all these years for the sake of your children, and you don’t even have anyone to talk to at night. Now that your children are all grown up, if you don’t find a man soon, no one will take care of you when they get married. When you’re old, you’ll be kicked out and left in some dilapidated kiln. You won’t even know if you’ll be carried off by wolves.”
"Besides, your husband has been dead for nine years. Don't you want someone to warm your bed in the cold winter?"
"No!" Song Chunxue said decisively, "The kang (heated brick bed) is much warmer than a person."
"Then don't you want to, well, you know?"
Second Sister picked up the chamber pot and walked out. "I know you have high standards. That Zhou family man is good-looking, clean, and most importantly, he knows how to manage a household. Go and see for yourself. Maybe you won't want to go back after you see him."
"..." Song Chunxue covered her face with her hands, "Second sister, I really don't want to."
"You have no choice but to accept it. He saw you come yesterday, and he might come looking for you at noon. Actually, you two have met before, back when your man was still alive."
"You were so beautiful back then, with rosy lips and white teeth. We went to the mountains together to pick wild vegetables, and he would often secretly look at you, do you remember?"
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