Sister Dies, Sister Remarries (Part 1)
I feigned a sigh, "It's rare to find someone with such magnanimity as Chief Luo! It's truly a blessing for me to have a father like you." Then I added, "However, I'm quite upset about this misfortune. Chief Luo, you should tell the people in the manor not to pry into anything further, so that she can calm down and move on from this matter as soon as possible."
Luo Chong nodded: "Qing Niangzi is right to remind you. I will give the order in a moment that anyone who dares to speak ill of the child will be punished according to family law!" As he spoke, he took my hand again, "I trouble Qing Niangzi to talk to her for me again."
I smiled and agreed, "No problem."
After seeing Luo Zhong off, I went into the inner room. Luo Erying was lying on the bed with her head buried in the quilt. I sat down next to the bed, lifted a corner of the quilt, and said gently, "Alright, your father has gone out. Get up and eat something."
Luo Erying sat up and buried her face in my arms: "Thank you, Aunt Qing."
"Silly girl, why are you saying 'thank you' to Aunt Qing?" I put my arm around Luo Erying and pulled out a butterfly velvet flower from my sleeve with the other. "Keep this safe."
Luo Erying's face flushed red. Trembling, she took the velvet flower, clutched it tightly in her palm, and choked out, "Aunt Qing, am I very foolish?"
“There’s nothing stupid about it.” I gently stroked her long hair. “Aunt Qing did just as much as you did at your age.”
Looking back now, my feelings for him were genuine, and the happiness we shared was real. Who could have predicted what would happen afterward?
"Next month, remember to pay attention to your period. If it's late, don't rush to see a doctor. Come to the inn and we'll figure something out."
Luo Erying hugged me tightly: "Aunt Qing!"
I reached out and wiped away the tears on her cheeks: "But remember, when you look for a man in the future—don't just look at his face."
Luo Erying said in a muffled voice, "I'm never looking again. All men are the same!"
"Pfft!" I chuckled. "Don't say such discouraging things. There are still good men out there. No rush, we can take our time to find one."
At that time, Luo Zhong's second wife sent someone to bring food. I ate a few bites with Luo Erying and then got up to say goodbye.
Madam Luo insisted on arranging a guest room for me to stay overnight, but I was worried about Huai Xu's injuries, so I said that the inn was busy and I needed to rush back that night. Madam Luo had no choice but to have the steward choose two guards to escort me back.
As they approached the entrance of the Luo residence, they looked up at the inky sky and saw a familiar figure standing under the eaves, leading a horse.
I turned around and took the reins from the old steward: "Steward Luo, there's no need to see me off."
The old steward also noticed Lin Zhong, and bowed to me in farewell: "It's late and the dew is heavy, please take care on your journey."
I led my horse toward Lin Zhong: "Why did you come all this way? Didn't I tell you to take Huai Xu to Yanziping?"
Lin Zhong replied, "Huai Xu was worried about you being alone, so he sent me to pick you up. I took her back to the inn, and Feng Qiao took her to see Doctor Liu."
I frowned: "I asked you to send Huai Xu away, and Huai Xu asked you to pick me up. You didn't listen to me, but listened to her instead. Lin Zhong, Lin Zhong, who is your boss after all?"
Lin Zhong turned his face away: "You."
I took the reins and gave his arm a light flick: "You're not allowed to disobey me anymore, okay?"
Lin Zhong turned around and said seriously, "It depends on the situation."
After Huai Xu took a blow from He Kuan, although her meridians were undamaged, her blood and qi flowed in reverse and stagnated in her middle jiao. Fortunately, Liu Yu was a highly skilled doctor and treated her with moxibustion for several days, and she recovered greatly.
In the afternoon, Lin Zhong and I were drying hay in the yard when Huai Xu and Feng Qiao led their horses back from Yanziping.
Feng Qiao said to me, "Aunt, go and rest for a while. I'll take care of the rest with Uncle Lin."
Seeing that Huai Xu looked sullen, I thought that the young couple must have had some kind of argument, so I brushed the grass clippings off my clothes and pulled Huai Xu to walk towards the house ahead.
I sat down, poured myself a bowl of tea, and said as I drank, "You were all smiles when you left this morning, why the long face now? Did Feng Qiao offend you?"
“It’s none of his business.” Huai Xu sat down opposite me, rested his chin on his hand, and sighed. “Sigh. Godmother, after I finished moxibustion at Doctor Liu’s today, I went to Lady Wang’s weaving workshop for a while and ran into Ni Yi crying and quitting her job. She seemed so miserable!”
“Niyi from Niumendong?” I asked in surprise. “She’s due to give birth in less than two months, isn’t she? She should have quit her job long ago. Weaving is different from other jobs. With a pregnant belly, she has to bend over. It’s too dangerous.”
“That’s right!” A hint of resentment appeared between Huai Xu’s eyebrows. “A few days ago, Madam Wang and Aunt Xu advised her to go home and rest, and that it wouldn’t be too late to come back to work after giving birth. But Ni Yi said that she could only stand tall in her husband’s family if she worked and earned money, otherwise she would be bullied to the point of being destitute.”
“That girl, Niyi, is usually so strong-willed and feisty. She’s been married for less than a year, how did she end up like this?”
“Godmother, you don’t know, Niyi’s father and mother are actually—” Huai Xu sighed again, “If she hadn’t cried to Madam Wang today, I wouldn’t have known that she has been living such a hard life all this time.”
I also sighed: "Niumendong was poor to begin with, and Niyi had many younger siblings. As the eldest sister, she must have suffered a lot from childhood to adulthood."
“I’m not trying to excuse her parents, but any parent would want to treat both of them equally, but most of the time, they just don’t know how.”
“It’s not that Niyi is complaining about taking care of her younger siblings. Before she married her current husband, she had a lover, but her parents broke them up because they thought he was poor. She married into the family that gave the most dowry. Her parents accepted the dowry but didn’t prepare a dowry for her. Niyi married empty-handed, and her husband’s family was always finding fault with her. Even after she got pregnant, if she took an extra half bowl of rice, they would nag her for a long time. Fortunately, Madam Wang opened a weaving workshop in Yanziping, and Niyi came to help out. She earned wages to supplement the family income, and her situation improved a little.”
I was deeply saddened: I never imagined that the strong-willed Nii would grow up in such a family; her parents, who had been poor for most of their lives, probably never thought of treating all their children equally, but instead took advantage of their most obedient and sensible child...
Huai Xu said with great concern, "Godmother, I have a bad feeling that Ni Yi's life in her husband's family will be even more difficult after she gives birth to the baby."
"Try to look on the bright side," I said against my will, "Children are ultimately bound by their parents' blood. Perhaps having a child will actually make the couple more harmonious."
“No, godmother.” Huai Xu said calmly and firmly, “If two people with no feelings for each other were to have a child together, the outcome would definitely be a disaster.”
Having lived for thirty years and witnessed countless weddings and funerals, I am well aware of Nii's tragedy—it began the moment she felt sorry for her parents and gave up her dowry to enter her husband's family. Having children is often not a reversal, but rather a deeper and deeper sinking into the quagmire of marriage.
I also had a premonition—Huai Xu's premonition—that it would play out in the days to come, but what neither Huai Xu nor I expected was that this day would come so quickly and so tragically…
The day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, I was carrying the glutinous rice cakes that Huai Xu and the others were preparing for the New Year when Aunt Xu rushed to the inn with a serious expression and said, "Qing Niangzi, something happened at the weaving workshop. Wang Niangzi wants you to come over."
Huai Xu asked in surprise, "What happened?"
I quickly put down what I was doing and stood up: "Let's go, we'll talk on the way."
Huai Xu followed and said, "I'm going too!"
Aunt Xu sighed, "Niyi, who quit her job a few days ago to go home and rest during her pregnancy, hanged herself last night."
Huai Xu looked on in disbelief: "Aunt Xu, what did you say? Ni Yi, Ni Yi is dead?!"
I was also shocked: "Then... wouldn't that mean two lives lost?!"
"Yes," said Aunt Xu with a pained expression. "My poor daughter, she wasn't even nineteen yet! This morning, her husband came to the weaving workshop with a few relatives to announce her death."
"Niyi's man came to the weaving workshop to announce the death?" I composed myself and asked, "This is against the rules. What did he say to Lady Wang?"
Aunt Xu's face showed disgust: "This man is a scoundrel. He keeps twisting the truth. He said that Niyi worked herself to death in the weaving workshop, and when she was about to give birth, she was driven away. Niyi suffered all kinds of grievances, which is why she couldn't think straight and hanged herself. He also said that we Han people are all greedy and greedy. He said that Madam Wang opened the weaving workshop, bullied the Liao people, and withheld their wages. He said that Niyi was killed by her."
"You beast!" Huai Xu exclaimed, "He's the one who bullied Ni Yi and made her suffer so much! He's worse than a pig or a dog, and he still has the nerve to cause trouble at the weaving workshop!"
"It seems he's trying to extort money from Nii's death." I asked Aunt Xu, "Did Madam Wang agree to it?"
"No!" Aunt Xu shook her head and said firmly, "We absolutely cannot let him try to pin this on us."
Huai Xu was furious: "Aunt Xu, is that beast still hanging around Yanziping? I'll tear him apart with my bare hands!"
"He's already gone. He said he'd go back to perform the 'tracing of the hall and up the mountain' ceremony for Niyi first, and then come back to settle accounts with us after the funeral." At this point, Aunt Xu spat and cursed, "That filthy bastard! What wife acts like this after her husband's death! All he talks about is money. How could Niyi have married such a heartless scoundrel!"
"What?" Huai Xu exclaimed, "Ni Yi passed away last night, and her body has been lying in state for less than a day. This beast can't wait to hold a funeral for her. He must have something to hide and be afraid of retribution!"
“Who says otherwise?” Aunt Xu chimed in. “According to our Han Chinese custom, when an adult in the family dies, the body is kept in state for at least three days.”
"The same goes for the Liao people," I said cautiously. "However, tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also our Liao people's 'August Festival.' We will be welcoming the new grain and worshipping our ancestors for two consecutive days. Funerals require entertaining relatives and friends, and neighbors will have to help. It is understandable for ordinary families to handle their funerals before the festival."
As we talked, we arrived at the weaving workshop. Liu Xingjian and Liu Yu were there, and Wang Yunhui was sitting by the window, still looking calm. When she saw me, she immediately got up to greet me: "Qingcheng, you've arrived."
I held her hands and said sincerely, "Madam Wang, you have been wronged."
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