Chapter 3 The Lonely Phoenix's Curse (Part 3) Meeting.
Ye Mu nestled in Ye Xingjian's arms, her little head moving slightly; she did have a vague recollection of the matter.
In fact, Father Ye Sanye was not unwell as Mother had said; he simply did not return home all night.
Master Ye disliked officialdom and economics, and did not concern himself with worldly affairs. His only hobbies were calligraphy, painting, and rare books. He would often lose track of time and spend days and nights on an anonymous painting from a previous dynasty or a rubbing of a half-finished stele. He would even pawn his beloved possessions without hesitation. As a result, the old lady regarded him as neglecting his duties and repeatedly reprimanded him.
Ye Mu vaguely remembered that her father had received the news of her absence from the Winter Solstice Festival and had gone overnight to a hidden old bookstore in the south of the city to bid for a Song Dynasty landscape painting that he had been searching for.
The reason I remember this so vividly is that although my father rushed back before the auspicious time of the sacrifice in my previous life, he was still a step too late and could not wait quietly with the clansmen. He had to walk quickly into the ranks under everyone's watchful eyes, his hair and crown slightly askew, and the corner of his robe was stained with traces of the night dew that had not yet dried. His appearance was inevitably hasty and improper.
As soon as the solemn sacrificial ceremony ended, the old lady immediately summoned the parents to the bluestone ground in the courtyard. In front of the remaining relatives, she gave them a stern and harsh scolding. The maids and servants standing around secretly laughed, "This is truly an eye-opener. I've never seen a husband and wife being scolded like this before. Aren't they ashamed?"
Among the servants in the mansion, a saying had somehow begun to circulate: "A soft-hearted mother, a scholarly son, and a gluttonous little mother."
Ye Mu was saddened by those words for a long time. Although she couldn't fully understand their meaning, she knew it wasn't a good thing to say when she saw her mother crying so easily. She was so angry that she went to the study, found the ridiculous painting, and stomped on it. Her father was so angry that he didn't speak to her for more than half a year.
Amidst her swirling thoughts, Ye Mu looked at the persistent Zhou Shi, raised her innocent little face, and said in a clear voice, "Second Aunt, Mother is lying. Father is not sick at all."
Upon hearing this, Liu's expression changed drastically, and she shouted sternly, "Fourth Sister! Stop talking nonsense!"
A glint of shrewdness flashed in Zhou's eyes. How could she let go of this easy opportunity? "Third sister-in-law, how dare you collude with Third Master to deceive the whole family?"
She strode forward and asked Ye Mu softly, "Good child, please tell your second aunt in detail what happened to your father?"
"Fourth Sister!" Liu was extremely anxious and wanted to step forward to stop her, but Zhou deliberately blocked her from behind.
"Father didn't come home last night."
The crowd erupted in uproar, their gazes meeting with undisguised scrutiny. Madam Zhou was particularly impatient. "Does Fourth Sister know what Father went to do? Good child, don't be afraid. Your Second Aunt is here to stand up for you. Just tell the truth."
Just then, Master Ye finally arrived in a hurry, his forehead still damp with sweat and his breath slightly ragged, clearly having run all the way. He had a handsome face, with a touch of scholarly weariness. Holding the brocade box, he apologized to the old lady and his brother and sister-in-law, "Mother, brother and sister-in-law, I am late. Please forgive me. There was really a reason for this, and I had no choice."
"Tell me, what is the reason that is so important that it is even more important than the whole clan's ancestral worship?" The old lady was furious.
"Isn't that right? She didn't come home all night!" Zhou Shi added fuel to the fire from the side. "If Fourth Sister weren't so young and unable to keep the truth to herself, I'm afraid Third Sister would have kept our whole family in the dark."
Before Master Ye could answer, Ye Mu leaned out from Ye Xingjian's arms, "Father! Father! Have you found the painting of Ancestor fishing?"
The child's voice rang out, and Master Ye was slightly taken aback upon hearing it.
He wasn't stupid. Observing the stagnant atmosphere in the courtyard and seeing his wife Liu's pale face, he immediately realized that his absence all night was probably exposed, and his daughter's seemingly nonsensical words were actually helping him.
But how could Fourth Sister have known the future and revealed that the brocade box truly contained a fishing picture? He was certain he hadn't revealed it.
But now was not the time to think about such things. Ye Sanye's mind raced, and he immediately suppressed his surprise and doubt, bowed deeply to the old lady, and said earnestly, "Mother, you know that I have been working hard for this painting."
He held the brocade box high with both hands, his voice clear and melodious, “Your son recently received a secret message that the painting ‘Fishing Alone on a Cold River’ has reappeared in the world. This painting is suspected to be closely related to a reclusive ancestor of our Ye family. The brushstrokes may contain the feng shui secrets of our ancestral tomb. Your son was afraid that this precious treasure would fall into the hands of someone outside the family and harm the fortune of the entire clan. That’s why I rushed here in the dead of night to bring this painting back. I originally intended to present it to our ancestors during the grand ceremony today to show our Marquis’s family’s sincere respect for our ancestors.”
At the end of his speech, Master Ye opened the brocade box in front of everyone. Inside, lined with bright yellow soft satin, lay an ancient painting. The paper was slightly yellow. Unfolding a corner, one could see the ink was dripping, and the artistic conception of a lone boat on cold water came to mind.
"Look, a fishing rod! Sure enough, an ancestor is fishing!" Ye Qing, who was standing nearby, exclaimed in surprise. She was only slightly older than Ye Mu and was still in her innocent and carefree years. After hearing Ye Sanye's words about remembering their ancestors, she naturally recognized the old man in a straw hat and raincoat fishing alone in the painting as an ancestor of the Ye family.
The child's innocent remark was like the finishing touch.
The old lady paused for a moment, her expression softening, and then asked Liu, "Since the third son asked for the painting, why did you, as his daughter-in-law, fabricate the lie that he was unwell?"
"Mother, please forgive me. This was indeed a foolish act by your daughter-in-law due to a lack of foresight."
Although Liu was gentle and timid, she had been taught etiquette since childhood, and her words and actions were always proper and appropriate. "Last night, Third Master left home in a hurry, and his words were vague. When his daughter-in-law saw that he looked serious, she knew that it was not a small matter and did not dare to ask too much. Today is the ancestral worship ceremony, and Third Master has not returned. The whole clan is present. If we tell the truth that Third Master spent the whole night looking for something, we may invite criticism for Third Master's eccentricity and lack of respect for etiquette."
Therefore, in her moment of panic, the daughter-in-law falsely claimed that he was slightly unwell, intending to stabilize the situation and wait for him to return so she could apologize and explain in detail. Unexpectedly, this angered her mother; it was all due to her lack of foresight, and she willingly accepts the punishment.
After a thorough and impeccable explanation, the old lady took the opportunity to nod and said, "Alright, it is commendable that you two have such a heart for remembering our ancestors. Since these items are closely related to our ancestors, please put them in the ancestral hall for worship as a sign of reverence. The time for the sacrifice has come, so please go in."
Zhou hadn't expected the situation to turn so suddenly. What was supposed to be a retribution against the third branch of the family had instead become an opportunity for them to present the painting. The more she thought about it during the sacrificial ceremony, the more suspicious it seemed. Master Ye had always been fond of collecting old paintings, so who could tell if the ancestor depicted in the painting was real or fake?
It was clearly Ye Mu using the momentum she created to lure Third Master Ye into a desperate escape. This young girl, though young, is incredibly cunning, manipulating her like a monkey!
Zhou was seething with resentment. Seeing Ye Qing dozing on the prayer mat beside her, she became even more furious and pinched her finger hard. "Why did you have to say that!"
Ye Qing woke up in pain and saw her mother glaring at her. She assumed her mother was annoyed by her behavior and quickly straightened up with tears in her eyes.
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The sacrificial rites were lengthy and complex.
Offering incense, presenting silk, libations, and reciting eulogies... the monks set up prayer cushions in a corner, lowered their eyes, and chanted Buddhist scriptures.
Ye Mu knelt on the prayer mat, secretly hoping to have escaped a calamity. The scene in the courtyard just now was truly a close call. In fact, her father and mother were not stupid, but because they were kind-hearted and disliked competition, they were repeatedly given ammunition by Zhou Shi, who was good at provoking and taking advantage of others, and were relentlessly pressured, causing the third branch of the family to gradually lose the upper hand in front of their grandmother.
The most direct consequence of losing power in her family was that her marriage became a bargaining chip that could be manipulated at will.
Ye Mu's mind flashed back to the events of his previous life when he was arranging a marriage.
At that time, the third branch of the family had no say in the Marquis's mansion, and their father was only interested in calligraphy, paintings and antiques. To outsiders, they were considered to have no future. Families of equal social standing either thought the third branch had a weak foundation and no real support, or they politely declined, saying that their children were already engaged.
Over time, the calling cards sent to Ye Mu were either from lowly concubines from wealthy and powerful families, or from idle playboys who spent their days hunting hawks and fighting dogs.
It's possible that the Zhou family was involved in this.
The marriage was delayed due to the constant picking and choosing, and Ye Mu's age increased day by day. Later, she finally met a man from a relatively well-off family, but he was a remarried man whose first wife had died. When the man looked at her, his eyes lingered on her with a murky gaze, and in the end, he even muttered to the matchmaker with disdain that she was thin and had a small bottom, and did not look like she would be easy to bear children.
Ye Mu was so angry that she couldn't eat for several days. She wished she could cut off her hair and become a nun in a nunnery, rather than suffer such humiliation.
Until Jiang Si appeared.
At that time, Jiang Si was just a poor scholar, but he was handsome and had a clear and elegant demeanor. He spoke and acted with great composure and had already gained a reputation for talent. When he looked at her, his eyes were bright and clear.
Ye Mu felt as if he had finally grasped a lifeline in the darkness, and he almost used all his strength to rush over and grab it. His life of sorrow began from this moment.
"The ceremony is complete."
The long, drawn-out shout of the ancestral hall master of ceremonies suddenly overlapped with the praise of the wedding ceremony in her dream of her previous life. Like a thunderbolt, it struck her soul. Ye Mu trembled violently and woke up with a start. The candlelight flickered before her eyes. She was not in the wedding hall, but in the Ye family ancestral hall.
Ye Mu breathed a sigh of relief as Zi Jing gently pulled him up.
The monks who had been chanting sutras had already left. The masters of each household surrounded the old lady and walked in front. Ye Mu was small and walked slowly, and having just woken up, he naturally lagged behind.
The corridors are winding, and the bluestone paths gleam with a cool light in the winter.
Ye Mu was looking down at the tips of her tiny embroidered shoes, kicking a small pebble on the road out of boredom, when out of the corner of her eye she suddenly caught a glimpse of a golden light flashing in the withered grass outside the corridor.
She paused, curiously broke free from Zijing's hand, and ran towards the bushes with her short legs.
"Fourth Sister! Slow down!" Zijing hurriedly followed.
Ye Mu parted a few withered grass stems, and the object was clearly revealed before her eyes.
It is a small bronze bell with a lotus base cast at the top, three lotus petals below, and a small ring attached to the bottom of the lotus petals. Three even smaller rings are placed on the ring. The whole thing is only about an inch long, but it is cast with exceptional exquisite craftsmanship.
“Oh, this looks like a Buddhist ritual implement?” Zijing squatted down, picked it up and looked at it. “It must have been accidentally dropped by those monks while they were chanting sutras. Fourth Sister, let’s hurry up and give it to the steward later so he can find the owner.”
Ye Mu nodded in agreement, but as the two of them rounded the pink wall and walked along the secluded alleyway behind the back gate, before they even got close, they heard a string of curses coming from inside.
"Stupid as a pig! Your master is doing you a favor by sending you along to gain experience, yet you can't even handle such a small matter!"
"I told you to keep your magical artifacts safe, but you've gone and thrown away the Lotus Bell that was passed down from our ancestor! That bell was blessed!"
"With such clumsy hands and feet, are your eyes even meant to breathe? Get back here and look for it! Don't come back if you can't find it!"
Seeing this, Zijing immediately shielded Ye Mu behind her and whispered, "Fourth Sister, don't make a sound, let's go around her."
Ye Mu, however, was curious and clung to Zijing's skirt, staring intently.
The monks they had just met were now surrounding and scolding an even smaller figure. The one in the middle was a young novice monk of about twelve or thirteen years old, so thin that he looked as if a gust of wind could blow him over.
The young novice monk wasn't chanting scriptures in the ancestral hall; he was probably called in to do odd jobs and tidy up. He carried a yellow cloth bundle on his shoulder, which was bulging with ritual implements and scriptures, making his already thin back bend even lower.
He was wearing the same ochre-colored monk's robe, but it didn't fit him well. It was starched and turned a bit white, and the cuffs and hem were even frayed. The edges of his worn-out monk's shoes revealed a small section of his ankles, which were red from the cold.
A cold wind swept by, blowing his wide monk's robe, making his figure, with his head down searching for something, appear even more lonely and forlorn.
"Wen Kong, Wen Kong, I think you're all headless!" An older monk spat as he spoke, his finger almost poking the young novice's bald head. "You're born with bad luck, you can't even keep an artifact safe. If this lotus bell isn't found, we couldn't afford to pay for it even if we tore your bones apart and sold them!"
Hearing the air?!
Ye Mu's heart pounded like a drum. Was this the Grand Preceptor of the Great Jin Dynasty, Wen Kong, whom even the Emperor had to bow to and respect?
Ye Mu had seen him before.
At her wedding to Jiang Si in her previous life.
In her dream just now.
A note from the author:
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The first meeting between the male and female leads in this life [covering face and peeking][laughing out loud]
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