Shen Zhaoshu was unwilling.
After hearing the purpose of her father Shen Xiao's visit, she said to him, "Mother wishes to be buried in Yunlan Temple. Father, there is no need to disturb her remains."
Chen Xiao asked, "Do you want your mother to be buried alone on that mountain?"
Shen Zhaoshu said, "She has been alone on that mountain for thirty years, ten years of her life and twenty years of her death."
Shen Xiao was silent for a while and said, "You blame your father after all."
Shen Zhaoshu raised her eyes and looked at him: “Yes, I blame my father after all.
…
I often go to Yunlan Temple to visit my mother. My mother said more than once that she would be buried in Yunlan Temple after her death.
Father, that's it."
Chen Xiao said, "You blame your father, but hasn't he been alone for the past thirty years?"
Chen Zhaoshu said: "My father forced my mother to go to Yunlan Temple and trapped her on the mountain. He married me off far away and broke off the engagement for my younger brother. My younger brother...
And now he says he's all alone. Father, you still have Zhaoyu in Kyoto...and which of the three of us isn't all alone?
I married far away alone. If I met the wrong person, I might die alone outside and I wouldn't know where to bury me.
…
This is probably what happened to my younger brother, he died alone outside, and no one knows where he is buried..."
Chen Xiao said to Zhao Shu, "I made a mistake, but is it all my fault?
I once asked you siblings to pick her up, but she refused to come back.
I arranged your brother's marriage, but marriages are always arranged by parents and matchmakers. A man of integrity should never worry about not having a wife. Why would he stand all night to pressure his father? Why would he go to war out of spite?
Wasn't he the top scholar in the imperial examination? Wasn't he famous in the capital? Didn't countless girls in Kyoto ask their maids to buy his portrait? How could he get so angry with his father just for a woman?
And you, always talking about marrying far away, are you marrying badly? Are you living a bad life?
Now your husband and son are both highly valued by His Majesty, and your two daughters are known as the Xuanyuan Twin Flowers.
They all married well, especially the little granddaughter. It is said that she married a wealthy man. The betrothal gifts your family received will not be enough to spend in several lifetimes.
Even though you had a difficult time in the past, you are now living such a good and prosperous life, yet you always resent your father and ignore your elder sister Zhaoyu."
Shen Zhaoshu said: "Father, why do you treat us three like this?
Zhaoming just wanted to leave and establish his career as soon as possible. Perhaps he had fewer and fewer reasons to stay in Kyoto.
No matter how he tries to please you, hoping that you will be proud of him, and hoping that you will be nicer to mother and me, it is ultimately hopeless.
It's always slow for a civil servant to get promoted. I know what he is thinking. He wants to join the army and risk his life to gain military merit so that he can make a name for himself for his mother, me, and the women he cares about.
I gave up my pen and joined the army, and I have never returned. Wasn’t it my father who forced me to do so?
Zhaoyu has been secretly trying to trip me up so many times over the years. Do you really not know?
Moreover, when my husband's future was uncertain and he was working as a minor official in another place; when my family was living in poverty; when my husband was banished from Kyoto again; where were you and Zhaoyu?
When my eldest son went to Yangzhou and lost contact, his life or death unknown; when my eldest daughter was poisoned and would not live past thirty; when my youngest daughter was forced to commit suicide after living a life worse than death;
Father, where are you and my eldest sister?
My father and Zhaoyu have always ignored me. Zhaoyu not only sets traps for me from time to time, but also makes sarcastic remarks in front of others and behind their backs, stabbing me in the heart every time.
But in recent years, they have suddenly thought of me again, either asking for money or for a job. Even if I ignore them, I won’t make sarcastic remarks, let alone kick them when they are down.”
Chen Xiao said: "Okay, okay, it's all our fault for not treating you well. If you are unwilling to go with me to Yunlan Temple to reburial, I will go by myself.
I don't ask you for this matter, I have something else to discuss with you."
Shen Zhaoshu said: "Father wanted to rebury the body himself, but he couldn't find the grave.
My mother was buried with the name of a lay disciple, and that was the only title used. The names of her husband's family and her mother's family were not noted.
And this name is not the Buddhist name my mother used in the temple for ten years.
Before she was buried, several nuns at Yunlan Temple who were good at the five elements, because of their ten years of friendship with my mother, calculated a good name for her and chose a good burial place for her.
At that time, my father wrote down all the decisions for me, so I used this name and that place. My mother is buried in Yunlan Temple, but you don't know the name or the location.
Moreover, three years ago, I donated a large sum of money to have the record of my mother's grave erased from Yunlan Temple. The three major temples often choose to bury the deceased in the mountain temple for various reasons and then quietly erase the records.
Now, as long as my family and I don’t tell anyone, father, you won’t find it.”
Shen Xiao was so angry that his face turned pale and he said, "You you you..."
Shen Zhaoshu said: "Who told my father not to visit once in twenty years?
Zhaoyu is registered under my mother's name, and I have never been there.
If you had truly wanted to go and see it even once in the past twenty years, I would have told you, but I absolutely won’t tell you now.”
Shen Xiao tried to calm down, then thought about another thing and asked, "You have two grandchildren now, right?"
Shen Zhaoshu glanced at her father warily but did not answer.
Chen Xiao said, "I am old now, and the Yongding Marquisate cannot be left without a successor. Change the surname of one of your grandsons to Chen and let him inherit the title in the Marquisate."
Shen Zhaoshu said: "The Yongding Marquis's Mansion is now just an empty house. For Zhaoyu, there is no telling how much debt there is outside.
Father, Zhaoyu also has sons and grandsons, so please leave this title to her.
She can still sell the house for money."
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