Chapter 11, I'll burn it when I get back.
As they approached the village entrance, Meng Qing encountered two women carrying laundry baskets. When they saw that she was holding a child, while Du Li and Du Min were carrying luggage, their gazes became meaningful.
"Meng Qing, where are you going? Going back to your parents' home again? Can't we keep city girls in Dujiawan?" one of the women said sarcastically.
Meng Qing looked closely; the face was familiar, but she couldn't recall the person's name. She didn't recall having much interaction with them, let alone offending them. It was strange that they harbored such resentment towards her. She figured it was because her personality and behavior clashed with theirs, they disliked her, or someone was talking badly about her behind her back. Thinking back to the dream where she wandered through the village and overheard the collective condemnation and slander against her, she quickly changed her mind and suppressed any sarcastic remarks.
“Yes, I’m taking the child back to my parents’ home for a while.” Meng Qing seemed oblivious. She smiled and pointed at Du Min, saying, “My brother-in-law studies very hard. He’s reluctant to eat well at the academy, so he eats whatever he can afford. He also often stays up late studying, and he’s lost a lot of weight this year. My parents-in-law are worried that he’ll ruin his health. They wish they could rent a place in the city to take care of him, but they can’t bear to leave their farmland. They thought that I couldn’t help much with the young child at home, so they discussed having me take the child back to my parents’ home so they could cook some good food for him at the academy every day to help him recover.”
Du Min's expression changed, and when he met Meng Qing's eyes, he reluctantly accepted this explanation, "Thank you for your trouble, Second Sister-in-law."
Upon hearing this, the two women opposite immediately became more amiable. One of them said gently, "Your family has hatched such a golden phoenix; you must take good care of her."
"Fifth Sister-in-law, don't say things like 'golden phoenix' or 'silver phoenix,' I can't accept that title," Du Min said, embarrassed.
Fifth Sister-in-law laughed heartily, “She deserves the title of the Golden Phoenix of Dujiawan.”
"The ship is here." Du Li, who had been ignored, had to speak up.
"We won't keep you any longer, go on your way." The two women made way for them.
"Boatman, boatman, wait! We need to board the boat!" Du Li ran towards the ferry with his bundle in hand.
This was a passenger boat, and there were no other passengers on board. Meng Qing carried the child aboard and crawled into the awning. As the boat left the shore, it swayed, and she leaned back. The baby sleeping in the swaddling clothes was frightened and cried loudly.
Du Li lifted the curtain and slipped in. "Why are you awake? Are you hungry? Let me hold you?"
“It’s his first time on a boat, so he’s probably not used to the feeling of a boat floating on water.” Meng Qing put her hand on her coat button and glanced outside.
"I'll go outside and keep watch," Du Liming understood her meaning.
As soon as the boat curtain fell, Meng Qing unbuttoned her clothes to breastfeed her child.
When Du Min saw Du Li go in and come out again, and the child's crying in the boat awning became muffled, he immediately understood and walked to the stern of the boat to sit down with an uneasy expression.
"Young man, hold on tight, don't fall in," the boatman warned.
"No," Du Min shook his head.
"Boatman, please row a little shallower and slow the boat down. Don't make the boat rock too much. We have a baby who is only a month old with us. This is his first time on a boat, and he's not used to it." Du Li heard the baby crying again and made his request in a gentle tone.
"The weather has changed, and the boat is getting slower and more unstable in the rain. And you, how could you bring your baby out when he's only a month old, especially in this kind of weather?" the boatman complained.
Du Min felt guilty. He looked back and saw that they weren't far from the village. He said, "Second Brother, should we turn back first and wait for a better day before setting off?"
Du Li was tempted. "Wait a minute, let me go ask your second sister-in-law. Qingniang, it's windy and the river isn't calm today. Shall we turn back first and go back to the city when the weather gets better?"
Meng Qing braced herself against the gunwale to steady herself; if she didn't sway, the child wouldn't be afraid.
"Forget it, the rainy season is almost here. A single rain can last for five or six days. The river will rise then, making it even harder to navigate by boat." Meng Qing refused. "Come in and support me. I won't shake the baby so he won't cry."
Du Li went inside and sat next to Meng Qing. He braced himself against the opposite side of the boat with one foot and the bottom of the boat with the other, turning himself into a chair. Meng Qing, holding the child, leaned against him, and the turbulence on the water was immediately diminished.
The baby stopped crying and drank his milk peacefully.
Du Li looked up at the roof and said, "If you want to come back in the future, just ask someone to send a message, and I will come to pick you and Wang Zhou up."
"Come visit us in the city more often when you have time. It's inconvenient for me to travel with the child. It's easier for you to travel alone, and you can leave whenever you want." Meng Qing didn't actively want to come back.
“You’ve been living at your parents’ house all this time, and people in the village are gossiping about you.” This is Du Li’s main concern.
Meng Qing grabbed his arm and said in a low voice, "Tell your parents that I'm staying at my parents' house to take care of my third brother's meals, and have them tell the villagers the same thing. That way, there will be less gossip in the village."
“Okay,” Du Li agreed. “We should have said that when we left home, so that my elder brother and sister-in-law wouldn’t have any objections.”
"I didn't remember." Meng Qing also secretly regretted that this was such a good excuse.
"Fine, let them have their opinions. Let my older brother experience what it's like to be deceived by the whole family." Du Li was actually quite happy that the family was in such a mess.
After the child had eaten his fill, the boat moved from a tributary into the Jiangnan River. This waterway was a man-made canal, wide and with a gentler current in the middle, making the awning boat much more stable. Meng Qing handed the child to Du Li to hold, and then went to the deck for some fresh air.
Many boats travel on the canal, some fishing, some transporting goods and passengers. The waves are high and the current is rapid on both sides of the canal. Rafters use the water to transport bamboo, and their shouts echo across both banks of the canal.
"Second sister-in-law, was Wangzhou frightened?" Du Min came over from the stern of the boat.
"He's asleep, and his dad is holding him," Meng Qing replied. "Third brother, do you think what I said to the fifth sister-in-laws at the village entrance was okay? If you have no objections, I'll have your second brother reconcile things with our parents, and we'll keep saying that from now on, so that the villagers won't have any complaints about me staying at my parents' house for so long. We'll live a peaceful life as a family and not let outsiders laugh at us."
Du Min agreed without hesitation, "Second sister-in-law is right. This matter started because of me. You took my nephew back to the city with you because you were taking care of me. It's really hard for me, as his third uncle, to suffer like this."
"I'm so glad that my third brother is so understanding." Meng Qing thought it was so refreshing to talk to a smart person. She wanted to get closer to him, so she asked, "Third brother, can I get into Chongwen Academy? If the family has cooked some good meat and vegetables, I'll send you some. If I can't get away, I'll ask Uncle Wangzhou to send it to me."
Du Min refused. After all, the Meng family were merchants, and he was not keen on having much contact with them in private.
"Second Sister-in-law, I'm not at the academy every day, so you might not be able to find me there. I'll feel really bad if you come all this way for nothing. If I ever crave something nice to eat in the future, I'll visit you and Uncle, and you can cook me a good meal. I'll take any leftovers back to the academy to eat." Du Min spoke very affectionately.
“Okay.” Meng Qing didn’t press the matter.
There was no more conversation between the two. Du Min looked hesitant, but Meng Qing looked away. She tightened her collar and said, "The river is too humid and chilly. I'd better go back to the boat awning."
Du Min frowned and reached out to stop him, "Second sister-in-law, wait."
"Third brother, is there anything else?" Meng Qing asked, puzzled.
"Second sister-in-law, you see, your parents have no objections now, and the rumors in the village have been resolved. You have no worries now, right? Shouldn't you return the two receipts I wrote for you?" Du Min stopped hinting and chose to be direct.
Meng Qing was immediately enraged. She questioned loudly, "Third brother, what do you mean by this? Why do I always feel that you don't trust me? Do you suspect that I would harm you? What kind of person am I in your eyes?"
The boatman looked at them curiously.
"Second sister-in-law, keep your voice down." Du Min thought to himself that she was acting like a shrew. He blushed with embarrassment and denied it, saying, "I didn't mean that."
"So what do you mean? This is utterly pointless. Let's just call it quits." Meng Qing said impatiently. She lifted the curtain and went into the boat awning, leaving behind the words: "That thing isn't anything valuable. Why would I carry it with me? I left it at home. I'll burn it when I get back. You can rest assured."
"What is it?" Du Li looked at Du Min and asked unhappily, "Why did you provoke your second sister-in-law?"
"I didn't..." Du Min was speechless with bitterness. Meng Qing's outburst was sudden. He knew she wouldn't easily hand over the two receipts after this commotion, but he was genuinely worried that she would quit.
He was furious that she had tricked him.
Du Li looked at Meng Qing, who had a sullen face and looked furious, but her eyes were cunning and she didn't seem to have suffered a loss. He pretended not to have seen what was going on.
Seeing his expression, Du Min became even angrier and questioned him about his meaning.
There was a ferry crossing where the Jiangnan River and Taihu Lake met. The boat picked up five passengers at the ferry crossing. There were strangers among them. For the rest of the journey, Du Min was unable to speak to Meng Qing again.
The boat passed through the water gate and entered Wumen, arriving at the fish market. The five passengers who boarded later disembarked, as did Meng Qing and Du Li.
"Judging from the sky, it looks like a heavy downpour is coming after noon. Traveling in the rain is inconvenient everywhere, so I won't ask you to come back to the Meng family with us for dinner. You can take a boat directly from here to the academy," Meng Qing said to Du Min.
"Boatman, could you please take my third brother to Chongwen Academy?" Du Li took out his money.
"Second brother, you can go now. I'll pay for the fare," Du Min said weakly.
Du Li took out twenty copper coins and handed them to the boatman. "Is this enough?"
The boatman took the money and counted it; it was exactly one coin, not a penny more or less. He put the fare in his satchel and said, "On even-numbered days, my boat goes into town in the morning and leaves in the afternoon. If you need to take another boat trip, you can take my boat."
Du Li nodded, and he carried the child ashore first, followed by Meng Qing. After she got ashore, she turned to Du Min and said, "Third brother, you should focus on your studies. If you neglect this, all your worries will be in vain."
Du Min stood at the bow of the boat without saying a word.
Once the boat left the ferry dock, the passenger boat merged into the bustling line of fishing boats and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Du Li and Meng Qing, carrying their child and luggage, also left the ferry terminal.
The two went straight to Jiayufang and followed the river. Looking up, they could see a tall pagoda, which was located at Ruiguang Temple. Returning to familiar surroundings, Meng Qing felt refreshed. She chatted with Du Li: "When I was a child, I liked to run around here when I had nothing to do. I would count the big boats that passed by, and sometimes I would go to the fish market to watch the fishermen sell their fish."
I saw you at the fish market.
"When?" Meng Qing recalled, but she had no recollection of it at all.
"Four years ago, it was summer. After harvesting the early rice and planting the late rice, my older brother and I caught three buckets of loaches and eels in the field. We took a boat to the fish market to sell them, and when we entered the fish market, we saw you arguing with a fishmonger..."
Mentioning the argument with the fishmonger, Meng Qing immediately recalled, "That fishmonger was a swindler. Seeing that I was young, he wanted to sell me a half-dead mandarin fish. I refused and insisted on choosing it myself. He then gave me a hard time and splashed my face with fishy water while weighing the fish. So I started arguing with him, and in the end, I didn't buy that fish."
"He'll be so angry he'll want to beat you up. You threaten him that your family owns a magic shop, and if he dares to lay a finger on you, you'll have your dad perform a curse on him, making his ancestors suffer misfortune." Du Li laughed, "Does my father-in-law really know this?"
"I was just trying to scare him." Meng Qing smiled smugly. "That fishmonger has a bad temper, and I was really worried he would hit me."
An arched bridge appeared over the river. Meng Qing and Du Li crossed the bridge. At the other end of the arched bridge stood a teahouse. The tea master who was brewing tea was someone Meng Qing knew. She stopped and said a few words.
After passing the teahouse, a few houses, and an arched bridge, you'll reach Jiayufang.
The Meng family lived at the entrance of the neighborhood. The gate was locked, and no one was home. Meng Qing took out a blue rope from his clothes, with two brass keys strung on it.
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