Chapter 127 Your second sister-in-law is waiting for you on the other side...
"Madam Meng, has something happened to my father?" Chen Dalang became more and more panicked as he walked, his legs going weak with fear at his own guess.
Meng Qing looked around. There were many people around, making it a suitable place to start a lively discussion. She looked at Chen Dalang with sympathy and said, "He suffered severe burns and died a month ago."
"Impossible!" Chen Erlang roared, pointing his finger at Meng Qing's nose and cursing, "You wicked woman, you're lying to me!"
People on the street gathered to see what was happening.
"What happened? What's going on?" someone asked.
Meng Qing was worried that he would suddenly attack her, so she took a few steps back and said, "What would I lie to you about? Ask the villagers in the street, they all know about your father."
"Who is their father?" someone asked.
“Lord Chen Mingzhang is their father,” Meng Qing explained.
Something new happens every day in Luoyang. Most people have forgotten what happened a month ago and can't even remember Chen Mingzhang.
"Who is Chen Mingzhang?" someone in the crowd asked in a low voice.
“A month ago, Lord Chen caused a fire at the post station due to his drunkenness, and he was also burned. His injuries worsened, and he died a few days later,” Meng Qing reminded. “After his death, his students carried his coffin back to his hometown on his behalf.”
“Oh! I remember now, his student was that Iron-Headed Magistrate, a man of both loyalty and filial piety. My son mentioned him to me when he came back from the private school. His teacher greatly respected the Iron-Headed Magistrate, saying that he had the spirit of Zigong.” A middle-aged man in the crowd said loudly.
The mention of Magistrate Tie Tou and his disciples carrying their teacher's coffin brought back memories for everyone around.
“Your father died a month ago,” a bystander said.
"He died far from home, without any relatives. Fortunately, he had a student by his side. He took care of the funeral arrangements and made it a very grand affair."
"Yes, a lot of people went to pay their respects those days, it was very lively."
"They even used paper offerings from the Fengshan ceremony performed by the sages."
Chen Dalang and Chen Erlang felt dizzy and couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"What happened? Everyone disperse!" The city magistrate arrived with his patrolling constables.
The crowd parted to make way for the city magistrate, who walked in. Upon seeing Meng Qing, he asked in surprise, "Madam Meng, what happened?"
"These two are Lord Chen's sons. They just arrived from Chang'an and were unaware of Lord Chen's passing," Meng Qing explained.
The magistrate's face immediately fell with sorrow. "Your father passed away a month ago. On the day he was injured, the Prefect sent you the first letter. Five days later, on the day he passed away, the second letter was sent. By the time the second letter arrived, you may have already left Chang'an and had not received the news."
When government officials came forward to testify, the last glimmer of hope that Chen Dalang and Chen Erlang held onto vanished. The two knelt down straight down, and Chen Dalang looked up and cried bitterly, "Father—your unfilial son was unable to see you off on your final journey."
"Father, how could you be gone?" Chen Erlang cried, tears streaming down his face. Who could have imagined that their parting in Chang'an three years ago would be the last time the three of them would see each other? Thinking of this, he wailed, wishing he could take his place.
As the crowd grew larger, blocking the road and hindering the passage of carriages and horses, the magistrate ordered his constables to disperse the crowd. He helped his two weeping sons and said, “Before Lord Chen passed away, Lord Du stayed by his bedside day and night, ensuring he didn’t close his eyes alone. Lord Du also held a funeral for Lord Chen, kneeling for a long time at the funeral to thank the guests as his son. Hundreds of guests came to pay their respects, and even the governor himself came. It was quite a grand affair. Lord Chen didn’t die in misery, which is at least some consolation. Don’t blame yourselves; we understand. Who could have imagined something like this would happen?”
Chen Dalang and Chen Erlang cried so hard they could barely stand, but they did feel much better because of what he said.
"Come with me to the yamen." The magistrate intended to take the man away to avoid attracting a crowd on the street.
Meng Qing picked up the bundle that had fallen to the ground and followed them.
As they walked, the magistrate continued, "Lord Chen's remains are not in Luoyang. Lord Du did not want his remains to remain in the mortuary, so after three days of mourning in Luoyang, the coffin was escorted back to Heqing County. You should thank Lord Du properly; without him, who knows what would have become of Lord Chen by the time you arrived."
At this moment, Chen Dalang wished he could kneel down and kowtow to Du Min to express his gratitude. He nodded in agreement, "Lord Du is the benefactor of our family."
Chen Erlang still harbored some doubts. He knew about the grudge between his father and Du Min. His father believed that he owed Du Min more kindness than resentment. Du Min certainly did not think so. How could Du Min be willing to go to such lengths while harboring resentment?
"Lord Du is serving in Heqing County? How come he's in Luoyang?" Chen Erlang asked.
"He went to the governor's office to report on his duties and happened to run into your father in Luoyang. The two even stayed at the same post station," Meng Qing explained from behind. She deliberately asked, "What? Do you think Du Min deliberately ambushed Lord Chen in Luoyang? Are you going to suspect that Du Min started the fire?"
"No, I didn't have that thought." Chen Erlang stammered when his thoughts were exposed.
Meng Qing snorted but didn't say anything.
The city official remained completely still, seemingly oblivious to the exchange.
Upon arriving at the county government office, Magistrate Yin greeted them and showed the case files to his two sons, explaining the events that had transpired.
Chen Erlang looked closely but found nothing amiss.
When Chen Dalang learned about the extent of his father's burns, he burst into tears once again.
"I heard from Lord Du that Lord Chen's appearance in Luoyang is only a brief stop; he is heading to Chang'an to be summoned by the Ministry of Justice. Are you aware of the charges against him?" Prefect Yin asked.
Chen Dalang's crying stopped abruptly, and Chen Erlang's expression stiffened.
“It seems clear.” Prefect Yin took back the case file. “I also asked Lord Du, and he begged me not to investigate further, wanting to preserve Lord Chen’s dignity after his death. If you, as his family, have no objections to Lord Chen’s death, I will close the case now and transfer the case file to the Ministry of Justice. Because the defendant is dead, the Ministry of Justice’s case will be dismissed, and Lord Chen can be buried as an official.”
“No objection,” Chen Dalang hurriedly replied. His father could retain his official position and could still be called Runzhou Military Advisor after his death, so their family could still benefit from his influence.
Chen Erlang nodded in agreement. "Let's close the case."
Prefect Yin had the two sign and put their fingerprints on the document. “The funeral notice has already been taken away by Lord Du. Go to Heqing County to find him and then discuss on your own how to arrange Lord Chen’s coffin.”
Chen Dalang and Chen Erlang should be.
Meng Qing stood aside and watched silently. When people are powerless, they are truly pitiful and frightening.
After leaving the county government office, Meng Qing asked, "When are you going to Heqing County?"
“I’ll go right away,” Chen Erlang replied.
Meng Qing glanced at the sky; the sunset was already out. She said, "Come stay at my house for the night, and we'll set off tomorrow. My husband and I will go with you to Heqing County tomorrow and show you the way."
Chen Dalang hesitated, then looked at his second brother.
"You're leaving in such a hurry, without even sending a message to your families in Chang'an or your relatives in Runzhou and Wuxian? Your wives and children need to go back to their hometown to observe mourning, right?" Meng Qing reminded him.
"Yes, that's how it should be," Chen Erlang said wearily. "Then we'll have to trouble Madam Meng."
Meng Qing wanted to say a few polite words, but worried that they might take her polite words seriously, so she swallowed them.
"Please wait a moment, my son is in the government office, I'll go get him." Meng Qing hurriedly went into the government office, and a moment later came out with Wang Zhou by the hand.
“Let’s go,” she said.
Chen Dalang and Chen Erlang followed silently behind her.
Back in the rented courtyard, Meng Qing arranged for them to stay in the front yard. She took Wang Zhou to the kitchen to cook and told him, "Your father and I are going back to Heqing County tomorrow. You and your uncle will stay here. He will pick you up from the government office in the evening."
“You’re going back too? Then I’ll go back too,” Wang Zhou said hastily.
“I’ll be back in a few days, and your third uncle might come along too. You shouldn’t come along, so you don’t have to go through all that trouble on the road.” Meng Qing stopped him.
Wang Zhou was not happy.
“Go with your uncle, he won’t mistreat you.” Meng Qing glanced at him.
"Alright," Wang Zhou agreed. "When can you and my father come back?"
"At most ten days."
Wang Zhou was unhappy, but he didn't say anything.
*
The following day, Meng Qing entrusted the school and the children to Meng Chun, and she and Du Li followed Chen Dalang and Chen Erlang in a carriage to Heqing County.
Late at night, the carriage arrived in Heyin County. The bridge was not yet completed, and there were no boats to cross the river at night, so the four of them had no choice but to stay in Heyin County.
After checking into the inn and returning to his room, Meng Qing instructed Du Li: "Tomorrow morning, take the earliest boat to the other side and tell Gu Wudong to hide and not show his face."
Du Li nodded, "Understood. I'll have the third brother come over early. You should also try to stop them from going to Heqing County."
“That works too.” Meng Qing thought that the Chen brothers didn’t need to go there. Chen Mingzhang had already been buried by Du Min in Beiman Mountain. Du Li only found out about this half a month ago when he came back to transport money.
As the night passed, when Chen Dalang and Chen Erlang woke up for breakfast, Du Li had already crossed the river. Halfway there, he encountered Du Min swaggering towards him with his yamen runners.
"Third brother," Du Li strode over, "Where are you going? To Heyin County?"
“Yes, I’m going to the foot of Beiman Mountain. Second Brother, why are you back again? Are you all alone?” Du Min looked behind him.
"...No need to look, your second sister-in-law is on the other side of the river, and Lord Chen's two sons have arrived." Du Li glanced at him.
Upon hearing this, Du Min immediately perked up, "Let's go, let's cross the river quickly."
Du Li pulled him aside and said, "I'm going to find Gu Wudong and tell him to stay out of the way so he doesn't run into Chen Dalang and Chen Erlang. You should also tell the yamen runners and clerks not to let anything slip."
Du Min clicked his tongue. "What a hassle."
“If you find it troublesome, then get rid of the Chen brothers as soon as possible,” Du Li reminded him. “Your second sister-in-law told me to tell you not to play any more tricks and forget about making these two grateful to you. Don’t push your luck.”
Du Min was not satisfied with his words, "They should be grateful to me."
“Your second sister-in-law is waiting for you on the other side,” Du Li said coldly.
Du Min glared at him resentfully and left with the constables.
Upon reaching the north bank of the Heyang Bridge, before even crossing the river, Du Min saw three people approaching by boat.
Chen Dalang and Chen Erlang also saw him. After two years apart, they were somewhat hesitant to recognize him. The Du official in his robes was not the same person as the Du Min they remembered.
Du Min stood with his hands behind his back, watching the two disembark quietly, and slowly approached.
“Junior brother…” Chen Dalang walked up to Du Min first, and he was about to kneel down before Du Min. “Junior brother, I thank you for collecting my father’s remains and arranging his funeral, so that he could leave this world in a grand manner.”
Under Meng Qingwei's watchful gaze, Du Min quickly helped Chen Dalang up, preventing him from falling to the ground.
"Since you call me junior brother, this is what I should do," Du Min said calmly.
"Where is my father's coffin?" Chen Erlang asked.
Du Min raised his hand and pointed to Beiman Mountain, "He has already been buried."
"What?!" Chen Erlang jumped up. "You buried my father? His children and grandchildren haven't even arrived yet, what right do you have to bury him?"
"Senior brother, what was the weather like a month ago? The autumn heat was at its peak; how could the body have survived?" Du Min asked, frowning. "Isn't it a good thing that our teacher can be laid to rest sooner?"
“But…but…” Chen Dalang understood this as well. He calmed his hot-tempered brother and asked, “If you bury the coffin, how are we going to bring my father back to our hometown?”
“We can build another grave.” Du Min glanced at Meng Qing, still unable to suppress his malice, and said provocatively, “We can not build a grave. I bought a good burial plot for my teacher in Beiman Mountain. To the north are the graves of Northern Wei nobles. The feng shui is excellent. The feng shui master said that the location can bless future generations to become officials and prime ministers.”
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Author's Note: There will be another update at 12 o'clock.
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