Chapter 18: Timing and Circumstances (Including VIP Notice)...
Why did Meng Qing have this kind of thinking? It was an experience she learned from a terrible fall in her previous life. She was born into a dual-income family; their financial situation was neither good nor bad. Besides her studies, her parents could afford to send her to extracurricular classes. She started learning art in elementary school, from age six to twenty-two. It's an expensive field. The year she graduated from university, her parents showed her their accounts; over fourteen years, they had spent nearly a million yuan on her.
But the investment and return weren't proportional. After graduation, she worked in product design, a seniority-based industry. As a newbie just entering the workforce, she only had the experience to hone her skills. In her hometown, she earned only six or seven thousand yuan a month, which she was content with, as it was enough to support herself and stay with her parents. However, her parents felt their investment had failed and urged her to get married while she was young. The men they introduced her to were all rich, but she wasn't satisfied with any of them. They wouldn't listen to her advice and repeatedly told her not to be so picky! After she rejected yet another "golden bachelor," her parents pointed their finger at her and asked what she was so arrogant about.
"What are you so proud of? What do you have to be proud of? Would a handsome and rich man want you? You should look in the mirror and see if he even wants you. You only went to an ordinary university, not even a very good one, and the job you found only pays so little. Even if you didn't eat or drink for ten years, you still couldn't pay back what I spent on you."
Even after being reincarnated as a human for nineteen years, Meng Qing still couldn't forget those heart-wrenching words. She never expected that the people she loved and trusted most would evaluate her in this way. She was arrogant, she had high standards for men, the university she attended was not good, her job was not good, and her future was not good either... Their kindness towards her seemed to be for a purpose.
After that argument, Meng Qing left home for a first-tier city. Every night, when she cried over those words, she would get up and work. Her job brought her high returns, and her parents' attitude changed. They would tell everyone that Meng Qing was perfect in every way except for her marital difficulties, and that she had never caused them any worry since childhood… They even said this to her face. She didn't find these words ironic; she only felt sad for herself. The love she demanded was conditional.
Even though she knew the true nature of her parents, she couldn't bring herself to sever ties. They had raised her and never mistreated her; she felt responsible for their care in their old age. She could only torment herself, numbing herself with daily work. In the moment of her sudden death, she felt only relief.
Unfortunately, she was reincarnated with her memories intact, and she could not escape the shadow of her past life. She could not be a simple person and grew up to be a wary person who would scheme for herself.
“Du Li, if others don’t like you, you have to like yourself. Be good to yourself, even better, and still even better. If others don’t love you, you must love yourself. You can’t let them down.” Meng Qing touched his face and told him word by word. She said earnestly, “You must be good to yourself, and be the best to yourself.”
After saying that, Meng Qing got out of bed, put on her shoes, put on her coat, and went out without waiting for his reaction.
Standing in the courtyard, Meng Qing patted her face. She realized she'd gotten herself involved in her heart-to-heart talk with Du Li, and old, painful memories had resurfaced, leaving her feeling confused and disoriented. To calm herself, she took out some dyed hemp paper and started making paper horses.
When Meng's mother returned carrying her crying grandson, Meng Qing was stewing bone glue in the front yard. The bone glue was prepared in advance and needed to be heated and melted before use.
“Wangzhou is hungry, go feed him. I’ll watch the fire.” Meng’s mother was covered in sweat. She muttered, “This baby weighs about ten pounds and has the strength of an ox. He’s so strong that I can’t soothe him when he cries.”
Meng Qing carried her child under the shed to breastfeed. She reached out and touched the child's back, her hand covered in sweat.
"Where is his father? Did he cry?" Meng's mother asked quietly.
"He cried." Meng Qing didn't hide it for him. "He's still lying in bed. I don't know if he's asleep or if he's too embarrassed to come out."
Mencius' mother inquired about the conflict between him and Du Min.
"It's all about money," Meng Qing said vaguely. No matter how much Du Li and Du Min argued, she didn't plan to break ties with Du Min and preferred not to let her family get involved.
"Wangzhou's undergarment is soaked with sweat, I'll go back to the room and change him." Meng Qing made an excuse to leave.
Hearing footsteps, Du Li quickly closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. Meng Qing didn't care whether he was asleep or not. After feeding the child, she put the drowsy child into his arms.
Du Li opened her eyes, and their eyes met. Meng Qing left without looking back.
"Where is the child?" Mencius' mother asked.
“He’s sleeping with his father. Mother, you help me apply the bone glue, I’ll do the paper mounting.” Meng Qing focused on her work.
"Aren't you going to wait for someone to bring the painting?"
"The last two layers will have their colors corrected."
The bone glue is very sticky and flows like egg white. When pasted onto thick, dark yellow hemp paper, and held up to the sun, the damp hemp paper resembles a flowing jade disc. Sheets of hemp paper are mounted one after another onto plain white silk cloth, one layer after another, until, after three layers, the white horse becomes a black horse.
As the sun set, Meng's mother went to cook. Without help, Meng Qing stopped her paper-covering work, tore off a strip of cloth and wrapped it around her index finger. She used her index finger to rub the paper horse inch by inch, smoothing out the bone glue under the paper.
Du Li couldn't stay in bed any longer, so he put on his shoes, got out of bed, picked up Wang Zhou, and went out the door.
"Son-in-law, are you sober now?" Meng's mother made no mention of his previous strange behavior. She pretended to be dissatisfied and scolded, "It's all your father's fault. He told him not to drink, but he insisted on drinking. He's a drinking vat. He got you drunk even though he had nothing to do with himself. You should learn your lesson and never drink with him again."
"What are you saying about me now? I heard you yelling before I even came in." Mr. Meng returned.
"Don't force your son-in-law to drink in the future. He doesn't drink often, and if he gets drunk, he'll feel terrible for half a day."
Meng's father looked at Du Li and asked with a smile, "Are you sober now?"
"I'm sober now," Du Li said calmly.
"You're not good at drinking, I'll practice with you more in the future."
Mencius' mother was about to scold him when she heard this, so Mencius' father turned around and left.
Judging from the old couple's personalities, Du Li didn't seem like profit-driven parents at all, but he wasn't Meng Qing herself, so he couldn't deny her judgment. The only thing he was certain of was that people only listen to those with ability, like Meng Qing in the Meng family and Du Min in the Du family.
He pondered Meng Qing's words repeatedly, and it took him a long time to accept it. He was indeed incompetent, powerless, and of little value. He was so weak that people looked down on him, and anyone could step on him.
Lying in bed at night, Du Li calmly said, "Qingniang, I plan to go back tomorrow."
"Go back for what?"
"I plan to go to the fields and see if I can find other ways to make money besides growing crops on my 20 mu of permanent land and 30 mu of allotted land."
Meng Qing breathed a sigh of relief; her efforts had not been in vain.
“Go for it, I’ll always support you,” she said.
Du Li grasped her hand and instructed her, "Don't interfere in what's between me and Du Min. If you see him, pretend you know nothing and don't try to get justice for me. Whether we argue or fight, as long as my parents are alive, we'll make up eventually. You're different. If you offend him, he'll be hostile towards you and will carry on the resentment my parents have for you."
Meng Qing was surprised that he still had this awareness; it seemed he had truly woken up and was no longer acting on emotion.
“Our little family is always going to be the one playing the good cop and you playing the bad cop. When there are arguments or lawsuits, I’ll reason and you’ll seek justice.” She took the opportunity to make arrangements.
“Okay.” Du Li agreed. He thought for a moment and said, “Don’t go back before June. Don’t go back when you’re harvesting the early rice and planting the late rice either. Even if Du Min finds you, find an excuse to refuse. If you don’t go back, your elder brother and sister-in-law will definitely cause trouble. The more trouble they cause at home, the more I can find a way to fight for a share of the land’s potential.”
"Alright, do whatever you think is best." Meng Qing was secretly delighted. This old-fashioned man had finally seen the light. She would go and offer incense to Du Min tomorrow to thank him; he was her benefactor.
*
The next morning, Meng Qing and her child took him to the ferry.
"Dad's leaving, you better listen to your mother." Du Li handed the child back to Meng Qing. The mother and child looked so alike; the child didn't resemble him at all.
“Wang Zhou looks exactly like you, and his heart is completely devoted to you. You can’t dislike him even a little bit. You can scheme against anyone but him.” He told her worriedly.
Meng Qing glared at him, "You should worry about yourself first."
Du Li glared at her resentfully. He belatedly realized that he didn't have much say in front of her, and whether she was willing to listen to him depended entirely on her own willingness.
"I'm leaving." He went to board the boat, dejected.
He was wearing the black short-sleeved jacket and brownish-yellow trousers he had worn when he arrived. Both pieces were faded from washing, mottled in color, and frayed at the edges. As he walked down the steps with his head down, he looked like an abandoned old cat.
"Hey, Du Li." Meng Qing's heart softened. She called out to him and said, "Come see me often. Wang Zhou thinks of you every day."
Du Li had already sailed out of Wumen when he finally understood what she meant: she meant that she thought about him every day.
When Meng Qing returned home, she checked on her paper horses. After drying overnight, the glue on the paper had dried completely, making them ring when tapped. The paper was stiff and, combined with the ink, shone brightly in the sunlight. After Wang Zhou fell asleep, with Meng Chun's help, she pasted ink paper onto another horse.
Paste paper, let it air dry, then paste paper again, repeating this process for two days. The paper horse has seven layers of paper, and a thousand sheets of hemp paper have been used up. The pasting task is now complete.
Just as Meng Qing was about to send Meng Chun to the academy to find Du Min, Du Min arrived with a joyful expression. Upon entering, he was immediately stunned by the two black horses displayed under the wooden shed. The two paper horses were six feet tall, entirely black, with hooves, horns, knee bones, and joints all present, but their heads were missing four facial features, their blank faces staring straight at the door, which was quite frightening.
“Third brother, I was just about to look for you. These two paper horses are almost finished. Pick a day and bring Gu Wuxia over. Have him bring the horse drawing so I can adjust the colors to match the drawing,” Meng Qing said.
"You're still adjusting the colors? I think it's fine as it is."
"Brother Du, please sit down." Meng Chun brought over a stool and said, "Our shop has received another order. A family in Rulin Lane wants to buy two wreaths and a paper sedan chair. We need to hurry up and finish these two paper horses so that we can free up our hands to do other things."
“I know that the wreaths and paper sedan chair were bought by Master Xie. Dr. Chen from the prefectural school is on his deathbed, and all the teachers in the academy will go to pay their respects. I’m here today for this. You should quickly attach eyes, mouth, nose, and tongue to the paper horse. Gu Wuxia’s father and Dr. Chen’s eldest son are old acquaintances, and he will definitely go to pay his respects. Maybe he can use the paper horse.” Du Min said in a rapid-fire manner.
"Wait a minute, let me sort this out." Meng Qing hurriedly said. The Prefectural School was the only official school in Suzhou Prefecture. The professor was like the principal of a key high school in a province in later times. The person in charge of the official school was about to die. It seemed that Du Min wanted to seize this opportunity to hand over the paper effigies to a group of powerful, rich and famous people in Suzhou Prefecture.
"You don't need to figure it out, just do as I say," Du Min said domineeringly.
"Have you finished your policy proposal?" Meng Qing asked.
"Yes, it was given to Master Xie two days ago. It has already spread throughout the academy in the past two days. It's just a matter of setting it on fire." Du Min was very excited. Dr. Chen's eldest son was an Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Rites, who was in charge of sacrificial rites. The sage advocated simple funerals, and officials of the Ministry of Rites had to take the lead in following this. It was inconvenient to bury Dr. Chen with lavish pottery funerary objects after his death. His policy essays and the paper funerary objects from the Meng family's paper horse shop were exactly what Assistant Minister Chen wanted.
It was all about timing and circumstances; Du Min was destined for fame.
“Okay, go ahead and make the arrangements. We’ll make sure the paper-made funerary objects are the best we can do and won’t hold you back.” Meng Qing agreed. She thought to herself that Du Min was a really good partner, clever and resourceful, able to seize every opportunity to profit.
"It's still much more pleasant to talk business with my second sister-in-law." Du Min felt refreshed. He looked towards the backyard and asked, "Has my second brother gone back?"
“He went back early. I wanted him to stay a few more days, but he refused. He couldn’t let go of the work in the fields; the work in the fields was more important than his son.” Meng Qing said angrily.
Du Min observed her carefully, and she seemed to know nothing. He said apologetically, "I've been too tired lately, and I'm very irritable. A few days ago, my second brother came to see me, and I said some nonsense. I guess I hurt his feelings."
As Meng Qingshun descended the slope, she said in surprise, "No wonder he's been acting strangely ever since he came back. He's been in low spirits and seems very unusual. I was quite worried when he left alone, and I was thinking that I should go back and stay for a while after the paper horse is finished."
Du Min was unwilling to let her go back at this point, saying he would go back for a day when he had some free time.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com