Chapter 17
The next morning, the Chen family on North Street hung up a white banner.
When the night watchman passed by, he went up and asked, "Who is missing?"
Lin, the doorman in charge of hanging white paper, sighed, "Our young master fell ill last night and suddenly passed away."
"Oh dear, God have mercy, he died so young..."
As the two were talking, Chen Biao arrived with his two sons. From a distance, they could see the bright white banner on the gate, and the three of them were extremely excited.
Just as they were about to enter, Lin stopped them, saying, "Please leave, the three of you. We are not receiving guests today."
Chen Qingfeng shoved Lin Zai away, "Are you blind? You don't even recognize my own father!"
Lin Zai naturally recognized the three of them; they had come every year to beg for alms, so how could he not recognize them? But the young master had instructed him last time that if he encountered the Chen family again, he should chase them away.
The three of them entered the courtyard with an air of nonchalance, and happened to run into Wang Ying arranging the funeral in the front yard. He was dressed in white, with his hair tied up with a white ribbon, and he looked like a pure white lily, which made Chen Qingfeng's eyes pop out.
He was not present on the day of Chen Qingyan's wedding and did not know what this young man surnamed Wang looked like, so he immediately had designs on him.
Wang Ying also saw the three of them and thought to herself that they had arrived quite quickly. She immediately put on a sad expression and stepped forward, saying, "Second Uncle is here."
Chen Biao snorted and walked straight past him into the main room.
Chen Qingling followed him inside, but Chen Qingfeng stopped beside him, saying, "Brother-in-law, you've never seen me before, have you? I'm Qingyan's older brother, Chen Qingfeng. I couldn't come on your wedding day because of other commitments."
"Greetings, Brother Qingfeng."
Wang Ying's voice was a little hoarse; the family had discussed things for half the night, and she could barely speak when she woke up this morning. But to Chen Qingfeng, it was like a hook, tickling his heart.
“My brother was in poor health and passed away a long time ago. I’m afraid you’ll have a hard time getting through this alone.”
Wang Ying didn't know what he meant by saying these words to her, so she took out a handkerchief and pretended to wipe away tears, saying, "Thank you for your concern, Brother Qingfeng."
In the main room, Li leaned back in her chair, looking listless. She had stayed up all night and was exhausted, but she still had to put on a sad face to deal with Chen Biao. She seemed quite despondent.
"Second Uncle is here..."
"Sister-in-law, please accept my condolences. I know you are saddened by Qingyan's passing, but please take good care of yourself."
"Sigh..." Li yawned, quickly covered her mouth with her hand, and pretended to sob and cry.
Chen Qingling said, "Brother Yan has been sick for so long, living is suffering for him. Now that he's gone, it's a relief. Aunt, please don't cry and ruin your health."
Chen Biao glared at his second son, speaking without thinking.
Li wanted to curse him for these words, but she had to keep up the act, so she nodded perfunctorily. "I don't have the energy to entertain you right now, so let's go back first. We can talk about it after Qingyan's funeral."
“How can that be?” Chen Biao sat down on his own. “Funerals are important matters. My elder brother is gone, and as his second uncle, I naturally cannot sit idly by. I should be the one to handle Qingyan’s funeral!”
Li had anticipated his response and, following Wang Ying's instructions from the previous night, said, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Second Uncle. We don't have much money available right now, and my dowry is hard to sell immediately. Please help cover the expenses first, Second Uncle. After the funeral... we can make our own arrangements."
The implication was that the entire family was now in his hands, and Chen Biao was so happy he almost burst out laughing.
He quickly coughed twice to cover the smile on his face, "Don't worry, sister-in-law, I will definitely handle my nephew's funeral in a grand and respectable manner! Have you sent word to my third sister and fourth brother yet?"
"Not yet, how can we possibly have time for something so sudden..."
The third aunt of the Chen family married into the county town, which is two or three days away from the town, and rarely comes back. The fourth uncle is an official in Laizhou, which is even further away.
"If you ask me, I'd say just send the letter to the third sister. The fourth brother is too busy with official duties, so let's not make him run around."
"Second Uncle, you can handle it." Li couldn't sit still any longer, so she stood up, rubbing her forehead, and went to her bedroom to rest.
Chen Biao, looking refreshed, led his two sons toward the mourning hall in the backyard.
At this moment, in the backyard, Chen Qingyan was lying in the coffin reading a book. Wang Ying was afraid that he would be uncomfortable inside, so she laid out dry grass and a thick mattress, so he wouldn't get tired even after lying there all day.
Qingyun and Qingsong, dressed in mourning clothes, sat on prayer cushions burning paper money. The two children had burned paper money for their father a few years ago and had learned how to do it quickly without smoke or ashes.
"Sister, we're burning so much paper money now and no one's collecting it. Could we store it in the underworld and retrieve it after we die?"
Chen Qingyun rolled her eyes. "Do you think the government is a bank? Why don't you... burn this paper money for Father and let him spend it?"
Chen Qingyan frowned. "You two stop talking nonsense and get back to work."
Footsteps suddenly came from outside the door, followed by Chen Biao's feigned crying, "Oh dear nephew, how unfortunate you are..."
Chen Qingyan quickly tucked the book under his bottom, straightened his clothes, closed his eyes, and pretended to be dead.
Upon seeing the three, Uncle Chen nervously stepped forward to stop them, saying, "Why are you here? No, you are not allowed to go in and disturb the young master."
Chen Qingfeng said, "Tsk, you old codger, do you still think the Chen family is ruled by your uncle? Don't you know what the situation is? After you send Chen Qingyan away, you can expect to pack your bags and get out of here!"
"You!" Uncle Chen's face flushed red with anger.
Chen Qingyun and Chen Qingsong also stood up and glared at him.
Chen Biao patted his eldest son on the shoulder, a fake expression on his face: "I know you are saddened by Qingyan's passing, and I am saddened as well, but life must go on. My elder brother is gone, and my sister-in-law can't support us all by herself. You two are still young, so your second uncle will have to take good care of you from now on."
After saying that, she pushed Chen Bo aside and went straight in. Chen Qingsong rushed over to chase her away, but Qingyun pulled him back. The two siblings hugged each other, trembling with anger.
The three of them entered the mourning hall but didn't dare to go up to see the dead body, after all, they were the ones who gave the poison and felt guilty and unsure of themselves.
Chen Biao lit an incense stick and handed it to his youngest son, saying, "Go and offer incense to your cousin, and tell him not to worry about things at home. We'll help take care of his mother and sister-in-law from now on."
Chen Qingling smiled and took the incense sticks, placing them in the incense burner. "May you have a safe journey, cousin."
Lying in the coffin, Chen Qingyan clenched his fists. Fortunately, it was all a lie. Fortunately, Ah Ying was there; otherwise, he didn't know how difficult the days ahead would have been.
Chen Biao pulled up a chair and sat down. "Go and call your head son over to discuss how to handle the funeral arrangements."
Uncle Chen stormed out, and a short while later Wang Ying came in. She saw that he looked sad and haggard (from staying up all night), no longer as arrogant and domineering as before.
What are your plans for the funeral?
“My mother is a Buddhist and wants to have some monks chant sutras for seven days so that he can leave in peace.”
Chen Biao calculated that reciting the sutra for the deceased shouldn't cost much. "Okay, I'll have someone find it later. What about the rest?"
“I don’t know anything else, and I’ve never handled a funeral before, so please let my second uncle make the decision.”
These words were exactly what Chen Biao wanted to hear. Since he wanted to seize the eldest son's family property, he naturally had to make sure he looked good, otherwise he would have a hard time explaining himself to his third sister and fourth brother.
"Leave this to me. Give me the warehouse keys first."
Wang Ying hesitated for a moment before untying the key from her waist. "My mother went to the mountain to worship Buddha every day recently and donated a lot of money for incense. Now we don't have much money left in the house."
Chen Biao didn't take it seriously and headed straight for the warehouse with his two sons.
When they opened the door, they were dumbfounded. The warehouse was empty except for a few pieces of worthless coarse cloth and half a box of unsold ink sticks.
"Father, what... what should we do?"
"That thieving husband must have hidden everything. Don't worry, let's raise the money to finish the funeral. He'll get what's coming to him in a few days!"
*
Funerals in ancient times were different from those in modern times; they were both complicated and time-consuming. Just choosing a burial site took three days.
Because Chen Qingyan's death was not considered a natural one, but rather a violent one, Chen Biao was afraid that he would be haunted by him in the future, so he specially spent money to hire a geomancer to find a feng shui burial site to suppress his spirit.
The monks who chanted sutras were also invited. Coincidentally, they were monks from the temple where the Li family often donated incense. They received one string of cash a day, which would amount to seven strings of cash in seven days.
Wang Ying couldn't come up with the money, so Chen Biao reluctantly borrowed a sum with interest, promising to pay it back after the matter was settled. The whole family was busy running around, and anyone who didn't know better would really think they were incredibly kind-hearted.
On the ninth day of the eighth lunar month, Aunt Chen Rong returned from the county town. She had not been home for three years since her eldest brother passed away, and she never expected that her return would be for a funeral.
The carriage stopped at the gate of the Chen family. Looking at the white banner fluttering in the wind on the gate, Chen Rong felt as if her heart was being torn apart. She cried all the way into the courtyard.
"Qingyan, my poor nephew~"
Upon hearing the voice, Li quickly came out of the house to greet her, "Third Sister, you're back."
Chen Rong cried so hard she couldn't speak. She grabbed Li's arm and tears streamed down her face like a broken dam. Li felt a pang of guilt. "You mustn't cry like that. You've come all this way. Be careful not to hurt yourself."
"How could this be so sudden? Qingyan was fine when he went to the county for the exam last year, how could he be gone so quickly..."
Li wiped away her tears with her handkerchief and said, "After failing the exam that time, I fell seriously ill when I got home. I called many doctors to come and see me, but none of them could help. As a result, I developed health problems."
"Sister-in-law, you're so foolish! Why didn't you send the child to the county hospital? As his aunt, I would sell my pots and pans to get him cured!"
“The child doesn’t want to go…” Li was not lying. When Chen Qingyan was sick, Li had thought about sending him to the county for treatment, but he would go on a hunger strike and try to kill himself as soon as he heard that he was going to the county town, so she had to give up the idea.
"Where's the child? Let me see him one more time..."
Li led her directly to the mourning hall in the backyard. This third aunt was a very honest person. She went in, lay down on Chen Qingyan's body, and started crying.
Unfortunately, the object landed on Chen Qingyan's ticklish spot, making him so itchy that he couldn't stand it anymore and reached out to push it away.
This was terrible; Chen Rong screamed and fainted.
Wang Ying reacted quickly and caught the person, saying, "Auntie has fainted from excessive grief, quickly take her inside!"
A note from the author:
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
