Chapter 8

Yun Dalang’s passing not only pained the Zheng family, but also caused financial difficulties.

Yun Yanhui wasn’t aware of this at first, his thoughts only revolving around Zheng Ping and concerning himself whether she’d be anguished by the turn of events. It wasn’t until he caught a glimpse of her preparing to work on a Kesi that he felt an enormous weight get lifted off his shoulders.

The tapestries were particularly exquisite, and she worked on them day and night. Yun Yanhui felt that something was amiss, yet kept his worries inside his heart.

Third Sister Hu visited Zheng Ping one day to chit-chatter with her, and wanted to know whether someone had brought Yun Da’s remains back to the capital.

However, Zheng Ping informed the heart-rending fact that Yun Dalang had drowned, his corpse having gone missing. Third Sister Hu’s face clouded over in disbelief and paled, expressing her sympathy and consoling Zheng Ping right away. She put forward the idea of going to the Daxiangguo Temple to pray for good fortune and for his peaceful rest in the afterlife.

Zheng Ping wiped her tears and agreed.

Yun Yanhui realized in a flash that people in ancient times attached great importance to the afterlife. Even without having to bring Yun Dalang’s body back, they still had to spend a significant amount of money to organize an adequate funeral ceremony.

It wasn’t worth mentioning what the family’s daily expenses were, however they were planning to hold a funeral, in addition to having to pay Buddhist monks to participate and for their services, things which were difficult to think about.

Zheng Ping’s Kesi were their only method of getting money.

Yun Yanhui couldn’t guess what Zheng Ping was keeping quiet about, and having no other way to persuade her against overworking herself, he could only helplessly watch Zheng Ping weave a fan of vivid and realistic cotton roses1 in more than a month.

Zheng Ping consumed much of her energy and she even lost a tremendous amount of weight. Despite having no knowledge of an appropriate price to sell her fan for, she still traded it for as much as she could. After Zheng Ping returned from Xiuxiang, she purchased meat for them to eat.

Then, she invited her warmhearted neighbors to make arrangements for the funeral and set up a grave2 for Yun Dalang. The entire family was garbed in mourning apparel3. Moreover, the neighbors also served tea and rice.

It was also during this time that Yun Yanhui came to the realization that Yun Dalang actually had no other family members. The neighbors kept mum and did not ask anything. It was doubtlessly because they must have inquired about it a long time ago and were, now, aware of the reason.

Yun Yanhui was inclined to think that his father was, too, an orphan. Even if his parents were to breathe their last, he’d have no blood-related relatives. The only people he could call in this era ‘relatives’ were those he had met and grown close to so far.

Zheng Ping had to take care of the affairs from both the inside and outside the house, leaving Shuangyi to tend her two younger brothers.

During the weekdays4, Shuangyi would be alarmed and unnerved. She had never met Yun Dalang, yet she had a vague concept regarding death. The sight of so many people coming and leaving the house, as well as her adoptive mother shedding tears every so often, greatly startled her.

It was fortunate that Yun Yanhui was no ordinary child. Instead, he looked after Shuangyi and Xiaobao, keeping them close to him at all times. Having such a self-possessed younger brother, naturally, soothed Shuangyi’s nerves and so, she came to the conclusion that it was better not to trouble her mother. Rather, she should protect her younger brothers.

During this complicated period of time, they did not dare bother Zheng Ping as they pleased. Therefore, when Yun Yanhui’s trousers ripped, he asked Shuangyi to help him mend them.

Shuangyi carefully patched half of it up, but when Yun Yanhui brought it close and examined the spot, the material was sewed way too loosely and it was anything but even.

“I’ve only just learned…” admitted Shuangyi.

There was still half of the material hanging. Being determined to do it himself, Yun Yanhui picked up the needle and the thread, and began stitching. The needlework didn’t need to be intricate to mend a pair of trousers, yet his needlework was still better than Shuangyi’s.

Yun Yanhui spoke to himself inwardly, is it because I’m too good at it, or because Shuangyi isn’t able to get better at this overnight…?

Shuangyi lowered her head sheepishly: her brother had never touched a needle, yet he sewed better than her! What’s more, whenever she wished to prepare something in the kitchen, it was Brother Yan giving her pointers in order to do it better.

“Brother Yan, I’ll make sure to practice well QAQ.”

“It’s alright, take your time to learn,” Yun Yanhui replied in a way that befitted an adult.

***

Zheng Ping invited seven monks from Daxiangguo Temple to do their Buddhist services. They first invoked the soul, and due to Yun Dalang’s untimely death and his missing body, they had to recite the Sutra5 for seven days.

The mourners were mostly made of neighbors and some of Yun Dalang’s old friends. Their gazes darted between the widowed woman and the orphans, conveying feelings of sympathy.

As he was acquainted with a specific Buddhist monk, he was invited, too.

After arriving and overhearing others talking about Zheng Ping having been informed of the news of her husband’s death the day she returned from him, he immediately became distressed. Another monk, who was in the midst of doing the Buddhist ceremony, couldn’t refrain himself from looking at him, and eventually came up to and greeted him, “Third Master6 Liao Ran7.”

He sighed and stopped drinking tea, then stepped to replace the monk leading the ceremony, reciting the Sutra by himself.

“How was this caused…” Zheng Ping quietly murmured and wiped her eyes.

Understanding her sorrow, he continued on reciting the Sutra until the evening, when the great Buddhist monk was replaced by another monk to eat some food.

As might be expected, he didn’t have much knowledge when it came to her family, only being apprised of her husband, who was gone for business, as he had asked Zheng Ping only a bit. Zheng Ping didn’t mention at that time that she hadn’t heard from him for so long, so it was natural to think that, once her husband would pass away, things would get rough for her family. However, it seemed Zheng Ping had long since been in charge of her family.

The love for the house extended even to the crows perched on its roof8. The usual advice to give was, in case there were any difficulties, to meet him at Daxiangguo Temple.

Zheng Ping thanked him earnestly and asked Yun Yanhui to come greet Liao Ren.

These days, Yun Yanhui tried his best to comply with Zheng Ping’s every request, and such a thing, why would he refuse it? Since the monk was so old, there’s no harm in bowing.

Later on, when Yun Yanhui was mulling over everything, he thought that Zheng Ping might have considered asking for help from Liao Ran.

***

Once Yun Dalang’s funeral had, eventually, come to an end, Zheng Ping felt as if her entire being had been emptied of all vitality. With her former vivacity and zest missing, she didn’t embroider anything for days. Given how well they ate for the following days, she probably made a great amount of money from selling her fan.

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Living in such an era, they still gorged themselves on wheat, rice and beans, yet the quality of the food was much higher.

This demonstrated that no matter where or when, the top craftsmen must have good lives…

One day, Zheng Ping was putting together a meal, while Shuangyi was playing hopscotch in the courtyard. Yun Yanhui sat at the doorway and watched. A woven awning was attached to the front eaves of the house, stretched on a frame, and underneath it was placed a clean, stone slab.

Yun Yanhui settled down under the awning and Xiaobao crawled next to him. At first glance, it appeared as if Shuangyi was looking after them both, when in actuality, Yun Yanhui was taking care of the other two children.

Xiaobao was just his usual self, whilst Shuangyi had been excited to go out again ever since her last outing. Although they lived at the back gate of the Kaifeng government office, Yun Yanhui still had to keep his eyes peeled on them. Since Zheng Ping was not around, Yun Yanhui came to watch them in her stead.

However, a woman came to the fence and surveyed the yard.

Shuangyi had her head lowered and continued jumping without a care━though, Yun Yanhui immediately spotted her. Just a few days ago, during the funeral, a lot of their neighbors came; therefore, despite not going out much, Yun Yanhui had still memorized their faces. This old woman, however, was unfamiliar to him.

The old woman studied everything in the yard with her sight, before her gaze stopped on Yun Yanhui’s figure. She immediately froze once she saw his face and displayed a shocked expression.

Right at this moment, Shuangyi finally noticed her presence and stepped back until she reached the entrance, acting timidly.

The old woman merely grinned and asked, “may I ask if Zheng niangzi9 lives here ma10?”

Shuangyi exhaled, relieved, “just a moment.” She then made her way to the kitchen.

The old woman continued to gawk at Yun Yanhui and Xiaobao. The expression in her eyes was definitely odd.

Yun Yanhui grabbed Xiaobao from his armpits, lifted him up and sat back together right at the entrance.

After some time, Zheng Ping strode from the inside of the house, rubbed off the water from her hands on her apron and glanced up towards the gate.

From Yun Yanhui’s point of view, she couldn’t see her face, yet he could tell her body stiffened right away.

The old woman caught the sight of Zheng Ping and shouted happily, “Liu Niang, it’s really you!”

Zheng Ping, alarmed, turned to Shuangyi and spoke, “take your brothers inside.”

“Oh…” Shuangyi pulled Yun Yanhui and Xiaobao’s hands and dragged them inside. Even she was aware that something about this felt off, and couldn’t help herself but turn her head three times on her way to look at them.

Once Yun Yanhui was safely brought inside, he was shushed by Shuangyi. She immediately crept to the door to peek quietly.

Zheng Ping did not even allow the woman to step inside the yard, instead exchanging words in hushed tones at the gate of the fence. 

The old woman took out a fan━Yun Yanhui recognized it straight away, it was the Kesi Zheng Ping embroidered in a hurry in the past.

As the two of them were talking to each other, the old woman suddenly raised her voice a bit, something she did whenever she got agitated. Yun Yanhui, having good eyes and ears11, heard her tell, “Liu Niang, you’re still so young! Now that the man has… You should agree to it ba12, the husband and the wife are bound to, eventually, let bygones be bygones.”

“Mother-in-law, stop talking. I won’t agree to this!” Zheng Ping interrupted her, exasperated, then looked around to check whether any of her neighbors had seen them argue. Once she was reassured, she turned back angrily.

The old woman took notice of her refusal to acknowledge her anymore. She grabbed the wattled fence13 and sighed, “Liu Niang, give it some thought. Mother-in-law will go back first.”

(Yun Yanhui, an empath, sensing that something is wrong when seeing Zheng Ping literally work on tapestries day and night……)

1Cotton roses (芙蓉花 fú róng huā) look something like this; for the fan, it should resemble this, but it’s woven and not painted!

2The term used here is 衣冠冢 yī guān zhǒng, which is a tomb for the dead that contains only the clothes of the deceased and no corpse; this happens when the body of the deceased cannot be found or has been buried in another place, and a burial mound is set up somewhere else instead to commemorate that particular deceased individual.

3披麻戴孝 pī má dài xiào ━ an English equivalent to this expression in our context could be that they were (all) dressed in black. However, in China, according to the ancient custom, after the death of one’s relatives, it is required to wear white shoes and robes, as well as white linen clothes on their shoulders to express their mourning.

4Chinese funerals usually last about 7 days.

5经 jīng (literally yarn, thread); more info here.

6了然师叔 liǎo rán shī shū ━ I’m not entirely sure whether I translated this correctly or not, especially the ‘shu’ part. Is it ‘Shu’ as in uncle (a term of address for a man around one’s father’s age or slightly younger) or as in third in order of birth?

7了然 liǎo rán / Liao Ran (lit. ‘understand; be clear) could just be a name the author chose, however it could also be related in some way to another Liao Ren from the Song Dynasty, but I doubt it. Thought I’d still share this!

8爱屋及乌 ài wū jí wū, it’s a metaphor for loving a person and the people or things related to them; its provenance comes from the ‘Amplification of the Shuang Shu – the Great War’ (《尚书大传·大战》) : “He who loves people, loves also the crows on their houses” (爱人者，兼其屋上之乌。) by Fu Sheng. It’s basically a collection of historical documents from ancient China and it mainly records the talks and speeches of the rulers of Shang and Zhou Dynasty.

9Reminder, from a previous chapter: this is 娘子 or niangzi, which is the archaic title for a ‘wife’, also means ‘lady’/‘woman’

10吗 má is used at the end of a sentence to express an interrogative or rhetorical tone. I decided to also include this to keep some of the raws’ flavor! 

11耳聪目明 ěr cōng mù míng is the expression, if anyone is wondering!

12吧 bā is used at the end of a sentence to express agreement, speculation, order, request etc.

13篱墙 lí qiáng ━ in case anyone doesn’t know, it looks something like this.

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