Annual Ceremony

Chapter 43 End of Heat (Part )

The journey from Jinling City to Tianchang County is only two or three hundred miles. Even if one carries a coffin, it will take at most ten days to arrive.

Zhenyi accompanied her grandmother, and Juzi followed Zhenyi, and they arrived in Tianchang at the end of the Beginning of Autumn.

Whenever the Beginning of Autumn comes, Orange always thinks of a soup dish - during the Beginning of Autumn, Wang Xichen always likes to stew duck soup - of course, people in Jinling love to stew duck soup whether there is something to do or not, and the fate of Jinling ducks is similar to that of dumplings in the north.

It’s just that lily is added to the duck soup during the Beginning of Autumn. It is said that there is a folk dietary custom of “Lily Duck during the Beginning of Autumn”.

Lily duck soup is mellow and refreshing. In the words of Wang Xichen, it can nourish the yin of the five internal organs and clear away the heat of deficiency and fatigue. It is most suitable for drinking as a tonic during the Beginning of Autumn season.

It was the beginning of summer this year and the entire Wang family was in mourning, so there was no lily duck to stew.

Orange counted and found that at least three ducks survived in Jinling City this year.

Although the duck could not be stewed, there were plenty of lilies, which could be boiled with polygonatum and lotus seeds. Along the way, Wang Xichen distributed the lily, polygonatum and lotus seed soup to his family members, servants and drivers to drink, to relieve everyone's autumn fatigue during the journey.

Wang Xichen and his two brothers had to follow the coffin back to Tianchang for burial, and among the grandchildren, Wang Yuan and Zhenyi also followed.

Wang Jie stayed in Jinling.

As a scholar, Wang Xichen was unable to take part in this year's autumn examination due to mourning for his father. However, the rule of mourning only refers to children mourning for their parents, unless there are no children left in the family, in which case the eldest grandson will take over the mourning period. Therefore, theoretically speaking, Wang Jie's performance in this year's autumn examination would not be affected.

But emotionally, Wang Jie had no intention of taking the exam again this year, and just wanted to go back to Tianchang to attend his grandfather's funeral. But the clan members insisted that he stay, saying that the funeral was already in Jinling, and as a grandson, he had already fulfilled his filial duty. Going back to Tianchang was the business of his father and uncles, so he just had to prepare for the exam and no one would blame him.

The imperial examination is a top priority. In the face of such common interests, even the most conservative people who are always talking about rules will be happy to move the bottom line of harmlessness.

The Wang family had great hopes for Wang Jie, hoping that the Wang family could produce another king's assistant - referring to his official career as a prefect of a state, definitely not including being demoted and exiled.

Zhenyi, who was also a granddaughter, could have come or not, but it was the old lady who took the initiative to bring her granddaughter along.

When the Wang family members heard about this, they also heard that the second daughter was the child that most appealed to Wang Zhefu in the family, and that she was personally taught by Wang Zhefu, and that her poetry, prose, and mathematics were no less than Wang Jie's.

The clan members just looked at the second young lady twice more and nodded to show their approval, and had no interest in asking more questions - they also did not think that the so-called "no less than Wang Jie" would be very realistic. After all, when people praise women's talents, they always exaggerate while lowering the standards, but there is nothing to explore and be serious about.

When Wang Zhefu's coffin arrived in Tianchang, it was moved and placed in the mourning hall, waiting for burial seven days later.

Although the Wang family was not wealthy in Tianchang County and had made a living by farming and studying for generations, they were highly respected despite their poverty because many of their children became officials.

Although Wang Zhefu has passed away, the Wang family in Jinling has three scholars. Although the county magistrate Wang Xipu is in mourning, he is still a good figure in such a county.

Therefore, there was an endless stream of people coming to pay their respects, and among them were many people who had made friends and had some knowledge.

Mourning sheds were set up on both sides outside the old house, with a long table and benches placed under the sheds, and porcelain bowls of herbal tea on the table to entertain relatives, friends and neighbors who came to pay their respects.

The sounds of shouting and talking, the receptionist making arrangements, the mourners crying and comforting, and the suona playing and beating, were mixed and could be heard from morning till night. Paper horses, sedan chairs, and paper figures of servants and maids were piled up outside the mourning hall.

There were too many people coming to pay their respects, and the Wang family had very few servants available. Everyone was busy, but they still couldn't handle it. When Zhenyi saw this, she took Tao'er to help.

At first, the aunts in charge did not dare to order Zhenyi around, nor did they expect the second young lady from Jinling to really help. They just wanted her not to cause trouble.

But after two or three days, they found that although the second young lady was young, she did things in an orderly manner. She was not vague or pampered when moving things, and she had a good memory. In the busyness, she actually recognized all the relatives and sisters she had met. When she opened her mouth, she called out each one accurately, without any mistake.

A group of aunts began to praise each other, saying that the girls raised in Jinling were indeed different. They also sent their own girls to serve behind Zhenyi as soldiers, asking them to learn from her. A group of sisters were busy in and out together, and Zhenyi soon became familiar with them.

Juzi lay on the roof, squinting her eyes and stretching leisurely, watching Zhenyi leading the sisters in and out like a little manager, and also watching the people coming and going.

On the fourth day, fewer and fewer people came to pay their respects. All the neighbors who were supposed to come had already come, and most of the new visitors were from far away, hundreds of miles away.

Outside, it was not so busy anymore, so Zhenyi accompanied her mother to the coffin in the mourning hall and served her. A father and son came into the mourning hall with their servants, burned incense in front of the coffin, and knelt down to pay homage.

After paying respect to the deceased, the middle-aged man came to Old Lady Dong and bowed deeply with tears in his eyes: "Old Madam..."

The young man beside him also bowed to Old Lady Dong, his wide sleeves hanging down as he bowed.

Zhenyi helped her grandmother to stand up. Old Mrs. Dong nodded to the father and son in return. Zhenyi bowed to the middle-aged man, "Uncle Zhan."

Zhenyi recognized Mr. Zhan, and naturally recognized the tall young man in green: "Brother Zhan."

After not seeing each other for several years, Zhenyi had changed a lot after returning from Jilin. Zhan Mei came to her senses and still called Zhenyi as usual: "Second sister, please accept my condolences."

Although Xuanzhou and Tianchang are both in Anhui Province, they are 500 miles apart. The Zhan father and son had obviously paid attention to and inquired about Wang Zhefu's burial arrangements in advance, so they were able to show up at this time.

The Zhan family also had frequent contacts with the Wang family of Tianchang, and the entire Wang family treated the father and son very warmly and warmly.

Zhan Mei, who is two years older than Zhenyi, is seventeen this year. He is at the age of youth and vigor. According to Juzi's observation, the younger brothers and sisters of the Wang family love to be around him, and the elders of the Wang family also like him very much.

Young people are like trees and bamboos, with branches and leaves spreading out vigorously, yet also firmly rooted. They are light and vigorous without being frivolous. If we use an orange as an example, this sapling grows very steadily, straightly, neatly and beautifully.

Such a young man naturally has a good relationship with people, including Wang Yuan, who hadn't seen him for a long time, who also pulled Zhan Mei aside and talked for a long time.

In the mourning hall, paper money, burning incense and candles never stopped, and the dry autumn air burned them together. Zhenyi, who had not rested for several days, kept vigil for two days. She felt ashes and smoke in her mouth and nose, her throat was dry and sore, and her lips were chapped and cracked.

When Orange saw it, he felt that Zhenyi looked like a dried and dehydrated vegetable bag in an instant noodle bucket.

Mrs. Dong saw this and asked Tao'er to take Zhenyi to rest: "Listen to Grandmother, go back and rest... Tomorrow's funeral is a formal ceremony, you can't fall ill and go."

Zhenyi did not try to be stubborn. She just said that she could take care of herself and asked Taoer to stay with her grandmother while she could go back by herself.

Not far from the mourning hall, Zhenyi met Zhan Mei. He brought his servant with him. The master and servant were holding a lot of things in their hands, which they distributed to Wang Yuan and others in the courtyard, and also to Zhenyi.

Zhenyi held the bottle of pear and tangerine peel water handed to her by Zhan Mei, which was still warm through the bamboo tube.

I don't know whether honey or rock sugar was added to the water, but I sucked it into my mouth through a thin reed tube that was cut flat and straight. It was sweet, refreshing, moisturizing and soothing.

Holding the thing in her hands, Zhenyi was in no hurry to leave. She sat on a small bamboo stool in the yard with her brothers and sisters and drank sweet water.

While everyone was drinking water and talking, Zhan Mei stopped by the well and peeled two handfuls of roasted chestnuts. He gave one to Wang Yuan first and handed the other to Zhenyi: "Second sister, try this."

Zhenyi thanked him first, then picked up a chestnut and put it into her mouth. The whole chestnut was soft and glutinous, without any lumps or bitterness, and was sweet and delicate.

"Is it sweet?" asked Zhan Mei.

Zhenyi nodded honestly: "It's sweeter than the roasted chestnuts I usually eat in Jinling."

Zhan Mei smiled a little: "In autumn, eating chestnuts alone can easily cause dryness and heat, but with this tangerine peel and snow pear sweet water, you can eat a few more without worry, second sister."

He wanted to peel some more for Zhenyi, but Zhenyi didn't want to trouble him, so she grabbed a handful of chestnuts and peeled them herself, but the chestnut meat was peeled in pieces. She couldn't help but say, "Brother Zhan is an expert at peeling chestnuts. Every chestnut he peeled is clean and complete."

Wang Yuan, who was sitting nearby, paused while chewing chestnuts and asked, "?"

Wait, every grain is intact? Why did he eat all the broken pieces just now?
Wang Yuan chewed the chestnut meat slowly, and his thoughtful eyes drifted towards the boy from the Zhan family who was squatting on one knee, pinching the chestnut meat into pieces and feeding it to Orange.

The boy seemed to be concentrating on feeding the cat and serving chestnuts to the distinguished Lord Orange.

　I finally finished writing it today. Good night~
　
(End of this chapter)