Annual Ceremony

Chapter 52 Cold Dew (Part )

In addition to the marriage with the Dong family, the future of the Wang family is also "man proposes, God disposes" - Old Mrs. Dong traveled for several years, crossing mountains and rivers, and tried all kinds of roads, some straight and some rugged. However, as winter passed and spring came, the snow melted again, but the future of the Wang family was still blocked and unclear.

One reply letter after another was delivered to the Wang family in Jinling along the same route that Old Lady Dong had taken, and then delivered to Old Lady Dong through the three brothers of the Wang family. Most of the letters contained words of apology and regret, and occasionally there was some hope for a turnaround, but after all the rushing around, it was always in vain.

Among all these failed news, the most worrying one was the case of Wang Xipu. He had completed the mourning period for his father, but there was no sign of his return to officialdom.

In addition, Wang Jie failed in the imperial examinations many times, and Shuyi still could not get pregnant. The couple of the third room often quarreled in private. Juzi noticed that the third wife, who had always cared most about her appearance, had already grown some white hair and had red eyes many times.

By March, Wang Xichen, who was recommended by an old friend in a letter, finally got a job related to the government - compiling the Jiangning County Chronicles together with a group of Confucian scholars from Nanjing.

Although this job was only temporary and there was no official position, it at least allowed him to get in front of people. Wang Xichen cherished and valued this opportunity very much. He temporarily put aside the pain of losing his wife and devoted himself to this matter without any slackness.

The 19-year-old Zhenyi became increasingly busy, taking care of Jingyi and handling the trivial matters in the second courtyard. As a result, she even had little time to sit down and read.

In April, the Wang family had a long-awaited happy event. Zhenyi's eldest sister-in-law with amazing cooking skills gave birth to a boy. After inspecting the baby, Ju Zi said that the cat liked the baby much more than his father Wang Yuan.

Orange squatted on the windowsill in the early summer afternoon, looking at the baby being held in the arms of the eldest lady and listening to the baby crying. She suddenly thought of when she first arrived, the newborn Zhenyi was also held in the arms of Mother Zhao like this.

In the blink of an eye, the little girl Zhenyi has become the little girl's aunt.

Zhenyi became an aunt, and Mrs. Dong became the great-grandmother of the family. After the Dragon Boat Festival family banquet, Zhenyi supported her great-grandmother and walked back. Mother Zhuo smiled and said to the old lady: "Today's banquet is a real gathering of four generations. You are now the most blessed ancestor in Jinling City..."

Old Mrs. Dong nodded and said with a smile, "I am old, old."

Zhenyi, who was originally smiling, felt as if a thin needle pricked her heart when she heard her grandmother's words, and her hand that was holding her grandmother's arm tightened slightly.

After the Dragon Boat Festival, what Zhenyi feared finally happened - Mrs. Dong's health became worse day by day.

This decline was not without warning. On the contrary, the old lady had always been aware of her physical condition, so she left the Dong family early in the winter two years ago and decided to continue her journey. This old woman who was traveling in her twilight years held on to her last breath, and while she was still able to walk, she took her son and granddaughter to complete the last journey for her family.

The journey was over, but in the end, "man proposes, God disposes". One day, when Mother Zhuo was serving the old lady medicine in front of the bed, she said, "The first and third wives went to Qixia Temple together. Goddess Guanyin will surely bless you to recover from your illness soon..."

The old lady just said: "It is not good for people not to accept aging, nor is it good for people not to accept their fate."

Zhenyi knew that the "fate" her grandmother talked about was both the fate of the individual and the fate of the family, but who determined this "fate"? Like many "rules" in the world that Zhenyi had questioned, when Zhenyi looked up at the sky, she could not help but try to explore its source and see what the true nature of "fate" was.

Zhenyi often wondered, the vastness of the universe, from the stars to the invisible wind, all have their own order to explore, why is it that the word "fate" that is recognized by the world has no clear rules? If it really exists, why does it make it so difficult for those who work hard to live? What should we do to find the rules of its operation and get its "favor"?
Zhenyi was extremely confused, but had no time to indulge herself in this confusion.

There was a hint of unwilling yet helpless sigh at the end of Mrs. Dong's words "I have to accept my fate", and after the sigh dissipated, the old lady's body also completely fell apart, like a collapsed thatched house pierced by the wind.

In early June, a family letter came from Shu, saying that Mrs. Dong's only surviving brother had passed away in May.

Old Mrs. Dong was no longer able to see her brother off, nor could she return to her hometown, so her eldest grandson Wang Yuan had to go to the funeral on her behalf.

For the elderly and sick, severe winter and hot summer are the two most difficult hurdles in a year. The old man of the Dong family could not survive the hot summer in May, and Wang Zhefu also passed away during the Lesser Heat.

Zhenyi was very worried and spent most of June taking care of her grandmother. Many nights, she was so worried that she simply stayed at her grandmother's place. If she heard any noise at night, she would immediately wake up, put on her clothes and get up.

Cats can smell many smells, and Zhenyi was filled with the smell of fear.

So, Zhenyi took care of her grandmother, and Juzi took care of Zhenyi.

Juzi, who always stayed by Zhenyi's side, saw that Old Lady Dong was getting thinner and thinner, and Zhenyi was getting thinner and thinner as well.

On the night of the Qiqiao Festival, the thin Zhenyi had a rare moment of leisure to stand in the courtyard. Looking up, she saw the starry sky and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The "fire" in "July Flowing Fire" refers to Mars, which is the fifth star in the seven eastern stars of the twenty-eight stars, and the second star in the Heart of the Azure Dragon, namely "Antarctica II". In July, this star moves westward and downward, which is called "flowing fire" - Mars flows westward, indicating that the hot summer is about to end.

Zhenyi was extremely grateful that her grandmother had survived the hottest summer. If she could have taken good care of herself in the pleasant autumn, her grandmother's health might have had a chance to improve.

The poetry and mathematics books that Zhenyi often read were replaced by medical books. She was unable to explore the true source of "fate" for the time being. The only way she could think of was to extend the lives of her relatives based on tangible medical knowledge.

But the invisible hand of fate showed no mercy.

By August, Mrs. Dong was unable to eat and had become so thin that she was just a bag of bones, like a dead branch of an old tree that could no longer sustain life.

The eldest wife brought her grandson to visit the old lady. The child was angry and crying. The eldest wife was afraid that the old lady would be disturbed, so she quickly took the child to the outer room and coaxed him: "Be good, don't cry, don't cry..."

Recently, little Jingyi's health has not been good. She always asks her sister to accompany her. When her sister is not around, Jingyi can only feel at ease when she hugs Juzi. It was afternoon, Jingyi took the medicine and fell asleep with Juzi. Seeing that Jingyi was sleeping soundly, Juzi got out of bed and ran to find Zhenyi.

Juzi stepped lightly over the threshold silently and came to the main room, where she saw the eldest wife sitting in a chair, holding her grandson and patting him. This scene suddenly reminded Juzi of Zhenyi, who was also wrapped in a small floral swaddling cloth when she was born, in this main room, and was held in the arms of the eldest mother in this way.

That day, Zhenyi had her own name, and her grandmother smiled and called her: [Deqing... Little Deqing.]

On this day, Zhenyi, who was no longer young, still leaned on her grandmother's shoulder like a child, and she still called her Deqing. Mrs. Dong was able to sit up today, so she leaned against the bed, hugged her granddaughter, and asked, "Deqing, do you still remember... which poem did your grandmother read when she first taught you to read?"

Zhenyi leaned in front of her grandmother, holding her grandmother with one hand, and asked with a slightly raised face: "My granddaughter can't remember, can you remind me?"

Old Mrs. Dong said lovingly, "It was written by one of your two favorite poets, but it wasn't written by Mr. Tuizhi..."

Zhenyi: "Is that Li Bai's poem?"

Old Mrs. Dong nodded slightly.

Just as Zhenyi was about to answer, a childish voice came: "The moon shines brightly in front of my bed, I wonder if it is frost on the ground... I look up at the bright moon, and I look down and think of my hometown."

The sound seemed to come from the other side of the long river of time, and it coincided with the sound of Zhenyi reading poetry when she was young.

"My sister once said that when learning Li Bai's poems, one should first learn this one!" The voice came from Xiao Jingyi who ran to find her sister after waking up.

The old lady smiled and nodded: "Yes, your elder sister also learned this song first..."

Zhenyi sat up straighter and suddenly saw some tears in the corners of her grandmother's eyes.

Zhenyi thought that when her grandmother mentioned this poem, she must have recalled the past. She must have been "missing her hometown", missing her hometown in Shu, which she could never return to... Was this the first poem her grandmother learned when she was young? Who taught her grandmother to read poetry? Her grandmother must have missed that person often. Would she also miss her grandmother in the same way in the future?

Zhenyi felt scared again. She held back her tears and leaned on her grandmother's shoulder again. Even though she was reluctant to let go, she did not dare to use any force. She just leaned against her gently and hugged her.

Old Mrs. Dong gently stroked her granddaughter's trembling back and said, "I've been thinking a lot lately... Was it wrong to teach our Deqing to read poems and recognize words?"

Her son Deqing had a pair of bright eyes since he was young. She couldn't bear to see that bright spirit die prematurely, but she didn't expect that the bright spirit nurtured a child who was both talented and overly tenacious... Where will such a child go in the future?
The old lady was worried, so she thought of the saying "A woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent" - in many cases, this saying is not just a trick to manipulate women, but a compromise and escape voice when seeing that the world cannot accommodate talented women. If you want to avoid being strangled by the world, you should "wisely" escape to the cage called "no talent" and "no knowledge".

Zhenyi was very clear about her grandmother's regret at the moment. This regret came from guilt. Her grandmother felt guilty about teaching her to read poetry and learn to read, but ultimately failed to place her "properly and safely" in this world.

Zhenyi's heart was filled with sadness and emotion. Her voice was hoarse and light, but it was filled with an almost stubborn determination: "The poem is correct, and my mother is even more correct."

"It is a great blessing in Zhen'er's life to be able to learn poetry and literacy from Grandmother. Grandmother has never made any mistakes, and Zhen'er has never had any doubts or regrets." Zhenyi hugged her grandmother tighter and said with tears in her eyes: "Grandmother, thank you so much..."

Old Mrs. Dong's eyes were already filled with tears as she looked at the child in front of her with trembling tears. At this moment, filled with worry and pity, she suddenly understood her husband's stubborn state of mind.

To enlighten millions of people and remove the mountain of ignorance… It is so far away, yet so urgent, especially when she sees that this mountain is about to fall on her beloved and precious children. She is heartbroken and worried, but can do nothing. Even if she teaches them how to compromise and tries to negotiate with this mountain, it will probably be of no avail… So at this moment, she truly begins to understand and even admire those stubborn radicals.

A tear rolled down the old lady's eyes, and she said slowly: "When I meet your grandfather, I will toast him a glass of wine..."

Zhenyi burst into tears.

Three days later, in the mourning hall set up by the Wang family, three wine cups were placed in front of the old lady's coffin. Zhenyi, dressed in mourning clothes, slowly filled them with sake one by one.

There was a lot of crying in the mourning hall. Wang Xichen was heartbroken, Wang Xirui was trying hard to handle everything, and Wang Xipu thought of the apologetic eyes of his stepmother before she passed away, and he couldn't help but kowtow and kneel with tears in his eyes.

Zhenyi never cried out loud again. The experience of losing her mother last autumn had enabled her to handle her grandmother's funeral in an orderly manner.

Only in the dead of night, when I wake up from my dreams, I bury my tearful cheeks in a ball of fur, and choke on my words like a child begging, "...Orange, can you please not leave?"

Orange licked Zhenyi's hair that was wet with tears, and also licked the scars in her heart.

Zhenyi opened her tearful eyes, looked at the cat in the dim light, and asked again: "Is it okay?"

Asking a cat for an empty promise is funny and childish, but Orange doesn't think so. It stretches out one of its front paws and gently presses it on Zhenyi's forehead, as if to make a sacred contract - when Zhenyi was very young, it had used this action to make an agreement with Zhenyi, and it has done everything it agreed to. Cats always keep their words and never break their promises.

In the darkness of the night, the orange and white fur between Juzi's eyebrows wrinkled slightly, and he looked very serious, as if he was giving himself a military order - Zhenyi had lost her grandfather, mother, and stepmother, and she couldn't be without a cat anymore, so she had to try hard to stay alive.

The orange, determined to live to be a hundred or eighty years old, came to Tianchang with Zhenyi during the Cold Dew season of that year.

The king was buried in the ancestral tomb of Tianchang, and his wife should also be buried here.

After Mrs. Dong was buried, the clan members of Tianchang listened to the words of a Feng Shui master and proposed to Wang Xichen and his brothers that one person should stay here to mourn for a year to fulfill the filial piety. While the brothers were in dilemma, Zhenyi volunteered to stay.

Zhenyi didn't believe what the Feng Shui master said, but since this matter had been asked, she couldn't refuse, otherwise it would cause resentment and criticism... Given the family's situation, it was inconvenient for her father and two uncles to stay in the countryside for long. Her eldest brother had to take care of the family and his wife and children, and her second brother had to study. She was the most suitable person to stay.

Zhenyi said that this is how she used to accompany her grandparents.

This sentence made Wang Xichen's eyes red, and he could no longer say no.

An update from the middle of the night.