Annual Ceremony

Chapter 8: Waking of Insects (I)

"Oh, he's grown up so big!" Wang Zhefu looked at the polite and generous child with admiration in his eyes, and stroked his beard with a smile: "A single name is also a character!"

"That's right..." Looking at Yuan Mei standing aside, Father Zhan smiled with some shame and said, "It wasn't this name before. When I was three years old, I had a serious illness. My mother took me to a Taoist temple to drink talisman water, and then I listened to the immortal master and changed my name to Mei... I thought it was inappropriate, but my mother insisted, so I had no choice but to write to Mr. Yuan and ask for his permission..."

"This time I passed by Jinling, and I brought my son to Suiyuan to express my gratitude!" said Mr. Zhan, and bowed deeply to the old man in Suiyuan, and Zhan Mei followed suit.

Yuan Mei became famous at a young age and is now over 60 years old. He and the Grand Secretary Ji Yun are known as "Yuan in the South and Ji in the North". They are highly respected by today's literati. It is inevitable that they may be considered offensive and arrogant if the younger generation of scholars are named after him with the same character as his.

Yuan Mei didn't mind all this. He smiled and said, "It's just one word. If I can save this child's life by accident, it will be a blessing for me!"

He added: "Back then, I thought it would be a wonderful thing to adopt this child as my godson, but who knew -"

As he spoke, he looked at Wang Zhefu and the people around him and said, "This child has eighteen godfathers! In this case, if I had eighteen more children for no reason, I would really not be able to handle it!"

At the end of his words, he smiled and waved his hands, causing everyone to laugh.

Seeing that the adults were all laughing, Wang Jie didn't understand what they were saying, so he quietly asked his eldest brother: "...What do you mean by eighteen godfathers?"

"That means he recognizes the tree as his father!" Wang Yuan did not lower his voice at all: "He also added a character mei to his name, which shows that he is seriously lacking in wood in his destiny!"

Wang Yuan said, poking the boy's shoulder and said, "Zhan family boy, are the eighteen trees in your family still alive?"

Zhan Mei nodded seriously: "In the past six years, I have been watering and paying respects without slacking off!"

Seeing his answer so well, Wang Yuan was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter: "Such a filial son, a role model for our generation!"

Wang Jie, Zhenyi and Juzi all looked at Zhan Mei with admiration. It was really an amazing thing to water the eighteen trees and pay respects to them.

Zhan Mei also looked at Wang Jie and Zhenyi, and praised Zhenyi with bright eyes: "Sister, you are really good at solving lantern riddles!"

Juzi, who was squatting at Zhenyi's feet, raised his head. That was natural. After all, it was a child he raised, so it was inevitable that he was smart!

With the introduction of their elders, several children have exchanged names with each other. As the adults exchanged greetings and chatted, the children quickly became familiar with each other.

Juzi, who followed Zhenyi like a guard, attracted Zhan Mei's attention: "Is this the cat slave that my sister raised?"

"Yes!" Zhenyi nodded: "It's called Orange."

Zhan Mei and Zhenyi squatted down together. With Zhenyi's permission, Zhan Mei tried to reach out and touch Juzi's head, asking, "How old is Juzi this year? Is he good at catching mice?"

Juzi felt that this was like a parent asking another parent - how old is the child, where does he work, and how is his work?

Speaking of this, Zhenyi, who had just been surrounded by a group of people praising her and had never been proud, now showed her pride beyond words and kept praising Orange's great achievements.

Orange was very satisfied with the reaction of this young parent. What Orange hated most was the kind of parents who belittled and oppressed others. Fortunately, Zhenyi never spoiled his fun.

Listening to Zhenyi talking about the orange, Zhan Mei's eyes gradually became amazed: "The orange is so spiritual, maybe it was sent by some god..."

The orange head tilted back slightly, and its mouth shrank into a "0" shape - hey, did this kid actually figure out its origins!
Zhan Mei looked calm at first glance, but he was actually a chatterbox. Of course, this could also be called talkative, after all, he was pleasant to talk to, unlike Wang Yuan - which type of person was Wang Yuan? In Xirui's words, he was talkative and deserved a beating, and although he was not suitable for the family, he was good at being beaten and scolded - Juzi was making this comparison at this time.

Just when the talkative nature in Juzi's eyes was about to say something more, Qian Yuling came over and took Zhenyi away, and Juzi followed them at a running pace.

Qian Yuling pulled Zhenyi to a group of young girls and boasted: "… this is the beautiful, graceful, lovely girl next door that I always talked about! Now you all believe it, right?"

"That's the doggerel you made about my brother sleeping soundly!"

"My age is not an exaggeration. This little sister is really talented!"

"You all saw it when we were playing the lantern riddles just now!"

"Is your sister seven years old this year? What books does she read on weekdays?"

A group of young ladies of the same age as Qian Yuling and Shuyi surrounded Zhenyi and asked her questions and teased her. Some even bent down to pinch her round and tender cheeks and the velvet bun on her head.

It was not enough to just attack people, Orange was not spared either. Qian Yuling forcibly held it, and its hair was ruffled by the claws of a group of girls, showing a special kind of numbness and decadence. Qian Yuling, who had a strong cat addiction, took the opportunity to suck it a few times.

Until someone in the crowd said, "Mrs. Yin is back!"

Qian Yuling then put down the oranges, and he and Shuyi held Zhenyi's hands on each side, and walked quickly towards the center of the crowd.

Zhenyi saw "Mrs. Yin" who was surrounded by a group of female relatives and was talking to her. She was a very thin young woman with a neat bun and simple dress.

Facing the greetings from everyone, she always had a faint smile on her face and gestured with her hands to answer. Qian Yuling whispered to Zhenyi that Mrs. Yin could not speak and had been a mute since childhood. "Yin" was not her surname, but her name was Ah Yin.

A Yin's mother was Yuan Mei's third sister, named Yuan Ji.

Yuan Ji was a famous talented woman, and her poems were widely circulated among women. However, she died young, and her story is very sad.

When the female relatives saw A Yin, they couldn't help but think of her mother Yuan Ji. Hearing people talking about Yuan Ji's wife, Zhenyi became a little curious.

Yang Jinniang then whispered to her daughter about Yuan Ji's life.

When Yuan Ji was still an infant, her family arranged a marriage for her. The man's family name was Gao.

As he grew up, the young master of the Gao family gradually revealed a violent temper. He often beat his family members. He was also born with a hunched back and squinting eyes. Seeing this, Gao's father felt that he was not worthy of the daughter of the Yuan family, so he took the initiative to cancel the engagement, claiming that his son was ill.

Yuan Ji was still a young man at that time, but he was unwilling to break off the engagement, saying: "If my husband is ill, I will serve him; if my husband dies, I will guard him."

From then on, he cried while guarding the Gao family's keepsake and went on a hunger strike to express his grievances.

A few years later, the Gao family came again. In order to avoid enmity between the two families, they had to truthfully explain the fact that their son was incompetent. However, Yuan Ji still insisted on keeping his promise. He believed that since they were engaged, they should be faithful to each other and was unwilling to cancel the engagement no matter what.

This was delayed until Yuan Ji was 25 years old. There was no longer any room for delay and the marriage finally took place.

After marriage, Yuan Ji strictly followed the rules of being a woman and the three obediences and four virtues. She endured all the beatings from her husband. When her husband did not allow her to write poetry, she burned all her manuscripts.

This went on for several years until the man became addicted to gambling and lost all the family property and Yuan Ji's dowry. He wanted to sell Yuan Ji and his daughter to pay off his debts. Gao's mother tried to stop him, but her son broke her teeth.

Yuan Ji took his daughter and fled to a nunnery and sent someone to send a letter to the Yuan family for help.

After several twists and turns, the Yuan family was able to bring Yuan Ji and her daughter back.

In the 17th year of Qianlong's reign, Yuan Ji moved to Suiyuan in Nanjing with his brother Yuan Mei. From then on, he lived in Suiyuan, wearing plain clothes every day and no longer wearing makeup. He lived in seclusion and rarely saw people.

Even so, she secretly asked someone to send silver back to her "husband's home" and often wrote poems to express her longing for her mother-in-law.

In her poems, she often attributed her own misfortunes to "fate."

After she died of depression, she entrusted the orphan girl to be raised by her brother Yuan Mei and his wife.

Yuan Mei once wrote "A Memorial to My Sister" to lament her misfortune and express his anger at her lack of fighting spirit. Many of the younger generations in the Yuan family also sighed, "The whole family laughs at my aunt's stupidity."

At this moment, some female relatives also sighed using the words of the Yuan family: "No wonder they say that young people are too serious about observing the three obediences, and that studying will waste their whole lives..."

"A woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent...Only by being talentless can she avoid being envied by heaven."

Some people lamented that Yuan Ji was obsessed with reading, and his talent was too great but his weakness was fatal.

But no matter how much people lamented her misfortune, they were full of admiration and praise for Yuan Ji's steadfastness. In the eyes of everyone, the suffering she had endured became evidence of her loyalty and bravery. The bitter fruit that a woman swallowed for following the virtues of a woman is always worthy of sympathy and praise. This is like a supreme test of practice that belongs only to women.

How can cultivation be without suffering? The more suffering one endures, the more one can cultivate to a higher state.

There was admiration in Shuyi's eyes, and a trace of yearning that she herself could not explain. She said to Zhenyi in a trance: "Second sister, Madam Yuanji is really a role model for women."

As Shuyi spoke, she couldn't help but look at A Yin. With such a mother with an excellent reputation for virtue, even though Mrs. Yin was an orphan and suffered from muteness, she still got a good marriage that everyone envied. This shows the world's recognition of Mrs. Yuan Ji.

Shuyi thought that even if some people verbally disapproved of Madam Yuanji's choice, this affirmation had already honestly explained the truth of this world.

Ah Yin was taught by his mother and he also wrote good poems. Now a lady smiled and said that Madam Yin should also publish her poems.

Ah Yin smiled and shook her head, using sign language. The older woman beside her smiled and conveyed the message for her: "Please don't say this in private, so as not to make a fool of yourself..."

All the ladies nodded in agreement. The young ladies were also very pleased with the teachings. Yang Jinniang also signaled Zhenyi to listen and learn.

Qian Yuling has a different view. She said: "I will definitely publish a book in the future."

The girls around seemed to have heard the thunder of the Waking of Insects season in advance, and they all looked at her, Zhenyi was no exception.

　Updated weekly~The third solar term has begun.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)