Chapter 19: Up the Mountain
Feng Yuzhen had just told Cui Jingkong about her idea of starting a small vegetable patch in the yard, seeking his approval, when he picked up a hoe and went to do it.
She had impulsively bought some mallow and chive seeds from town that day. Mallow was a delicious and popular summer vegetable here, with lush, green leaves. A single patch would be enough to eat for several days.
Cui Jingkong was usually away from home during the day, so she couldn’t stop him from working. She planned to do more farm work herself during the day, not wanting to trouble him and waste his study time on hoeing.
She was bent over, working, when she straightened up and happened to see a familiar figure in the distance. Before the person had even gotten close, their voice arrived.
“Does Zhen’niang live here?”
Feng Yuzhen saw who it was and was instantly surprised, then broke into a happy smile. She dropped her hoe, waved vigorously, and called out, “Big Sister!”
The last time she had seen her big sister was when she and Cui Ze had just gotten married.
When she got closer, Feng Yuzhen studied her carefully and found that she had gained a lot of weight. Her face had a healthy glow, and it was clear she was doing well. She was holding the hand of a five or six-year-old boy.
Feng Yuzhen’s big sister had also been a quiet and hardworking person at home. As the firstborn and a daughter, she had been scolded by their parents even more harshly than her other sisters.
It was possible that she might have followed the same path as Feng Yuzhen in her previous life, but her big sister was quick and nimble. She had been sent to run errands in town early on. Perhaps it was from dealing with all sorts of people and seeing more of the world that her eyes had a different kind of sparkle.
When she was fifteen, she had been beaten by their father on the pretext that “the food was cold.”
Feng Yuzhen still remembered that night. The sky was dark with clouds, and the weather was very cold. Her big sister’s face was still bruised. She had held her in bed and secretly told her, “Sister is sorry, I won’t be able to look after you anymore. You have to learn to take care of yourself.”
The next morning, her big sister had taken the opportunity to go to town to buy cloth and had run away, never to return. With this vivid precedent, Mr. and Mrs. Feng had not allowed Feng Yuzhen to get too involved in outside affairs.
There had been no news for a long, long time, until ten days after she and Cui Ze were married. Her big sister had rushed back, travel-worn. It turned out she had married a peddler from another region—several mountains away, a very difficult journey.
The thin face in her memory had become round, and her big sister’s personality was much more cheerful. The child behind her was not shy either, chewing on his thumb and looking at her. Her big sister smiled and told him to call her Third Aunt.
“Third Aunt.”
“Yes, yes.” Feng Yuzhen also smiled and patted his little head.
She was the last of the four sisters to get married. Even her fourth sister had married half a year before her. Now that the sisters were rarely together, they were naturally overjoyed to see each other again. She hurried into the house and grabbed a few honeyed dates for the child.
“Don’t ruin your teeth. Go and play by yourself.” Her little nephew hopped off to look at the ants under the tree.
The two of them moved their stools and sat under the eaves, chatting about their daily lives. Her big sister talked animatedly, saying that her child was growing up and might be sent to the private academy next year.
She and her husband were now running a business together. They were both hardworking people, and their conditions were good now, which could be seen from the quality of their clothes.
Feng Yuzhen rested her chin on her hands, which were propped on her knees, and listened quietly, a gentle smile on her face, just like when she was a child listening to her tell stories. Just listening was enough to make her feel content.
Her big sister paused and sighed. “Zhen’niang, you must resent me. We’re really too far away, and news doesn’t travel. It was only a few days ago that my husband came back and told me that Ze’ge’er was gone. This is really…”
“No one could have expected it. It’s all in the past,” Feng Yuzhen lowered her eyes, her expression peaceful. Perhaps it was because so much had happened in the past two months, but her heart only ached a little, and the thick grief had faded a lot.
To say more would be to touch a sore spot, so her big sister changed the subject. “Why are you living here now? I asked all the way here and almost couldn’t find you.”
“I’m living with my brother-in-law. The main residence is too crowded to accommodate me.”
Her big sister said, “Oh. Isn’t that inconvenient? Do the young couple have a child? Why don’t I see anyone?”
Feng Yuzhen touched her face and answered honestly, “He is not yet married. He became a scholar last year and is studying at a nearby academy.”
“Oh my, that’s incredible. He’s not very old, is he?”
The conversation had inexplicably turned to her brother-in-law again. Feng Yuzhen felt an awkwardness as if she were trying to cover something up. Fortunately, her big sister quickly changed the subject and said with some confusion, “I thought you were still living in the mountains yesterday. I opened the door and saw two strange men.”
Feng Yuzhen’s heart tightened, and she immediately asked, “What’s going on?”
“You don’t know? That’s strange. They said you didn’t want the house anymore, so they moved in.”
That wooden house was built by her and her husband with their own hands, brick by brick. It could be said to be the only place in the world she was attached to, and it had been occupied without her knowledge!
Not only that, but those two men had even made up facts out of thin air. Feng Yuzhen couldn’t control herself and became a little agitated, her voice rising. “Big Sister, that’s my and Ze’ge’er’s home. I would never abandon it!”
She had been absent-minded ever since she found out about this. She had wanted to ask her big sister to stay for dinner, but the other was in a hurry to take her child back. Before leaving, she had taken off the silver bracelet from her wrist and given it to her.
“Third Sister, you’ve had a hard life since you were a child. I couldn’t take care of you back then. Now that my life is better, I’ve worn this bracelet for over a year. You definitely wouldn’t want a new one. This one is half-old, half-new. If you don’t like it, you can melt it down. The road is long and far, and I can’t help you much. Please accept it.”
Feng Yuzhen’s nose tingled. She and her big sister hugged, then waved goodbye. Another meeting in this life was over.
After she left, Feng Yuzhen put the bracelet away. The matter of the house in the mountains weighed on her mind, and she was restless. She decided to go up there in the next two days. After some hesitation, she decided not to tell Cui Jingkong for now.
This time, she had learned her lesson. To avoid being found out by her perceptive brother-in-law, she had gone to bed early that day. The next morning, as soon as Cui Jingkong left, she immediately went up the mountain, rushing with all her might without a single break.
White smoke rose from the chimney, and the door was wide open. Feng Yuzhen had intended to hide and observe cautiously, but when she peeked inside, she saw two men sitting with their legs spread wide, resting.
Feng Yuzhen took a deep breath. She had never expected them to be two acquaintances. In her previous life, they had ordered her around a lot in the Cui main residence.
So she walked straight in and looked around. The room was a mess, as if it had been robbed. The bed was wrinkled, of course, and the wardrobe was open and had been rummaged through. The floor was a chaotic mess of muddy footprints, completely unrecognizable.
Seeing someone suddenly burst in, they took a closer look and saw that it was the original owner of the house. One of them said to her sheepishly, “I was wondering who it was. Niece-in-law, aren’t you living in the west of the village now? Why are you back so suddenly?”
The two of them sat firmly, with no intention of apologizing or explaining. Feng Yuzhen’s hands trembled with anger. She suppressed her anger and asked, “Fourth Uncle, Cousin, you’re going to live in the mountains, but you didn’t even tell me?”
The dark-skinned, younger-looking cousin’s eyes darted around, and he scratched his hair. “We’ve been digging for bamboo shoots and catching pheasants these past few days. It’s tiring going up and down the mountain, so we’re just resting here for a while. You don’t mind, do you, Sister-in-law? We’re leaving tomorrow anyway!”
The other, Fourth Uncle Cui, whose face was as shriveled as a cucumber, was not so polite. “What’s wrong? Can’t we stay here? Cui Ze was raised in our family. Now we can’t even stay here for two days? What a fuss!”
The bow that Cui Ze had cherished in his lifetime, which had been hanging on the wall, had been taken down and thrown carelessly on the floor. Feng Yuzhen bent down to pick it up and found that there were faint cracks on it. It didn’t look like they had only been living there for three or four days.
Seeing her late husband’s belongings destroyed like this, anger and heartache burned in her chest. She calmed down instead. “You are both my elders. I am of humble status and cannot control you. Why don’t we let First Aunt judge tomorrow!”
She certainly couldn’t win against two grown men. She simply left her words and turned to leave. The two men behind her probably thought that a widow couldn’t cause much trouble. They grumbled a few words but didn’t try to stop her.
***
That night, Feng Yuzhen honestly told Cui Jingkong the whole story. She had a feeling that this matter would not end well. Fourth Uncle Cui was not a kind person. If things escalated, her brother-in-law would be the only one left in the dark.
Cui Jingkong put down the book in his hand, his eyes deep. “Why didn’t Sister-in-law tell me yesterday about going up the mountain today?”
Do I have to tell you everything? Besides, you’re busy with your studies. How could I disturb you? Or perhaps it was because of her special feelings for the wooden house. Feng Yuzhen brushed it off. “I just went to have a look today.”
The young man slowly dusted off his clothes. “Does Sister-in-law think I can’t see? You just don’t want me to go with you.”
His words were laced with a hint of sarcasm. “You can endure being bullied yourself, but you’re so anxious about that house. A house is an inanimate object. Have you ever thought that if you had run into some vicious criminals in the mountains today, would you have been able to come back in one piece?”
Feng Yuzhen was speechless, her shoulders hunched in submission. She had indeed been rash. But Cui Jingkong didn’t look at her again. The emotion he had just shown was suddenly withdrawn.
The angles of his profile suddenly became cold and hard. He said faintly, “I understand. Since Sister-in-law has no intention of letting me interfere, I will obey.”
Cui Jingkong sneered inwardly. He had made up his mind to let her hit a wall. It would be best if she were pricked until her skin broke and bled. When she knew the pain, she would obediently stay by his side and let him protect her.
He had it all planned out. In the afternoon, he told his teacher that he had to leave early. Because of his frequent requests for leave recently, he had been given two strikes of the ruler. He had used up one of his ten-day leave days for this month and had gone straight to the main residence. By the time he arrived, the atmosphere inside was already tense, and a huge argument was underway.
His arrival didn’t even attract any attention.
Feng Yuzhen’s voice was already a little hoarse. “Yes! Ze’ge’er owes the main residence. But the original house in the village has already been given to you, and the land too. The house in the mountains was built by me and Ze’ge’er. It has nothing to do with you!”
After Third Master Cui’s death, as a “compromise” for the main residence’s various parties to raise Cui Ze, the main residence had automatically taken back Third Master Cui’s land and house. So when Cui Ze grew up, he had no land and no house, which was one of the reasons he had become a hunter.
Liu Guilan was in the middle, scolding, clearly on Feng Yuzhen’s side. “Fourth Brother, you didn’t even tell Zhen’niang before you went. You rummaged through her things. Can you blame the younger generation for being angry with you?”
Cui Jingkong entered the room and saw Feng Yuzhen’s flushed face. Her dry lips were almost chapped, but she was still very persistent.
Her thin body was braced against the table, not giving an inch, a stark contrast to her usual cowardice. “We’ve given you what we should have. Ze’ge and I have never said anything. But the house in the mountains shouldn’t be taken away so vaguely!”
Cousin Cui’s thoughts had been exposed, and he complained angrily, “Easy for you to say! You won’t even let us rest there!”
“Does being family mean you can just ruin things?”
Fourth Uncle Cui, who had been sitting in his chair without a word, suddenly burst out cursing, “What are you talking about, you bitch? You’re not even on the family register. Stop meddling in our Cui family’s affairs!”
Feng Yuzhen’s face instantly turned pale. “What do you mean, not on the family register? Ze’ge’er and I were properly married.”
She couldn’t stand anyone trying to overturn this one bit of sweetness. “My father accepted his betrothal gifts. We had a two-table banquet. I was properly married into the family!”
Fourth Uncle Cui immediately went to get the family register and slammed it on the table. Feng Yuzhen frantically flipped through it. She couldn’t read. She looked around, feeling that everyone might be trying to deceive her. She turned her head and stopped, only then realizing that Cui Jingkong had arrived.
Cui Jingkong took the family register from her hand, opened it to the last two pages. Under Third Master Cui’s name were two branches. Cui Ze and Cui Jingkong’s names were indeed there, all alone.
He shook his head at his widowed sister-in-law’s hopeful eyes, his words as cruel as a sharp sword. “Only his name is on it.”
Feng Yuzhen was struck by lightning. She swayed, and Cui Jingkong quickly supported her back, preventing her from falling to the ground.