Chapter 22: Spring in the Year
The mourning clapper soon echoed through the Blind Alley, spreading word of the death. People arrived quickly. White candles were lit, casting a cold, snow-like pallor over everything.
Inside, the cries of the women rose in unison, a chorus of grief. No one needed to give orders, relatives and elders bustled back and forth, arranging offerings, laying out burial garments, preparing everything needed for the funeral rites. Birth, aging, illness, and death… in the end, were no different from any of life’s other ordinary affairs.
Li Wei stood at the northwest corner of the courtyard, holding in his arms the clothes Madam Li had most often worn in her lifetime. He cried out at the top of his lungs, the final syllables hoarse and raspy in his throat. This was a summoning of the soul, a ritual call in hopes that the deceased might hear it and return.
Chun Tian watched the man’s back. He was dressed in an old black robe, and the pale light and shadows from the mourning candles slanted down across the broad frame of his shoulders like a cold spotlight, making for a desolate scene. His cries made her heart ache and go numb. She wished, more than anything, that Madam Li would suddenly wake up, that this ritual could come to an end, that no one in her life would ever have to leave again, that no one would ever die, that pain would never again come knocking at the door of her fragile, sensitive heart.
Madam Li still lay there, silent and still. The wailing in the house rose and fell like waves. The sound made one restless with anxiety and after a while, both body and spirit dissolved into a single knot of bitterness and sorrow. The mourning hall was arranged quickly. Aunties and matrons bustled about, pulling Changliu, Chun Tian and Xianxian too, dressing them in coarse hemp mourning clothes. Inside, Lu Mingyue and Aunt Zhao prepared Madam Li’s body for burial in the coffin.
Outside, Changliu wept uncontrollably. No one stopped him. Some wiped his tears, others whispered words of comfort. He was crying for the one person in this world who had loved him most and who had once cried for him.
Mourners came one after another to pay their respects. The modest courtyard filled quickly with people. The funeral rites were long and solemn. Li Wei and Changliu knelt, bowing and returning each guest’s respects, performing every courtesy properly.
Changliu had cried too long, knelt too hard. That night, beneath the ancestral hall, he came down with a high fever. His cheeks flushed crimson, his tear-swollen eyes nearly the size of peach pits. He refused to leave the mourning hall. No one could persuade him otherwise. Jiayan grew anxious and knelt on the ground with a loud thud, “Your mother is my mother. My mother is your mother. I’m also Madam Li’s son. If I keep watch here tonight, it’s a son keeping vigil for his mother, just the same as you.”
Lu Mingyue felt both bitterness and relief in her heart. She had always thought Jiayan to be a mischievous child. Never would she have expected him to say something so thoughtful. At once, she embraced Changliu, tears brimming in her eyes, gently coaxing and comforting him as best she could. In the end, Li Wei had to call for Physician Hu, who came and helped forcibly carry Changliu back to his room to rest.
But Changliu’s fever did not subside. All through the night he deliriously called out for his mother. Chun Tian stayed by his side, changing the water, feeding him medicine and she did not sleep a wink. In the depths of the night, Changliu slipped into a nightmare. His trembling hands reached out into the air, helplessly groping for something, as if grasping the edge of Madam Li’s robe, calling out again and again:
“Mother, Mother, don’t go…”
He wept in his sleep, soft sobs muffled against the pillow, soaking it with tears. Chun Tian, helpless to do anything else, could only clutch both his hands, hold him in her arms, and pat his back over and over, gently trying to soothe him.
“Changliu, jiejie is here. Don’t cry… don’t cry, I’m here.” Then, she began to hum a lullaby, low and indistinct, the lyrics blurred and unrecognizable. Yet the tune was gentle and lilting, her voice tender. Slowly, soothed by the sound, he began to calm.
Before dawn, those keeping vigil had grown exhausted, and the mourning music and weeping had faded into silence. Chun Tian carried a basin to the kitchen to fetch fresh water, and on her way back, caught sight of Li Wei still kneeling before the ancestral hall. The orange flames quietly licked at the offerings of paper money. She stood for a while outside, unsure how to comfort him, then silently turned and left.
When Changliu awoke, he saw Chun Tian asleep beside him, her long lashes tightly closed in slumber, leaning tiredly against the bed. One delicate hand still clutched his. Not wanting to disturb her, he simply lay there in silence, staring up at the canopy.
Chun Tian, too, had been dreaming. She awoke with a start, and the first thing she saw were Changliu’s reddened eyes gazing back at her, the pale canopy above, and unfamiliar furnishings all around. Only then did she remember, she was at the Li household. The mourning music outside was for Madam Li. Not for her father’s mourning hall.
“Awake?” Chun Tian reached out and gently felt Changliu’s forehead. “Still running a fever, does it hurt?”
Changliu sniffled and shook his head. His voice was a little hoarse: “No, it doesn’t.”
He tried to get out of bed, but Chun Tian wrapped an arm around his waist and helped him down. “Let me help you dress.”
Changliu breathed in the soft fragrance clinging to her clothes, his face flushed red. At twelve, he had not yet hit puberty, he barely reached Chun Tian’s shoulder. Quiet and introverted by nature, he rarely spoke with girls his age. He didn’t yet understand what love between a man and a woman meant. He only knew that being near a girl made him shy, but he liked Chun Tian. This sister, slightly older than him, was educated and brave, beautiful yet gentle, melancholic yet pitiful. Whenever he looked into her eyes, he could not help but feel an urge to protect her.
On the day of Madam Li’s burial, the sky was overcast. Halfway through the procession, a light rain began to fall. Spring came late in Hexi, yet this rain seemed to wash away the chill. The wind had softened, the frozen rivers and its glaciers had begun to thaw, tender green shoots were sprouting across the plains beyond the city, and snow had washed over the mountains, leaving them serene and lovely.
The dirge singers followed at the end of the procession, their voices hoarse and mournful as they chanted the funeral lament: “The dew on leeks fades too easily…” The words drew tears from those who heard them.
Lu Mingyue walked among the mourners, eyes fixed on Li Wei, who led Changliu by the hand at the front of the line. Her heart was full of emotion. A scoop of earth, a cup of wine, the new grave rose like a full moon. For the dead, it was the end of all things; for the living, the slow torment continued, waiting to return every year on Tomb Sweeping Day to burn incense, pour wine, and pay tribute to the dead.
Helian Guang’s expression remained unreadable. Concealed beneath his sleeve, he reached for her hand and caught it. No matter how she tried to shake him off, he would not let go. He was thinking: she was his elder brother’s widow. Was it like this, too, all those years ago? Donning mourning robes, following the wailing suona, walking with young Jiayan through bitter wind and rain. If he considered it even for a moment, the pain multiplied tenfold.
Chun Tian had been turning something over in her mind for days. That day, she slipped out of the alley alone and made her way to Kaiyuan Pavilion in Ganzhou City.
The building was unassuming in appearance but held an enterprise of great wealth. It was the Hexi branch of the Duan family’s operations. The man in charge was Cao Dening, he had returned from Chang’an. That very day, a shipment of fragrant tea from Jianghuai was expected to arrive. He had arranged to meet with some Hu merchants from Dianhe City to inspect the goods and arrange for transport westward.
The apprentice from the front courtyard came running three or four times, saying a strange young girl was asking to see him. Cao Dening, curious and somewhat puzzled in his heart, stepped out when he had a spare moment. At first glance, the girl indeed looked unfamiliar, but upon closer inspection, he recognized her. She was the young woman Li Wei had rescued that day at Red Ravine Valley.
Cao Dening was a little confused, but he stepped forward, cupped his hands in a polite bow, and smiled,“Young lady, has your injury fully healed?”
Chun Tian nodded and returned his courtesy. “Many thanks for Uncle’s help that day..” She paused, lips pressed together, then asked, “May I ask… has Young Master Duan returned to Ganzhou?”
Cao Dening had assumed she had come to thank Duan Jinke, but it did not seem to be that. He shook his head. “I’m afraid our Second Young Master likely won’t be back in Ganzhou for some time. Did the lady need something from him?”
Chun Tian hesitated, searching for the right words. After a moment of inner deliberation and not knowing how to start, she asked, “Is Young Master Duan acquainted with His Highness, the current Prince Jing?”
Cao Dening had not expected her to say that. The words making his heart skip like a stone into a well. “Young lady… which ‘Prince Jing’ do you mean?”
Chun Tian paused, startled for a moment, then continued, “There is only one Prince Jing in all the realm, the one whose residence is in Yong’an Lane, Chang’an. He once commanded the Shangyuan Army and now oversees affairs in the Ministry of Works. When Young Master Duan rescued me, I vaguely recall him mentioning the Dowager Consort of Prince Jing’s household.”
She remembered someone had said the Dowager Consort was about to celebrate a birthday, and that Prince Jing’s household was awaiting a shipment of fine fabrics from the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture to make garments. At the time, half-conscious and confused, she’d thought she had returned to Chang’an, and in a sudden panic, had coughed up blood.
That the Duan family had grown close to Prince Jing’s household in recent years was no secret. But now, this young woman’s words began to sound unusual. Cao Dening recalled that Duan Jinke had once asked him to follow up with Li Wei about the girl they’d rescued at Red Ravine Valley. Li Wei had simply replied that she was a child from an ordinary household and hadn’t mentioned anything else. Now, Cao Dening’s suspicions deepened. His tone grew more cautious. “May I ask… who exactly is the young lady?”
“I have some past ties with Prince Jing,” Chun Tian said softly, eyes lowered. “I have a relative in the Prince’s household. It’s only that I’ve been far away for too long and this place is remote. We have not contacted each other for a very long time. If Young Master Duan is indeed acquainted with Prince Jing, might I trouble him to carry a message on my behalf?”
She bit her lip gently and bowed, “I know this is very presumptuous. Please forgive me and hope you will not take offense.”
“May I ask the young lady’s esteemed surname?” Cao Dening asked with a smile. “And how is your honored relative addressed?”
“My surname is Xue,” Chun Tian replied. “The relative I speak of is my paternal aunt. In Prince Jing’s household, she is known as Xue-shi—one of His Highness’s concubines. She has an elder brother who serves as Vice Minister in the Ministry of Revenue.”
“That Xue-furen?” Cao Dening gently stroked his beard. Who in Chang’an hadn’t heard? Prince Jing had recently welcomed a long-awaited heir. At the end of the first lunar month, he held a grand full-month banquet for his son, with guests from across the capital, even His Majesty had sent silver as a gift for the child’s first bath. It was also said that this Xue furen was both talented and beautiful, cherished by Prince Jing like a precious jewel. “The same Lady Xue who gave birth to the prince’s heir last year? The one from Vice Minister Xue Guangxiao daren’s household at the Ministry of Revenue?”
Chun Tian’s expression changed drastically. She froze for a long moment before answering, “Indeed.”
Cao Dening smiled. “So it’s true, then.” He turned and called for tea and sweets to be served. “We’ve not yet had the pleasure of learning your given name, young lady. Please, take a seat, I shall write immediately to the Second Young Master.”
But Chun Tian could only ask, “My aunt gave birth to an heir for the Prince’s household? And I didn’t even know?”
“Xue furen gave birth to the Prince’s firstborn son late last year on New Year’s Eve. His Highness named him Ningxin’er.”
Chun Tian felt her mind go completely blank. She stood frozen for a long moment, her face drained of all color. “Is that so? And I didn’t know a thing.”
She forced a smile, then rose to her feet and walked straight toward the door. Cao Dening called after her, saying something she couldn’t make out. She shook out her sleeves and strode out, deaf to his words.
“Miss, young lady, please, slow down! If you have a message, what would you like me to say?”
She kept moving, quick and aimless, not knowing where her feet were taking her. Her chest felt crushed beneath a weight she couldn’t lift, heavy and suffocating.
Three years ago, when the Emperor ordered the investigation and confiscation of the Wei family estate, Wei Shaozong took his own life. She had begged her uncle to bring her mother home, but he had been seized with dread, terrified of being associated with the disgraced Wei household, and ignored her pleas completely.
A year later, her mother had become the esteemed and resplendent Xue furen of the Prince Jing household. Lavish gifts from Prince Jing’s residence flowed into the Xue family, and soon after, her uncle’s official career soared. But from that moment on, her mother became her aunt, and Chun Tian became the daughter of her uncle and aunt, calling them father and mother. She had understood the difficulties adults faced. This was Prince Jing’s household. Her mother was beloved, so her family background had to remain unblemished.
In those early days at the Prince’s residence, her mother had often been unhappy. Only when she saw Chun Tian did she occasionally smile. But as time passed, her mother began mentioning Prince Jing more and more. She started making his clothes, stitching his shoes. And she began seeing Chun Tian less and less.
Chun Tian thought: perhaps her mother had already long forgotten her father.
At the beginning of last year, she had made up her mind to travel west. Time and again, she had asked her aunt for permission to visit the prince’s household to see her “aunt”. Each time, she was turned away by her uncle’s wife, who told her Xue furen was not well and she was not receiving visitors. Presumably, her mother must have already been pregnant then.
In the end, her “aunt” truly became her aunt and someone else’s wife. Someone else’s mother.
TN: Hope everyone is doing well! My heart breaks for Changliu, losing a parent this young must be unimaginably difficult. Jiayan is a great friend at the end of the day, a child with deeper thoughts then you might expect. Children are so pure hearted and intuitive when it comes to certain things. Curious as to why Chun Tian has approached Cao Dening, but she must be planning something~
Announcement: We have set up a kofi and patreon account! If you would like to support us or get early access to advance chapters, those options are available for you (in support us page)! Since I am a grad student, there should usually be at least 10 advance chapters in the document at a time, but depending on my schedules, there may be fewer or more. I’m currently extremely busy, but I have translated out some new chapters for you all! But, I will still post each week with the same schedule. Thanks!
Twin Dragons Translations 