BERW - Chapter 16
Chapter 16
By evening, Shen Yuyao was already dragging Qin Shujun down the mountain. The small town at the foot of the mountain was not far from Qianyin Temple; the two of them took a carriage to the edge of town and then walked in on foot.
Since arriving in this world, Shen Yuyao had never once gone out of the palace for a stroll, and so she looked on everything outside its walls with longing, very much looking forward to the journey ahead.
But when she truly reached the town, she could not help feeling a little disappointed.
They said a Lantern Festival was being held here, but an ancient lantern festival was nothing like the brightly lit festivals of the modern world.
It was very dark here.
Even though the sun had not yet fully set in the west, and a faint yellow daylight still shone over the land, it could not change the dimness of this small town. Night in the palace was bright as day, but that was the work of countless burning candles.
Where would common folk get so many candles? There were quite a few lanterns at the festival, yet it was still pitch dark; anyone with slightly poor eyesight might lose the companion at their side once they entered the crowd.
Everyone dressed much the same, so how was one to recognize anyone?
Most of the commoners wore hemp clothes in the three colors of gray, black, and blue. They were like members of a black sea, walking the roads and blending perfectly into that black ocean.
Children of the wealthy wore somewhat brighter colors, Shen Yuyao and Qin Shujun among them. Indeed, even the outfit of Qin Shujun's that Shen Yuyao found a little old-fashioned, its colors not bright enough, was still better than the clothes of most commoners.
Besides color, there was the matter of material. Silk and cotton-hemp were utterly different, and once dyed the difference was like that between heaven and earth. One could tell at a glance.
Shen Yuyao stared blankly at the crowds of every sort. Qin Shujun was ill at ease in such surroundings as well; she had always played in the capital, and mostly in places where the rich and noble gathered, so when had she ever seen such poor households? The capital's Lantern Festival was far beyond anything this small town could match; in fact, the capital's festival was closer to the lantern displays Shen Yuyao remembered seeing on television.
"It's rather dark. Yuexiao, light the lamp." Qin Shujun had the palace maid behind her light a hand lantern. She carried it in her hand, lighting the dusk ahead of time. "Little Sister, let's go wander the lantern market."
Shen Yuyao came back to herself and nodded; she was still rather looking forward to experiencing a genuine ancient lantern market firsthand.
At an ordinary lantern market, guessing lantern riddles and pitch-pot were the liveliest activities. This lantern market had them too. Though rather crude, everyone was enjoying themselves hugely, laughter and cheerful voices unending.
Shen Yuyao quickly threw herself into the mood, dragging Zhuxiang, who had come out with her, here and there, and before long she came back with a lantern in her hand.
"Sister-in-law, look, I won a little lantern!" The lantern was really very small, tied into the shape of a cat, and looked like a trifle meant to coax a child.
As a princess, any lantern Shen Yuyao wanted, however exquisite, could be made and presented to her, but how could those compare with one she had won with her own hands?
Qin Shujun also carried a lantern, a big cat. The one in Shen Yuyao's hand was a black-and-white tabby, while Qin Shujun's was a large orange cat.
"Did Sister-in-law win hers too?" Shen Yuyao circled that cat lantern, looking it over several times; she liked it beyond measure. Why hadn't she noticed a stall where one could win such a pretty lantern?
"I bought it at the shop up ahead. There's a stall selling trinkets there too. Shall we go take a look?" Qin Shujun could not help laughing. What shopkeeper would hang up a lantern that fine for people to win away? Naturally, it had to be bought with real silver.
Shen Yuyao's attention was quickly captured by the trinket stall, and she cast the cat lantern from her mind.
While picking out a small pendant at the trinket stall, Shen Yuyao suddenly felt something was a little strange.
She looked at the woman behind the stall: a beauty with clear features, seventeen or eighteen years old, dimples at the corners of her mouth when she smiled. She was dressed in coarse cloth, but her skin was very fine, only faintly tinged with wheat color and not the least bit fair.
If she were changed into a suit of silk, one would take her for the eldest daughter of a military family.
"Miss, I have a question I would like to ask you."
The woman looked up at Shen Yuyao, saw that she was richly dressed, and did not dare offend her. So she asked softly, "Ask away, young lady."
"My family and I have come from far away and are traveling to the capital. Passing through here, we happened upon the lantern market and came to look around. After a round, I noticed that most of the lanterns and pendants sold at the market are in the shape of cats, and few in any other form. Why is that?"
"You do not know, young lady. Our town is called Yudu Town, and the most famous thing in it is the tabby cat that lives at Fan Yuanwai's house. Ten years ago drought fell from the heavens, and famine spread without end across the Central Plain. Fan Yuanwai's whole household nearly died in that great disaster; they survived only because the tabby cat guarded its master."
This land had a long history, and every plot of it carried legends true or false. Shen Yuyao had heard tales stranger than this; a cat saving its master was hardly rare.
But to Qin Shujun's ears, the story held something wondrous, touched with a little romance, and she could not help recalling the cat she had kept as a child. Her heart was full of feeling.
She looked at the hand lantern in her grip. With memory as its lure, she liked it a little more.
"Ten years have passed. Is the cat from back then still alive?" Shen Yuyao asked curiously.
"Of course. If its master feeds it carefully, a cat can live a dozen years or more. If the two of you are truly curious, follow this road south to the very end, and you will see a very imposing gate. That is Fan Yuanwai's residence. The old cat hides from people, so it is not easy to catch sight of it, but its children and grandchildren can still be seen, and if you have the luck, you might carry one home to raise."
Shen Yuyao had little interest. In the modern world, she had loved watching videos of furry little creatures, but when it came to raising one herself, she was unwilling.
Keeping a pet meant taking on responsibility for a life: whatever you did, you had to think of it. Living on her own was tiring enough already, and Shen Yuyao truly did not want to add to her troubles.
Qin Shujun, by contrast, was wildly tempted. Ever since the cat she had once kept died, she had felt an emptiness at her side.
"Why don't we go on and pay a visit to Fan Yuanwai?"
After Shen Yuyao bought a cat pendant and left the stall, Qin Shujun suggested in a low voice.
"If Sister-in-law wants to go, then let's go. Wherever we go is new scenery to me anyway." Shen Yuyao was perfectly glad to let things take their course.
Because of the recent Lantern Festival, Fan Yuanwai had left his main gate open, and the front garden had simply been opened to outsiders, so that people could come admire rare flowers and plants and, while they were at it, see the cats.
Not just anyone could get in, though. Fan Yuanwai had set a threshold: one tael of silver to enter.
That threshold was enough to shut out the great majority of commoners.
As Shen Yuyao had Zhuxiang pay the silver, she sighed inwardly that this Fan Yuanwai was a true money-making prodigy.
She had not expected that upon entering she would see a fat man in a pale blue long gown, drenched in sweat, standing before two groups of people at daggers drawn and humbly pleading with both sides to calm down.
"Coming early is not as good as coming at the right moment. I never expected to walk in on a show."
Hearing this, Qin Shujun shook her head at Shen Yuyao in disapproval. Others were quarreling; how could she be so delighted to watch the excitement from the sidelines?
Even if she really meant to watch, she ought to restrain herself a little. So excited, was she not afraid people would see how much she loved a good mess?
Shen Yuyao answered with a brilliant smile, the joy of spectating drama undimmed in her eyes. She was exactly the kind of chaos-loving bystander who reveled in others' drama, and no one could rob her of that pleasure!
A fierce struggle was playing out at the Fan residence.
Shen Yuyao found a good spot for watching the show, and along the way she learned from other people's talk that the two parties quarreling in the middle of the ground were the daughter of the Minister of Revenue, Yang Chengye, and the daughter of the Minister of Justice, Shi Bingsheng.
Learning that the Fan family's cats carried auspicious meaning, and the Mid-Autumn Festival having just passed, both had come hoping to adopt one and win themselves a good omen. By the New Year the cat would be grown, and then she could hold it while sitting with her little sisters, chatting: how leisurely and free that would be!
The Minister of Revenue and the Minister of Justice stood on opposite sides of policy at court, and their conflicts were constant in ordinary days; such a climate had infected the younger generation as well.
So the moment Yang Keqing and Shi Caiwen met at the Fan residence, they began trading barbs, each finding the other unbearable.
Yang Keqing had taken a fancy to a pure white kitten, and Shi Caiwen had too. Neither would yield an inch. When Shen Yuyao and Qin Shujun arrived, the two were locked in a standoff, and the Fan family servant holding the white cat had his neck drawn in, not saying a word.
The noble young ladies of the capital had an intimidating air, and the retainers they brought behind them were all strong-bodied. If a fight broke out at the Fan household, it would certainly not end well. Fan Yuanwai got wind of it and hurried over, hastily trying to make peace.
But the effect of his words was negligible.
Still, seeing the crowd around them growing larger and larger, the two did not wish to go on quarreling and hand people material for gossip for nothing.
The taller Yang Keqing lifted her chin and said in a mocking tone, "Truly born of a small, low household, never having seen even a pretty cat. Qingye, come back. Let her have this cat. Fan Yuanwai, please fetch another, smaller is no matter. My Yang family has grain enough to feed a greedy cat."
The Minister of Revenue Yang Chengye was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, which is to say, the money. His family naturally lacked no money.
This is not to say Yang Chengye embezzled; rather, the Yang family, like the Zheng family, had been a renowned great clan since the former dynasty. Officials born of such families had money above all else.
The Minister of Justice Shi Bingsheng was different from Yang Chengye. The Shi family had begun to prosper with Shi Bingsheng's father, and Shi Bingsheng's father back then had been no more than an Assistant Department Head, not even fully inside officialdom. The Shi family's wealth and honor all came from Shi Bingsheng.
In wealth and standing, Shi Caiwen could not compare with Yang Keqing at all; in saying these words, Yang Keqing was trampling Shi Caiwen with her family background.
Hearing this, Shi Caiwen was furious. She turned and instructed the maid behind her to hold the cat well and watch over her cat, then stepped forward two paces and swung her hand at Yang Keqing's face.
"Smack!"
After that crisp sound, the young woman widened her eyes in disbelief, then, not about to take a loss, struck back. The two sides grew clamorous, and the whole thing turned into a brawl.
Standing outside the crowd, Shen Yuyao was dumbstruck, and Qin Shujun's face was equally disbelieving.
"S-Sister-in-law, are all the noble young ladies of our capital this fierce?"
Watching the two young ladies in the middle of the crowd, locked in a fight too close to part, Shen Yuyao could not understand it at all.
According to the course of an ancient romance novel or a television drama, shouldn't these two have traded a few barbed remarks, with the more fragile-hearted one perhaps weeping in anger, after which they would part on bad terms?
How had it come to blows the moment they spoke!
Qin Shujun was somewhat shocked, but far more accepting than Shen Yuyao. "I have heard that Minister Yang and Minister Shi once came to blows at court over opposing views. It seems their daughters have inherited the true tradition."
What? They fought when attending court?
Shen Yuyao discovered that the court of Great Zhuang seemed to be rather different from the court she had imagined. Could this be the legendary abundance of martial virtue?
Shen Yuyao clenched her fist and let out a breath of relief. Good thing she was strong as an ox; if she ever came to blows with someone, there was no way she would lose!
Comments
Post a Comment