Chapter 6

The moon heard my wish. Chunfeng and Fox Sun married.

This time, I insisted they register with the authorities, but Fox Sun still could not remember his name.

Looking at the calligraphy on my desk, I made a suggestion. “Mother is Chunfeng, and I’m Zhenzhen. Why don’t we call you Sun Zhong?”

“Zhenzhong dai Chunfeng—cherish and care for Chunfeng. From now on, both of us must treat Mother well!”

Chunfeng blushed and smilingly chided me. “A daughter really is best!”

Since neither Sun Zhong nor I had household papers, we both went to the county office.

Chunfeng had lived in Gaoyou for more than three years and paid a substantial amount of tax over the last two. She was allowed to establish her own household and become its head.

I was listed as her adopted daughter, while Sun Zhong was the husband who had married into her family.

Both our names were added beneath Chunfeng’s. At last, I had a complete family.

My stepmother might have found me a stepfather, but I could not have been more pleased.

I clamored to visit Zhenguo Temple and fulfill my vow. Chunfeng readily agreed, but my newly married father looked troubled.

Was he going to cause trouble the moment he entered our family? Alarm bells rang in my head.

Under our puzzled, expectant stares, he reluctantly agreed, though his smile was awkward.

“I don’t believe in gods.”

“Spit that out! You only say that because you don’t know how miraculous the gods at Zhenguo Temple are,” I declared excitedly.

Sun Zhong truly refused to worship. As I kowtowed, I apologized on his behalf.

All you gods and Buddhas in heaven, please forgive my stepfather. He injured his head.

Chunfeng did not force him. She merely kowtowed twice as many times.

She and Sun Zhong held no grand ceremony, inviting only a few close friends and neighbors. Once married, they naturally shared a room.

Afraid I might be lonely, Sun Zhong strung a dried fish on a willow twig and used it as a bride-price to obtain a white cat for me.

For nearly ten years, I had never spent a night apart from Chunfeng. I did not sleep a wink.

After that, however, I no longer had to hurry home after school. I could romp outside to my heart’s content every day.

There was no need to keep watch or stand ready to defend her. Even if someone came looking for trouble, Chunfeng would no longer suffer the loss.

One day after school, I found a scrawny woman accusing her of indecency.

Sun Zhong charged out with an axe, threatening to chop the woman up for firewood. Then her husband could find himself a plumper wife, and perhaps stop gawking at other men’s women all day.

I saw Chunfeng hiding behind him with a secret, happy smile.

Everyone in the neighborhood said no one would have guessed the little widow was so fortunate. The husband she had taken into her household was capable and fiercely protective of his lady.

After that, there was even less gossip at the widow’s door.

Then one day, the old hag passed our shop and spat on the ground.

“Didn’t she go to the capital to enjoy a rich life?” I asked Chunfeng.

“Her daughter-in-law seems to have sent her back!” Chunfeng brought down her hammer. Sparks scattered through the dusk like warm fireworks.

Whenever an enemy met with misfortune, my thirst for knowledge became limitless. I pestered Chunfeng to discover every detail.

My appetite for gossip gave her a headache, so Sun Zhong took matters into his own hands. He sold firewood in Pipa Lane for several days before uncovering the whole story.

The Deputy Censor-in-Chief had offended the Crown Prince and been exiled to Lingnan. With Jiang Rui’s most powerful patron at court gone, he naturally kept his head down.

His mother, however, refused to behave in the capital. She quarreled constantly with the neighbors and repeatedly humiliated Jiang Rui and his wife.

Jiang Rui had always liked using one person as a weapon against another. He provoked Lady Liu and his mother into battling each other.

In the end, the daughter of a great clan proved the better fighter and drove the old woman home, claiming that the capital’s spring sandstorms were too severe and she ought to enjoy a peaceful retirement in the countryside.

“How bad are the sandstorms in the capital?” I asked without warning.

Sun Zhong answered without thinking. “Terrible. Every winter, the wind comes howling in from the grasslands and desert. It often blots out the sky. One walk outside and you can shake two catties of dirt from your clothes.”

He described it so vividly that I cut him off.

“How do you know?”

I stared at him. “Father, are you from the capital?”