Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Two days later, the skies cleared.

Song Baoyu brought his daughter over to marry into my family.

Little Song Xiu came in holding an umbrella, her hair tied with a festive red cord.

Song Baoyu had a bundle slung over his back.

Father and daughter stepped through the door together.

I pointed to a wooden cabinet inside and told Song Baoyu to put away the things from his bundle there.

He was clumsy with words. In his anxiety, his neck flushed red. After stammering for a while, he said shyly, “They’re for my wife.”

That piqued my curiosity.

I watched him spread the bundle out on the table and untie it.

A pair of red candles, carved with a crude dragon-and-phoenix pattern for marital bliss;

A gold hairpin in a fairly unusual style; several bolts of bright, fashionable cloth…

Song Baoyu took a purse from his sleeve and placed it on the table as well.

“All for my wife.”

I was a vulgar woman.

The first thing I did was open the purse, and the golden gleam nearly dazzled my eyes.

Inside was an ingot of gold.

I wouldn’t call myself happy. I was more stunned than anything.

The matchmaker had said this Song Baoyu was poor as could be.

That he was only marrying in because he could no longer afford to raise his daughter.

Then where had all these things come from?

Seeing my brows lowered and my lips pressed tight, the father and daughter both looked terribly cautious, lowering their heads in uneasy fear.

“Song Baoyu, I’m asking you-where did this money come from?”

He answered honestly, “A jade pendant.”

“I pawned the jade pendant.”

I asked again, “Where did the jade pendant come from?”

“My parents gave it to me. I couldn’t come to my wife empty-handed.”

So it had been his family heirloom.

How could he bear to part with it?

Even Zheng Huaishu back then had known to keep some silver on himself.

The silver I had fought like a shrew to get back, Zheng Huaishu had kept for himself.

At the time, I had thought we were husband and wife, and it made no difference who held the money as long as we could live our days.

Now that I thought about it, there had been a difference from the very beginning-in intention, if nothing else.

Without any courtesy, I weighed the purse in my hand.

It wasn’t light.

I tied it to my waist and let myself enjoy the feeling for a while.

Song Xiu stood quietly to one side, smiling foolishly.

The red cord bobbed up and down, making her look like a little lucky doll.

Then her stomach let out a thunderous growl.

So embarrassed, she tucked in her chin, her cheeks turning red.

There were still two catties of minced meat in the kitchen.

I kneaded some dough and wrapped a steamer’s worth of meat dumplings.

Song Baoyu helped by carrying firewood and tending the stove.

When the water began to bubble and steam rose against my face,

I dropped the plump dumplings into the pot one by one. Before long, the wrappers turned glossy, and a sheen of oil spread across the surface of the broth.

Song Xiu squatted by the stove, swallowing hard.

Even then, she stayed quiet and didn’t make a fuss.

I scooped one out first, placed it in a bowl, and handed it to the little girl.

“Have a taste. See if it’s cooked through.”

Song Xiu blew on it several times, then hurriedly took a bite.

Her eyes lit up.

She swallowed the whole thing down in one gulp.

Then her face crumpled in regret at having eaten it too quickly.

“I should’ve chewed it a few more times.”

After saying that, she carefully lifted her head and glanced at me.

“Mother, my stomach is small. One dumpling makes me half-full.”

I froze.

I realized that some angry words I had tossed out casually that day must have lodged themselves in Song Xiu’s heart.

I patted her on the forehead and stirred the pot of floating meat dumplings with the ladle.

“This whole pot is for the three of us to share.”

“If we can’t finish them, I’ll throw them out.”

“So you’d better eat a few more.”

Song Xiu tilted up her little face, twisting her fingers together. “Really?”

“Mother, you’re amazing. You can buy so much meat to eat. You’re the most amazing person Ah Xiu has ever seen.”

I smiled faintly, my eyes damp from the steam rising off the hot soup.

“What sort of skill is it to be able to eat meat?”

“When you grow up, maybe you’ll think meat dumplings aren’t as tasty as pastries.”

Song Xiu slowly shuffled to my side and took hold of my sleeve.

“Mother, if that day ever comes, then Ah Xiu won’t be worthy of your dumplings.”

True enough.

The dumplings I made had always tasted the same.

The one who thought they weren’t as good as pastries was the one who had changed.

So why should I blame myself?