Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“I told you there was no hurry about the wedding dress. Why run all this way in such heavy rain?”

Chunxiang’s mother hurried to bring us two dry cloths, then sent Chunxiang to pour two bowls of hot tea.

But when she saw Zhu’er and me drenched through, and noticed the two changes of clothes in the bamboo basket on my arm, she understood.

“Sister, has someone wronged you?”

I shook my head and smiled as though nothing had happened.

“Of course not. Have Chunxiang try on her dress. I’ll fix anything that doesn’t fit. We mustn’t delay her happy day.”

The scarlet wedding dress fit Chunxiang perfectly from head to toe.

Whenever she moved, the embroidered flowers seemed to sway in the wind.

She looked beautiful.

After drinking his hot tea, Zhu’er stared at Chunxiang’s red dress, remembered his own unhappiness, and began to cry.

“Auntie, Papa won’t buy Zhu’er cakes, and he won’t buy Mama a hairpin.

“Mama took Zhu’er out this morning to buy them. Zhu’er had already decided on red-date filling.

“But it rained so hard. Zhu’er didn’t get his cake, and Mama didn’t get her hairpin.”

Chunxiang’s mother panicked.

“This is my sin. I was the one who dragged you aside and filled your head with nonsense.”

I shook my head and laughed.

“You aren’t the thunder god or the lightning goddess. How could a rainy day with no market be your fault?”

Once Chunxiang’s mother made up her mind, nothing could change it. She caught my hand.

“Chunxiang’s sleeves still need two more flowers. Stay a few days.”

After Chunxiang’s father died, her mother had raised her alone from infancy.

A widow and orphan were easy prey, so over the years Chunxiang’s mother had grown stubborn, blunt, and strong. No one could sway her once she had decided something.

I understood her kindness and could not refuse again.

She cleared out her own room for Zhu’er and me.

“Don’t feel awkward. Chunxiang is about to marry. The two of us can sleep together and talk at night.”

My eyes burned with gratitude. I had no idea how to repay her.

Chunxiang’s mother waved me off.

“I’m a mother too. I know that if you brought Zhu’er away, you’re determined not to return. I won’t try to persuade you.

“Stay without worrying. I won’t keep you for free, though. Tomorrow I’ll take your embroidery patterns into town and ask around. Once you’ve earned some money, you can pay me rent.”

As she spoke, Chunxiang pulled me inside to look through the patterns.

Several bright silk flowers lay on her table beside a plain silver hairpin.

“A-Niu gave me all of these. Take any you like, Sister Yu.”

At the mention of A-Niu, Chunxiang blushed.

“Just don’t take the red one. I—I want to wear that one at my wedding.”

As I made the bed, I heard Zhu’er asking Chunxiang’s mother, “Auntie, Papa treats Mama badly. He says Mama isn’t pretty, and it makes Mama so sad.”

“Bullshit! Your mother was the prettiest girl in our village. She never needed to shout when she sold her goods—her baskets were empty by midday. Her face was fresher than lotus roots and water bamboo, and every young man on the street stared at her. She was simply foolish enough to insist on marrying your father.”

“Why did Mama marry him?”

Chunxiang’s mother fanned Zhu’er and laughed as she remembered the past.

“Because among all the young men in Shui County, only your father was foolish in the same way as your mother.”

Zhu’er did not understand.

“When other seamstresses made clothes, they skimped on the work and pocketed spare lengths of cloth. Only your mother tried to save cloth for her customers.

“Back then, I had no money but plenty of pride. At the end of the year, I asked your mother to make Chunxiang an outfit so she would have something decent to wear when we visited people. Your mother knew how hard things were for us. She paid for extra cotton herself, then saved a piece of cloth the size of her palm and made shoe uppers for Chunxiang, with four little red pom-poms sewn on. She never even chased me for payment.

“And your father was foolish too. So many handsome young men courted your mother. Some hauled water and carried loads for her and your grandmother. Others stood on the hill and sang love songs for three days and nights. Your father alone helped your mother write letters to the father who had abandoned his wife and child, then found people to deliver them to the capital, all without charging a coin.

“Everyone thought the penniless young man from the capital knew exactly how to win Yuniang’s heart. Some told him Yuniang was putting on airs, coaxing gifts out of men while waiting to marry someone rich and powerful.

“Your father was poor, but he had pride enough for three men. He declared openly, ‘I don’t refuse her money because I desire Yuniang. Mother and daughter have had a hard life, and I only want justice for them. They’re two women alone, trying to live carefully. Don’t speak of her that way.’

“Then your grandmother passed away. Later still, your father’s gaze was no longer quite so honorable. Your mother made herself a red skirt, and after that, you came along.”

Zhu’er had not heard enough. He tugged at Chunxiang’s mother’s apron and kept asking, “Auntie, what happened next?”

She struggled, searching her memory.

“Oh! On the day he married your mother, your father was beside himself with joy. He drank himself senseless, weeping and laughing and making a great fool of himself.

“And then… then…”

What happened afterward, Chunxiang’s mother did not know.

Only later did I learn that every message sent to the capital had contained two letters: one specifically asking after Miss Yinyue and another incidentally seeking news of my father.

Only later did I learn that Pei Qingshu had been drunk and broken on our wedding day not from great joy, but from great grief.

The Zhao family in the capital had sent him a reply, warning him never to trouble Liu Yinyue again. She was already a wife of the Zhao household.

It was an ordinary story, nothing as interesting as the tales in books. If anything, it was absurd enough to be laughable.

Zhu’er had long since fallen asleep.

Late at night, the courtyard was silent except for insects.

With the story over, I tried to smile.

But when I lowered my head, my hand came away wet with tears.