The First Day of the New Year.
Pouring rain.
Old Lady Jiang still got up wearing brand-new clothes.
Sitting in the main hall.
Looking around the room, a few vases were missing, and the paintings on the walls had been changed.
The gauze windows had been replaced with coarse cloth.
She called out, "Yao."
She wanted to ask Yao what was going on.
But after speaking, she came to her senses.
Yao was dead.
Old Lady Jiang turned her head, as if she could still see a strong woman standing behind her, smiling at her.
"Old Lady," a younger face bowed to her.
It was one of her maids, but only Yao had been with her since she was young.
The others were not.
Gone forever.
Old Lady Jiang's eyes were red, but she did not shed tears.
On the first day of the new year, it is inauspicious to cry.
If you cry on the first day, you'll cry the whole year.
She had been through wind and waves, it was no big deal.
Old Lady Jiang could not help but sigh, Yao would never call her Old Lady, only Lady.
When one grows old, they fear aging.
Old Lady Jiang sat properly in the main hall, awaiting her children and grandchildren to pay their respects.
Today was the New Year, and everyone in the household had new clothes prepared.
Of course, not as lavish as before, but still better than most families.
A new atmosphere for the new year.
The house was too big.
Even to come to the Old Lady's wing to pay respects, they had to cross two courtyards, and their clothes would get wet.
Jiang Huaisheng had lost a lot of weight.
The newly tailored clothes might have been made to his old measurements, so they looked a bit loose and ill-fitting.
There was a scar on his cheek.
Though not long, it was very noticeable. He might have a tendency to scar, as the wound was slightly protruding and thick.
In ancient times, only prisoners who had committed grave offenses would have words carved onto their faces.
Those with words on their faces were of the lowest status.
Yet now, Jiang Huaisheng had a scar on his face.
He did not understand how his younger brother could bring himself to raise a sword against him.
He had been recovering from his wounds and contemplating the whole incident, recalling past events.
Finally, to his horror, he realized that perhaps his brother's frail health and frequent ailments from childhood were permitted by Mom?
He did not know how to face his mother anymore.
If that were true, then the matter with his brother and wife Jing'er was utter nonsense, a frame-up. It was not his brother who wanted Jing'er dead, but Mom?
The more he thought about it, the more panicked Jiang Huaisheng became.
He did not know what was the truth, what was real, and what was false.
On the first day, the whole family gathered for a meal.
Wu had had a difficult pregnancy, having gone through too many ordeals. Her body was thin, but her belly was large, looking rather frightening.
Watching all this, Old Lady Jiang felt increasingly regretful.
She did not regret the things she had done, she regretted being soft-hearted.
She should have killed him when he was ill, taken his life.
Yao was right, she had been too soft-hearted.
After nurturing a snake for years, she was bitten by it. A venomous snake is a venomous snake after all, a scourge is a scourge.
The meal was eaten in a calm and peaceful atmosphere.
Jiang Huaisheng felt a thorn in his heart towards his mother, but he had grown so accustomed to being a filial son that he did not dare question her.
Jiang Wan had become increasingly steady recently, shedding her childish demeanor and proving very capable.
Even in such circumstances, she still maintained her daily recitation of scriptures and supervised Jiang Rong's studies at home.
Jiang Huaisheng also supervised his son's studies every day, teaching him personally.
After this series of events, the person who changed the most was actually Jiang Rong. His studies had become much more intensive.
Aunt Yao's death and his father's injury had frightened him.
But his mother was heavily pregnant, and his grandmother was elderly. He could not rely on his sister for everything, that would be too irresponsible.
Now, he seemed much more steady than before.
Although he did not attend the County School, he studied very well at home.
He could focus on his studies now.
Once he tuned out external matters and focused solely on studying the classics, he found that reading was not as difficult or dull as he thought.
Immersed in the ocean of books, he gained a lot of insight.
He felt more rational and braver.
He even felt confident enough to try the imperial examinations now.
Previously, he did not enjoy studying and felt that life was just like that.
Now that he started studying properly, he felt filled with power and infinite possibilities for the future.
Watching her grandson's demeanor, Old Lady Jiang was extremely pleased. A blessing in disguise, perhaps not everything was bad.
"Good, very good. Rong, focus on your studies. Although I'm just an old bone, your grandfather was an upright man with connections all over the world that can be useful in critical times. Wu, take care of the pregnancy. This year, our family will have another addition, a great blessing. After you recover from childbirth and observe the confinement period, we will journey to the Capital City when the weather warms up."
The Old Lady made her arrangements systematically, her speech carrying much more vigor, no longer exuding an aloof and saintly aura.
Wu obediently nodded.
Her husband held her hand, and she was not afraid.
Jiang Rong also obediently agreed, vowing to study diligently.
Jiang Wan was also delighted. Household affairs had been hectic recently, and she had sold off some servants, reorganizing the inner quarters. Now the entire manor was under her control.
No rumors would reach her grandmother's ears.
She felt as if she was truly adept at managing everything.
Initially, she worried she would be flustered and unable to cope.
But once she actually started doing it, she found it was not difficult at all.
Now, seeing her brother becoming diligent too, she felt an unexpected joy and was filled with hope for the future.
If she could become the sister of a top scholar, her marriage prospects would only be lofty, no matter the prestigious family or nobility.
Everyone would look favorably upon a scholar's family.
With the vast collection of books in their home, and her brother's advantage, he was sure to succeed if he studied hard.
The family enjoyed a harmonious reunion.
Although this year's New Year's feast was the most humble in years, with only twelve dishes instead of the usual twenty-eight that covered the table, no one complained.
In fact, because of this incident, the family had become more united than ever.
Watching his mother, Jiang Huaisheng noticed a few strands of white hair on her forehead.
He thought that such a kind person could not have done those things, it must have been Aunt Yao's instigation, so she got her just deserts.
Although his face was injured, it did not matter, he still had Rong.
He had neglected Rong in the past, but now that he taught him personally, he discovered that Rong was extremely talented. Previously, he had just been too indolent, while Jiang Huaisheng had always thought his daughter was the intelligent one, not paying enough attention to his son.
After earnestly teaching him, he realized that his son was also exceptionally gifted, just not apparent before.
This gave Jiang Huaisheng a new purpose in life.
Even if he himself could not enter officialdom, there was still his son.
He taught and strategized from behind the scenes, which was just as good, perhaps even better.
Outside, the wind and rain were strong.
But the Jiang family was more united than ever, and this year's New Year had a better atmosphere than in previous years.
Because they had new motivation and hope, no longer stagnant.
As they were calmly eating, there was suddenly a loud commotion outside, raucous and lively.
Old Lady Jiang frowned slightly.
In this rural area, even heavy rain could not stop the beggars. On holidays and festivals, those people would don bizarre, misshapen masks, neither lion nor dog, and barge into wealthy households, wildly dancing around just to get some reward money.
If you did not give them anything, they would keep banging on your door.
The noise was vexing.
But today was the first day of the new year, so she could not get angry.
Old Lady Jiang kindly told the servant: "Go out and see, if it's beggars, give them some money. It's not easy for them."
The servant glanced at Miss Jiang Wan and saw her imperceptible nod, so he got up and went out.
The family was drinking soup.
The old lady was particular about it – after meals, they would drink some nourishing soup.
It was good for the body and helped digest hard-to-digest foods.
At her age, she rarely brought up even a mouthful of thick phlegm in the morning or coughed much – she had taken nourishing to the extreme.
The whole family was generally free of illness.
However, the banging at the door did not go away, but instead drew closer.
It sounded like it had reached the doorway.
The old lady frowned again, but Yao would surely handle it deftly and chase the people away effortlessly. Why was this maid so inept these days?
She couldn't even handle this trivial matter properly.
She had even let them in.
Wu actually felt a bit curious. She had an active and lively personality, but since coming to this small place, she had rarely gone out, increasingly restraining herself and quite curious about what was outside – she had never seen it, only heard others talk about it.
A group of people barged in, banging and clattering, dressed in bizarre outfits.
It was drizzling outside, so these people were wet, leaving puddles on the floor as they walked in.
In front of outsiders, the old lady instinctively adopted a kindly yet aloof demeanor.
But the leader of the banging group spoke: "By the order of Sir Jiang, we bring New Year's greetings to Old Lady Jiang, Sir Jiang, Young Master Jiang, and Miss Jiang. Sir Jiang said that although Old Lady Jiang is unkind, he cannot be unfilial, so for the New Year, he must send gifts."
The man spoke in a sing-song tone, bringing in clay jars, six in total.
After setting down the jars, he also left a greeting letter.
The group then danced around wildly, banging and clattering as they left, leaving the floor in disarray.
The maid Pi Shu was pale-faced too – she dared not stop them, as one of them wearing a mask seemed to be from her third uncle's family.
She dared not make a sound.
The open door let in the cold wind.
The old lady could not help but cough.
None of the maids knew to pat her back, but the filial Jiang Wan immediately went forward to soothe her grandmother.
The six clay jars looked rather seeping.
Dark and dirty.
Who sends jars as gifts?
Jiang Wan gestured for the servants to open the jars, and a pungent stench wafted out.
They hurriedly covered them again.
Old Lady Jiang frowned and asked, "What is this?"
The maid Pi Shu softly answered, "Replying to Old Lady, these are pickled vegetables made by the local villagers. Wild vegetables are put into jars, and after a long time, they release a foul odor. If the moldy top layer is removed, the bottom part can be eaten."
After saying this, Pi Shu hesitated, unsure whether to say the rest.
Seeing her dithering, the impatient old lady said, "Is there anything else? Continue."
Pi Shu knelt down in fright and said, "In our village, these clay jars are also used to store corpses. Because we are so poor, with not even land to be buried in, when someone dies, the body has nowhere to be interred and can only be left somewhere. After the flesh rots away leaving just bones, the bones are collected and put into clay jars, which are then placed in the wilderness – that counts as a burial."
"One jar contains the remains of one corpse. Usually many jars would be neatly arranged. Even bandits would not easily disturb them, because inside are human remains." Pi Shu added tremblingly.
Here there were the Old Lady, Miss Jiang, Lady Wu, Sir Jiang, Young Master Jiang, and Lady Wu's unborn child – exactly six people.
Thinking of it this way, it was simply horrifying.
Upon hearing this, Old Lady Jiang's teeth were chattering.
Beasts, beasts.
Wu, having heard the reason, also realized there were five of them but six jars were sent – did that include her child? Her brother-in-law hated her so much. She felt precarious, her face deathly pale.
The most difficult time for Jiang Huaisheng was when he was disfigured and could not enter officialdom, with his ambitions unfulfilled. Having gone through that ordeal, he now felt much stronger. Faced with such a scare tactic of sending clay jars, he was unfazed.
He was content to just focus on educating Rong.
With perseverance, there would eventually be rewards.
So he remained calm and was not very angry.
Jiang Wan also felt that besides trying to provoke them, there was no real harm in sending these things, so there was no need to make a big deal out of it.
Nowadays, Jiang Rong had also matured a lot. Seeing these things, he was not afraid, but rather felt more determined to study hard and make progress, so that one day, he could avenge any grievances and wrongs.
Old Lady Jiang's teeth were chattering – at her age, she could not stand talk of death.
Moreover, it was the first day of the new year.
"Give me what that beast wrote."
The old lady's angered expression was perhaps just for show.
She was the one who had truly experienced the storms of life in this family.
The letter was opened.
"I was defamed as unfilial, looked down upon and trampled by the world. Although the truth is now known, the fact remains that I was raised by Old Lady Jiang, a relationship that can never be severed."
Reading this, Old Lady Jiang showed disdain – that beast had killed Aunt Yao to vent his anger, but had ultimately become somewhat lucid.
"No matter what I do to you, I will be condemned by the world, so I will not leave the Jiang family. I will lead the Jiang family in rebellion to the end, never accepting amnesty. Old Lady Jiang must pray that I will win, otherwise the day I fall, all nine clans will be implicated, and on that day we can all depart for the underworld together, how joyous!"
