Chapter 55

Not only she was surprised; Zhou Chengkang was too. "This silver was to pay off your debts. We repaid it earlier; they weren't pressing you, and you're not in a rush."
No matter how good the relationship, once money is involved it can strain feelings. As it turned out, Mrs. Zhou had owed people for more than a year; those people would surely feel uneasy. Sometimes their words came with barbs, and she had to put up with it.
After a pause, he added, "This was something Qinghe agreed to as well."
Mrs. Zhou sighed, "I know. But I can't accept this money. It can't be that you feel sorry for me and so I depend on you alone. I have four sons, not just you; if I were to take it, each of them would have to give me some."
The rain outside grew heavier. Mrs. Zhou lowered her voice, "Actually, I've already finished paying those debts. You don't need to worry about me; Fifth Sister and I can get by."
That's good.
No debts and just growing enough grain to get by, much better. After letting Mrs. Zhou finish her meal, she handed her two buns to take home; that way, Fifth Sister wouldn't have to cook.
As she was leaving, Mothe r Zhou remembered something. "Fifth Sister says she wants to postpone her marriage, and that you agree."
Li Qinghe replied casually, "Yes, she's still young. Discussing the match this time next year would work perfectly."
Mrs. Zhou looked thoughtful. Seeing the rain had eased, she waved her hand and said, "With this rain, there's no need to see you out. As long as you're all right, I'm relieved."
Saying that, she plunged back into the curtain of rain.
The rain fell off and on for half a month, and by the winter month it mixed with snow; this year's winter seemed to have come early and was especially bitter. Every day after feeding the fish the two of them tended to the chickens. By late October, chicks began to hatch. The weather was so cold that Li Qinghe even set up a brazier for them; each day the hens crouched beside the brazier with their chicks and went nowhere, and fewer perished.
Da Huang's leg wound gradually healed; at first he limped a bit, but in recent days he seemed normal, proof that Zhou Chengkang's bone-setting had been successful. Their lives were quiet, and once the weather turned colder, Mrs. Zhou stopped coming around as often.
One afternoon someone knocked at the door. The rain had stopped that morning, but it was still cold outside. Zhou Chengkang answered, and to everyone's surprise the visitor was Madam Qian.
She was bundled up in thick clothing and looked uncomfortable. "Qinghe, I have something to ask you."
Li Qinghe raised an eyebrow; it went without saying the question would be about Zhao Wanwan. After so long without visiting, she had thought perhaps Madam Qian could really keep her composure.
"You said you saw Wanwan, how is she living now?" She lowered her head after speaking. "I may have... gone too far before. Don't hold it too much against me."
No matter how angry she was, as long as Wanwan was living with Li Fu, Li Qinghe couldn't find it in herself to be spiteful, any trouble would only come back onto her own father, so why bother?
"I did see her," Li Qinghe said calmly. "I don't know how she's doing."
Madam Qian frowned. "I sent money to her father to give to her; he said she's doing well."
So Madam Qian had believed Zhao Tianfu's words?
Li Qinghe was silent, then after a moment said, "I casually asked her if she'd seen her father. Wanwan said that since she came to the Li household, she hadn't seen him at all."
"Impossible," Madam Qian denied quickly.
Outside it was cold. Li Qinghe had been mending clothes recently; she picked up her needle and thread again and said indifferently, "If you don't believe me, fine. There's no need to come ask me."
Madam Qian was taken aback, but still pressed on, after all, the garments she'd retrieved bore Wanwan's stitching; she was certain she had met her, yet couldn't bring herself to believe Zhao Tianfu had lied. For days she'd wanted to come ask but had been afraid. If Wanwan's life wasn't as Zhao Tianfu described, then what was it? "So tell me, where did you run into her? Did you see Yanxi?"
Li Qinghe didn't answer, and instead asked curiously, "What did Wanwan's father say?"
Madam Qian bit her lip and said in a low voice, "He said Yanxi hasn't taken a concubine, that no one looks after his daily life, so Wanwan cooks and washes for him; when she has time she helps sweep the bookshop, only the money isn't enough..."
That was really too much. Li Qinghe couldn't help asking, "He didn't say he'd continue bringing money for Wanwan in the future, did he?"
Madam Qian was silent, which amounted to tacit acknowledgment. After a moment she said, "So you say you met Wanwan and she even made clothes for me. I was suspicious, if she really made them, why wouldn't her father bring them back to me? Then I thought maybe Wanwan didn't want her father and me to have too much contact, and asked you to bring them."
So Madam Qian had filled in the gaps herself wherever things didn't add up.
She looked a bit dispirited. Li Qinghe no longer held back. Although Zhao Tianfu had deceived Madam Qian, the money in the end had come out of Li Fu's pocket, round it up and the one cheated was her father, and that couldn't be tolerated. She immediately said, "My meeting with Wanwan was by chance. We took the fish to the county town overnight, and after selling them we stayed at an inn, everyone smelling of fish. I asked a boy to bring hot water, and the one who brought the hot water..."
Madam Qian covered her mouth with her hand, eyes wide with astonishment, and asked cautiously, "Was it Wanwan?"
Li Qinghe nodded. "She said she was busy and couldn't talk. I couldn't find her afterward either, but the next day as we were leaving she appeared and asked me to bring the bundle to you." She paused, then added, "Also, I didn't see my brother-in-law. I had once suggested she take work in the county where wages were higher and she could stay close to him, but she refused, saying it would harm his reputation. I saw her carrying water and couldn't help asking, her meaning was that she didn't live with him; she stayed at an inn and said no one knew about their relationship..."
Madam Qian gripped her hem tightly in anger and asked urgently, "So has he taken a concubine?"
Li Qinghe spread her hands. "That's not something I can ask."
As an older sister with only a detached relationship, asking whether her brother-in-law had taken a concubine might make him think she was gloating.
Madam Qian took a few deep breaths. "Thank you." With that she turned to leave, stumbled once, and steadied herself against the door.
By the middle of the tenth month the weather grew colder and the chickens ate a lot each day. Li Qinghe had originally planned to catch and sell all the roosters for the New Year, but seeing the big basin of feed each day she lost the heart to keep feeding them. The two of them picked a day, kept two with good plumage, and herded the rest into town to sell.
Ordinary folk rarely bought roosters, so she took them straight to the tavern and exchanged them for a little over one tael of silver, which she immediately used to buy some grain to bring back.
The fish in the pond had grown a little big; she wasn't in a hurry and planned to net them out and sell them closer to the New Year.
By the twelfth month, the students who had gone to the county to study had all come home. Among them were Hu Yanxi and Qian Laiwen, but not Zhao Wanwan.
By then Madam Qian was anxious; she hurried over to the Qian household to ask her younger brother what had happened.
Whether those scholars had returned or not meant little to Li Qinghe. It was Li Fu who came in person to say that on the eighth day of the twelfth month Hu Yanxi had stopped by to pay his respects and had urged the two of them to come back.
It wasn't so much that he missed his daughter; largely it was because with Hu Yanxi coming they had to prepare meat and vegetables, and he wanted his daughter and son-in-law to have a share, a selfish pleasure of his. Besides, a crowd makes things livelier.
When the day came, they set off rather late. She thought that if they arrived early and found Zhou Chengkang, Li Fu, and Hu Yanxi chatting, it would be awkward for her to sit and listen; if she wasn't in the main room she'd only be relegated to the kitchen to help.
But Li Qinghe didn't want to be stuck in the kitchen, for that would mean being alone with Madam Qian, and their relationship hadn't reached that point.
So when they arrived it was precisely mealtime; the dishes were ready. Li Fu stood in the courtyard looking over and, spotting them, flung the door wide. "Why are you so late? You promised yesterday and we thought you might have forgotten."
"The chicks are hatching," Li Qinghe said offhand.
Li Fu, surprised, said, "You know how to hatch chicks?"
"I learned," Li Qinghe smiled, and when she went in and saw Madam Qian setting out bowls and chopsticks she also went to the kitchen to help bring the dishes, and Madam Qian even smiled at her.
During the meal Li Fu was in high spirits. He spoke of this year's harvest and then asked about Hu Yanxi's county examination next year.
The county exams are held annually; the higher ones come only every three years. Hu Yanxi was a scholar, polite even when drinking. "I don't know," he said. "One does what one can and has no regrets."
While Li Qinghe went into the kitchen to fetch more dishes, Zhou Chengkang stepped outside for some air, and soon Madam Qian came out as well. "Chengkang," she asked, "could you ask whether Yanxi has taken a concubine?"
Zhou Chengkang was a little startled but agreed. Apart from him, no one in that household was truly in a position to ask.
Madam Qian stood under the eaves, straining to listen.
Knowing he was going in to ask that question, Li Qinghe felt it would be awkward to be nearby, so she didn't follow him inside; instead she remained under the eaves as well.
From inside Zhou Chengkang heard him lower his voice with a conspiratorial air. "I've heard our brother-in-law has taken a concubine, is there any truth to that?"
After a while Hu Yanxi's voice answered, "There's no such thing. Matters of romance are what outsiders love to gossip about. If you don't believe me, go ask your uncle."
Whether true or not, they couldn't ask Qian Laiwen, because it had been his story to begin with.
Madam Qian clearly let out a breath of relief: whether it was true, the fact that Hu Yanxi denied it showed it hadn't been aired publicly yet. She had hardly finished breathing when someone outside came running, "Madam Qian, hurry back and see, your father has fallen; he may be done for."
Madam Qian's face changed drastically; she ran out. "How did he fall? Where? Is it serious? Should we fetch a doctor..."
Asking questions, the two of them ran off.
Those inside came out; Zhou Chengkang said in puzzlement, "How is it that for half a year there's been no trouble, and now that the son has come home he ends up falling?"
This was something Li Qinghe couldn't make sense of either.
With such a thing happening, there was no appetite for a meal. Li Fu had the table cleared, locked the door, and took them to the Qian house.
It was much like when Old Madam Qian had died before, the courtyard was filled with people. But now Madam You's face was grave and she was shouting, "I saw it with my own eyes, he pushed him."
"What a bastard!" someone cried out in fury.
"But what could he possibly be after?" another wondered.
Someone sighed, "Better to raise a dog than a son."
From the surrounding talk they learned that Old Qian's fall was because Qian Laiwen had been supporting him out the door and then shoved him, and Madam You, who had come to deliver fresh clothes, had witnessed it.
"There are things I didn't say before," Madam You hesitated. "Last time, when Mother died, as I was preparing her body I found blood and flesh under her fingernails, as if she'd clawed someone..."