Chapter 56

When she said that, the yard fell silent for a moment, then everyone began to talk at once. Qian Laiman was there too; his face looked very ugly. "Why didn't you say anything then?"
The matter did not bear scrutiny, it was terrifying. The Qian parents had always answered their son's every request, whether it concerned their adopted son or their married-off daughter. If the son asked for money or exertion, they gave it, especially to the adopted son's household, who already had a scholar and were in a tight spot. Over the years they'd fought many times over this family; even the daughter who'd married out had reportedly argued to get money sent back home.
When the daughter married, they went so far as to ignore her wishes and accept a high dowry. Every coin was spent on the son, and to think that this son, whom they'd treated so heartily, could... take a life with his own hands.
"Sister-in-law, don't make baseless accusations," said a woman about Madam You's age. "You wiped her then, but there was no sign of injury on auntie's body. If someone had attacked her, how could there be no marks?" She was not trying to cast doubt so much as raise a point of contention.
Madam You was speechless. "How could I have spoken up then? When I found it I was terrified; I had nightmares for months... More than half a year has passed since the last time. And now, this I saw with my own eyes, Father had not been getting out of bed for a long time. I brought him his meals; the clothes and bedding were ones I had washed and had been changed when my child's father came over to help. Why would he suddenly want to go out? And if he did go out, why couldn't he be steadied?"
At that moment the town chief entered; having heard much from outside, he came in and asked solemnly, "So are you saying that Old Qian was deliberately killed by your brother?"
Madam You dared not go that far. "I wouldn't say that exactly," she replied, "but there are certainly suspicious circumstances surrounding our parents' deaths."
Madam Qian rushed into the room and, seeing her father's lifeless body on the bed with eyes wide open, sobbed her heart out. Then, hearing the talk outside, she stumbled out in tears, "Then why didn't you tell me? It's one thing if outsiders keep quiet, but why would you keep it from me?"
Behind her, Qian Laiwen followed with a cold look on his face. "Sister-in-law, what are you saying? I've studied the law, everything needs evidence. Otherwise it's slander, and you'll end up in jail!"
Madam You went pale. "I'm not slandering anyone. I'm only pointing out doubts. If everything's normal, then proceed with the funeral. It's just that my family truly has no silver left, this funeral..."
Only then did everyone recall that when Qian's mother died it had been Madam You who had paid the bulk, with Li Fu contributing a little as well.
Qian Laiwen spoke up confidently, "If not for my parents back then, my eldest brother would already have been taken away, perhaps handed over to those men and killed. Now you refuse to help with my parents' funeral; if they knew in their graves they'd rise up in anger. With all the relatives and neighbors here, don't you have any shame?"
Those words drained Madam You's color. She had two sons; Qian Laiman had only married last month and would be living in the village for years to come. Qian Laiman was a carpenter who made furniture for households, if his reputation were ruined, there were plenty of carpenters in town, and it would directly affect the family's livelihood.
"Then I'll pay half!" Madam You gritted her teeth. "You're the son of the old couple; even if they treated us as their own, with two sons one could look after each elder, we would be dutiful enough."
"I only study books; where would I get money?" Qian Laiwen frowned. "You pay for my parents' funeral and I'll consider it a loan."
Madam Qian opened her mouth to speak, but Li Fu gave her a tug and she immediately bowed her head.
Li Fu's thinking was simple. As a son-in-law, he believed he'd been dutiful to the elders these past years. If it came down to little things, he could chip in like last time. If the elders had no sons or their sons weren't around, that would be another matter, but now that both adopted and biological sons were present, there was no reason he should bear the lion's share.
The yard fell into an awkward silence; relatives and neighbors didn't dare take a clear stand. If it had been Qian's mother's funeral, her natal family might have spoken up, but this was Qian's father, and there were no respected elders on the Qian side. As the atmosphere grew tense and the town chief cleared his throat to speak, Madam You suddenly said, "Fine, if we pay the money, we'll take charge of the funeral rites."
"On what grounds?" Qian Laiwen reacted quickly, frowning. "The size of the funeral is everyone's expression of feeling. I intend to repay it in the future. If you take it now, will you be the one to pay for all our family events from now on?"
In truth, Madam You's complaint came from resentment: last time Qian Laiwen had grabbed control of the funeral arrangements and then hurried off to the county town, leaving nothing behind, only an elderly father with limited mobility who had to be cared for.
When the foster parents were alive, they couldn't make a fuss; asked for money or effort, they gave it out of gratitude for past kindness. But now the elders were gone, why should they keep taking losses? She had a son and would one day have grandsons, how long was she expected to keep subsidizing like this?
Seeing Qian Laiwen refuse to budge about the funeral rites, in a flash Madam You's thoughts snapped into place and she blurted out, "You harmed the old couple, could it be for the sake of the funeral rites?"
As soon as the words left her she regretted them; it sounded absurd. Who could be so heartless?
But oddly, the more she thought about it the more it made sense, and she shouted, "I'm going to report this, my parents' deaths are suspicious." She turned to her husband and cried, "He killed my parents!"
Her husband was a taciturn, seemingly simple middle-aged man; after caring for the immobile Qian father for so long, he appeared honest. Hearing her, he was first surprised, then looked to the town chief. "Town chief, I want to report this to the officials and clear my parents' names. I didn't know about what happened to my mother before, but today's events were witnessed by my wife, she saw it with her own eyes, and I believe she wouldn't lie."
The Qian family's funeral turned into a spectacle. Around noon, after the commotion and receiving word, the town chief sent people to take Qian Laiwen away.
The funeral went ahead as planned; Madam You paid the money, but the town chief declared that because she paid, the funeral rites would remain under her family's control.
News came that Qian Laiwen had been transferred to the county jail. He had been clamoring to return to perform his father's final rites; when Madam You heard this she raged, "Such a scoundrel must not be allowed to come back for the funeral, I'm afraid the old couple won't rest in peace below."
With only Madam You's testimony, under normal circumstances the case would likely have stalled for lack of evidence and Qian Laiwen would have been released. But two days later, in a brothel in the county town, one of Qian Laiwen's lovers told a patron that he'd once bragged drunk in bed that he'd smothered his mother with a pillow.
With that witness, the county magistrate, who had not taken the case seriously before, ordered a formal interrogation. After a few blows he confessed everything. He had indeed smothered Qian's mother with a pillow, and Qian's father had already been smothered by him before he was brought out.
In a village where petty thefts were rare, hearing that such a horrific thing had happened among them first left people stunned; afterward they became much stricter with their own children.
While father Qian was being buried, Qian Laiwen's sentence was handed down: immediate execution by beheading, and the body was not to be returned to the family.
After father Qian was buried it was already the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. With Qian Laiwen's sentence finalized and a few days of gossip behind them, everyone turned to preparing New Year's provisions.
The two of them, Li Qinghe and her companion, began catching fish to sell. As the New Year approached the town markets were bustling; with only the two of them celebrating, they didn't need many provisions. Besides, Mrs. Zhou had already said they would go to the Zhou household for New Year's dinner, where everyone would eat in her main room, so they didn't need to prepare meat dishes. She set aside one large fish to take back on New Year's Day.
The two hauled out the larger fish from the pond and sold them, working until the 29th, when they finally sold the last fish.
She even brought a fish to Li Fu. Madam Qian lay listlessly in bed; when she heard that Qian Laiwen had been beheaded, she had insisted that Li Fu take her to the county seat. It was her first time going, and of course her first time witnessing an execution. Whether from exhaustion or shock, she hadn't recovered for nearly half a month.
A married daughter wasn't supposed to return to her parents' home for the New Year, and Li Qinghe hadn't planned to stay. After leaving the fish she went on her way.
In the blink of an eye it was New Year's Eve. The two of them went to the Zhou household early that morning. They'd been moved out for nearly two months and had come back no more than a handful of times. The atmosphere at home felt much the same: Fifth Sister and Granny Liu hardly registered; Zhang Haiyao and Meihua eyed each other with thinly veiled dislike; as for Zhou's eldest and third sons, good or bad aside, Mrs. Zhou remained as stern as ever.
Mrs. Zhou had called everyone home to eat, but it wasn't really a free meal. Li Qinghe carried a fish; Zhang Haiyao bought a piece of meat; Meihua... she brought a chunk of tofu. When she carried it into the kitchen, Zhang Haiyao, hand on her high belly, glanced at the tofu and sneered, "Sister-in-law sure knows how to live; you're even stingy with your own people. Come to think of it, your family still has the most relatives here..."
She seemed to think of something, hand on her belly, her eyes briefly sliding toward Mrs. Zhou. "By this time next year we'll be a family of three," she said, and then laughed to herself.
Meihua knew she was in the wrong and kept silent, lowering her head to help wash the vegetables.
Arguments don't come from one side alone. With Meihua refusing to engage, Zhang Haiyao said a few words and then, finding it pointless, turned to other topics.
Li Qinghe kept chopping vegetables; when no one else wanted to cook, she did it herself. When the dishes were finally ready, everyone clustered around the table. There was a large spread and a full ring of people seated around it.