Chapter 16: An Illiterate Joke

“I knew it!” Lu Qiniang said, eyebrows dancing with excitement as she walked into the house. “He used to be such a high-ranking official—how could he have had such bad relations that no one came to help him?”

Xiao Yan’s gaze darkened slightly when he heard this from the courtyard.

“Mother, no—it was me, Second Sister, and, um, that Father… We earned some money and bought meat.”

“What? Just the three of you? Not a single capable one among you, and you’re talking about earning money? Come on, help your mother carry these things inside.”

“Who are you looking down on!” Erya stood at the kitchen doorway with her hands on her hips.

Daya was busy at the stove, her figure blurred by the billowing steam, which rose in thick waves, carrying the mouthwatering aroma straight into their noses.

Erya proudly recounted today’s dramatic twists and turns, along with their bountiful gains.

“It started out pretty well—we made quite a bit of money. But then the soldiers from the Five City Patrol Division saw the crowd around us and came over to check things out. I swear, my heart almost jumped out of my chest.”

Erya was sharp-tongued and quick-witted, painting a vivid picture with her words.

“They thought we were faking it and even checked if that guy inside was breathing. Mother, I’m not lying—my legs went weak on the spot!”

“And guess what happened?”

“They obviously didn’t find out, or you wouldn’t be standing here bragging,” Lu Qiniang scolded with a laugh.

“Exactly! He actually held his breath and fooled them all. Mother, he’s kind of amazing!”

“Mother, isn’t the Ziwei Star supposed to represent the top scholar?”

“More or less. Anyway, it’s something from the heavens—nothing like us folks down here on earth.”

“…Altogether, we made two hundred sixty-two copper coins,” Erya calculated faster than Lu Qiniang. “Two hundred fifty went to you, and we used twelve to buy a bit over half a jin of meat. Big Sister minced it and made meat porridge!”

After all, they were children from a poor family—even with money in hand, they were reluctant to spend it.

Erya had only used twelve coins and was still worried Lu Qiniang might scold her, her tone cautious and her eyes carrying a subtle trace of apprehension.

Lu Qiniang, hearing her harebrained scheme, was both exasperated and amused.

“Aren’t you afraid of running into someone you know? That’d be such a disgrace.”

“Losing face isn’t as important as eating meat.” Seeing that her mother wasn’t angry, Erya grinned smugly. “I’m going again tomorrow!”

“You’re not going,” Lu Qiniang said firmly. “We’re not so poor we can’t feed ourselves. You’re not allowed to do that again.”

Money might come quickly that way, but such behavior couldn’t be encouraged.

If a person gets used to kneeling, they’ll never be able to stand up again.

“And besides, his health’s no good,” Lu Qiniang said, pointing toward the main room. “If you keep dragging him into things and he falls sick again, we’ll have to buy medicine. Do you know how much that would cost? It’s not worth it.”

Seeing that Erya looked displeased, she reached out and patted her head. “Erya’s the smartest—Mother knows you’re just worried about me. But we’ve got hands and feet. I can earn money to raise you all. Oh, right! Look what I bought for you today with the money I made!”

Erya had been sulking from the earlier scolding, but the sight of the red hair ribbon and malt candy quickly brightened her mood.

“Go share it with your older and younger sisters.”

Lu Qiniang returned to her own room.

She glanced at Xiao Yan and saw he was still calm and distant as always, not the least bit ashamed or angry to the point of despair. That finally put her mind at ease.

“Erya was just being silly—don’t take it to heart. The child meant well, she just picked the wrong way to earn money…”

It was a bit awkward.

“I’ve already talked to her. She won’t do it again,” Lu Qiniang added.

Xiao Yan suddenly spoke. “No one’s going to come redeem me. You don’t need to hold on to that hope.”

Being caught talking behind someone’s back made Lu Qiniang feel a bit embarrassed. “I was just saying it casually. Anyway, look what I bought for you!”

“…from the cloth?” Xiao Yan repeated faintly.

Lu Qiniang slapped her forehead, laughing. “No, no, it’s from the military! I always get that part mixed up.”

As she spoke, she dug into the basket and happily pulled out… a thick stack of spirit money.

Xiao Yan remarked dryly, “…What, you think I didn’t look dead enough today?”

A bit more spirit money and the funeral vibe would’ve been perfect?

Lu Qiniang burst out laughing. “No, this isn’t for you. This is for my late husband!”

Xiao Yan: “…”

“People celebrate the New Year—ghosts need to celebrate too.” Lu Qiniang set the basket down on the heated brick bed. “I was a child bride of the Zhang family, came here when I was six. My father was a scholar—really brilliant; my mother was capable, managed everything at home and outside. My older brother, who became my husband, was great at his studies. He was going to pass the exams, but then, for some reason, decided to trade brush for…”

She frowned, trying to remember the phrase. “Trade brush for… cloth?”

“Join the army,” Xiao Yan corrected, “The phrase is trading the brush for the military.”

“Ah, right, right,” Lu Qiniang nodded vigorously. “I kept remembering velvet, like in velvet cloth—but it’s the ‘velvet’ in velvet cloth, not the ‘cloth’ in velvet cloth.”

“It’s not the ‘velvet’ in velvet cloth,” Xiao Yan corrected again, “It’s the honor from military garb.”

“Same difference.” Lu Qiniang waved it off casually, then took out paper and ink from her basket and placed them on the table in front of Xiao Yan. “If my brother hadn’t joined the army, maybe he would’ve become a highest scored scholar by now. Life’s just like that—it all comes down to fate. You asked for paper and brush, right? I bought them for you. Try them out.”

Because the Zhang family was a scholarly family, her father-in-law had spent his whole life pursuing education, and her mother-in-law handled all the household chores, nearly worshipping her husband.

Lu Qiniang, influenced by this, also believed that studying was extremely important and sacred, and that scholars deserved respect.

Xiao Yan was certainly a scholar.

So, despite feeling reluctant, she could not forget Xiao Yan’s “request.” Ink. Matters concerning scholars were naturally the most important.

“Oh, right, we don’t have any ink. There’s an old inkstone in the house that my husband used before. I’ll go find it for you,” Lu Qiniang said and rushed out again.

Xiao Yan stared at the cheap paper and brush on the table for a long time, lost in thought.

When Lu Qiniang returned with the inkstone and ground some ink, Xiao Yan picked up the brush, dipped it into the ink, and wrote his name and courtesy name on the paper.

“This is Xiao—Yan—” he pointed at the characters on the paper, telling Lu Qiniang one by one, “These are my names—”

“I know this!”
Lu Qiniang became excited.
“This is ‘nine,’ right?”
Xiao Yan replied, “…No, that’s ‘ji’ .”
His character was “Ji’an”.
“Impossible,” Lu Qiniang said firmly, “I recognize it, it’s ‘nine’!”
“The one with the top stroke is ‘nine,'” Xiao Yan patiently explained.
“Why would it not be ‘nine’ just because it doesn’t have the top stroke?” Lu Qiniang said, clearly finding this concept too abstract.
“So, if a turtle shrinks its head, is it no longer a turtle?” she couldn’t help but ask again.
“Oh, my husband’s character is ‘Jiugao,’ it looks exactly the same, like twin brothers,” Lu Qiniang muttered to herself.
Zhang Heyao, with the courtesy name Jiugao.
A crane’s cry in the Jiugao, its sound heard in the heavens.

This name was filled with ambition.
It’s a pity, though, that fate was cruel, and it couldn’t hold its ground.
Xiao Yan gradually began to piece together the image of her late husband from Lu Qiniang’s words.
He wrote again, this time jotting down her name:
Lu Qiniang.
But when Lu Qiniang saw her own name, she showed no reaction. Instead, she asked him, “What’s this?”