Zhangjia Village was even farther from Chongzi Village than Guluo Town was, and it took He Yi nearly two shichen to walk there. Since Zhangjia Village lay in the exact opposite direction from Guluo Town and there was no ox-cart route between them, He Yi had never found a convenient opportunity to come before.
Elio’s Notes: A shichen (时辰) is a traditional double-hour, roughly equivalent to two modern hours.
Actually, ever since the household division, he had been wondering whether he ought to visit Great-Uncle in Zhangjia Village. After all, the division had gone relatively smoothly, and Great-Uncle deserved some of the credit for that. Yet deep down, He Yi felt a faint resistance to the idea and did not particularly want further dealings with him. Still, propriety said he ought to make the trip, so in the end he came.
Perhaps He Yi had grown too accustomed to sparsely populated Chongzi Village, because the sight of bustling Zhangjia Village, crowded with people and traffic, genuinely surprised him. He had never expected it to be this prosperous. It felt livelier than the newly reopened town, with large workshops and small shops alike, which was quite remarkable.
In the original owner’s memories, Zhangjia Village had looked nothing like this many years ago. The roads, however, had not changed much. He Yi still vaguely remembered where Great-Uncle’s home was and followed his memory there.
Great-Uncle’s house was built of blue-gray brick with a tiled roof, though He Yi had also passed one or two other blue-gray-brick houses along the way. Clearly, Zhangjia Village had quite a few wealthy households.
He Yi knocked on the vermilion-painted gate. No one answered for a long time, and only after he knocked several more times did someone finally come. The person who opened the door was a young married woman holding a small child. She wore a goose-yellow beizi over a plain ruqun, and though she was pretty, there was a trace of weariness between her brows. The child in her arms sucked on one finger, perfectly content and paying no attention to anyone.
Elio’s Notes: A beizi (褙子) is a loose traditional outer jacket, while ruqun (襦裙) refers to a traditional jacket-and-skirt ensemble.
“Who are you looking for, young sir?”
“I’ve come to see my Great-Uncle.” He Yi did not know Great-Uncle’s personal name, so he could only give A’ma’s name instead. He also held out the basket of loquats he had bought from Peddler Zhang.
The woman did not take it. Only then did He Yi realize that her hands were full, so he kept hold of the basket himself. “I’ll carry it inside for you.”
An awkward look crossed the woman’s face. A’ma’s name meant nothing to her, but she did not know how to refuse him outright, so she could only invite He Yi into the main hall.
“Sit here for a moment. I’ll go tell someone.” With that, she carried the child into the inner rooms.
She found her sister-in-law busy in the east kitchen and said, “There’s a man who says he came to see his Great-Uncle, but I don’t know who that is. He told me his A’ma’s name, but I’ve never heard it before either.”
“I haven’t heard it either. He’s looking for someone surnamed Zhang, but half the village is surnamed Zhang. Could he have come to the wrong house?”
“Should I go ask Grandmother?”
“She’s only awake for a few shichen a day as it is. Better not disturb her, right?”
They had only just finished speaking when a wrenching fit of coughing sounded from not far away, startling both women.
“Has it gotten worse again? Hurry and go check on her! I’ll come over once I’m done here.”
The woman headed toward the north room.
He Yi sat in the main hall for a while, idly looking around and passing the time by counting the motes of dust drifting through the sunlight.
Before long, the woman came back out, this time without the child in her arms. “I’m terribly sorry. Grandmother wasn’t feeling well just now, so I went in to look after her for a while and ended up leaving you sitting here.”
“It’s fine,” He Yi said.
“Grandmother says she would like to see you. Would you mind coming with me to the north room?”
This woman’s grandmother… there was a good chance she was He Yi’s Great-Aunt. He Yi had originally planned to leave the gift and depart if Great-Uncle was not home. He had not expected someone else to ask to see him.
After a moment’s hesitation, He Yi nodded and followed the woman toward the north room.
High eaves and dark tiles rose above gray paving and vermilion doors. The courtyard held many unusual flowers and plants, all blooming splendidly, proof that someone tended them carefully.
He Yi did not linger over the scenery. A low cough came from inside just then and immediately drew his attention.
Once inside, He Yi saw a gray-haired old woman wrapped in a thick padded jacket, leaning crookedly against one of the bedposts. Her face was thin and gaunt, and every so often she covered her mouth to cough.
The woman walked to the bedside and rubbed the old woman’s back. “Grandmother, he’s here.”
Only then did the old woman lift her swollen eyelids and glance to the side. She saw He Yi standing stiffly several steps away in a coarse-cloth work jacket.
“Who’s that?” the old woman asked.
“Grandmother, weren’t you the one who asked me to bring him in? You don’t remember? He said he was…” Before the woman could finish, someone suddenly knocked outside the room. Her sister-in-law, Madam Zhen, then pushed the door open carrying two porcelain bowls.
One bowl was for the old woman, and the other was brought over to He Yi.
“This is preserved-plum tea. We were so busy just now that we forgot to serve our guest any tea. Grandmother happened to need some preserved-plum water for her cough, so I put some in yours too. Have a taste?” Madam Zhen was the more outgoing sort and chatted casually with He Yi.
Elio’s Notes: Huamei (话梅) are seasoned preserved plums with a salty-sour flavor, often with some sweetness. Here they are steeped into the tea and also used in a preserved-plum drink.
With Madam Zhen there, the first woman, Madam Wang, went back to her own room to look after the child.
“Grandmother, drink slowly. Do you feel any better?” Madam Zhen sat at the edge of the bed and helped the old woman drink.
Watching them, He Yi lifted his own bowl and took a sip.
The tea was brewed too strongly. The bitterness of the green tea mixed with the salty sourness of the preserved plum, leaving almost no sweet aftertaste at all. It tasted a little like bitter-melon-and-grapefruit water with far too much salt in it; aside from sweetness and spiciness, it seemed to contain every flavor imaginable.
If the tea were not so strong and had some sugar added, it would probably taste better…
He Yi really was a little thirsty, so he steeled himself and drank it anyway. But by the time he finished, he felt even thirstier, and his stomach was beginning to turn sour.
If Madam Zhen had not been smiling so sincerely, He Yi might have suspected she was playing a prank on him and had deliberately brewed this preserved-plum tea to mess with him.
But on second thought, that seemed unlikely. They had no grievance between them.
The old woman drank slowly. After sipping for quite a while, she had not even finished half the bowl before asking again, “Who is that?”
He Yi set his bowl down on the nearby table and answered on his own initiative, “I am He Yi.”
Perhaps the room was too dim, and He Yi’s complexion was still quite dark. He had lightened somewhat since leaving the mountain, but he still looked dark-complexioned. Unable to make out his features clearly, the old woman beckoned him closer, narrowed her eyes, and studied him carefully.
Suddenly, the old woman erupted into a tremendous fit of coughing, as though she were trying to cough her lungs out. The violence of it startled He Yi, Madam Zhen, and even Madam Wang, who had already returned to her room.
The old woman was not only coughing. Tears covered her face as well, and she was crying so hard she could barely catch her breath.
He Yi had no idea why she had suddenly become like this and was about to move closer to check on her when Madam Wang’s father-in-law happened to return from outside. Hearing the commotion, he came straight over.
The moment Zhang Minghui entered the room, he saw an unfamiliar man standing with his back to him and found it strange. But his mother mattered more at that moment, so he pushed the stranger aside, went to support the old woman, and rubbed her back.
The old woman did not improve. She kept staring at He Yi’s face as though tormenting herself, crying while refusing to look away. Her health had already been poor to begin with, and after working herself up like this, she actually fainted.
Zhang Minghui could hardly fail to see that He Yi had triggered his mother’s reaction. He helped the old woman back onto the bed, told one of his daughters-in-law to fetch a physician, then turned and grabbed He Yi by the collar.
He Yi’s coarse-cloth work jacket had a right-over-left cross collar, the sort of fastening that did not take kindly to being yanked. His shoulder, neck, and solid chest were immediately exposed. Madam Zhen, standing nearby, suddenly cried, “Aiya!” and raised a hand to shield the side of her face, too embarrassed to look.
With He Yi’s reflexes, he could easily have dodged Zhang Minghui’s grab, but he had been too slow to react. He had assumed the old woman was crying simply because she had coughed so hard, yet now it seemed impossible to separate her reaction from his presence, though he still had no idea why.
He Yi’s gaze darkened. His heart felt heavy, with a little guilt mixed into his confusion. But he had no intention of letting another man keep clutching his collar; it looked ridiculous. With a twist of the wrist and a press at the elbow, He Yi reversed the hold and subdued Zhang Minghui within a few breaths.
As soon as he had control, He Yi immediately released Zhang Minghui’s arm. He fixed his clothes while watching the other man with a warning look.
“Huff… huff…” Zhang Minghui panted twice, plainly embarrassed. Rubbing his aching arm, he raised his eyes toward He Yi.
The instant he saw He Yi’s face clearly, his pupils contracted and shock flooded his expression. Anger surged up right behind it. Zhang Minghui shoved He Yi hard and shouted, “Get out! Get out of here!! Did you come here on purpose to upset my mother?!!”
“…I’ll leave. Whether you believe me or not, I had no malicious intent. I only came to thank Great-Uncle for the help he gave me during the household division.” He Yi clamped firmly onto Zhang Minghui’s wrist to keep him from laying hands on him again.
Madam Zhen tried to mediate from the side. “If there’s something to say, then talk it out! Father, don’t start using your hands either! Grandmother was the one who asked this young man to come in. I was here the entire time, and he didn’t do anything. He shouldn’t have come here deliberately to cause trouble!”
Zhang Minghui’s expression stiffened when he heard that. He tugged at his hand, trying to pull it back, and He Yi released him.
“I don’t even know who the old madam is, or whether she really is my Great-Aunt,” He Yi said bluntly.
Something in those words seemed to provoke Zhang Minghui all over again. He slammed the table and said through clenched teeth, “You have no right to call my mother Great-Aunt!”
Madam Zhen flinched at the bang. Glancing at the unconscious grandmother lying beside her, she could not help blurting, “Stop arguing!! We don’t even know what’s going to happen to Grandmother yet. Why hasn’t the physician arrived? I’m going out of my mind waiting!”
At that, Zhang Minghui and He Yi fell silent at the same time.
The physician finally arrived before long. After examining the old woman, he wrote out a prescription and went back to fill it.
She was not in any serious danger. She woke once midway through, then fell asleep again. The old woman had been in poor spirits for some time, and even when she woke, there was little emotional reaction in her expression, as though she had forgotten something.
The Zhang family relaxed for the moment.
When Zhang Minghui came out of the north room, he spotted He Yi standing beneath the corridor and walked over. “Why are you still here?”
He Yi glanced back at him. “Is the old madam all right? Once I know, I’ll leave.”
Now that his mother was safe, Zhang Minghui was no longer so furious and finally had the leisure to look He Yi over properly. The young man was plainly dressed, yet carried himself with the same easy composure Zhang Minghui had seen in certain important men. His manner was neither servile nor overbearing. For a youngster speaking to an elder, there was admittedly something a little arrogant about it, but Zhang Minghui did not actually dislike that sort of temperament. In fact, he rather admired it.
Zhang Minghui’s manner softened as well. “Mother is fine. You don’t need to worry about her.”
He Yi relaxed too and immediately turned to leave.
Unexpectedly, seeing him leave so decisively made Zhang Minghui feel oddly uncomfortable. He opened his mouth to stop him. “I have something to talk to you about.”
*
From Zhang Minghui’s explanation, He Yi finally learned who everyone was. Zhang Minghui was Great-Uncle’s eldest son. The old woman really was He Yi’s Great-Aunt, Great-Uncle’s wife. Madam Zhen and Madam Wang were both Zhang Minghui’s daughters-in-law.
Zhang Minghui went on, “That man… my mother is this sick, and he still stays away from home every single day! Hah. He probably won’t show up now either, so I’m not afraid to tell you.”
He Yi lifted one hand slightly to show that he was listening.
“Do you know why the sight of you upset my mother so badly?” Zhang Minghui stared hard at He Yi, as though trying to find some crack in his expression that would reveal a lie.
He Yi answered openly, “I don’t. I’m not lying to you. I came to deliver a gift, though it’s nothing more than a few insignificant loquats and isn’t worth much. When I divided the household from my eldest uncle’s family, Great-Uncle presided over it. He spoke up for me and helped me secure a portion of the silver. I happened to have business in Zhangjia Village today, so I stopped by to visit Great-Uncle while I was here. That’s all.”
Zhang Minghui was clearly irritated by the way He Yi kept saying “Great-Uncle” over and over and waved a hand, but inwardly he already believed seventy or eighty percent of He Yi’s explanation.
Zhang Minghui suddenly said, “It’s your face.”
“Do you know who you look like?”
“…Who?” He Yi looked completely bewildered.
Seeing that his expression did not seem feigned, Zhang Minghui suppressed his irritation and said, “That man.” He meant He Yi’s Great-Uncle, Zhang Minghui’s own father.
“What’s wrong with that?” He Yi did not understand. He knew he looked very much like his own father in this life, so it did not seem strange that he might resemble Great-Uncle too. Unable to work out what mystery Zhang Minghui was getting at, He Yi asked, “I look like my father, and people say a nephew takes after his maternal uncle, so isn’t it perfectly normal that I would resemble Great-Uncle too?”
He Yi had not thought much of it at first, but Zhang Minghui’s next words left him stunned.
Zhang Minghui said gravely, “But your A’ma and that man weren’t biological sister and brother. Your A’ma was a little girl my grandfather picked up from somewhere else!”