On the first day of the Lunar New Year, after finishing their dumplings, Li Pan and the other two children ran out to pay New Year's visits, carrying the small satchels Ye Yunniang had sewn for them.
Ye Yunniang stayed at home, waiting for the other children to come.
She laid out the melon seeds and peanuts she had roasted, along with pieces of broken candy.
The first to arrive were the Xu family's Dalai and Erlei.
"Auntie Yunniang, Happy New Year," the two said, cupping their hands in greeting.
"Happy New Year, have some candy," Ye Yunniang said, letting them help themselves to the candy, melon seeds, and peanuts.
Xu Dalai and Xu Erlei each took two pieces of candy and a handful of melon seeds and peanuts, stuffed them into their pockets, and left.
After they left, another wave of children soon arrived.
Knowing that Ye Yunniang had not only peanuts and melon seeds but also candy, children not just from Evening Glow Lane but also from the few lanes ahead all came.
Ye Yunniang didn't refuse anyone, giving each child two pieces of candy.
When the candy ran low, she brought out the large, coarse sugar blocks she had bought and broke them into smaller pieces.
The children who came to pay their New Year visits were all very happy to receive the candy.
Ye Yunniang's reputation among the children improved, and along with it, their parents' impression of her also grew more favorable.
If anyone tried to speak ill of Ye Yunniang, they would now defend her.
"Didn't your child eat the candy Ye Yunniang gave?"
"It's wrong to speak ill of someone after eating their candy."
Ye Yunniang was unaware of these benefits that came from giving out the candy.
On the second day of the new year, married women return to their natal homes.
In Jiangcheng, Ye Yunniang had no natal home to return to, and even if she did, she wouldn't go.
She took the children to watch street performances on East Main Street. Worried about potential trouble watching from the street level, Ye Yunniang asked Liang Maimiao to help book a private room at the Xiangji Teahouse opposite the performance stage.
Liang Maimiao's brother was a steward at Xiangji Teahouse. He helped secure a well-positioned private room at a reasonable price.
The mother and her four children spent the whole day watching the performances with great relish from their elevated spot.
Time passed for the mother and her children in eating, drinking, playing, and sightseeing.
On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Li Pan and Li An started school and had to attend the Du Family Academy.
Without her two older brothers to play with, Li Ping returned to her state of preferring lying to sitting, sitting to standing, and walking to running.
Regarding this, Ye Yunniang only made her get up and walk around morning and evening, asking nothing more.
Ye Yunniang's main focus was on embroidering Liang Hemiao's wedding dress. She had already finished the phoenix on the back and was now working on the front.
Liang Maimiao ran in. "Yunniang, big news."
"What news?" Ye Yunniang put down her needle and thread and poured tea for Liang Maimiao.
Liang Maimiao took it and drank it in one gulp.
"Zhang Er is to be executed tomorrow at noon."
That truly was big news.
The Zhou Dynasty placed great importance on its population. All local death penalty cases had to be sent to the capital's Dali Temple for review; execution could only proceed after approval.
"The Zhang family is making a fuss now."
"About what?"
"Granny Zhang wants to collect Zhang Er's body tomorrow, set up a mourning hall at home, keep the body for seven days, and then bury him.
However, Caixia disagrees. She says Zhang Er has brought such shame upon the Zhang family that they get pointed at wherever they go. He deserved to die and she opposes keeping the body at home. She wants Zhang Da and Zhang San to take him straight from the execution ground to the Zhang family burial plot tomorrow."
"And the result?"
"The body will be taken to the charity mortuary outside the city, kept there for seven days, and then buried."
"The charity mortuary... Will you go then?"
"My parents said they will go. We younger ones won't, given the nature of his crime..." Liang Maimiao sighed here. "Zhang Er was actually a decent man. When I married Da Mai, he was part of the wedding procession. Tall and sturdy, quite a few people had their eyes on him back then."
Ye Yunniang also sighed. "What a pity."
"Do you know about Xiumei's situation?" After finishing with Zhang Da, Liang Maimiao brought up Xiumei.
"Did her family go to redeem her?"
"No. Xiumei's mother wanted to redeem her daughter. But her sister-in-law objected, saying Xiumei was a disgrace. She outright threatened that if Xiumei's mother and brother dared to redeem her, she would hang herself with the child.
As for Xiumei's lovers, they were all kept on a tight leash by their families. No one redeemed her. She and Ma Hui were sent to the borderlands the day before yesterday." Liang Maimiao recounted Xiumei's fate.
Ye Yunniang felt not a shred of sympathy for Xiumei, who had tried to harm her.
"Are you going to watch the execution tomorrow?"
"No." What was there to see in a beheading? Ye Yunniang refused. "Are you going?"
"My mother is going. She wants me to go with her." Liang Maimiao didn't want to go either.
"Aunt Xu likes watching beheadings?" A strange interest.
"Not my mother-in-law, my birth mother." Liang Maimiao glanced outside. "A cousin of mine has a lung disease. I heard people say that a steamed bun dipped in... that... is effective." Liang Maimiao didn't say it out loud.
"You mean what I think..." Ye Yunniang
mouthed the word "blood" silently.
Getting a confirming nod, Ye Yunniang felt a chill run through her body.
"How could that cure anything?"
"I don't think it's possible either. But my cousin is on his last legs. He heard it from somewhere. He asked my mother to get it.
My mother has been very close to this cousin since childhood. Whether it works or not, she wants to try." Liang Maimiao was deeply troubled by this; she really didn't want to go at all.
This was the first time Ye Yunniang had heard of such a treatment. "Are you really going? How will you do it?"
"It has to be the spurting kind, and it mustn't touch the ground." The more Liang Maimiao talked, the colder she felt; the whole thing was terrifying.
"Then you'll have to be right next to it." Ye Yunniang frowned.
"Yes. My mother inquired. Others who wanted it before paid ten taels of silver to the magistrate's office, and then they could wait nearby." Liang Maimiao explained.
"Won't you run into Aunt Zhang tomorrow then?"
"Absolutely. That's why I'm even more conflicted. How will we face each other as neighbors afterwards?" The more Liang Maimiao thought about it, the more her head ached.
"Have your mother find someone else to accompany her."
"My cousin did the calculations; my birth chart is the suitable one." Liang Maimiao was truly at a loss for words.
Ye Yunniang also didn't know what to say.
After venting to Ye Yunniang, Liang Maimiao felt somewhat better.
Thinking about the execution scheduled for the market street tomorrow, Ye Yunniang got up to go buy groceries.
At the market, contrary to usual, there were quite a few people shopping at this hour, and many vendors were selling.
Ye Yunniang also overheard many people discussing the next day's event.
Many felt uneasy and had come to buy groceries early, planning to avoid the market for the next several days.
Ye Yunniang bought two baskets of vegetables, figuring it would be enough for her and the four children for eight days, then stopped and went home.
When she returned home, Li Pan and Li An were already back from school.
"Mother, why did you buy so much food?" Li Pan came forward and took one of the large baskets.
"The wedding dress embroidery is about to reach a crucial part. I'm afraid I won't have time to shop for groceries later, so I bought them in advance." Ye Yunniang explained.
Li Pan and Li An exchanged knowing glances, feeling Ye Yunniang wasn't telling the whole truth. But they didn't press further.
The next day, Ye Yunniang sat at home embroidering the wedding dress, but her mind wandered. She kept listening for sounds outside the door, wondering if Liang Maimiao had returned.
It wasn't until the children came home from school that Liang Maimiao still hadn't returned, and no one from the Zhang family had been seen coming back either.
