The sound came from next door.
It was Liang Maimiao's voice.
Hearing the noise, Ye Yunniang and Chun Yao immediately fetched stools and went to the courtyard wall to eavesdrop.
"I saw it with my own eyes, you and Wang Jinsheng were pulling and tugging at Xiangji Teahouse. You call that slander?" Granny Xu, thinking of the scene she had witnessed, was burning with anger.
"No, I never went there." Liang Maimiao's eyes darted around nervously.
Her reaction made Xu Damai, who had initially been somewhat skeptical, believe his mother's words.
"Liang Maimiao, I'll give you one last chance. Tell the truth, and we can still remain husband and wife." Xu Damai's meaning was clear.
"I... I..." Liang Maimiao hesitated.
"Speak! What's going on?"
Liang Maimiao shook her head. "I can't say."
Disappointed, Xu Damai said to Granny Xu, "Mother, please go and fetch the letter-writer."
Granny Xu turned and headed straight out.
"No, don't go, you mustn't." Liang Maimiao reached out and grabbed Granny Xu's arm. "Mother-in-law, don't go, please don't. Dalei and Erlei are still young. They can't be without their mother."
"Tell me everything you did, and I won't go." Granny Xu's attitude was firm.
"I can't." Liang Maimiao shook her head.
Granny Xu forcefully pried Liang Maimiao's hand off and walked out.
Watching Granny Xu leave the house, Liang Maimiao knew if she didn't speak now, her family would fall apart.
"I'll talk."
Granny Xu stood at the doorway. "Are you sure you'll tell?"
"Yes. I'll tell you everything, just don't drive me away." Liang Maimiao wept.
"Let's talk inside."
Back in the room, Liang Maimiao confessed Liang Hemiao's scheme.
After hearing it, Granny Xu stood up and walked out again.
"Mother-in-law, I told you. Please don't go." Liang Maimiao grabbed Granny Xu's hand once more.
"Liang Maimiao, when you helped your sister do these things, did you ever think about our family?" Granny Xu asked, looking at her.
"She's my own younger sister, I couldn't just ignore her." Liang Maimiao repeated.
"So you'd have our whole family buried along with your sister." Xu Damai was disillusioned with Liang Maimiao.
"Liang Hemiao is your sister. But Dalei and Erlei are your own sons. Didn't you ever think properly about them?" Xu Damai's successive interrogations made Liang Maimiao cry even louder.
"I didn't want to. I had no choice..."
"Mother, don't go get the letter-writer. I'll go." Having said that, Xu Damai strode out.
"Damai, no." Liang Maimiao rushed over to stop him.
Xu Damai pushed her hard, sending Liang Maimiao tumbling to the ground.
Looking at Liang Maimiao on the floor, Xu Damai wanted to reach out and help her up. But then he thought of the consequences for his family if Liang Hemiao's deeds came to light.
Suppressing his soft-heartedness, Xu Damai turned and hurried away.
"Damai, don't go, I was wrong. Damai, I was wrong—" This time, Liang Maimiao truly regretted it.
But unfortunately, it was too late.
Amid Liang Maimiao's weeping and pleading, the Xu family swiftly arranged a divorce.
When the Liang family learned the news, they came storming over to confront them.
The two families talked behind closed doors; outsiders didn't know what was said.
Only, when Liang Fu left, he looked deeply ashamed. Patting Xu Dalei's shoulder, he told him to take good care of his younger brother, and then took Liang Maimiao away.
When questioned by outsiders, neither the Xu nor Liang families said a word.
Xu Dalei and Xu Erlei, once lively and cheerful children, became silent and withdrawn.
Having witnessed the whole process, Ye Yunniang felt a profound sense of sorrow in her heart.
"Feeling upset?" Cai Damei walked over and sat down beside Ye Yunniang.
"Not exactly upset, just a bit, well..." Ye Yunniang ended with a sigh. "How can a person change so much, before and after?"
Ye Yunniang remembered the Liang Maimiao she met when she first moved to Wanxia Lane—so warm-hearted, gracious and polite in her conduct.
"The weather is getting colder. If you have time, make thick cotton-padded jackets for Shushu and the three children. And take out the furs we bought; it's time to make the children's fur coats too."
Cai Damei didn't offer consolation, instead instructing Ye Yunniang on tasks.
In her view, Ye Yunniang's dwelling on these messy thoughts was simply due to having too much free time.
With Cai Damei's one remark, Ye Yunniang had no time to think about Liang Maimiao. She busied herself sewing cotton-padded jackets, shoes, and fur coats for the four children.
The next news she heard of Liang Maimiao was that she had married into a family in the neighboring mountain town, with little chance of returning to Jiangcheng for the rest of her life.
No rumors ever spread about Liang Hemiao and Wang Jinsheng. It was only heard that Liang Hemiao had miscarried again and died from unstoppable hemorrhaging.
As for the Wang family, Ye Yunniang heard a snippet from Chunyao: they had sold their cloth shop and returned to their hometown to farm.
Time passed in busyness until the end of the year.
Because of the drought, every family's New Year's Eve dinner was less lavish than in previous years.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, for the customary visits, households hadn't prepared melon seeds or peanuts.
The New Year passed quietly and coldly, and then it was the third month of spring.
It should have been a season of renewal for all things, but with nearly a year without rain, everywhere was parched and dry.
The great river outside the city revealed its riverbed.
How much longer would the drought last? That was what everyone wanted to know.
No one could answer.
In their despair, the common people received a piece of good news.
The government granaries were to be opened, but the grain wasn't free. It required labor—clearing river silt, repairing embankments...
The government posted notices: the strong and able-bodied would do physical labor, the weaker would cook and mend.
Most importantly, for a day's work, payment ranged from 10 to 30 copper coins depending on the task. Paid daily, with no delays.
Many from the villages went.
Digging the river was exhausting, but at least they could survive and even earn some money for their families.
Many households in the city went too.
Ye Yunniang heard from Li Pan that several of his classmates had gone. They took on errand-running tasks, which paid no money but came with a full meal.
When Cai Xiaomei came to deliver bean sprouts, she said Zhou Dong had also gone.
"Dongzi has never done such heavy labor before. Can he bear it?" Cai Damei felt sorry for her nephew.
"He wanted to go." Cai Xiaomei didn't want her son to go either.
With 10 catties of soybeans, Cai Xiaomei produced over 40 catties of bean sprouts. Zhou Zhong carried them out to sell or exchange for more soybeans.
The soybeans they got in return were used to grow more sprouts.
Little by little, the Zhou family managed to get by on the bean sprout business.
Zhou Zhong divided the shop in half: one side for sundries, the other for selling bean sprouts.
The family didn't need Zhou Dong to earn hard-labor money.
"I've talked, I've pleaded, I even hit him. He refused to back out, insisting on going to dig the river."
"Is he still blaming himself over Zhang Cai'er?"
"No." At this point, Cai Xiaomei showed a trace of self-reproach.
"What did you do?"
"I just thought Dongzi is still young, he can't be alone forever." With some spare money at home, Cai Xiaomei began planning to find another wife for Zhou Dong.
After Zhang Cai'er left, Zhou Dong had written a letter of divorce and registered it with the authorities.
Zhou Dong was free to remarry.
Zhou Dong was unwilling. Right now, he only wanted to earn money to support the family.
Cai Xiaomei insisted and went to find a matchmaker.
When she returned home, Zhou Dong told her he had already signed up for river-digging.
"If I had known, I wouldn't have said anything." Cai Xiaomei regretted it.
Cai Xiaomei chatted for a while longer, then went home.
With one less person at home, there was even more work to do.
