Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 22 Strange

Yang Qin shaped the black mud into small mud cakes and poked round holes in them with a twig. Now he finally understood why his sister-in-law called them "lotus root charcoal"—they really did look somewhat like lotus roots.

Yang Qin looked at Xie Yuyan: "Can this be used for starting a fire?"

"Let it dry for three days," Xie Yuyan said. "Once it's completely dry, it's ready to use."

Zhang said, "I'll keep an eye on things; nothing will go wrong."

Xie Yuyan nodded. Another lawyer would be coming tomorrow, and according to her calculations, the Yang family would be in for several days of commotion. After dealing with the lawyer, the lotus root charcoal would be ready, and they could proceed to the next step.

Zhang went to the kitchen to cook, and Xie Yuyan called out to Yang Qin: "Qin-ge, bring me the 'Prodigy Poems'."

When Empress Dowager Xie was in Cixi Palace, she enjoyed listening to storytellers. Now that there were no storytellers, Xie Yuyan had no choice but to make do and listen to Yang Qin recite poems.

As Zhang looked at the flames in the stove and heard Qin Ge'er reading aloud in her ears, her eyes slowly welled up with tears. But as the tears slid down her cheeks, a smile appeared on her face.

The next day was the day of Yang Liulang's funeral.

Yong'anfang was packed with onlookers early in the morning, many of whom were unfamiliar faces. Although the Yang family's hiring of a lawyer to write a petition was not yet widely known in Daming Prefecture, the neighbors in the vicinity had already heard the news.

They had never seen anyone come back from the dead before, so they came to see what was going on.

"That must be Yang Liulang's wife, right?"

"Judging from the mourning clothes he's wearing and his age, it should be him."

"Let me see what a person who has come back from the dead looks like."

"Oh my, she's a pretty young lady."

The crowd followed Yang Liulang's funeral procession all the way out of the city. Wang Hechun, riding on horseback, looked at the frail figure beside Yang Liulang's coffin.

After the group had passed, He Tan's voice came from beside them: "Now 'Xie Shiniang' is quite famous."

Wang Hechun nodded: "In two days, the storyteller at the teahouse will also mention this case."

He Tan said, "So, I don't need to instruct anyone to spread the news about the case? That's really strange. Every time we want to do something, this 'Xie Shiniang' always has it all prepared in advance."

"However, with this reputation, neither the Xie family nor the Yang family dared to make a move against her easily."

"That young lady is indeed clever. If it were anyone else, they would either be imprisoned by the Yang family or avoid them out of politeness. Very few would be able to confront them head-on like this."

“If I had known it would be this simple,” He Tan said, looking at Wang Hechun, “I wouldn’t have asked you to come.”

"With Xie Shiniang by my side, why would I need Wang Hechun?"

He Tan particularly enjoyed verbally provoking his cousin. Since the war against Western Xia, Wang Hechun had shown even less emotion in public, living like a figure in a painting.

What Wang Hechun did in this battle remains unknown; even He Tan couldn't get a single word out of him.

To He Tan's disappointment, Wang Hechun remained calm. He spurred his horse forward, heading in the opposite direction from the funeral procession: "Brother, do you know what to do next?"

He Tan thought carefully for a moment: "Should I promote Yang Mingjing to the position of Deputy Envoy of Yong'an Ward?"

The image of Xie Yuyan flashed through Wang Hechun's mind: "This is the work that 'Xie Shiniang' left for my brother." Perhaps it sounds strange to say this, but it is indeed the case.

Wang Hechun had seen many intelligent people since he was a child. People came and went from his house every day, and some talked loudly with his father in the study. Many of the women in his clan were no less capable than the men. There were too many people who could judge the situation.

However, being able to arrange everything perfectly for everyone around me within a few days...

There are very few people with such skills and abilities.

This isn't about assessing the situation, but rather about habitually putting yourself at the center and utilizing everyone around you to their fullest potential.

He Tan and he should be among them.

Such methods are somewhat similar to those discussed in the Emperor's chambers at the Chuigong Hall. Wang Hechun also found it strange that he could come up with these ideas when speaking to a woman.

“With Yang Mingjing becoming the deputy magistrate, the Xie family will inevitably become suspicious of him,” He Tan said. “Yang Mingjing will then have no way out, which will allow us to find a way to extract more information from him.”

After saying all this, He Tan belatedly realized that Wang Hechun's words were somewhat strange.

"You mean this is the work that 'Xie Shiniang' left for me?"

He Tan disagreed with this, shaking his head: "Don't overthink it. She may have used some methods, but that was only to gain a foothold in the Yang family, and she had no choice but to do so."

Wang Hechun glanced at the crowd chasing after the Yang family's group to join the fun, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said nothing more. He Tan knew that this meant he disapproved.

A woman who has been kidnapped and sold into slavery is isolated and helpless. What's wrong with her having some thoughts? He Tan didn't think there was anything wrong with it: "A woman with no one to rely on can use my name without any problem. You don't need to worry about it."

Wang Hechun said, "As long as my brother doesn't mind..."

The two remained silent the entire way. When they arrived at the government office, He Tan finally spoke up: "However, since 'Xie Shiniang' is so clever, can we instruct her to do something else?"

Wang Hechun asked, "What does my brother want her to do?"

He Tan hadn't thought of it for a moment.

Wang Hechun walked straight ahead, and after a long while, he said, "She has done everything that my brother could think of, and she will also do things that my brother could not think of."

……

Tong Chen sat in a chair, listening to the students recite the scriptures. For some reason, he suddenly became interested and picked up a brush to write a poem on the rice paper.

After winter set in, Tong Chen lost interest in writing. The reason was simply that it was too cold, and he was unwilling to take his hands out of his sleeves.

The house was unusually warm today.

Tong Chen looked down and saw that there were still only two charcoal braziers there.

Maybe it's because of the good weather.

Mr. Tong was so pleased that he kept the students for an extra hour. What he didn't know was that after school ended, three or four students gathered outside the courtyard and didn't leave immediately. Yang Qin, who was surrounded, was taking things out of his basket and distributing them to his fellow students.

The children all had expressions of gratitude on their faces.

“Seven pieces of lotus root charcoal for each person,” Yang Qin said with a smile. “My sister-in-law said that as long as someone in the village comes to buy, we will buy all the lotus root charcoal from your families. These seven pieces are free. You can go back and let your families try it out to see if it’s good or not.”

They all knew that lotus root charcoal was useful, and that was what the master was using in his room today. Chen Ping got a little closer to the charcoal brazier, and the frostbite on his hands became itchy from the heat.

Chen Ping said, "If it's good, I'll give you money."

"No need," Yang Qin laughed. "My sister-in-law even said that since the villagers buy a lot, they'll give you money back!"

If someone in Cao City had shouted something like that, Chen Ping would never have believed it. But since they were both students of the same teacher, he felt that Yang Qin wouldn't lie to him. If he said he didn't want money, then he wouldn't take a single penny.

“Tomorrow, sit next to me,” Chen Ping said. “I will give you the scriptures that the teacher explained earlier.”

Chen Ping memorized and wrote down all those scriptures himself; he was reluctant to lend them out, but Yang Qin could read them while he was by his side.

Yang Qin happily agreed.

After distributing the lotus root charcoal, the group went home. Yang Qin had never understood why his sister-in-law wouldn't take such useful lotus root charcoal to the market to sell, but instead asked him to distribute it to his classmates.
Thinking to himself, Yang Qin quickened his pace. He wondered if his mother and sister-in-law had returned from Sanhe Village and whether they had bought any coal chips. If they were coming to listen to the lecture, he would definitely go with them.

Yang Qin jogged towards Yong'anfang, and before he even reached his doorstep, he saw Grandma Li waving at him.

“Qin’er,” Granny Li said with a smile, “there may be good news in your family. Fang Fang is here with people from the yamen. You should go home and see.”

(End of this chapter)