Annual Ceremony

Chapter 39: Beginning of Autumn (Part )

This is the first time that Juzi meets Jingyi.

Little Jingyi is three years old this year, but only two years old in one year. In Orange's words, she is not old enough to go to kindergarten.

The little girl looked like she could just walk steadily. She was barefoot and was wearing Zhenyi's old clothes from her childhood, a plain cotton long gown with a front and buttoned collar. It was starched so thin and soft that it looked very fitting and comfortable.

Juzi took a closer look and saw that Jingyi and Zhenyi had some similarities in their eyes and eyebrows, but Jingyi was obviously thinner, not as chubby as Zhenyi when she was young. The doll in front of him looked a little thin, with soft and slightly yellow hair, the curled ends of her hair fell playfully on her small shoulders, and her pair of bright black eyes were hazy and sleepy.

Zhenyi half-knelt down, put her hands on her knees, and smiled, showing a pair of canine teeth. She said with a smile: "Jingyi, guess who I am."

Chun'er whispered the answer to Jingyi: "Miss San, this is Miss Er, hurry up and call her Sister..."

Most children aged two or three only know how to rely on the people around them naturally, and do not have a very clear understanding of the relationship with relatives they have never met. Jingyi just looked at Zhenyi with some confusion and curiosity for a while, and then her eyes were attracted by the big yellow cat next to her. It was a sunny day, and the big cat's pupils shrank into a thin line. When Jingyi met the cat's eyes, she suddenly cried out "wow" without warning.

Orange was startled, his jaw dropped, his brows frowned and he tilted his head in confusion - is this kid afraid of it?
Well, it admits that it has killed countless rats and has had a nickname similar to Sang Biao in the underworld.

Feeling that he was too majestic, Orange cooperated and hid behind Zhenyi, carrying forward the cat world's fine tradition of respecting the old and loving the young, and only half of his cat head was stretched out to peek at Jingyi.

Jingyi was still crying, Chun'er patiently patted her and said to Zhenyi with a smile: "Miss San will probably be mad when she wakes up in the afternoon. She will cry if she sees a cat, a bird, a fly... If she sees nothing, she will cry even more!"

Jingyi was born prematurely and was weaker than other children since birth. She cried every day while in her cradle. That was the only way a baby could express discomfort. Perhaps Jingyi developed the habit of crying because of this.

Zhenyi didn't feel annoyed, and Juzi even felt that she was about to make some moves.

Sure enough, the next moment, Zhenyi stretched out her palm and suddenly gently patted her sister's crying and puffed mouth. As Zhenyi patted, Jingyi's crying became very rhythmic: "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!"

As soon as Jingyi stopped crying, Zhenyi immediately withdrew her hand. When Jingyi started crying again, Zhenyi used the same trick again.

After three rounds of this, Jingyi stopped crying. She sobbed and hiccuped, with tears on her little face. She hid behind Chun'er, holding onto the corner of Chun'er's clothes, looking at the elder sister in front of her who she met for the first time but felt puzzled.

Zhenyi laughed heartily. When they were in Jilin before, Wanyu always liked to tease her younger sister like this and invited Zhenyi to play with her. Zhenyi politely declined due to her sense of boundaries and bottom line as a human being, but she was so envious in her heart. Now she also had a younger sister of her own who she could beat up!
Zhenyi felt like she had found a treasure, Jingyi felt like she was facing a formidable enemy, and Juzi turned around and strolled around the courtyard, checking around and patrolling her old territory.

As the saying goes, the heat after autumn is so intense that it can kill an old cow. This is exactly what the temperature is like during the Beginning of Autumn, not to mention the city of Nanjing, which has been a furnace for thousands of years.

Zhenyi was already sweating all over after going back home from the city. She did not ask Chun'er to help her bathe: "Go and look after Jingyi... Don't worry, I am not a child anymore. I will not be drowned by a bucket of water."

Looking at the fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl in front of her and listening to this joke, Chun'er couldn't help but feel tears in her eyes. She nodded and said "Hey", and said to Zhenyi: "I am playing with the third young lady outside in the corridor. If you have any questions, just give me a shout!"

When Zhenyi finished washing and pushed the door open with wet hair, it was already dark.

After autumn begins, the most obvious and intuitive change in the astronomical phenomena is that the time of darkness begins to gradually advance, and the phenomenon of shorter nights and longer days begins to change.

Chun'er brought a very simple meal, without any meat or oil. Apart from food, everything else in the house was arranged strictly in accordance with funeral customs.

Even though Wang Zhefu had said before he left that these rules did not need to be followed, now that he had returned to Jinling, he still could not avoid following the customs.

Zhenyi couldn't help but think that the so-called funeral seemed to be just following the wishes of the living from beginning to end.

Chun'er whispered that among the Wang family members who came from Tianchang's hometown, there were several elders who expressed dissatisfaction with the three masters in the mourning hall.

The dissatisfaction stemmed from the fact that Wang Zhefu was hastily cremated in Jilin. They accused the three Wang brothers of "failing to make a decision in time" and sighed, "Leaving only women by the side is bound to cause mistakes, and as expected, such a big mess has been caused..."

"How can such a major event be discussed without even a word of consultation..."

"You three brothers, hey..."

Although the words did not directly blame Mrs. Dong, the blame was already obvious.

Even though Wang Xichen had made it clear that this was his father's last wish, the oldest uncle naturally raised his gray eyebrows and asked, "...How can we just let him act on impulse?"

The Wang brothers fell silent.

The other young tribesmen tried to smooth things over, sighing, "It's already happened, the dead are the greatest... let's not argue anymore."

"We can stop pursuing this matter... but we can't discuss the matter of burying the deceased in Tianchang's ancestral tomb." The elder uncle said solemnly, "This is related to the Feng Shui of the Wang family's descendants, so we can't be careless. And from today on, don't mention the word cremation anymore. It's just a loss of dignity."

Although Wang Zhefu died in exile, he had served as the prefect of a state during his lifetime and had a good reputation. He was undoubtedly the most outstanding and glorious figure in the Wang family. The clan was very concerned about his burial place and refused to agree to bury him in Jinling.

When these words reached Mrs. Dong's ears, the old lady did not show any emotion. She just nodded and said, "Let's do as the clan members say... It is common sense for fallen leaves to return to their roots. There is no reason for me to disagree." The old lady was not the type to compete with anyone just because she heard a few unpleasant words. Those were all useless. With the current situation at home, the clan members still needed to support each other in the future. There was no need to argue about such things after death.

The dead are gone, and she has fulfilled her husband's wish to be cremated. After that, since she is still alive, she must do her best to make plans for the family.

After deciding on this matter, Mrs. Dong said to her second daughter-in-law who was standing by the bed, "Mrs. Jin, it's getting late. Let's go back."

Only then did Yang Jinniang stand up, tell her mother-in-law to have a good rest, bow and slowly leave.

Yang Jinniang was in poor health and not good at socializing. Her two sisters-in-law were busy with things outside, so she took the initiative to take on the task of serving her mother-in-law.

Old Madam Dong was not the type to bully her daughter-in-law. She had maids to take care of her, so she didn't need the frail Yang Jinniang to serve her. But the old lady knew her daughter-in-law's temperament. If she didn't let her stay around and drove her away, Yang Jinniang would feel at a loss. If she thought about it in a different way and mistakenly thought that her mother-in-law was dissatisfied, she would worry unnecessarily and might get sick again.

So the old lady kept her daughter-in-law to talk, asking about some household matters and Jingyi's health.

Yang Jinniang felt a little relieved when she heard her mother-in-law's concern for her youngest daughter.

On the way out, thinking back on her mother-in-law's attitude, Yang Jinniang felt a little moved and a little ashamed. Then she thought of her elderly father-in-law who died in such a desolate place as Jilin, and she couldn't help but feel sad and burst into tears.

Before they knew it, they had returned to the courtyard. Yang Jinniang wiped her tears before stepping into the courtyard and going into the house.

The window of the room was open, and a cool mat was spread on the couch. Zhenyi, wearing a loose thin coat and with her hair loosely tied up, was sitting on the mat and playing with her sister.

There was a wooden box in front of Zhenyi, and inside the box were all kinds of small things.

After dinner, Jingyi cried again, and Zhenyi happily played the game of wow. When Jingyi came to her senses and pouted, Zhenyi took out the box, first took out a mechanical bird, then took out a conch shell. When Jingyi reached out to take it, Zhenyi hugged the box in her arms, turned away, and asked her sister: "Think about what to call me?"

Jingyi raised her little head: "Ah...Sister!"

Zhenyi was overjoyed when she got the title of "Sister". She rubbed her sister's fluffy head with a smile and pulled her sister to play on the couch.

This box full of little things was what Zhenyi had saved for her sister over the past two years.

At this moment, Yang Jinniang was standing inside the door, watching her two daughters, one big and one small, getting along so harmoniously. Her heart felt warm, relieved and fortunate.

The younger daughter was not as easy to take care of and get along with as Zhenyi had been when she was young. She was worried that the two daughters would not get along. After not seeing her for four years, she felt that she owed her eldest daughter a lot. She had heard too much from outsiders and was worried that her eldest daughter would be influenced by the roughness of the north... If the two children did not get along, she was afraid that she would not know how to handle the two bowls of water.

And what she saw was clearly the elder daughter patiently coaxing the younger daughter. Even the big yellow cat was squatting beside her and patiently pushing things that the younger daughter couldn't reach over to her. When Yang Jinniang saw this, she couldn't help but think that this scene was adorable and funny.

When the two daughters saw their mother, they looked up and shouted at the same time, "Mother!"

The two voices overlapped, one was clear and the other was soft, and they made Yang Jinniang's heart melt into water. Tears welled up in her eyes again. She responded and hurriedly walked to the couch and sat down.

Yang Jinniang touched her younger daughter's hands and feet with one hand to see if they were cold, and then stroked her older daughter's hair and cheek with the other hand, saying with tears in her eyes, "I didn't even have time to take a good look at her during the day... How come my Zhen'er has grown up so big? I almost can't recognize her."

Zhenyi's gaze fell on her mother's temple, where a strand of silver hair had already grown.

Zhenyi felt torn in her heart, feeling extremely guilty: "Mother, in the past four years, I have not been able to be filial to you..."

"What nonsense you are talking about." Yang Jinniang corrected her, "You have been serving your grandparents in Jilin for such a long time, which is a great filial piety..."

Serving the mother-in-law is a daughter-in-law's top priority. In Yang Jinniang's heart, her daughter has been fulfilling her filial duties on behalf of her and her husband over the years. Therefore, even though she was worried about her daughter's marriage, she did not dare to urge her daughter to return to Jinling rashly.

"Although you have grown taller, how come you are so thin..." Yang Jin's mother squeezed her daughter's arm distressedly: "After all, Jilin is not a place that can support people. I think you have suffered a lot on the way... I must make sure you have a good diet when I get back. You like fish soup, so I will ask Mother Zhao to go there tomorrow..."

Yang Jinniang paused as she spoke. She realized she had said something wrong and hurried to make amends: "After some time, I meant after some time... Look at my mouth, Amitabha, Amitabha..."

Zhenyi looked at A'niang who was still timid, leaned into A'niang's arms, stretched out her arms to hug A'niang's thin back, smelled the familiar scent on A'niang's body, and felt extremely peaceful in her heart.

Yang Jinniang hugged her daughter and patted her back gently as she did when she was a child.

Juzi was taking care of Jingyi.

Jingyi stared at Juzi cautiously again, and when she noticed her gaze, Juzi squatted down obediently, narrowed her eyes immediately, and concealed her dignity, revealing her true harmless nature.

The autumn wind is blowing slowly outside the window, and the house is filled with warmth and harmony.

　Good morning, everyone!
　
(End of this chapter)