Annual Ceremony

Chapter 6 Rainwater (Part )

Zhenyi escaped.

The idea was proposed by Orange.

Orange broke open the window at the back of the house.

The window is a small carved window, only the upper half of which can be pushed open. The window hole is not big, and it is somewhat difficult for a child of five or six years old to get out.

Zhenyi, who was pushed by Juzi, fell down with a thud.

The window was not high, so Zhenyi quickly climbed up and started an "escape" with Juzi who jumped out shortly after her.

It has rained a lot in Jinling City recently, and it was still drizzling at this time. Zhenyi was only wearing her inner clothes and was barefoot, and she was soon covered in mud.

Orange led the way ahead - as the royal family's guard cat, Orange knew all the hidden corners of the house and the location of every mouse hole.

Juzi wanted to hide Zhenyi in a mouse hole, but when she got there, she realized it was not appropriate - such a big doll would burst the mouse hole!

Finally, Juzi brought Zhenyi to a small house in the corner of the Wang family's backyard. The house had not been repaired for a long time and was only used to store miscellaneous items.

The door was gone, but there was plenty of dust and cobwebs. Inside were two old tables with missing legs and cracks, a few broken wicker baskets, and some jars and pots.

Juzi and Zhenyi found a rolled-up old mat in the corner. Zhenyi placed it upright and surrounded herself with it.

Zhenyi squatted and hid inside, grabbing the edge of the mat with both hands to prevent it from falling.

Orange was outside watching the wind.

Not long after, Juzi discovered that the mat used to hide Zhenyi was shaking violently.

Juzi ran over and patted the mat with his paw to remind Zhenyi, but the mat shook even more noticeably.

There was no choice, so Juzi had to jump in and use one of his front paws to help Zhenyi support her.

Seeing Juzi coming in, Zhenyi felt much more at ease, but she kept her eyes wide open and her ears alert to any movement outside, occasionally peeking through the holes in the mat to see what was happening outside.

The escape made Zhenyi's snow-white inner clothes dirty, her hair a little messy, and her fair and tender face was covered with mud - this made Orange think of the soft and sticky dirty buns in the bakery.

After all, this "dirty bun" was too young. He ran out hungry, feeling tired and sleepy. His eyelids were heavy and he began to doze off, but his little hands were still holding on to the mat.

The roof was leaking, and raindrops as big as beans fell from time to time. Orange was afraid that Zhenyi would be hit, so he began to stare at her intently. Whenever a raindrop fell into the air, he would quickly use his eyes and claws to "snap" it away.

I don't know how long it took, just when Orange was feeling a little sleepy, a shout suddenly came from far away:

“…Miss, Miss!”

"Chun'er..." Zhenyi opened her eyes hazily and was about to respond subconsciously, but Juzi covered her mouth with his furry paws.

But Zhenyi was still discovered.

Orange was extremely angry - there was a nosy cat on the roof that kept meowing and attracted Chun'er over.

When leaving the shabby house, Orange saw a black and white cat shadow jump onto the wall and quickly disappear.

Orange secretly decided that the next time they met, he would have a fierce fight to avenge Cow Cat for his betrayal today.

Zhenyi was taken to Old Lady Dong.

Zhenyi's "disappearance" alarmed the whole family, and everyone came over.

Wang Yuan walked in and saw the dirty second sister. He teased her, "I was wondering what the second sister was doing. It turns out she went into a rat hole! No wonder I couldn't find her after searching for her for so long!"

Wang Xirui glared at his son, and the eldest wife reached out and pulled her son to stand beside her.

Yang Jinniang was still in shock and was wiping her tears. When Wang Xichen was about to teach and question his daughter, the old lady sitting at the top of the table waved and asked Zhenyi to come over.

The old lady took the eggplant purple quilted jacket with an embroidered treasure vase from the maid, wrapped it around Zhenyi, and held her in front of her. She asked, "Our Deqing has always been very sensible. What happened today? Tell us about it."

"Mother..." The little girl's eyes were filled with crystal tears. Her mouth pursed as she tried hard to hold back her tears: "I don't want to have my feet bound. I'm afraid!"

Hearing that it was because of this, Old Mrs. Dong smiled and sighed, and slowly removed the spider web stuck on her granddaughter's head.

Shuyi walked forward, half-knelt in front of Zhenyi, held Zhenyi's little hand, and comforted her softly: "Second sister, it will be fine after the pain, this will happen sooner or later..."

"Big sister, I don't want to break my legs..." Zhenyi shook her head with tears in her eyes, looking at Orange who was being watched over by Chun'er as an accomplice: "I want to run as fast and far as Orange all the time!"

Shuyi smiled: "Silly Zhen'er, how can humans and cats be the same? We humans are so noble."

Zhenyi: "If you are so noble, why do you have to suffer like this?"

Shuyi was speechless for a moment before she said, "It's hard work..."

"There will be endless suffering." Wang Yuan interrupted.

"Wang Yuan!" Wang Xirui shouted and was about to take action.

Wang Yuan dodged and ran out, saying, "Second sister, just cry for them! Big brother is waiting for your victory!"

When Shuyi was about to reason with her younger sisters, she suddenly saw that her second sister could no longer bear it and burst into tears.

Shuyi felt at a loss and could only look at her grandmother.

Such affairs concerning the female family members in the rear house must be decided by my grandmother, and my grandfather is out visiting friends today.

"Let's wait and see." Mrs. Dong patted Zhenyi's back and said to the second son and his wife, "This girl is too scared. Although foot binding is an important matter, it is not worth it to scare the child to death... Let's wait for a while."

Since the old lady had spoken, the matter had to be temporarily stopped.

Zhenyi hugged her grandmother's legs tightly and didn't want to go back, so the old lady let Zhenyi stay here for two days. Everyone left one after another. On the way, Yang Jinniang blamed herself blankly: "It's all my fault that I didn't teach her well..."

As he spoke, his gaze fell on the dignified and steady Shuyi, and his eyes became redder.

The Third Wife comforted her: "How old is Zhenyi? Besides, every child has a different temperament... Sister-in-law, don't worry, just teach her slowly."

That night, Zhenyi, who was resting in her grandmother's courtyard, developed a high fever. She tossed and turned until dawn, sweating all over her body, and her forehead finally cooled down.

When she was delirious due to fever, Zhenyi kept shouting in her dreams that she didn't want to bind her feet.

Many years later, Zhenyi recalled this incident and felt that this should be the first "rebellion" in her life, but when she was young, she didn't know why she was rebelling. She was just scared, too scared.

When fear collides with a stubborn soul, this ignorant and fearless act of rebellion occurs.

Wang Zhefu came back the next day.

Zhenyi was half asleep and half awake when she heard rain outside the window and her grandfather and grandmother talking in the house.

Wang Zhefu asked the reason and sighed, "…Why do you have to bind the feet of good children? I have already said that there is no need for us to follow these old customs."

"You always speak in a relaxed way." Mrs. Dong said, "But you never think about who would want to be fashionable..."

"When you were an official, you were different from others in every way and did not follow the rules of the officialdom. Although you did not get any good results, there were always people praising you for your integrity..."

"But women are different. If a woman slightly violates the moral code of this world, how can she be right or wrong? She is just making mistakes."

"You said it's not fashionable, which sounds very generous and kind... But the criticism and criticism that will come to her later, neither you nor I can do it for her. If she is criticized for this, she won't get a good marriage, and she will have to bear it for the rest of her life."

Wang Zhefu finally sighed, "But forcing is not a solution... Deqing is more sensible and intelligent than other children. Children like him have their own opinions in their bones. If you force him too hard, it will not be a good thing."

Mrs. Dong: "Wait a little longer... wait until she's older, and explain the pros and cons to her in detail... we'll talk about it then."

Zhenyi fell asleep again in a daze.

When she woke up again, she saw her grandfather sitting beside the bed.

Her grandfather smiled and pointed to the rain outside the window, and said that when she recovered, he would teach her a new poem about rain written by her favorite Mr. Han Changli.

Zhenyi reached out to grab the corner of her grandfather's clothes, her voice a little hoarse: "Grandfather, Grandfather, I want to learn now..."

Orange, lying in a chair with his hands in his pockets, stretched out lazily as Zhenyi listened to the sound of her studying poetry seriously.

The light rain in Tianjie is as moist as crisp,
The color of grass is far away but nothing is near.

The most advantageous thing about spring is

The absolute victory over the imperial capital of Yanliu.

This poem by Han Yu describes the scenery during the Rain Water solar term.

Zhenyi recited it more than 20 times, and after she could recite it by heart, she curiously asked her grandfather: "Grandfather, what are the solar terms? Why does it really rain during the Rain Water solar term? Are the gods in heaven in charge of the solar terms?"

"No." Wang Zhefu smiled and shook his head: "The solar terms were discovered slowly by our ancestors through long-term observation."

Hearing that it was not the gods who were in charge, Zhenyi's eyes brightened: "How to observe and explore?"

"First, observe the sun, moon, and stars, then observe the growth of crops on the ground, and then find and calculate the corresponding changing rules of the four seasons and months of heaven and earth, and then we have the solar terms." Wang Zhefu stroked his beard and said: "The growth and change of all things are all in these 24 solar terms, 48 ​​words."

Zhenyi felt an inexplicable awe in her heart, and sat up as if possessed by a spirit: "Grandfather, our ancestors were really great!"

Then, Zhenyi felt a surge of nameless excitement in her heart. She looked out the window and suddenly felt that every falling raindrop had a pattern, and the wind also had a shape and was distributed according to a certain order.

This magical knowledge that there is a clear source to trace back and everything in the world becomes orderly attracted Zhenyi. To her, this is far more convincing than the theories of gods and ghosts.

During the rainy season of that year, the city of Jinling was shrouded in mist, but Zhenyi saw the first ray of light in the haze.

Seeing that Zhenyi was interested in the solar terms, Wang Zhefu gave a book to his granddaughter.

Zhenyi stroked the cover of the book with her small hands, and under the guidance of her grandfather, she stuttered as she read: "Collected Explanations of the Seventy-two Solar Terms in the Lunar Calendar..."

After Zhenyi recovered from her illness, she moved out of her grandmother's yard.

Shuyi came to pick up her second sister. On the way, Zhenyi pulled her elder sister's hand and whispered, "Elder sister, I heard Chun'er and the others say privately that if the bound feet can be untied early, they can grow back better..."

Shuyi lowered her head and saw Zhenyi's eyes were bright. She said to her, "Big sister, if you don't like to cry, let me help you cry!"

Shuyi was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help laughing. She didn't respond, but just used her finger to gently scratch her second sister's nose: "Silly girl, what nonsense are you talking about."

As Shuyi spoke, her eyes fell on the thing wrapped in blue cloth in Zhenyi's other hand, and she asked with a smile, "What treasure is in your hand, second sister?"

What Zhenyi was holding was the book "Collected Explanations of the 72 Seasonal Changes in the Lunar Calendar".

This book breaks down the 24 solar terms in more detail, dividing each solar term into three periods, each period into five days, all corresponding to detailed phenomena of change and growth.

In order to be able to understand the words as soon as possible, Zhenyi studied harder to recognize them.

During the Rainy Season of the following year, the seven-year-old Zhenyi turned to the second page of the book and read with some effort but seriously: "In the middle of the first month, the sky produces water. The beginning of spring belongs to wood, but what produces wood must be water, so the Rainy Season follows the beginning of spring. And when the east wind thaws the ice, it will disperse and become rain..."

"The first sign of Rain Water is otters offering fish, the second sign is geese flying north, the third sign is the beginning of grass and trees sprouting..."

This year's Rain Water falls on the same day as the Lantern Festival.

During the Lantern Festival, Zhenyi and others got the opportunity to go out at night.

Wang Zhefu was invited by his good friend Yuan Mei to visit Suiyuan Garden in Jinling City with his family and take his children to celebrate the Lantern Festival.

　Weekly update~Good afternoon everyone!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)