Chapter 31 - ARTTEDSBGT Chapter 31
Li Zhihi has recently found something exciting to do, and that is to provoke Li Suwan. For example, during meals, as Li Suwan’s illness has not fully recovered, she occasionally coughs. Li Zhizhi would then put down her chopsticks and ask in a seemingly concerned manner, “Sister, is your health still not good? Look at that cough, don’t choke yourself.”
Li Suwan covered her mouth and whispered, “I’m fine.”
But Li Zhizhi didn’t pay attention to her and turned to Lady Li and said, “Madam, I think it’s better for Sister to go back to her room and rest. If this illness lingers, it could be troublesome.”
Madam Li thought about it, and in a few days, Li Suwan would be coming of age. If her illness isn’t fully cured, that would indeed be troublesome. So, she ordered someone to escort her back to her room.
Poor Li Suwan got up early and hadn’t even had a sip of water before being sent back to the Purple Wisteria Courtyard. She was so hungry that her eyes were watering, but the maids only brought a bowl of thin porridge. Li Suwan angrily said, “I won’t drink porridge. Take it away.”
The maid hesitated and said, “This is what the Young Lady ordered, she said you’re ill, and it’s better to have light porridge to recover faster.”
As soon as she heard it was Li Zhizhi, Li Suwan was instantly trembling with anger. She knocked over the bowl of porridge with a wave of her hand and said furiously, “She doesn’t need to pretend to care!”
However, by noon, Li Suwan began to regret her decision. Her stomach was empty, and she was so weak from hunger that the maids brought her another bowl of thin porridge.
Li Suwan’s face turned green, and she said, “Take it away! I want real food!”
The maid replied, “This is specially prepared for you in the kitchen. There’s no other food.”
Li Suwan couldn’t believe it and said, “Won’t they make something else for me? This is ridiculous!”
The maid, feeling wronged and indignant, explained, “But the Young Lady said, since you’re still unwell, having porridge is the best for your health. If the kitchen dares to prepare something else for you, they will be endangering you, and they will be expelled from the mansion.”
Hearing this, Li Suwan felt like the world was closing in on her. She quickly grabbed the edge of the table, as if not quite comprehending, and asked, “What did you call her just now? Say it again.”
The maid hesitated and said, “You mean… the Young Lady?”
Li Suwan’s hand suddenly clenched into a fist, and her lips trembled. Her voice quivered as she asked, “Who allowed you to call her that?”
The maid lowered her head and replied, “That’s how people in the mansion are addressing her now.”
Li Suwan didn’t dare to inquire further. She stared at the bowl of thin porridge in front of her, the clear soup reflecting her bewildered face. Her expression went from anxiety to anger, and finally, it almost twisted. Li Suwan couldn’t bear it any longer. She lifted her hand and angrily knocked the bowl of porridge to the ground, making a mess with a clatter.
Li Suwan refused to eat congee and insisted on eating something else. The kitchen staff hesitated, considering Li Zhizhi’s words and not daring to prepare another dish for her. Instead, they reported the matter to Lady Li. At that moment, the whole family was having a meal in the dining hall. Upon hearing the servant’s report, Li Zhizhi stopped eating and looked at Lady Li. She whispered, “I acted on my own. If Sister Wan’er doesn’t want to…”
Lady Li interrupted her, her brows furrowing, and she said unhappily, “Wan’er is really not sensible.”
Lady Li spoke gently to Li Zhizhi, “She has been unwell recently, and her temper has become difficult. Please don’t blame her. Since it’s your intention, as her elder sister, she should accept it. How can she be so stubborn?”
With that, she instructed the kitchen staff, “Prepare another bowl of congee and have someone watch her drink it.”
With this arrangement, even if Li Suwan was reluctant, she had no choice but to reluctantly drink the congee. It wasn’t the congee itself that bothered her the most but the change in Lady Li’s attitude. Anxious and uneasy, she cried in her room when nobody was around. She woke up in the middle of the night, hungry and unable to satisfy her hunger, which led to another bout of crying.
With this daily diet of plain congee, it didn’t take long for Li Suwan to appear pale and haggard, like a delicate beauty on the verge of collapsing.
…
As April approached, the flowers and trees in the courtyard grew lusher. The gardenia in the corner had bloomed, its white petals exuding a fragrant scent that filled the courtyard. Lady Li couldn’t hold back any longer and tried to probe Li Zhizhi about whether she had gone to meet the Princess Consort.
Li Zhizhi, of course, hadn’t gone to meet the Princess Consort. She found Lady Li’s eager anticipation akin to that of a greedy scavenger and couldn’t help but find it amusing and uninteresting. She directly told Lady Li, “The Princess Consort refused.”
In that moment, Lady Li’s disappointment was evident. She seemed as if she had missed out on unimaginable wealth and felt both regret and unwillingness. She couldn’t let it go and questioned, “How did you say it? Could it be that you misspoke and displeased the Princess Consort?”
Li Zhizhi made up a story to pacify her, and after Lady Li listened to it, her attitude noticeably cooled. She even seemed to harbor some resentment and said, “Perhaps your words and actions were not appropriate, and you offended the noblewoman without realizing it. After all, you came from the countryside, and you can be quite naive.”
Having said this, Lady Li walked away without even saying goodbye. Yulan said, “How can the lady speak like that? What does she mean by ‘came from the countryside’ and ‘naive’? Isn’t the young lady her own daughter?”
Even Haitang, who rarely complained, said, “Lady’s words were really harsh.”
Wang the old servant suddenly realized what was going on and exclaimed, “When there’s something important, she calls him ‘sir,’ and when there’s nothing, she faces east. She has seventy-two different minds, just like the mother and daughter!”
After her sarcastic comment, she advised Li Zhizhi, “Don’t pay it any mind. But please, don’t take it to heart, for a person with such a complicated mind, you won’t sleep well at night.”
Before Li Zhizhi could respond, several people began to console her, afraid that she might be upset because of this.
Li Zhizhi didn’t feel sad at all, as she was the one who knew the truth best. Nonetheless, she gracefully accepted their kindness.
A day passed without incident, but the next morning, a major event occurred in the Li household. It turned out that a heavy rainstorm had occurred the previous night, accompanied by thunder. Somehow, it had split the old pear tree in front of the ancestral hall of the Li estate.
While Yu Lan was combing Li Zhizhi’s hair, she remarked, “I happened to take a look, and that pear tree split right down the middle, perfectly evenly. One half of the tree even crushed the roof of the ancestral hall. It’s so eerie.”
Haitang was wringing out a handkerchief and added, “I went to see it too, and the way that tree fell is indeed unusual. Even if you were to chop it with an axe, it wouldn’t split that neatly. People in the estate are all talking about it.”
Li Zhizhi asked curiously, “What are they saying?”
Yu Lan was always quick with her words and replied, “They’re saying that the old pear tree has turned into a spirit and caused mischief, which is why it was struck by lightning.”
“Pah, pah, pah!” Old Wangpozi entered from outside the door and said, “What nonsense are they talking about? Children’s words are thoughtless, blown away by the wind.”
Yu Lan stuck out her tongue and quickly closed her mouth. Wangpozi placed a cloth bundle on the table and said, “As servants, we shouldn’t gossip about our master’s affairs. You two maids need to be careful; don’t assume our little miss has a good temper just because you’re close to her.”
Yu Lan and Haitang lowered their heads obediently as they listened to Wangpozi’s scolding. Then, Wangpozi changed the topic and whispered to Li Zhizhi, “But let me tell you, this is indeed a bit strange. It’s hard to believe there’s nothing unusual about it.”
Li Zhizhi and her two maids exchanged glances and couldn’t help but smile. Wangpozi opened the cloth bundle and said with a smile, “Young miss, the tailor shop has delivered the summer clothes they made. Try them on. If they don’t fit well, I’ll take them back for alterations.”
Yu Lan picked up a light blue jacket and exclaimed, “Is this made of Yunluan silk? It feels so comfortable.”
Wangpozi said, “Each yard of this fabric costs a whole guan, so be careful with it.”
Yu Lan put it back, then suddenly remembered something and giggled, “I heard a while ago that when the tailor went to take measurements for the lady in Ziteng Garden, she specifically requested Yunluan silk. But the tailor refused, saying that the Li household only provided a limited amount of silver, and there wasn’t enough Yunluan silk. She said if she wanted it, she had to pay extra. The lady’s face turned green, and they argued for a long time. It was quite amusing.”
“Even though she’s wealthy,” Wangpozi showed her bias, “she should take a look at herself. How can a mountain chicken afford such fine clothes?”
…
The incident of the old pear tree in front of the ancestral hall being struck by lightning was known to Li Cen in advance, and he was naturally shocked and frightened. However, he still had to attend the early morning court session, so he had to leave the matter to Mrs. Li to handle first.
Throughout the day, his eyelids kept twitching, as if something else was about to happen. When Li Cen returned home after his duty, Madam Li told him that the ancestral tablets had all fallen, especially those of his father and grandfather. They were crushed under the altar, and the tablets were cracked into several pieces, soaked in a night of rain, with the names blurred.
Upon hearing this bad news, Li Cen’s face changed, and he hurriedly rushed to the ancestral hall. He saw the garden in a mess, with broken branches of flowers and trees scattered everywhere. The old pear tree had not been cleared away yet because it was so large, standing for decades and meticulously cared for by the Li family over the years. Its canopy was like a giant umbrella that had shielded the ancestral hall from countless storms.
Now it had fallen, and it had crushed the ancestral hall.
Li Cen stood in the rain for a while, and Madam Li tried to console him, saying, “Master, don’t worry. I’ve already moved the ancestral tablets to a nearby room and offered incense to apologize to our ancestors.”
However, Li Cen’s expression did not brighten. He just stared at the ruins of the ancestral hall and muttered, “My grandfather once said that this pear tree is the source of our family’s fortune. How could it have fallen like this?”
Madam Li was somewhat skeptical of this belief, but she didn’t want to argue with her husband at this time. She spoke gently, “The tree is still here, Master, it’s just too large to withstand the storm. Give it a year or two, and it will sprout new branches.”
Li Cen remained silent. Madam Li held an umbrella for him, and they walked back together. On the way, they didn’t speak. However, when they arrived at the main courtyard, Li Cen suddenly asked, “What day is it today?”
Madam Li couldn’t figure out why he was asking and replied, “It’s the thirtieth day of the third month, Master.”
Li Cen suddenly stopped in his tracks, turned to look at her, and said, “Zhi Zhi was brought back on the first of March, right?”
Upon hearing this, Lady Li finally understood and said with some astonishment, “Master, are you saying…”
“The blind Taoist back then said, ‘True phoenix and false phoenix will contend, and there will be trouble in the Li household within a month,'” Li Cen’s expression was not very pleasant as he continued, “I think this may be the trouble he was talking about.”