Old Zhou went out for a stroll and noticed he had nothing to do, everything was arranged by Zhou Dalang, while Zhou ErLang had even taken the officials to the Bai Family.
With no purpose, he wandered around idly and eventually returned to the room, deciding to rummage through the cabinets.
Ms. Qian, having offered three sticks of incense to the Heaven Master, saw him and asked, "What are you looking for?"
"Looking for clothes. The clothes Manbao sent , I put them in the cabinet, didn’t I? Where did you stash them?" Old Zhou said, "These are clothes fit for important occasions. I need to change into them to host our guests later."
Ms. Qian pulled him aside, saying, "Don’t rummage around and make a ss. I’ll help you find them."
She located the clothes and handed them to him, frowned, and asked, "Is everything outside already arranged?"
"The Eldest arranged everything. There’s no need for to step in."
Ms. Qian finally breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.
Manbao and the others also sent letters ho, delivered by family servants traveling on the road. But with the weather turning cold, private deliveries couldn’t match the speed of official couriers.
That’s why the imperial officers arrived at Qili Village ahead of their letters.
Old Master Bai, concerned about Old Madam Liu and Bai Shan, began inquiring about updates from the capital as soon as he sat down.
Their last communication with Bai Shan reported that they had filed the imperial petition, spent so ti in prison before being released, and that everything was fine.
However, they had no information on what happened after that.
Now that the Zhou Family had received imperial comndations, surely the Bai Family should have too?
Indeed, the Bai Family received recognition. The proclamation officials ntioned that Bai Qi had been appointed provincial governor—of Shangzhou, no less. Upon hearing this, Old Master Bai sighed in relief and ordered fine wine to be brought out for a celebratory round.
Zhou Dalang soon brought the village elders and the village chief ho, while so familiar older won and sisters-in-law ca by to help with the household prep.
Zhou Lixue drove the ox cart to fetch the Chief, while Junior Ms. Qian prepared three tables of fine dishes. Zhou Dalang then headed over to the Bai Family to invite Old Master Bai to join the officers for the al.
Among the Zhou Family, only Old Zhou, Zhou Dalang, Zhou ErLang, and Zhou Sanlang stayed to accompany the guests, while the others retreated to the small courtyard to eat their own als.
Yet, the family barely had any appetite; their ears strained to catch snippets of the conversation from the main hall.
The residents of Qili Village were also eager to learn about Manbao’s situation in the capital, but the officials didn’t know much.
They only ntioned the Emperor hadn’t punished her, and she had already been released from prison.
Old Zhou then brought up Zhou Yin’s posthumous matters, subtly inquiring whether the previous talk of bandit accusations from the local courts could now be discarded, allowing them to go about things according to proper rules moving forward.
The officers naturally followed the spirit of the imperial decree, praising Zhou Yin’s loyalty and righteousness. The Chief and village head knew better and grasped the undertone imdiately.
After a joyful, mid-afternoon al, the guests were politely sent on their way.
Old Master Bai noticed the officials departing empty-handed and couldn’t resist signaling Old Zhou with a aningful glance.
Old Zhou didn’t catch on, so Old Master Bai turned to look at Zhou ErLang.
Zhou ErLang froze for a mont before realizing. He began fumbling around his pockets but couldn’t even produce a single coin. Seeing this, Old Master Bai felt a headache coming on. Just as he was contemplating whether he should pay on their behalf, the officials had already mounted their horses and bid farewell.
All Old Master Bai could do was watch the departing procession and sigh, remarking to Zhou ErLang, "Why didn’t you prepare earlier?"
Old Zhou, puzzled, asked, "Prepare what?"
The Chief said snappishly, "Money! Those people ca all this way to deliver the decree—you were supposed to give them so reward money!"
Old Zhou widened his eyes in disbelief and exclaid, "I’m supposed to reward them? Wait, hold on. I’m just a farr, and they’re important officials. How could I be the one rewarding them?"
Shouldn’t they be rewarding instead?
The Chief answered, "If one day Lixue passes the imperial exams and earns a title, and soone cos to deliver the congratulations, wouldn’t you have to prepare reward money for them?"
"That would be different! Those would be minor clerks, and it’d be for a joyous occasion. Of course, there’d be a reward in that case. But here we’ve got high-ranking officials—how much money would count as an appropriate tip?" Turning to Zhou ErLang, Old Zhou added, "Good thing you didn’t give anything. If you had, I’d have scolded you for sure. Offering too little would make our family look stingy to these bigshots."
Surprisingly, everyone found Old Zhou’s reasoning quite sound. Even Old Master Bai couldn’t help but nod in agreent, saying, "That’s true. They’re from the capital, so they shouldn’t need money."
Exactly. And even if they did need money, we shouldn’t be the ones giving it to them.
Old Zhou thought to himself—right now, the price of fresh wheat had dropped, making it no better than regular grain. By next year, after a good harvest, grain prices might even sink further, leaving it worth practically nothing.
Currently, the family’s inco depended on dicinal herbs cultivated up in the mountains. The letters from the Fifth were always filled with good news, never ntioning hardships. Even when Manbao ended up in prison, they only told the family after she had been released. Who knows how much money they spent in the capital to secure her release?
Old Zhou knew well enough—getting out of prison doesn’t co cheap, not unless you’re fortunate enough to encounter a magistrate as fair-minded as County Magistrate Yang.
Before leaving, the Fourth had taken all the family’s silver with him. At this mont, where could Old Zhou possibly gather reward money for such a high-ranking official?
Once the officers left, Old Zhou finally allowed himself to relax and waved his hand, declaring, "Tell everyone—tomorrow we’ll slaughter chickens and sheep and host a feast for the village!"
The village chief, knowing the Zhou Family was short on cash after exchanging silver with him recently, tried to dissuade him, saying, "No rush. This is a major event for the Zhou Clan and an important occasion for Qili Village as well. It shouldn’t fall entirely on your family. Each household can pitch in, and we’ll organize a village-wide banquet."
Old Zhou imdiately refused, "No way, no way. I can’t let everyone go to such expense. Don’t worry, though—the Fourth might’ve taken all our silver, but we can still afford to treat everyone to a good al."
He said, "This year’s harvest was good. We have plenty of rice and flour from our own fields, vegetables from the land, and chickens and eggs from our coop. We can afford to buy so lamb and pork for the feast."
Seeing Old Zhou’s insistence, the village chief didn’t press further. After all, they could always contribute so items when they ca for the feast tomorrow.
By now, everyone in Qili Village knew about Manbao’s imprisonnt after filing the imperial petition. When the letter arrived, the Zhou Family had cried bitterly, even though the letter said she was fine and had been released.
But everyone understood—prison is no walk in the park.
Anyone coming out of there would have suffered greatly.
Although no one knew exactly what hardships Manbao endured, everyone knew the Zhou Family had brought all their silver and prepared their best dicinal herbs to send to the capital.
Even the mule cart and carriage, bought on the spot, were sold off in the capital to exchange for silver and ensure Manbao could be rescued.
Thus, the whole village was aware that the once second-wealthiest Zhou Family was now financially drained. It wasn’t clear if they had fallen all the way to last place, as no one knew the situation in the capital.
Despite their uncertainty about Manbao’s suffering in prison, Zhou Yin’s posthumous distinctions were undeniably good news, and Qili Village joined wholeheartedly in the celebrations.
People were finally able to speak freely about what happened twelve years ago, with no need for evasive wordplay or hints.
The elders of the Zhou Clan decided to add the events from twelve years ago to their genealogy records, ensuring that it was docunted prominently. Unconvinced by Zhou Lixue’s writing skills, they decided to leave it to the village chief’s grandson, who had a few years more education than Lixue.
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