Chapter 14: Uncle and Sister-in-law Join Forces to Facilitate Business

Chapter 14: Uncle and Sister-in-law Join Forces to Facilitate Business

"Oh, the sun is out, the sky is clearing up." When Meng's mother got up early to cook, she opened the door and saw the rosy clouds in the sky, a sign that the sky was about to clear up. She quickly moved all the urine bags that had been drying under the eaves into the yard.

“Dad, wake up. The weather’s cleared up. Take down the wet clotheslines and replace them with dry ones. Take the bedding and blankets out to air them.”

When Meng Qing woke up and heard this, she quickly got out of bed and went to open the door. The rain had stopped and the sun was out. Du Min should be bringing Gu Wuxia to visit today, right?

"Qingniang, is the child awake? Tell your younger brother to bring out the bedding from your bed to air it out," said Meng's father.

Meng's mother came out of the main house carrying dirty clothes and called Meng Qing and Meng Chun to bring out all the dirty clothes they had collected.

After four days of rain, the bedding was damp. Clothes washed in this weather wouldn't dry properly and would get moldy and smelly. We didn't dare wash the dirty clothes we had taken off. The four adults and one child collected two baskets of dirty clothes.

"I'm going to the river to grab a spot for washing clothes. You can buy breakfast outside," said Meng's mother, then hurriedly left with her baskets.

Meng's father was thinking about going to the paper horse shop, so he left Meng Chun at home to feed the donkeys and chickens and tidy up the pens. "You two siblings can discuss what to buy for dinner. I'll go open the shop."

"Dad, wait for me, I'm coming too." Meng Qing spat out the willow twig she used for brushing her teeth, went back into the house to pick up the child, gave the bundle containing the diapers to her father to carry, and the father and daughter went out together.

At Chongwen Academy, located in Rulinfang, Gu Wuxia called on his friends and classmates to board a boat and leave the dormitory.

“Young Master Du is a meticulous and reliable person. Last month, I asked him to persuade his second brother’s father-in-law to have Craftsman Meng make a pair of paper horses for my grandfather. I had completely forgotten about it afterward, but he remembered it clearly for me. Just a few days ago, he invited his second sister-in-law, who had just finished her postpartum confinement, back home. I heard that Du’s second sister-in-law is even better at paper-making. You two come with me to take a look. After leaving the paper horse shop, we’ll go visit Ruiguang Temple. In two days, it’s Buddha’s Birthday. I’ll book a room, and on Buddha’s Birthday, we’ll go see the Buddhist ceremony together.” Gu Wuxia said, making a grand promise.

"Brother Gu, what kind of paper horse is worth all this trouble? Can it compare to a pottery horse?" Lin Rong glanced at Du Min with disdain, thinking, "What a lackey."

“Pottery figurines can only be buried with the deceased at the time of burial. After the grave is sealed, they are used to worship the ancestors. No matter how exquisite the pottery horse is, it cannot be sent over. Paper horses are different. Paper horses can be taken to the grave and burned, just like burning paper money, to give to the deceased,” Du Min explained.

Gu Wuxia nodded. "Before the Qingming Festival, Brother Du invited me to Ruiguang Temple. When we got to the foot of the mountain, he said that his second sister-in-law's family home was there, and coincidentally, his second sister-in-law was also staying at her parents' home to rest during her pregnancy. He was passing by and wanted to say hello. Out of courtesy, I went with him to visit. We happened to meet a pilgrim with a servant picking up paper horses. The paper horses were very tall, comparable to real horses, with bones and fat. After seeing them, I had the idea of ​​buying a pair to burn for my grandfather. As you know, my grandfather loved horses very much when he was alive, and he even gave me two paintings of fine horses. He gave me two paintings, and I returned the favor by giving him two horses. In a way, he made a profit."

While others outwardly praised his filial piety, they secretly thought he had been fooled by Du Min; they had never even heard of a paper horse.

When the boat reached the Wumen Ferry, seven people disembarked. Du Min led the way, knowing the area well, and guided them to the Meng Family Paper Horse Shop.

"Brother Du, have you made any progress on the policy proposal you made the other day?" Gu Wuxia asked.

“There’s some progress, but I haven’t started writing yet,” Du Min replied.

"Now that you've finished writing your policy essay, could you let me take a look first? Master Xie is so biased, assigning you this one alone. I want to see it before he does," Gu Wuxia joked, half-jokingly.

"My brothers have many books at home, and many of you have learned elders. If you have any questions, you can ask your elders or consult books to find the answers. I am different. I only borrow books when I encounter difficulties in writing policy essays." Du Min flattered him earnestly, then smiled wryly and said, "I asked the teacher to assign me policy essays. If you brothers are willing to share the hardship, I will convey your wishes in the future."

"I have no intention of doing this," Lin Rong said loudly. "If Brother Gu is interested, then you two can go and share the joys and sorrows."

The others refused, as completing the daily assignments given by the teachers would take half their lives, and there were very few people in the academy who would ask for extra assignments like Du Min.

Du Min looked at Gu Wuxia, who punched him in annoyance. He dared not nod in agreement, because unlike Du Min, he had nothing to do but read and copy books. Adding more coursework would be a heavy burden for him.

"Fine, show me your assignments after you finish them. I'll look at them several times, as if I've done them too." Gu Wuxia was ultimately unwilling to give up and said something so unseemly.

Du Min could no longer refuse and could only reluctantly agree, despite his disgust.

The rest of the journey was uneventful.

Upon arriving at the foot of Ruiguang Temple, Du Min noticed that, due to the approaching Buddha's Birthday, the monks were scattering gravel to pave the path for pilgrims. Shop assistants and owners in the surrounding shops were also helping out. Du Min spotted Meng Chun in the crowd.

Gu Wuxia also saw it, "Isn't that your second sister-in-law's brother?"

“It’s him.” Du Min continued walking. “There should still be someone guarding the Paper Horse Shop. Let’s go straight there.”

Meng Qing was twisting hemp rope in the backyard when her father, while taking inventory of the attic's stock, found the bamboo cot that Meng Chun had slept in as a child. The bamboo bed was still sturdy, but the rope had rotted. She planned to replace the rope and hang the cot back under the eaves so Wang Zhou could sleep inside.

"Qingniang, your brother-in-law has brought some men," Meng's father called out.

"You've finally arrived!" Meng Qingsong breathed a sigh of relief and went to greet her.

"Second sister-in-law," Du Min greeted her, introducing her as Gu Wuxia, whom you've met before.

"Gu Xuezi, did you bring the calligraphy and paintings that your grandfather collected?" Meng Qing asked directly.

Gu Wuxia hadn't expected her to be so direct, bringing up business right away. He swallowed the words of thanks he was about to say and unfolded the two scrolls of horse paintings wrapped in oiled paper, handing them to her.

Meng Qing took the painting and examined it closely. The horse in the painting was galloping, with strong muscle texture, a mane flying wildly, and a spirited face.

"What a fine painting! The brushstrokes are exquisite." Meng Qing had thoroughly enjoyed the view, but she reluctantly looked away. "May I ask whose handiwork these two paintings of galloping horses are?"

“According to my grandfather, it was a casual work by Li Yuanchang, the Prince of Han, in his early years, but since it was not signed or stamped, the truth of this claim cannot be verified. However, whether it is true or false, it doesn’t matter. Our family will not sell our calligraphy and paintings; we only collect them, and they do not need to be valued by worldly standards,” Gu Wuxia said eloquently.

Meng Qing glanced at the paintings a few more times and then said thoughtfully, "I wonder if you would mind if I made copies of two of them. After I've made the copies, you can take the horse paintings with you. These two horse paintings are too valuable. I don't feel at ease keeping them in our shop. If something goes wrong, we can't afford to pay for them."

"You can copy?" Gu Wuxia asked in surprise.

“My daughter has loved painting since she was a child. She has copied all the Buddha statues and murals in Ruiguang Temple, and they are indistinguishable from the real ones,” Mr. Meng said proudly. “She was just born into the wrong family. If she had been born into a better family, she would have been a talented woman. Alas, our family has dragged her down.”

Du Min's eyelids twitched as he listened; he was all too familiar with those words.

“Words are no proof. Do you still have Sister Du’s practice writings? Let us take a look,” Lin Rong said.

"Yes, yes, let us see it. Only when we say it's good can we say it's truly good," the students in the group echoed.

Meng's father had been waiting for them to say this. He opened the wooden box he had brought down from the attic that morning, which was filled with paintings that Meng Qing had drawn from childhood to adulthood.

Meng Qing glanced at her but didn't stop her. Her early paintings, which she had done because she wasn't used to using a brush, had been ruined by the ink bleeding from the dampness. The paintings that survived were drawn after she made charcoal pencils.

"What kind of ink was used to paint this?" Du Min held up a picture of an old cow. If he wasn't mistaken, the cow in the painting was his family's old cow. The worn-out bald patches and mange on its chest were deliberately enlarged, and the direction of the worn-out short hairs and the scabs on the mange were drawn.

He recalled carefully that none of the inks he had ever used were so hard, and that he could not draw such delicate marks with an ink stick.

"It's not ink, it's charcoal sticks made from pressed charcoal powder," Meng Qing explained. "You can look around as you like, I'm going to the backyard to copy a picture of a galloping horse."

“Let’s go too.” Gu Wuxia was worried that his collection of paintings would be damaged, so he had to keep an eye on it.

Just then, Meng Chun returned. Meng's father arranged for Meng Chun to guard the shop, and he carried the wooden box and accompanied them to the backyard.

The paper horse shop had a storefront in front and a small courtyard in the back, which led to a two-story attic building where Meng Qing was born and raised.

When Du Min entered and saw the child's diaper, his heart skipped a beat. He nearly fainted when he saw the baby sleeping in the bamboo bed. He frowned and asked, "Second Sister-in-law, how could you bring Wangzhou here? This shop is full of funerary objects, and there are funerary object shops all around. Many of the customers are in mourning! The child is frail; aren't you afraid he might offend something?"

"Don't you even look where we are? There's a temple on the mountain, with Buddha enshrined there and high-ranking monks presiding over it. What kind of filthy thing would dare to come here?" Meng Qing was a reincarnation, and she believed that people have souls and that they would be reincarnated after death. But she had never seen a ghost when she was a child, nor had she encountered anything strange or eerie, so she could only attribute it to Ruiguang Temple being there to keep things under control.

Meng's father was displeased. He said in a rough voice, "I raised two children here, and they never caused any trouble."

Du Min was too lazy to argue with ignorant people.

"Father, bring me a table." Meng Qing interrupted, then said to Gu Wuxia and the others, "You guys keep an eye on things, I'll go up to the attic to get paper and pen."

After the Meng father and daughter left, Lin Rong approached and asked, "Brother Du, how come your family is related to such a family through marriage?"

"My second brother and sister-in-law are in love, and my parents don't have any prejudice against each other." Du Min said with an air of certainty.

Lin Rong gave a cryptic laugh. "It seems the news I heard wasn't true. There are rumors in the academy that your second brother married a merchant's daughter to save up for your trip to the capital for the imperial examinations."

Du Min looked up at him.

The others were engrossed in looking at Meng Qing's paintings, their focused expressions comparable to those of a great scholar lecturing, oblivious to the commotion around them.

“Since it’s just rumors, it’s obviously false.” Du Min shook his head and chuckled.

Meng's father moved a table over and asked Gu Wuxia, "Student Gu, isn't my daughter's painting quite good?"

Gu Wuxia snapped out of her reverie, “Not bad, this is the first time I’ve seen this style of art.”

Meng Qing came down from the attic. She took a stack of yellow hemp paper and held a ceramic pen in her hand. She spread out the picture of the horse, studied it for a while, and then put pen to paper on the blank paper.

People gathered around and circled the table to watch her paint.

Meng Qing first drew the horse's body, then carefully drew its legs... and finally its head.

Half an hour later, the child woke up. Meng Qing put down her pen and carried the child upstairs to breastfeed.

Gu Wuxia picked up her ceramic pen. The pen was short and heavy, and the feel was far inferior to that of a calligraphy brush. However, he noticed one advantage: this kind of pen did not require frequent dipping in ink.

"What's inside the ceramic tube?" Lin Rong asked.

"It looks like a charcoal stick." Gu Wuxia looked at it more closely and asked in confusion, "How did the charcoal stick fit so perfectly into the ceramic tube?"

The others looked at Du Min, who shook his head: "I don't know."

"I've never seen anything like this before." Gu Wuxia handed the ceramic brush to Lin Rong, who then passed it on to the others. When it reached Du Min, he also held the brush and tried to write a character on the paper. His strokes were hesitant, and the characters were ugly and lacked style. He immediately lost interest.

Meng Qing carried the child down, handed the child to her father to soothe, and walked to the table to continue painting.

"Huh? You're using my ceramic pen?" she asked. "How is it? Haven't you ever seen a pen like this before?"

"How did they stuff the charcoal sticks into the ceramic tube? Did they shave them off little by little?" Gu Wuxia asked.

"This is my exclusive secret recipe, and I will not reveal it to anyone." Meng Qing realized that they hadn't listened to what she had said before, so she stopped explaining.

After finishing one horse painting, Meng Qing moved on to painting another.

Gu Wuxia compared the freshly made copy with the original painting. Meng Qing had captured the spirit of the horse in the painting. This simple copy alone was worth one hundred coins.

"Second Sister-in-law Du, you are so talented, how could you fall in love with a peasant man?" Lin Rong asked offensively.

Du Min frowned. "Brother Lin, please don't be rude."

Meng Qing knew without even thinking who had said "mutual affection." She looked up at Du Min, who was unusually uneasy and looked quite grim.

Meng Qing chuckled and said, "This student looks unfamiliar; I've never seen him before. Didn't you attend the banquet at my husband's house at the beginning of this month?"

"What banquet? I didn't go," Lin Rong replied.

“That’s right. You haven’t met Brother Du Min, but my child’s father is the most handsome of the three brothers. Do you understand now?” Meng Qing covered her mouth and smiled.

Du Min relaxed, but his face remained grim. He said with a straight face, "Brother Lin, you are a man and my sister-in-law is a woman. You are a guest and my sister-in-law is the host. I hope you will observe proper etiquette and not ask questions you shouldn't. If you continue to offend me, I will have to ask you to leave."

Lin Rong didn't take it seriously. He hastily cupped his hands and said, "I hope Second Sister-in-law Du will forgive my rudeness."

Meng Qing nodded, then fell silent, focusing entirely on her painting.

Around noon, the second painting was completed.

“Gu Xuezi, let me tell you something. There’s a rule for making funerary objects. When drawing eyes on a paper figure, don’t dot them. When making a paper horse, don’t raise your mane. The mane of the horse in the painting should hang down, not be raised.” Meng Qing handed over the second painting. “Take a look. I’ve removed the flying mane from this painting. If you have no objections, make the paper horse according to the one in this painting.”

"What if you have any objections?" Gu Wuxia asked.

“If you have any objections, I won’t take this job. You can go to the two pottery shops next door that make funerary objects and ask them. Pottery horses can’t have their manes raised; that’s a rule in this trade.”

"What's the significance?" Lin Rong pressed. "What happens when you make a paper horse with a flowing mane?"

Meng Qing waved her hand; she did not answer.

"There's one more thing. After you've made the bones and fat of the paper horse, I need you to bring these two pictures of horses again. I'll color them according to the pictures," Meng Qing continued to say to Gu Wuxia.

"How much do these two paper horses cost?" Gu Wuxia asked.

Meng Qing called her father, and she cautiously avoided getting involved in the price negotiation.

"A pair of paper horses requires a deposit of six strings of cash, and you can pay another six strings when you pick them up. If you are not satisfied after completion, you can refuse the paper horses, and half of the deposit will be refunded," Meng's father said.

"So expensive? Six strings of cash are enough to buy ten pottery horses." Lin Rong interjected again.

“Young master, the price of antique artifacts is not negotiable; it’s the industry standard,” Meng Qing reminded him.

“A paper horse is taller than a person, and an equivalent terracotta horse would cost more than that. Besides, only emperors and generals could use terracotta horses of that size,” Du Min couldn’t help but chime in.

Gu Wuxia didn't want to lose face over money, so he said generously, "Six strings of cash it is. I'll have my page bring the money tomorrow."

"Okay." Mr. Meng had no objections.

“You’re Du Min’s classmate, and I’m his second sister-in-law. We’re practically acquaintances. If you’re not satisfied with anything after the paper horse is made, I’ll revise it for you free of charge,” Meng Qing said.

Gu Wuxia thanked him, "Then I'll have to trouble you. I'm so sorry that you two have been separated because of my matter."

Meng Qing said bluntly, "That's true. If you weren't Du Min's classmate, I really wouldn't have taken on this job. After I got married, I stopped doing business at the paper horse shop."

Gu Wuxia thanked him again. After leaving the paper horse shop, he put his arm around Du Min's shoulder and said, "Let's go to Ruiguang Temple for a vegetarian meal. This meal is to thank Brother Du."

Du Min glanced back at the paper horse shop and could vaguely see Meng Qing holding a child.

Upon entering Ruiguang Temple, Du Min said, "Brother Gu, you go ahead. I'll go get a talisman for my nephew to place before the Buddha."