Chapter 5: Medicinal Herbs Sustain Life, Memories Sustain the Soul

Madam Sang beckoned to her trusted wet nurse, telling her to take some people to tidy up.

The wet nurse wore a look of hesitation.

Madam Sang whispered, "Since Father has agreed, we shall just do as he says."

Upon hearing this, the wet nurse agreed. Since the Lady had requested it and the Marquis had nodded, whoever had an issue with it or wanted to argue could deal with it themselves; even if the sky fell, it was someone else's problem. Their Mistress, the Heir’s wife, did not need to get involved.

At the end of the day, it was just cleaning up a courtyard; putting in some labor was better than bickering.

Besides, it wasn't her, the head wet nurse, who would be doing the heavy lifting.

Lu Nian’s eyes closed again, her expression one of utter exhaustion.

A-Wei crouched down, and while smoothing out the thin blanket for her, she calmly observed the expressions of everyone in the courtyard.

They had specifically returned to the manor on the anniversary of her death for a reason, and Chunhui Garden was one of them.

Lu Nian had never believed her birth mother died in an accident, but unfortunately, there was no evidence.

If it couldn't be found back then, how could it be easy to find thirty years later?

But if there was any place left in this manor that might hold even a shred of evidence, Chunhui Garden was the most likely candidate.

Furthermore, human memory is a mysterious thing.

Lu Nian had said that imagining things out of thin air yielded nothing, but if one lived in that space, waking up day and night to familiar walls and beams, perhaps one day she would have a sudden realization and remember what happened before her mother "died of illness."

At the very least, it would serve as a memento.

A-Wei gently held Lu Nian’s hand.

Don't be fooled by Lu Nian’s current purposeful and logical demeanor; only A-Wei and Wet Nurse Wen knew that her madness was buried deep in her marrow.

A woman who had burned, despaired, given up, and then gritted her teeth to crawl out of a pool of blood—she had long been mad at her core. That Lu Nian could still maintain this clarity was only for the sake of her daughter who died young and the blood feud of her birth mother.

A-Wei had replaced Yu Ruwei in soothing Lu Nian’s mind, but there was no one in this world who could replace the Lady Bai of thirty years ago.

There was only the memento.

And that was Chunhui Garden.

Medicinal herbs sustain the life; mementos sustain the soul.

It just so happened that Chunhui Garden was the main courtyard, which was usually difficult to request. If one wanted to live there, it had to be decided the moment they returned to the manor. If they waited until they were already settled in other courtyards, wanting to move later would be twice the effort for half the result.

It was better to do it this way: provoke the Marquis of Dingxi into softening his heart and agreeing in public, where everyone could hear.

A-Wei pondered this and looked up at Wet Nurse Wen.

Seeing that Wet Nurse Wen’s expression held a hint of confusion and oddity, A-Wei lowered her voice and asked, "What is it?"

Wet Nurse Wen’s gaze remained fixed on the guests. "Nothing. Miss, focus on what is right in front of you for now."

As the mistress and servant whispered, Lu Jun caught sight of them and followed Wet Nurse Wen’s gaze.

The memorial service was paused, and the guests, having nothing else to do, gathered together to talk.

What were they saying?

Naturally, they were discussing the grievances between the two generations of stepmother and stepdaughter, the near-extermination of the Yu family, and they hadn't forgotten to mutter about whose pockets the "five thousand taels" and the three boxes of medicinal herbs had ended up in.

Even guests who prided themselves on their status couldn't help but gossip; the servants from the various households outside the courtyard were likely even less refined in their choice of words and were probably talking with even more fervor.

Once these in-laws and guests returned home, these affairs of the Marquis of Dingxi’s manor would once again become fodder for others' after-dinner conversation.

Just imagining it made Lu Jun’s face flush with shame, and the back of his neck was drenched in sweat.

Disgraceful!

Utterly disgraceful!

Taking out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead, Lu Jun said to the Marquis of Dingxi, "Father, the sky is darkening; it looks like it’s going to rain soon."

Traveling in the rain was inconvenient; he needed to finish things quickly and send these gossiping guests away!

Whatever trouble Lu Nian wanted to stir up, they could close their doors and bicker about it slowly among themselves.

Don't let people keep watching them make a fool of themselves.

The Marquis of Dingxi asked, "Has the snack not been bought back yet?"

Lu Jun cursed the steward for his incompetence—dilly-dallying over buying a snack—but not wanting to wait around, he had no choice but to go and persuade A-Wei once more.

No matter how difficult the niece was to persuade, she was still easier to talk to than her elder sister.

"The wind has picked up; if we don't hurry, it will rain, and it won't be easy to get things done."

A-Wei feigned ignorance. "Rain? Are you afraid of rain even with the canopy set up? Uncle, Aunt is reliable; the canopy is large enough that all our friends and relatives can stand under it without getting wet."

Lu Jun:...

He could blame the heavens and the earth, but he couldn't blame his wife for setting up a large canopy.

"That’s not what I meant..." Lu Jun wanted to make amends, but before he could cobble together a decent excuse, he saw Lu Nian staring at him coldly, having opened her eyes at some point. He was startled. "Are you trying to scare me?"

Lu Nian asked, "Are you afraid the canopy will collapse?"

"Stop spouting nonsense!" Lu Jun was furious. "It’s a perfectly good canopy, why would it collapse? You’re here to show filial piety to your mother, don't curse it!"

Lu Nian, however, didn't feel it was unlucky at all. "I’ve seen it happen. When the Yu family held a funeral, it collapsed several times. It’s strange to say, but no matter how it collapsed, it never hit the offering table or the spirit tablets; it only collapsed where the living were standing. One of the concubines of the Yu family’s third branch—counting it up, she was the concubine of A-Wei’s uncle—was killed when a falling pole hit her head. I could tell you stories about the strange ways people died in the Yu family for an entire day."

Lu Jun’s flushed face turned from green to white.

Was this human talk?

He had known Lu Nian was unreasonable, but she had just reached a new level.

"The osmanthus cakes are here! The osmanthus cakes have been bought!"

Steward Liu ran in quickly, clutching the food box, saving Lu Jun from the fire.

Lu Jun took it, opened the box, and seeing the osmanthus cakes neatly arranged without a scratch, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and asked Lu Nian gruffly, "Which plate should I replace?"

Lu Nian pointed. "A-Wei, replace the jujube paste cakes."

For sacrificial offerings, even the plates were part of a set and couldn't look out of place.

Seeing this, Madam Sang had the wet nurse offer the chopsticks, letting the mother and daughter handle it themselves so that no matter if it went well or poorly, it wouldn't be blamed on anyone else.

A-Wei took them, first lifting away the jujube paste cakes, then placing the osmanthus cakes down one by one.

Her hands were very steady; she moved the plate once, yet didn't even knock off a single flake of the pastry crust.

Once the plate was placed back on the offering table, Lu Jun asked, "Are you satisfied now? Can we offer the incense?"

Lu Nian threw off the thin blanket and slowly stood up.

Seeing this, Wet Nurse Wen moved to push the grand armchair away, and Steward Liu, quick-witted, grabbed the chair and left immediately, fearing that the Lady and her party would come up with new tricks to cause trouble.

The monks began to chant, following the previous ritual.

The wind grew stronger, and before they knew it, raindrops began to fall, clattering loudly against the canvas.

Lu Jun took the lead, bringing the filial sons and grandsons to kneel and kowtow. Seeing that Lu Nian didn't move, he couldn't help but glance at her twice.

Lu Nian said, "I will offer incense alone and speak a few words to my mother."

Lu Jun let her be; as long as Lu Nian didn't cause any more trouble, she could talk to her mother for days and nights for all he cared.

Lu Nian was in no hurry, so Lu Jun followed the rules: his own family kowtowed, the in-laws offered incense, and friends paid their respects. There were many people in the courtyard, but it was not chaotic; everything was orderly.

Seeing this, Lu Jun felt much more at ease.

That was it.

If Lu Nian hadn't burst in, today should have been this smooth and orderly from the start.

Finally, he yielded the spot in front of the offering table to Lu Nian.

A-Wei walked up and took the incense to light it.

*BOOM—*

A sudden, deafening roar erupted from behind, followed by a series of clattering sounds, accompanied by cries of pain and gasps of shock from high and low.

The canopy had actually collapsed.