Lin Fang recalled that before she left Liangping Town, Li Yinwei had once offered to give her a pearl, which looked exactly like the one she now held in her hand. With her keen senses, she was almost certain that this pearl was the very same one. How had it ended up in Lin Wu’s possession? If she could trace the origin of this pearl, wouldn’t she be able to find Li Yinwei?
The more she thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. She could hardly contain her eagerness to question Lin Wu immediately, but she restrained herself. She needed to find an opportunity to speak with him alone and ask him to investigate discreetly. This matter was too significant to alarm the family just yet. If there was a real possibility of finding Li Yinwei, she would inform them. But if the chances were slim, she would keep it to herself for now, lest it cause unnecessary grief—especially to her elderly grandparents.
When Li Cuilan first arrived in Lin Town from the capital, she mentioned that Li Ziyi would personally escort their parents to Lin Town the following spring once the weather warmed. But spring came and went, then autumn, and another spring, with no sign of them. Every time Li Cuimei wrote to ask her second brother when he would come, Li Ziyi would reply, “Soon.” Yet this “soon” dragged on until early summer last year, when it was Li Ziyang who finally brought their parents, not Li Ziyi.
It turned out that Li Ziyi had been swamped with court affairs over the years, unable to spare the time. Several times, he had packed and prepared to escort their parents to Lin Town, only to be held back at the last moment by urgent matters. Once, he had even left the capital but was abruptly summoned back. Li Qingyun had thought that he and his wife, though old, were still sharp enough to find their daughter’s home without trouble. But Li Ziyi insisted on accompanying them, worried about their safety—after all, they were both in their seventies.
Li Ziyang had wanted to accompany his parents to his third sister’s home, but Dafeng adamantly refused to leave the capital. She had no desire to return to a farmer’s life and held Li Ziyang back. Thus, the trip was delayed again and again. It wasn’t until late spring last year that Li Qingyun and his wife lost patience and stormed out of the capital on horseback, forcing Li Ziyi to relent. Still, he couldn’t leave, so Li Ziyang had to escort them alone.
Li Ziyang’s relationship with Dafeng had already soured due to Li Yinwei’s disappearance. Moreover, Dafeng had changed drastically since moving to the capital, even to the point of looking down on his parents and sisters as “country bumpkins.” The couple was now only nominally together. After delivering his parents to his third sister’s home, Li Ziyang lingered, unwilling to return to the capital, until Pan Shi sternly sent him back.
It wasn’t that Li Qingyun and his wife didn’t feel for their youngest son. But if they indulged Li Ziyang’s whims, his marriage with Dafeng would inevitably end in divorce. As a man, Li Ziyang would fare better—he had parents, siblings, daughters, nieces, and nephews to rely on, even in old age. But what would become of Dafeng after a divorce?
Years ago, during relentless storms, Dafeng’s family had stubbornly refused to evacuate their village. Since then, there had been no contact—whether they were alive or dead was unknown. If divorced, how would Dafeng survive alone in the capital? Though she now appeared well-off, without the prestige of the general’s household, she was nothing. At her age, remarriage would be difficult—who would dare marry a woman discarded by the general’s family?
She had two daughters, but both were married and unlikely to offer much support. The elder, Li Yinrong, was selfish by nature and would likely distance herself from her mother to secure her standing in her husband’s family. Li Yinhua, who had been coaxed to the capital by her mother’s sweet words and never returned to her grandparents, resented her mother for her unhappy marriage and hadn’t spoken to Dafeng in years. If divorced, it was uncertain whether Li Yinhua would even care for her.
Before moving to the capital, Dafeng had been somewhat materialistic but not unkind. The allure of wealth had blinded her in recent years. Li Qingyun and his wife believed that hardship would eventually bring her to her senses, and they couldn’t abandon her. So they endured their son’s suffering, unwilling to forsake their daughter-in-law. Still, there was only so much they could do. What happened after Li Ziyang returned to the capital was beyond their control.
Li Qingyun and his wife didn’t stay long at the Lin residence. Soon after arriving in Lin Town, they bought a modest house, fixed it up, and moved in. Unlike Lin Shuzhen and the elderly Yuan couple, who busied themselves with chores, Li Qingyun and Pan Shi spent their days thinking only of leisure.
Li Qingyun had two lifelong passions: smoking and chess. His chess skills were exceptional, and few in Lin Town could match him—among them, his two sons-in-law, Dalang and Erlang. But both were usually busy. Though Pan Shi also loved fun, she knew better than to pester their sons-in-law constantly. Li Qingyun, however, couldn’t resist, leading to the earlier cat-and-mouse chase between the old couple.
That evening after dinner, Lin Fang went to Lin Wu’s courtyard and summoned Tan Liu. She shared her suspicions about the pearl with Lin Wu, who trusted his sister’s judgment and explained how he had acquired it.
Earlier that day, a traveler from the south had visited the clay workshop and impulsively ordered a batch of clay figurines. Short on cash, he offered a pearl he had acquired during his travels as a deposit, promising to pay the rest upon delivery. Lin Wu, struck by the pearl’s rarity and thinking his sister would love it, brought it home.
Lin Fang asked, “Fifth Brother, has the traveler left yet?”
Lin Wu shook his head. “Not yet. He said he plans to climb the mountain tomorrow to offer the first incense for his mother’s health, then stay at the temple for a few days to listen to the abbot’s teachings.”
“Good. After he finishes his prayers tomorrow, go and ask him where he got the pearl. Tell him I adore it and wish to find its pair.”
Turning to Tan Liu, she added, “The rest is in your hands, Uncle Tan.”
“Rest assured, Sixth Miss. I’ll do my best,” Tan Liu replied with a bow before taking his leave.
The morning after Lin Fang received the pearl, Madam Tong announced that, following the Lin family tradition of daughters marrying only at eighteen, Sima Rusu—still under fifteen—would only have a minor betrothal ceremony with Lin Wu the next day. The formal betrothal would wait until she turned sixteen. Lin Wu’s glee at winning Sima Rusu instantly turned to dismay, while the others laughed.
It wasn’t that Lin Wu objected to the minor betrothal—he was thrilled to marry Sima Rusu and willing to wait for her health. The problem was Duoling County’s peculiar minor betrothal custom, which even the most stoic would find unbearable, let alone sweet-toothed Lin Wu.
In their culture, betrothals had major and minor ceremonies. The major involved the groom’s family presenting gifts and the bride’s family listing dowry items. The minor was a simple exchange of tokens to formalize the engagement. Duoling’s minor betrothal, however, required the groom to drink a small bowl of bitter herb juice personally extracted by his future father-in-law—from herbs the groom himself had to gather.
As a child, Lin Fang had learned about the bitter herb from her mother and Li Yinwei during a visit to Aunt Li Cuilan’s home. Resembling dandelion leaves but thicker, like sliced meat, the herb was unbearably bitter but reputedly excellent for cooling the body, detoxifying, and relieving summer heat. Lin Fang and Li Yinwei had cringed at the mere description. When Lin Fang asked if blanching would reduce the bitterness, her mother said it would make it palatable but strip its medicinal value. Li Yinwei asked if it would still be bitter—the answer: mildly so.
In short, the herb was bitter no matter what. For Lin Wu, who lived for sweets, drinking its juice was torture. Worse, he had to gather it himself and hand it over to be tortured.
Lin Fang could already picture Lin Wu’s face while drinking the juice and nearly laughed—until her amusement faded into a sigh. When she first learned of the herb, she was five and Li Yinwei eight. Now she was fifteen, and Li Yinwei would be eighteen. She wondered what Li Yinwei looked like now and whether she had survived the disaster.
Determined to win his beloved, Lin Wu steeled himself for the ordeal. The next day, before the betrothal, he hurried up the mountain to complete Lin Fang’s task—questioning the traveler about the pearl—then searched for the bitter herb.
The traveler was forthcoming: the pearl had been given to him as debt payment, and he didn’t know if the debtor had more. He provided the debtor’s details, allowing Manager Qi and Tan Liu to launch a discreet investigation.
In the past, when Lin Town was still Lin Village, wild herbs like the bitter plant were abundant. Now, with every inch of land cultivated, finding enough for the juice was laborious. The mountain, though modified for tourists, still had untouched areas where the herb grew more plentifully. By sunset, Lin Wu had filled a basket—burying the bitter leaves under other greens to keep them fresh for juicing.
So smitten was Lin Wu that the usually shrewd businessman didn’t think to dilute the juice, as other grooms did. All he cared about was passing this trial to claim Sima Rusu as his fiancée.
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