The next day, Zeng Ziying woke up to find herself alone in bed. She had slept soundly enough. After getting dressed, she went to Shen Shis room first. Shen Shi was sitting on the edge of the bed eating breakfast, and there was a steamed egg bun left for her.

  "Qinger woke up, did you sleep well?"

  "Okay, mom, wheres brother?"

  "Your elder brother is taking a break today and has gone to have breakfast. Later, he might go up the mountain with your second brother, Ping Jie, and others to pick pine needles. You take care of Little San."

  "Alright, Ill go eat first." Rubbing Xiaosis small wrinkled face, "Xiaosi be good, sister is leaving."

  Walking to the front room, everyone had finished eating. Xiaoyu was helping Zhou Shi clean up the bowls and chopsticks on the table. Zeng Lao Yezi and Zeng Rui Xiang were discussing tomorrows Winter Solstice ancestor worship ceremony. Ah Po Tian Shi and Er Guo Xiayu were whispering about something. Zi Fu had changed into an old short outfit, and he and Zi Ping were preparing to go out to pick pine needles; from the sound of it, there were still many people waiting outside. Zishou was still sitting by the stove eating slowly, fortunately leaving some food for Ziqing.

  "Little three, finish eating and sister will take you out to play, today the sun is warm."

  After spending most of the day, Zeng Ziyu understood the surrounding environment with the accompaniment of her younger brother. In front of Grandmas house was a cobblestone road, about one meter wide, with houses on both sides, stretching for several hundred meters, a pretty old street, but the houses were not great. The wooden house where Auntie lived had its north door facing the official road, which was said to lead directly to the provincial capital. On both sides of the official road were shops, about one thousand meters long. Ziyu took her brother on a tour and found inns, restaurants, rice stores, fabric stores, banks, blacksmiths, bamboo craftsmen, carpenters, painters, general merchandise stores, pharmacies, butcher shops, etc. This was what they called the main street of a small town. Outside the west gate stood a peach tree, facing a large empty space that looked like a square. At the far end of the square was a pond where people usually washed their clothes. Next to the pond was a well, and nearby residents came here to fetch water.

  No wonder the two families have to squeeze in and live here, this location is indeed convenient. Especially the square at the entrance is a place for trading (called "hustle" in the north), according to Xiaosan, there are too many people on market days, Ziqing thinks that when she has time, she will take a look at what else is available in this space and see if she can do anything to improve her life. After all, shes only five years old, its not suitable for her to take charge of everything.

  At dinner time, Zeng Ziying saw her uncle Zeng Ruiqing, who had locked her in the pigpen. Zeng Ruiqing was stern and expressionless, seemingly due to his work at the yamen, exuding an aura of authority without even trying. Ziying noticed that everyone seemed to be a little afraid of him. Even Old Master Zeng and Tian Shi were cautious when discussing tomorrows ancestral worship with him, fearing they might offend him. Seeing this, Ziying tried her best to minimize her presence and slipped away early.

  On the second day, after finishing breakfast, Zeng Lao Ye Zi and Zeng Rui Qing put the prepared meat, vegetarian dishes, candles, incense, firecrackers, etc. into a bamboo basket. Zhou Shi was on one side using a small iron hammer to tap another iron mold, under which was yellow grass paper. With each tap, the yellow paper had corresponding crescent shapes, similar to the paper money used for worship today. Tian Shi sat aside and separated the tapped grass paper, while Qiu Yu wrapped the separated grass paper with white paper and stuck it together. Zeng Rui Xiang was on one side guiding Zi Fu in writing characters on the package. Zeng Rui Xiang read out what Zi Fu wrote: "Now that we are at the Winter Solstice, filial son Shui Sheng, filial grandson Rui Qing, Rui Xiang, filial great-grandson..." Zi Qing leaned over to take a look and saw that they were Chinese characters, most of which she didnt recognize. She also heard Zeng Rui Xiang read out the year number: "Yuán Hóng tenth year Winter Solstice." Although Zi Qing studied engineering, she still knew roughly about the dynasties in the past 5,000 years. However, to specifically say the emperors name and title, only Ming and Qing dynasties were somewhat familiar. Yuán Hóng year was indeed unheard of. Zi Qing didnt dare ask randomly. Zeng Zi Fu might have just started learning to write characters for a short time, and his handwriting could barely be considered neat. Qiu Yu joked on the side: "Zi Fu, you must write well, you are the eldest grandson after all! If you dont write well, your ancestors wont recognize it, and they wont receive it. No silver to spend is your fault!"

  "Little sister, dont you know theres a word called ghost writing? That means no matter what symbol is drawn, the ghost can recognize it."

  "You little scoundrel, you even dare to fabricate stories about your ancestors!" Zeng Lao Tou gave Zi Fus occipital bone a big slap.

  Zi Fu touched the back of his head and glared at Qiu Yu, who made a face at him.

  The winter solstice ancestor worship had no place for women, so Ziqing thought hed see if he could help his mother with some household chores within his power, and after greeting Tian Shi, he left.

  "Mother, Father and the others have all left, San also went, now its just me accompanying you." Zi Qing saw that on the stool in the room was a diaper that her little brother had taken off. "Mother, Ill go wash the diapers first, while there is still sunshine to dry them."

  "Will you wash? Wont you fall into the water tank? Or should we wait for your older brother to come back. Youre only five years old and have just recovered from illness."

  "Mom, dont worry, Ill be careful. Besides, Im a girl, and big brother has to do many things and study too."

  Under Zeng Ziyings insistence, the diaper was put into a small bamboo basket. Because the wooden basin couldnt be moved, she also knew to take a small wooden mallet. By the side of the water tank, there was a small slope, and below the slope was a bluestone slab. When Ziying went, there were others present.

  "Zi Qing, why havent you come to Aunties house to play recently? Your San Po was just mentioning you yesterday, and today youre out doing laundry. Do you need Aunties help?"

  Its probably the aunt from Táng Nǎis family. Yesterday, I heard that Zēng Zǐ Lù was sympathetic to these three women, who seemed to be on the side of Zǐ Qíng and Shěn Shì. With this thought, Zǐ Qíng smiled sweetly.

  "Thank you, Auntie, I wont bother you anymore, just teach me how to wash it and thats fine."

  Ziyings move quickly gained the favor of her aunt, and with her aunts help, Ziying returned home soon. However, drying things became a problem again. Seeing others use two or three bamboo poles supported by tripods, but she couldnt move either of them, so she had to go find someone to help her.

  Zi Qing was too lazy to go to the front house, so she found Xiao Xiu Ying on her own side. Xiao Xiu Ying helped her while asking, "Can Zi Qing wash things? Why didnt you ask your little aunt for help?" At this time, a group of people came rushing in, and Xiao Xiu Ying went to greet them. Before Zi Qing could count the number of people, a young girl rushed out and pinched her cheeks with both hands, saying "Little Qi Qi, do you miss me? Do you miss Auntie Xiushui? You little scoundrel, you definitely dont miss me, huh? Say it or not?"

  Although she was pretending to be fierce, Zi Qing immediately took a liking to this bold girl and thought that the future days with her would definitely be more interesting.

  "Missing Water Aunt, why are you back so late?" In fact, she was only about ten years old, similar in age to Zi Ping, and had a much more pleasant personality. Wearing a light green dress, she was the youngest daughter of the Peng family, it seemed that their household lived a richer life than the Zeng family.

  "Auntie Water secretly tells you that she has several copper coins in her pocket, when the market opens, Auntie Water will take you to buy delicious food."

  "Ah, Auntie Shui is really nice." Zi Qing discovered an interesting phenomenon. The grandparents, aunts and uncles in the house didnt like to bother with her, maybe because there were too many children at home and they found it annoying? But Auntie Gu and this aunt who wasnt related by blood were really good to her, it was a kind of heartfelt liking.

  Zi Qing looked around, but didnt find anyone similar to her little uncle and aunt. "Dont look anymore, your aunt has gone to your grandmothers house, shell come over tomorrow. Ill tell your mother about it later," said Peng Shi.

  Ziying responded with a "yes", and everyone busily entered the house. Ziying didnt follow them to add to the commotion, instead returning to her mothers side. The mother-daughter pair chatted idly for a while, and Ziying even took a nice long nap.

  As soon as she woke up, Zi Qing remembered something important. Isnt today the third day of Little Sis death? In ancient times, wasnt there a custom called "washing three"? How come they didnt do it? She was still waiting to see the excitement. It had finally arrived, and since she had never seen it before, she naturally wanted to experience it for herself.

  "Sister, now that little brother has been born, shouldnt our family be setting out wine?"

  "What wine to serve? The full moon is still early. When the time comes, youll see your grandmas attitude, your grandpa likes his grandson, but your grandma will be tired of it, and with several relatives from both sides, including your maternal grandmothers side, we should invite them too. Its not like this is the first child. Cant even get along. When cant make decisions as a family, always like this. Better to separate households sooner."

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