Chapter 21: A Family Should Be Together At All Times

“Then the family brought him here for me to sew him up. I sewed him last night and told them to pick him up today. Who would have thought this would happen!”

Old Lin shook his head and wrung his hands, looking as if he did not know what to do.

Li Chaosheng understood and could not help smiling, “What do you mean by what to do? The corpse is sewn and not lost. Straighten him out, wait for the family to collect him, and that will be that. What’s the difficulty?”

As soon as Li Chaosheng finished speaking, Old Lin froze and squinted at Li Chaosheng. Beside him, the paper crafter Old Qian also said, “He’s right, the body was not lost and the sewing is done. Just wait to be paid.”

“While that’s true, why is the corpse like this?” Old Lin asked with a puzzled look.

Li Chaosheng then smiled, “Maybe someone played a prank on you. All right, Old Qian, lend a hand and lay the body flat, then put on the shroud. If the family ends up seeing this, that would be bad.”

Li Chaosheng took the lead, Old Qian helped, and Old Lin also did his best to help as well as to find the shroud. The three of them worked for ten minutes and the butcher Zheng was all tidied up.

Not long after they finished, a knock sounded outside. Li Chaosheng went to open the door. Several people entered. One of them was fat and sturdy and appeared to be the butcher Zheng’s son. There were also three women: one very old who seemed to be his first and principal wife, one still alluring, and one young and charming, who looked not very old.

The four burst into wailing and crying. The women howled and lunged at the butcher Zheng. The oldest one, the principal wife, held Zheng’s head, wiped her tears and cried out, “My husband! You are dead, how can I live!”

At that moment, the second still alluring wife grabbed Zheng’s feet and cried, “My husband’s feet, how my heart hurts!”

Seeing her two sisters clutching their husband and crying so miserably, the third one felt that if she did not grab something and cry a bit more tragically, she would seem inconsiderate.

So the third wife, young and charming, hugged Zheng’s groin and cried, “My husband, please get up!”

“Pah, shameless!”

The first wife spat angrily after hearing that. The alluring one, her face red from crying, said, “Big sister is right. It’s your fault, you temptress. If your charm had not declined, our master would not have gone to find that widow Wang for pleasure. It’s all your fault, all your fault!”

“You are being unreasonable. If you had not grown old and lost your looks, would master have cheated outside? Blame yourselves!” the young beauty retorted.

The first wife glared and said, “You little bitch, now you’ve learned to talk back? Just you wait. Once our master is sent off, I will not give you a single cent. Go back to your brothel!”

“Ah~”

The young beauty was shocked by these words and instinctively looked at Zheng Zhuang, the sole heir of Zheng the butcher.

“Mother, I don’t think that’s right. She’s already married into our Zheng family. How can we send her back to the brothel? People will gossip about the Zheng family!”

“What?! Son, are you crazy? Our Zheng family has some property, but we cannot support idlers. Now your father is dead. If we keep this young wife, who will support her?”

“I will support her!” Zheng Zhuang blurted it out.

The principal wife was stunned. She pointed at her son and then pointed at the young beauty.

“You, the two of you…”

The young beauty blushed and said, “It was consensual between Zheng Zhuang and I.”

“Ah, your father’s remains are not even cold yet, and you dare do such a disobedient thing!”

The principal wife was furious. Zheng Zhuang tilted his head back and said, “Mother, you are wrong. Back then at Changchun Court when Father and I both fancied Cui’er, Father used his seniority to force her home. Cui’er and I truly love each other!”

The principal wife glared and pointed at Zheng Zhuang, “Both you and your father are bastards, ugh—” and then fainted.

Zheng Zhuang rushed to his mother’s side and pinched her philtrum. Cui’er was worried about her eldest sister, no, now she was the mother-in-law! So she hurried forward to dab at her chest and pat her back, which suddenly left the alluring second wife isolated. The second wife blinked and looked at Zheng Zhuang, “Zheng Zhuang, why don’t you take me in too?”

…

A farce unfolded in Old Lin’s courtyard. Li Chaosheng was really opened to new sights. People say ancient morals were conservative, but perhaps that was a misunderstanding. This was quite the show.

In the end Zheng Zhuang paid the leather worker. The coffin shop next door brought out a coffin. A few pallbearers from the pole-house came and carried off the butcher Zheng’s corpse. Cui’er and the alluring second wife supported the old woman as they left the yard, with Zheng Zhuang following behind in a scene of apparent domestic harmony.

Li Chaosheng was moved seeing the affectionate father-son sight. For some reason a line came to mind: A family should be together at all times, no one should be left behind!

You have to admit the Zheng family truly had a spirit of not abandoning anyone. Even the second wife had a place to go. Touching, truly touching!

Li Chaosheng watched from start to finish. When the leather worker finally received the money he breathed a sigh of relief and cupped his hands, “Thank you today, Brother Li. Old Qian, thank you for helping too. Since I earned some silver, let me treat you two to breakfast. Don’t turn me down!”

The old man’s invitation was hard to decline. Li Chaosheng and Old Qian were hungry, so they agreed. The three found a basin to wash their hands while the leather worker changed clothes because his trousers were wet. The autumn wind was strong and the dampness chilled him. The old man’s cold knees had not yet recovered.

After changing and tidying up, the three chiefs of Dead Street alley went out. They turned a corner and found a breakfast stall. Once seated, Old Lin slapped the table, “Eat to your heart’s content today. It’s on me. Boss, bring oil cakes, fried dough sticks, and soy milk!”

Old Lin put on a domineering air, but actually, the man was super stingy. Breakfast didn’t cost much, so he could splurge. If they went to a proper sit down restaurant, he would have to act humble.

The oil cakes, fried dough sticks, soy milk, and pickles arrived. Li Chaosheng, having worked hard since morning, was hungry. He grabbed and wolfed them down. Old Qian and Old Lin were older, so one oil cake and one dough stick each filled them about eighty percent, and a bit of soy milk rounded off the meal nicely.

Li Chaosheng was a strapping young man and ate like a whirlwind. Old Lin ordered five oil cakes and three dough sticks, thinking he and Old Qian would each eat one and the remaining three oil cakes and one dough stick would be enough for Li Chaosheng. But after Li Chaosheng finished, he still looked at Old Lin. Old Lin, feeling the pain of having to spend more money, looked back and said, “How many more can you eat?”

“Bring five more oil cakes and three more dough sticks.”

“Can you finish that? Three oil cakes and two dough sticks feel enough to me.”

Old Lin tested him, clutching the newly received copper coins tightly in his hand.

“That’s fine. If money is tight, I’ll eat less,” Li Chaosheng said to Old Lin.

Old Lin thought that since he had spoken so boldly earlier, it would look bad on him if he refused to just add a few more items. So the old man slammed the table, “I’m going all out. Five more oil cakes and three dough sticks!”

What a really bold remark!