Chapter 14: The Plum Tree Sacrifices for the Peach Tree

  A Fei had just entered the Shi family's house when he had a wild dream. In his dream, Shi Yi was yelling at him, and then he simultaneously dreamed of Shi Yi and his son Shi Xun, both covered in blood, holding ring-shaped knives, and speaking in Peking Opera tones: "Good thief, return my life to me! Ahhh!" Scared, A Fei hugged his head and shouted: "What does this have to do with me? It wasn't I who killed you father and son!" He broke out in a cold sweat and woke up from the dream.

  Although he woke up, the lingering fear remained, and he was especially worried that he might have said something in his sleep, or if someone outside had heard him. After calming down a bit, he felt sweaty all over, uncomfortable with wetness, and only then did he stretch out his arms and legs from under the quilt, but was afraid of catching a cold - the medical skills of this era were really not good, even ordinary colds could be life-threatening - so he quickly pulled them back in.

  Then, I felt my mouth dry and my throat sore, and I couldn't help but scold the brothers at home: "How can you not even think of giving me a drink of water? Are you guys really sons of a noble family or not? Do you know how to treat guests?" Thinking about drinking water, my lower abdomen suddenly felt bloated and itchy, with a strong urge to urinate. But looking left and right, up and down, it seemed like there was no chamber pot in the room.

  At this moment, a crisp voice suddenly came from behind the screen: "Young master, what are you looking for?" Ah Fei was so frightened that he trembled with fear and couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat...

  A Fei's fright was no small matter.

  He had no idea that there was someone hiding behind the screen, fortunately he didn't make any suspicious moves just now, otherwise it would have fallen into the eyes of his family members. Who is this after all? How can you stay there for half a day without making a sound, and I couldn't even detect your breathing!

  He secretly reminded himself: "You are Shi Xun, from now on you will be the only Shi Xun in the world. The original Shi Xun is already a dead soul, he can't threaten you at all. You are Shi Xun, and every move you make must follow the path of Shi Xun, absolutely no relaxation for even a moment!"

  While thus cautioning and hypnotizing himself, he turned his head sideways and looked in the direction of the screen. There, he saw a slender and elegant figure emerging from behind, wearing a white short jacket on top and a long gray skirt below, with her black hair styled in two buns, looking like a maidservant.

  The maid walked up to Ah Fei and asked again, "Young master, what are you looking for?" Ah Fei saw that she had a round apple face, thin eyebrows like crescent moons, a straight nose like a hanging gallbladder, wheat-colored skin, and even a small dimple on one side of her mouth - truly a lovely loli.

  "Who are you?"

  The maid slightly bent her knees and replied: "My name is Yue'er."

  "Perhaps it's because of the curved eyebrows like a crescent moon, that's why I was given this name..." Ah Fei had barely spoken when he felt it wasn't quite right, this kind of talk in ancient times would be suspected of being flirtatious. He had just fainted from fatigue and "heartache", how could he speak like this? So he lightly coughed and changed the subject, saying: "This... I think I need to relieve myself..."

  Yue'er responded with a sound, turned around and took out a chamber pot from behind the screen, placed it on the mat, then reached out to help Ah Fei. Ah Fei was initially a bit embarrassed, but after thinking about it, he thought that even a true young master like Shi Xun would normally have his servants attend to such matters, although the maids by his side were not as pretty as the one in front of him. So he stopped struggling and let the maid help him up, then held the chamber pot with one hand, slightly turned his body, and urinated freely.

  After handing the chamber pot back to Yue, Ah Fei couldn't help but ask again: "Is there water to drink?" Yue first hid the chamber pot behind the screen and then replied with a sound: "Young master, please wait for a moment." She pushed open the door and came back in no time with a bowl of warm water, serving Ah Fei as he drank.

  After supporting A Fei to lie down again, Yue Er hid back behind the screen and said: "The slave is here serving, young master has any instructions, can call at any time." A Fei couldn't help but ask: "This... you and the chamber pot are together, don't you think it's smelly?" Behind the screen, Yue Er's soft laughter was heard: "Thank you, young master, it's alright." After that, there was silence again.

  A Fei lay in the house for a whole day, until nightfall, when a servant brought food and Moon served him at the table. Only then did he feel that his whole body was sore from lying down and wanted to get up and walk around, just as someone outside the room cleared their throat and asked: "Noble nephew, how is your spirit now?"

  A Fei was shocked and hastily lifted up the quilt to get out of bed, kneeling on the ground: "Little nephew is fine... could it be Uncle?"

  The door opened with a creak, and a tall, thin figure walked in, saying: "Not bad, I am Yi. My virtuous nephew has suffered."

  A Fei didn't even have time to see the visitor's face, but upon hearing this, an invisible switch inside him clicked, "Pa" - in an instant he switched from rest mode to acting mode. He hastily took two steps on his knees, hugged the visitor's legs and loudly wailed: "Uncle... Uncle is here, please accept your nephew's bow!"

  "Xian nephew, don't be like this, get up and talk." Yi hurriedly bowed his head, clasped his hands together. With the dim light of the lamp in the room, Ah Fei could barely make out that this Mr. Yi was quite tall, around 1.75 meters, probably over 40 years old, with a yellow face, long beard, high nose and thin lips. He wore a leather hat on his head, a deep-colored robe on his body, and a fur-lined coat, guessing he had just entered the house and hadn't even changed clothes before rushing over.

  He was sizing up Is, and Is also sized him up from head to toe for a while. At this time, Xiaoyue had already come out from behind the screen, first saluted, then took over the wooden clapper and placed it on the west side, supporting Is to sit down facing east. Ah Fei also hurriedly knelt down facing Is, using fake sadness to cover up his true nervousness, waiting for Is to speak.

  "'Your father's letter was quite brief,' said Yi, sitting steadily and asking straightforwardly, 'I hope you can enlighten me, my young nephew.' Ah Fei thought to himself, so you have the same temperament as your fourth son, but your calm demeanor is different from Eldest Brother."

  He told the story of what had happened before, half-true and half-false: First, he said that Shi Yi had offended the governor Zhang Qi, and Governor Zhang sent someone to capture him. He himself brought a letter to surrender to Beihai; Then he said that on the way, he saw the county soldiers who came to search for him, so he secretly returned, went through a fierce battle, and all his followers were killed. He barely managed to rescue his father; Finally, he said that his father was originally in poor health, and after suffering this shock, he passed away in just a few days. After burying his father, he did not dare to stay in Lelang County anymore, so he took a boat to sea, went through hardships, and finally arrived at Beihai.

  So saying that Shi Yi was rescued from Zhang Tai's clutches is because if Shi Yi had died directly at the hands of Zhang Qi, on the one hand, it would have been impossible for Yi to let things go, and he would have thought of a way to find Zhang Qi to settle accounts, which would have led to unnecessary trouble. On the other hand, as a son, he would also have had to return to Lelang to collect his father's remains, otherwise, it would have been unfilial. Since Shi Yi was rescued and then died, Zhang Qi caused an unjust case but did not directly kill Shi Yi, so it is unlikely that Yi would go head-to-head with a high-ranking official like Zhang Qi. And since Shi Yi has already been buried, there is no need to return to Lelang in the short term, and after two years, when the world becomes more chaotic, there will be plenty of reasons not to return to mourn "father".

  This speech, he had thought out all the way, believing that there was no major flaw. Indeed, looking at Yi's expression, although it seemed sad, it seemed to have basically believed it. After finishing the conversation, Yi comforted him: "The deceased is gone, and you don't need to be too sorrowful, lest you hurt yourself. You can stay here for now, and after a few years, when Governor Zhang leaves office, we'll think of a way to move your father's remains back home for burial."

  That night, Yishou arranged another residence for him, which was several square meters larger than the original temporary house and more luxurious in decoration, with richer furnishings - even better than Zhenshui's bedroom in the Dajiang North Villa. Yishou also ordered two maidservants, including Yuèr, a young slave, and an old slave to serve him, and instructed his sons: "Let your brother rest well. Tomorrow morning, you don't have to come to pay respects either. There are still important matters in the country, and I will set out early tomorrow as the father."

  Yi had five sons and two daughters. The eldest son was Bo Ming, the fourth son was Wen Tong, both of whom Fei had met before. The second son died young, the third son was Shu Mian, who was studying abroad, the youngest son was Zi Gao, who temporarily followed his father to help with work in Guodu County and did not return this time. Two daughters, one has been married, another is still young, waiting for marriage at home, also didn't meet Fei.

  It's a family... actually, it should be the Shi family, but there aren't many people. The grandfather of Yi had two sons, and each son had one son, namely Yi and Shi Yi, who were uncle and nephew. Looking at them, they didn't seem to get along well. However, Yi had a full house with children, while Shi Yi had three sons in succession, but only Shi Xun survived to adulthood.

  So according to seniority, adding those who died prematurely before this generation, the order is: Zhe is the eldest, Kuan is the third, Yun is the fourth, Shi Xun is the seventh, and Jun is the eighth.

  The next morning, Ah Fei had just gotten up when Shi You came to find him and handed over a newly made nameplate with the words "First Sacrifice to the Spirit of Yi Gong". Ah Fei asked him: "Do my father and I also need to change our surname?" Shi You nodded: "As the head of the family, since Father has changed his surname, everyone in the clan should also change theirs." Ah Fei felt a bit dizzy, having pretended to be Shi Xun, only to suddenly become Shi Xun again.

  Since he wanted to cheat and drink here, it's not certain that he could still cheat his way into a career. He had of course considered all aspects of the problem thoroughly, so he immediately asked Si Wu to say: "The coffin has not been carried out yet, would you please do me a favor?" Si Wu slapped his forehead: "Ah, I forgot about this." As he spoke, he glanced sideways at A Fei: "What is your mother's maiden name..."

  "You still doubt me, don't you? This little problem can't bring me down!" Ah Fei secretly smiled to himself, but on the surface he respectfully replied: "My maternal grandfather's surname is Liang, from Xiangling in Hedong."

  He quickly made the second spirit tablet, and before the lacquer was even dry, he placed it in front of Ah Fei along with (Shi) Yi's. Ah Fei lit incense and kowtowed to the fake parents, praying in his heart: "For your family not to be extinct, I took a great risk and冒名顶替, please don't blame me, but instead bless me to turn bad luck into good fortune." Taking advantage of Shi's distraction, he rubbed his eyes hard, punched his nose twice, and suddenly burst into loud wailing.