Chapter 46: Welcoming Mei Xia

  Early autumn morning, the dew on the grass by the roadside was round, and the thin morning fog filled every corner, as if it were a silencer, all the noise and chaos dissolved in the light morning fog, the whole small town was still dreaming quietly. There were already many people busy in the temple, everyone had lightened their footsteps, lowered their voices, afraid that the heavy footsteps and conversation would wake up Rui Xuan. Everyone hoped that this exhausted, capable and efficient Mrs. could rest for a while longer.

  A few long crowing sounds of the rooster awakened Rui Xuan from her doze. The morning air was extremely refreshing, and Rui Xuan slowly got up with the support of a chair, took several deep breaths of the cool air mixed with floral scents, and exhaled the stale air that had accumulated overnight, feeling slightly better.

  Early in the morning, Mei San's shiny black coffin made of wenge wood was carried into the Mei family ancestral hall by eight strong men. Mei San himself arrived early, seated on a bamboo chair. The previous night, Mei Cheng had distributed full wages and dismissal fees to all the servants and apprentices of the Mei estate according to Rui Xuan's instructions. However, the servants and apprentices of the Mei estate were reluctant to disperse, lingering around the ancestral hall with tears in their eyes.

  Having stayed up almost all night, Rui Xuan was exhausted. She slowly walked down the steps and into their midst, "Since everyone is thinking of the master-servant relationship, let's send off your wives and daughters one last time! Now please help me with a favor, hang white flowers on all the Mei family cloth shops and Lu family rice shops, and if there are any other shops willing to hang them, please help me hang them up too, thank you everyone!"

  Everyone dispersed quickly after receiving their orders.

  Mei Xiang also brought the mother and daughter's longevity clothes, with fine stitches, fitting size, and exquisite workmanship. Mei Xiang said that the tailor master insisted on not accepting any payment, worked overnight to rush production, saying it was for the customer to make the last piece of clothing, to fulfill the last bit of intention for Leijiang's loyal wife and heroic woman.

  He Lao Shen Yi brought a whole cart of high-quality bamboo charcoal with his apprentice, each piece of bamboo charcoal infused with He Lao's anti-corrosion secret medicine. It seems that last night, many people stayed up all night for Rui Hua and her daughter.

  What surprised Rui Xuan the most was that the heads of the seven most prestigious families in the county, who were highly respected and admired, all appeared at the Mei family ancestral hall at dawn without prior arrangement.

  "Madam Lu, we've heard about the heroic deeds of the Mei family mother and daughter. The seven families in our clan were deeply shocked. The heads of each family rushed to the city from all over last night and held an emergency meeting that lasted all night. Ruihuan's mother and daughter bravely sacrificed themselves to save their fellow villagers, sparing Leijiang from a tragic fate where every household would have been mourning and every family would have had widows. They are the most virtuous women in our town's history, and a model of chastity for Leijiang. To commemorate their merits and let our descendants remember them, we decided unanimously after one night of discussion to bury Ruihuan's mother and daughter together on the banks of Wobing Lake, next to Wang Xiang's tomb!"

  This is the highest courtesy that the fellow villagers of Leijiang can give to the deceased!

  Rui Xuan burst into tears, turned around and cried towards the two white cloth-wrapped bodies: "Rui Hui, Mei Xia, can you hear me in heaven? Can you see? Our fellow villagers love you, respect you! Your sacrifice is worthwhile, your death is justified! You are the daughters of Lei Jiang's land, rest assured and return to this land that nourished you!"

  "Rui Xuan 'plop' knelt down: 'Fellow villagers, respected elders, as Rui Hua's sister, Mei Xia's aunt, and Mei Xia's mother-in-law, on behalf of Rui Hua and her daughter, thank you all!' The crowd burst into applause."

  Wailing sounds filled the air as people around knelt down in a circle, their cries shaking the sky.

  Silence. The whole city was as silent as death.

  All the shops were closed and even the street vendors who used to shout out their sales pitches had vanished.

  Pure white. The whole city is as white as snow.

  Not only were white flowers hung on the doors of Lu's grain store and Mei's silk store, but also all the medicine stores, grocery stores and inns along both banks of the Lei River had white strips tied to their entrances.

  This is a silent rebellion. This is the gathering of anger. The current Lei Jiang is like a volcano about to erupt, behind the quiet silence, there is a surging hot blood in everyone's chest, just like the boiling red magma inside the volcano.

  A group of people walked slowly onto the bluestone pavement.

  This is a strange team. It can be said that Lejiang Town has never seen it before, and even the vast land of China has never heard of it since ancient times.

  This is a combination of a wedding procession and a funeral procession.

  The front of the team was a flower bed, decorated with bamboo and jasmine flowers, carried by four people. On it lay Mei Xia, quietly dressed in a cheongsam with a plum blossom pattern. In front of the flower bed, Rui Xuan and Mei Xiang carefully made her up, painting her eyebrows, applying lipstick, and dotting her cheeks red. According to local custom, they styled Mei Xia's long black hair into a mature woman's bun, proving that she was already married. Mei Xiang lay with her hands clasped together at her abdomen, wearing a pair of soft-bottomed shoes with a red plum pattern on the upper, and her body was sprinkled with freshly picked lotus flower petals, looking so elegant and holy.

  On the left, Mei San Shu Gong wore a black-bottomed red-character longevity picture robe, sitting in a bamboo chair, accompanied by Mei Xiang, moving slowly, as Uncle Grandpa, he represented the paternal family to send his granddaughter away; On the right, Rui Xuan changed into a black gold-silk cheongsam, wearing a peony-red shoulder pad, with a red flower on one side of her head and a white flower on the other, as the maternal aunt, she represented the maternal family to send her niece away. Behind the flower bed was an eight-man carrying dark and solemn wooden coffin, with a large "longevity" character in front, proving that inside should be a long-lived male elder, but actually lying inside was a 40-year-old middle-aged woman, as a mother, even if she was lying in the coffin, Rui Hui still wanted to see her daughter marry off with glory!

  No wedding drums, no funeral dirges, just silence.

  There are also teams that continue to expand. Regardless of age, men have white bands tied around their heads, and women wear white flowers on their heads.

  Since Ziming's death as a martyr in Longyi, the whole city sent him off for burial. For over 500 years, Leijiang has never experienced this before.

  For two women, the whole city sent them off in funeral procession, for over 2,000 years since the founding of the city, this is the first time in Leizhou!

  The Mei family ancestral hall was originally just a few steps away from the Lu family's large courtyard, but Rui Xuan insisted that the entire team walk along the most prosperous street of Lei Jiang for a circle. She wanted to relive the happy memories of the past with Rui Hua and Mei Xia together again.

  Lei Jiang Wharf, where Ruihui and Meixia's childhood happiness settled; Yingjia Bridge, where Ruihui's happiness as a bride echoed; Mei's Silk Fabric Store, where Ruihui's hard work as the shopkeeper scattered.

  Rui Xuan was choked with sobs, walking and reminiscing at the same time, her emotions surging up and down.

  The team arrived at the gate of Lu's mansion.

  The Lu mansion's gate was already wide open, and Lu Xiaolin stood at the entrance to welcome them. Rui Xuan stepped forward and said, "Brother Lu, I've brought my wife back home!"

  Lu Xiaolin rushed forward and tightly hugged Rui Xuan: "It's good to be back home, it's good to be back home!"

  Then, Lu Xiaolin went up to pay his respects to Mei San Shu, wanting to say something auspicious, but he was speechless, with tears streaming down. Mei San Shu waved his hand and turned his head to the side, with old tears flowing freely. Lu Xiaolin then came to the coffin, patting the thick wooden casket, choking back sobs as he said loudly: "Sister, you can rest at ease now, your daughter Mei Xia has gotten married and become a daughter-in-law of my Lu family!" Before he could finish speaking, tears flowed in torrents.

  Suddenly, the gloomy sky drifted with a patter of small rain, was it Rui Hui's joyful tears flowing from heaven?