ABPUBALC - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Death (Part 1)

The next day, they didn’t go to the mountains either. In the morning, they learned that Wang Zhi from the village had died.

Her husband, Lin Wanfeng, found the corpse.

Early in the morning, after weeding in the fields, Lin Wanfeng returned home to find his wife’s body hanging from the eaves of their house.

*THUD—*

The sound of the hoe falling to the ground was muffled in the dirt. Lin Wanfeng walked over with trembling legs, then carefully took Wang Zhi down from the hemp rope.

Wrinkled and rough from years of hard work, his hands were covered in calluses and dry, cracked wounds. He held onto his old partner’s body, shedding tears of sorrow as his voice faltered.

Since Lin Zheng left, Wang Zhi’s mind has become increasingly muddled, sometimes unable to even discern his own identity as her husband. Last night, in a rare moment of clarity, she said that once Lin Zheng returns, she would no longer pressure him. Whatever he wishes to do, whether to have children or not, would be acceptable.

No wonder she suddenly spoke those words to him; it turned out she believed Lin Zheng would never return in this lifetime, thus severing her own lingering thoughts.

Auntie Zhang’s home was not far from Lin Wanfeng’s, and in these rural areas, the walls of the homes were not high. Da Niu was sweeping the yard when he heard some commotion. Upon hearing the sound of crying, he immediately dropped his broom and rushed over to Lin Wanfeng’s courtyard.

Nobody was in the courtyard, and it was a bit dim in the hall, making it hard to see. Da Niu was breathing hard and said, “What’s the matter, Uncle Lin?”

The person inside did not make a sound and continued to sob softly. Da Niu swallowed and cautiously leaned forward to take a look. It was as though he had been frozen in place, unable to utter a word as his throat tightened uncomfortably.

Old Mistress Wang’s face had blackened completely; her features were contorted grotesquely, while a length of hemp rope lay strewn by her side.

Even though he was already a father, he was still only in his twenties; where on earth had he ever seen a sight like this?

Unsure of how to address the mourning Uncle Lin, he haltingly ran back to the house and hollered towards the person busy in the courtyard, “Mother! Something’s happened!”

Good news travels within doors, while bad news spreads far and wide. Before midday, the entire village was filled with gossip.

After all, there had been such a huge incident, so it was inevitable that the village chief should be informed.

“You two should stay home the next couple of days. You can leave the house once Wang Zhi is buried. Only a few households live near here at the west end, so you need to help.”

Finished speaking, he didn’t even wait for Lin Xing to react before turning around and going to the next house. There’ll be no end to his bustling about these few days.

Lin Xing returned to the main hall and said to Gu Qiming, “Uncle Lin’s wife Wang Zhi passed away, just this morning.”

Gu Qiming was also taken aback. Hadn’t she been fine a few days ago? Although she was indeed slightly eccentric, she didn’t seem sick at all.

Gu Qiming saw that Lin Xing was dazed and stroked his back lightly, saying: “Are you alright? Did you get scared?”

Lin Xing kept his lips pursed and didn’t speak. He felt his heart skipping beats when he first heard the news and he still hadn’t gotten over it.

“How could this have happened?” Lin Xing said, taking a sip of water and speaking softly.

“Aunt Wang’s hanging herself... who could have expected such a thing?”

Unlike Lin Xing, this didn’t particularly surprise Gu Qiming.

He more or less knew about the Wang family’s circumstances. Wang Zhi had always been very loving towards her son, Lin Zheng, since he was little, and her son was filial and very obedient to Wang Zhi in return.

Later, her son met Lin Yun, and despite his mother’s disapproval, married the man and brought him home. Who would have thought that later... things would happen like that…

Gu Qiming held his hand gently and soothed him, “Don’t overthink it. Let’s go over after dinner and see if there’s anything we can do.”

By the time Gu Qiming and the other had changed into mourning attire and reached the courtyard, a crowd had already gathered within. Wearing a coarse mourning robe, Lin Wanfeng dumbly sat on the ground in front of the body, unable to utter a word. The village chief held a register while explaining something to the others.

People in the courtyard whispered among themselves, expressing their disdain for Wang Zhi and her husband. They harbored no good feelings toward the villagers either. “What kind of person would sell their own daughter-in-law, even a Shuang’er, out of the home?” they mused, indicating their belief that such actions revealed a lack of character.

Even so, this was, after all, a human life, inevitably leaving one to sigh with emotion.

“Wang Zhi is truly pitiable. We’ve all seen how much she adored her son; she couldn’t even bear to scold or beat him since he was young. Who would have thought that she’d pass away without even getting a chance to see her son one last time...”

The one beside him showed displeasure and retorted, “What’s there to pity? In my opinion, this is retribution. Back then, the fate of a Shuang’er, whether dead or alive after being sold, was unknown. Perhaps he has long since perished outside, battered by life’s harsh realities...”

“Indeed, this must be retribution. Those who commit wrongful deeds should rightfully pay the price!”

People chattered around, some took pity, whilst others felt that the family had rightfully deserved retribution.

Since the dead should be shown respect, the chattering gradually died down, and everyone began helping out with arranging the memorial hall.

“Brother Gu, please be careful.”

“Understood. You assist from below in hanging it up; I’ll handle the top.”

Gu Qiming stood on a stool in front of the hall, shaking out a white cloth. He was the tallest of the group, so the task of hanging the banner naturally fell to him.

While they were tidying up the courtyard, the village head had already asked those in the village with an ox cart to go fetch the coffin.

After a person dies, their body must be laid to rest for three days, with yellow paper covering their face. Family relatives are to keep vigil in the memorial hall for three days, and only after these three days can the burial take place.

The Wang Zhi family had long been devoid of members, having all relocated elsewhere. Now, only Lin Wanfeng remained, and naturally, there was no longer any funeral banquet to be held.

Gu Qiming jumped down and dusted off his hands, “Alright, only the main entrance is left.”

Lin Xing nodded, holding the white cloth and hemp rope as he followed out the door.

“What do we need to do after hanging up the white cloth?”

“Nothing much happens during the day; it’s just that we might need to keep vigil at night.”

“Aunt Wang has no kin left; we who live nearby should help pay our respects.”

Although it may have been a bit impolite, it was the only way left.

Everyone was occupied with their own tasks. Gu Qiming hung the white banner outside the door and chatted with Lin Xing from time to time. Suddenly, a commotion could be heard from inside the house.

Gu Qiming rapidly lowered the white flag and rushed indoors.

“Why didn’t you tell us earlier? Ah? You saw him, how come you didn’t tell us?”

The room was in utter disarray. Lin Wanfeng was fiercely clutching a young man’s neck, veins bulging on his hands.

The young man’s face flushed red from lack of air, his hands pushing against Lin Wanfeng’s arms in an attempt to push him away, but it was all in vain.

He had gone mad, and several villagers who went up to restrain him couldn’t pull him away. Seeing the state he was in, they didn’t dare to use their full strength for fear of injuring him.

Seeing him lose his senses, Gu Qiming could no longer care about the consequences. He clamped down on Lin Wanfeng’s arms with both hands and twisted them behind his back.

“Ah—!”

Lin Wanfeng winced in pain, his arm instantly losing strength and hanging limply by his side like a puppet.

Gu Qiming said icily, “Calm down. What are you doing?”

Lin Wanfeng could no longer hear him speaking; he crawled lifelessly to Wang Zhi’s side, grasping her hands, which were as withered as deadwood, and buried his head in them, sobbing uncontrollably.

Seeing him like this, everyone knew he wouldn’t listen to anything at this moment, so they let him be and all went to check up on the youth’s condition.

Lin Xing slowly helped the young boy who was almost dizzy from being strangled and gently patted his back, “Are you okay?”

“Cough…Nevermind.” The young boy supported his sore neck with a raspy voice.

Gu Qiming furrowed his sharp eyebrows and asked, “What exactly is going on? Why is there a commotion in the funeral hall?”

“Yes, Lin Wang, why didn’t you say so sooner? Who did you see in the end?”

All the people in the house were clueless about what happened; all they saw was Lin Wanfeng suddenly strangling Lin Wang’s neck like a madman. They were all frightened and rooted to the spot, not daring to move.

Lin Wang slowed down before he leisurely began, “Last month, I followed Master to Jinguan City to gather angelica. It was there, in the city, that I met Brother Lin Zheng.”

He hadn’t intended to speak, but with Aunt Wang Zhi already gone, it was certain that Lin Zheng’Ge would not have wanted to miss seeing his own mother for the last time. Therefore, he finally told Uncle Lin the truth.

Who would have thought to suffer such an ordeal?

“Lin Zheng!”

“Hasn’t he been gone for many years? How could he appear in JinGuan City?”

The villagers were all taken aback; who didn’t know that back in the day, Lin Wanfeng and his wife had nearly driven themselves mad searching for Lin Zheng, only to come up empty-handed. Unexpectedly, it was young Wang who stumbled upon him.

The city of JinGuan was neither too close nor too distant from Lin Family Village; traveling by carriage, it was roughly a day’s journey.

Gu Qiming understood; so this was the situation.

Lin Wang encountered Lin Zheng in Jinguan City but didn’t tell anyone. He guessed that it was probably Lin Zheng himself who didn’t allow him to inform Lin Wanfeng.

Lin Xing was somewhat excited, “Do you know what they are doing in JinGuan?”

Lin Wang shook his head and said, “Brother Lin Zheng only mentioned not to tell the villagers about his presence here; he didn’t specify what he was doing. I only know that they arrived in JinGuan a month ago.”

After listening, the villagers carefully said, “Now that you’ve returned, and since Wang Zhi has passed away, we should respect the deceased above all. Let’s have the village chief find someone to send a message and bring him back so he can at least accompany his mother on her final journey.”

“Wang Xiaozi[e/n: 小子 xiǎo zǐ (literary) youngster / (old) young fellow (term of address used by the older generation) / (old) I, me (used in speaking to one’s elders)], do you still remember where in Jinguan City you encountered him?”

“I remember.”

“In that case, quickly have the village head send someone to Jinguan to see if they can bring the person back.”

Despite all being from the same village, Wang Zhi has already faced her retribution. We cannot simply ignore her and leave her to such a fate.

After the farce concluded, Gu Qiming had no desire to linger any longer. He exchanged a few pleasantries with Da Niu and the others, merely stating that he would return the following day. Then, he departed with Lin Xing.

“Do you think they’ll find Brother Lin Zheng and the others?”

“Finding him is one matter, but being able to bring him back is another.”

Lin Zheng was able to have the heart to not come back for two years, and must have really not wanted to see his parents.

Lin Xing sat at the table, his expression revealing anxiety. “But Wang Zhi has already passed away ah. If he doesn’t come back, the villagers will definitely break his backbone.”

Gu Qiming saw that he seemed to mind, and raised an eyebrow, saying: “Are you very close with Lin Zheng?”

“Well... not that we were very close,” Lin Xing paused for a moment, “Brother Lin was always very attentive to Elder Wang’s words. She didn’t like him interacting with me, so we rarely talked.”

Until later, he married Lin Yun back home despite opposition from his family.

“Lin Yun?”

This was the first time Gu Qiming had heard Lin Xing utter this name.

“Mmh, he’s my elder brother who’s a year older than me. When I was fifteen, he married into my family.”

His eyes seemed somewhat moist as he spoke, “He was a very good person, always polite and courteous in his speech. He has helped me a lot and taught me many things.”

Lin Yun also hailed from Lin Family Village, sharing a fate as harsh as Lin Xing’s, orphaned from a young age.

Growing up alongside his elder brother, their family faced hard times, living a life of feast and famine.

Later on, his brother got married, and his sister-in-law treated him like a servant all day long. His brother turned a blind eye to this, making his life even worse than before.

It wasn’t until later that he encountered Lin Zheng, who had come up the mountain to hunt.

Lin Xing wasn’t exactly sure how the two of them ended up together. Lin Yun never went into detail with him, but every time Lin Yun mentioned Lin Zheng, Lin Xing could feel the genuine happiness radiating from the depths of his heart.

Gu Qiming pulled him into his embrace, gently massaging his head as a form of consolation.

--------------------

 <Prev><TOC><Next>

------------------------