Against the Current - Chapter 334

Chapter 334 - Paying Respects

Story goes that Xianglan had no heart for watching the opera, and after chatting with Lin Dongxiu in the winding veranda, she suddenly saw Lin Dongxiu's expression shift, pressing her lips in a smile as she said, "Oh, look who's coming."

Xianglan turned her head to look and saw Lin Jinlou striding over, looking travel-worn and dusty. Xianglan remembered that he had official business outside today and had gone out early in the morning. Seeing him return now, it was clear he had rushed over without even changing his clothes.

Lin Jinlou walked up close, knitting his brows as he looked Xianglan up and down. Xianglan couldn't help asking, "Why are you back so early? Why didn't you even change your clothes?"

Lin Jinlou said, "I heard the Jiang family people came again? Did the old lord and old lady make things difficult for you?" Without waiting for Xianglan to answer, he went to pull her hand, saying, "Let's go, let's head back."

Xianglan hurriedly said, "The banquet hasn't even broken up yet, how can we just leave."

Lin Jinlou paid her no mind, tugging Xianglan along as he strode forward. All the way until they reached the Changchun Hall, Lin Jinlou stopped in his tracks, turned his head, and seeing that Xianglan's face was flushed red, he finally realized he had walked too quickly. Yet his expression remained unrelaxed as he said, "Enough, don't go back, lest you sit and stand uneasily over there. In a moment I'll speak with the old lady and have her send the Jiang family off."

The moment Xianglan heard this, she grew anxious and said, "That won't do. I've already promised anyway, wouldn't all previous efforts be wasted? Besides, today is the old lady's birthday, we cannot cause bad blood between you grandfather and grandson on my account."

Lin Jinlou still knitted his brows, saying, "This is out of concern for you, you silly girl."

Xianglan was startled, looked at Lin Jinlou, and said nothing.

After a long moment, Lin Jinlou said, "Have you ever thought about it? With a heart so soft, in the end, the one who suffers is yourself. You accommodate others and wrong yourself, and sometimes you are treated like a fool by others. All your kindness is fed to the ungrateful, and instead of appreciating it, they bully you all the more." Seeing Xianglan in a daze, he took her hand in his, turning it over to examine it as he muttered, "Tch, fine, since we're already back anyway, the Jiang family should be sent off shortly. We can head back to the front then."

Yet she suddenly heard Xianglan say, "The weather is nice today, why doesn't Big Brother take me out for a stroll?"

Lin Jinlou raised his head in some surprise. This was the first time Xianglan had ever said she wanted to go out with him, and his heart couldn't help but swell with joy as he said, "Very well."

Right away the pageboys prepared the carriage. Xianglan took off her lavish garments, changed into unassuming, plain clothes, and did not bring any maidservants. Nor did Lin Jinlou ride a horse; he boarded the carriage alongside Xianglan and asked, "Where do you want to go? There are plenty of places to eat, drink, and make merry in the capital."

Xianglan smiled and said, "Nothing in particular, just casually looking around will do."

The carriage then made a round through the bustling parts of the capital. No matter what it was, whenever Xianglan asked an extra question or glanced outward a bit longer, Lin Jinlou would dispatch Shuangxi and Jixiang to buy it back. Local specialties such as autumn pear paste, poria cakes, crisp candies, and preserved fruits were procured, alongside rustic and charming little trinkets like old books, clay figurines, sugar paintings, pellet drums, and small pottery urns—altogether a varied and endless assortment.

Xianglan stopped him, saying, "Why buy so much? I was just looking at them out of novelty."

Lin Jinlou smiled with the warmth of spring, saying, "You can't get down from the carriage, can you see clearly from so far away? I'm buying them back so you can look closely and see your fill. If you grow tired of looking at them, you can give them away as rewards later. It's not easy for small-time peddlers making a living either; letting them earn a few extra copper coins is nothing."

Hearing the second half of his sentence, just as Xianglan was about to praise him, she saw Lin Jinlou lean in and say with a lazy smile, "Do you see how exceptionally well I treat you? Are you moved?" He pointed to his own cheek and said, "Shouldn't you give me a kiss?"

Half of Xianglan's words choked in her throat, and she ignored him. In the past, she used to find Lin Jinlou terribly annoying when he acted like this. Originally, her heart had been moved, but when he demanded it be spoken aloud clearly in exchange for a reward, that shred of emotion vanished entirely. This fellow didn't understand what subtle reserve meant at all—sometimes the silence is more eloquent than sound. Yet now, she found this shameless expression rather endearing. The corners of her lips twitched upward, and suppressing a smile, she turned her head to lift a crack in the carriage curtain and look outside.

After more than a decade, the capital in her eyes had long become a familiar yet unfamiliar sight. When she was little, her grandfather and father used to take her out onto the street, with servants hoisting her onto their shoulders and buying various little trinkets to make her happy; as she grew a bit older, her father would hold her hand and take her to the street corners to watch street performers and acrobats, or to the theater houses to listen to operas... At this moment, the carriage slowly passed by a shop named "Rongxi Zhai," an old-established store in the capital selling the four treasures of the study. Xianglan remembered that whenever her grandfather managed to find some leisure time, he would bring his children and grandchildren here to hunt for ancient inkstones, and every time she would pick out a stack of multicolored flowered stationery paper to take back. Her father would laugh at her girlish sentiments, yet he would often paint flowers, birds, fish, and insects on ordinary writing paper for her and her younger sister to admire...

As the carriage drove past, Xianglan still looked back, prompting Lin Jinlou to ask, "Do you want to buy brushes, ink, paper, or an inkstone?" Pausing for a moment, he added, "Or shall I have the guards clear the premises so you can go inside and have a look?"

Xianglan shook her head, a glimmer of moisture seemingly in the corners of her eyes, and suddenly said, "More than a decade ago, when the household of the Senior Grand Secretary Shen was entirely confiscated and executed, I wonder... I wonder if anyone gathered their remains... And where are they buried now..."

Lin Jinlou was surprised. In his heart, he surmised that Xianglan had a deep connection with the Shen family; since she didn't speak of it, he didn't ask. He never expected her to bring it up of her own accord this time. Pausing for a moment, he said, "If you want to go take a look, I'll take you." With that, he ordered the pageboys to drive the carriage toward the outskirts of the city.

After passing through the city gates, they traveled along the official road where people gradually grew sparse and desolately quiet. Moving without stopping for about eight or nine li and taking two turns, they came to the foot of a mountain where a small path wound tortuously upward. Lin Jinlou helped Xianglan down from the carriage, and the two walked upward along the path for the duration of a cup of tea until a gentle slope appeared before them. There, tombs had been built with green bricks and white stones—it was unexpectedly the ancestral graveyard of the Shen family. Lin Jinlou said, "Grand Secretary Shen and his descendants are all buried within this large tomb chamber."

Xianglan drew a sharp breath, trembling slightly all over, and couldn't help lightly covering her mouth in astonishment as she asked, "Who was it that buried them here? Could it be, could it be that the Shen family wasn't completely wiped out to the ninth generation, and some survived?"

Lin Jinlou shook his head and said softly, "No... Back when the Shen family fell upon hard times, all the males were led to the Meridian Gate for decapitation. It was my grandfather who led men under the cover of night, bribing the bailiffs, to quietly gather their remains. At first, they didn't dare bury them here and had to find a place to hastily cover them. After five or six years, when the storm had gradually subsided, they chose an auspicious day to quietly move them here into the Shen family ancestral graves."

Xianglan's eyes had long since turned red, and two beads of tears rolled down from her eyes. On that day, the situation had been grim, dark and stormy as dusk; the Prince was vying for the throne, and the Shen family was the first to be purged. Not only family members, close relatives, and friends, but even the disciples of her grandfather were implicated one after another. Back then in the imperial court, three supervising historians had spoken bluntly for the Shen family and were all reprimanded and demoted. The ways of the world are fickle, human relationships thin as gauze; no one came to lend a helping hand, and everyone simply avoided trouble whenever they could. Originally, Lin Zhaoxiang and Shen Wenhan had drifted apart due to political disagreements, yet he never would have imagined that at the moment when the Shen family's nest had overturned, it would be the Lin family that collected the remains of the entire Shen clan. The immense danger risked in doing so went without saying. She turned slightly sideways, wiped the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, and asked, "I wonder if there is any incense?" Her voice choked with sobs, and unable to keep herself from lowering her head to wipe her tears, she added, "I have some connection with the Shen family, and today I wish to pay my respects."

Lin Jinlou said, "I bought a packet of aloeswood incense at the market just now." He then ordered Jixiang to fetch it.

A moment later, Jixiang came running over, out of breath. He brought not only the aloeswood incense, but also a small pottery urn to serve as an incense burner, a few plates of plain fruits and pastries, and even fetched the cushions from the carriage to use as prayer mats. Shuangxi stood not far away, clicking his tongue and rubbing his hands together, thinking to himself that no wonder their master favored his older brother more. If he had been sent, he probably would have only brought back the aloeswood and completely forgotten about things like the burner and cushions.

With everything prepared, Xianglan personally burned the incense, bowed respectfully three times and kowtowed nine times before the large mound, poured a cup of light tea onto the ground, and thought secretly: Ancestors of the Shen family, today I offer this tea to you, hoping that after death you attain liberation and suffer no torments of the netherworld. Yet because that day's approach was so perilous, I couldn't even utter a single parting word. Thinking of those living faces and voices from back then cuts like a knife—how deeply sorrowful it is. After worshiping, she remained kneeling on the ground, still shedding tears.

Lin Jinlou watched in wonder from the side, thinking to himself: Xianglan once said she was the reincarnation of the Shen family's eldest young miss—how could such a bizarre thing exist in this world? Yet with her honest nature, she has never lied... I've heard her master also came from a prominent background; could the Shen family share some destiny with her master? As he was pondering, he saw that Xianglan had already risen. Lin Jinlou stepped forward to light the incense, performed the rites of a junior, and seeing Xianglan staring at him with red-rimmed eyes, he said, "I saw Grand Secretary Shen when I was little, though I don't remember it very clearly. Grandfather once said that although he and Grand Secretary Shen had different viewpoints and argued without yielding, he still respected the man's character. When the family fell into ruin, some of our household retainers and guests mocked him for being foolish, not understanding how to gauge the tides of the times. Grandfather angrily rebuked them, saying that even if one could not match Grand Secretary Shen's unyielding rectitude and willingness to die for loyalty, at least one should respect loyalty and virtue, and harbor a sense of pity."

Hearing this, Xianglan could not help but let fall another tear, thinking: Putting aside the grace of gathering their remains, this statement alone means my grandfather and Lin Gong's friendship was not in vain. Raising her head, she saw that not far from the ancestral graves on the mid-mountain slope, a solitary gravestone stood by itself. A sense of wonder arose in Xianglan; she lifted her skirt, walked forward, and upon taking a look, saw that the inscription on the gravestone unexpectedly read "Shen of the Xiao Family," causing her to freeze in place.

Lin Jinlou followed behind her, spotted the stele, and said, "I heard this was a cenotaph set up for the Shen family's eldest young miss by her maidservant. She was a married woman and could not enter the ancestral graveyard. Grandfather sighed over this matter several times during casual chats. What was that maidservant's name again... something Winter?"

"Zhidong." Xianglan silently recited the name in her heart and reached out to touch the characters carved on the gravestone. She recalled how back then she had resented this person for being cunning in her actions, acting outlandishly everywhere, and constantly stirring up trouble. She had even entertained the thought of driving her out, but in the end, she couldn't bear to do it. Seeing her crying secretly behind others' backs, she thought that if she were sold off, with her frail constitution, she probably wouldn't live long anyway, so her soft heart had made her keep her. Afterwards, Zhidong's temperament remained hard to change, and she had often given her headaches, but considering the loyalty and affection the girl held for her, she had tolerated it. Never, ever did she imagine that the bonds of destiny between the two of them would rest here.

She looked up at Lin Jinlou and saw him looking casually at the gravestone with the lazy air of a wealthy young master. Seeing Xianglan looking at him, Lin Jinlou's eyes shifted over. He saw Xianglan beam a radiant smile at him and say, "Earlier at the Lin family estate, Big Brother said that accommodating others and wronging oneself is like feeding kindness to dogs, and asked what one should do. I didn't know how to answer at the time, but now I know... My kindness is because doing so is right, not for the sake of reaping any future benefits for myself. Even if the other party lets me down, does that mean the right thing done back then should not have been done? Heaven is always fair. After several rounds of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, though I have been let down, I have also received many generous rewards. There are always more good people in this world."

Xianglan rarely smiled at him like this, and Lin Jinlou was momentarily stunned. It took him a while to figure out what Xianglan was talking about, and he couldn't help reaching out to pull her hand as he asked, "Oh? Then what kind of good rewards have you gotten? Tell me about them." Just as Xianglan was about to speak, she heard Lin Jinlou add, "Look at how well I treat you—perhaps that's the good fruit borne of your accumulation of virtue and good deeds. It shows you truly have accumulated great virtue in your daily life."