Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 78 New Home
On a summer day, the Anle River ripples with light, and a covered boat is moored at the bluestone dock.

This is a small wharf in the southeast corner of Hejiang County. It is usually used by pedestrians traveling from the mountainous areas. If it is a large cargo ship from the Yangtze River, it will choose to dock at Shibashui Station in the northeast corner of the city. There are many warehouses on the shore there, and the supporting facilities are very complete.

Pei Yan led Lu Yuchi and Lu Yanxi off the boat, and the boatman helped them carry out several boxes of luggage.

There are many jars and pots at home, but these are the only valuables. Some items are inconvenient to move, so we didn't move them this time, but we can move them later.

"Mommy, where is Uncle?"

Lu Yuchi stood on tiptoe to look around, her small hands tightly gripping Pei Yan's clothes.

Lu Yanxi hid behind Pei Yan and didn't dare to speak. He was young and had never left Gulin Town since he was a child. This was his first time traveling far away.

Doufu perched on Pei Yan's shoulder, appearing somewhat timid in an unfamiliar place.

"Don't worry, your uncle said he'll come to pick us up."

Pei Yan reassured him, her gaze searching for that familiar figure amidst the bustling crowd at the dock.

The date and time had been agreed upon in the letter, and Pei Yan believed that Lu Beigu would not fail to come.

Suddenly, a clear voice came from the crowd—

"Sister-in-law!"

Lu Beigu, dressed in a blue robe, stood tall and straight like a bamboo shoot, walking briskly through the crowd at the dock.

His face held a smile of reunion after a long separation, but his eyes showed a greater sense of composure than when he left home.

"Uncle!"

Lu Yuchi and Lu Yanxi cheered, broke free from Pei Yan's hands, and pounced over like two happy little sparrows.

Lu Beigu squatted down, put one child in each arm and pulled them into his arms, then patted their heads.

Doufu immediately climbed onto Lu Beigu's shoulder, feeling safe and then became arrogant, as if to say, "We two are really amazing!"
Pei Yan watched this scene with a smile.

"Looking north."

"Sister-in-law, you must be tired from your journey."

Lu Beigu stood up, took the bundle from her hands, and said gently, "The house is all ready. Let's go home."

"Okay, go home."

There were vehicles waiting to pick up people and goods and porters to carry them by the dock. Lu Beigu hired a donkey cart and asked the porters to help carry the luggage onto the cart. They sat together on the cart and headed towards Hejiang County.

The house was bought by Lu Beigu from Lao Feng's daughter, Feng Jinhua. Her family was in a hurry to change shops and was short of money. When she learned that Lu Beigu was willing to buy the house, she was very grateful and gave him a much lower price.

As for the fact that the shop was originally used as a butcher shop, Lu Beigu didn't mind. However, considering that there were still women and children living there, he went to Fawang Temple to ask before buying it whether the butcher shop was related to evil spirits or anything like that. But the monks told him that there was no such thing.

In fact, Lu Bei was overthinking this. The Song Dynasty was a thriving commercial center, and butcher shops were just normal business activities; nobody paid any attention to such things.

As they rode in a donkey cart through streets far more bustling than Gulin Town, the two children excitedly looked around, chattering excitedly at the sugar figurine stalls and street performers along the roadside.

"Uncle, is there watermelon to eat at the new house?" Lu Yanxi asked, looking up at him.

"Yes, there's a plot of land in the backyard for you and your sister. You can plant whatever you want there."

The donkey cart creaked to a stop on the bluestone road. Lu Beigu jumped off the cart first, then turned around and helped the two children down.

The front shop faces the street, and the three-bay shop is now spotless. Sunlight streams in through the carved window lattices, casting dappled shadows on the ground.

Because everything that was originally there had been completely removed, the place felt rather empty, with only the beams and pillars standing in the room.

"This shop used to be a butcher shop. After I bought it, I replaced the floor tiles and doors and windows in front of it. Now it looks brand new."

Lu Beigu said, "If my sister-in-law wants to start a business, this place is perfect."

Then, passing through a door, you enter the backyard.

The backyard has three main rooms, with a side room on each side. There is a porch in front of the main rooms, under which hang newly bought bamboo curtains, which can provide shade without hindering ventilation.

In the center is a bluestone path, with a flower bed on each side. The left side has several clumps of flowers, while the right side is empty, clearly left for the children to grow fruits and vegetables.

Tofu cautiously observed its surroundings, then hid in the flowerbed to try and conceal itself.

Unfortunately, it was all for naught; a white cat hiding in the dark earth was far too conspicuous.

“This flower bed?” Pei Yan squatted down, her fingertips lightly touching the soft soil.

“It’s all fertile soil,” Lu Beigu said with a smile. “If Yu Chi wants to grow watermelons, the soil here is much better than the yellow soil in Gulin Town.”

Lu Yuchi cheered and then grabbed her younger brother and ran inside, beginning their children's adventure.

"The east wing is the kitchen, I live in the west wing, and you and the children live in the main house, sister-in-law."

Logically speaking, the east wing should generally be of higher status than the west wing, but in Hejiang County, the east wing is often used as the kitchen because it gets a lot of afternoon sun in the summer and faces the northwest wind in the winter, making it less comfortable to live in.

The west wing, on the other hand, does not have these problems. Not only does it get good sunlight in the morning, but it is also protected from drafts that can cause illness.

Pei Yan entered the main room and saw that it was bright and clean, with three small spaces on the left, center and right separated by screens.

A beechwood canopy bed was placed against the east wall, covered with brand-new blue quilts.

Beechwood beds are simply unavailable elsewhere, as most beechwood currently grows in the Dali Kingdom and the mountains of southern Sichuan. These beds are made locally by craftsmen in the mountains and then transported out via the Anle River to sell.

The reason why the timber is not transported downstream by river, but processed upstream, is that, firstly, beech wood is easy to process and has a smooth surface suitable for painting; secondly, beech wood is a hardwood with high density, hard texture, and excellent compressive and bending strength, but it is not resistant to long-term moisture, so it cannot be directly thrown into the river for transport. If the timber were transported by boat, the cost would be less than processing it first.

By the window was a dressing table with a bronze mirror and a wooden comb on it, and a small sewing basket next to it.

On the west side of the wall were the two children's beds and a table.

“These are all newly acquired.”

Lu Beigu stood at the door, his voice gentle. "Beigu," Pei Yan asked, looking around, "how much did this house cost?"

"Forty-two strings of cash."

“The Feng family is in urgent need of money. Normally, a plot of land like this, which is one-third of an acre, would cost fifty guan on the market.”

Lu Beigu suddenly remembered and asked, "By the way, sister-in-law, did the local officials of Gulin Town come to verify the relocation before we came?"

The moment he bought the land, Lu Beigu went to the county government office to transfer his household registration.

Li Pan was also concerned about him. Knowing that Lu Beigu didn't have time to run the procedures himself, he specially sent a servant to help Lu Beigu with the paperwork.

The constable was one of the four guards who accompanied Li Pan to Chengdu. Lu Beigu had also given him a tip in private, so he was naturally efficient in his work.

“The local official has verified it, and his attitude is surprisingly good,” Pei Yan replied.

"Then the household registration certificate should be transferred over soon."

Lu Beigu nodded, relieved. For him, this was a big deal.

As long as one is registered in Hejiang County when entering the state school, once they pass the state examination, no one can use their registered residence as a reason to prevent them from being admitted.

With people from the county government helping him with the procedures, and Li Pan not yet promoted to judge in Luzhou, there was no way this matter would encounter any obstacles in Hejiang County.

So for him, there was only one thing left to do: to prepare diligently for the county examination.

After all, only by passing the county-level examination can one talk about the future; if one were to fail unexpectedly, it would be a laughing stock.

Pei Yan looked at Lu Beigu and suddenly noticed that his eyes were bloodshot. It was clear that he had not had an easy time lately, as he had to travel back and forth, study for exams, and settle down.

"Bei Gu, you've been working so hard all these days."

Lu Beigu shook his head, took out four invitations from his pocket, and handed them to Pei Yan: "These are recommendation letters and Dharma name certificates from the Prajna Sutra Hall of Fawang Temple. Yu Chi and Yan Xi can go to the Prajna Sutra Hall to listen to the lay lectures, and the abbot will personally bestow Dharma names upon them."

Pei Yan took the invitation, her fingertips trembling almost imperceptibly.

Fan Zhongyan's story is deeply ingrained in people's minds, and she certainly knows what this means. In this world, being able to receive the protection of a temple and learn to read and write is an opportunity that many poor children would rather die than have.

Moreover, for girls who rarely had the opportunity to attend private schools, this was an even more precious educational opportunity.

Even children from ordinary families know that being literate is far more promising than being illiterate.

"Oh right, and this too."

Lu Beigu took out a small box and handed it to Pei Yan.

"what is this?"

"You'll know when you open it and take a look."

Pei Yan took the small red lacquered box and couldn't help but hold her breath.

With a soft "click," the brass clasp popped open.

The first thing that catches the eye is a dazzling crimson begonia. The four-foot-long Shu brocade is neatly folded in the box. Sunlight shines through the window lattice onto the brocade, and the red color seems to come alive, shimmering with a dazzling luster.

Tilt the box slightly, and the gold-embroidered floral patterns on the brocade seem to sway with the light, as if a faint fragrance is wafting through the air.

"This"

Pei Yan's fingertips hovered above the brocade, yet she dared not touch it.

The most expensive fabric she had ever embroidered in Gulin Town was the Huzhou silk used by wealthy families when their daughters got married. She had never encountered such a precious Shu brocade.
As for her time in Kaifeng, it felt as distant as if separated by a fog.

Lu Beigu's voice was tinged with laughter: "Magistrate Li bought them on the way and shared some with us."

Before she could finish speaking, Pei Yan suddenly noticed two small objects pressed down in the middle of the Shu brocade.

Upon opening the lid, one finds two golden and jade Buddha statues.

The Buddha statue is no bigger than a thumb. The jade Maitreya Buddha with gold-plated filigree has smiling eyes, and the interplay of gold and jade inspires awe.

"It has been blessed at Fawang Temple."

Lu Beigu took it out and said, "Put it with a red string and have Yu Chi and Yan Xi wear it; it will keep them safe."

When Pei Yan took out the Shu brocade, she discovered a set of keys at the very bottom of the box.

Pei Yan stared at the key and suddenly felt a tightness in her chest.

She thought of the old houses in Gulin Town that sometimes leaked when it rained, the creditors who besieged her on the Cold Food Festival, and the years of living in fear and trembling.
The cicadas chirping outside the window suddenly seemed very distant.

"Sister-in-law?"

Pei Yan suddenly came to her senses and realized that a tear had fallen onto the begonia-red brocade. The tear rolled on the Shu brocade without leaving a single watermark.

"It's too expensive."

She wanted to put the Shu brocade away, but Lu Beigu took the box away.

"Without my sister-in-law's hard work and support over the years, where would I be today? My sister-in-law made herself a pleated skirt as a way of celebrating."

Why is Mother crying?

At this moment, Lu Yuchi led Lu Yanxi on their adventure and walked into the main room, tugging at her sleeve.

Pei Yan hurriedly wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and smiled, "Mother is happy."

Lu Beigu looked at her quietly and said softly, "Sister-in-law, things will only get better from now on."

As the sun set, the shadows of the four people and the cat stretched long on the blue bricks, gradually merging into the warm twilight of Hejiang County.

(End of this chapter)