Back at the house, Xu He had already asked the servants about their whereabouts several times. Seeing father and son return so late, he'd feared there had been complications with the registration.
"Little Dad, today I met someone," Ruijin reported quietly to his other father. "After we finished registering. That person told me to call him Great-grandfather."
Xu He's eyes widened, but he didn't press for details immediately. Wiping the sweat from Ruijin's forehead, he glanced at the tall figure disappearing into the inner rooms before saying, "The servants have drawn hot water. You've been out all morning, go wash up and cool down. Rest well this afternoon before studying again."
"Alright."
Only after seeing to the child did Xu He hurry into their bedroom.
After so many years of marriage, not only did the children know nothing about Zhang Fangyuan's maternal family, even Xu He himself knew very little.
He only knew that despite Zhang Fangyuan having attended school for barely two years, he was literate. From certain remarks, one could tell his mother had been an educated woman.
The ability to read and write suggested not just personal diligence but also a family of some means. Xu He had asked about it once before.
Zhang Fangyuan had only said his mother came from a wealthy family, offering just a few vague comments. With his mother having passed early, mentioning the past always brought melancholy. Not wanting to reopen old wounds, Xu He hadn't pressed further.
"Made this morning, just fetched from the well where it was cooling. Try some."
Xu He brought in a plate of mung bean cakes and set it on the table. Zhang Fangyuan didn't refuse, taking one.
"The little one already told you, didn't he?"
Xu He nodded. "There was never any contact before. Why seek you out so suddenly?"
"He's actually an official. Served as county magistrate in Qiuping County before getting promoted. Now he's been transferred to Siyang. When I heard he was coming back, I made some inquiries, apparently he's risen to sixth-rank subprefect (六品通判, liùpǐn tōngpàn) now."
Xu He was startled. In his mind, none of the Zhang family's relatives held official positions. He'd never imagined his mother-in-law's family had been such prominent officials.
But why would the daughter of such a family marry into a farming family? A landowning family would be one thing, but back then the Zhang family had been ordinary peasants, just barely food-secure. Hardly a match for a county official's daughter.
"Truthfully, even as a child I didn't understand it well. When my mother was alive, she took me back to her family twice, once for my grandfather's birthday, once when my grandmother passed."
Having lived his whole life in the village until then, the young Zhang Fangyuan had been wide-eyed at seeing such wealthy relatives. But upon entering his grandfather's home, he'd been met with nothing but disdain.
For his grandfather's birthday, the impoverished Zhang family had scraped together money for a decent gift. Yet the entire clan barely glanced their way. He and his mother were seated in a corner, eating the banquet in silence without exchanging a single word with his grandfather. When the feast ended, no one asked them to stay, his mother had brought him back to Siyang that very night.
It was his first taste of how wealth and status could render family bonds so cold.
"My mother used to say my grandfather wasn't actually so unfeeling. He cared deeply for his successful, accomplished children. It was just that she'd done something wrong, so grandfather treated her that way."
Zhang Fangyuan hadn't wanted to dredge up these buried memories. But with that family now in Siyang and having sought him out specifically, there might be more encounters ahead. While others didn't need to know, his fulang deserved the full story.
"It was only later I learned what my mother meant by 'wrong.'"
As Xu He had wondered, Zhang Fangyuan's maternal family, the Zeng family, were officials. Not just for one generation either; even their ancestors had held minor posts. Such families would never normally consider poor farmers.
His mother had actually been born of a concubine, her biological mother just a respectable commoner's daughter sold into the family as a concubine. Pretty enough to gain his grandfather's favor, she'd given birth to his mother. Although she was a concubine's daughter, she'd lived comfortably, and being studious, had been one of grandfather's favorites among the children.
Then misfortune struck. The year his mother came of age, as young girls do, she developed feelings for a scholar she met at a banquet. Being cultured herself, they'd quickly bonded.
Normally, an educated family's concubine's daughter marrying a scholar would be ideal. But grandfather had already chosen a wealthy merchant family, refusing the match. The scholar was not a gentleman himself, seeing his chance slipping away, had sweet-talked his mother into eloping to consummate their relationship.
The Zeng family being strict traditionalists, when this scandal emerged, grandfather hadn't compromised with the scholar. He'd severed their contact immediately and married his daughter off to another county instead.
Thus came the Zhang family marriage, how else would a farmer have wed such a well-born daughter?
"Later I learned from Fourth Uncle, when my parents argued, it wasn't actually my drunken father hitting my mother. Rather, that scholar had passed through Siyang and sought her out, saying terrible things. Remembering the past, my mother felt she had wronged my father and... couldn't bear it. The villagers' gossip only distorted things further."
The memories gave Zhang Fangyuan a headache. Both his parents had been deeply sentimental people, one haunted by the past, full of remorse yet denied family comfort; the other a simple farmer, clumsy with words. In the end, both had chosen the most extreme solutions.
"My mother was indeed at fault initially, but ultimately it was youthful folly. Later she truly reformed. Yet the Zeng family never gave her a chance at redemption, they didn't even inquire when she died. All these years without contact was effectively severing ties. I accepted that, so I never used the Zeng name to avoid trouble, never went begging for favors. But now the Zeng family acts as if nothing happened, inquiring after the Zhang family and reestablishing connections? It disgusts me."
Xu He frowned. "To speak bluntly, prominent families care most about useful connections. They probably see the Zhang family's rising fortunes and want kinship ties."
Zhang Fangyuan shook his head firmly. "Merchants can't compare to officials. Having official relatives would smooth many paths. But even if life stays difficult, I won't cling to the Zeng family."
"Don't dwell on it. We'll just keep our distance going forward."
Zhang Fangyuan added, "Keep an eye on Ruijin. I noticed the old man took quite a liking to him. He might use the child to get to us, that would be truly vexing."
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