Chapter 136
Old Lady Zheng's seventieth birthday was a grand occasion, with guests filling the courtyard, bustling like a market. The ancient saying that people often did not live long usually referred to the poor.
Those who worked the land for sustenance endured immense hardship, for farming was grueling labor. Before the development of modern cultivation, crops yielded very little. A year of relentless toil often failed to fill their bellies, resulting in a life of uncertain meals—sometimes going hungry, sometimes finding just enough, surviving on coarse chaff and wild greens. While it might not seem a big issue when young, by middle age, various ailments would emerge.
Moreover, if the family was poor, they were reluctant to spend silver on a medical hall.
Wealthy families were different. They maintained large households of servants, consumed the most refined foods and wore garments of the highest quality, regularly enriching their diets with delicacies such as bird's nest and tremella fungus. The elderly in such families often lived into their eighties or nineties.
Old Lady Zheng was advanced in years and had limited energy. After receiving guests in the main courtyard for a while, she grew somewhat tired.
She sat upright in the host's seat. Her several daughters-in-law were still outside directing the maidservants. Her gaze swept the room, and her brows furrowed slightly. "Where is the wife of the eldest son?"
An elderly maidservant attending her poured a cup of tea. "Just now, the Madam said she was feeling unwell and had a maid support her back to the rear courtyard to rest."
Madam Yang was now over three months pregnant. Recently, she had been experiencing severe morning sickness, unable to keep any food or drink down. Furthermore, being an older woman giving birth, her pregnancy was even more difficult than most. Old Lady Zheng, having been through it herself, understood the hardship. But today was different. Guests had come from afar, and as the mistress of the Yang residence, her absence could be seen as disrespectful.
Old Lady Zheng shook her head and said, "At her age, she still doesn't understand propriety."
The elderly maidservant dared not speak.
Besides the relationship as mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, Madam Yang and Old Lady Zheng had another layer of relation: Madam Yang was also Old Lady Zheng's maternal niece.
Old Lady Zheng could say such things, but the maidservant did not dare.
"Send someone to fetch her," Old Lady Zheng said. After a moment's thought, as the old maidservant was about to summon a maid, she added, "Forget it. Let her rest. The child in her belly is what's important after all."
By late morning, all the guests had arrived, and everyone began offering birthday congratulations to Old Lady Zheng.
Most of the guests were wealthy merchants, and their gifts were extravagant.
The gifts included a green jade hairpin, a green jade hair ornament inlaid with pearls, a kingfisher-feather-encrusted jade hairpin, a hibiscus jade bracelet, a crescent-moon-shaped hairpin with dangling pearls, and a milky-white pearl necklace.
The female family members, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren's wives, well-acquainted with Old Lady Zheng's tastes, presented carefully selected gifts including a jacket embroidered with magpies encircling the longevity character, a robe decorated with longevity motifs, a Guanyin vase adorned with multicolored decoration, statues depicting the boundless longevity Buddhas, and a gold-inscribed copy of the Lotus Sutra.
[The Lotus Sutra: Mahayana Buddhist scripture that teaches the ultimate truth of the One Vehicle, emphasizing the universal potential for all beings to attain Buddhahood.]
Among all the grandchildren, Yang Mingyi was the youngest. He presented a a beautifully crafted longevity screen.
Old Lady Zheng was also fond of this grandson. After looking at him and offering a few words of encouragement, she glanced near his legs and asked, "Whose child is that you're holding?"
Yang Mingyi had originally been standing among the crowd, not very conspicuous. But when it was his turn to present his gift, he stood in the very center. He remembered that Guaizai was still young and only recognized him, afraid the child would be scared if separated from him, so he had kept Guaizai by his side.
Guaizai, holding his hand, heard Old Lady Zheng's question. He blinked his big eyes and answered himself, "I am my father's child."
Yang Mingyi: "..."
The people around laughed.
Guaizai didn't know what they were laughing about, but feeling everyone staring at him, he nervously pinched the corner of his clothes. He felt deeply embarrassed because everyone else had presented gifts to the elderly grandmother, while he alone had brought nothing.
He remembered what Fang Zichen had told him before parting. Imitating Yang Mingyi, he performed a bow and said shyly, "Guaizai wishes Old Grandmother boundless happiness and longevity like the South Mountain."
It seemed surprising that this big-headed child, dressed plainly but cleanly, could utter such a formal birthday wish. Everyone paused, quite astonished.
In aristocratic families, children often started their education with a tutor at four.
This big-headed child was short and small, looking at most two years old. No one expected him not only to speak so clearly but also to seem versed in formal courtesies.
Old Lady Zheng laughed. "Good, good, good. You certainly know how to speak. How old are you? Are you two yet?"
Guaizai held up three fingers. "Guaizai is already three years old!"
Now everyone was astonished.
Most of those present, aside from Yang Mingyi and a few of his cousins, were already parents themselves. They had several children and had a rough idea of how a child should look at a certain age. Hearing Guaizai say he was three, they found it hard to believe.
After all...the child is really too small.
But judging by his clothing, his family probably wasn't very well-off. It was normal for country children, not eating well, to not grow tall.
Old Lady Zheng found this big-headed child utterly delightful and teased him, "Then who did you come with today?"
"With my father!" Guaizai said. "But Father went to earn big silver. He told me to behave and follow Yang pig."
Old Lady Zheng laughed. "Is that so? Well, everyone has given Grandmother a gift. Do you have something you want to give Grandmother?"
Guaizai thought for a long moment, then nodded. "Yes~"
Old Lady Zheng asked, "What is it?"
"Guaizai will sing a song for you, is that good?" Guaizai asked.
"Wonderful!"
Guaizai began to sing and dance.
Yang Mingyi watched him sway left and right like a roly-poly toy, then hop to the left and hop to the right.
Good luck comes, wishing you good luck comes.
Good luck brings joy and love.
Good luck comes, we have good luck coming.
Facing good luck,thriving and prosperous, we travel the four seas.
Fold a thousand paper cranes, tie a red ribbon again.
Wishing good people good luck every day.
You work diligently, life is beautiful, you are healthy, spring is always here.
Your lifelong toil is for smiling joyfully.
[the Chinese song "Good Luck Comes" (好运来, Hǎo Yùn Lái)]
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