Chapter 298: The Parenting Manual (End)

The Lu Clan was always the most diligent when it came to New Year’s visits. This year was no different, with Lu Ling arriving earliest. She brought two or three truckloads of New Year’s goods, enough to last us six months. My mouth twitched as I watched the workers haul everything into the basement. I decided that once they left, I would distribute these goods among the shop bosses and workers in the Pankou. It had been a long year for everyone.

She looked at the little girl in my arms without a hint of surprise. That face of hers, usually sour toward everyone, finally softened with a touch of feminine tenderness. She took the child’s hand and said, “Hello there,” which made me chuckle.

“You’ve raised her well,” Lu Ling said, biting into a piece of crispy candy.

Seeing that we had things to discuss, He Yu took the child away. Lu Qianshan and the others swarmed around them. When the group of kids started getting rowdy, I looked up at them once, and the volume instantly dropped by dozens of decibels. I withdrew my gaze, feeling quite satisfied.

“I heard you’ve been looking everywhere for a family to adopt the child,” Lu Ling said, arching an eyebrow. “But from the looks of it, things aren’t going too smoothly?”

The topic gave me a headache. I leaned back resignedly. “They all say my standards are too high, that I’m too picky. That’s why I can’t find anyone. What, did your master send you here to give me advice? Since he has someone in mind, why didn’t he come himself?”

I glanced at Lu Ayao, who was helping He Yu in the kitchen, and exposed Lu Ling’s little scheme in one breath. Lu Ling grabbed a nearby cushion and slammed it into me to vent her frustration. I flinched under the impact, thinking to myself that this lady’s temper had certainly grown lately.

“Talking to you is so tedious.” Lu Ling rolled her eyes and cursed me in the Suzhou dialect. Although I didn’t understand the words, I knew she was insulting me.

I smiled and said, “Alright, alright. Then please, Linggu, give me some guidance. It’s the first day of the New Year; help clear my confusion.”

Lu Ling gave a faint snort and asked, “Have you ever heard of Xiao Hanyu of Southern Shu?”

I remained silent, so Lu Ling continued. “The Xiao family has been famous for incense making for generations. Their ancestors began studying incense culture back in the Ming Dynasty. Before the Five Masters even existed, their family was on good terms with the Lu Clan. They’ve lived in seclusion for years, maintaining a matriarchal clan structure to this day. The daughters of the main house never marry out. They are exactly the kind of prestigious, established family you’re looking for.”

She took a breath. “But it’s said that Xiao Hanyu’s eldest daughter is in poor health and cannot conceive. Before the New Year, I made a special trip to Southern Shu to investigate discreetly. The situation matches the rumors. She and her husband intend to adopt a child in the coming years. Your opportunity has arrived.”

Don’t be fooled by my homebody lifestyle; I know the affairs of the underworld very well. I had encountered people from the Xiao family in my younger years, and they were no ordinary incense makers.

Years ago, when Tian Yuqing and Bai Shenxian went together to explore the mechanical tomb that the Republican-era Mojin Xiaowei, Li Xunshan, had built beneath his own home, Bai Shenxian mentioned a strange fragrance filling the seven-story mechanical tower. That tower was just a prototype built according to the manuals. I never had the chance to enter that prototype, but I later saw the real deal and still managed to come out in one piece.

According to Tian Yuqing, though, with that strange fragrance at work, the entire mechanical tower was like a living thing. They went through a mountain of explosives just getting through the place, and it put them both through the wringer. Presumably, when Li Xunshan set out to replicate the designs from the manuals, he must have had help from the Xiao family.

“Are they clean in how they handle things?” I asked.

Lu Ling looked at me. “Whether they’re clean or not, I don’t know, but they’re certainly much smarter than the Five Masters. They have internal rivalries within the family, but whenever a critical moment arrives, they always pull together to fight off outside enemies. If the Five Masters had learned even a fraction of their spirit, they wouldn’t have fallen to this state.”

I fell into deep thought.

“Think it over first. Once you’ve decided, let me know, and I’ll pull some strings for you. You can set up a time to meet after the New Year.” Lu Ling picked up the soda from the table, popped it open, and took a sip.

I felt a bit puzzled. “How come I didn’t know the Lu Clan had such deep ties with them? That doesn’t add up. Back then, I held first-hand intelligence on the Lu Clan. I even knew how many toilets your compound had. There’s no way I could’ve missed something this important.”

“Our connection with the Xiao family actually began to fade around Lu Xiaosu’s generation. To put it another way, they used to be a family we intermarried with…”

Lu Ling’s voice cut off abruptly. I turned my head and saw Lu Ayao entering the room, carrying a plate of washed green grapes.

I ignored him, my mind seized by the last few words out of Lu Ling’s mouth. Feeling as if I’d stumbled upon a brand-new discovery, I burst out laughing. “I didn’t expect a bunch of old-fashioned traditionalists like you to get so fancy! So if your Master had intermarried, whose house would he have lived in? Or would he have built a new compound to move into?”

No sooner had the words left my mouth than Lu Ayao slammed the fruit plate onto the living room table. He clearly hadn’t controlled his force, sending a loud, sharp clatter across the tabletop. I knew he was furious, but teasing him was just too much fun.

Lu Ling kept shooting me warning looks, signaling for me to wipe that smirk off my face. I reached out and made a downward pressing gesture to tell her to calm down, then pivoted. “Alright, then help me set up the introduction. I’ll thank you in advance.”

Seeing that I had stopped talking nonsense, Lu Ling breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

At lunchtime, He Yu set up a string of firecrackers at the doorway to light, saying it was to sweep away the past year’s bad luck.

Holding my little girl in my arms, I stood by the first-floor living room doorway to watch the firecrackers about to go off. She clung to my neck, her chubby little hands occasionally plucking at the collar of my down jacket. At one point, she pulled my zipper open, letting the biting wind rush into my chest and leaving me shivering uncontrollably.

He Yu was outside by the doorway, adjusting the string of firecrackers.

Lu Ayao dried his hands and came out of the kitchen, standing beside me. I asked him, “Since you were right here, why did you make Lu Ling pass the message?”

He glanced at me without answering, then turned his eyes toward the little girl, who was still struggling with the zipper of my collar. Sensing his gaze, she turned her head. I watched the two of them stare at each other for two seconds before she sullenly withdrew her hand from my zipper and went back to holding onto my neck.

I didn’t notice when He Yu had lit the firecrackers, but he came running over to my side with long strides.

“Quick, quick, quick!” He rapidly rubbed his hands together to warm them up and covered the little girl’s ears. A moment later, I heard the crackle and pop of firecrackers exploding at the door.

I caught the scent of gunpowder in the air. Perhaps only in a moment like this could I truly feel that I was still among the living.

After the New Year, I followed Lu Ling’s suggestion and made time to meet with the Xiao family. They were very low-key, inviting me to dinner at a rustic restaurant surrounded by bamboo groves that joined together into a sea of bamboo.

I went to the meeting alone. I had originally wanted Lu Ayao to come with me, but he preferred to stay home and work as the cook rather than show up. Lu Ling mentioned that there had been an intention to arrange a marriage between them before, but because Lu Ayao bore a curse, the elders of both families ultimately dropped the idea after discussing it. I guessed that Lu Ayao didn’t want to come mainly because he didn’t want any further involvement with the Xiao family.

I met with Xiao Hanyu’s eldest daughter. Both she and her husband were down-to-earth people, and after conversing with them, I felt they were refined and articulate. So the matter was naturally settled.

However, when I returned to the county town, a sense of loss welled up in my heart.

“Well? How did the talk go?” As soon as I walked through the door, He Yu ran out with a beaming smile.

I took off my glasses and shoved them into his arms with a sour face. “Next Tuesday. They’re coming to pick up the child, and then we’ll finish the paperwork.”

I walked into the living room in three quick steps, curled up on the sofa, pulled the hood of my down jacket over my head, and turned on the TV looking half-dead. He Yu held my glasses and wandered over near the door. “What’s wrong? Can’t bear to let her go?”

I shot him a sideways glance, feeling a sting of sorrow in my heart, and went back to watching TV.

“You have to listen to Old Lu. Your frail body can’t handle any more of this turmoil. This is our only choice, and it’s the best outcome for our girl,” He Yu said, shuffling over to sit beside me. He was also reluctant to let her go, but he still had to comfort me. “Even if she goes, we can still visit her in the future, right?”

The more he spoke, the sadder I became.

“Hey, hey, look at you.” He Yu quickly handed me a tissue. “It’s rare enough that we do a good deed, and here you are making yourself miserable over it. Old Lu told me he’d thought of the Xiao family long ago, but he deliberately held back from telling you before the New Year because he was afraid you’d be upset about sending the kid away. Can’t you learn from me? How old are you now? Try to be a little mature, alright?”

“Don’t you think I know that? Can’t I be sad for even a moment?” I scolded him for being heartless, then wiped the corners of my eyes with the tissue and pulled myself together.

Thinking about it, this really was something to be happy about. At the very least, I had found a pretty good family for Little Cotton Jacket. She would have parents who loved her, get better care with the Xiaos, and grow up safe and happy there. Nothing could be better than that.

He Yu was right. We could still go visit her often.

A few days later, He Yu, Lu Ayao, and I stood at the doorway, watching several cars from the Xiao family slowly drive away down the dirt road. Even after the cars vanished from sight, the three of us stayed right where we were, nobody moving an inch.

“And just like that, she’s gone.” He Yu wiped his eyes with his sleeve, then immediately slumped against Lu Ayao’s shoulder, sobbing so hard that tears and snot were running everywhere, forcing Lu Ayao to take a half-step back from the impact.

Watching tears stream down his face, I patted his shoulder. “Alright, that’s enough. Let me head back inside.”

He shoved my hand away and, voice thick with tears, angrily tied on his apron as he headed back to the kitchen. “Leave me alone! I’m miserable! Now that Little Cotton Jacket is gone, this house is going to feel dead quiet again. If those Xiaos don’t treat our girl right, I’ll tear the roof off their house!”

Watching He Yu walk away, I remembered he was the one who loved a lively house the most. But right now, I just couldn’t bring myself to liven things up.

Just as I was about to walk through the courtyard gate, a hand rested on my shoulder. I turned around, saw Lu Ayao, and realized that with the New Year mostly over, it was about time for him to leave too.

“What’s wrong? Do you need me to help you buy a ticket?” I asked.

He looked at me and shook his head. “I told the clan elder. I’m not going back.”

“Wh-what do you mean, not going back?”

I was stunned, not quite understanding what he meant.

“I want to live here from now on. I’m not going back.”

I froze. Without waiting for my answer, he brushed past me and entered the courtyard first.