Chapter 111: Off Meddling in Other People’s Affairs

After two cups of wine and a few rounds of coaxing, the subject of drink was deftly steered elsewhere.

At the men’s table, the conversation ranged over everything under heaven, while at the women’s and children’s table the food was disappearing in lively, cheerful fashion. Now and then, one could still hear Wen Fa and Wen Ying bickering.

Noisy, yes, but wonderfully bustling.

After several rounds of drinks, Shopkeeper Qiu and Wen Xiuyi exchanged a look. Suddenly growing solemn, he said, “Well then, Uncle Wen, there’s something I’d like to tell everyone.”

The urging to drink fell quiet. The teasing and laughter also stopped. In an instant, the room was hushed, and everyone turned to look at him.

With a gentle expression, Shopkeeper Qiu beckoned to Datou.

Datou glanced at Wen Xiuyi. Seeing him nod, he stood and walked to the space between Shopkeeper Qiu and Wen Xiuyi.

Shopkeeper Qiu patted Datou’s head, then looked at Old Man Wen and said, “Uncle Wen, I have a favor to ask. I’ve spent my whole life without a son or daughter, and my parents passed away one after another when I was still young. I feel a real kinship with this child Datou, so I want to take him as my foster son.”

“What?” Old Man Wen blurted, stunned. The whole Wen family was equally taken aback.

Datou was going to have a godfather?

Old Man Wen stared blankly for a moment, then looked to Wen Xiuyi. “Boss?”

Only then did Wen Xiuyi speak. “Father, Shopkeeper Qiu and I discussed this already. Datou agrees too.”

Old Man Wen opened his mouth, but in the end said little. He merely looked at Datou and asked, “Datou, are you willing?”

Everyone looked at Datou, including Shopkeeper Qiu.

Datou nodded. “Grandpa, I’m willing.”

If he acknowledged a foster father, he’d also get to study with him, and there would be one more person who cared for him. That sounded pretty good.

Since Datou himself said so, Old Man Wen could hardly object. Besides, he could tell that Shopkeeper Qiu was a good man. Since both Datou and Wen Xiuyi agreed, he, as the grandfather from a split household, had no place to say much either.

So he burst out laughing and raised his cup. “Then from this day on, we truly are one family.”

And wasn’t that the truth? Doctor Jin had taken Wen Jun as his apprentice, and since one’s teacher is father for life, and now Shopkeeper Qiu had taken Datou as his foster son, they were even more family than before.

Heaven knew, lately there seemed to be more and more to boast about, and he didn’t even know which thing to show off first.

Shopkeeper Qiu clinked cups with Old Man Wen and the others, drank his fill, and only then looked to Datou. From his robes he took out a jade pendant and placed it in the boy’s hands.

“This is the jade pendant your foster father has worn since childhood. Today, I’m giving it to you.”

He hung it around Datou’s neck, clearly very satisfied.

Datou touched it. The quality was excellent, cool to the touch.

When Wen Xiuyi saw the pendant, a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes. Old Man Wen and the others merely glanced at it once and then looked away.

That reaction only made Shopkeeper Qiu feel even more certain that the Wen family must be no ordinary household. To see the pendant he gave Datou with such calm indifference—this was one of his own clan’s heirlooms, only two in all: one with him, one with his uncle.

What he did not know was that Wen Xiuyi was surprised because he could tell it was a fine piece, while Old Man Wen and the others looked once and then no further because they understood nothing of such things, and from a single glance they could already tell it was terribly expensive. Looking more made them feel they might not be able to bear the weight of it.

At Wen Xiuyi’s prompting, Datou knelt properly and bowed to Shopkeeper Qiu, offered him tea, and called him Foster Father. From now on, there would be one more person in this household to dote on him.

That day, Shopkeeper Qiu drank far too much. After he was drunk, he clung to Doctor Jin and wept miserably, saying at last he had a son, and his parents at last had a grandson—only, tragically, they would never live to see him.

Only then did the Wen family learn that Shopkeeper Qiu’s name was Qiu Zhi, the Zhi of lofty ambition reaching a thousand miles.

In the end, it took Wen Jun and Hong Hai working together to carry Shopkeeper Qiu onto the carriage. Doctor Jin had also drunk quite a bit and was sent aboard half dazed. Wen Xiuyi arranged for Wen Jun and Wen Nong to accompany Hong Hai in seeing them home, after which the two brothers would simply walk back by themselves.

Jin Xiuyi was left behind. Taking advantage of the moment when Doctor Jin was tipsy and fogged over, he begged him to let him stay and play at the Wen household until the fifteenth.

Doctor Jin was in no state to know what anyone said anymore. He only knew to agree. It was only the next day, when he sobered up and heard Hong Hai explain, that he realized his little grandson had quietly taken advantage of him.

Still, it was rather nice at the Wen house. The Wen family were pure of heart and kind to the bone; it was no bad thing for Jin Xiuyi to spend time with them.

As for Shopkeeper Qiu, once he sobered up and learned of his own drunken indiscretion, he wanted nothing more than to dig a hole in the ground and disappear into it.

On the second day of the new year, it was time to visit the maternal family.

Early in the morning, Wen Xiuzhu and Lady Li, as well as Wen Xiuqing and Lady Cai, each took their children and went back to their wives’ family homes. That left only the old couple, Wen Xiuyi’s family, and Jin Xiuyi in the house.

Let alone after a divorce—before it, there had never even been a maternal home to return to.

The whole large household immediately felt much quieter.

Fortunately, there was still Datou and Jin Xiuyi. The two children seemed endlessly eager to play. Especially Jin Xiuyi—everything in the countryside looked novel to him, which greatly satisfied Datou’s vanity. He took him around and quickly had him mixing in with the village children.

After the second day of the new year came the third and fourth, when the other relatives came to pay New Year visits. By the fifth, construction on the new house was due to begin.

Then, on the morning of the sixth, when everyone awoke from sleep and opened their doors, the world outside was a sheet of white.

“It’s snowing! It’s snowing!”

No one knew whose household shouted first, but the quiet village suddenly came alive, and many people ran out to see the long-awaited snowfall.

They had thought there would be no more snow this winter, yet after the New Year, it finally came.

For farmers, it was the perfect time for snow.

Old Man Wen came out of the house, saw the whiteness stretching everywhere, and went out to test the depth of the snow.

“It seems it fell pretty heavily last night,” he said.

Wen Xiuyi had also dressed and come out. Jin Xiuyi and Datou had long since been unable to wait. Wen Yao had only just finished helping them put on their clothes when the two of them shot off like balls, shrieking and tumbling wild with delight in the snow.

Seeing that the other grandchildren were already struggling to hold themselves back, Lady Luo had no choice but to call out loudly, “All of you behave yourselves. If you get snow in your clothes and then run around until you work up a sweat, you’ll catch cold.”

The ones who had been ready to sprint off immediately slowed down, and followed Datou and Jin Xiuyi in rolling snowballs in the yard at a very proper pace.

Old Man Wen went back inside. When he came out again, he had put on a thick coat. He carried his tobacco pipe in one hand, clasped the other behind his back, and set off.

Lady Luo kept an eye on the children, but still found time to turn and ask, “Where are you going?”

“To take a look around the village,” Old Man Wen said without looking back, and went on his way.

Wen Yao crossed her arms inside her sleeves, hunched her neck against the cold, and shuffled over while shivering. “Grandma, what’s Grandpa off to do?”

Lady Luo curled her lip. “Being nosy.”