Chapter 71: Simplicity and Complexity

Wang Xing opened his mouth, ready to speak: interesting, simple, uncommon in daily life, and rough—aren’t those all describing the “leak-proof” bamboo boat? His elder sister was truly clever, having thought of it long before the magistrate and Brother Huan. The little fellow stood up at once. “This is already made, Brother Huan, you needn’t wait. I’ll fetch it now.” He habitually broke into a run, then remembered the lesson about “walking with decorum and caution,” promptly halted with one foot forward and one back, shuffled awkwardly, and adjusted his pace to a proper, measured walk.

The people behind couldn’t suppress their laughter. Huan Zhen recalled his own childhood, learning etiquette and making just as many mistakes.

Wang Xing emerged with great effort, carrying a wooden basin, his earlier embarrassment lingering. The basin was half-filled with water, in which floated the bamboo boat he and his sister had crafted together.

It was astonishingly crude. Old Wang, unfamiliar with shipbuilding, frowned at Wang Ge, but seeing his granddaughter’s composed expression, he relaxed.

Huan Zhen tapped the bamboo boat and asked Wang Xing, “This doesn’t look like the work of a master craftsman. Did you make it?”

“Yes, Brother Huan, my sister and I made it together. Have you ever seen a great ship, one larger than a whole courtyard?”

“I have.”

“My sister has too, but only once, when she went to take her craftsman’s test by the southern river. After she told me how big it was, I asked her: if such a huge ship… by chance…” He leaned in and whispered the words “got a hole in it,” then continued, “what should be done? If a ship that size… by chance…” He again whispered, “started leaking,” and then, “wouldn’t it get terribly heavy? And if it was far from shore, how could it be repaired in time?”

“So…”

“So we made this bamboo boat. It isn’t afraid of leaking.” Wang Xing looked to Wang Ge first, and only after receiving a nod did he carefully open the deck.

Huan Zhen was astonished and picked up the bamboo boat.

Beneath the deck, eight pieces of bamboo partitioned the boat into nine small compartments. Two of them were filled with water, but there was no exchange between the compartments.

The boat’s appearance was indeed rough, but its inner structure mimicked the joints of bamboo. The logic was simple, but to grasp it first—that was the hard part!

To combine the segmented structure of bamboo with a ship’s design required more than a craftsman’s talent; it took the rare chance to comprehend the principle!

And to think, this opportunity came just from Miss Wang having seen a great ship once?!

Heaven truly favored Great Jin!

Huan Zhen poured out the water from the bamboo boat, handed it to Tie Lei, stood, and bowed to Wang Ge, startling her into standing and bowing in return.

“Farewell,” he said, eager to leave. Once out in the courtyard, as Old Wang tried to see him out, Huan Zhen’s gaze suddenly shifted past the old man toward the main house doorway.

Wang Peng and Wang He were playing with little bamboo men, the figures battling energetically with their makeshift weapons.

Huan Zhen shamelessly smiled and asked directly, “Grandfather, what are those?”

Old Wang quickly shooed the two oblivious children away and handed the bamboo men with long hemp ropes to Huan Zhen. “Here, take them and play.”

“Thank you, Grandfather.”

“Brother Huan, you forgot your cloth pouch,” Wang Xing said, passing it over.

“It’s for you.” Huan Zhen clutched both bamboo men with delight and departed.

The siblings followed their grandfather back into the secondary house, curiosity driving them to open the cloth pouch. Inside were ten small bamboo tubes, which looked familiar—much like the ones Wang Ge had bought to store “Unguent of Immortality.”

Pulling out the wooden stopper, they found it was indeed the same!

Each small tube held a hundred and fifty coins’ worth; ten tubes meant…

Old Wang clutched his chest. “That young Master Huan is a spendthrift! Wasting money like this! Why, that’s nearly enough to buy an ox!”

Over the next two days, Old Wang went twice to the local military camp to try to return the valuable medicine to Huan Zhen, but Tie Lei respectfully escorted him back each time. Old Wang had no choice but to give up. After discussing with his wife, they sent the second son to the market for some sturdy ramie cloth, intending to sew two sets of winter clothing for Huan Zhen, and another set each for Tie Feng and Tie Lei.

The good ramie fabric cost six hundred coins in all, and the padding was thickly stuffed with reed down, gathered by the Wang brothers at the reed marsh. When Huan Zhen received the clothes, he experienced “guilt” for the first time, realizing that casual generosity might be simple for him, but for honest, grateful farmers, it was a heavy burden. Of course, that is a matter for later.

At night, the candlelight was dim. Granny Jia, Wang Ge, and Wang Shu sat around the table, crowding close to the flame as they sewed. Old Wang soothed little Wang Ai to sleep, then sighed.

Granny Jia sighed as well.

What troubled their grandparents? Wang Shu looked at them worriedly, but Wang Ge shook her head slightly, signaling her younger cousin to keep silent and focus on her work.

After a moment, Granny Jia’s voice trembled as she asked, “Tell me, why does our money only ever seem to dwindle, hmm?” She didn’t expect an answer, but after a sniffle, continued, “Which one of us isn’t hardworking? Your grandfather, at his age, still goes up into the wild hills, gathering firewood, cutting bamboo, digging wild roots, just like the young men. The second son works even harder, never complains, not once since childhood!”

Granny Jia wiped her tears.

Wang Shu began to cry as well. Wang Ge reached out and gripped her cousin’s hand.

Granny Jia went on, “And your third uncle. I know, you all think he’s a bit slow, always doing things that get under your skin. But have any of you noticed he’s never once been angry with family? He lets anyone scold him as they wish; he never gets mad! That Yao family is truly cruel, exploiting his simple nature. And little Zhu’s no better, helping the Yao family trick him into going to Sha Hamlet. When he got there…” She choked up, “Yao’s family resented him always showing up empty-handed, wouldn’t even give him a hot meal, wouldn’t let him into the yard at night, made him sleep in the ox cart. That’s why he fainted in the mountains—thank goodness he wasn’t hurt, thank goodness!”

Old Wang, seeing his wife crying harder, tried to comfort her. “Enough now, let’s not talk about this in front of the children. I know the village has been blaming Sanlang these days, calling him a fool for bringing grain to a cast-off wife’s family. Your heart aches for him, you feel he’s been wronged. But what can we do? He never learns his lesson. Better he suffer a little loss now than a greater one later. Let him stay at home for now—before the twelfth month, at most he can go to Sha Hamlet once.”

“Not even once!”

“Fine, fine, not even once. You’re the boss of this house.”

Granny Jia found comfort in those words, her grief lessening a bit. “Now, where was I?”

Wang Ge prompted, “You were just about to talk about me. Grandmother, don’t worry, the magistrate has given me work now. Five coins for every piece I make. If I make a hundred and twenty pieces, I’ll earn back the six hundred coins we spent on the ramie cloth.”

But as soon as she said this, it only reminded the old woman what she’d meant to say!

“All that I’ve mentioned isn’t the worst we’ve endured. The hardest lot in this family is our dear Huba… Huba… Ah, my poor Huba! How young she was when her mother carried her to the wild fields. She already knew how to pick wild vegetables. I carried her to the wheat fields, and she would gather stray grains behind me. At five, she was picking up sheep droppings at Shoushi Slope. At six, she took care of Hutou. At seven, she cooked and washed clothes. At eight, she was hauling water, carrying meals up the mountain! Oh, Huba, my poor Huba…”

Bang! Thump!

Wang Dalang and Wang Xing burst anxiously through the main room’s door, stumbling at the threshold, both calling out, “What happened to Huba?! Huba!”

“What’s wrong with my sister? Sister!”

“Walking with decorum and caution” is a reference to the preface of The Family Instructions of Master Yan, meaning to act with propriety, caution, and courtesy.

(End of chapter)