Chapter 75: The Square as the Instrument of Order

Wang Erlang was robust, and by the next day, he was lively as a dragon once more.

But the elders dared not rest easy; they kept him in the main house for another day, made him chat with his eldest brother and weave straw sandals, forbidding him from going outside. Wang Sanlang shouldered the new wheat his mother had traded for sewing a tunic and took it to the grain yard to grind it all into flour.

Wang He accompanied his grandfather to the township to buy sesame oil and the same sturdy hemp cloth as last time. On their way back, they detoured to Reed Pavilion to pick two baskets of reed fluff. Lady Jia intended to sew another winter garment for the benefactor who had administered the needle the night before.

After finishing what chores they could manage, Wang Peng and Wang Xing went hand in hand to the main house; Wang Xing practiced her calligraphy and recited texts, while Wang Peng watched over her younger sister.

Wang Ge had nothing to concern herself with, simply staying in the secondary main house to hone her craft.

The family distributed their tasks plainly, but deliberately gave no instructions to Young Lady Jia, making it clear that stirring up discord among the younger generation was not a matter easily overlooked.

It turned out that after Wang Dalang erupted in anger the previous night, Wang Shu dared not hide anything and recounted everything his mother had said, word for word.

At the time, Lady Jia only scolded, "Look at your weasel-like face," and shoved Young Lady Jia out of the main house.

Now, Young Lady Jia only knew her husband had awakened and dared not enter the main house to visit him. This time, she was truly frightened; had she known so many misfortunes would follow, why utter those few extra words last night? There was nothing to be gained by it, not even a sliver of flesh from the hemp-shoed girl. Alas.

She chopped firewood, regret mingling with resentment, and gradually imagined the logs as the hemp-shoed girl, splitting them with all her might, blow after blow.

"Home-wrecker! Go chop by the latrine!" Lady Jia came out and shouted.

"Yes," Young Lady Jia wiped her tears and carried the wood away.

Lady Jia returned indoors, sighing. In her younger days, she was well aware that the sons and daughters of the Jia household were all indolent, but her own poverty left her no choice but to marry into another destitute family. She hadn't expected Young Lady Jia to be not only lazy but also cunning, always quarreling with Ah Ge, and, worse, sowing discord among the younger generation behind their backs. What else could she be but a home-wrecker?

Lady Jia lifted the grass curtain and entered the inner room. Wang Erlang had just stood up, only to quickly shrink back into his bedding. His mother was amused by his sheepishness and said, "Alright, no one's insisting you stay in bed. Just move about inside, don't go out and catch cold."

Wang Dalang comforted her, "Mother, don't worry. Erlang will be well after a day's rest. But, Erlang, you must reckon with your wife's actions in your heart."

Wang Shu lowered his head, too ashamed to plead for his mother.

"Yes," Wang Erlang was unwilling to speak on behalf of his wife. Having married Young Lady Jia upon his return to life, he could not abandon her without cause and resolved to live day by day. In his previous life, Young Lady Jia had become a tenant in his household, but stayed long in her own family, leaving Ah Shu motherless in all but name, which allowed that scholar's family to succeed in their schemes and deceive them with heartbreak.

Last night, emerging from his confusion, he realized that since Ah Shu was motherless in all but name in his past life, it mattered little to be utterly motherless this time around.

In the secondary main house.

Wang Ge watched Young Lady Jia head toward the latrine, relishing the quiet, and sat back down.

She prepared a full-length ruler, comprising ten segments of an inch.

Because she had set strict standards for herself during the first phase of testing, the second phase was swiftly completed—a true case of accumulated progress leading to rapid advancement.

Thus, she could proceed to the third stage: crafting a square ruler.

The circle is called the compass, the square is called the square ruler.

The square ruler is a tool for making squares and can measure height. It is shaped like a right-angle ruler, one end short, one end long, both marked with divisions and inches.

If this stage consisted only of marking segments, where would the challenge be? How could it be called progression?

From now on, she would practice the outline of the "square ruler" model given by Magistrate Huan!

Wang Ge rolled up the grass mat and scraped the exposed clay floor to mark a space the length and width of a step, smoothing it. Then, she drew straight lines and vertical lines by hand on the clay, forming the outline of a straight ruler; drawing straight and vertical lines, intersecting at right angles, to create the outline of a square ruler.

After a while, she blew on her hands; the ground was cold. Soon her nose ran from the chill, and her right hand holding the pebble grew numb, so she switched to her left. Her left hand had always been tucked into her homemade thick glove, so now it was the right hand's turn to warm up.

When her knees grew numb, she erased all the drawn lines, slowly stood up, and examined the ten wooden models in her chest, stretching as she observed.

Each model was cut from a single thin board; the "hinges" were merely decorative, without any adjustment function. When Huan Zhen handed them all over, she explained that the largest model had a span between the pins called a "gu." Before Wang Ge could ask what a "gu" was, Huan Zhen said bluntly, "You needn't understand. When you can replicate all ten wooden models without relying on them, you will have succeeded."

Well, that made sense.

After a brief rest, Wang Ge lay on the ground again to draw various lines.

At noon, Young Lady Jia was busy in the kitchen, gazing at the empty courtyard and suddenly missing the foolish Yao woman. How wonderful it would be to have Yao around, for with a little scheming, she would always side with the eldest branch.

The firelight from the stove reminded Young Lady Jia of when her second brother was burned ten years ago, and, in his dying moments, confided his secrets.

"Back then, I was the first to see Ah Wu and gave her a bite to eat. Why did she never favor me?"

"Sometimes I wish I could become the third sister and marry into the Wang family, so I could see Ah Wu every day."

"She would rather be a tenant than be close to me. Why?"

"Why can’t I forget her? When I heard she was bitten by a wild tiger, I worried so much, my concern drove me to drink."

Young Lady Jia recalled up to this point, and closed her eyes. That was her second brother's final sentence. He died with his eyes open.

He died on the day the hemp-shoed girl was born.

He thought drinking would help him forget Wu, but he was found drunk in a grassy hollow by the roadside, where somehow a fire broke out. By the time the villagers put it out, his leg was burned beyond saving, and he died from the pain.

So he confessed his heart’s burden before dying. Young Lady Jia knew how much he hurt; all his affection transformed into resentment—into hatred!

He died, and this resentment was inherited by his own sister.

The hemp-shoed girl was born a nemesis! Why should she live while her brother died? She had stolen her brother’s fate!

But… Young Lady Jia remembered what Ah Shu had suddenly said yesterday: "Look at you, so clean, but you always have to get close to the fire, nearly burning a big scar on yourself."

How could Ah Shu say that? From the time Wang Ge was half a year old, when the family was overwhelmed, Lady Jia made Young Lady Jia babysit Wang Ge. Young Lady Jia always liked to take Wang Ge to the kitchen, and each time she would whack Wang Ge’s bottom with a fire stick and scare her with the flames. While scaring her, she would repeat that very sentence most often!

How could Ah Shu utter exactly the same words?

Unable to fathom it, she concluded it must be a coincidence.

Just then, someone entered the yard, asking, "Is this the house of Wang the craftsman?"

Young Lady Jia came out. The visitor was a young lad in a patched tunic. She called out, "What business do you have with Wang the craftsman?"

Looking for Ah Ge? Lady Jia, Wang Shu, and Wang Xing all came out from the main house.

Wang Ge heard as well, and as she happened to be resting, she came out from the secondary main house.

The young lad was quite polite, bowing in the yard before stating his purpose: "I wish to commission Wang the craftsman to make some bamboo slips."

Young Lady Jia replied, "This is Wang the craftsman, my niece. Bamboo slips, she—"

"Five coins per slip," Wang Ge returned the bow and declared.

Young Lady Jia’s face twitched—five coins? Those scrap bamboo pieces could be made into a whole basketful in no time. She truly dared to name such a price!

The young lad’s expression was visibly humble and troubled. "Could you lower the price a little?"

"I am a first-class craftsman; this is the county office’s set price, I dare not violate it. Second aunt, do you agree?"

"I do," Young Lady Jia quickly nodded.

The lad was not resigned, trying to negotiate, "If I bring my own bamboo, could I learn to make slips from Wang the craftsman?"

"I am preparing for the craft exam and cannot teach in the short term. Second aunt, am I speaking the truth?"

"Yes! Yes."

"Then… I will not trouble you further." The lad departed forlornly. In the few steps beyond the gate, he looked back three times.

Wang Ge calmly watched him go, showing not a hint of mutual pity or sympathy between the poor.

(End of chapter)