Chapter 23: Tribulation

"Young Master Pang's off duty!"

"Off now, Uncle Qu's still busy."

"Did Young Master Pang have a good day at the yamen?"

"Just fine, Granny Yang, where are you off to?"

"Brother Yu, come take a pear home, just bought them, the seller says they're grown on Dragon Sleep Mountain, touched by spiritual energy, taste's far better than flatland pears."

"Thank you, Aunt Xu."

"Aiya, still so polite, if you want more just come to Aunt Xu's anytime. Brother Yu, listen to Aunt Xu, there's a girl from a family just east of Purple Approach Bridge, fifteen this year, well-read and sensible, not yet betrothed..."

On his way home from work, Pang Yu responded to each while secretly puzzled, glanced up at the horizon — the sun hadn't risen from the west, so why were the neighbors all unusually warm?

Bearing this question, he neared his own door and saw a huge crowd gathered out front, from the middle of which came Aunt Liu's familiar booming voice.

"The betrothal contract is still right here, and the Pang family says they'll just deny it. What's an engagement? A matchmaker pulls the strings, a middleman bears witness, neighbors all around know of it. If it could be called off just by saying so, then what's the betrothal contract even for? All you neighbors are here, you judge — nowhere under heaven does such reasoning hold."

"That line sounds so familiar." Pang Yu scratched his ear and squeezed to the edge of the crowd. Pang Yu was fairly tall; peering over others' heads, he could just make out Aunt Liu's hair bun. Everyone around was watching the commotion inside, completely unaware that the main character was also among the onlookers.

Then came the voice of Pang Yu's mother: "Sister Liu, who are you saying this for? Just a few days ago, someone saw the Pang family had fallen on hard times and came pounding at the door at dawn, throwing a fit and insisting on breaking the engagement. Said if we didn't break it, you'd list every fault of the old Pang family. In the end, the old Pang family was generous and agreed to your annulment. Two or three days pass, and now breaking the engagement is the Pang family's fault again? Everyone, you judge — whose reasoning is this?"

The surrounding neighbors mostly knew the whole story by now, buzzing in discussion, their gazes toward Aunt Liu tinged with contempt.

Aunt Liu's old face showed no blush as she declared righteously, "When did I ever say I absolutely wanted to break it? That day I was just checking whether Brother Yu's health had improved. You, without distinguishing black from white, gave me attitude too. They were just words spoken in anger, and your Pang family actually went through with it. With the Pang family acting like this, others might think my daughter has done something unchaste, ruining an innocent girl's reputation..."

By this point Pang Yu had roughly grasped the situation. The suppression valuation was working — it seemed Pang Ding's propaganda efforts over the past two days had been quite effective.

Just then someone tugged his sleeve. Pang Yu turned and saw it was Zhou Yueru.

"Did you make a splash at the yamen today?"

Pang Yu suddenly understood. The neighbors' enthusiasm now made sense. Yimin Gate was never far from the county yamen to begin with, and the bizarre tale of the fool turned divine calculator was indeed explosive news — half a day was plenty of time for it to spread throughout the whole city.

He immediately said to Zhou Yueru, "How is it you all already know about this morning's matter?"

Zhou Yueru led Pang Yu under the eaves and said in a low voice, "Just past noon it had spread everywhere, saying you received divine aid, that you can not only read but also calculate, a hundred times faster than an abacus, in short you can do anything, even the County Vice-Magistrate praised you — is it true?"

Pang Yu did not answer but instead asked, "And then Aunt Liu no longer wants to break the engagement with our family?"

Zhou Yueru nodded gravely. "They say originally Aunt Liu had already picked another family before breaking the engagement, just waiting for the middleman to finalize the annulment before the girl crossed over. Today that family somehow heard rumors, saying the Pang family's run of bad luck was precisely because of the Liu family match, that the moment the engagement was broken the Pang family's fortunes soared, even the fool son had his spirit awakened — clearly the Liu family's match is unmarriageable, whoever marries them meets disaster. That family came to the Liu house before noon to back out, and even the matchmaker is no longer willing to help Aunt Liu find a match. By afternoon the neighbors were spreading word that your glory at the yamen was all thanks to breaking the engagement with the Liu family, and then Aunt Liu came to our door and has been making a scene for nearly half an hour."

Aunt Liu's voice still clamored over there, but Pang Yu was not the least bit anxious, as if it had nothing to do with the Pang family. Instead, he stroked his chin and looked Zhou Yueru up and down. Zhou Yueru glanced at herself in surprise, unsure what was amiss again.

Only when Zhou Yueru grew thoroughly unnerved under his stare did Pang Yu speak. "Tell me, Zhou Yueru, your job is to tend to this young master's injuries. This morning you were absent without leave, yet you've gathered a heap of gossip. You think earning four taels of silver a month is that easy?"

"No, it's because that, that..."

"Because it's your problem. With this young master, I look only at results, not reasons. Absent without leave is absent without leave, and you still have the nerve to look for reasons..."

Zhou Yueru, this time unexpectedly unyielding, lifted her chin. "It was Mr. Yu's wife who asked me to go to Dongzuo Gate this morning. Yesterday we came out late, so I didn't have time to tell you. The moment I got back from Dongzuo Gate, I went to your Medicine Shop to work — how does that count as absent without leave?"

Pang Yu's eyes lit up at the words "Mr. Yu." He immediately plastered on a smile and changed his tune. "Reasons are precisely what one must search for, and you've found one indeed. I always knew you were a woman devoted to your duties, never one to be absent without cause. Quick, tell me, why would Madam Yu call you to Dongzuo Gate?"

Zhou Yueru said with some self-satisfaction, "Madam Yu's mother's ancestral home is Shaanxi. She said my accent sounded familiar, kept me talking for a long time yesterday, then asked me to go to the East Gate morning market today, and even gave me a Sachet."

Pang Yu looked Zhou Yueru up and down, feeling this Female Aide was something of a lucky charm, actually able to get close to Madam Yu through a shared hometown accent. If she could develop a personal relationship, that would of course be a hundred times better than simply sending gifts.

At the Morning Session, Mr. Yu had helped him at a critical moment. Now it seemed there was both the silver at play and no small connection to Zhou Yueru's public relations work.

Just as he was about to praise Zhou Yueru, Aunt Liu's voice suddenly rose sharply, pulling both their attention back to the main battlefield.

Aunt Liu's voice had gone hoarse. "Who said it? Who said marrying into the Liu family brings ruin and death? Whoever said it, step forward! Daring to wag your tongue behind people's backs, no guts to show your face — think I won't find out if you don't come out?"

Zhou Yueru said sympathetically, "Who could be so lacking in virtue, saying such things about someone behind their back? What other family would dare marry a Liu daughter now? Truly sinful."

Pang Yu shook his head and said with deep sorrow, "Zhou Yueru, you see, this is all your sin."

"Me?" Zhou Yueru pointed at herself, her eyes wide as copper bells.

"Of course it's you. If not for your reckless shouting that day, your father wouldn't have beaten me. If he hadn't beaten me, it wouldn't have led to such a lamentable situation for the Liu family. So you see, you're all still too young, a bit frivolous in nature."

"But I..."

"Forget it, this young master doesn't wish to scold you anymore. You've stirred up this whole mess, and it still falls to this young master to resolve it. Now, aside from this young master, no one else is willing to marry into the Liu family. This young master will reluctantly take the Liu daughter as wife — who's to blame if this young master is a good man."

Having said this, Pang Yu left Zhou Yueru behind, squeezed into the crowd, and stood before the raging Aunt Liu.

The moment Aunt Liu saw Pang Yu, her anger flared. "Well, well, Brother Yu, you clearly didn't injure your head that day, instead turned misfortune into blessing — why did you tell your aunt you were..."

Pang Yu could not let her blurt out the matter of tricking her into stealing the betrothal contract and hurriedly cut her off. "Auntie, what did I say last time? The Liu and Pang families are both families that care about face. Making such a scene that all the neighbors know — have you considered how Uncle Liu feels?"

Aunt Liu was indeed diverted. "I don't care about that. Your Uncle Liu may be thin-skinned, but this matter still needs to be made clear. This mess your Pang family created — don't think you can just abandon my daughter after toying with her! Now tell me, what's to be done."

"Ah, now that's more like it. Let's not dwell on the past. The problem at hand, we'll find a way to solve it. How about we go to your house and discuss it further?"

Hearing these familiar words, Aunt Liu looked at Pang Yu with a face full of wariness. "Discuss it further again?"

"Auntie, don't be suspicious. Your nephew will speak plainly. The matter of the immortal's dream is real. The Pang family truly has had its Fate suppressed by this match."

In the Liu family shop, seeing Aunt Liu about to explode, Pang Yu soothed her again. "You know well what your nephew was like before. Without an immortal's help, how could I have awakened? How could I have learned to write and calculate overnight, and with such mastery? An ordinary person could strive their whole life and still find it hard to achieve. But that's not to say the Liu family is bad — it's simply a karmic convergence in the unseen, just so happening to form such a tribulation."

Aunt Liu listened and stared blankly for a while, yet could find no words of rebuttal. To say awakening and becoming sensible was possible — but without divine aid, Pang Yu absolutely could not have suddenly learned to read and calculate. In her heart, she already believed the matter of the immortal's dream.

Her eyes reddened and she was on the verge of tears. "Then does that mean my daughter... can never be betrothed to anyone? What is my poor daughter to do! Did that immortal say if there's any way to break this?"

"The immortal said in the dream that marrying into any family cannot resolve this tribulation of the Liu family. Even if a marriage is forced through, the tribulation will exact its retribution in the days to come. So, ah, sigh!" Pang Yu shook his head in deep sorrow. His aim in saying this was to cut off Aunt Liu's retreat. Retribution in the days to come, with no mention of when — a sword of Damocles would forever hang over Aunt Liu's head. How would Aunt Liu dare seek another match?

Pang Yu secretly observed Aunt Liu's expression from the corner of his eye — she was already in the eighteenth level of hell — before continuing, "But it's not entirely without a Method."

As if grasping at the final lifesaving straw, Aunt Liu's face filled with astonished joy as she seized Pang Yu's sleeve. "How to break it? Brother Yu, speak quickly! As long as my daughter's tribulation can be broken, anything will do."

"At the time, the immortal told me that now, only the Pang family can break this tribulation of the Liu family. Because I have burst open my celestial spirit, Yang Qi courses through and gathers at the crown of my head. Between heaven and earth, only by relying on this Yang Qi, akin to the Nine Yang Divine Art, can the tribulation be shattered."

Pang Yu casually applied the Yin-Yang Official's words with flexible mastery, then threw in a Nine Yang Divine Art out of nowhere, leaving Aunt Liu utterly bewildered, unable even to begin questioning.

Sure enough, Aunt Liu was intimidated. She asked timidly, "Then, Brother Yu, how about our two families just fulfill that betrothal contract? You just use this Nine Yang Qi to help our Liu family."

"Aunt Liu, I agree. We'll continue the betrothal contract. Even if it means shortening my, Pang Yu's, allotted lifespan, I can't concern myself with that now. Who's to blame if I'm a good man." Pang Yu gritted his teeth. "But this marital tribulation of the Liu family is great enough that the Nine Yang Divine Art alone is not sufficient. Fortunately, this tribulation has a particular fatal point. When our families join in marriage, we cannot follow the practices of ordinary households."

Seeing Pang Yu agree, Aunt Liu immediately saw hope and said, burning with anxiety, "Brother Yu, quickly tell me, what is this fatal point? What must be done?"

Pang Yu hemmed and hawed for a long while. Aunt Liu pressed him incessantly. Pang Yu strung her anticipation to its peak, and finally, with a grit of his teeth, said, "The fatal point of this tribulation is the Betrothal Gifts. Those Betrothal Gifts... ah, your nephew truly cannot bring himself to say it."

Aunt Liu hesitated a moment, then asked, "Then, Brother Yu, do you mean... the Betrothal Gifts are simply not to be given?"

"You must take it!"

Iron Rooster Aunt Liu let out a long breath. At least she could still recover some of her losses. Just as she was beginning to relax, she suddenly heard Pang Yu speak again.

"The Liu family must give Betrothal Gifts to the Pang family. They must weigh at least fifty taels to suppress this calamity. Only then can the flow of fate be reversed, turning Rush into Harmony. Truly, there is no other way."

Aunt Liu felt as if struck by lightning. Mouth agape, she stumbled back two steps before steadying herself. Her old face twisted into an absurd, bizarre expression — unable to cry, yet unable to laugh. She stared blankly at Pang Yu's earnest, solemn face, speechless for a long time.