Chapter 88: Paying Respects to the Li Family Matriarch, Part 2

Chapter Eighty-Eight: Paying Respects to the Li Family Matriarch, Part Two

Perhaps because he was nervous, the dark corridor seemed extraordinarily long to Zheng Ji. Though he had only taken a few dozen steps, it felt as if he had walked far and for a very long time.

By the time Zheng Ji followed the old woman to the end of the passage, a heavy carved rosewood door stood before him. It was a somber color, exquisitely crafted, with a longevity emblem in the center, and in each corner symmetrical bat motifs, along with various designs of boys and girls.

The old woman stepped up to the door, knocked lightly, cleared her throat, and called out, “Grandmatriarch, as you instructed, I have brought the future grandson-in-law-to-be to see you.”

“Let him... come in,” came a hoarse voice from within.

Before anyone else could speak, the old woman hurried forward and strained to pull the door open. It seemed especially heavy; the stout old woman nearly clung to the panel, hauling it outward with her whole body. At first only a crack appeared, and then she pushed one side fully open before motioning for Zheng Ji to enter.

Zheng Ji stepped inside trembling. The old woman then heaved the panel shut again, and her footsteps gradually faded away.

Inside, the room seemed no different from an ordinary side chamber, only larger and darker. Yet there was an inescapable stench hanging in the air, and as Zheng Ji came in from outside, it hit him so hard it made his head ring.

Just inside the door, directly ahead, stood an especially large armchair broad enough for two strong men to sit side by side. It looked heavy and solid, the material of it impossible to tell, though the wood alone must have cost a fortune.

In that great chair was slumped an old woman with a head of white hair. She was the Li family’s grandmatriarch.

Her head was small and gaunt, like a cat’s skull with only a thin layer of skin drawn over the bones. Yet her body was enormous, like a pig swollen with fat from head to toe, crammed into the chair so completely that even so massive a seat could barely contain her.

She looked like a lump of flesh piled in a basin, nearly spilling over. And yet her garments were splendid, made of a dark purple fabric embroidered with countless elaborate patterns in gold thread.

The small amount of skin visible on her neck and hands was ghastly pale and sickly, mottled with age spots and covered in knotty little flesh nodules of all sizes.

When Zheng Ji saw those nodules, they seemed as nauseating as the tumors on that locust tree, and he could not help imagining that beneath the hideous bulk he could not see, her body must be covered in even more of them.

The Li family grandmatriarch sat securely wedged in the armchair, half-closing her eyes as she tried hard to show a kindly expression like a laughing Buddha.

But to Zheng Ji, no matter how one looked at her, she did not resemble anything human should be.

“I do not often go out,” she said in broken, halting phrases. “I prefer to stay in this quiet room and spend my time praying for my children and grandchildren, reciting sutras, and meditating. So I have grown distant from the younger generations. The second branch told me you are a brave, upright boy with a good constitution, and they mean to have you marry into the Li family. I have seen your birth chart, and it suits most well. In the future, you should come often to visit this old woman, and in that way make up for what I lack.”

Zheng Ji hastily agreed.

Then the Li matriarch said, “Little one, the room is very dark. Come closer and let this old woman have a proper look at you!” She seemed to force warmth into her tone as she raised her voice.

Yet Zheng Ji, too terrified to move, stood frozen. The room was as silent as a tomb.

“You little thing, so shy of strangers. Must this old woman come to you?” Her voice suddenly rose, shrill as tearing cloth.

Zheng Ji wrestled wildly with himself, like a rat trapped in a corner. In that instant, both his thoughts and expression were a tangled mess.

Seated high above, the Li matriarch half-raised herself and said impatiently, “Hurry!” She seemed to try to stand, but her soft bones and flesh refused to obey. She merely bobbed upward a little before her own weight pressed her back down again. Furious, she slammed the armrest hard.

The armrest gave a creaking protest under the blow.

Zheng Ji, now directly before her, staggered forward shakily. His legs failed him and he struck the step with a sharp crack. Pain twisted his face even more grotesquely, and he felt as though he were being led forward like an offering.

The Li matriarch eagerly forced her eyes open. Her two thin, frail arms extended impossibly far, straight as rods, and seized Zheng Ji by both shoulders, dragging him close. From within Zheng Ji came the faint, ominous sound of bones creaking.

Terror crawled up his spine like worms gnawing marrow and bone. Zheng Ji shook all over. It seemed to him that from the Li matriarch’s chest countless gray tendrils were stretching out, following the arms that held him, burrowing into his body.

His expression was one of utter horror, but all he could see was the grandmatriarch’s satisfied look, and hear her low muttering: “Bear with it a little longer... a little longer...”

“Ah!” Zheng Ji suddenly cried out as he told the story, as though waking from a nightmare. “Ever since I met the Li family grandmatriarch, I have not slept soundly for days. I keep having nightmares...”

“But you’re standing right here, Zheng Ji. Could it be that you only dreamed it?” Zhang Sanlu said with a frown, though Zheng Ji’s drained face, trembling like chaff in the wind, did not seem like a dream at all.

At that moment, Hui Niang came out wearing new clothes. She was dressed in a long straight-cut gown, chiefly in a plain, warm yellow tone. Her hair was loosely pinned up, with a few wisps falling beside her cheeks. She had always seemed like a frail child, but now, as the hem of her dress swayed softly with her steps like rippling water, she gave off a faintly maidenly air.

Both Zhang Sanlu and Zheng Ji could not help but stare.

Yet Hui Niang thought she looked bad and said shyly, “I’ve never worn clothes like this before. Does it look ugly?”

“How could it? It’s beautiful. When we have money in the future, you should dress like this all the time,” Zheng Ji said at once.

Zhang Sanlu also nodded. “Yes, it really does look lovely.”

Hui Niang happily held up the skirt and spun once before sitting down on the stone bench. “I heard some of what Brother Zheng said. Since this place is so strange, if it won’t do, then we should just leave.”

But Zheng Ji looked troubled.

Zhang Sanlu said, “I hope all of you can find a good home. Now that Zheng Ji has finally been given such an opportunity, we should not be so hasty. The Li family is a great and powerful household, so there will naturally be some odd things about it. And as you said, since that Li grandmatriarch is so exalted in seniority, there must be many children in the family. Zheng Ji may not even have to see her very often.”

Zheng Ji, his face drained white, said, “I do not want to see her even once. But Second Master Li said the grandmatriarch takes one look at me and feels delighted, so tomorrow after the engagement papers are settled at the Li residence, I must go alone that night to pay respects to the Li family grandmatriarch again!!!”