Chapter Four: Lone Star

Rain poured from the sky as if trying to wash away the evils in the world.

Before the paper money (i.e. money for the dead) could be tossed up, they were already washed away by the rain. Without drum music, a funeral procession consisting of a dozen people marched bleakley through the streets under torrential rain.

“Is that the little lady of the Lin family?”

“Yes. It’s that pitiful girl.”

“Why?”

Hearing a customer ask about this, the waiter passionately described the circumstances. 

“The Lin family is a rich family within our Wu County. The Lin family’s second master was amazing. In the past few years, he earned a great portion of the family fortune from maritime trade. Unfortunately, at the end of last year, rumor has it that he was trying to get back in time for New Years without completely repairing his ship. In the end, he encountered a storm and the ship sank. Both the second master and the fifth young master died. Only his wife and daughter remain.”

“The Lin family’s little girl was originally betrothed to the Wu family’s third young master. Oh customer, do you know about the Wu family? They are a single clan with three ‘tanhua’ (third place in the national examination) scholars and five generations of senior officials. This Wu County is the Wu family’s ancestral home. Of course, this little girl was betrothed to a member of the branch family, but the family is still one of the most famous households. At least three members are ranked scholars in the nation, with limitless potential.” 

“Right, now back to the story. So, the little lady was originally betrothed to the Wu family’s third young master. But after the Lin family’s ship sank and hundreds of people died, the Lin family head–that is the Lin family’s first master– prayed for a revelation. He discovered that the little lady’s life is cursed. She would bring death to all of her relatives. Hearing this, the Wu family annulled the marriage. The Lin family head also expelled this girl from the family. All the money from the second master was taken. But this little girl is quite brave. She petitioned the county to gain independence with her mother. Unfortunately, even her mother has passed away now. This little girl is all alone.”

“Cursed by the heavens?” snorted a young man dressed in blue sitting next to a window in the tea house. He said to the young man across from him, “This Wu Yiren is quite daring. Doing something so despicable to gain favor from the Wang family.”

The young man’s face was hidden in the shadows. It was impossible to distinguish his expression. As he watched the figure of the young girl dressed in funeral attire slowly depart, he asked the waiter, “How much property was stolen from the Lin family?”

“Quite a bit,” said the man dressed in blue while taking a sip of tea. “Even without counting cash, they lost four barges, more than fifty shops and more than ten large estates with a total of around a thousand hectares of farmland.”

“Didn’t the Lin family have five large ships in their fleet before Lin Jiashen’s accident?”

“Yes, only the ship he was on was damaged. All the other ships returned safely. I heard afterwards that Lin Jiaxuan made tens of thousands selling all the commodities on these ships. After Lin Jiashen died, no one in the Lin family dared to sail the seas anymore. They even sold their crews to merchants in Guangzhou. Oh yeah, the damaged ship was bought with the estate that used to be the Lin girl’s mother’s dowry. The estate consisted of hundreds of hectares of good farmland. What a shame to trade it all for a broken ship.

“Even if she didn’t trade the estate away, it’s unlikely she could have retained it. Who can say no to Lin Jiaxuan and the Wu family in Wu County.”

“Then should we help?” the blue-dressed man smirked.

“Since the Wu family gained such a large fortune, why don’t you stay here if you’re not busy?” Hearing these words out of the young man’s mouth, the blue-dressed man’s face stilled.

“Right.” The blue-dressed man laughed lightly. Just an orphan girl. She is not worth fighting for. Furthermore, rumor has it that after she gained independence, she raised memorial tablets for her father and brother, changed her name, sold the little dowry left by her mother and planned to leave Wu County after burying her mother.