Ch. 6..10: The Princess of Northern Land Chapter 6-10

Chapter 6 Buddha’s Fate (2)_1 “Amitabha, Benefactor, the matter of amnesia is a hard one. Some people might recover their memories in a few days, while others possibly never recover even a slight piece of their past. The situation of the young Benefactor is relatively good, as she at least recognizes her kinfolk. This poor monk wouldn’t dare to lie.” Master Hui Zhen joined his palms in response.

“Grandfather, if Ziyin can’t remember, so be it.” Seeing the pale expression on Lin Ziyin’s face, Lin Changshu, feeling heartbroken, dissuaded their grandfather.

“Alas, if she can’t remember, let it be.” The old master nodded, glanced at Ziyin, noticing her pallid complexion, “Huiniang, you should quickly feed the girl something.”

“Ah, it’s all prepared.” Huiniang quickly wiped off the tears on her face, and hastily agreed before rushing out.

“Since the female Benefactor is not seriously harmed, this poor monk will take my leave. Amitabha.” Seeing the bustle of the Lin family, Master Hui Zhen promptly prepared to depart.

“Master, we have nothing much to offer you, these are from our farm, please take them back.” Lin Changshu hurried out and awkwardly brought in a basket full of vegetables.

“Amitabha.” Master Hui Zhen, without any reluctance, thanked the Lin family, then left with the basket.

“Ziyin, come, eat something quickly.” As soon as they had seen off Master Hui Zhen, Guo Huiniang came in with a bowl of rice, also holding an egg, “You must be ravenous, it’s been several days since you have eaten anything. Even an iron man couldn’t bear this.”

As she spoke, she began to pick up chopsticks in preparation to feed Lin Ziyin.

“Sister-in-law, Sister.” Lin Ziyin glanced at the two women by the bed, hesitated a little, then decided to say what she had planned, “Could you ask Grandfather and Brother to come? I have something to say.”

“What is it? Let’s talk after you finish the rice porridge.” Lin Zige said to her with red-rimmed eyes.

“Yes, let’s talk after you finish eating.” Guo Huiniang also persuaded.

Lin Ziyin saw the concern of the two women for her, and she was genuinely starving, so she nodded and obediently ate a small bowl of rice porridge and an egg.

After eating something, she felt a bit more energetic.

“I am full now, please ask Grandfather and Brother to come, I have something to say.” Lin Ziyin spoke once again.

“Alright, you wait.” Lin Zige put down the empty bowl and went out.

In no time, Lin Changshu and grandfather also came in the room.

Originally, Lin Ziyin’s head was dizzy and her eyes were blurry, she had not properly observed the people of her family.

However, when she settled down and looked carefully at the faces of the Lin family, she couldn’t help but feel a wave of sadness for them.

The old Master Lin, sitting in the room on a stool, had snowy white hair, slightly hunched back, his face crisscrossed with lines of wrinkles; evidently having experienced much hardship. His clothes were old and patched but were spotlessly clean.

As for Lin Changshu, despite him appearing in his twenties within her memories, he looked older. Still, his eyes were firm, his features distinct, showing an image of a righteous man.

Sister-in-law Guo Huiniang, her face pale, her clothes worn to shreds, hands full of callouses from years of farming.

Regarding her sister, though with delicate features and an attractive young girl, her clothes were nothing better, and her complexion wasn’t great too, ruining her prettiness a little.

“Girl, is there something you want to say?” The old master looked at Ziyin and asked.

Looking at the old master’s caring eyes, and the gentle eyes of her brother, sister-in-law, and sister, Lin Ziyin almost felt embarrassed to lie. But thinking about their future life, she hesitated for a moment but finally opened her mouth, “Grandfather, during the days I was unconscious, I dreamt of Buddha and the heavenly Bodhisattvas. They said I am connected to Buddha and pushed a Heavenly Book into my mind. Now, it seems like I know many things, yet, I also feel like I know nothing.”

Lin Ziyin didn’t make her statement too absolute, but even then, it stupefied everyone present in the room.

Chapter 7 Breaking off the Marriage (1)_1 “Ouch, my head hurts.” Lin Ziyin saw the surprised expressions on their faces and, fearing suspicion, covered her head and moaned on purpose.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Changshu asked in surprise.

“Sister, how come you have a headache again?” Lin Zige rushed over anxiously to examine the wound on her head.

“I don’t know, whenever I try to think, my head hurts.” Lin Ziyin replied pitifully.

“If it hurts, don’t think.” The old man spoke tenderly, “Don’t think about anything. If you can’t remember the past, so be it. With our family here, no one can bully you.”

“I’m much better now. Grandpa, please don’t worry.” Lin Ziyin felt a bit guilty about her lie, but seeing that the Lin family successfully dismissed their suspicions, she felt joyous.

Regardless, having inexplicably traveled to the Lin family, which seemed warm and welcoming, she needed such a family to lean on.

“Girl, did you really see Bodhisattva and Buddha in your dream?” After Ziyin calmed down, the old man brought up the old topic again.

Lin Ziyin nodded, once the lie started, she must persist.

“I was always confused, I couldn’t understand what Buddha or the Bodhisattva was saying. But Buddha said that since I’ve met them, it’s fate, so he stuffed a book in my head which has now filled my mind with a lot of things.”

“What did it fill up?” Lin Zige asked excitedly and curiously.

“I….” Lin Ziyin’s face showed a pained expression.

“Alright, don’t push her too hard. Let her talk when she remembers later. And remember, everything Ziyin said today, none of you are to speak of it.” The old man spoke.

“Yes.” Lin Changshu was the first to assure, “Ziyin, rest well, if you can’t remember, don’t force it.”

Lin Ziyin weakly nodded. In reality, she wanted to sleep as well, as this body was too frail.

When she woke up again, Lin Ziyin noticed that the room had darkened and guessed it might be evening.

Simultaneously, she felt a chill, so she had to pull the worn-out quilt over her and shrink her body into it.

“Sister, it’s time to eat.” The curtain was lifted, and Lin Zige, her eldest sister, came in.

“Dinner?” Lin Ziyin asked.

“Hmm.” Lin Zige sat skillfully on the edge of her bed with a bowl of food, preparing to feed her.

“I’ll do it myself.” Lin Ziyin remarked.

“Ziyin, you need to eat properly, your body will recover only then.” The curtain was lifted, and two little fellows barged in.

“Ziyin, eat.” The younger one spoke.

“Zhizhi, you should call her aunt.” Lin Zige looked helplessly at her little nephew as she corrected him again.

“Big sister.” Little Bun stared with round eyes but didn’t change his words.

Lin Ziyin watched the little fellow amusedly and then said to Lin Zige, “Big sister, let me do it myself.”

“Can you manage?”

“I can.” Lin Ziyin nodded while saying.

“Then be careful.” Lin Zige handed over the bowl to her and presented her with a white onigiri.

Lin Ziyin looked into the bowl and saw what appeared to be not too thick rice porridge. Seeing the white onigiri, she was taken aback slightly. From the merged memory, she knew the Lin family was barely scraping by their meals and hadn’t had rice and white flour for a while.

How did they get this rice and white flour?

“Ziyin, eat.” Lin Changting urged her.

Lin Yanzhi seemed to envy the onigiri in her hand, then forcefully withdrew his gaze, “Ziyin, eat.”

Chapter 8 Breaking off the Marriage (2)_1 “After eating at noon, I went to sleep and I’m still not hungry. Changting, Yanzhi, you two split this bun to eat.” Lin Ziyin handed over the bun, “Sister, you help divide it.”

“This?” Lin Zige was a bit troubled, she had of course noticed the envy in the eyes of the two children.

The home conditions were poor, and the two children were having two meals a day with adults, eating the coarsest grains. It was understandable that they salivated at the sight of white buns and rice porridge. But Ziyin is too weak and certainly needs nourishment.

“I don’t want it.” Skinny Lin Changting shook his head in refusal, “second sister should eat, when second sister eats, she’ll regain her strength.”

“Don’t want.” Lin Yanzhi was Lin Changting’s tagalong, seeing his uncle refuse the white bun, the little guy also stubbornly shook his head, unable to take his eyes off the bun.

“I already said, second sister isn’t hungry.” Lin Ziyin said with a smile.

“You eat, I don’t want you to die.” Lin Changting suddenly became agitated.

“Don’t want to die.” The little guy’s voice was already carrying a sob.

“Don’t want.” Lin Changting ran out, and without a second word, Lin Yanzhi followed him out.

“They all worry about you, and in these past few days seeing you lying in bed, they don’t know how many times they’ve cried. You eat the bun, just try to recover as soon as possible.” Lin Zige sighed and persuaded her.

Lin Ziyin looked at her pale face and silently began to eat a large bowl of food.

She secretly set a determination to recover her health as soon as possible and then improve the conditions at home.

“Old man, we’re visiting today to inquire when you will return the two taels of silver from the previous engagement. You know, our Ma Family’s life isn’t easy either, Zhicai still has to pay for his school tuition. Could you repay us the silver a bit sooner?” A woman’s voice filled with bitterness echoed from outside.

“Old man, we were also forced to come here. At the beginning, we came here with pure, silver cash. You all…” and then a man’s voice.

“Old man, it’s not that we’re making it difficult for you. We’re all villagers. The engagement got called off, we had no choice. Zhicai is educated, Zige can’t read, bringing the two children together isn’t right, it might even make them enemies in the end. It’s better to disperse early, for them each to get married, it doesn’t affect anyone, right?” The woman began to ramble outside.

Sister’s engagement is broken off?

Lin Ziyin’s face was filled with a stiff pan, she unconsciously glanced at Lin Zige across her.

All she saw was Lin Zige sitting in front of the bed, her face filled with anger and embarrassment, her hand clenched into a fist, it seemed she was trying very hard to restrain her anger inside.

Lin Ziyin suddenly disliked the people outside, the woman’s words outside the house seemed nice, men get married, women do too, it didn’t matter in modern times. But here it was ancient times, a woman having her engagement called off would attract criticism, perhaps in the future, Lin Zige would struggle to find a husband’s house.

And the reason for calling off the engagement was just because the man was accepted as a scholar. Wasn’t this clear treachery?

“Auntie, initially it was you all begging the matchmaker to come to propose. But now you all see Zhicai has become a scholar, you come to call off the engagement, it’s somewhat unjustifiable to our Lin Family.” Guo Hui Niang spoke with a hint of anger, “If you want to cancel the engagement, go ahead, we the Lin Family will watch in acknowledgment of the villagers here, we will not make it difficult for you. But how are we supposed to collect the silver so quickly?”

“What do you mean?” The Ma Family woman’s voice went high, “The silver we the Ma Family paid with hard-earned cash, you used all on a sickly body, now asking us how to collect the silver? How should we know, could it be that the Lin Family intends to default on the silver?”

“Auntie…” Lin Changshu began to speak.

“You also don’t call me auntie now, just hurry up and return the silver. Otherwise, we will not leave.” The Ma Family woman seemed to want to cause a scene, “If others know that you all want to default on the silver even after calling off the engagement, does the Lin Family still want to have face?”

“It’s your Ma Family that has no shame.” Upon hearing this, Lin Zige couldn’t listen any further, she dashed out in a few strides.

Lin Ziyin, who had been listening intently, didn’t notice her actions.

Chapter 9 Improvement of Health (1)_1 “Our Lin family never said we wouldn’t repay. What do you mean by blocking our door? Lin Zige started coldly, “You’ve had your ruckus, I don’t care about losing face anymore. Let everyone come and see what kind of things the Ma Family has done. I’m curious how Zhicai has the audacity to continue his studies after breaking off the engagement without reason.”

“You wicked…” A woman from the Ma family jumped up in readiness to create a scene, hearing Zige using her son’s future as a threat.

“Speaking of being wicked, no one can compare to you. Are you trying to force our Lin family to death?” Zige cut her off, willing to go all the way.

“Mr. Ma, our Lin family is destitute, but we’ve always been reliable. We said we would repay you, we never go back on our word. You also know the mishap in our family and that we can’t repay your silver right now, pressuring us is useless.” Lin’s Father spoke up, “Have a heart and ask yourself, aren’t you feel guilty for breaking off the engagement?”

“Why should we feel guilty…” The daughter-in-law of the Ma family started clamoring.

Lin Ziyin strained her ears from inside the house, her brows tightly knitted.

Two taels of silver, the Lin family was getting suffocated. When would her health recover?

“You have money for medicine, but not to repay us?” The woman from the Ma family was relentless.

“Ziyin is injured. The religious master said she needs silver to recuperate.” Lin Changshu replied.

“She needs medicine for her injuries, why should our Ma Family’s silver be used?”

“You continue to provoke, fine, I’d rather sell myself as a maidservant to wealthy families, at least I won’t owe you the silver.” Lin Zige couldn’t take it anymore and yelled loudly.

“We’ll hold you to your words.” The woman from Ma family said, a hint of joy in her voice.

“I don’t agree!” Lin Changshu was furious, “If you push too hard and Zige acts out, I won’t let your Ma Family off.”

“You dare–”

“Enough, let’s do it this way. Old Mr. Lin, we’ll give you two months to prepare the money, but not a day longer,” Mr. Ma interjected.

“Agreed.” Old Mr. Lin nodded in agreement.

“Father, how could you agree?” The Ma family woman protested to her husband.

“We are heading home, that’s settled. No more words from you,” Mr. Ma reprimanded his wife, then turned towards the Lin family, “We’ll go now.”

No one in the Lin family replied.

As soon as the Ma couple left, Zige couldn’t hold back her tears and started sobbing.

The sound of sobbing was suppressed and Ziyin in the room felt an uncomfortable sense of sourness in her heart.

She stared at the patched-up ceiling, thinking about how to improve their family’s living conditions.

“Don’t cry, they just weren’t the right ones for you.” Guo Huiniang joined in sobbing, “Your sister-in-law will find you a better match, I don’t believe there are no good men out there except the Ma family.”

Hearing her words, Zige only cried harder.

Lin Changshu and Lin’s father, both men, didn’t know how to comfort her and could only sigh and watch.

Although Lin Changting was young, he was mature for his age.

He knew that the Ma family had wronged his eldest sister. His eyes were blazing with anger, while the youngest, Lin Yanzhi, was confused. Seeing his aunt and mother crying, he felt an urge to cry too.

“Stop crying, it’s not worth crying over the likes of them. Plus, Ziyin is still in the room.” After his wife and elder sister had cried for a while, Lin Changshu finally spoke.

Chapter 10 Improvement of Health (2)_1 Upon hearing him mention Ziyin, Lin Zige immediately stopped crying.

She wiped the tears from her face and entered the room. When she got in, she saw Lin Ziyin wide awake, staring at the ceiling!

She felt a pang of sadness in her heart, “Ziyin, did you hear everything?”

“I heard it,” Ziyin answered quietly, “Big brother is right. A man like that is not worth your tears.”

“It’s not about him.” Lin Zige shook her head, then forced a smile, “Don’t overthink it. Focus on regaining your strength.”

“Alright.” Lin Ziyin responded calmly.

Seeing her lack of energy and taking into account her own mood, Lin Zige stopped the conversation. After washing up, she too lay down beside Lin Ziyin and fell asleep.

Back in the modern times, Lin Ziyin was used to sleeping alone. Now, with Lin Zige by her side, she was considerably uncomfortable.

But she didn’t dare to move, fearing that she might also make Lin Zige uneasy.

Fortunately, Lin Zige fell asleep quickly, probably exhausted from the day’s work.

Lin Ziyin finally fell asleep when dawn was approaching, after futilely trying to count sheep with her eyes shut.

However, their sleep was fleeting and unrestful, as the members of the Lin family soon began to wake up one by one.

After Lin Zige carefully got out of bed, Lin Ziyin found that the bed was growing colder. She wrapped up in the blanket once more.

In the following days, she had her meals separately and continued drinking her medicine without fail.

The family seemed to have forgotten the displeasure brought by the Ma Family, each of them going about their daily tasks.

On the third day, Lin Ziyin pleaded with Zige, “I want to go out and walk around.”

“No, your body has not fully recovered. What if you catch a cold?” Lin Zige resolutely disagreed.

“I won’t go far, just around the vicinity. Let Changting and Yanzhi accompany me.” Lin Ziyin said. “Lying in bed all the time will only make me weaker.”

On hearing this, Lin Zige glanced at her.

“The sunlight is good outside, I’ll just stay near the house.” Lin Ziyin persisted.

“Alright, but don’t wander off, and make sure you are dressed warmly.” Lin Zige finally agreed.

Lin Ziyin nodded, allowing Zige to help her into another coat.

“Second Sister, I’ll support you.” Lin Changting cleverly offered.

“I will too.” Lin Yanzhi chimed in.

“Thank you, both of you.” Lin Ziyin answered with a smile.

For the first time outside, she finally had a good look at her surroundings.

Over the past few days, she had already understood the state of her village through subtle conversations with Lin Zige.

The village was called Shilitunzi, and there were about a hundred or so households.

In ancient times, such a village would be considered large. However, the village was not established through generations of descendants, but was formed by people exiled here from Capital City, a place of harsh cold.

Hence, the village wasn’t composed of a single clan, but was rather complex with few individuals.

Lin Ziyin knew that in ancient times, without a common clan, it would often be hard for community cohesion to develop, hence, the village would not lack its share of disputes and conflicts.

Fortunately, most of those who came here were not exiled due to heinous crimes, but because they were implicated by others or due to their masters. Thus, the villagers were still relatively simple and honest.

Lin Ziyin looked at the undulating green mountains in the distance and took a deep breath of fresh air. Actually, the environment surrounding the village was quite good, with green mountains encircling the village, farming fields arranged in order, and houses scattered about, creating a picturesque pastoral scene.

“Ziyin, you’re able to come out now, it seems that your condition has improved.” Suddenly, a pleasantly surprised voice called out.

Lin Ziyin looked up to see a kind-faced middle-aged woman, who was radiating joy as she looked at her.