The dead returned home, as fallen leaves returned to their roots.
Brother Hong's funeral and burial took place on the third day after Ren Ye and the others arrived in Great Marsh Township.
For those three days, out of consideration for Brother Hong's wife and children, they had stayed at Ming Quan's house, only coming over during the day to help his wife with the arrangements.
Brother Hong's wife was named Chunniang, and she was thirty-six this year. Judging by her features and figure, she must have been quite pretty in her youth. But now she was middle-aged and had to care for five children at home on her own. Years of working day and night had long since taken the bloom from her looks and youth.
However, Ren Ye had heard from Ming Quan that Chunniang worked as a long-term servant at the City Lord's residence. Specifically, she tended the Qi Observation Garden for Tide Dragon City's mysterious City Lord. She was a Garden Keeper responsible for raising all manner of exotic flowers and plants, and had been doing it for nearly ten years.
As a result, her bearing, conduct, and speech appeared more refined and cultivated than those of the country women in the neighborhood.
Chunniang also seemed to have a strong-willed temperament. She was the sort of woman who knew her own mind but rarely showed it on the surface. In the three days Ren Ye had been here, he had only seen her cry twice: once when they pounded on her door that night to tell her of Brother Hong's death, and again at today's funeral.
Brother Hong had been well liked in Great Marsh Township and had a wide circle of friends. Many people in the township had hurried over to pay their respects after