| In which a monk...: |
The next day they called in a diviner, and found that the seventh was the old lady's unlucky number. On the third seventh day (the twenty-first), therefore, they must invite monks to say masses. Balls of white cloth were hung over the front gate, and the new scrolls in the halls were pasted over with white paper. All the local gentry came to offer their condolences, and Fan Jin asked his fellow candidate Wei Hao-ku, in scholar's dress, to receive guests in the front hall. Butcher Hu was not up to appearing in public, but he bustled about between the kitchen and his daughter's room, helping to measure the white cloth or weigh meat. |
