Chapter 7 — Red Rope Binds Fortune

"I can't go. The lights in Tieu Phuc Duong haven't been turned off yet. Now that I'm leaving, what should the Tham family do? What should Linh Nghi do?" I put the Phuc Luc in my sleeve. "Don't worry, mother, I will explain clearly." Her face suddenly changed: "Tell me clearly about what?" "Say clearly that I am not a person with a blessed appearance, nor an item raised by the Tham family to comfort others." Mother stared at me, for the first time panic appeared in her eyes. She finally realized that this time I didn't just want to get back some old things. I want to step down from the altar. The day I left the palace, there was no one in the Tham family to see me off. Father was busy dealing with the Marquis's accusations, and also busy investigating the matter of mother secretly concealing her maternal grandmother's contract. Tham Hoai Canh ordered someone to deliver seven scriptures to Tieu Phuc Duong. The sutra is wrapped very carefully, with a layer of green cloth on the outside. The young man said: "The young master said, if the young lady wants to burn it, he will not stop." I opened it and took a look. The words on the paper were written by me when I was thirteen years old. As time went on, the pen strokes became more shaky and shaky. The bottom corner of each page has a dark stain, which is the grease that sticks up when you use your hand with a swollen wrist to hold the paper. I don't burn. It's not because I can't bear to be with my brother. But because I couldn't bear to be with myself when I was thirteen years old. We put the sutra in the bottom of the luggage box. Packing back and forth, actually there aren't many things. A few sets of clothes, a box of old needles and thread, and a book "Women's World" were turned over and worn out. That book is my mother, telling me that women must keep their duties. Then we use it to prop up the table leg, the corner of the book is bent up. Finally, I entered Tieu Phuc Duong and held up the eternal lamp. Mama Trieu's face changed: "Miss, you must not touch this lamp." "Why?" She hesitated: "Madam said, if the lamp goes out, the blessings of the Tham family..." I gave the lamp to her: "Then bring it to the lady." Mama Trieu did not dare to accept it. I smiled, put the lamp back on the altar, then raised my hand to remove the red string that had been hanging outside the door for more than ten years. The red string wound round and round around the wooden beam, until after removing it, my fingertips were covered in dust. When I was young, I once asked my mother why there were so many red strings hanging outside the door of our hospital. Mother said the string was used to tie blessings. Now I know that being tied up with a rope is not a blessing. It's me. I put the red string in my sleeve and looked at Tieu Phuc Duong one last time. The golden amulet on the wall was old, the incense burner on the shelf was covered in dust, and the brick under the window had not been filled up after being pried open, revealing a dark gap. This place doesn't look like a house. Like an old warehouse. 9Just arriving at the flower gate, Tham Lenh Nghi chased after him. She had no makeup on, her hair was loose, she held the door frame and panted for a long time. "Sister, do you really want to go?" "Yes." "So what should I do?" I looked at her: "You asked the wrong person." Tears welled up in her eyes again: "Now you have nothing left, the maquis don't need you, everyone outside is laughing at you. Mother is also sick, brother doesn't pay attention to you, father scolds you." Sister, I'm really scared." "You still have the Tham family." "No, they all blame you now." "They blame you because the matter was exposed, not because you took my things." I said: "If you understood this, you wouldn't come and ask me what to do." She was stunned. I walked around her and continued walking forward. She suddenly shouted from behind: "So can you leave Phuc Luc behind? As long as you don't have that notebook, the words outside will slowly subside." My steps stopped. Her voice became urgent: "Sister, I don't want to harm you. In the future you still have to get married. If those stories spread out, who would dare to marry you?" I turned to look at her. There was still water on her face

eyes, but there was only impatience in them. "Tham Lenh Nghi, I just changed to ask for another item." She stood in place, not continuing to chase. I walked out of the Tham family gate. Outside parked a horse-drawn carriage covered with green cloth sent by Thanh Dan Pagoda. The little monk who came to pick me up had the dharma name Minh Trung. He was still young. As soon as he saw me coming out, he immediately jumped out of the car to help me carry the box. She saw the red string sticking out of my sleeve and was a little stunned. "Miss, are you still carrying this?" "Not with you." I stuffed the red string into the pocket on the side of the trunk: "So take it." "Take it for what?" I looked at the red silk on the Tham family's door. The wind blew, the red silk rolled up, revealing the word joy underneath that had not yet been removed. "Burn later." When the carriage left the Tham family's alley, I did not turn back. Rumors quickly spread outside. Some people say that the Tham family's concubine impersonated the eldest sister's old relationship, some people say that Mrs. Tham used the eldest daughter to provide blessings, and some people say that my destiny is really strange, otherwise how could the Tham family decline so quickly. When I heard these words, I was inventorying the contract my great-grandmother left behind in the backyard of Thanh Dan Pagoda. The two shops are not big, one sells tea, the other rents people to sell silk.