The Lin family stood as the preeminent clan of Riverview City. Unlike Maple City, where the Wang, Fang, and Zhang families held a three-way balance of power, here in Riverview City the Lin family stood alone, laughing above all others.
That renown reached its zenith when Lin Zhengren seized the top seat in the Five-Year Trial of the Three-City Debate.
To be sure, there was later the affair of Zhu Weiwo pressing the city with his lone spear. But that humiliation had fallen not upon the Lin family alone — it had fallen upon all of Riverview City. And so the clan's prestige emerged all but unscathed.
Where some shine, others sink.
The more those others shone, the deeper he sank.
The Lin family's medicinal trade, a line of business that had once sat within easy reach, slipped from his grasp. In a single night, Lin Zhenglun fell from the clouds to the dust.
As a member of the Lin family, he would never lack for food or clothing. But where once he had called his friends together at the Riverview Pavilion, now he could only buy cheap wine on the street and chase idle dreams in nameless taverns.
He hated it bitterly, yet he could do nothing.
Lin Zhengli was the legitimate son of the Lin bloodline's direct line — an elite of the Dao Academy of Riverview City. His father was the clan's master; his elder brother was Lin Zhengren!
With what could he ever hope to contend?
There were some things fixed by birth. He had refused to believe it once; now he had no choice but to believe.
...
"Fill it up!" Lin Zhenglun drifted into the tavern like a walking corpse and tossed a bloated gourd onto the counter.
The tavern keeper caught the gourd, his face pinched: "Mas... Master Lin, the wine from your last two visits... it still hasn't..."
"What?" Lin Zhenglun straightened, staring fixedly at the keeper. "Afraid this old man can't pay? Settle it all at the end of the month!"
"Ah, fine, fine." After all, the man was a Lin scion — however shabby the tavern, its keeper dared not offend him. He bowed and filled the gourd.
Suddenly a voice cut through the tavern: "Well, if it isn't my brother Zhenglun?"
Lin Zhenglun turned. He saw Lin Zhengli sweeping past surrounded by a crowd, evidently on some errand. He had overheard the exchange between Lin Zhenglun and the tavern keeper.
"Zhengli... Young Master Lin." Lin Zhenglun forced the words out. This scene was shameful enough on its own, but far more so now that Lin Zhengli had witnessed it.
Lin Zhengli glanced up at the sky, then at the downcast, dejected Lin Zhenglun, and smiled: "Broad daylight, and such an appetite for wine already."
"You mock me." Lin Zhenglun managed a strained smile, snatched up the gourd, and made to leave.
He almost fled in panic, like a dog with its tail between its legs.
"Ah, it just occurred to me..." Lin Zhengli said, as if the words cost him nothing, from behind him. "The herb shop lost a steward recently. It's short-handed!"
Lin Zhenglun halted mid-step.
He turned back, forcing an unnatural smile onto his face: "Does Young Master Lin think... I might suit?"
"My brother Zhenglun's abilities need no doubt." Lin Zhengli smiled, stepping uncomfortably close to the hunched Lin Zhenglun, and dropped his voice: "I hear the widow you married is rather beautiful... am I right?"
"Ruyi?" Lin Zhenglun staggered back two paces. "No. No, no!"
He shook his head violently, as if only so could he resist the terrible inner struggle: "This cannot be!"
Lin Zhengli straightened, still wearing his composed smile: "No pressure."
He turned to the tavern keeper, who was still smiling obsequiously nearby, and pointed at Lin Zhenglun, announcing loudly: "This man is of my Lin family! You must not think little of him! Whatever wine he asks for from now on, you serve it. At the month's end, come to the Lin estate to settle the account."
The keeper answered at once: "Of course! When Young Master Lin has spoken, how dare I be remiss!"
Lin Zhenglun forced a smile: "Thank you, Young Master Lin."
"You're welcome." Lin Zhengli waved a hand and went on ahead.
The crowd closed around him and moved on.
Occasional praise drifted back.
"Young Master Lin is generous!"
"Call him Young Master Lin? What poor eyes! It should be Young Master-of-the-Clan!"
...
Clutching the gourd, Lin Zhenglun stumbled home.
Today's wine seemed unusually strong. He had only taken two mouthfuls on the way, yet already he felt drunk.
It was a two-courtyard estate, kept spotlessly clean. In the front yard in particular grew a cluster of flowers and plants, tended with care — a genuinely pleasing sight.
But Lin Zhenglun's footing was unsteady. He careened into a flowerpot and knocked it over. Growing impatient, he gave it one more kick and shattered it into pieces!
Crash!
Song Ruyi hurried out from the inner rooms, unable to hold back her rebuke: "Lin Zhenglun! What madness is this now?"
"Mind your own business!" He gave her a sidelong glance and swayed toward the inner hall.
Song Ruyi stepped sideways, blocking his path, and forced down her grievances: "Day in and day out, you drown yourself in wine. What is the meaning of this? Don't you want this marriage anymore?"
"Ha! Interesting." Lin Zhenglun hefted the gourd and laughed. "What, are you angling for a divorce?"
"Divorce then, divorce!"
"Ha, I didn't catch that. What did you say?"
Song Ruyi squeezed her eyes shut, forcing the tears back. When she opened them again, they had gone cold: "I said, let us divorce."
"Ha! Ha!"
Lin Zhenglun laughed twice, then suddenly slammed the gourd to the ground!
The gourd bounced a couple of times and rolled down the steps. It did not shatter, but the stopper flew off, and wine gushed out in a trickle. In an instant the whole courtyard reeked of liquor.
"Look at yourself!" Lin Zhenglun roared. "A widow, now content to be a discarded wife! Do you think any decent family will have you?"
Song Ruyi gritted her teeth: "Better that than staying with a good-for-nothing!"
"What did you say? Say it again!" Lin Zhenglun stalked forward, seized her neck, and slammed her against the wall, his eyes bloodshot: "Say it again!"
Song Ruyi's face flushed crimson. She struggled as she spoke: "Kill me then... kill me! Whatever this life is, it is... worse than death!"
Lin Zhenglun released her and staggered back two steps.
"You're the aggrieved one? You're aggrieved, are you?" He jabbed a finger at her. "You send silver to Maple City! You send jade! Don't you? You take my money to support your first husband's child! Do you have any idea our situation now? This old man can't even afford wine anymore!"
Song Ruyi bent over, coughing a while, until she had her breath back. She looked at this man before her and felt that all of it had grown utterly unfamiliar.
"Never mind whether I should send things to An'an. My dowry alone could buy her gifts every year for ten years without repeating a single one!"
"Your dowry?" Lin Zhenglun drew out the words, then bellowed: "Where is it?"
He shouted and raved: "Damn it all, why do I have nothing!?"
"You lost what you had because you weren't strong enough. Is that my fault?"
"Not strong enough? I'm not strong enough!" Lin Zhenglun went red with indignation, all composure gone. "I simply lack a good father! That short-lived one left me nothing but the surname 'Lin'!"
He stared at her viciously: "Otherwise, would I have married you? Would I have let people mock me for taking a widow to wife?"
"Now you have the nerve to despise my being a widow?"
Song Ruyi's voice trembled: "You said you were a Lin scion, born of a high clan. Afraid people would look down on you. I even abandoned An'an and came with you to Riverview City!
I left her in her elder brother's care — and he is only seventeen! Not yet a man! And I took the family's property with me!
My heart has already been cruel enough. Is it wrong for me to send her a little silver? Tell me, my grand Lin scion!"
She drew close and fixed him with a glare: "A Lin scion with nothing to eat, nothing to wear, living in a two-courtyard estate?!"
Smack!
Lin Zhenglun struck her, sending her sprawling to the ground.
"Absurd! Ridiculous!"
He turned to leave, and stepped right into the pool of spilled wine. He slipped and fell flat on the ground.
He scrambled up at once and stumbled out, muttering: "Absurd! Utterly ridiculous!"
"Lin Zhenglun!" Song Ruyi, prostrate on the ground, her hand over her face, weeping and gnashing her teeth, called out: "Now that we have come to this, let me ask you one thing only. All those words of love you spoke at the start — were they true?"
"Ah ha, ah ha! Love?"
Lin Zhenglun kicked over another flowerpot.
"To hell with it! What is that vague, ephemeral thing anyway?"
He fled through the courtyard gate as if escaping.
He did not know where he wanted to go, or where he could go. But it seemed there was no face left with which to remain.
He had to leave. He had to run.
A dog with its tail between its legs — this time, truly, it had lost its home.