On the tenth day of the month, Zixuan and Wenhan went back to the county together. As Pengcheng was newly married, he had taken leave and would not go back to the county until the following month. Zhixin and Mrs. Xue led Jingxian, Mingyu, Honglian, and a few other girls back to the mountains. Wenxuan, Wenchang, and Ziwen also returned to the school to study. For a while, the house in the town was left nearly empty during the day, with only five or six people around.
Before leaving, Mrs. Xue had mentioned the matter of dividing the household to Mrs. Chen. Mrs. Chen did not agree, not because the old lady coveted any power, but because the children of the household had reached the age of marriage. The old lady's concern was to personally arrange the children's marriages before considering splitting the household.
