San Ya and Si Ya never used to play with the girls in the village; Pei Wendong always followed Pei Wenbo around, doing as he commanded and was laughed at and looked down upon by the other children in the village. Whenever someone came to ask them to play, Si Ya shooed them away, "We're busy working and studying at home! We don't have time to go out and play!"
Pei Qin was somewhat vexed, their new cotton-padded jackets were all red, and apart from Pei Wendong's, she, San Ya, and Si Ya, who were in mourning, could not wear them. But their old cotton clothes were not warm at all.
After some thought, Pei Qin went to the tailor shop in town to have new cotton clothes made. The mourning period was twenty-seven months long, and the jackets that Lady Fang made for them couldn't be worn for two years. By the time the two years were over, they would have grown and wouldn't be able to fit into them anymore. So she had the tailor remove the outer fabric and replace it with a moon-white color.
