“And who are you that call me mother?”
“Only your own small son, Ting Lang, my mother.”
Kan Lang came and knelt beside him and said, “Great mother, I do you reverence. I also am your son.” Yü Yüch Ying came to put both hands on her son’s shoulders and said:
“Ah, son! son! I have longed for you to the death; did you not think, while you were away, of my sadness and loneliness?” Thus she put out her hand and took the hand of the younger boy, and together they wept.
“My mother, if you weep to your illness, of what joy is my promotion? Word has already gone to the southern home, and they will come to us. Our sorrows, yours are over; I shall never leave you or you me. The bitterness is over and the sweet has come, be comforted and we will all rejoice together.” Yü Yüch Ying lifted her hands and said:
“I thank Heaven and the gods that the mother and son are united again. I thank Heaven that I also have a younger son. I thank Heaven and Earth for giving such an honour to poor sightless me.”
The sons lifted her from her knees, called the servants who took her to her room, and after arranging her still beautiful black hair, they robed her in garments of honour brought [[167]]by her son. When all was ready the sons came and, bending the knee, said:
“We invite our mother to take her chair, leaving this little court and room, and go with us to enjoy the pleasures and blessings granted by Heaven to the restored House of Tu.” The mother said:
“My sons, these poor neighbours have been kind to me always. Thank them for me.” This the sons did in a most respectful manner and promised to reward them. She herself then thanked them, and they escorted her to her chair, and to the palace where she was given great honour.
Later in the day, father, mother, and grandparents of Kan Lang came, and thus, after eighteen weary years, the family was reunited, and joy came in every form to them for many long years. Yü Yüch Ying lived to see and hold her great grandchildren, and to see great glory come to their house. Their great enemy was tried and punished by loss of all rank and estate; his last days spent in poverty and seclusion. Tradition says he was given a silver bowl and made to beg from door to door for the rest of his life, and a small street called “Silver Street” is said to have been named for his bowl and the fact that there he died on the street a beggar. History only records the loss of [[168]]rank and estate. His steward, Nien Chi, was tried at the same time, and was sentenced to be burned alive in the street,—“A fine lamp for one dark night.” Thus was meted out punishment to the enemies of the House of Tu. [[169]]