Wang Xifeng, Having Brought Disaster, Feels Shame; Grandmother Jia Prays to Heaven to Avert Calamity

Jia Zheng heard that Grandmother Jia was in critical condition and hurried in to see her. It turned out that Grandmother Jia had been so frightened that her breath had become disordered. Lady Wang, Yuanyang, and the others roused her and quickly gave her soothing pills to calm her spirit and ease her breathing. Only then did she slowly revive, though she could not stop weeping in sorrow. Jia Zheng comforted her at her side, saying again and again, “It is all because your sons and grandsons are good for nothing and have brought great disaster, frightening you, Old Ancestor. If you can set your mind at ease, we younger ones can still manage matters outside. But if anything should happen to you, our guilt will be even deeper.” Grandmother Jia said, “I have lived more than eighty years. From the time I was a girl until your father managed the household, we relied entirely on the blessings of our ancestors. I never heard of such a shocking thing. Now, in my old age, I must watch my sons and grandsons meet disaster. How can my heart bear it? It would be better to close my......