by Yan Lianke
Stone You asked, “Can we really provide all that?”
Fourth Wife You replied, “Don’t interfere.”
Eldest Brother said, “That is certainly a lot of gifts. But my brothers are interested in marrying a wife, not just things.”
Fourth Wife You said, “We would be willing to accept any of the brothers, except for the deaf one.”
Eldest Brother stood up and was about to walk away. He said, “Even if we were to let our deaf brother marry your daughter, it would only be because we were doing Third Aunt a favor.”
Fourth Wife You also stood up and said angrily, “Go on, leave. May you all remain single for the rest of your lives.”
Stone You tried to pull Fourth Wife You aside, but she knocked his hand away. Eldest Brother stood there, unsure of what to do. He watched as his third aunt walked out of the kitchen. Fourth Wife You turned around and walked briskly toward the courtyard entrance. In the street there were many villagers who had just got off work, and everyone looked at her and urged her to return to at least have lunch before leaving. She, however, merely stared back at Eldest Brother, who was left standing stock-still in the courtyard of the tile-roofed house. She repeated, “Other than the deaf one, can we marry any of the others?” Seeing Eldest Brother shake his head, she walked away.
She left behind a table full of food.
Chapter Three
By this point, the sun was already high in the sky and a thin mist was rising out of the mountain ridge. In the distance, the smoke from Wu Ravine Village gradually dissipated. Fourth Wife You ate some grain, drank some spring water, then followed Stone You’s directions and visited several other villages. There, she met a number of men, but either they didn’t want Third Daughter because of her illness, or else Fourth Wife You didn’t want them because they were not wholers. She walked so far that her entire body ached, but in the end she couldn’t find a husband for her daughter. She headed back toward the Balou Mountains, and on the way drew near Eldest Daughter’s village. From a distance, she saw Elder Daughter’s husband hobbling around in their apple orchard, irrigating the trees. He was alone, and in the empty mountain range he resembled a three-legged ox plowing the fields. Fourth Wife You’s tears began streaming out.
Stone You asked, “What’s wrong?”
She said, “I’ll find Third Daughter a husband if it kills me.”
Proceeding along the mountain path in the direction of Eldest Daughter’s village, she saw clearly her daughter’s twin caves, straw stove, and an apple orchard with no apples. The orchard represented the family’s hopes and dreams, and after they planted the sprouts several years earlier, Eldest Daughter’s crippled husband irrigated them, caring for them as though they were his own children. Eldest Daughter mended her husband’s clothing, cooked food, and waited for those sprouts to grow into trees and begin producing fruit. But after three years, all of their neighbors’ fruit trees were full of red blossoms, while her family’s had only a few green sprouts without a trace of red. The following year, the trees in every other orchard were heavy with fruit, while her family’s had just a few green apples that were as small as dates. As every other family was madly selling their fruit, Eldest Daughter had a nervous breakdown. She rushed into the orchard and began cursing her husband, saying, “You promised me that if we planted apple trees, within three years we would have enough money to buy me a colorful new shirt. I want that new shirt!” Cripple sat under a tree and stared into space, despair etched into the mountain-like ridges on his face. He became increasingly distressed by his wife’s shouts, and suddenly lifted one of his crutches and violently brought it back down again. Eldest Daughter’s head began bleeding and her mouth began foaming, whereupon she fell to the ground unconscious.
At that point, Fourth Wife You was out in the field picking beans. Her husband, Stone You, rushed over and told her what had happened. She immediately went to her daughter’s house, several dozen li away. When she arrived in their courtyard, she saw that Cripple was in the process of chopping down the fruit trees, and one entire hillside was already stripped bare. Fourth Wife You rushed up to him and asked, “Are you crazy?”
Cripple responded, “Even our fruit trees won’t bear fruit; I simply can’t endure it anymore.”
Fourth Wife You asked, “Did you use the same sprouts as everyone else?”
Cripple replied, “I bought them from the nursery.”
She asked, “Did you use pesticide?”
Cripple replied, “These trees didn’t have any insects to begin with.”
She asked, “Did you graft them with a different strain?”
Cripple asked, “What do you mean?”
She explained, “I notice that other people first plant seedlings, and then the following year they ask someone to graft them.”
Cripple stared at his chopped-down trees, then he dropped his ax and began slapping his own face, exclaiming, “My legs are stunted, but how is it that my mind is also stunted? My legs are crippled, but how is it that my mind is also crippled?” He stared up into the sky and began raving, “How could I not know that I needed to graft them? How could I not know?” He collapsed and, like Eldest Daughter, lay unconscious in the middle of the orchard.
The life of Eldest Daughter’s family was a dark alley, and although they could occasionally discern a light at the end, it nevertheless seemed that they could never make their way out. Eldest Daughter and her husband had planted another crop of fruit trees, and Cripple cared for the seedlings as though they were his own children. The seedlings produced green sprouts, and at the beginning of the year Eldest Daughter and her husband performed a graft. But, though that year apples were as plentiful as sweet potatoes, they weren’t able to sell a single one of theirs. Even though he wasn’t able to sell his apples, Cripple nevertheless hobbled down to the river to fetch water to irrigate his crops, as if he planted fruit trees and fetched water for some purpose other than earning money.
When Stone You passed by that orchard, he saw Cripple carrying the water up the hill, and the shrimp that had jumped out of the bucket were crawling on the dry hillside. Stone You stood there watching from a distance, his hand to his forehead to shield his eyes from the sun. His face looked deathly pale.
Stone You said, “Let’s go and have a word with our son-in-law.”
Fourth Wife You replied, “What is there to say? He has a wife and an orchard. Eldest Daughter has a husband and food to cook. They have everything they need, and their lives are infinitely better than those of Third Daughter and Fourth Idiot.”
Saying this, Fourth Wife You hurried off toward Wu Village several li away. Stone You noted that someone’s wife in Wu Village had passed away about six months earlier, and he thought maybe she’d died just so her husband could marry Third Daughter. By this point, the sun was already low in the west and the mountain ridge was shrouded in a red glow. The autumn warmth washed over their feet like water. There was a scent of fresh earth, and the smell of grass filled the air. As though walking along a tightrope, they went down a small path overrun with weeds, followed by a flock of sparrows. They passed one ridge after another, as they proceeded down to the bottom of a ravine. Fourth Wife You saw many villagers speaking with her husband, but most of them were old people herding their sheep and oxen back to the village. There was a woman wearing a black silk shirt with the character for “Longevity” stitched on the back, who asked Stone You how to get to the Li Temple Primary School. Fourth Wife You asked, “She’s not that old, is she?” Stone You replied, “This is the wife of that man from Wu Village. She was only thirty when she died in a cart accident.”
Fourth Wife You paused and examined the woman. She saw that she was somewhat bowlegged and wobbled a bit with each step. Fourth Wife You heard the woman walking over, as soft as settling dust. She thought what a shame it was to pass away at such a young age. At this point, the woman turned around and, looking at her wanly, said, “Are the two of you going to Wu Village? My husband is a good-for-nothi
ng who is only interested in eating, and is never willing to do any work. Now that I’m gone, he leads a completely joyless existence. As long as you can provide him with enough to eat and drink, he will surely agree to your marriage proposal.”
Fourth Wife You stared at the woman in astonishment.
The woman nodded to Fourth Wife You, then appeared to float away.
They continued forward. The setting sun before them made a faint swishing sound. They followed the river for a while until a village appeared on the hillside. At several points along the path to the village, there were wooden signs bearing the names of the owner of the land. On some of the signs there also appeared, in small characters, the words THIS LAND IS UNDER CONTRACT, AND WILL REMAIN SO FOR FIFTY YEARS, WITHOUT CHANGE or IF ANYONE’S LIVESTOCK VENTURES ONTO THIS LAND, THAT PERSON’S FAMILY CAN EXPECT TO DIE! The wheat planted here had all been harvested, leaving row upon row of tracks where the wheat had been dragged through the field. You could also see the grain kernels that had not been buried, shimmering in the sunlight. Fourth Wife You and her husband came over from the recently harvested field and gazed out at the village in front of them. They could smell the evening air, and could see people in the village staring back at them.
Fourth Wife You asked, “Do you know the man’s name and where he lives?”
Stone You replied, “I do. His name is Wu Shu, and he lives under the date tree in the center of the village. As long as someone is willing to marry Third Daughter, you shouldn’t be too picky about other details.”
Fourth Wife You replied angrily, “I don’t care if it’s his second marriage, but I definitely want him to be a wholer.”
Stone You said, “So what if he’s a bit disabled? We’ve already visited five villages and seen seven men; any of them would be fine for her.”
Fourth Wife You stopped abruptly to look at her husband, and asked, “Have you gone to see how Eldest Daughter and Second Daughter are doing? Their pigs won’t litter, their chickens won’t lay eggs, and they themselves are not getting pregnant—there is not a single thing that does not give cause for worry. If our daughters had married wholers, would they have had a problem with their apple trees not bearing fruit? Would Second Daughter have been so frustrated with not being able to get pregnant that she would eventually resort to swallowing poison? Would they have been unable to wake up when it was time to harvest the crops?” As Fourth Wife You pummeled her husband with questions, he bowed his head and slowed down, such that he was now walking behind her. He didn’t say a word, while Fourth Wife You continued muttering to herself. When they reached the village, they saw that in front there was a large empty field, about two or three mu in size, shaped like a cross between a circle and a square. The corn from the previous season had been swallowed up by weeds, and all that was left were a few bare stalks, which made the land appear more overgrown than it actually was. Wormwood, sawtooth, and twitch grass were all growing haphazardly in the field, to the point that someone standing beside it would have difficulty seeing the ground underneath. It was on the edge of that overgrown field that a man was sitting on a hoe and leaning against a pagoda tree. A fly had landed on his face, but he didn’t bother to brush it away. They could see that his face was covered in the ash-gray pallor of the abandoned field, and it looked as if he were on the verge of death. As he heard someone approaching, he opened his eyes then immediately closed them again, as if he were completely exhausted.
Fourth Wife You said, “Hey, it’s time for dinner. Is this Wu Village?”
The man grunted without looking around.
Fourth Wife You asked again, “Do you know where we can find Wu Shu’s home?”
The man suddenly opened his eyes and stared at Fourth Wife You, and asked, “Why are you looking for Wu Shu?”
Stone You said, “This is Wu Shu.”
Fourth Wife You examined the man and saw that his disheveled hair was full of straw and crawling with lice. His sleeves were torn, revealing inner arms covered in a layer of black dirt, and his black pants had dark blue patches sewn on the bottom with white thread. She also noticed he was wearing one old handmade cloth shoe and one new canvas-and-rubber one. Fourth Wife You asked, “Are you Wu Shu?”
The man chuckled and said, “I knew that you would come to see me. Today I saw a ghost, who told me that when the sun set someone would come and see me, and, sure enough, someone has now come.”
Fourth Wife You said, “Please lift your arm.”
Wu Shu hesitated a moment, then raised his arm.
Fourth Wife You said, “Roll up your pant legs.”
Wu Shu did so, revealing a pair of calves that were as thick as tree trunks.
Fourth Wife You said, “You’re not sick, are you?”
Wu Shu said, “What do you mean, sick?”
Fourth Wife You said, “Like deaf, mute, or mentally disabled.”
Wu Shu said, “Don’t you see me sitting here in front of you? I’m a wholer.”
Fourth Wife You said, “Let me see you take a few steps.”
Wu Shu stepped out from under the pagoda tree and walked back and forth in front of her. She saw that he had a nimble gait, his arms and legs looked strong, and he appeared happy. She thought, Third Daughter has had good fortune. We’ve found a wholer. He stood in front of her, his body as straight as a rod, and asked, “What else would you like to see?”
Fourth Wife You said, “How many houses does your family own?”
Wu Shu said, “A three-room thatched house, which leaks when it rains.”
Fourth Wife You said, “That’s not a problem. Do you own any fruit trees?”
Wu Shu said, “After my wife died, I sold all of my trees to buy food.” He gestured toward a pagoda tree with a trunk as wide as a bowl, and said, “The day before yesterday, I gave this one to a neighbor in exchange for a basket of wheat, and in a few days he will come to chop it down.”
Fourth Wife You said, “You don’t raise chickens or pigs?”
Wu Shu replied, “If I don’t even have enough food for myself?”
Fourth Wife You said, “Did you sew the patches on your clothing yourself?”
Wu Shu replied, “If I didn’t do it, who would?”
Fourth Wife You said, “Do you also cook your own food?”
Wu Shu replied, “If I didn’t cook it, who would?”
Fourth Wife You said, “How about if I find you someone to mend your clothing and cook for you?”
Wu Shu replied, “Do you mean your family’s third daughter?”
Fourth Wife You stared in surprise, and said, “You already know everything?”
Wu Shu replied, “I really did see a ghost.”
Stone You said, “Was it your wife who told you everything?”
Wu Shu asked, “So, what’s the story with her illness?”
Fourth Wife You said, “It doesn’t act up more than once every ten days or two weeks, and sometimes she’ll go for a whole half year without a single episode.”
Wu Shu looked upward, as though considering something.
Fourth Wife You said, “Maybe after you and she get married, her illness will be cured. That is what happened with our eldest two daughters. Their illness was as bad as a stormy day, but as soon as they got married the rain clouds cleared.”
Wu Shu said, “And if it isn’t cured?”
Fourth Wife You said, “It will be. Just marry her, and you’ll see.”
Wu Shu was silent for a long time. Then he straightened his neck and glanced at Fourth Wife You, saying, “If you want me to marry your family’s third daughter, that’s fine, but your family should add something extra to the dowry.”
Fourth Wife You asked, “What do you want?”
Wu Shu said, “A dowry chest, including three sets of bedding with new covers and new cotton stuffing.”
Fourth Wife You said, “Done.”
Wu Shu said, “I’d also like five pairs of cloth shoes. I don’t have any shoes to wear, and don’t have any clothing either.”
Fourth Wife You said, “I’ll give you eight pairs of cloth shoes, two pairs of rubber shoes, and I’ll also buy you two wool jackets.”
Wu Shu said, “Can you also re-thatch the roof on our house?”
Fourth Wife You replied, “That wouldn’t cost very much.”
Wu Shu said, “Also buy me an ox.” Looking out at the barren field next to his house, he added, “Hoeing this field by hand every year is exhausting.”
Fourth Wife You hesitated, and asked, “How much does an ox cost?”
Wu Shu said, “I wouldn’t need it immediately, so if I receive it within six months of the marriage, that would be fine.”
Fourth Wife You said, “OK, in that case let’s add an ox.”
Stone You rushed in and shouted, “Are you crazy? Even if we were to sell everything we own, we still wouldn’t have enough to buy an ox.”
Fourth Wife You said, “I’m just trying to find a wholer.”
Her husband said, “This wholer is a thief who is robbing you blind.”
Fourth Wife You repeated, “I’m just trying to find Third Daughter a wholer.”
Wu Shu asked, “Who are you talking to?”
Fourth Wife You said, “How about if you get married after planting the wheat?”
Wu Shu said, “My fields have been barren for a year, and I don’t have a single seed to plant. You need to give me half of your family’s corn and wheat crop, and also help me hoe my fields and plant my grain.”
Stone You said, “You’re trying to take advantage of my family, aren’t you?”
Fourth Wife You said, “When we come to help hoe the fields, we’ll also bring fertilizer and wheat seeds.”
Stone You said, “I’d rather Third Daughter was dead than have her marry this type of greedy man. Are you trying to push our daughter into a fire?”