Chapter 44 Scammer Decides to Be a Good Person 19: The New Bride Cutting a Path Through Thorns

From the look of it, Du Heng had a clear destination in mind. He was heading toward a nearby household. Wisps of cooking smoke curled up from the dark green roof tiles, so someone was probably home.

Before long, Du Heng came back out, followed by a young man who looked a few years older than him.

When Du Heng returned, he had two steaming white rice cakes in his hands, wrapped in banana leaves. “They just came out of the pot. Eat a little to tide yourself over.”

Shi Lan reached out to take one, then instantly jerked her hand back. Hot!

In that moment, she would swear she saw speechlessness and helplessness on Du Heng’s face, like he had no idea what to do with her.

The way he looked at her was like he was looking at something “delicate and terribly weak.”

She couldn’t walk. He gave her something to eat, and now she was afraid it was too hot to hold.

Even Shi Lan felt a little embarrassed when she thought about it, but she wasn’t doing it on purpose. These were objective difficulties. She really couldn’t overcome them. Thinking that way, she straightened up with renewed confidence.

Du Heng had no choice but to hold the rice cakes himself and wait for them to cool.

He gestured toward the man beside him for Shi Lan. “This is Liu Fei. Just call him Second Brother. Second Sister calls Dad her godfather, so we’re all family.”

Shi Lan couldn’t sort out the relationship, but that didn’t stop her from acting obedient. When she was alone with Du Heng, she was fierce. But with outsiders around, she liked playing the part of a gentle, harmless little white rabbit.

“Hello, Second Brother.”

Liu Fei looked a little awkward. He greeted her with a “Hello, younger brother’s wife,” didn’t look at her much, and went to pick up the luggage on the ground.

“If you ask me, you should eat before heading back. Younger brother’s wife hurt her ankle, so she should come to the house first and put some medicine on it. If it swells up later, it’ll be hard to bring down.”

Du Heng handed the now less-scorching rice cakes to Shi Lan, then crouched and hoisted her onto his back.

“It’s not far. They should’ve already cooked and be waiting at home.”

Shi Lan lay on Du Heng’s back, nervous and stiff.

Listening to them talk, her ankle was twisted? How come she didn’t know that?

Then it clicked.

Du Heng wasn’t bad at all. He even knew to save her face in front of outsiders by saying he was carrying her because she’d twisted her ankle.

She patted his head as a reward.

He was so tall that she normally couldn’t reach it.

He pinched her thigh, probably warning her to behave herself.

Even with her on his back, Du Heng walked steadily, without the slightest sign of slipping. After watching for a while, she realized he never took the ready-made path that had already been trodden flat by countless feet. He mostly walked on the grass by the roadside. The friction really was better there.

Once she understood that, Shi Lan relaxed her stiff body and adjusted into a more comfortable position on Du Heng’s back.

She was even in the mood to eat those two rice cakes.

The rice cakes had the distinctive flavor of light fermentation, and the cake itself was honeycombed, fluffy, and soft. When she bit into one, it was pleasantly dense, and the sweetness was just right.

Delicious!

As she ate, she didn’t forget to feed hardworking Du Heng a bite now and then.

Du Heng was chatting with Liu Fei when, all of a sudden, a piece of rice cake descended from the heavens and got stuffed into his mouth. For a moment, he forgot what they had just been talking about.

After Shi Lan tried feeding him two more times, he stopped eating.

Shi Lan got both rice cakes to herself and was very satisfied.

It was novel, too. Ever since she’d known Du Heng, he hadn’t said much to anyone. But now that he’d run into Liu Fei, the conversation hadn’t stopped once. There wasn’t even a chance for her to jump in and keep things lively.

She was more than happy to quietly sit there like a mushroom.

At first, Shi Lan thought Liu Fei’s family used the male and female birth order separately, and that he had a second sister who called Du Heng’s father her godfather, so all the Liu siblings and Du family children addressed one another as brothers and sisters.

But later, from listening to their conversation, she found out the truth. The “Second Sister” Du Heng referred to was actually Liu Fei’s wife. Du Heng should have called Liu Fei “Second Brother-in-law,” but in the villages and towns around here, there was no form of address like “brother-in-law.” Everyone was simply called “brother.”

So Liu Fei being called Second Brother wasn’t because he was second among his own siblings, but because he followed his wife’s order in the family.

Shi Lan: “…”

Good thing she hadn’t butted in blindly, or she would’ve made a fool of herself.

By that logic, women seemed to have a fairly decent status around here. Men followed their wives’ birth order titles?

She didn’t know, and she didn’t ask. She just listened quietly.

She listened as the two of them chatted about recent family affairs and all the village gossip and trivialities.

Halfway there, a young man carrying a child greeted them and politely invited them in for a meal, but they declined.

After they passed him, Liu Fei shared the information. “The child he was holding just now is his.”

Du Heng said, “He’s married? I never heard that.”

Liu Fei said, “No. He met a woman while working away in a factory and brought her back, planning to hold a wedding banquet. It never happened. Then she got pregnant. She thought the village was too poor and planned to get rid of the baby and leave. His family talked and talked, and finally convinced her to give birth.”

For some reason, while he was saying this, Shi Lan had the distinct feeling that someone’s gaze had swept over her.

Why were they looking at her? What did it have to do with her?

Her thigh was patted lightly, as if to soothe her.

Shi Lan kept lying there without saying anything.

Du Heng asked, “She agreed to give birth?”

“As if. His family promised to scrape together two thousand yuan for her nutrition expenses, as long as she gave birth to a healthy child.” Liu Fei gave a scornful laugh. “They had it all planned out, figuring that once the child was born, she would stay because she couldn’t bear to leave the baby. But that woman was no fool either. She insisted on getting the money first, and only after it was in her hands would she agree to carry the baby to term. Then after finishing her month of postpartum recovery, she slipped away without a sound. Pretty coldhearted.”

Du Heng sighed. “The poor child is innocent.”

Shi Lan also thought of the dirty little child she’d seen just now.

Liu Fei said with a laugh, “His family doesn’t see it that way at all. As long as they got a child, they came out ahead. They didn’t even have to spend money marrying a wife or holding a wedding banquet. And the baby was a boy. I’d say they’re thrilled every single day.”

Shi Lan made no comment. She only felt like she’d learned something new.

Her first reaction after hearing all this was actually that the family sounded fairly decent, and she even felt relieved for that girl, relieved that she hadn’t ended up trapped in the village because of childbirth.

It was probably because trafficking in women and children was so rampant in this era that running into a normal village could make it seem morally upright and pleasing in every way.

“We’re almost there,” Du Heng said. “If you look from here, the house at the highest point is mine.”

The houses in this production team were spread out in staggered layers like terraced fields. At a glance, there were a little over twenty dark-tiled houses. Mixed among them were a few reinforced concrete flat-roofed houses, which looked oddly out of place.

Shi Lan said, “Put me down. I can walk by myself.”

“Wait a little longer. You can get down when the path gets easier.”

A dog spotted them and barked twice. Then all the dogs in the village started barking along with it, making a real commotion.

This time, Shi Lan truly didn’t dare get down. She was afraid of dogs, especially these dogs that had obviously never been vaccinated. She clung tightly to Du Heng. “Ah, it’s coming this way. Move farther off.”

Du Heng laughed twice and obligingly moved to the side.

Liu Fei also helped shoo them off. “Go on, get lost…”

They hadn’t gone much farther when two men came down the slope toward them. One wore a blue cloth shirt, with some gray already in his hair. The other looked about twenty-five or twenty-six and still had a stick in his hand.

Du Heng set Shi Lan down and called out to them, “Dad, Second Brother.”

After carrying more than forty kilos for half an hour, his head was covered in sweat.

Second Brother, Du Liang, waved the stick to drive off the dogs and said with a smile, “When I heard the dogs barking, I knew you must be here. You haven’t been back in a long time. The village dogs probably don’t even recognize you anymore.”

Father Du said, “You’re back?”

Du Heng replied, “I’m back.”

Then he introduced Shi Lan.

Shi Lan obediently greeted them, “Hello, Uncle. Hello, Second Brother.”

Du Liang said, “Come on, let’s head back. You must be hungry. Mom already washed and cut all the vegetables at home. She’s just waiting for you to get back so she can start stir-frying.”

He also called out to Liu Fei and had him help with the luggage.

The whole group walked back talking and laughing.

Shi Lan was too embarrassed to let Du Heng keep carrying her, so she walked on her own. Unfortunately, she really was hopeless. In the end, Du Heng practically had to half-support, half-carry her along.

After what felt like forever, they finally arrived. There were five wooden tile-roofed houses, with two single-story rooms connected to the side of a two-story building.

A whole crowd came out of the side rooms. Shi Lan followed along as she was introduced around, but forgot the names almost immediately. Second Aunt, Third Auntie, Fourth Great-Uncle, and a whole pile of others, all here to see the new bride.

Shi Lan only focused on remembering Du Heng’s parents, along with his two older brothers and their wives.

If she got anyone else’s title or name wrong, it probably would not matter that much.

The family had prepared a lavish spread. They had sliced up a whole basin of cured meat, each piece as thick as chopsticks, freshly ground tofu, and slaughtered two chickens.

They set out three tables.

One table for the men, one for the women, and one for the children. There was not quite enough room, so some people stood around the tables to eat. Mother Du did not sit down at any table, and she was not even standing by one. Shi Lan called to her twice, but she only said, “You all eat, you all eat.” She sat by the stove on a little stool.

Shi Lan felt a fair amount of pressure eating there.

The two sisters-in-law, however, were both at the table.

Second Sister-in-law did not say much. Eldest Sister-in-law, on the other hand, looked like the bold, forceful type.

Shi Lan had just picked up her bowl and was about to eat.

Eldest Sister-in-law stopped her and smilingly handed over a rustic earthenware bowl. Inside was cornmeal rice, only a bite or two’s worth, along with a piece of raw cured pork. It really was raw, with the snowy white fat still neatly layered.

“It’s our custom here. When a new bride enters the family, she has to eat this first.” As she spoke, she even handed Shi Lan two twigs to use as chopsticks.

Shi Lan was completely stunned. The trip into the village had gone smoothly, and after entering the house she had seen the generous banquet they had prepared. She had thought she was dealing with the normal script. Who would have guessed that before she had even taken a sip of water after sitting down, someone would start making trouble?

Seeing that she said nothing and did not take the bowl, someone at the table actually chimed in, “You’re from out of town, so you don’t know, but this is how we do it here. Every new bride has to eat from a clay bowl with firewood sticks. It means she’ll be hardworking and frugal in the future. Back in our day, we all had to eat wheat rice. That was hard to swallow. You younger girls have it better, getting corn rice.”

Another person said, “She has to eat the meat too. If she eats it raw, she’ll be fertile. The fatter the meat she eats, the more wealth she’ll bring and the more she’ll help her husband prosper. The family will only get richer.”

Someone else added, “She has to eat it. If she does, she’ll look obedient and docile.”

What kind of rotten feudal nonsense was this?!

A power play, right? It had to be.

Inside, Shi Lan cursed them ten thousand times over, but on the surface she smiled gently and sweetly. There was no way she was going to clash with people the moment she arrived. Whatever the reason, the one who would be slandered would only be her, the outsider who had just come.

She looked around the table and saw that everyone was watching her, and not a single person spoke up for her.

Well then, if that was how it was going to be, she might as well play the silly, sweet innocent.

Shi Lan covered her mouth and giggled softly. “Hee hee hee… Eldest Sister-in-law, what kind of joke are you telling? I only came with Du Heng to visit his family. It’s not even certain I’ll marry him yet, so I’m not a new bride.”

Eldest Sister-in-law probably had not expected her to refuse. “…It’s the same even on your first visit.”

Shi Lan acted as if she had swallowed a laughing bean¹, grinning happily. “Hee hee hee… But I’ve never eaten fatty meat since I was little. If I eat it, I’ll throw up.”

Eldest Sister-in-law switched tactics and lowered her voice to persuade her. “If you don’t eat it and word gets out, people will gossip all the way down the road. If the Du family can’t even keep their future wife in line, we’ll lose face, and then they might not want you after all.”

Bullshit!

That was a straight-up threat, and not even a very sophisticated one.

Shi Lan gave her a sugary sweet smile.

Then she turned her head and called out loudly, “Du Heng, Du Heng.”

Everyone present turned their eyes toward Shi Lan. Was she afraid of being watched? Of course not.

Shi Lan noticed Eldest Sister-in-law beside her seemed about to reach over and cover her mouth, but she pulled away.

Du Heng set down his bowl of liquor and hurried over.

Shi Lan held up the earthen bowl for him to see and asked with an innocent face, “Eldest Sister-in-law says that when a girl visits her future husband’s home for the first time, she has to eat this, and if she doesn’t, the man’s family might not agree to the marriage. Is that true?”

She even pretended to hold those two little sticks in her hand and said with perfect innocence, “If that’s the case, then I’ll eat it.”

The whole table fell silent. Du Heng turned a dark face toward Eldest Sister-in-law, who looked awkward and embarrassed.

“Eldest Sister-in-law was just joking with you.” Du Heng took the earthen bowl from Shi Lan’s hand and flung it away into the vegetable patch. The table had been set in the courtyard, and right beside it was a fenced-in garden.

He grabbed Shi Lan by the arm and pulled her to her feet. “Come sit with me.”

Shi Lan sat back down instead, looking foolishly innocent. “No way. I don’t want to go over there and smell all that alcohol while you drink. I’ll stay here. The sisters-in-law and aunties are all so fun.”

Du Heng was clearly not used to hearing her talk like that. His expression was hard to describe. He pressed his lips together, then said, “If anything happens, call me.”

Shi Lan blinked at him. “Don’t worry.”

After sitting back down, Shi Lan was the only one who picked up her chopsticks. She greeted everyone cheerfully, “Come on, eat, eat. Don’t hold back on my account.”

Bet you didn’t see that coming. I’m a silly sweet girl who runs straight to a man when there’s trouble. I can’t fall out with you people, but that doesn’t mean he can’t.

If anyone wanted to be the kind of new bride who swallowed her anger and bent over backward to keep the peace, they could go right ahead. It was not going to be Shi Lan.

The food on the table tasted fairly ordinary, but the rural earthen stove had strong heat and the cooking was done just right, and the ingredients were all fresh. Even with barely any seasoning, it was still delicious.

At first she only picked at the vegetable dishes. But when she reached her chopsticks toward the stewed chicken, one of the aunties spoke up. “We slaughtered two chickens today, you know. Back when I gave birth to my eldest, I only ate two chickens total during the whole month I was recovering. As a woman, you should know how to cherish food and appreciate your blessings.”

In other words, she was telling her not to take any meat?

Shi Lan almost wanted to throw down her chopsticks and leave. Was this ever going to end?

She looked at the auntie and gave her a sweet smile. “Then Auntie, your luck and your judgment really weren’t all that great.”

Auntie: “…That’s not what I meant.”

Shi Lan put on a curious expression. “Then what did you mean, Auntie?”

Du Heng was sitting at the men’s table, but he kept glancing over. The auntie noticed and said, “Nothing. Eat more.”

Shi Lan acted as if she had not caught the meaning at all and kept smiling sweetly. “Oh, thank you, Sister-in-law.”

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Translator’s Notes

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1. swallowed a laughing bean: A Chinese idiom (chi le xiao dou 吃了笑豆) used to describe someone who cannot stop giggling or laughing, often used here to describe Shi Lan’s ‘airheaded’ performance to deflect social pressure. ↩