1982, the third day of the twelfth lunar month.
When Mai Sui opened her eyes, she saw a ceiling plastered with yellowed newspaper above her, a hard-packed earthen kang beneath her, and the air smelled of pickled cabbage mixed with pipe tobacco.
She propped herself up on her arms and sat, looking down at her hands—slender, pale, but with thin calluses on the fingertips from years of rough work.
These weren’t her hands!
“You’re awake?”
Mai Sui looked up. Standing by the kang was a girl in a red-flowered padded jacket, in her early twenties, with two glossy braids. A smile hung on her lips, but her eyes were full of calculation.
“Big Sis,” the girl pouted and let out a fake sigh. ”You know perfectly well what our family’s situation is like. Where would we get the money for two dowries? I’m marrying into the county magistrate’s family—once I’m settled, would I ever forget my own family? Besides, you’re not losing out either. Gu Qingye is a soldier. When he leaves the army, he’ll land an iron rice bowl job.”
Mai Sui said nothing. She was busy sorting through the jumbled mess of memories in her head.
The original owner of this body was twenty-four, the eldest in the family, with two younger sisters and a younger brother below her. The second sister, Mai Li, had a sweet tongue and knew how to work people. The third sister, Mai Qiao, was quiet and spoke little, practically invisible at home. The brother, Mai Gu, was the family’s precious darling—twenty years old and still idle all day long, so coddled by their parents they practically worshipped him.
As for Mai Sui herself, her status in the family was basically that of a hired hand who only knew how to work. Unloved by her father, ignored by her mother—useful, but unimportant.
Half a month ago, the county magistrate’s family had sent a matchmaker to propose to the second sister, Mai Li. But marrying into the magistrate’s family didn’t come cheap—the dowry had to be presentable. Their parents turned the house upside down and still couldn’t scrape together enough, so they turned their sights on her instead.
The Gu family was famously poor in Liulin Village. The eldest son, Gu Qingye, had been a soldier for eight years and rarely came home. They had two mud-brick houses on the verge of collapse. The old Gu couple were hard workers, but the family was still dirt poor.
A married daughter is like spilled water. In her parents’ eyes, only money mattered.
Mai Sui sat up slowly and looked at Mai Li. Her voice was a little hoarse, but steady: “What does your future have to do with me?”
Mai Li froze.
She had never expected her big sister—the one who couldn’t squeeze out three words if you beat her with a stick—to say something like that.
She smiled sweetly and kept her tone light. “Big Sis, you can’t talk like that. Gu Qingye is a soldier—strong and sturdy. What kind of heavy work can’t he do? You won’t lose out being with him. And besides…”
She leaned in close, her peach-blossom eyes glistening, looking utterly sincere. “His family is poor, sure, but he’s the eldest, and you’d be the eldest daughter-in-law. As the old saying goes, the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother. When the family splits, you’ll have the final say. You’re not getting any younger either—how many more years can you eat off your parents? Marry over sooner, and you’ll be running your own household sooner.”
The nerve of her—selling her off and expecting her to help count the money.
Mai Sui looked at this sister of hers, and the corner of her mouth slowly curved.
In her past life, she had spent over a decade in the restaurant industry, working her way up from a kitchen helper to a restaurant manager. What kinds of people hadn’t she seen? What kinds of words hadn’t she heard? She’d even survived her ex-boyfriend running off with the money she’d saved to open her own restaurant.
Compared to all that, this little farce didn’t amount to a hill of beans.
Someone like Mai Li, she could see through at a glance—the classic sweet-talking, cold-hearted type. All the benefits were hers, all the losses fell on others, and afterward you were still expected to be grateful to her.
“Stop dawdling! Hurry up and change!”
The woman in the blue cloth dress hurriedly lifted the door curtain and rushed in, grabbing Mai Sui’s arm with a grip like iron pincers. “Sui’er, don’t blame your parents for being heartless. Your sister is marrying into the county magistrate’s family, and her dowry can’t look shabby. The Gu family is offering one hundred and twenty yuan as the bride price—that’s not little. When you marry in, you’ll be the eldest daughter-in-law. You’re not losing out.”
Her mother, as if rushing her to her death, tossed a bundle over.
Mai Sui opened it and took a look: a floral-print blouse, its collar worn and frayed. This was her wedding dress—not even a scrap of red cloth.
A commotion broke out in the courtyard. Her younger brother Mai Gu hollered at the top of his lungs, “The Gu family’s wedding party is here! They’re so poor they don’t even have a bicycle—they came in a donkey cart!”
Mai Sui was dragged out of the inner room. She saw her third sister Mai Qiao standing off to the side, a sixteen-year-old girl thin as a bean sprout, her eyes rimmed with red. Seizing a moment when no one was watching, she slipped two boiled eggs into Mai Sui’s bundle. Mai Sui froze, about to say thank you, but the girl lowered her head and ran off.
Quite a few people stood in the main hall.
Mai Sui glanced around but didn’t see the legendary rough groom. The one who had come to fetch the bride was the Gu family’s second son, Gu Qingshan, an honest, simple farmhand. He stammered for a long while before finally squeezing out, “Sister-in-law, let’s go.”
Mai Li leaned against the doorframe, giving Mai Sui a once-over, and said in a snide tone, “Big Sister, you’ve got good fortune. Marry in and you’re a soldier’s wife right away. How glorious.”
Mai Sui looked back at her. “Jealous? Then you marry him.”
Mai Li was so choked she could barely breathe, her face turning green. But with people watching, she couldn’t lash out and had no choice but to swallow her anger.
Mai Sui walked out the door. There were few people in the courtyard, but a crowd had gathered at the gate to watch the spectacle.
Two sparrows chirped and chattered on the eaves above her head, and then she heard…
“Hey, what’s with this family? How come the wedding’s so dull?”
“They’re selling their daughter. Word is the family she’s marrying into is dirt poor.”
“Tsk tsk… What a sin.”
Mai Sui’s footsteps halted. She looked up at the two sparrows.
“Oh no, she’s looking at us!”
“Run, run!”
The two sparrows flapped their wings and flew off.
Mai Sui’s face betrayed nothing, but inside, her thoughts were churning like stormy seas. She could understand what those two birds were saying!
A golden finger from her transmigration?
Before she could think it through, her mother shoved her from behind. “Hurry up! Don’t waste the auspicious hour!”
Neighbors crowded at the gate, craning their necks to gawk, their eyes practically sprouting hands to paw all over her.
“Selling off their eldest daughter for a hundred and twenty yuan—the Mai family really knows how to do business…”
“Shh… keep it down. Their second daughter is marrying the county magistrate’s son. We can’t afford to offend them.”
“I’ve seen the Gu family’s eldest. Upright-looking, sure, and a big strong build, but they say that boy is cold as ice—doesn’t bother with anyone.”
“What good is a handsome face? He’s poor as a church mouse. Marrying in means a life of suffering.”
“Well, they did pay a hundred and twenty yuan bride price for her. The Gu family will at least feed her, surely.”
“Don’t count on it. I hear the wives of the Gu family’s second and third sons are both nasty pieces of work. Once this new bride walks through that door, she’ll have plenty to endure.”
Mai Sui took in every word without missing a syllable, her face expressionless, her steps never pausing. She crossed the courtyard and walked to the gate under everyone’s staring eyes.
No bridal sedan.
No suona horns.
No wedding procession.
There was only one mule cart from the Gu family, its bed lined with a layer of dry hay. The driver was an old man, wrapped in a tattered cotton jacket, snot running from the cold.
This was the send-off for her marriage.
Mai Sui glanced back at the Mai family courtyard. Her father, Mai Degui, was squatting on the doorstep counting money, licking his finger to turn each bill one by one. Her younger brother, Mai Gu, was leaning against the doorframe, cracking sunflower seeds between his teeth, looking at her no differently from the other onlookers.
Mai Sui looked away and stepped onto the wheel hub, climbing into the mule cart.
The old driver gave her a once-over. Probably thinking this bride was far too quiet—not at all like someone who’d been sold—he couldn’t help asking, “Girl, aren’t you going to cry?”
Gu Qingshan also turned to look at her.
Mai Sui settled herself and pulled her cotton jacket tight. “Cry about what?”
The old man was so taken aback he said nothing, just awkwardly flicked his whip.
The mule cart rumbled onto the road. The cold wind poured into her jacket, chilling her to the bone. Mai Sui pulled out the eggs Mai Qiao had given her—they still held a bit of warmth.
She peeled one and ate it bite by bite.
The cold wind whipped her face, but the egg was warm.
The cart jolted along the dirt road for the better part of an hour before the old driver suddenly turned around and, in the tone of someone speaking from experience, said, “Girl, once you’re married, don’t give up on things too easily… Just endure it and it’ll pass.”
Mai Sui swallowed the last bite of egg and brushed the crumbs from her hands.
“Uncle,” she said, her tone flat and utterly composed, “I can endure just about anything—except being shortchanged.”
The old man froze. He glanced over at Gu Qingshan, but Gu Qingshan said nothing, just kept his head down.
The cart rounded a ridge and started downhill. Ahead, a dusty village came into view, mud-brick houses packed one against another. From Laoniu Village to Liulin Village, the trip had taken a good hour and more.
“The new bride is here! The new bride is here!”
“Come on, come on, let’s go squat outside the Gu family’s gate and watch!”
As they entered the village mouth, women stitching shoe soles in the shade and folks gossiping all turned to stare at once.
A loud-voiced fat woman came up close. “Aiya, so this is the eldest son’s wife? She’s a pretty one!”
Behind her, someone muttered under their breath, “What good is pretty? One look and you can tell she’s not built for work. The Gu family’s taken an ancestor like that into their home—just wait and see.”
She didn’t turn around, only the corner of her mouth lifting slightly.
Wait and see?
Fine. Let them wait and see.