“She likes me,” Lou Zhaoshui said frankly, his hands on his hips.
The Lou family wasn’t surprised by this answer, since Lou Zhaoshui had a face that drew admirers like bees and butterflies—from the northern lands to Luoyang, he’d captured quite a few maidens’ hearts.
“How do you know the young woman from Dapo Village on the south bank of the river?” his elder sister Lou Yueming asked. “When did you meet her? How come I didn’t know? Did any of you know?”
Father Lou and Mother Lou shook their heads in turn, but only the eldest sister-in-law Wan Qianhong looked uncertain. She pointed toward the Wang family to the east and asked with slight excitement: “Is she the maiden who was meeting Wang Erlang yesterday? Beinu told me last night that the maiden barged into our house and declared she’d set her sights on you.”
“That’s her.” Lou Zhaoshui nodded.
“Another one? No wonder the Wang family members have been avoiding people when they go out today—they must be too ashamed to show their faces.” The elder sister laughed with satisfaction.
“Is that maiden any good?” Mother Lou asked. “How old is she?”
Lou Zhaoshui said nothing. He couldn’t quite tell whether Fu Ruyi was good or not. If he said she was good, he wouldn’t admit it—she was plainly fickle, her temperament was bold and unrestrained, and her tongue was sharp. But if he said she wasn’t good, he couldn’t speak against his conscience. He’d never complained to her, but she knew his difficult situation and had kindly offered to teach him about farming seasons and agriculture, helping him establish a foothold in the Central Plains.
“Wait, this is only your second day knowing her?” The elder sister suddenly realized. She exclaimed in shock: “You’ve only known her for two days, and you dared to let her take Beinu and Que’er away? Do you even know where she lives? Don’t let the children go missing without us knowing where to find them.”
“She’s not a bad person.” Lou Zhaoshui felt strangely confident. “You can see for yourself—she kept Que’er and Beinu at her house for a meal and even sent someone to tell us, so we wouldn’t worry about the children.”
Lou Yueming stared at her younger brother for a few moments. She let out a few ambiguous laughs, then turned to the eldest sister-in-law and said: “Since the two children aren’t coming back, let’s start the meal.”
Wan Qianhong also had a sense of what was going on. She pursed her lips in a smile and nodded, then went into the kitchen to serve the meal.
“Since they’ve eaten at her house, we should invite her to our house for a meal in a few days.” Mother Lou wanted to meet this maiden who had earned her youngest son’s defense after only two days of acquaintance. She mused: “Once your eldest and second brothers return, invite her over for a meal.”
“No.” Lou Zhaoshui was unwilling, and even more dissatisfied with his family’s attitude. He followed along to argue: “I don’t like her. I just want to use her to spite the Wang family.”
“Really?” Lou Yueming asked.
Lou Zhaoshui nodded.
Lou Yueming studied him for a few moments, then handed him a bowl of rice and beans, saying: “Her match with Wang Erlang fell through, and we’ve already gotten our revenge. If you have no feelings for her, don’t string her along, and don’t let Beinu and Que’er go eat at her house. You know how hard farming is—grain is precious.”
“This whole thing was my doing. If I hadn’t sent you out to interfere, her marriage with the Wang family might well have gone through. If you have no intentions, don’t hold her back from seeking her next match.” Wan Qianhong added to the chaos.
“We’re outsiders here, and our standing in Han territory isn’t good. Don’t go making another enemy.” Father Lou genuinely believed his youngest son’s words.
Lou Zhaoshui gave a dull, muffled “fine” in response.
“If you like her, then agree to it,” his mother said, amused by his awkward demeanor. She stated her position: “We’ve come to the Han lands and need to learn how to farm like the Han people. It would be good for you to marry a Han woman as your wife. With Han in-laws, we won’t have to ask outsiders to teach us farming, and your eldest sister-in-law and eldest sister won’t have to beg others to learn weaving either.”
Lou Zhaoshui felt a lump of frustration stuck in his chest. He said woodenly, “She doesn’t like me. She likes this face of mine.”
“Isn’t the face yours?” Lou Yueming asked with a smile.
Lou Zhaoshui refused to repeat Fu Ruyi’s bold declaration. She was a fickle person—yesterday she could ruin a match with the Wang family because of his face, and tomorrow she might abandon him for another man. Of course, he wasn’t saying he was afraid she’d run off, nor was he insisting on clinging to her. There were plenty of women who liked him; he could live perfectly well without her. Besides, he didn’t like her anyway.
“Setting aside your face, it’s not easy to make someone like you for who you are. You’re lazy and love to play, and you want to eat well and dress well,” his father fretted. His youngest son had been born handsome, and as a child, his glib tongue could charm anyone, winning the affection and indulgence of the whole family. A herder’s household had raised a pampered child, encouraging his laziness and spoiling him into a carefree temperament—the moment something didn’t go his way, he’d just drop it. How would he support a wife and children once he married? He might charm a wife into marrying him with that face, but she’d probably run off within a few years from exhaustion.
Lou Zhaoshui pretended not to hear.
“Didn’t she ask why, in this fine spring weather, you’re not out clearing wasteland and fertilizing the fields, but hiding at home sleeping in every day?” his father jabbed, though the moment the words left his mouth, he felt a pang of guilt. His youngest son wasn’t as lazy as he made him out to be. Last summer, in the scorching heat, he’d still gone with him every day to the allotted wasteland to cut grass, dry it, and burn it off. But he’d gotten discouraged when planting wheat in autumn—after sowing, he refused to do any more, insisting instead on planting alfalfa all over the farmland and turning it into pasture for raising cattle and sheep.
“She didn’t ask,” Lou Zhaoshui said, losing his appetite. He set down his bowl.
“This afternoon, come work in the fields with your mother and me. I figure Beinu and Que’er won’t be back before dark, so you don’t need to watch over them,” his father said. He glanced at his youngest son and brought up the old topic again: “If you marry, are you really going to let your wife and children do the farming and labor to support you?”
Lou Zhaoshui wasn’t unwilling to put in the work—he had strength to spare, and he’d gladly cut grass, dry it, and stack it. But planting wheat required driving the ox to plow the fields, and plowing had its rules: horizontal plowing, vertical plowing, shallow plowing, deep plowing. After plowing came the seed drill, with its quick three steps to sow, slow three steps to turn… He had no idea why it had to be done this way, couldn’t tell the difference, and couldn’t remember it. One season of growing wheat filled him with such resentment that he felt he might as well go without food and starve to death. At his most exhausted and irritable, he’d gotten the idea to just wash his hands of it—and that’s exactly what he did. His father and elder brothers were there to bear the burden anyway; he’d never starve.
But he couldn’t avoid it forever. He couldn’t very well leave his parents, brothers, and sisters-in-law and return alone to the northern pastures to herd. If he didn’t learn farming, was he really going to rely on his face to coax a woman into supporting him? Remembering Fu Ruyi’s radiant, spirited face, Lou Zhaoshui agreed to go work in the fields. She’d made her bold claim—he wanted to see what she was really made of.
His father was surprised he’d relented. He quickly wolfed down the food left in his bowl and took his youngest son out the door, afraid he might change his mind the next instant.
* * *
“Eat slowly, don’t grab—there are still plenty of buns in the basin, enough for all of you.” Fu Ruyi watched the table full of children wolfing down their food and felt a headache coming on. The little brats were even competing over who could eat the most.
But her words had no effect. The buns in the basin disappeared like grain from a chicken feeder, with little hands darting in like sharp beaks, rising and falling in rapid succession as the buns dwindled at lightning speed.
Fu Ruyi had no choice but to portion out the remaining buns among her father, mother, elder brother, and sister-in-law, lest a meal of elm-seed steamed buns end up killing someone from overeating.
Only when the basin was scraped clean did the seven children finally slow their chewing. Fu Ruyi breathed a sigh of relief and warned, “None of you are allowed to drink water for the next two hours. The buns will swell in your stomachs—don’t burst yourselves open.”
“I can drink, I’m not full yet, not bloated at all.” Little Blondie puffed out his belly, refusing to admit defeat.
“I’m not full either, not bloated at all,” Fu Changgui’s youngest son chimed in.
Fu Ying wanted to say she was stuffed, but she was too embarrassed to admit it.
“Not bloated, huh? Go drink some water then—whoever throws up loses face.” Fu Yuan goaded them. “Want me to fetch you some water?”
No one said a word.
“Go play outside, you little troublemakers.” Fu Yuan shooed them away.
“Go play. You two head back home in the evening,” Fu Ruyi told the two Lou children.
Little Blondie and Que’er rarely found such friendly playmates and had no intention of going home at all. The two children happily ran off with the Fu children.
Only then did the remaining adults settle down to eat in peace.
“Little sister, you work fast—you only met them yesterday, and today you’ve already lured the Lou children over,” Fu Yuan teased.
“Luring the kids is nothing. I’ll soon lure the great beauty over for you all to see.” Fu Ruyi grinned.
“I heard from Xiaoying that the moment her little uncle-in-law appeared, the pontoon bridge was so jammed people couldn’t move. You’ve got good taste,” Lin Juan teased.
Fu Ruyi nodded smugly.
“And you even touched his hand? Made him angry?” Lin Juan suddenly dropped that bombshell.
Fu Ruyi burst out laughing.
Lin Juan wagged a finger at her and laughed. “You really are a lecher.”
The lecher took advantage of delivering elm seeds to make another trip to Pinghe Village, but she came up empty—no one was at the Lou house. She set the basket of elm seeds in their kitchen, fastened the fence gate back as it was, and left.
When the mulberries were all red, it would be the right time to plant non-glutinous broomcorn millet, glutinous broomcorn millet, and seed-bearing hemp. Fu Ruyi arrived home to find her parents airing out the seed grain in the sun, and she went over to help.
The seed grain was spread in the sun, then put away. The spreading and gathering took a little less than half a day.
Near evening, Fu Ruyi went to find the two Lou children and ran into villagers asking her about the golden-haired, blue-eyed Xianbei man. She openly admitted that she had taken a liking to him and wanted to marry him. Some people lamented that she had missed out on the good match with the Wang family. At the mention of the Wang family, Fu Ruyi’s heart clenched—her tactics were the same ones the Wang family had used. The Wangs had wanted to brand her with their mark to scare off other suitors, and she was equally eager to brand Lou Zhaoshui with hers.
Fu Ruyi walked and thought, and by the time she had delivered the two children back to the Lou house, she still hadn’t figured out whether she was right or wrong. But she couldn’t bear to blame herself.
“Mother!” Que’er cheered and ran through the door.
“Mother, I’m back,” Little Blondie called out, tugging Fu Ruyi’s sleeve as he led her into the courtyard. “Mother, Auntie—this is Auntie Fu from the Fu family. She cooks delicious food and even taught me how to make elm-seed steamed buns and elm-seed fried eggs.”
Fu Ruyi walked in, facing the gazes of the two Xianbei women. “Sister-in-law, Eldest Sister, I’ve brought the two children back.”
“Sorry for the trouble,” the sister-in-law, Wan Qianhong, said in Chinese.
“This is trouble I gladly take on.” Fu Ruyi smiled, without a hint of shyness. “The Han have an old saying: ‘Love someone, love the crows on their roof.’ It means that if you like someone, you like the crows perched on their roof too. I like Lou Zhaoshui, and so I like his family too. Sister-in-law, Eldest Sister, I felt a warmth toward you the moment I saw you—I truly like you both.”
Wan Qianhong and Lou Yueming both understood her words. They were taken aback by her frank and bold manner, but then they felt pleased—no one dislikes being liked, and they couldn’t bear to turn away someone so warm-hearted.
“I liked you too, the moment I saw you. My little brother hasn’t returned yet—he’s out working in the fields.” Lou Yueming had a feeling that before summer ended, the Fu girl would be entering the Lou household; her stubborn little brother wouldn’t be able to withstand such a fiery advance.
“I’m in no hurry to see him.” Fu Ruyi waved her hand, then mused, “When the mulberries are fully red, it’s time to plant non-glutinous broomcorn millet, glutinous broomcorn millet, and seed-bearing hemp. Do you have plans for spring sowing?”
“We want to plant hemp,” Lou Yueming replied. “The land is still wasteland. My father heard from others that poor soil can’t grow good crops, and that sowing too hastily would ruin the land and make it even poorer.”
“I have a method to enrich the soil that’s less time-consuming and laborious than using manure. If you have some spare money, you can buy a dan of mung bean and soybean seeds to plant in the wasteland. When the bean plants bloom, you plow the field with the ox and bury the plants in the soil. After one winter, the land will be fertile by next year, and you can grow whatever you like.” Fu Ruyi shared her knowledge.
Lou Yueming was delighted. “When my father returns, I’ll tell him.”
Seeing that Lou Yueming believed her without doubt, Fu Ruyi was very pleased. “If there’s anything you don’t understand, come ask me—I know a great deal. It’s getting dark, so I’ll head back now.”
“Stay for a meal,” Wan Qianhong urged, keeping her as a guest. “Have dinner, and let Fourth walk you back.”
“No, no—he’s too handsome to be out on the road at night, lest thieves set their sights on him.” Fu Ruyi departed with a carefree air.
“I’ll invite you over for a meal another day,” Wan Qianhong called after her.
“All right, I’ll definitely come,” Fu Ruyi agreed.
She had figured it out: the Wang family was using outsiders’ influence to pressure her, but she had won the affection of the Lou household through her own abilities. She wasn’t bullying anyone, nor was she underhanded—she was simply one step ahead.