“I won’t marry!”
“If you marry into the Chen family, your brother will get a wife too. You must marry!”
“I won’t marry!”
In 1955, in the courtyard of the Xing family in Group 1 of Hongsha Village, Daling Town, the second daughter, Xing Baolan, was nearly driven mad with anger. She argued fiercely with her parents:
“You’re using my bride price to get a wife for my brother—I can endure that. But a marriage exchange? Absolutely not! Dad, Mom, that’s an exchange marriage! Don’t you think it’s shameful?!”
Xing Jiafu said nothing, only puffing on his leaf tobacco pipe. Through the swirling smoke, his expression couldn’t be seen.
Xing Baosong, Xing Baolin, Xing Baomei, and Xing Baozhen sat quietly in the yard, watching the argument without a word.
Baomei, the eldest daughter, had always been obedient. She tugged at Baolan’s sleeve. “Talk to Mom and Dad nicely. Don’t get so worked up.”
Baolan yanked her hand away. “If they were sending you off in an exchange marriage, would you stay calm?!”
She stared stubbornly at her mother, Li Sanniu.
Li Sanniu’s face stiffened for a moment. “What’s shameful about it? Getting a wife for my son and arranging a marriage for my daughter—who can say I’m wrong?”
Baolan shot back, “Then arrange a proper marriage! Why do an exchange marriage? Even Uncle Sangen, the poorest man in the village before liberation, wouldn’t do something like this!”
Li Sanniu snapped, “I don’t care what other families do. You’re marrying into the Chen family, and Chen Yuzhu will marry your eldest brother.”
“Mom! I’m only fifteen—I’m not even of legal marriage age!”
“So what? I was already married to your father at fifteen!”
“This is the new society—”
“Even in the new society, you still have to get married. Get engaged this year, hold the wedding next year, and get the marriage certificate in a couple of years. What’s wrong with that? Your brother is already twenty-one—he can’t wait!”
Seeing that reasoning with her mother was impossible, Baolan felt heartbroken. “Mom, what have I ever done to wrong you? Why are you treating me like this?”
Li Sanniu turned her face away. “When a man grows up, he marries; when a woman grows up, she weds. It’s only natural.”
But you arranged such a humiliating, awful marriage for me!
All for big brother!
Baolan turned to Xing Baosong, hoping he would stand up for her. “Big brother, you wouldn’t trade your own sister for a wife, right?”
Facing her burning gaze, Baosong lowered his head guiltily. After a long pause, he muttered, “The third son of the Chen family is actually pretty good—honest and hardworking. You’ve met him before, Second Sister.”
And Chen Yaomei… round face, always smiling sweetly when she saw him, calling him “Brother Baosong” in a bright voice. He really liked her and wanted her as his wife.
In that instant, Baolan felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave. She understood now—her brother didn’t care about sibling affection at all. He was perfectly willing to trade her for a marriage.
Furious, Baolan shouted at Li Sanniu and Xing Baosong, “Don’t even think about it! I won’t agree! If you force me, I’ll go to the township and report you for arranging a forced marriage!”
Li Sanniu sprang to her feet, pointing at her angrily. “You ungrateful girl! You think you can defy us? I’ll beat you to death!”
“Go ahead! Hit me!”
Baolan thrust her face forward. “Hit me! Beat me to death! Let the whole village, the whole town, the whole county know that you, Accountant Xing and your wife, forced your daughter into an exchange marriage and drove her to death!”
Her teeth clenched, her eyes blazing with fury under the moonlight. That desperate, all-or-nothing look actually startled Li Sanniu.
Mother and daughter stood in a standoff, neither willing to back down. In the end, Baomei forcibly pulled Baolan away.
Inside the sisters’ room, Baomei pressed Baolan down onto the edge of the bed. “Just talk things out with Mom and Dad. Why let it escalate like this?”
Baolan wiped her eyes. “Don’t talk as if it doesn’t concern you!”
She was full of resentment, but she knew this matter wasn’t Baomei’s fault, so she held back from lashing out—otherwise, she might have said something hurtful. Baomei was three years older and still unmarried. Why didn’t their parents send her to the Chen family for an exchange marriage?
It was favoritism. They favored the eldest son and eldest daughter, doted on the youngest son and youngest daughter, and left her—the one stuck in the middle—to bear all the bad things.
Was she not hardworking? She raised pigs, worked in the fields, washed clothes, cooked meals. During tea-picking season, Baomei worked odd jobs at the tea farm to support the family, and she too squeezed in time to gather herbs and chop firewood to trade at the supply and marketing cooperative for money.
Baomei couldn’t think of a good solution to today’s problem. Of course she sided with their parents and felt the second sister should obey them, but she also knew exchange marriage was disgraceful. She was caught in a dilemma—anything she said would be wrong.
As the favored one, Baomei understood clearly. She was relieved that she wasn’t the one being traded, yet she felt some pity for Baolan.
This stalemate couldn’t go on.
Trying to ease their parents’ burden, she awkwardly persuaded, “The Chen family is actually quite good. You’ve met Aunt Zhang—she’s kind and capable, and she never mistreats her daughters-in-law. Plus, our families are somewhat related. If you marry over, she’ll treat you even better…”
“No matter how good she is, it doesn’t matter if their class background is bad! They’re rich peasants! Didn’t your precious Aunt Zhang say herself how their family is bullied in the production team? Didn’t you hear that?”
The chickens they raised had been eaten up by village cadres, their fine grain “borrowed” away, and even their cattle taken to the cooperative as public property. Other families received dividends for their cattle, but the Chen family got nothing—and they didn’t even dare ask for it back.
If she married into the Chen family, she—and even her future children—would suffer the same treatment!
“Mom and Dad are just worried about Big Brother. He hasn’t been able to find a good match…”
As the sisters talked, ten-year-old Baozhen slipped in, her eyes darting curiously. “Big sister, second sister, what are you talking about?”
“Nothing.” Baomei shut her mouth. Baozhen was too young to hear about this.
The room fell silent. Baozhen pouted and asked Baolan, “Second sister, why is exchange marriage shameful?”
Her innocent expression stabbed at Baolan’s heart. Holding back from lashing out, Baolan snapped, “Get out!”
“Hmph! Fine, I didn’t want to hear it anyway.”
Sweating nervously, Baomei quickly pushed the younger girl out.
Once everyone left, Baolan collapsed onto the bed, quietly crying.
Since her parents had brought this up, they would definitely force her to agree.
And with her brother’s situation, now that there was a girl of good character and looks willing to marry him, her parents would never let go.
When Xing Baosong was a child, he had contracted polio. It couldn’t be cured, and when a high fever nearly killed him, their father had no choice but to get veterinary medicine meant for horses from a vet in Zhangjia Shop to treat him.
A single dose saved his life—but left him with a hunched shoulder. It wasn’t severe, but it was still different from a normal, straight posture. On top of that, his shoulders often hurt, and he couldn’t handle farm work. In the countryside, what use was someone who couldn’t farm? He was considered half useless.
People with sharp tongues gave him the nickname “Hunchback Bao,” which infuriated Xing Jiafu and his wife.
When Baosong grew up and it was time for him to marry, all the decent families refused. The ones who agreed were either lame, foolish, or widows with children—how could his parents accept that? Wouldn’t that be humiliating for their son?
Because of this, they spent great effort sending Baosong to Taiping Town to apprentice as a carpenter. Learning a trade was more respectable than farming and could support a family.
But the cost of his apprenticeship strained the family finances. On top of that, Baolin and Baozhen needed schooling, and tuition was another heavy burden. That’s why Baomei and Baolan worked so hard to earn money to help support the family.
Before, Baolan had only feared that her parents would keep all her bride price and give her no dowry. She had already prepared herself to accept that. But even so, she never expected them to come up with something as disgusting as an exchange marriage.
Xing Jiafu was a village cadre, yet he was willing to throw away all dignity just to get a good wife for his eldest son.