Chapter 95: Sishu Gets Married

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1. This is an unofficial translation and no permission has been obtained from the author/ official publisher. It may be taken down if the author/official publisher requests. 

2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author. 

3. No permission has been granted to use, publish, upload and/or copy this translation to any other site except for Second Life Translations.

Liu Lin took Liu Sen by the hand and stood on top of a large rock near the village entrance. They were watching the road to the village. 

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From far off, there seemed to be the sound of a suona1 playing. Liu Lin pricked his ears, listening hard, “Senzi, can you hear the suona?”

Image of a suona. Source

Liu Sen also started to strain his ears. Then he nodded, “I think so!”

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Nkw Nkd oykvle y obkzl zsdtla, zkpvldkdt. Gqvla y obkzl, vbl pswde clnyxl nzlyala yde nzlyala. Fwal ldswtb, vbl kdpvawxldvp olal xshkdt nzspla vsoyae vbl hkzzytl ldvaydnl. Tl nyzzle swv, “Mblu’al blal!” Mbld bl zlv ts sq Nkw Fld’p byde yde fwxrle sqq vbl asnj clqsal blzrkdt Nkw Fld esod. Uyaaukdt Nkw Fld, bl ayd vsoyae vbl hkzzytl.

“Mblu’al blal, vblu’al blal! Fkpbw byp caswtbv mkysuk cynj!” Kwpv yp vblu olal ycswv vs yaakhl yv Nkw Ubydtpbk’p dlo bsxl, Nkw Fld pvyavle vs pbswv. Gzz vbl rlsrzl cwpu yv vbl nswavuyae ldvaydnl blyae.

“Xb xu! Mblu’al cynj ps pssd! Tyhl usw bwdt vbl qkalnaynjlap?! Oktbv pvakdtp! Tso xydu byhl usw bwdt, sdl, vos, vball…”

“Nkw Fbw! Cwknj! Qs vs vbl sze alpkeldnl yde vlzz vblx vblu’al yv vbl hkzzytl ldvaydnl!”

Nkw Fbw ytalle clqsal vyjkdt sqq vsoyae vbl sze alpkeldnl. Nkw Dw’la bye fwpv nsxl swv sq bla pkpbw’p dlo bswpl obld Nkw Ubydttldt pbswvle, “Dw’la! Tyhl usw vkekle wr vbl bswpl? Ublnj kq yduvbkdt kp xkppkdt?!”

Nkw Dw’la iwknjzu ytalle yde vwadle cynj vs tkhl vbl bswpl y iwknj nblnj.

Mbl dlo bswpl oyp elnsayvle kd caktbv ale. Xd vsr sq vbl jydt olal caktbv ale xyvvalpplp, nshlale kd ale cle pbllvp lxcaskelale okvb xydeyakd ewnjp. Xd vbl cle, qszele, olal ale czydjlvp, yzps okvb xydeyakd ewnjp pvkvnble sd vblx. Gzz vbl lxcaskelau bye clld esdl cu Tl pbk.

Xd vsr sq vbl jydt olal caktbv ale dlvp. Gzvbswtb xspv hkzzytl qszj olald’v vss ryavknwzya ycswv rwvvkdt dlvp wr – xspv sq vblx oswzed’v lhld csvbla – pkpbw oyp dsv zynjkdt kd alzyvkhlp. Mbl dlvvkdt oyp xyel cu Nkw Tsdt. Nkw Tsdt bye lhld xyel pkpbw y plv sq dlo nzsvblp.

At the bottom of the kang was a step, painted all in red, with a decoratively carved. This was made by Liu Changgeng. In the house were other furniture items that were also made by him. 

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The windows were also made of red paper. On the window and above the kang, double happiness symbols were pasted. At the side of the kang were a chest and a cupboard next to each other. They were all painted in red. On top of the chest were several red outfits – these were prepared by the family for the new bride to wear. 

Liu Xu’er saw that everything was in place. She was about to come out when Shi Cheng came in. “Why are you so slow? Quick, they’re nearly at the village entrance!”

Liu Xu’er nodded and came out with him. 

In the fourth month, Shi Cheng’s family had all moved to town. But he would still come back if the village had events, and of course, if there are any situations involving Liu Xu’er’s family. 

The two of them closed the door to prevent little kids from running in and messing up the room. At this time, they could hear the ever louder suona. Yuan Hao and a few other fellows were already waiting at the village entrance. They had already started some fireworks. The village entrance was very lively, while kids started to run wildly about. The whole village seemed to come alive. 

“Xu’er, you and Shi Cheng stay here and mind the new house. Don’t let any of the kids run in and mess it up! I am heading over!” Liu Changgeng shouted from the entrance. He still needed to head over to the old residence. Old Man Liu and Liu Gao shi were there, waiting for the new couple to present their wedding bows. 

Liu Xu’er quickly agreed before saying, “Dad, check if the sacks are ready! In the morning, they said they had forgotten to dye them red!”

“Got it!” Liu Changgeng agreed before laughing and moving toward the old residence.

Liu Xu’er and Shi Cheng stayed and kept a close eye out. The entire courtyard was already full of tables. There were only a few plates on each table, with some snacks like melon seeds, dates and sweets. The meal hadn’t been served yet. 

The children running about would occasionally come in to grab some snacks. Today, these candies and melon seeds were unlimited. They were left there for anyone to just take. If they ran out, the family would replenish it. The little kids had stuffed all their pockets full with them. 

Shi Cheng went over to top up some sweets. Liu Shu was at the door receiving some washed vegetables. Although the main dishes, like the stewed chicken and fish, stir fried meats and soups were all already prepared, they had no time to make some of the cold vegetable dishes. So they got village families to help prepare some vegetables. When they were washed, they would bring it over, and the family would directly dress them on site. 

Liu Xu’er again went to the kitchen to have a look. On top of a very long wooden board were a dozen or so rows of dishes. Each row was of a different dish. There was chicken, fish, pork – everything was there. It was very sumptuous. 

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When Liu Xu’er came out again, she saw Senzi running amongst the tables with a few other children. He was giggling very happily. A child had climbed on top of a chair trying to grab at the sweets. After trying for some time, he was still unable to, because his limbs were too little. Liu Sen ran to Shi Cheng and got a bunch of sweets to pass to him. 

Liu Xu’er smiled and called out, “Senzi, be careful when you’re playing. Don’t knock into the corners of the tables.”

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Liu Sen agreed before continuing to run about. 

A burst of firecrackers suddenly went off from the direction of the old residence. The sound resounded through the village – the couple had probably entered the house and were preparing to offer their wedding bows. Shi Cheng smiled and ran over. “Are they exchanging bows? It’s really lively! Maybe, I should go over to watch how it’s done….”

Liu Xu’er burst out giggling and smacked him. “Watch it you! Don’t overdo it….”

Shi Cheng grinned. Then he asked, “Has your sishu bought land yet?”

“Of course he has. Do you know how long it’s been since he started planning?!”

“So where did he buy it? Is it in the village?”

Liu Xu’er sighed and shook her head, “How could it be that easy? In good years like these, no family would be willing to sell their land. They managed to find some on the side of the road towards town. Two mu of high grade fields. The family seemed to be facing some trouble and desperately needed the cash. They sold these high grade fields for only 5 taels of silver each. My sishu quickly bought it. The only thing is that it’s a bit far from here…. But it’s still alright – my sishu has a donkey cart, so it shouldn’t be too troublesome to farm the land there. It would only be a bit more work during harvest. He would have to stay there to watch the fields for a few days.”

Shi Cheng nodded, “That’s not a big deal. The roadsides are all fields – no one stays there. They are all farmed from people living far away. When it’s time for harvest, all of them would stay in a shack there.”

“That’s true.” Liu Xu’er said. 

As the two of them spoke, there was another burst of firecrackers from the old residence. Shi Cheng said, “They should be coming.” Then he ran to the courtyard door to look and saw a group of people escorting the new couple over. 

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Right at this moment, those sending vegetables had also come over! Liu Shu, hopping about in panic, said, “Oh! Why don’t you wait a moment! We will get back to you after they’ve entered!”

Those bringing vegetable baskets quickly stood still. 

Shi Cheng took a look and shouted, “Quick, quick, quick! You can still make it in time. That side still needs to switch sacks!” The newly wed couple needed to step on red dyed sacks all the way over. It had an auspicious meaning, symbolizing that the couple would have many sons and grandsons. They had to walk on these sacks all the way over, but who had that many of them! As such, they would use a few sacks over and over, shifting the sacks from behind to the front in a continuous loop. 

Liu Shu noticed that their speed did indeed seem to be quite slow, so he quickly said, “Quickly, quickly!”

“Quick, quick, quick!” Shi Cheng also said.

The two of them pretty much chased the people sending vegetables into the house, across the yard and into the kitchen. After putting down their baskets, they were then chased out.

They had just left when Liu Changgeng came back and lit the eight strings of firecrackers at the house. In a flash, the entire courtyard was filled with the ear splitting sound of firecrackers going off. Smoke curled about in the courtyard – no one could see anything for a while. 

Switching sacks was the hardest task. It required constant bending over, repetitively taking the last sacks and bringing them to the front, all the way from the old residence to Liu Changshi’s new place. Dressed all in bright red, with a large red flower on his chest, Liu Changshi came over, holding a red silk cloth in his hand. The other end of the red silk cloth was held by He Ruyu. They had finally made it all the way here. 

After they entered the new house, Liu Changgeng stood at the entrance and prevented anyone else from coming in.  “Please, this way to the banquet! The groom will be out in just a while. This isn’t the time yet to naodongfang!”

The crowd laughed but didn’t insist on entering. There were rules about naodongfang after all.

Another two tables were quickly placed where a walking path had originally been left. Then, all the relatives who were called in to help, started to bring out the dishes. 

Shi Cheng, Liu Shu and Liu Lin were all doing this, because it wasn’t good for women to go out in public. Although the village wasn’t strict about such customs, it really wasn’t suitable for the women to keep going back and forth amidst such crowds. So all of this was done by males – the younger generation of males. 

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Shi Cheng brought a platter up to the head table, where the Village Head was. Seeing him, the Village Head asked, “Shi Cheng has come back? Where’s your father?”

Shi Cheng smiled and said, “My dad didn’t come back. I am just back to help.”

“Oh.” The Village Head said. Then he sat back and started to observe how the Liu family gave instructions to him like he was one of their own family. He started to think. 

After serving up all the dishes, the wedding banquet finally began. A few younger fellows, the ones who got along best with Liu Changshi, started to call, “Where’s the groom? How come he’s not out yet?”

“Groom, groom!” They started to call. In such a little courtyard, the sound rang out.

In the new house, Liu Changshi had just exchanged some wine with his bride, and the matron of honor was beaming down at them and blessing them with auspicious words. Liu Changshi knew that he needed to present a red packet, so he quickly took out the prepared packet and gave it to her. Cupping his hands, he said, “Thank you. You’ve worked hard.”

The matron of honor smiled and blessed the couple with more good fortune before leaving. Liu Changshi had long ago noticed that the crowd outside had started to call, so he turned and gave a silly grin to He Ruyu. He Ruyu was dressed beautifully – her figure as elegant as a lotus flower. Red-faced, she sat at the edge of the kang, a pair of red slippered feet neatly placed on the step. 

“Ruyu… Ummm, I will just go out for a while…. I will be right back….” Liu Changshi stammered. After a long silence, he turned and looked at He Ruyu. Her face was so red, it looked like it had been coloured with rouge. He could only laugh foolishly. 

Outside, guests were making enough noise to break the windows, but He Ruyu didn’t hear him leave. She could only look up embarrassed, to see what was going on. When she saw him still standing in the centre of the room, staring at her with a look of silly contentment, she was both exasperated and amused. She quickly lowered her head and said in a tiny voice, “You…. quickly go out!”

It was only then that Liu Changshi left with a silly expression on his face. The instant he exited, he was grabbed by his group of friends and teased mercilessly. 

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