Chapter 10

Su Hui came down the stairs slowly. Liu Changsheng, Yiqiang, and Meijuan were all waiting for her, and she kept saying, "Sorry, sorry," as she quickened her steps.

Liu Changsheng smiled up at her. Yiqiang's eyes flashed with expectation, while Meijuan watched her with gentle warmth.

Liu Changsheng took the lit incense from Su Hui, held her hand, and led her to the ancestral altar.

Liu Changsheng and Su Hui took the lead, with the younger generation, Liu Yiqiang and Liu Meijuan, following behind as they respectfully offered incense to the Liu family ancestors.

After the incense offering, Su Hui asked, "Is there anything else to do?"

"No hurry. Let's finish breakfast first."

Breakfast in the countryside was simple: rice porridge and a few side dishes. But because the porridge had been cooked over a wood-fired stove, it carried a particularly rich rice fragrance.

They were in the middle of eating when Liu Fen's voice came from outside the gate. "Hui'er, are you up?"

Liu Changsheng heard her voice and hurriedly set down his bowl and chopsticks. He got up and strode out into the yard to open the gate.

"Dad, Mom, you're here. Hui'er is eating breakfast. Have you eaten yet?" As he spoke, he invited Su Fuxuan and Liu Fen into the dining room.

Meijuan and Yiqiang had already put down their bowls and chopsticks long ago. They stood by the dining table waiting for Su Fuxuan and Liu Fen. The moment the two of them reached the dining room door, Yiqiang and Meijuan greeted them, "Good morning, Grandpa, Grandma." Only Su Hui was still seated, eating her breakfast.

"Why are you eating by yourself? Look at your son and daughter-in-law, how polite they are," Liu Fen said when she saw that only Su Hui was eating. She also naturally adopted the local way of addressing Yiqiang and Meijuan.

"It's fine. As our Liu Changsheng says, they're the younger generation. Mom, Dad, sit down. Have you eaten? Did you sleep well last night?"

"We've already eaten," Liu Fen said.

"Sit down, sit down. Don't mind us. You eat yours," Su Fuxuan and Liu Fen sat in the main seats, while Su Fuxuan called to Yiqiang and Meijuan.

"Then Grandpa, Grandma, please sit. We won't be polite, then," Meijuan said courteously to Su Fuxuan.

"You two were newly married yesterday, and you're up so early. Your mom and I thought you hadn't gotten up yet. Yesterday was your wedding night, right? I didn't say that wrong, did I?" Liu Fen teased Su Hui with a smile.

"Right, right, you didn't say it wrong," Liu Changsheng answered solemnly. "In our countryside, that's how it is. Even though this is a spouse exchange, the required rituals are still very strict."

"If you don't talk, no one will think you're mute. You can't even tell good from bad," Su Hui shot him a glare.

"Hui'er, when you and Xiaoqiang were here back then, you were sleeping until the sun was high in the sky. Could it be that..."

"Mom... be serious. You're here at the right time. Liu Changsheng said there are still a few steps to finish after this."

"Oh? There are still steps?"

"Nothing major, just a few simple things that need to be done," Liu Changsheng explained from the side. Because Su Fuxuan and Liu Fen had arrived, he sat between Su Hui and Liu Fen, being extremely proper. The bowl of porridge he had only half-finished was left on the table, untouched.

"All right, I'm done eating. Hurry up, are you all finished?" Su Hui glanced at the others. "Only you. You're still fiddling with those last two bites of porridge for ages." She glared at Liu Changsheng, who was the only one not finished. Meijuan, sitting across from her, watched and smiled with satisfaction. Su Hui had already started treating Changsheng like her husband.

"All right, all right. Meijuan, clear this up," Su Hui quickly instructed when she saw Liu Changsheng set down his bowl and chopsticks.

"Okay, Mom. Take Grandpa, Grandma, and Dad over first. I'll come right over."

Su Hui's group walked into the main hall. Liu Changsheng warmly invited Su Fuxuan and Liu Fen to sit in the main seats, then sat with Su Hui in the lower seats. Liu Yiqiang could only stand behind Liu Changsheng and Su Hui.

"Looks like your village takes this custom very seriously," Su Fuxuan said.

"Yes. In the past, our area was very poor and extremely remote. A lot of people couldn't even find wives. To keep the clan going, customs unlike those in other places emerged here, like stud loan, womb rental, and spouse exchange," Liu Changsheng explained.

"Are those customs different from each other?" Liu Fen asked curiously.

"Stud loan is like the 'pull-the-harness' arrangement in the Northeast. If the man in the family can't have children, they invite another man into the home to help produce a son."

"What if the one born is a daughter?"

"Then you keep trying. Eventually you'll have a son."

"Oh. Then what about womb rental?" Liu Fen continued.

"Womb rental, as the name suggests, is borrowing a woman's womb for a while. Usually it's when a poor family can't afford a wife, so they ask relatives and friends for help or hire a woman, all for the purpose of having a child."

"And spouse exchange?"

"Spouse exchange is the most important custom here, almost on par with a formal wedding ceremony. One kind is exchange between brothers and sisters, which is the real marriage; another is exchange between married couples, mainly to improve the gene pool. Because our village is so isolated and almost everyone has the surname Liu, no matter how people marry, they're usually related within five generations. For the sake of better offspring, spouse exchange between married couples came about."

As they talked, Meijuan finished tidying up the dining room and stood behind Liu Changsheng and Su Hui as well.

"Changsheng, your village really has good manners," Su Fuxuan said. "Look at Yiqiang and Meijuan standing so properly behind you without even finding a place to sit."

"Yes, that's just how it is here. When guests come, the elders speak and the younger generation stands and listens. Once they have children, then they can sit down," Liu Changsheng explained.

"Then Yiqiang and Meijuan still have to...?" Su Fuxuan asked in surprise.

"That depends on their own wishes. Although Meijuan used to be Yiqiang's mom, she's now his wife. After all, this is only a spouse exchange, so whether or not to have children is for them to decide. The main thing depends on Hui'er and me."

"Then if you and Xiaohui have a child and swap back later, what happens?"

"If Hui'er has a child and we swap back again, then if Meijuan hasn't had one by then, that child will be Yiqiang's. If Meijuan has had one too, then the child stays here, and Meijuan's child will be raised by Xiaohui. Of course, both children can also be counted as Yiqiang's children. We'll discuss the specifics when the time comes."

"Your rules here really are numerous," Su Fuxuan sighed. "Then when Xiaohui came back before, was she this proper too?"

"No one told me any of this. How would I know?" Su Hui muttered.

"You can't blame Hui'er for that. First, Yiqiang and Hui'er didn't come back often before. Second, more people from the village have gone out recently, and fewer remain here. Most of the people left in the village are relatives anyway, so it's not taken too seriously. It's just that you're Su Hui's parents. You have to be called Grandpa and Grandma, and you're outsiders. Everyone in our village cares about face, so we can't be rude in front of you," Liu Changsheng explained.

Seeing that Meijuan had already come back and was standing behind her, while Su Fuxuan was still asking question after question, Su Hui lightly tapped Liu Changsheng on the arm. "Dad, stop chatting already. We still have rituals to do later. Liu Changsheng, hurry up and finish the remaining steps."

"Right, right. Don't let me delay the auspicious time. Timing matters for this, doesn't it?" Su Fuxuan said apologetically.

"There isn't that much to it. Then let's do that ritual," Liu Changsheng said.

"What do you need me to do?" Su Hui asked eagerly.

"Mom, the two of us just need to watch from the side," Meijuan explained to Su Hui.

"Meijuan, did you prepare the cloth strips? Where did you put them?" Liu Changsheng asked.

"They're all in the cabinet under the altar table. Dad, you'll see them as soon as you open it."

"Oh, found them."

After lighting an incense stick, Liu Changsheng took out a red cloth strip from the cabinet. "What is this for?" Su Hui asked.

"Mom, you'll know when you see it in a moment," Meijuan replied.

Liu Changsheng took Su Hui's underwear from the bamboo basket on the altar table, the basket that held her red undergarments.

Then he picked up her bra, tied it with the red cloth strip, and after that tied her panties to the same strip a short distance away from the bra.

Liu Yiqiang then did the same thing with Meijuan's underwear, tying them onto a cloth strip as well. The only difference was that Yiqiang used a yellow strip.

After Liu Yiqiang finished, Liu Changsheng picked up the strip and went out, preparing to tie the red strip with Su Hui's underwear onto the ring on the left gate.

"Meijuan, what is your dad doing? Is he really going to tie my underwear to the gate ring?"

"Mm. That way, everyone in the village can tell at a glance that the husband-and-wife relationship in this house has been exchanged."

"Now that the road is open and there are more outsiders around, it'd be so embarrassing if people from outside found out," Su Hui muttered.

"Then we don't have to tie it on the gate. Where do you want it tied?" Liu Changsheng heard what Su Hui said and, knowing she was shy, did not insist on tying it to the gate.

"Besides the gate, what else can you tie it to?" Su Hui asked.

"You can also tie it to a tree."

"Then tie it to the tree in the yard," Su Hui said.

"All right. We planted a pomegranate tree by the wall a few years ago. Pomegranates have a good meaning too, many children and much blessing. Shall we tie it to the pomegranate tree?" Liu Changsheng asked.

"Okay," Su Hui replied.

Liu Changsheng tied the red strip onto the pomegranate tree. As the wind blew past, the strip holding Su Hui's red underwear fluttered in the air.

"Looks good tied there. When the wind blows, it moves, and it can also scare away birds. Two uses in one," Liu Changsheng said, making everyone laugh.

After that, Liu Yiqiang also tied the yellow strip holding Meijuan's underwear onto the pomegranate tree.

"Mom, did you notice what's different between how Yiqiang tied it and how Dad tied it?" Meijuan asked, looping her arm through Su Hui's.

"The cloth strip color is different."

"Anything else?"

"What else is there?" Su Hui asked, puzzled.

"That's not all. Xiaohui, look carefully. Yiqiang's is tied a little lower than Changsheng's. And Changsheng tied the bra first and the panties second, while Yiqiang tied the panties first and the bra second."

"Grandma, you really noticed closely. That's exactly how it is."

"Is there a meaning behind that?" Liu Fen asked Meijuan.

"You saw the cloth knot flower hanging at the entrance gate yesterday, right? You all understood what that meant, didn't you?"

"Fourth Aunt explained it yesterday. We know that one," Su Hui said.

"Mom, from now on you can just call her Fourth Sister-in-law. 'Fourth Aunt' is what I call her," Meijuan corrected Su Hui.

"All right, all right, I know. Keep going."

"Using yellow for Yiqiang means he's the younger generation, or the younger one, so he has to tie it lower than Dad's. That's called order between elder and younger. For Yiqiang's strip, my panties are on top and the bra is below. That means the wife he exchanged for is older than him. That's what it means."

"Interesting, interesting. I never thought a cloth strip could have so many meanings. Hey, then why tie their underwear? Is there a meaning behind that too?" Su Fuxuan asked Liu Changsheng.

"Well, this is our local fertility worship, a kind of fertility rite. There's also a bit of exorcism in it."

"Interesting, interesting. Liu Fen, I didn't expect we'd learn so much from this trip," Su Fuxuan said.

"How long does it stay tied?" Su Hui asked in confusion.

"Usually until the spouse exchange is over."

"Oh."

Liu Changsheng called everyone back into the hall to sit down again.

"Tell us quickly, what else hasn't been done?" Su Hui asked.

"There's one more... Meijuan, take your mother to do it. I'll stay here and chat with your grandparents."

"No need. We'll watch together too. We've never seen this custom before," Su Fuxuan said.

"All right, then let's go to the altar," Liu Changsheng said, leading everyone over to the ancestral shrine again.

"Hui'er, take down that red paper package from yesterday. Open it, then use the red cord to bind the hair inside. As for how to tie it, let Meijuan teach you."

"Okay." Su Hui was especially obedient in front of the ancestral tablets.

"What hair?" Liu Fen asked curiously.

Liu Changsheng's face grew a little hot, but he still told his father-in-law and mother-in-law, "Uh... it's Hui'er and my pubic hair." He was especially embarrassed.

"What does tying that mean?"

"Mom, do you know the old saying in ancient times, 'bind the hair to become husband and wife'?"

"Mm."

"In our village, a formal marriage means cutting a strand of hair and tying it together. For stud loan, womb rental, and spouse exchange, we tie pubic hair instead. Later, if I die, this hair also has to be placed in my coffin. Of course, the hair Meijuan and I tied together has to go in too."

Su Hui listened while imitating Meijuan as she braided the pubic hair into the red cord, and asked Yiqiang, "Xiaoqiang, where did you hide the hair you tied with Fourth Sister-in-law? How come I never found it?"

"Xiaoqiang was in a stud-loan arrangement, something like living as a son-in-law. His and Fourth Sister-in-law's would definitely have stayed with Fourth Brother's family," Liu Changsheng explained for him.

"Oh. Then Meijuan, yours and Second Uncle's are also kept over there?"

"Mm."

Su Hui followed Meijuan's example and braided all the pubic hair into the red cord. Now it looked like a red braided bracelet, and you couldn't tell at all that the two people's pubic hair was wrapped inside.

"Does it look good? Does it look like a bracelet?" Su Hui asked excitedly, holding it up to show off in front of Liu Fen after finishing it.

Meijuan put the braided red cord back into the red paper, wrapped it up again, and returned it to its place. Su Hui copied her and put hers back as well.

"Dad, if there's nothing else, Yiqiang and I are going back to my parents' home for a bit. I want to report mine and Yiqiang's situation to that side," Meijuan asked Liu Changsheng for his opinion.

"Mm, go ahead," Liu Changsheng replied.

"Yiqiang, go catch a chicken. I'll change clothes. Grandpa, Grandma, please sit for a bit," Meijuan said, then went upstairs to change.

The few of them sat in the main hall chatting casually. Not long after, Meijuan came back downstairs in a different outfit, and her clothes stunned Su Fuxuan, Liu Fen, and Su Hui.

Meijuan's hair was tied high at the back of her head into a bun, wrapped in a small piece of blue cloth with tiny white flowers, exposing the long white line of her neck.

On top she wore only what could be called a camisole tube top. The hem barely covered her breasts, and the back was held together by just two cloth cords tied into a butterfly knot. From the way it was wrapped, she wasn't wearing a bra underneath.

Her entire back was left bare.

Below, she wore a very short pleated skirt, longer in the front and shorter in the back. In the front it ended only three inches above the knees, while the back exposed most of her buttocks. With every step, the black panties underneath would peek out.

Both the top and the skirt were homespun cloth dyed with traditional indigo wax-resist patterns. The edges of the top and skirt were trimmed with a band of red cloth.

Meijuan's calves were wrapped in red leg bindings, and she wore a pair of floral cloth shoes. Around her neck hung a silver neck ring.

"Meijuan, you're going back to your parents' house dressed like that? That's way too sexy. I never knew you could dress like this," Su Hui said.

"Mom, don't laugh at me. This is just a custom."

"What kind of custom requires you to dress that sexy?" Su Hui asked.

"When a newly married daughter returns to her parents' home, she dresses like this, first to thank her birth family for raising her, and second to receive blessings from her family. Any male relatives on her father's side, as long as they are married, and boys under six, have to use hands that have touched the bottom of a pot to leave handprints on the exposed parts of Meijuan's body. The darker the exposed skin is when she comes back, the more blessings she receives," Liu Changsheng explained to Su Fuxuan.

"But now only people from our own village still do this. More and more people are marrying out or marrying in, and if the bride isn't from the village, there isn't such a custom anymore."

"Oh, oh, oh."

Meijuan and Yiqiang greeted the elders, then she linked her arm through Yiqiang's and went back to her parents' home.

Su Hui and Liu Changsheng insisted on following to watch, but Liu Changsheng told her that it wasn't in accordance with the rules. Su Hui sat off to the side by herself playing on her phone, sulking in silence.