Chapter 11: Making a Fool of Herself

For the next two days, the Su household was unusually quiet. Madam Wang stopped scolding, and Su Dashan said little. Su Qing came back from the fields each day with a troubled face. Madam Li moved more carefully than ever, even setting down bowls and chopsticks more softly.

Everyone was bottling up their anger. The Xus had sent Matchmaker Sun to insult them with a hundred copper coins in betrothal gifts and use Su Xue’s reputation against the family. The thought rankled whenever it came to mind.

At first, Su Xue cried. She sat on the bed with her face covered, making sure Madam Wang could hear. After the first bout, no one came in. She tried again; Madam Wang went on chopping vegetables in the kitchen, her knife thumping against the block, and still ignored her.

Only then did Su Xue grow frightened. In the past, her mother had always relented when she cried. This time was different. Even when her eyes were red and swollen, Madam Wang merely told her coldly to come eat and said nothing else.

Su Xue dared not make another scene. Her father’s threat to break her legs if she met Xu Xiuzhi in secret again had subdued her. She knew he was truly angry.

Su Wan, meanwhile, lived peacefully. Each day she sat beneath the west-room window, finishing the wedding quilt. After two days, the embroidery was finally complete. She folded the quilt into the chest and took out the two bolts of cloth from the Huo family, one blue-gray and one pale red. The fabric was sturdy without feeling coarse.

She measured it and made up her mind. Quilts needed washing eventually, and unpicking them every time would be troublesome. She could make two removable covers instead, so they could be taken off and washed when dirty. The method was uncommon in the village, but Su Wan knew how.

She spread the cloth on the bed, measured it with a ruler, and marked lines in charcoal. Su Xue sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes full of envy. When the Huos delivered their gifts, she had been too busy resenting the eight taels to pay attention to the cloth. Now she coveted that too. The Xus had offered only a hundred coins, with no cloth or silver hairpin. Why did Su Wan get everything?

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, but she dared not speak. She had been slapped only two days earlier; another scene might make her mother punish her in earnest.

Su Wan had cut one piece and was about to thread her needle when a rhythmic rattle-drum sounded outside: dong-lang, dong-lang. It drew nearer, and the village children were the first to shout.

“The peddler’s here!”

“Peddler Niu is here!”

Su Wan paused. Niu came to the village every ten days or so, selling needles and thread, hair ties, sweets, rouge, and little trinkets. The young women and wives loved browsing, and the children crowded around him. She happened to want a small lock.

Although her betrothal silver was hidden beneath clothes at the bottom of the chest, she still felt uneasy. With things as they were at home, it would be better locked. She put down the cloth, took several dozen copper coins from her hidden pouch, and headed for the door. Quick footsteps followed her.

She turned. Su Xue had come out too.

“Father and Mother told you not to leave,” Su Wan said evenly.

Su Xue flared up. “You can buy things from the peddler, but I can’t?”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t buy anything. I said our parents told you not to leave.”

The answer irritated Su Xue further. “I’m only going to the gate. I won’t go far. Stop using them to boss me around.” She pushed past Su Wan and hurried out. Su Wan raised a brow but did not stop her.

Peddler Niu had set down his carrying poles beneath the old locust tree. Colored hair ties, packets of needles and thread, small bronze mirrors, and wooden toys hung from his rack. Sweets and pastries filled a bamboo box, with several skewers of candied hawthorn standing on top. Children crowded around, almost drooling, while several young women and wives selected goods.

Someone spotted Su Wan. “Wan, why haven’t we seen you out lately?”

“Congratulations on such a good match!”

“The Huo family’s gifts were very respectable. Your mother must be pleased.”

Su Wan smiled and greeted each of them. Her voice was soft and her manner gracious, neither smug nor showy. The villagers liked her all the more.

“What a fine girl she is.”

“The Huos have good judgment.”

“She’ll have a good life once she marries.”

Su Xue stood nearby, her face growing darker. In the past, people had always praised her looks and sweet tongue. Now everyone’s attention was on Su Wan, pushing her aside; no one even greeted her. Jealousy gnawed at her, but she soon suppressed it. So what if Su Wan married into the Huo family? Huo Shi’an would die soon. Once Su Wan was a widow, would the villagers still praise her?

The thought comforted her. She stepped up to the rack and deliberately chose the most expensive things: a packet of fine pastries, a packet of sweets, and two red hair ties.

“Good choices,” Peddler Niu said with a smile. “The pastries came from town and smell wonderful. The sweets are good, and the hair ties have a fine color.”

Su Xue gathered the items in her arms and lifted her chin. “How much?”

He moved the beads on his abacus. “Eighteen coins for the pastries, twelve for the sweets, and four for the two hair ties. Thirty-four in all.”

Several women clicked their tongues. “Thirty-four? That’s expensive.”

“It would buy quite a bit of salt.”

Su Xue glanced at Su Wan and deliberately raised her voice. “My sister will pay.”

The crowd quieted and turned to Su Wan. She was holding an old lock. At those words she looked up. “Put them back. I didn’t bring enough money.”

Su Xue had not expected to be refused before so many people. Her face reddened. “Then go home and get some.”

“I don’t have any.”

Su Xue laughed mockingly. “You don’t? Who would believe that? Everyone saw the Huos give you eight taels. How could you have no money?”

Expressions changed around them. Some frowned; others murmured. “Listen to that…”

“Betrothal silver is betrothal silver. You can’t spend it carelessly.”

“She’s eyeing her sister’s money before the wedding?”

Su Wan looked at her. “So you know it’s betrothal silver.”

“What of it? It’s in your hands, so it’s your money. What’s wrong with me buying a few things? I’m your own sister. You can’t spare thirty-four coins?”

Su Wan returned the lock to the rack and turned to face her. “Because you’re my sister, I have to pay for you? Did you ask Father and Mother before choosing pastries, sweets, and hair ties?”

“I’m only buying a few things. Must you be so stingy?”

“Stingy?” Su Wan glanced at the goods in her arms. “Eighteen for pastries, twelve for sweets, four for the hair ties. Thirty-four coins would buy several days’ worth of grain for the family. You demand I pay and call me stingy.”

“If you want something to eat, go home and ask Mother for money. If you want hair ties, ask her too. Don’t use my betrothal silver to show off.”

The crowd immediately began murmuring. “She’s right.”

“The Huos’ gifts are the eldest girl’s security. How can her sister covet them?”

“I hear the Xus offered only a hundred coins for the younger one.”

“No wonder she’s jealous.”

Though the last remark was quiet, Su Xue heard it. She went white, then red. “Who’s jealous? Stop making things up!”

A woman in blue cotton curled her lip. “No one’s making anything up. Your sister is about to marry, and it’s not easy for her to have some money set aside. If you won’t add anything to her trousseau, the least you can do is not demand sweets and pastries from her.”

Su Xue whirled around, eyes blazing. “What’s it to you?”

The woman was not easily intimidated. “Nothing, but I don’t like seeing it.”

The children did not understand the adults’ dispute; they merely stared at the sweets and pastries in Su Xue’s arms and swallowed. Peddler Niu looked embarrassed. “Do you still want them? If you do, pay. Otherwise I’ll put them back.”

Su Xue held the goods, unable either to keep them or put them down. She had no money. With her family watching her closely, she had only two copper coins in her pouch, enough for one hair tie. But she had already spoken; returning everything now would humiliate her.

She glared at Su Wan. “You really won’t pay?”

“No.”

Tears sprang to Su Xue’s eyes. “You’re doing this to embarrass me!”

Su Wan spoke quietly, but everyone heard. “I’m not the one embarrassing you. You’re doing it yourself. If you have no money, don’t buy things. If you want them, earn the money. Don’t reach into someone else’s purse and blame them for refusing.”

The onlookers nodded. “Exactly.”

“The eldest speaks with good sense now.”

“The younger one has been spoiled.”

Unable to bear their looks, Su Xue thrust the pastries, sweets, and hair ties back onto Niu’s stand and turned to run. She had taken only two steps when Madam Wang called from their gate. “Su Xue!”

Su Xue froze. Madam Wang stood there, her face grim. She had been sewing inside, heard the commotion, and come out to find her younger daughter arguing with Su Wan and demanding that she spend her betrothal silver. The girl had learned nothing.

Madam Wang hurried over and seized her arm. “Did I say you could leave?”

Tears fell freely. “Mother, I only came to buy something.”

“Buy something?” Madam Wang laughed in anger. “With what? Your sister’s betrothal silver?”

With everyone watching, Su Xue burned with shame. “Mother, don’t say it out here.”

That made Madam Wang angrier. “So you know what shame is? Where was it when you demanded your sister pay?”

Su Xue lowered her head under the scolding. Madam Wang turned to the peddler, keeping her anger in check. “We don’t want what she picked.”

“All right,” Niu said quickly.

Madam Wang noticed Su Wan was empty-handed. “What did you want?”

“A small lock.”

Her mother paused, then understood, and felt worse. Her daughter could not even feel safe keeping her trousseau in her own home, all because of Su Xue. She took ten copper coins from her clothes and gave them to Su Wan. “Buy it. I’ll add this.”

Su Xue looked up sharply, disbelief in her eyes. “Mother!”

“What? Your sister needs a lock to protect what belongs to her. You want sweets because you crave them. Is that the same?”

Su Xue’s lips trembled and she cried again, but the crowd understood the difference; no one spoke for her.

Su Wan accepted the money and bought a reasonably sturdy old lock. She could have afforded a new one, but it cost more than necessary. She also bought two packets of needles and thread. Without another glance at Su Xue, she headed home. Madam Wang pulled Su Xue along behind her.

Only after they entered the courtyard did Madam Wang release her. “If you dare set your sights on your sister’s betrothal gifts again, I won’t let you off,” she scolded under her breath.

Su Xue covered her face and ran crying to the west room. Su Wan followed and fastened the newly bought lock to her chest. It clicked shut.

From the bed, Su Xue stared at it with hatred. Su Wan tucked the key into a pouch close to her body and turned to her. “Stop looking. Nothing in here has anything to do with you.”

Su Xue clenched her teeth, her voice trembling. “Just you wait, Su Wan.”

“I will.”

Su Xue crushed her handkerchief in her fist. Tears still marked her face, but her eyes gradually hardened. “When I marry into the Xu family and Xiuzhi makes his name, I’ll make every one of you pay for what I suffered today.”