Under the gourd trellis, Gu Lanshi turned the well's windlass to draw water. Sunshine filtered through the gourd leaves swaying in the breeze, scattering shifting patches of light across him.
The weather grew hotter by the day. At least the trellis overhead provided shade, and a passing breeze offered a little coolness.
There came a splash as the wooden bucket filled. He set the well bucket aside, picked up a gourd dipper in one hand, and carried the bucket of water toward the vegetable patch with the other.
Their courtyard was large. Besides a broad area at the front for drying grain, it held a generous vegetable garden. The winter-melon and garden-melon trellises stood neatly along the same side as the gourds. Beyond them, pumpkin vines climbed the base of the wall, their flower buds beginning to appear.
A path paved with pebbles and stone slabs divided the courtyard down the middle. The vegetables on the other side thrived just as well: three rows of chives, two of spring onions, two of daylilies, chili plants on the verge of flowering, two rows of spring radishes putting out green leaves, and vigorous eggplants and edible chrysanthemum greens. Scallions, garlic shoots, and ginger each had a patch to themselves. Spring yardlong beans and hyacinth beans climbed separate bamboo poles. The ripe ones had already been picked, but more long bean pods hung down. Loofah vines climbed the woodshed and courtyard wall, their leaves lush and green, though it was not yet time for them to bear fruit.
After watering the long row of mint on the earthen ridge, Gu Lanshi tipped the bucket over and splashed its last little bit of water onto the nearby chive bed.
Zhu had gone to the river to let the geese and ducks out and gather fodder for the pigs and chickens with Gou'er. His parents were weeding the fields, leaving him home to water the garden and wash clothes. It was still early, nowhere near time to cook.
He put down his bucket by the well and was about to draw more water when he saw that only five rows of spring greens remained unwatered. If he watered them first and then went to pick vegetables, he'd get mud all over his feet. So he chose two large plants and pulled them up before continuing.
The spring greens grew taller than his shins, with large leaves rising in layers along thick stalks. Once the oldest outer leaves were removed, all the remaining green leaves and stems were edible.
These greens could be planted any time from the first warmth of spring until autumn. Give them a little water and they'd readily take root, growing to full size in a little over twenty days. As one row was harvested, another could be planted, so there was always more on the way. Almost every household grew plenty of them in its front and back yards, and they were among the most common dishes on the table.
Gu Lanshi didn't throw away the old leaves he'd stripped off. He would chop them up later to feed the chickens.
After watering the garden, he was about to draw water for the laundry when he heard his mother talking to Auntie Zhao from next door.
It sounded like nothing more than a few polite, everyday remarks. He called toward the gate, "Mother?"
Miao Qiulian hurried into the courtyard. Seeing him busy, she explained as she walked, "It's hot. Your father says he's thirsty, so I came back to fetch water."
"Mm. The water in the clay jar should have cooled by now." Gu Lanshi turned the windlass, winding the well rope around its frame one loop at a time.
Miao Qiulian went to the kitchen and drank half a bowl of water herself, then filled a clay jar to take back. Looking at Gu Lanshi washing clothes beneath the gourd trellis, she smiled, her face red from the sun. "Lanshi, guess whom I met on the way back."
Gu Lanshi looked up in puzzlement. "Who?"
She cast her son an affectionate look. "Your Auntie Jinfeng. She had a message for me. There's an auspicious day coming up in a couple of days, and the Lin family has asked her especially to visit us then."
Fang Jinfeng was the village matchmaker. Gu Lanshi went still for a moment.
Miao Qiulian seemed delighted. The two families belonged to the same village and knew one another's elders and children. In such circumstances, some ceremonial gifts could be dispensed with. But hearing Fang Jinfeng's news convinced her that the Lin family understood propriety and knew how to show respect, and that naturally pleased her.
When she noticed the two patches on Gu Lanshi's old clothes—clean as they were—she frowned at their appearance. "I said before that we'd buy cotton to weave, but your father's never had time. I think we ought to buy a bolt of ready-made cotton cloth from the shop and make you a new outfit before the families meet. We can't let the Lins look down on us."
"That's settled. Tomorrow's not busy, so I'll send your father to town to buy some. Right, I'm off back to the fields. Your father's waiting for his water." With that, she hurried out again.
Gu Lanshi sat on his stool, watching his mother arrive in a whirlwind and depart the same way. Once he was alone in the courtyard, he slowly returned to scrubbing the clothes in his basin.
Ever since the night he'd dreamed of dying of illness, only to be awakened by Zhu's slap, he hadn't dreamed of Lin Jinpeng again. Days had passed. He'd heard that Lin had gone back into town two days earlier. With all the chores that filled his days, he hardly thought of the man anymore.
Without the dreams, he'd naturally relaxed. His parents had their reasons for liking the Lin family, and he himself had thought them a good match at first. At the very least they weren't like Zhao Jintong's family, always bullying people weaker than themselves.
Perhaps Mother had been right: he'd filled his days with wild imaginings, so they followed him into his dreams. Now that he no longer dwelt on them, the nightmares had stopped.
Having settled the matter in his own mind, Gu Lanshi came back to himself, picked up the laundry board, and scrubbed the clothes vigorously. The discomfort in his chest gradually dispersed.
*
Early in the morning, no one in the Gu family went to the fields. They stayed home and kept busy.
Gu Tieshan and Gou'er swept the front and back courtyards. While Miao Qiulian swept the main room, she told Gu Lanshi to change his clothes. He was not to help with the sweeping or lighting the stove, lest he get himself dirty.
She also called outside, "Zhu, once the water's boiled and you've ladled it out, come inside and change your clothes."
"Yes, Mother!" Zhu's voice came from the kitchen.
Fang Jinfeng was visiting today. Although it was only a preliminary inquiry from the matchmaker, marriage was an important matter and the occasion couldn't be slighted. Once the small chores were finished, everyone would change into clean clothes without patches.
They had barely finished when a visitor arrived, just as expected.
Gu Lanshi was doing needlework in his mother's bedroom. Normally, when a guest visited, courtesy required him to come out and offer a greeting. Today he didn't need to. He sat on the heated bed and bent his head over an embroidered handkerchief.
Such proceedings weren't unfamiliar. He had two older sisters, after all. When his second sister was being matched, she'd taken him along both when the matchmaker visited and when the prospective families met.
Zhu came in from outside, kicked off his shoes, climbed onto the bed, and whispered with a grin, "Brother Lanshi, Auntie Jinfeng's here."
"I know. Sit properly. Come over here, and don't mess up the folded bedding or you'll get scolded." Gu Lanshi saw that he was about to lean back against the neatly stacked quilts and hurriedly called him to sit beside him instead.
As they spoke, Miao Qiulian and Fang Jinfeng entered one after another.
Whenever Fang Jinfeng worked as a matchmaker, she dressed neatly, her hair carefully arranged and fastened with a silver pin. She was all smiles. Seeing Gu Lanshi, she remarked, "Lanshi really has grown up."
"Please sit, Auntie." Gu Lanshi shifted farther in on the bed. He and Zhu moved the low bed table outward. Tea and fruit had already been arranged on it.
Fang Jinfeng and Miao Qiulian sat at the edge of the bed and chatted about ordinary household matters. Every now and then their eyes returned to the handkerchief Gu Lanshi was embroidering.
He didn't interrupt. Only when someone addressed him directly did he offer a sentence or two. Otherwise he kept his head lowered and pretended not to notice Fang Jinfeng assessing him.
Zhu, sitting beside him, didn't dare chatter either. He picked up a wild fruit and ate it.
After two cups of tea, Fang Jinfeng hovered a hand over her cup and laughed. "Sister-in-law, no more tea, thank you. Is his father at home as well?"
Miao Qiulian quickly set down the teapot. "He is, he is."
As they spoke, the two women climbed down and went into the main room. Catching Miao Qiulian's look, Zhu followed with the teapot and fruit.
Once they were all gone, Gu Lanshi let out a long breath. He put down his needlework and rubbed his neck. At least that ordeal was over.
In the main room, Fang Jinfeng was discussing the Lin family with his parents—their land, house, and household members, little else. Once his parents had heard everything and agreed, she could take their answer back to the Lins.
The next step would be to send Lin Jinpeng to help at Gu Lanshi's second paternal uncle's house. Gu Lanshi would make an excuse to visit his cousin Gu Lanzhi to do needlework so that the two could see one another.
The rituals sounded elaborate, but carrying them out didn't take long. Days came and went, and soon even the formal exchange of names had taken place. The Lin family now had his birth date and time and only needed to consult a fortune-teller to determine whether the match was auspicious.
At this stage, the marriage was almost certain. Even the villagers knew the two families were about to celebrate a happy event. Gu Lanshi began finding excuses to avoid people whenever he went out, since some teasing wives and male spouses were forever deliberately asking him awkward questions.
Once or twice might be tolerable, but after that it became tiresome. If he blushed, they laughed themselves silly. If he didn't, who knew what they'd say behind his back? Better not to encounter them at all.
It was already the fifth lunar month. The wheat had turned golden, and the farmers were so busy in the fields that they had no time for anything else. The fortune-telling would have to wait.
Gu Lanshi hurried toward the fields with a food basket over one arm and a small wrapped bundle in his hand. The sun blazed, bringing out a strong scent from the wheat stalks. Sweat trickled down his forehead and cheeks. He narrowed his eyes, and when a breeze finally came, it was hot too. He couldn't help feeling disappointed.
Zhu walked beside him carrying a clay water jar, complaining about the heat. "Even the wind feels like steam. It's unbearable!"
Gu Lanshi licked his dry lips. "We'll be done harvesting tomorrow."
Along the road, fallen ears and loose grains of wheat lay scattered on the ground. Several old people and children hurried to collect them. Some of the elderly were too old or had trouble with their legs and couldn't work in the fields. Some children were too young to do much harvesting, so their elders sent them out with baskets to glean. Others came from desperately poor families with little land or none at all and hoped to gather what they could.
Before he reached his family's field, Gu Lanshi spotted a stranger bending to pick wheat at its edge. Miao Qiulian, already harvesting near the middle, saw her too. She started toward the stranger and shouted, "Old Madam Cao! We haven't finished reaping our wheat, and you're already following on our heels to pick it up? Do you think there's no one in this family? Go on, get out of here!"
A fine harvest was cause for joy, but the heat made everyone irritable. Gu Tieshan turned as well and called with a frown, "Go somewhere else!"
Cao Xiaoqiao had always liked getting something for nothing, and age had made her more shameless. Many villagers disliked her. Several families had already driven her away, which was how she'd ended up here. Seeing Miao Qiulian coming toward her with a sickle, she quickly reached down to grab a few more fallen ears.
Gu Lanshi had never seen such shamelessness. Those ears were theirs. Even when grain fell from the stalks, the family who grew it had the right to glean it first. Only after they'd gone through the field could outsiders help themselves. It was practically an unwritten village rule. Who came to gather grain right in front of the owners?
Zhu moved even faster. He ran over and snatched the ears from Cao Xiaoqiao's hand. Young as he was, he understood only that they belonged to his family, and he refused to surrender them.
"You little bastard!" Cao Xiaoqiao snapped after being robbed of her handful. Seeing that her opponent was only a child, she even raised her hand to strike him.
"You try hitting my Zhu, you old hag!" Miao Qiulian shouted furiously. Gu Tieshan, who'd only meant to chase the old woman away and hadn't intended to quibble over a few ears, immediately ran toward them too.
Seeing the danger, Zhu hurried backward and instinctively squeezed his eyes shut, afraid of being hit.
Gu Lanshi was closest. He rushed forward in two steps and seized Cao Xiaoqiao's arm before she could strike his brother. "How dare you try to hit him!"
The Gu family converged on her in a fury. Cao Xiaoqiao wrested herself out of Gu Lanshi's grip and fled at once.
Gu Lanshi still held the food basket in his other hand. Rather than struggle with her, he let go. If the food spilled, the whole family would have to work hungry.
"Shameless old thing! Don't let me catch you again!" Miao Qiulian stormed over, cursing. Only when she saw that Zhu hadn't been hurt did her anger begin to settle.
