Yan Lianke - Marrow

Fourth Wife You asked, ‘So, none of you is married?’

The eldest son bowed his head and replied, ‘No, we’re not.’

Fourth Wife You said, ‘My daughter is twenty-eight years old, by the lunar calendar.’

Eldest Brother replied, ‘In my family, Second Brother is thirty-five, Third Brother is thirty-three, Fourth Brother is thirty, and Fifth Brother is only twenty-seven.’

Stone You said, ‘Either Second Brother or Third Brother would be fine.’

Fourth Wife You said, ‘I think it would be best to have my daughter marry Fourth Brother, since the two of them are closest in age.’

Eldest Brother replied, ‘Of the five of us, Fourth Brother is definitely the most handsome. He is trained as a carpenter, and a matchmaker has already offered to set him up with a young woman from a neighbouring village.’

Fourth Wife You asked, ‘How about Third Brother?’

Eldest Brother said, ‘Third Aunt mentioned that your third daughter has epilepsy, but is not unattractive. I understand that she can work and cook, and can even sew. Our second brother is deaf, having lost his hearing as a result of a fireworks accident when he was young, but apart from that there’s nothing wrong with him. Do you think your daughter could get engaged to Second Brother?’

Stone You said, ‘She and Second Brother would make a good match.’

Fourth Wife You said, ‘That won’t do. I want to find a wholer for Third Daughter to marry. If only I can find her a wholer, then our family wouldn’t need any betrothal gifts. In fact, we’ll even give the groom’s family a dowry chest, a double bed made from ailanthus wood, and a bedding set, together with two sets of year-round men’s clothing.’

Stone You asked, ‘Can we really provide all that?’

Fourth Wife You replied, ‘Don’t interfere.’

Eldest Brother said, ‘That is certainly a lot of gifts. But my brothers are interested in marrying a wife, not just things.’

Fourth Wife You said, ‘We would be willing to accept any of the brothers, except for the deaf one.’

Eldest Brother stood up and was about to walk away. He said, ‘Even if we were to let our deaf brother marry your daughter, it would only be because we were doing Second Aunt a favour.’

Fourth Wife You also stood up and said angrily, ‘Go on, leave. May you all remain single for the rest of your lives.’

Stone You tried to pull Fourth Wife You aside, but she knocked his hand away. Eldest Brother stood there, unsure of what to do. He watched as his third aunt walked out of the kitchen. Fourth Wife You turned around and walked briskly toward the door. In the street there were many villagers who had just got off work, and everyone looked at her and urged her to return to at least have lunch before leaving. She, however, merely looked back at Eldest Brother, who was left standing stock still in the courtyard of the tile-roofed house. She repeated, ‘Other than the deaf one, can we marry any of the others?’ Seeing Eldest Brother shake his head, she walked away.

She left behind a table full of food.

By this point, the sun was already high in the sky and a thin mist was rising up out of the mountain ridge. In the distance, the smoke from Wu Ravine Village gradually dissipated. Fourth Wife You ate some grain, drank some spring water, then followed her husband Stone You’s directions and visited several other villages. There, she met a number of men, but either they didn’t want Third Daughter because of her illness, or else Fourth Wife You didn’t want them because they were not wholers. She walked so far that her entire body ached, but in the end she couldn’t find a husband for her daughter. She headed back toward the Balou Mountains, and on the way drew near her Eldest Daughter’s village. From a distance, she saw her Elder Daughter’s husband hobbling around in their apple orchard, irrigating the trees. He was alone, and in the empty mountain range he resembled a three-legged ox ploughing the fields. Fourth Wife You’s tears began streaming out.

Stone You asked, ‘What’s wrong?’

She said, ‘I’ll find Third Daughter a husband if it kills me.’

Proceeding along the mountain path in the direction of Eldest Daughter’s village, she saw clearly her daughter’s twin caves, straw stove, and an apple orchard with no apples. The orchard represented the family’s hopes and dreams, and after they planted the sprouts several years earlier, Eldest Daughter’s crippled husband irrigated them, caring for them as though they were his own children. Eldest Daughter mended her husband’s clothing, cooked food, and waited for those sprouts to grow into trees and begin producing fruit. But after three years, all of their neighbours’ fruit trees were full of red blossoms, while her family’s had only a few green sprouts without a trace of red. The following year, the trees in every other orchard were heavy with fruit, while her family’s had just a few green apples that were as small as dates. As every other family was madly selling their fruit, Eldest Daughter had a nervous breakdown. She rushed into the orchard and began cursing her husband, saying, ‘You promised me that if we planted an apple tree, within three years we would have enough money to buy me a colourful new shirt. I want that new shirt!’ Cripple sat under the tree and stared into space, despair etched into the mountain-like ridges on his face. He became increasingly distressed by his wife’s shouts, and suddenly lifted one of his crutches and violently brought it back down again. Eldest Daughter’s head began bleeding and her mouth began foaming, whereupon she fell to the ground unconscious.

At that point Fourth Wife You was out in the field picking beans. Her husband Stone You rushed over and told her what had happened. She immediately went to her daughter’s house, several dozen li away. When she arrived in their courtyard, she saw that Cripple was in the process of chopping down the fruit trees, and one entire hillside was already stripped bare. Fourth Wife You rushed up to him and asked, ‘Are you crazy?’

Cripple responded, ‘Even our fruit trees won’t bear fruit; I simply can’t endure it any more.’

Fourth Wife You asked, ‘Did you use the same sprouts as everyone else?’

Cripple replied, ‘I bought them from the nursery.’

She asked, ‘Did you use pesticide?’

Cripple replied, ‘These trees didn’t have any insects to begin with.’

She asked, ‘Did you graft them with a different strain?’

Cripple asked, ‘What do you mean?’

She explained, ‘I notice that other people first plant seedlings, and then the following year they ask someone to graft them.’

Cripple stared at his chopped down trees, then he dropped his axe and began slapping his own face, exclaiming, ‘My legs are stunted, but how is it that my mind is also stunted? My legs are crippled, but how is it that my mind is also crippled?’ He stared up into the sky and began raving, ‘How could I not know that I needed to graft them? How could I not know?’ He collapsed and, like Eldest Daughter, lay unconscious in the middle of the orchard.

The life of Eldest Daughter’s family was a dark alley, and although they could occasionally discern a light at the end, it nevertheless seemed that they could never make their way out. Eldest Daughter and her husband planted another crop of fruit trees, and Cripple cared for the seedlings as though they were his own children. The seedlings produced green sprouts, and at the beginning of the year Eldest Daughter and her husband performed a graft. But, though that year apples were as plentiful as sweet potatoes, they weren’t able to sell a single one of theirs. Even though he wasn’t able to sell his apples, Cripple nevertheless needed to hobble down to the river to fetch water to irrigate his crops, as if he planted fruit trees and fetched water for some purpose other than earning money. When Stone You passed by that orchard, he saw Cripple carrying the water up the hill, and the shrimp that had jumped out of the bucket were crawling around on the dry hillside. Stone You stood there watching from a distance, his hand up to his forehead to shield his eyes from the sun. His face looked deathly pale.