Volume One, Chapter 48: Transplanting the Blossoms

Time arrived at the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month.

Master Ma’s household began to get busy. Continuous banquet tables were set up—nothing else was done except butchering pigs day after day to make freshly cooked pork dishes, while Fourth Uncle Sun’s loose, unblended white liquor was available for anyone to drink freely.

During those days, the pigs seemed to have violated the laws of heaven, with two being slaughtered every single day.

To put it bluntly, catching, shaving, gutting, and partitioning a pig was strenuous physical labor. Back in those rural days, people offered money to the butcher, but the butcher would refuse it; at most, after finishing the meal, a chunk of pork would be hacked off and given to the butcher to take home.

With pigs being slaughtered daily, the butcher didn't even want the meat anymore, claiming he couldn't possibly finish eating it all, damn it.

In the countryside during winter, there were hardly any entertainment activities. Since something big was happening at Master Ma’s house, everyone came over to help out—eating, drinking, and boasting—bringing warmth and liveliness to the place.

There were too many people to fit inside the house, so this group of old and young men found themselves a proper job: they chopped down trees and built a large shed in Master Ma’s courtyard. There was wood aplenty, and combined with the heat from cooking and burning firewood, no exaggeration, one could walk around the courtyard wearing only a light undershirt without feeling cold.

Aunt Hua was wonderful. She bought Master Ma a groom’s outfit and also bought me several sets of clothes, from the inside out, every single piece brand new.

Time moved on to the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, the Lesser New Year.

Master Ma was truly homely, yet quite fancy, imitating those city folks by arranging a wedding motorcade.

Arranging a wedding motorcade was fine and dandy, but at least he could have found a few decent cars! Damn it, those vehicles chugged up slopes spewing thick black smoke, as if they weren’t running on gasoline, but on dried corn stalks instead.

Aunt Hua dressed up quite prettily. She had her hair permed, wore a red floral-patterned padded jacket paired with black woolen trousers, and adorned her head with a morning glory wreath. Her cheeks were flushed with shyness, making her look very lovely.

Master Ma wasn't too shabby either, sporting a suit and leather shoes with a wide necktie, but given his natural appearance, no matter how you looked at it, he resembled a giant macaque dressed up in human clothes.

When it came to the formal address ceremony, Qiuyue called out "Dad," which actually moved Master Ma to tears, and Master Ma immediately presented her with a large red envelope.

I also had to change my form of address and call her Master’s Wife, and I cried too, because the red envelope Aunt Hua gave me was later reclaimed by Master Ma.

Master Ma had accumulated plenty of good karma over half a lifetime, so a great many people came. To put it simply, there were twelve large round tables, and they had to go through four full rotations before everyone managed to get a meal.

There must have been at least five hundred people in attendance, and the monetary gifts alone totaled over sixty thousand yuan.

What concept was sixty thousand yuan? That year, growing ten mu of corn yielded an annual income of no more than five thousand yuan.

The villagers were sensible people as well. Master Ma had lived as a bachelor his entire life, and this could be considered his first true marriage. By three o'clock in the afternoon, the villagers had finished sweeping the courtyard and departed early.

Master Ma had truly found his true love. He and Aunt Hua exchanged no words, simply gazing deeply into each other’s eyes.

This person surnamed Xu figured they were just waiting for darkness to fall.

On the eve of the wedding, the family wasn’t allowed to sleep separately; Master and his wife stayed in the east room, while Qiuyue and I stayed in the west room.

Knowing that I harbored impure thoughts, Master Ma deliberately placed a kang table right between the two of us.

Hell, that wasn't just a kang table; it was the boundary line of Chu and Han on a Chinese chess board.

This person surnamed Xu genuinely wanted to act like a foot soldier crossing the river—first riding the horse, then launching the artillery, driving the grand carriage thousands of miles in a single day, fighting a battle that left not a single piece behind, and flattening the chessboard completely.

Master Ma was even more resourceful. This bastard turned on the cassette player and started playing *Shajiabang*, and later switched to Dan Tianfang’s *The White-Eyebrowed Hero*. Younger folks might not know this, but when a cassette tape reached the end, you had to flip it over. Master Ma was something else; he played *The White-Eyebrowed Hero* the entire night, listening to it back and forth on a loop.

(In Dan Tianfang’s tone) My esteemed listeners, just imagine, Master Ma as a newlywed groom, how many years had it been since he last touched a woman, hmm? He was truly vigorous in his advanced years, finding boundless joy in it. Let us set this matter aside and turn our attention to Aunt Hua. She was also at an age as fierce as a wolf and as ferocious as a tiger, like dry firewood encountering a blazing fire—a single spark could ignite a sea of flames. Throughout that night, Master Ma could be said to have passed through five passes and slain six generals; the two of them were truly a pair made in heaven and matched on earth.

Elder Sister Qiuyue was very sensible and turned off the lights early. This person surnamed Xu couldn't sleep, especially since Master Ma's *White-Eyebrowed Hero* sounded quite fascinating, playing on a loop over and over again.

I wanted to turn on the light, but Elder Sister Qiuyue reached out from beneath the quilt and directly pulled the lamp cord hanging below the edge of the kang. After trying a few times, this person surnamed Xu gave up.

Neither of us spoke. I guessed that Elder Sister Qiuyue couldn't sleep either, but at that moment, nothing surpassed the effectiveness of pretending to be asleep.

I really wanted to ask Elder Sister Qiuyue, "Has your mother had an IUD inserted?"

The family wasn't wealthy to begin with; if some little Taoist priest were to pop out, damn it, we wouldn't even have enough thin rice gruel to survive.

Early the next morning, I got up early because someone had to cook. To my surprise, Aunt Hua—ah, no, Master’s Wife—was already busy in the kitchen.

Seeing me come out, Master’s Wife stealthily took a red envelope from her pocket and handed it to me.

This person surnamed Xu was overjoyed.

Unexpectedly, as if Master Ma had opened his heavenly eyes, he roared from inside the room through the thick door curtain: "Don't give him money! This brat has impure thoughts; once he gets money, he'll surely run off to the county town to fool around with prostitutes."

Master’s Wife smiled and still stubbornly shoved the red envelope into my hands, saying it was pocket money for the upcoming New Year.

Master’s Wife said, "With your Master’s Wife here, there's no need for you to cook. Go inside and lie down; from now on, you won't ever need to cook."

A sudden urge to cry washed over me—I genuinely wanted to weep.

This person surnamed Xu had never possessed a home. To say nothing of further back, just one winter ago, I was still staying at the Earth God Temple. The only food in winter was hard steamed buns; toasted by the fire, those buns became scorched and rock-hard, requiring me to hold them in my mouth for a while before I could swallow, otherwise they would scrape my throat raw.

"Why are you crying? With Master’s Wife here, nobody is going to bully you."

Master Ma also shuffled out wearing his worn-out cotton shoes. Yesterday he was all dressed up in a suit and leather shoes, but today he had changed back into his tattered cotton-padded jacket.

Master Ma glanced at me and said, "Your Master’s Wife and I discussed it last night. Since we received over sixty thousand yuan in monetary gifts yesterday, we'll save sixty thousand of it for your future bride. I can still work for a few years; by the time you get married, saving another hundred thousand or so won't be a problem. Then I'll give you one hundred thousand, and give your sister one hundred thousand."

I sniffled, fought hard to hold back my tears, and said earnestly, "Master, I'll sleep in the side room in the courtyard."

Master’s Wife protested, "Why sleep there? It's the dead of winter, how freezing cold! Your sister is only home during winter and summer breaks, you can just live together."

"It's inconvenient."

"What's inconvenient about it? If you're shy, Master’s Wife will make a curtain for you."

Master Ma chimed in, "Let him sleep in the side room. The girl is grown up; what kind of sense does it make for a young man and a young woman to share the same kang? We two males will sleep in the side room in the courtyard."

Master’s Wife wouldn't yield, but Master Ma's attitude was resolute. In the end, Master’s Wife couldn't win against him, so the two of us males moved to the side room. Every single day, Master’s Wife would come over to light the stove and warm the kang for us.

Master Ma was really a stand-up guy, sleeping with me every single night, though in the middle of the night—whether sleepwalking or doing goodness knows what—every time I woke up in the small hours, Master Ma would be nowhere in sight, and then in the morning I would invariably be woken up by Master Ma's roaring snoring.

Master Ma was truly an old Taoist adept, having real magic indeed, pulling off a switcheroo right under this person surnamed Xu's nose.