The Good Days We Make - Chapter 1

The Shi family, hunters who lived up in the mountains, sent a matchmaker to ask for my hand. Ma and Pa couldn’t decide whether to agree.

My elder brother and his wife were eager to marry me off, and yet they weren’t.

With me married, there would be one less mouth to feed, and a betrothal gift for the family besides.

I had never met Shi Ding, the man they wanted me to marry.

The matchmaker said he was tall and sturdy, strong as could be, and a skilled hunter. Marry him, and I would be sure of enough to eat and warm clothes to wear.

Most importantly, the Shis were willing to give us a wild boar as the betrothal gift, and buy cloth for two new outfits for me.

Traded for coarse grain, that boar, together with our assorted pickles, the vegetables we grew, the wild greens we dug up, and the mushrooms and chestnuts we gathered, would feed the family for a year.

Ma, Pa, my brother, and his wife were won over at once. My sister-in-law had been married into the family for over a year without having a baby, all because she never had enough to eat.

I pressed my lips together and said nothing.

The matchmaker looked at Ma and Pa. “Then shall I have Shi Ding bring the boar over another day, to make the betrothal official?”

Pa glanced at me before answering, rather uncertainly, “All right.”

Whether I wanted it or not, nobody cared.

Compared with village girls who were beaten and cursed at for the slightest thing, I had it good.

When the whole family went hungry, so did I. When everyone had enough, I had enough too. Ma and Pa didn’t take a stick to me or twist my ears over every little thing, either.

Before bed that night, Ma came to the room I shared with my two younger sisters.

“Dani, you know how things are at home. Your pa and I have no other way. I’m afraid you’ll have to bear it.”

I gave a muffled reply and turned away, letting my tears fall in secret.

What girl hadn’t dreamed of marrying a fine husband who could read and write?

But country girls like me mostly married farmers, then spent the rest of their lives bent over the fields just the same.

The day Shi Ding arrived with the boar over his shoulder, Ma and Pa welcomed him warmly and told me to bring him some water.

As I carried it over, he stood up at once.

Sitting down, he was like a small mountain. On his feet, he really was enormous.

Like the village men, he was tanned dark by the sun. He took the bowl nervously and pulled his mouth into a smile, showing a mouthful of big white teeth.

“Th-thank you.”

He didn’t dare look at me, and I didn’t get much of a look at him either.

All I remembered was how bright his eyes were, and how white his teeth.

I was standing in the kitchen doorway, looking at the boar in the yard, when Ma came in.

“Dani, do you like him? Once we accept that boar, there’ll be no going back on the marriage. If you don’t want him, we’ll have him take it away in a moment…”

Ma and Pa certainly wouldn’t want to part with that boar.

She was only asking because she was afraid I might make a scene.

Just then, Shi Ding walked over to the boar and looked up at me. The instant our eyes met, my heart beat a little faster. I hurriedly turned my head away and answered Ma shyly.

“I do want to.”

Ma broke into a smile. “Good girl. Good girl.”

After the match was settled, Shi Ding came twice more.

Once, he brought several lengths of cloth in different colors, saying they were for my clothes. Ma said there was more than enough for an outfit in each color. The scraps wouldn’t make children’s clothes, but they would do for babies. She would give me half as part of my dowry and keep the other half.

The next time, he brought two pheasants and two wild rabbits. He called me aside and slipped a silver bangle into my hand.

“Would you put it on, so I can see?”

His voice was very soft, a little husky, and trembling.

He was nervous. My own face burned with shyness as I carefully put on the bangle.

He grinned. “Looks lovely.”

Then, hopefully, “Do you like it?”

I nodded gently, then, afraid he might not understand, whispered, “I do.”

“Then once I’ve saved a little, I’ll buy you a gold one.”

Gold! I hardly dared imagine it.

Never mind a gold bangle. Even this silver one would have me smiling in my sleep.

Some of my older female cousins on Pa’s side made such a show of their silver rings and earrings.

Now I had something too.

A gift from my future husband.

I would no longer be beneath them, for them to look down on, mock, and sneer at.