Explore Chapter 5 of 'Little Erhei Gets Married' with the original Chinese text, English translation, detailed Chinese vocabulary explanations, and audio of the Chinese original. Listen and improve your reading skills.
Xiao Erhei was the second son of Er Zhuge. He once shot and killed two enemy soldiers during a counter-mopping-up campaign, earning himself the award of Top Sharpshooter. As for his striking good looks, he was renowned not only in Liujiajiao. Whenever the New Year festivities rolled around and the theatrical troupes performed, no matter which village he visited, the womenfolk would have their eyes glued to him.
Xiao Erhei never went to school, learning only a smattering of characters from his father. His formal education began at the age of six. His primers were neither the Four Books and Five Classics nor modern textbooks on general knowledge or language; instead, he started with esoteric systems like the Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, Five Elements, Eight Trigrams, and the Sixty-four Hexagrams. Later, he moved on to such arcane texts as the *Baizhong Jing*, *Yuxia Ji*, *Zengshan Buyi*, *Mayi Shenxiang*, *Qimen Dunjia*, and *Yinyang Zhai*. Being a clever lad, he quickly mastered all manner of fortune-telling tricks-calculating animal zodiac signs, performing the Six Ren divination, reciting the cycles of auspicious and inauspicious years, or chanting mnemonics like "Jiazi, Yichou, gold in the sea," a mnemonic for the sexagenary cycle. Er Zhuge loved to show off his son's precocious skills. The boy's quick wit and charming looks also made him a favorite plaything for the adults. One would say, "Er Hei, tell me what zodiac sign belongs to a ten-year-old!" Another would chime in, "Er Hei, cast a divination for me!" But then came the infamous incident. Er Zhuge, consulting his almanac, ended up missing the entire planting season after uttering the oracular judgment: “Unpropitious for Planting.” His wife complained, his elder son Da Hei complained, and the whole village turned it into a standing joke. Xiao Erhei, then thirteen and old enough to understand the mockery, bore the brunt of the ridicule. Yet the adults still treated him like a child, a handy prop for their jabs at his father. Visitors with a penchant for teasing would often ask Xiao Erhei right in front of Er Zhuge, "Er Hei! Tell us, is today suitable for... *Unpropitious for Planting*?" And when the boys his age quarreled with him, they'd chant in unison, "*Unpropitious for Planting*! *Unpropitious for Planting*!..." For months afterwards, Xiao Erhei avoided people out of sheer embarrassment. In the end, he made a pact with his mother, and together they resolved to have no more truck with his father's superstitious hocus-pocus.
Xiao Erhei and Xiao Qin had been sweet on each other for two or three years. He was just sixteen or seventeen then. It all started during the long winter nights when he'd tag along with the local idlers to San Xiangu's place for a bit of fun. He soon grew close to Xiao Qin, reaching a point where a day apart seemed unbearable. Some well-meaning villagers even offered to act as matchmakers. But Er Zhuge would have none of it, citing three objections. First, Xiao Erhei was born under a Metal fate, while Xiao Qin's fate was ruled by Fire, and fire melts metal-a most inauspicious clash. Second, Xiao Qin was born in the tenth month, considered an ill-omened time. And third, San Xiangu's reputation was, to put it mildly, unsavory. Just then, a group of refugees arrived from Zhangde Prefecture. Among them was an old man named Li, who brought with him an eight- or nine-year-old daughter. With no food to keep them alive, he was desperate to give the girl away to save her. Er Zhuge, seeing a bargain, first inquired meticulously about her exact date and hour of birth. After a long session of calculation on his fingers, he pronounced solemnly: "A match made across a thousand miles is tied by an invisible thread." And so he accepted the girl as a child bride-to-be for his son.
Though Er Zhuge proclaimed the match perfect in every conceivable way, Xiao Erhei would have none of it. Father and son argued for days. Er Zhuge was adamant about keeping the girl, but Xiao Erhei stood firm: "You keep her if you want to, but I'll have none of it!" In the end, the little girl stayed, but her exact status in the household remained forever undefined.