My sister-in-law, Tian Cuihua, was barely eighteen when she married my elder brother, a young maiden in the truest sense.
Back then, she was skinny with a waist as slender as a pencil. But she was very fair, her face, wrists, neck were all pale white, resembled a snowball. Under her arching willow-brow were her large eyes, dark as obsidian, hooded by her vibrant crimson wedding dress.
My elder brother, holding her hand, worshipped heaven and earth, then they stepped into their bridal chamber.
As darkness fell, and all relatives and friends had left, father and mother immediately ordered me to eavesdrop under my elder brother and sister-in-law's window.
"Our traditions in Lihua Gorge dictate that the younger brother must eavesdrop on the wedding night," they said. It was obligatory. It would be inappropriate not to.
The purpose was to see if my elder brother and sister-in-law could engage in something more intimate, perhaps even conceive a child, so I could report back to our parents later.
As their command was absolute, I, being a son, couldn't refuse. So, enthusiastically, I headed for the mission.
Pure and naive me approached the window on tiptoe, first licked my finger and gently poked a hole through the window paper. I closed my eyes before peeking in.
Inside, all was quiet, and the big, red candles fluttered.
There were two quilts on the earthen bed, with two people, two heads, neatly side by side. On the left was my sister-in-law with long hair, and on the right was my brother with short hair. Neither of them were asleep.
It was no wonder really, a maiden sharing a bed with a stranger... who could sleep in such a situation?
I felt stifled observing from outside. Typically, on the wedding night, the couple should be getting closer, so why were they separately resting? Moreover, they hadn't even disrobed yet.
At first, nothing happened. After about fifteen minutes, my older brother took the initiative, hesitantly tugged at my sister-in-law's clothes, and softly asked, "Cuihua... are you asleep?"
My sister-in-law replied, "I am asleep."
To which my elder brother retorted, "If you're asleep, how can you answer me?"
The sister-in-law says, "I'm just talking in my sleep."
The elder brother made a proactive move, nudging closer to the sister-in-law, and asked, "Cuihua, starting from today, we'll be man and wife. Do you know what marriage means, being husband and wife?"
The sister-in-law says, "Well, being married means just that, living life together. What else could it mean?"
Cuihua's simplicity and cluelessness made her eldest brother, Yang Chuba, laugh. He said, "It means... a man and a woman... sleeping together."
Cuihua blinked her big eyes, "Aren't we sleeping together already?"
"That kind of sleeping I'm referring to, it's not like this," the elder brother didn't know how to explain to his sister-in-law and could only try to gently steer her thoughts.
Flummoxed, Cuihua asked, "Then how should we sleep?"
"It's like a man and woman... undressing... and then sleeping," the elder brother took the explanation a step further.
"Why do we need to undress to sleep?"
"Our mother said, on the wedding night... not undressing isn't right."
Cuihua muttered to herself, "So many rules." She then dutifully started to undress. In the blink of an eye, she was clothless, and casually tossed her clothes beside her onto a chair through the gap in the quilt.
I stood outside the window and laughed, this was becoming an interesting show and decided to keep watching...
First, a distinct womanly scent wafted towards me, emanating from the body of my sister-in-law, an extraordinarily pleasant aroma.
Cuihua was wearing a belly band on her upper body that left her arms bare. Her arms were as white as snow, and to my surprise, I could see her round... the lower part was hidden inside the quilt, unclear to the eye.
Just my luck, my short-sightedness had me scratching my head in frustration... just like an owl.
Peering keenly through the cracks in the window, I wished I could pluck my eyes out to take a closer look at what was happening beneath my sister-in-law's quilt.
Then, I made a new discovery, my brother's breathing was uneven, his chest rising and falling erratically. His eyes, too, were glowing brightly, like those of a leopard.
Suddenly, he rolled over and pulled Sister Cuihua into his arms…
Perhaps my brother was too forceful, frightening his wife. Cuihua let out a shriek: "Chu Ba, what are you doing? What are you doing?"
My brother, eager and impatient, responded: "Mother told us that on our wedding night, we should sleep in each other's arms. It wouldn't be right otherwise..."
Cuihua was already panic-stricken, and when my brother pulled her closer, she was scared out of her wits, she hurriedly protested: "No, no! Chu Ba, stay away from me!"
She reacted with a swift kick. The suddenness caught my brother off guard, and he ended up kicked off the edge of the bed onto the floor...my poor elder brother let out a howl of pain.
Terrified, Cuihua reached out to help him: "Brother Chu Ba, what happened? Get up, get up, I didn't mean to, are you hurt?"
My brother, showing courage despite his pain, grinned and waved it off: "I'm fine, I'm fine, it's not your fault... I was just not being careful…"
Outside the window, I jumped in fright. "Heavens!" I thought to myself. "This woman is way too fierce! How could she just kick her husband on their wedding night? No sense of propriety at all!"
My brother, too, was disappointing. Allowing himself to be manhandled by a woman made me anxious on behalf.
He was unmanly, he should have disciplined her properly, slapped her buttocks 365 times with his shoe sole. Set the rules straight…otherwise, wouldn't he continue to be oppressed by her for his entire life?
As the saying goes, "The eunuch is more anxious than the emperor." In my anxiety for my brother, I slammed a fist onto the window, causing it to creak loudly.
Regretting my rashness, I feared the noise had alarmed my brother and sister-in-law inside the room. Cuihua quickly ducked under the cover, only revealing a small head from under the quilt, and barked out, "Who's there?!"
Sensing trouble, I chuckled nervously and bolted, skittering off like a cat back to my own room.
Turning his head, he saw his older brother clutching his lower ab, slowly getting up and peeping out the window.
Inside the quilt, Cuihua asked, "Who's out the window?"
His brother, concealing his groin, got up, taking a stand on one foot and peering out the window. He saw a fleeting figure vanish.
From inside the quilt, Cuihua asked, "Who is it outside the window?"
His older brother replied, "It's my younger brother, Chūjiǔ."
"What's he doing?"
"Eavesdropping presumably…"
Cuihua laughed lightly and said, "That rascal, sneaking peeks at other people's secrets."
Returning to his room, he could not fall asleep. His mind was filled with the image of the unclad Cuihua.
He also felt quite aggrieved - while his brother and sister-in-law were warming their bodies under the covers, cuddling, displaying affection and enjoying themselves, he was outside, in the cold, practically freezing. It was grossly unfair.
What was so good about eavesdropping? The temperature was around negative eleven to twelve degrees Celsius, the wind churning around like a blade. Was he just foolish?
However, he was genuinely happy for his brother because he had claimed the most beautiful girl of the village.
Cuihua was stunningly attractive, not just liked by the younger men of their village but also the older men, who behaved like stray dogs with a bone when they saw her.
Cuihua and his brother's marriage was not a love marriage. It was completely arranged by their parents. The countryside did not promote love marriages. The parents usually arranged marriages for their children.
As a younger brother, he, of course, wished for a blissful marriage for Cuihua and his brother. If everything went well, by next year he could be the uncle to their child.
Thinking of my mischievous and adorable nephew, I drifted off into a sweet dream…
Early the next morning, before I even woke up, something happened…
Deep in my sleep, a sudden cold gust of wind swept across, the blanket was ripped off…
*Smack* - A crisp sound resonated. Someone had slapped my butt. The sound was pleasant and beautiful, which seemed to linger around, worrisomely inescapable.
You see, I have a sleeping habit of sleeping bare, wearing absolutely nothing. Only when I’m stark naked can I truly feel comfortable.
It’s not uncommon for the children in the countryside to sleep without any underwear.
I have no idea who invented underwear. It's just not a pleasant thing, it feels like being strapped with armour, utterly uncomfortable.
The sting on my buttocks was lingering, “Who the hell slapped my butt?!” I grumbled as I sprang up from the bed.
That slap sent ripples of shock through my body, like I have been electrocuted.
I opened my eyes in shock, and it was Cuihua, my sister-in-law... She stood with her hands on her hips, looking at me in an imposing manner.
"What...what are you doing?" I was fuming, hastily pulling the blanket over my exposed parts.
Unabashedly, Cuihua responded, "I was spanking a thousand splendors and ten thousand purples into you!"
I was confused and asked, "What happened?"
"You don't know what you did?"
"I have no clue…”
"Get dressed first..."
God knows what happened, and why is Cuihua so angry? Hurrying up to pull the quilt pants into the duvet, legs slid into them.
Without having the time to tie the waistband, I grabbed the cotton-padded jacket, then rolled over to get off the kang bed.
Cuihua's eyes were always aiming at me, but I'm clever, not letting her see anything.
Want to take advantage of me? No way!
"Were you the one who eavesdropped outside the window last night?"
While I was tying my belt, I answered, "Yes, pa and ma sent me, they said when my elder brother and sister-in-law get married, the younger brother must listen in, it would be bad not to."
"Hmm... what did you see then?" Cuihua blinked and asked.
I said, "I didn't see anything, I just saw you and my brother undressed wrestling..."
