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Insects as food, culture clash, general rudeness about foreign cultures, fatphobiaWu Ruo who had turned around so that his back faced Hei Xuanyi felt especially guilty. He felt that the him of a few moments ago was really crazy, that’s why he would want to use his fingertip to poke Hei Xuanyi’s face. He wasn’t sure if Hei Xuanyi had gotten upset.
He waited for half a joss stick, yet Hei Xuanyi didn’t reprimand him, so he internally sighed a breath of relief. Actually, he was quite curious why Hei Xuanyi had to put a fake skin on his face. Was it because he was afraid that his enemies would recognise him? Or was it because he was afraid that people would find out his real identity? Or was it because he was too good-looking, so he didn’t like other people staring at him, that’s why he would wear the fake skin? Or was it because of some other reason?
Wu Ruo fell asleep as he was thinking about it.
In the early morning, as soon as it was maoshi15 am to 7 am in the morning., Hei Xuanyi opened his eyes right on time, gently getting out of bed to put on his clothes.
Wu Ruo, who was in his dreams, faintly sensed that the person by his side was rising out of bed, and blearily asked: “What shichen is it?”
“Maoshi.” Hei Xuanyi answered as he was putting on his clothes.
Wu Ruo dozed off for a bit again. Once Hei Xuanyi had left, then he got up and called Shi Yuan to enter and assist him in washing up and changing. Then, he went to the main hall in the front gardens to have breakfast with Hei Xuanyi and the rest.
Upon entering, he saw that Nu Mu was dressed in gorgeous and splendid robes that were exclusive to the Shaman tribe and sitting at the dining table. The embroidery on the robes was diverse and exquisite, and he was wearing a large silver headpiece engraved with the imagery of beasts. On his neck and his wrists hung an elegant large silver neckband and large bracelets made of silver. His face was also made up with light make-up, looking as if he was prepared to participate in a grand ceremony. Wu Ruo was dazed when he saw this.
“Master, what are you dressed in such fine robes for?”
Nu Mu replied, smiling: “The day after tomorrow is the winter solstice, according to the traditions of our Shaman tribe, we have to offer sacrifices like you too. In order not to get mixed up with the sacrificial offerings of Gaoling City, I’m completing the sacrificial offerings two days early.”
Wu Ruo asked: “Then where have you prepared to offer the sacrifices at?”
“I’ve already prepared a sacrificial altar in the main garden beforehand. In a bit, all of you can watch me offer the sacrifices. Since it’s not early anymore, Hei Xin, bring out the breakfast that I cooked this morning.”
Nu Mu instructed Hei Xin.
Hei Xin left the main hall with a strange expression. Not long after, he entered, bringing along with him the corpse servants who were carrying food boxes. Then, he took out the breakfast that was inside the food boxes and placed them on the table.
Wu Ruo looked at the various kinds of insects, staring wide-eyed: “This is breakfast?”
Hei Xuanyi saw that the little legs of the insects inside of the plates were still twitching, and the corners of his eyes couldn’t help but wrinkle up too.
Nu Mu explained: “Our Shaman tribe all eat these during the winter solstice.”
Wu Ruo: “…”
Could he forego eating it?
As if Nu Mu had heard his thoughts, he said: “Xiao-Ruo, your body has parasites, it’s not advisable for you to eat this.”
Wu Ruo smiled, delighting in the misfortune of others: “Really? That’s such a pity, Xuanyi, you have to eat more on my behalf.”
“…” Hei Xuanyi couldn’t see what Wu Ruo felt was such a pity.
“I can tell from one look that these insects are very nourishing. Xuanyi, you are far too skinny. Your waist circumference isn’t even half of my waist circumference, you need to eat more nourishing things.” Wu Ruo picked up the ladle and scooped a ladle full of fried grasshoppers into Hei Xuanyi’s bowl: “Eat slowly, if you can’t finish it, you can have it for supper.”
Hei Xin discreetly glanced at Wu Ruo’s waist circumference and silently thought, if the Master’s waist circumference was half as big as yours, he would be better off losing some weight.
Hei Xuanyi: “…”
Nu Mu nodded his head: “Don’t look at these dishes as hard to stomach, actually, they’re not bad when you eat them. Little Hei, try some, I guarantee that you’ll like the taste of it.”
Hei Xuanyi looked at the insects that were still moving. No matter how good the taste was, he still wouldn’t have any appetite to eat any of it. But being looked upon by two expectant gazes, it wouldn’t be good to reject their good intentions. His brows knitted together and he said: “I’ll eat after the sacrificial offerings.”
Wu Ruo laughed with a ‘puchi’2This is an onomatopoeia for the sound of muffled laughter., picking up a bun that the servants had served forth and placing it into his mouth.
Nu Mu was also aware that regular people weren’t able to stomach these insect dishes, so he didn’t force Hei Xuanyi either. After breakfast, he brought his people to the main garden for the sacrificial offerings.
Ten Shaman tribesmen were dressed similarly to Nu Mu. After Nu Mu lit up the torches around the sacrificial altar, they played the drums hanging from their waists as they danced3Specifically, the original Chinese text says 祈祷舞 (qi dao wu) which is a kind of dance that functions as a prayer to either ancestors or gods. It’s not specified here whether Nu Mu is offering sacrifices religiously or to ancestors. I couldn’t think of a good way to phrase it to specify that it’s a dance that is a prayer, so I’m leaving this in the footnotes. around the sacrificial altar in the snow. The bells on their body moved along with their dancing, letting out crisp and pleasant ‘ling-ling’4This is an onomatopoeia for the sound of bells ringing. noises.
Nu Mu stood on the sacrificial altar, using the language of the Shaman tribe to chant the sacrificial rite’s prayers to the drumbeat. It was as if he had been possessed by an old god, the scene was extremely solemn.
Hei Xuanyi and Wu Ruo spectated from the entrance of the main hall.
Wu Ruo said quietly: “During our Wu family’s sacrificial rites, the gods and deities do possess bodies. I wonder what kind of things happen during the Shaman tribe’s sacrificial rites.”
In the previous lifetime, although he knew that Nu Mu was someone from the Shaman tribe but he’d never seen Nu Mu perform sacrificial offerings before.
Hei Xuanyi glanced around at their surroundings: “Insects will come and go.”
“Ah?” Wu Ruo was stunned. Following that, he saw various insects, densely packed, gushing out from all four corners and eight directions, crawling towards the sacrificial altar. When he saw this he got goosebumps all over. If it wasn’t because his body was too big and too heavy that he couldn’t jump up, he really wanted to climb onto someone else’s body, to avoid the insects that were crawling past beneath his feet.
The sounds of many people shrieking came from outside Hei Manor. Everyone was especially frightened from suddenly seeing so many insects.
Not long after, the Wu family members in charge of protecting Gaoling City’s safety ran over to inquire about the situation. When they found out that someone was conducting sacrificial rites and saw that Nu Mu and the rest were storing all the insects from the city in a large pot that they’d brought, only then did they not interrupt Nu Mu and the rest.
Before the people from the Wu family left, they warned: “The day after tomorrow on the winter solstice, our Wu family will also be conducting sacrificial rites. All of you better not cause any trouble like you have today.”
When Wu Ruo heard this, he couldn’t help but think back on the incident that occurred during the Wu family’s sacrificial rites in his past lifetime. His gaze seemed to flicker and he tugged on Hei Xuanyi’s sleeves, saying: “The Wu family will be having their sacrificial rites at Xiangpu Temple the day after tomorrow, how about we go together and take a look?”
Hei Xuanyi gazed off into the distance, then turned back to look at Wu Ruo.
Wu Ruo said anxiously: “How about it?”
Hei Xin, who was standing behind them, cleared his throat lightly and considerately reminded: “Madam, Xiangpu Temple is on the highest mountain in the outskirts of Gaoling City.”
The underlying meaning was that: with Wu Ruo’s body condition, there was no way that he could climb up on his own. Even if there were people carrying him up, it would still be very difficult to reach the summit in this kind of weather with heavy snow.
Wu Ruo naturally understood the meaning behind Hei Xin’s words, but he had to go.
After a bit of an internal struggle, he thickened his skin and sucked up5Just as a fun fact, the Chinese phrase for “sucking up” to someone is to 拍马屁 (paimapi) which literally means to “smack a horse’s ass”. I think it references horse riding when people slap the horse’s butt to get them to move, but this is just a guess on my part without any actual research. to Hei Xuanyi, saying: “Hei Xuanyi, you’re so brilliant, surely you must have some way to get me up there, right?”
Hei Xin saw that Wu Ruo trusted in their master so much, and smiled slightly, not speaking up any further.
Hei Xuanyi heard his wife praising him, so even if there was no way, he would make a way: “I’ll arrange it.”
Wu Ruo smiled happily and turned his gaze towards Nu Mu and the rest, but he no longer had the heart to continue watching the sacrificial rites.
He felt that it really wasn’t very good that he kept relying on Hei Xuanyi. He was most afraid that one day, Hei Xuanyi would treat him just as Ruan Zhizheng had. It was still better to quickly recover his spiritual energy, this was the only way that he would be able to protect himself properly.
When Nu Mu completed the sacrificial rites, he took the insects that they had captured to cultivate into Gu parasites.
On the day of the winter solstice, before the sun had even risen, Wu Ruo was already being dug out from his warm blanket nest by Hei Xuanyi. Like wrapping a dumpling, he was wrapped up in layer after layer of outer robes and still had a thick outer cloak thrown on, heading to the main hall for breakfast. Afterward, he got onto a horse carriage with Hei Xuanyi and left the city.
After leaving Gaoling City and traveling for about 5 li6里 (li) is a traditional unit of length, about 150 zhang, and equivalent to 0.5 kilometres or 0.311 miles., the horse carriage suddenly stopped.
Hei Xuanyi leisurely glanced at Wu Ruo.
Suddenly, Wu Ruo sensed that the horse carriage was continuously rising upwards. Following that, the horse carriage started running forth. Its speed was much faster than before, just that he no longer heard the sounds of the horses’ hooves.
Not long after, Hei Gan who was sitting outside said: “Master, we’ve arrived.”
Wu Ruo was shocked: “We’ve arrived? Where have we arrived? At the foot of Xiangpu Temple’s mountain?”
Hei Gan simply drew the curtains open.
Wu Ruo alighted from the horse carriage and saw the two words at Xiangpu Temple’s entrance, indicating that they had already arrived at Xiangpu Temple.
He asked curiously: “How did we get up here?”
Hei Gan didn’t reply to him.
Wu Ruo guessed that it was probably the Gui and Guai by Hei Xuanyi’s side that had lifted them up the mountain.
The Xiangpu Temple monk responsible for welcoming guests walked over: “Welcome7The monk says 欢迎施主来到相菩寺 where he’s specifically referring to them as 施主 (shi zhu) which means patrons of a temple. to Xiangpu Temple.”
Wu Ruo asked: “Have the people from the Wu family arrived yet?”
The welcoming monk replied: “The patrons from the Wu family have already made it up halfway, they will still need about two joss sticks’ time before they can make it up to the summit.”
Wu Ruo was a bit cold from being blown at by the harsh winds, and tightened his robes around him, saying: “Then we’ll just look around on our own.”
“Alright.” After the welcoming monk left, the citizens who had come to take a look at the Wu family’s sacrificial rites arrived on the mountaintop one after another. The wide and spacious temple was very quickly stuffed full with many people. This was the most crowded day at the temple ever since the heavy snow had begun.
The citizens first entered the temple to offer joss sticks, then they came back outside to wait for the people from the Wu family.
After not much time had passed, Wu Bofang led the vast and mighty descendants of the Wu family to arrive at Xiangpu Temple. The general public cheered and welcomed them.
Wu Ruo saw Wu Qianqing and the rest, so he brought Hei Xuanyi over to them: “Dad, Mum, dage, Xiao-Xi.”
Wu Qianqing said, surprised: “Xiao-Ruo, how come you and Xuanyi have come8If you’re wondering why Wu Qianqing is surprised that Wu Ruo and Hei Xuanyi are there, it goes back to the fact that Wu Ruo married into the Hei family and is no longer officially part of the Wu family; the same way that daughters marry out of their maiden families. Wu Ruo is now considered someone of the Hei family and is no longer expected to participate in official Wu family events.
The sacrificial rites are considered a family event/occasion, and while outsiders are welcome to come and spectate, it’s mandatory attendance for anyone in the Wu family. They can’t just “opt-out” or decide not to show up.
Unless like Wu Ruo, they’ve married out into another family. So there’s no expectation or pressure on Wu Ruo, or his spouse, to show up. The Wu family probably expected that the Hei family has sacrificial rites or some sort of thing of their own going on, so Wu Ruo will have to attend that over the Wu family’s event.
Fortunately for Wu Ruo, he has Xuanyi wrapped around his pinky and his man will do anything for him.?”
“Xuanyi has never seen the Wu family’s sacrificial rites before, so I brought him here.”
Wu Xi curiously said: “Erge, how did you climb up here?”
She was already tired to death after making it up here, all the more her erge would not have the strength to climb to the summit.
Wu Ruo smiled with a mysterious expression: “I’m not telling you.”
“Erge is so mean.”
Wu Qianqing darted a look at the Wu family people who were a distance away, asking in low tones: “Xiao-Ruo, have you found someone who can cultivate the weapons?”
Wu Ruo glanced at Hei Xuanyi, nodding his head: “I found them.”
“Then when have you prepared to begin making the weapons?”
Wu Ruo narrowed his eyes: “I still need to wait for a while.”
He couldn’t use the materials right now yet.
“Hn, as long as you know what you’re doing, I won’t ask too much about this matter in the future anymore.”
Wu Qianqing brought Wu Zhu and the rest with him into the temple, standing according to their formation as they always had.
Wu Ruo counted as someone who had married out of the family, it wasn’t a big deal whether he participated or not, so he just stood by the side and spectated with Hei Xuanyi and the rest.
The Wu family’s sacrificial rites were not like Nu Mu’s Shaman tribe and didn’t require them to dance, but the process was very long.
Wu Bofang as the clan head first had to pay his respects to the temple’s deity, then he had to stand on the sacrificial altar and chant tediously long sacrificial prayers. Afterward, he had to lead all his descendants to pay their respects to the four cardinal deities and chant sacrificial prayers and pray for good fortune again.
During this time, everybody was not allowed to make any noises, including the spectators by the side, so the atmosphere was extremely strict and solemn.
At the end, Wu Bofang needed to invite the deity forth, and inquire to the deity about how well the following year would go.
This was a very important part of the proceedings, everyone would all hold their breaths. Average people were not able to sense the presence of the deity. Even Wu Bofang who invited the deity forth was only able to faintly sense the appearance of the deity.
After Wu Bofang asked the deity with a respectful expression, he stuck the three joss sticks that were in his hands into the incense burner. As he stared at the three joss sticks that continued burning, his stern countenance finally let betrayed a small smile.
Suddenly, with a ‘pa’ sound, the three joss sticks all broke.
Everyone’s expressions changed drastically.
Notes: On one hand, I want to smack Wu Ruo for doubting Hei Xuanyi, but on the other hand, I understand that trauma is very real and affects people deeply. I’m glad Xuanyi is working on becoming a man Wu Ruo can trust and rely on. It will really be so nice when they finally end up together.
Also, every time Ruan Zhizheng gets mentioned, I’m just the :/ emoji. Can’t wait for Wu Ruo to execute his revenge on that chucklefuck.
Thanks to everyone who reads Loser Wife!
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