Chapter 1039: May you bear a child soon
“Have you ever considered that even though you can turn your fellow tribespeople into copper corpses after they pass away from their illnesses and keep them around to commemorate them, they’re actually still dead?” Li Shentan asked. “So wouldn’t it be better to treat them medically with scientific methods while they’re still alive? I know of a place that has a pretty good standard of medical treatment. It’s called the Northwest….”
Lian Yi glared at him. “Our Lian tribe will not leave Xiuzhuzhou. Even if we lack medical care here at Xiuzhuzhou, it’s still better than leaving to suffer the hardship of war.”
When Li Shentan heard that, he knew he could not just use a simple ploy to lure her to the Prosperous Northwest.
From the looks of it, the Lian tribe was quite determined to avoid the rest of society.
However, he was still a little curious. “By the way, you just said you went to gather herbs. Have you found some medicinal herbs to treat the illnesses?”
Lian Yi answered, “It’s not enough to make them recover fully just yet, but it can help ease their suffering. This medicinal herb is also quite miraculous. It can help ease their pain quickly when applied on external wounds, but they’ll become quite immobile after the application.”
Li Shentan thought to himself, ‘Isn’t that just an anesthetic?’
So it appeared the Lian tribe’s way of treating a fever was just to use anesthesia? By numbing the patients, they would not feel pain anymore, and that was equivalent to curing their illnesses?
Li Shentan pondered this for a long time and realized he could not fault the logic of such a method!
The village stronghold of the Lian tribe was located ten kilometers south of the underground parking garage. From the outside, it did not look like there was anything special about the small stronghold. However, it looked quite unique and refreshing as it was situated amid lush greenery.
Most of the households in the village were two-story buildings constructed out of trees. Some of the windows were open, and colorful floral garlands hung on the window handles. It looked like the flowers had just been freshly plucked.
Curious, Si Liren asked, “Why are there garlands hanging on some of the windows but not the others?”
Lian Yi answered, “The houses with the garlands identify the women who are open to walking marriages.”
Walking marriage was probably a very unfamiliar term to the Central Plains people.[1]
Over here, only the women were allowed to live on the second floor of their houses. Once they opened their windows and hung out the garlands, it signified men could climb in through the windows in the middle of the night to consummate the marriage. If the garlands on the windows were no longer there and got replaced by a hat instead, it would mean the woman in the house had already chosen her partner, and no one should disturb them.
In the village, the women called their male lovers “ah’zhu,” while the men called their female lovers “ah’xia.”
When the men went to their ah’xias’ homes to spend the night, they would have to leave before dawn the next day. Otherwise, it would be considered very rude.
This was why there was a very strange phenomenon going on in the village. During the day, all the men would be cooped up at home, and it was possible that seven brothers could be cooped up together until they headed out to find their ah’xias at night.
If one of the seven brothers had not found their ah’xia yet, he would be the only one left at home during the night. This would put them in an exceedingly miserable state.
A grand bonfire party was held every night in the village to create opportunities for the tribespeople to find their ah’xias and ah’zhus.
As a result, it was very joyous in the village every single day… that was, if no one was sick.
In this village, the men did not have to do any work. A lot of people thought that in a matriarchal society like this, the women could enjoy everything like a queen bee. But actually, the women here were very hardworking. They were very capable and used their copper and silver corpses to provide themselves with free labor.
Many people would probably have the same thoughts as Li Shentan if they heard about the Lian tribe’s corpse refinement practice. They would probably assume the copper and silver corpses were definitely used for killing people like how such things were described in tall tales.
But in fact, the copper and silver corpses of the Lian tribe were mostly used only to farm.
In the village, other than the gold corpses, the rest of the corpses were basically just tools for labor.
Li Shentan looked at the short and fat copper corpse not far away and suddenly felt that it was getting cuter.
Back at the teahouse in Luoyang City, he had heard stories about corpse refinement. However, those stories were all related to fighting and killing. He did not expect that when he came into actual contact with corpse refinement, this term would suddenly become so down to earth.
When Lian Yi and the others escorted Li Shentan back, many people from the village came to watch and asked what was going on.
When everyone found out that Lian Yi had finally found her ah’zhu, they gave her their most sincere blessings.
“Hey, wait a minute,” Li Shentan said to the crowd, “why are you all making it sound like we’re already married? You don’t have to give your blessings so early. Surely there’s still some leeway regarding this matter, right?”
These words were like a dying patient telling their doctor they could still be saved.
But the crowd ignored him and continued giving their blessings to Lian Yi.
Under normal circumstances, women from the Central Plains would definitely become very shy in this situation. However, Lian Yi did not feel that way. She accepted all of their blessings calmly and promised she would definitely bear a child soon.
These words dumbfounded Li Shentan!
What did she mean by they were going to have children soon?!
Just who was the lunatic here? Why did it feel like the woman was much crazier than him? Li Shentan felt offended.
When everyone escorted Li Shentan to Lian Yi’s place, he realized she lived in the largest house in the entire village. In the middle of the house was a fireplace built out of stone. The fire within was burning brightly.
To the Lian tribe of Xiuzhuzhou, the tribal leader’s fireplace symbolized the prosperity of the entire Lian tribe. It must not be extinguished, or it would mean the tribe would suffer a great calamity.
When Lian Yi reached home, she said coldly to Li Shentan in front of everyone, “You’re my first ah’zhu and will also be my last, so this is your honor. Why do you look so unhappy? If I didn’t think that you were handsome, I wouldn’t have gone through all that trouble.”
Lian Yi’s vision allowed her to see in the darkness, so Li Shentan’s dashing appearance in his tuxedo in the underground parking garage charmed her.
The women of the Lian tribe were straightforward and direct. If Lian Yi said she wanted him to be her consort, he would have to be her consort.
Off to the side, a middle-aged woman from the Lian tribe said, “Chief, I think this person is a little fierce. You have to be more careful than usual. Watch over him more often and discipline him more than normal.”
Li Shentan looked at her in a speechless manner. ‘Why are there so many “mores”? Just how worried are you, really?’
But Lian Yi shook her head and said, “Don’t worry, I’ve already refined the Scarlet Gu and can use it on him.”
When the womenfolk of the Lian tribe heard this, they were relieved. “Chief is still the best. You even managed to refine the Scarlet Gu.”
With that, Lian Yi took out a small cinnabar box from her house. Li Shentan asked frostrily, “Whaddafuck?”
Lian Yi was stunned. After thinking for a long time, she replied, “Wannafuck? Yes.”
Li Shentan was surprised. ‘Lady! Should you be talking like this in front of all these people? More importantly, that’s not what I was asking! What I wanna know is, what is this Scarlet Gu used for?!’
[1] In a walking marriage, both partners live under the roof of their respective extended families during the day; however, at night it is common for the man to visit and stay at the women’s house (if given permission) until sunrise. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosuo#Walking_marriages
