The Twin Sisters No One Wanted (1)
"Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang..."
As the gongs rang out again and again, Happiness Village came alive early that morning. Today marked the start of the first round of the government's wife-delivery program for the year.
Every October, the government began delivering wives to every village in the Great Zhou State. It would deliver another round of wives in November, followed by one final wife-delivery round in December.
Why start in October? Because the busy farming season was over by then. A man marrying a wife at that time would have both food to eat and plenty of time to make babies. The government officials had really taken pains over it—even delivering wives was done with careful planning.
Each time, however, the government delivered two wives at once to the home of a sixteen-year-old man. It delivered two more wives the second time, and another two the third time.
If these women had not been sent out by the time they turned sixteen, if no man had wanted them, what awaited them was being sent straight to a military camp to serve as military prostitutes. To these women, the rule was utterly inhumane.
That was because women sent to military camps as military prostitutes generally did not survive a year. Those soldiers had no sympathy or pity whatsoever for them.
They treated the women serving as military prostitutes with sheer brutality, depravity, and cruelty, venting the hostility and repression in their hearts.
Many women were tortured to death by the soldiers in this very way. In this feudal society where men were honored and women were scorned, women had no status to speak of. It was truly lamentable... tragic... ah!!!
This year, twelve men in Happiness Village had reached the age to take wives, so many of them all wanted to be the first to choose. They would all choose women who looked good at bearing children and doing physical labor to take home.
Thus, all of Happiness Village was bustling with excitement. Eleven men were choosing the women they fancied to take home, and of the eleven, the three brothers Damao, Ermao, and Sanmao were the quickest to choose their wives.
In just a few breaths, Damao and his two brothers had picked six women to take home. The three brothers were very satisfied with their own judgment.
At last, all the other men had finished choosing, leaving only a pair of twin sisters. The twins were so petite and frail that they looked as though a gust of wind might knock them over. No man would choose either of them.
This filled the twin sisters with deep sorrow and fear, and tears streamed down their faces despite themselves. The sisters clasped each other's hands, their whole bodies trembling.
They both knew that if no man chose them this time, they would be sent straight to a military camp as military prostitutes. Of ten who went to that place, none came out alive. It was purgatory, hell on earth.
At that moment, a government officer said, "Didn't you say Happiness Village had twelve men of marriageable age? Why have only eleven chosen wives? Where's the other man? Why didn't he come?"
"Sir, the one who hasn't come is called Zhou Yao. It's so early, perhaps he hasn't gotten up yet?" a villager explained.
Hearing this, the officer nodded and said, "You all know where this Zhou Yao lives, right? One of you, take me there. We'll see whether he takes a liking to these twin beauties."
"If Zhou Yao doesn't take a liking to these twin beauties, the two of them will be sent straight to a military camp as military prostitutes. After all, they'll turn sixteen in just a few days."
"The laws of our Great Zhou State stipulate that women must marry once they reach fifteen. If they still haven't married by the time they turn sixteen, they'll be sent straight to a military camp as military prostitutes."
"Come on, you two sisters. There's one last man. If he still doesn't take a liking to you twin beauties, you'll be sent to a military camp as military prostitutes."
"Don't blame me for it. If you must blame anything, you twin beauties can only blame your own bad luck and ill fortune. Not a single man has taken a liking to you."