Liu Su'e

Biodata

Background / History

Childhood and Marriage

Liu Su'e is the eldest of twelve children, with five younger sisters and six younger brothers. She helped raise her siblings and remains deeply concerned for their welfare after marrying. Her family’s poverty led to her marriage to Zhou Fusheng at twenty-one in exchange for a sack of grain 27.

As a child, she spent years in the capital learning cooking from her grandmother, including two years on an estate with a younger sister. Her grandmother’s employers later fell into trouble, implicating the grandmother’s family; Su'e does not know what became of them 34.

During her marriage, Su'e performed exhausting daily work for the Zhou household and rarely returned to her parents’ home. Unknown to her, her parents and brothers repeatedly tried to visit, only for Old Madam Zhou to insult and turn them away. On one occasion, her mother-in-law accepted their gift of two pheasants but still refused to let them see her 29.

Separation from the Zhou Family

When Old Madam Zhou attempts to sell five-year-old Zhou Wanwan to Pockmarked Liu for ten sacks of grain, Su'e refuses. She challenges the unequal treatment of her daughter and declares that she would rather leave the household than surrender her. Zhou Fusheng supports her, and their family is separated with no grain and only a dilapidated, roofless old house 1.

Su'e initially discourages her sons from confronting their grandmother, fearing that the family might lose even that shelter. Their situation worsens when the Zhou household refuses cooking utensils and the villagers bar them from entering Zhou Family Village. Amid these hardships, Wanwan calls her “Mother” for the first time, moving her to tears 2.

After the family gains a home and supplies in Wild Field Village, Su'e openly rejects the claim that Wanwan is a calamity star, calling her their family’s “great lucky star” instead 6 7.

Pockmarked Liu’s Death

After Wanwan kills Pockmarked Liu when he tries to sneak into her room, Su'e offers to tell the authorities that she killed him herself. Wanwan stops her, warning that a conviction could prevent her brothers from taking the imperial examinations 12.

Despite trembling with fear, Su'e carries the body into the mountains rather than burden her husband’s injured legs, then throws it into a deep pool. She later insists that everyone maintain the same account: they never saw Pockmarked Liu. When his father arrives with accusations, she angrily rejects his claim that Wanwan had been bought as his son’s wife 12 14 16.

Famine Preparations and Reunion

Su'e helps dig concealed cellars, move grain, and store water under Wanwan’s direction. Although she questions the urgency and scale of the preparations, she agrees to work through the night when her daughter insists that disaster is near 15 17 18 27.

Worried that her impoverished birth family will starve, she asks Wanwan to help them. Their nighttime visit to Liu Family Village reunites her with her parents and siblings after years apart and reveals how the Zhou household had obstructed contact. She refuses her father’s offer of fifty copper coins, knowing that his household is struggling too 27 29 30.

With Wanwan’s approval, Su'e helps reconnect the two households while keeping their grain reserves secret. She arranges for her brothers to help build livestock shelters and feeds the workers from Liu Family Village 30 32 34.

Renewed Conflict and a Safer Home

Su'e firmly rejects Zhou Fusheng’s lingering hope of returning to the Zhou household, telling him that she and the children will live elsewhere if he goes back. When Zhang Guilan later demands their house deed under threat of clan expulsion, Su'e takes up a broom and threatens to fight rather than surrender their home 29 35.

During the confrontation with the Zhou elders, she challenges their claim that Fusheng owes them unconditional gratitude, stating that his birth parents had given them fifty taels to care for him 36.

As the family prepares a mountain house in Liu Family Village, Su'e helps clean it and confirms that it has a large cellar. She initially doubts Wanwan’s warning that famine could make their current neighbors dangerous. By the arrival of the locust plague, most of their supplies and livestock have been moved to Liu Family Village 40 50.

When Old Liu transfers authority over the village to Wanwan, Su'e immediately points out the responsibility involved: her daughter will now have to feed all those people 50.

Personality

Su'e is affectionate and fiercely protective of her children. She refuses to sacrifice Wanwan for food, celebrates her achievements, and is willing to take responsibility for Pockmarked Liu’s death to shield her. Her care also appears in ordinary gestures, such as covering Wanwan with clothing while she sleeps on an ox cart 1 3 12 29.

She values honesty even when the family is destitute. On seeing a gold ring among Wanwan’s finds, she immediately warns against stealing and suggests looking for its owner. Her compassion extends to the siblings she helped raise, whose possible starvation she finds unbearable 4 27.

Her courage coexists with considerable anxiety. She fears discovery after Pockmarked Liu’s death, worries about ghosts and retaliation, and initially accepts Shen Dahai’s apparent apology without recognizing the danger in his gifts. Nevertheless, she can be physically confrontational when her household is threatened 12 30 31 41.

As Wanwan becomes the household’s decision-maker, Su'e increasingly defers to her. She accepts the explanation that an immortal taught Wanwan in a dream and urges secrecy, but remains capable of questioning her daughter’s plans and reminding her of their practical costs 12 15 30 50.

Abilities & Skills

Cooking

Su'e is an accomplished cook trained by her grandmother, who worked as a cook in the capital 34.

• Makes stuffed buns, steamed buns, wontons, dumplings, and several kinds of capital pastries 34.
• Prepares rice porridge, flatbreads, stir-fried vegetables, and mushroom dishes 7 17.
• Helps Wanwan cook cleaned pig intestines with oil, ginger, and spices, despite initially doubting that offal could become a good dish 10.
• Cooks for the workers building the family’s livestock shelters 34.

Household Management

• Bargains the price of the family’s clothes and quilts down to 820 wen 6.
• Helps dig cellars, carry grain, and prepare concealed food and water reserves 17 18 29.
• Coordinates livestock-shelter requirements with her brothers, including separate spaces for pigs, sheep, and chickens 32.

Physical Strength

• Carries Pockmarked Liu’s body into the mountains while leaving her injured husband to clean up at home 12.
• Quickly overpowers Old Madam Shen during a fight, pinning her down and slapping her repeatedly 30.

Relationships

• Zhou Wanwan — Daughter. Su'e protects her from being sold, regards her as the household’s lucky star, and increasingly follows her decisions 1 7 15.
• Zhou Fusheng — Husband. They support one another through separation and poverty, but clash over his gratitude toward the Zhou family and hopes of reconciliation 4 14 22 29.
• Zhou Qingyan, Zhou Qinghe, and Zhou Qingchen — Sons. She tries to restrain their early confrontations with the Zhou elders and later includes them in the family’s agreement to conceal Pockmarked Liu’s death 2 14.
• Old Liu and Old Madam Liu — Parents. Their reunion reveals that they had repeatedly tried to maintain contact with her. Despite their poverty, they offer financial help after learning of her separation 29 30.
• Younger siblings — Six brothers and five sisters whom she helped raise. Her concern for their survival prompts the visit that renews ties with Liu Family Village 27 30.
• Old Madam Zhou — Mother-in-law. Exploits her labor, blocks visits from her relatives, and attempts to sell Wanwan; Su'e ultimately rejects her authority over their household 1 29 35.
• Shen family — Troublesome neighbors. Su'e fights Old Madam Shen over Shen Dalu’s attempted theft, but initially believes Shen Dahai’s apology is sincere; Wanwan discovers that his gift pastries contain croton seeds 30 41.

Notable Quotes

“We've got hands and feet; we won't starve.” 2

“We don't allow stealing in this family. No matter how poor or desperate we are, we can't steal.” 4

“What would we go back for? To be their servants for the rest of our lives?” 29