Gu Xu limped back to the cottage slowly, each step sending a dull sting up his legs.
The night air had grown cooler, and the sounds of celebration from the village center were now distant—drums, laughter, shouting, and the faint smell of roasted meat carried by the wind.
He pushed the door open quietly.
His father was still snoring.
Gui Xu lay slumped beside the table, mouth open, one arm hanging off the chair, surrounded by five empty gourds of different sizes. The lamp light flickered over his broad back and unshaven face. He smelled like sour alcohol and sweat even from the doorway.
Gu Xu stood there for a moment, just looking at him.
Then a strange, triumphant feeling washed over him. He hadn't gotten beaten up by Gui Xu again tonight!
He quietly slipped past him and went into his small room, then pulled the drape across the doorway. The cloth was thin and old, but it made him feel like he had his own small world, separated from the rest of the house.
He knelt down and slowly lit a small fire in the clay stove.
It took him a few tries because his hands were shaking and sore, but eventually the flame caught.
He fed it small sticks and blew gently until the fire grew steady.
The orange light filled the little room, and the warmth made his aching body feel a little better.
Then he went to the corner of his room and opened a small wooden box hidden under his clothes.
Inside were fruits he had gathered himself over the past few days.
Guavas, bananas, papayas, apples and oranges.
This was his personal food store. He kept it hidden because if his father found it, he would eat it when drunk and forget about it the next day.
Gu Xu sat down cross-legged and started eating.
He bit into a guava first. It was soft and sweet. Then a banana. Then slices of papaya. He ate quickly at first, then slower as his stomach began to fill.
Though Gu Xu lacked training, knowledge, and confidence, he was not naturally stupid like his father. He knew that if he didn't store enough food, there would be days when he would go hungry. So he gathered fruit whenever he could and hid it.
He chewed an apple slowly and stared into the fire.
From outside, carried by the wind, came the smell of roasted meat.
Fatty meat.
Salted meat.
Buttered meat.
His stomach tightened even though he was already eating.
He imagined the tribe people at the village center right now—drinking mango juice, tearing into delicious roasted ribs, juicy lamb, butter-fried cuts of meat dripping with fat and salt.
His mouth watered.
He looked down at the fruit in his hand.
Sweet.
Always sweet.
Too sweet.
Because Gui Xu was selfish, neglectful, very poor and often drunk, Gu Xu rarely ate proper meals. Most days he ate fruit that he gathered himself and drank goat milk when they had it. Meat was rare in their Xu household, only during big village celebrations—and even then, his father often ate most of their share.
Because he was always hungry and fruit was the easiest thing to find, Gu Xu ate a lot of it. Fruit and goat milk every day. Sugary fruit, creamy milk. His body stored everything because it didn't know when the next real meal would come.
That was how he became very fat.
Because he was food insecure.
He didn't know that term. He just knew that if he saw food, he ate as much as he could, because maybe tomorrow there would be nothing.
He finished the apple and threw the core into a small basket.
Then he picked up another apple, but he didn't eat it. He just held it and stared down at it.
Then suddenly, in frustration, he threw the apple away harder than he meant to, and it hit the wall with a soft thud.
"I want meat…" he muttered quietly. "Just once… I want to eat until I'm full…"
His eyes stung, but he didn't cry this time.
Instead, he thought about Maki. About the poisoning, the herbs, about the beating and about what Maki had said.
"Stop looking for love from others and start becoming useful to yourself."
Gu Xu stared into the fire for a long time.
He thought about Yu Yunshang's face when she looked at him and about the tribal shaman calling him inauspicious.
He thought about Chief Lei Xu.
Then about his father.
"I don't have anything anymore," he whispered to himself. "So… I don't have anything to lose either."
The fire crackled and licked the wood up.
"From today onwards… I'm going to play to win," he said quietly. "Not just play so I don't lose."
He stared at the flames, and something inside him—something small and scared and desperate—hardened just a little.
"Yu Yunshang doesn't like me. I know that now."
"The tribe people don't care about me."
"Father… will always remain like Father."
He wiped his nose with his sleeve.
"Fine," he muttered. "Then I'll stop trying to make them like me. It doesn't work."
The fire burned steadily in front of him, and for the first time in his life, Gu Xu began to think not like a child who wanted to be accepted…
But like a child who wanted to survive.
-
By the time Maki returned to the village center, the ceremony was long over.
Without Gu Xu in tow, he had moved quickly through the forest, running with the silent speed of an experienced warrior.
By the time he arrived, the celebration had fully begun.
Large fires burned in the center of the village. Meat roasted on wooden spits. Smoke and the smell of butter and fat filled the air. People laughed loudly, wooden cups of cool mango juice in their hands.
Chief Lei Xu sat on a large carved chair, his wife beside him and his concubines nearby, all dressed in beautiful tribal garments.
When Maki approached, he bowed low.
Chief Lei Xu looked down at him.
"Did everything go well?"
Maki kept his head bowed.
"Your Excellency," he said calmly, "to hear is to obey. The family discipline has been carried out!"
Chief Lei Xu studied him for a moment, then nodded.
"Good," he said. "That boy needs to learn..."
Maki stepped back and stood quietly to the side.
Around them, servants carried trays of food.
There were plates of butter-fried goat meat, the fat sizzling and glistening.
There were salt-roasted ribs, browned and fragrant.
There were skewers of liver and gizzards, grilled over open flame and brushed with melted butter and herbs. There were thick cuts of fatty meat, pan-fried until the edges were crisp.
Large wooden jugs of sweet mango juice were passed around, the bright orange liquid shining in the firelight.
The Cheetah Tribe always ate well during celebrations. Meat meant strength. Fat meant survival. Butter meant prosperity.
Laughter filled the night.
Not far from the main fire, Yu Yunshang sat with her friends Li Jing and Ting Lan.
The three girls were well known among the noble families of the Cheetah Tribe.
Yu Yunshang's family was in charge of manufacturing clothes for the tribe and teaching etiquette, tribe laws, and proper conduct to the children of noble families.
Because of this, Yu Yunshang had grown up refined, disciplined, and very aware of status and reputation.
Li Jing came from a family that trained the tribe's scouts and foragers. They were the people who moved ahead of hunting parties, gathered information, tracked animals, and knew the forest better than anyone. That was why Li Jing was tall, strong, loud, and walked more like a young warrior than a noble lady.
Ting Lan came from a wealthy merchant family that traded with the other two tribes—the Fox Tribe and the Leopard Tribe. Her family dealt in salt, cloth, dried meat, herbs, and tools. Because of this, Ting Lan had grown up around negotiations, prices, and information. She was calm, observant, and spoke carefully.
Yu Yunshang sat straight and elegant, even while eating. Her clothes were neat, her hair perfectly arranged, her expression calm.
Li Jing, on the other hand, sat with one leg up on the bench, eating meat with both hands like a boy.
Ting Lan sat more gracefully, sipping mango juice slowly.
Li Jing laughed loudly as she chewed a piece of meat.
"Yunshang, you are so lucky!" she said. "You finally got rid of that fatty non-starter!"
Yu Yunshang smiled slightly but said nothing.
Ting Lan glanced at her quickly and said calmly, "It was not luck. Yu Yunshang has always been calculating since childhood."
Yu Yunshang took a sip of mango juice, then smiled faintly.
"That's true," she said as she lowered it slightly.
"But even I couldn't have predicted he would have an allergic reaction to the beetroot juice. The heavens must be intervening on my behalf!"
She swirled the mango juice in her wooden cup.
"I never expected my unlucky engagement to end so quickly and with so little trouble."
Li Jing snorted.
"We can't argue with that! It was completely unfair for a talented beauty like you to be tied to an ignorant fat fool like Gu Xu. Three years younger than you, no skill, no strength, not even wealth."
She took a big bite of meat and continued talking while chewing.
"He always does the wrong thing, at the wrong time, in the wrong place. And imagine having disgusting Gui Xu as a father-in-law and having to show filial piety to that drunk! Just thinking about it makes my stomach turn!"
Ting Lan nodded slightly.
"And he's so scared of his father," she added calmly. "And so unskilled even compared to him, that he wouldn't even be able to say a squeak in your defense. Everyone knows how scared he is of his father's beatings. Best to avoid that father and son pair."
Li Jing burst out laughing.
Ting Lan covered her mouth and laughed softly too.
Yu Yunshang smiled politely, but then she looked away toward the bonfire.
Her eyes moved through the crowd, searching.
Then she saw him.
Jian Xu stood near the edge of the firelight, walking slowly while speaking quietly with Maki.
He looked pale as usual, thin and refined, his posture straight. His body was muscular though clearly not as strong as the other boys, his face was handsome as usual, and his eyes were deep and intelligent.
Yu Yunshang's eyes met his across the fire.
For a brief moment, they looked at each other.
But Jian Xu's expression turned cold.
He looked away first and continued speaking to Maki as if he had not seen her at all.
Yu Yunshang's smile faded slightly.
She lifted her cup and took a slow sip of mango juice, her eyes thoughtful as she watched the fire burn.