This world has ironclad rules that cannot be broken. First rule: Money is the heaviest weight on the scales of marriage. The bride price, dowry, house-building costs, and debts, who earns, manages, or owes every last cent: they all clearly determine a family’s standing. Second rule: Saving face matters more than what goes on behind closed doors. In the village, Li Xuemei swallowing her pain after getting her teeth knocked out makes her “a sensible daughter-in-law.” But if she complains, she becomes “a married-out daughter who runs back to her parents’ home to stir up trouble.” Third rule: Blood ties are the ceiling on relationships. No matter how well a daughter-in-law behaves, she’s still “an outsider.” Only after she bears a son can she be considered to have “put down roots.” Fourth rule: No one tells young people any of this before they get married.
