“Sister Xue, come with me quickly!”
Yutou ran over, followed by the little maidservant Yanzi, who was like a little wife.
Xue Niang smiled as she looked at the two of them.
“Stop smiling. If you want to smile, go home and smile at Brother Xiao. Hurry and come with me to the fence yard.”
“Rude!” Yanzi exclaimed coquettishly, “How can you speak to an elder like that?”
“You little brat, stop following me and go home.”
“You dare to chase me away? I’ll go home and tell my dad to have your grandpa teach you a lesson!”
“Crazy girl!”
Xue Niang listened to the two bicker all the way, finding it quite amusing. They arrived at the fence yard. Xue Niang didn’t understand why Yutou had called her, as the fence yard looked no different from before. It was just uninhabited, and fallen leaves had blown into the yard.
“Yutou, it’s getting cold, why haven’t you tidied up and moved in yet?”
“I was about to tidy up, but then… you see for yourself!”
See what? Xue Niang followed Yutou’s gaze to the bedroom. A shadow from that day flashed through her mind.
The bedroom door still had the hole that Xiao Shan had smashed before, but it had been papered over. Xue Niang slowly pushed it open and looked inside.
A person was curled up on the bed, covered by a tattered quilt with stuffing showing. Hearing the sound, the person turned their head.
“Xu Daniu?”
The person before her was indeed Xu Daniu, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time. However, she was emaciated. Her already dark skin was so dirty that only her eyes were visible. Her once prominent braids were gone, replaced by a messy tangle.
Upon seeing Xue Niang, she scrambled up, her face filled with terror.
Xue Niang remembered the first time she saw her, standing outside the fence yard, her eyes filled with disdain. Her two dark braids hung down her sides, and although her clothes were ill-fitting, they were still the normal attire of a village girl.
At that time, she was also thin, but strong, walking with a vigorous stride, unlike now, where she stumbled just getting out of bed.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Hadn’t she gotten married? How could she be here? If the shadow she saw last time was her, then she had been here for quite some time, perhaps half a month.
Didn’t her husband look for her?
“Sister Xue, a while ago, her husband came to the village and caused trouble a few times. He couldn’t find her, and it turns out she was hiding here. What should we do? She won’t leave!”
Yutou was very worried. He couldn’t live here if Xu Daniu wouldn’t leave.
Yanzi looked at the pitiable Xu Daniu and sighed like an adult, “Sister Daniu married the wrong person. Her husband is very fierce. My mother says we must never marry a drunkard, no matter how much betrothal gift is offered.”
Hearing this, Xu Daniu’s tears flowed like an opened floodgate, welling up from her sunken eye sockets.
“Xue Niang, please don’t chase me away. I have nowhere to go. If that man finds me, he’ll beat me to death. My parents are looking for a husband for me. Once they find one, I’ll leave. I won’t stay here forever.”
“Looking for a husband? You’re already married, how can you…”
“Looking for someone far away, where no one knows.”
Xue Niang felt a pang in her heart. In a way, her current situation was due to Xiao Shan’s intervention, but ultimately, Xu Daniu had harmed her.
However, she was now being punished, and Xue Niang felt it was enough.
In peaceful times, a woman like Xu Daniu might not have harbored such greed. This era was too harsh, and human nature had become twisted.
Whose fault was it?
Was it her father’s fault? Or her own?
“You can stay for now. We won’t tell anyone.”
“Thank you, Xue Niang, thank you!” Xu Daniu said gratefully, tears carving paths down her dirty face.
Xue Niang couldn’t bear to look any longer and left the fence yard.
“Sister Xue?”
Yutou saw Xue Niang’s displeased expression and thought she was angry with Xu Daniu. He called out cautiously, saying, “It’s okay if I move in a bit later. It’s not too cold yet.”
“Yes, Sister Daniu is so pitiful,” Yanzi also said softly.
Xue Niang smiled and patted her head.
Women sat chatting by the roadside. When they saw Xue Niang, they all greeted her enthusiastically and familiarly. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
This was different from before. Previously, their politeness was mostly due to their fear of Xiao Shan.
Now, she could clearly feel the sincerity in their tones.
Today, Xiao Shan had taken people hunting in the mountains.
The villagers felt grateful.
“Mrs. Xiao, I heard Xiulan say you haven’t planted vegetables. My family planted a lot of radishes. If you want some, you can go to the field and pull them yourself,” Wang Shuzhen called out to her.
Xue Niang didn’t know how to address her, but judging by her age, she called out, “Auntie.”
Her address made the atmosphere warmer. Liu Guixiang also said, “Come sit and bask in the sun. Look how fair you are, you don’t look like you’re used to hardship. You need more sun to be healthy.”
“Oh, you really don’t know how to speak. She’s naturally fair and beautiful. The sun won’t darken her, no matter how strong it is,”
Auntie Feng, who was Liu Chengshan’s mother, playfully hit Liu Guixiang and said with a smile.
The women patted the stones beside them. Xue Niang couldn’t just leave, so she sat down.
Yutou ungraciously ran off, with Yanzi trailing behind him.
They were all holding wheat stalks, weaving straw hats. They first braided the wheat stalks into ropes and then sewed them. Xue Niang watched curiously, finding it quite simple. She realized that this was how the hats worn during farm work were made.
“Mrs. Xiao, how many bowls of rice does your Xiao Shan eat in a meal?” Auntie Feng asked.
“Hmm,” Xue Niang thought for a moment, “About two bowls, sometimes three.”
“Oh~ That’s not a lot. You don’t look like it, I thought he could eat ten bowls.” Auntie Guixiang said.
Ten bowls? Wouldn’t that make him a pig?
Wang Shuzhen didn’t believe it and asked, “How big are the bowls?”
Xue Niang gestured with her hands.
The three women looked at each other and burst into laughter.
“I knew it, it couldn’t be two bowls! With such a large build, how could he be satisfied?”
Those were basins, not bowls.
“Is Xiao Shan really cooking at your house? What does he make?”
“Egg pancakes, noodles, stewed meat. He makes them all, and I can cook too,” Xue Niang emphasized the last part.
“Don’t you eat wild vegetable cakes?”
“Well, my body is cold, and Xiao Shan doesn’t allow it.”
Once, she had picked some wild vegetables and wanted to make cakes, but Xiao Shan had thrown them into the chicken coop.
“Oh~”
Auntie Guixiang licked her lips, “My family can eat meat once every six months.”
Indeed, who could eat meat more than a few times a year? Only Xiao Shan had the ability to keep his wife so fair and tender, as if she could yield water with a gentle squeeze.
“Mrs. Xiao, is there any movement in your belly yet?”
Wang Shuzhen inquired. Her daughter had only been married for a month, and yesterday she received a letter saying she was pregnant!
“No, Xiao Shan doesn’t want it,” Xue Niang again brought up Xiao Shan.
She didn’t want others to call her a barren hen!
“Why doesn’t he want it?” The three aunts stopped their work and asked in surprise.
“He doesn’t like children.”
Who doesn’t like children?
Could it be that Xiao Shan, like Chen Dong, was unable to have children?
Wang Shuzhen quietly asked, “What time do you wake up in the morning?”
Xue Niang pursed her lips. She woke up a little late. Would these village women call her lazy?
“I wake up when the roosters crow. I cook breakfast every morning.”
That’s quite early.
Such a delicate wife, and Xiao Shan, that virile and strong man, it shouldn’t be like this unless he was… incapable.