Chapter 5. The Poor Little Thing Who Got Beaten

“Coming, coming.” Xu Shu loved his youngest son very much. As soon as Lin Yuxiu spoke, he immediately went back.

Lin Yuxiu glared at Cheng Qingzhi, then turned and went back to the room.

“Father, why are you always with that vixen? Don’t you know that my marriage prospects were ruined by this vixen?” Once inside, Lin Yuxiu started blaming Xu Shu.

Before Cheng Qingzhi came to Cheng Family Village with his remarried father, Lin Yuxiu was the most beautiful man in the village. The women in the village all revolved around him, offering all kinds of favors. This also nurtured Lin Yuxiu’s proud and willful personality.

But when Cheng Qingzhi arrived, he overshadowed the beauty that Lin Yuxiu was most proud of.

Lin Yuxiu had long been unbearably jealous, especially after he destroyed his own marriage prospects, he completely exploded.

“I just felt sorry for Cheng Qingzhi, that’s all,” Xu Shu said with difficulty.

Xu Shu knew his child cared about face, so he didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth.

Beauty couldn’t be eaten as food. They were just ordinary villagers. Even without Cheng Qingzhi, the scholar wouldn’t marry his Yuxiu. Everyone wanted to marry a man of equal status.

“He’s pitiful? That’s his own fault. It’s because he’s indecent, seducing every woman he sees. Liu Su is right, he’s just a vixen, a slut.” Lin Yuxiu was so angry that he clutched his handkerchief and stomped his feet.

“You child.” Although Xu Shu didn’t agree with Lin Yuxiu’s words, after all, he was his most beloved son, so he couldn’t scold him. He could only change the subject.

“Alright, alright, he’s not pitiful. I see good days are coming for Qingzhi soon.”

Lin Yuxiu looked at Xu Shu suspiciously: “What do you mean?”

Xu Shu smiled and said, “You don’t know yet, Cheng Songer has changed these past few days.”

Lin Yuxiu sneered, “How could such a fierce woman change?”

“Of course! Haven’t you noticed that you haven’t heard Cheng Songer beating or scolding Qingzhi these past few days? Those old injuries on his body have gradually faded!”

Lin Yuxiu frowned, it seemed indeed to be so.

In the past, when Cheng Songer beat someone, he could hear her curses and Cheng Qingzhi’s screams. These past few days had indeed been unusually quiet.

“Not only that, Cheng Songer actually let Qingzhi wash clothes with hot water. Such a waste of firewood, yet she was willing. I think she’s really having a change of heart,” Xu Shu sighed. “It’s really good. That poor child, finally his suffering has come to an end.”

Lin Yuxiu gritted his teeth, his well-manicured nails clutching his handkerchief.

Let that cheap man’s suffering come to an end? No such good thing!

—

After washing the clothes, Cheng Qingzhi hung them on the clothesline to dry. By this time, the sun had come out, warming his body.

He looked down at his hands, the fingertips were slightly red, but there was no stinging or discomfort, completely different from last year.

Unconsciously recalling Xu Shu’s words about Cheng Songer having a change of heart, the corners of his mouth curved into an extremely faint arc.

She had not only suddenly had a change of heart, even her personality had changed, becoming exceptionally gentle and kind, no longer making him afraid.

Seeing the little firewood left in the kitchen, he prepared to go to the back mountain to gather some.

Although he still couldn’t understand the reason for Cheng Songer’s personality change, he was extremely grateful that she was willing to waste firewood to let him wash clothes with warm water.

He had to gather more firewood before the snow fell, otherwise, if the mountain wood got wet, winter would be even harder to endure.

He locked the door of the house and entered the back mountain.

A thick layer of fallen leaves covered the mountain. The men of the village often went into the mountains together to collect firewood, but didn’t dare to go deeper, because there were fierce beasts in the deep mountains.

Cheng Qingzhi also only dared to collect firewood in the areas where villagers frequently visited, but with more people collecting firewood, competition naturally increased, and men often had disputes over firewood.

However, the disputes were not big, after all, they were all from the same village. But if they encountered Cheng Qingzhi, it was different.

In the eyes of these men, Cheng Qingzhi was someone they could bully at will. They could even insult and beat him as a person, let alone steal his firewood.

Because Cheng Qingzhi avoided them as much as he could, but there were times when he had to face them.

Cheng Qingzhi wandered around the mountain, collecting all day, and only managed to gather two bundles of firewood.

Just as he was about to return, he happened to see Liu Su, who had also come to collect firewood.

Liu Su was a sharp-tongued and difficult person, already one of the most troublesome people in the village, and he particularly liked to make things difficult for him.

Cheng Qingzhi lowered his head, pretending not to see him, wanting to avoid him.

But Liu Su stopped him.

“Tch— I thought it was someone else, turns out it’s you, you slut. Weren’t you just arrogantly washing clothes with hot water? What, now you’ve come to collect firewood with us common folk?” Liu Su put his hands on his hips, looking at Cheng Qingzhi arrogantly.

Cheng Qingzhi didn’t speak, preparing to go around him.

“You cheap thing, you dare ignore me!” Liu Su grabbed Cheng Qingzhi’s hair and yanked it back hard.

Cheng Qingzhi cried out in pain, but before he could make a sound, Liu Su slapped him.

“Before, you had Xu Shu to speak up for you, but now you don’t. You little cheap thing, always wandering around the village seducing women, I’ve long been sick of the sight of you. Let me teach you a lesson!” Liu Su extended his sharp nails, about to scratch his face.

“I haven’t seduced any women,” Cheng Qingzhi said tremblingly.

“Shut up, you lowborn scum,” Liu Su said hatefully. “If you haven’t been seducing, why would my wife-master be thinking about you all the time?”

His face was ferocious, long driven mad by jealousy. Now that he finally had a chance when no one was around, he absolutely wouldn’t let this opportunity pass. “Let’s see how you seduce women with that coquettish face of yours after I ruin your looks, you cheap harlot!”

Cheng Qingzhi turned pale with fright, quickly turning his head to dodge Liu Su’s nails. Taking advantage of his unpreparedness, he pushed Liu Su hard, causing him to fall flat on his back.

Seizing this opportunity, Cheng Qingzhi quickly fled, abandoning the firewood.

He barely made it home, hurriedly locking himself in the room.

Cheng Qingzhi was terribly frightened. He had never seen Liu Su so crazed before, as if he wanted to kill him, even though he hadn’t done anything.

—

As usual, Cheng Songer went to work at the Liu family’s estate. During lunch, she saw red silk hanging in the landlord’s house and casually asked about it.

Only then did she learn that the landlord’s daughter was going to marry a husband.

“There’s such a good thing happening?” Cheng Songer said while eating a steamed bun.

Usually when there’s a joyous event, the landlord’s family would be especially generous to the servants, maybe even giving out a few extra coins as a reward.

“Hah — good thing? More like a calamity,” a nearby worker said.

Cheng Songer became interested: “What do you mean? Is there some inside story?”

“You don’t know, marriage is supposed to be a happy event, but the Liu family’s daughter is sickly. They say it’s a marriage, but it’s actually to ward off bad luck. But everyone knows the young miss is already near death, whoever marries in is destined to be a widower.”

“That’s right, even the fortune teller doesn’t have a good outlook.”

“Indeed, getting married at this time of year, no wonder they can’t even find a matchmaker.”

The workers discussed animatedly, but Cheng Songer only caught one phrase.

Matchmaker —

For wealthy families, weddings were all about being auspicious, and a matchmaker was absolutely essential. But at this time of year, wild geese were migrating south, and it was already very difficult to find them.

Cheng Songer’s eyes lit up. Hadn’t she often seen wild geese on her way to Liu Family Village these past few days? If she could catch a pair of wild geese to sell to the anxious landlord’s family, she would earn much more than doing odd jobs.

Opportunity knocks but once. Cheng Songer thought of the hunting net at home and decided to act tonight.

She worked for another afternoon, her back and waist aching with fatigue. Only when she received her wages was she happy. She exchanged ten coins for flour with the housekeeper, kept five coins for household expenses, and hurried home under the stars and moon.

On the way back, she happened to meet a peddler woman who traveled between villages.

The village was not like the county town, with few buyers. Usually, to buy some necessities, one had to either travel dozens of miles of mountain roads to the county fair or wait for the peddler woman.

The peddler woman pushed a small cart full of various goods, including a pole of candied haws, though only one string was left. The plump red haws wrapped in transparent sugar coating looked especially tempting under the starry night.

Cheng Songer had been in this world for so long, eating nothing but coarse wheat buns day after day, even salt was scraped from wood. Now, even the frost on the salt tree bark was almost all scraped off by her.

She missed hot pot, milk tea, spicy fragrant pot, big plate chicken, and barbecue so much.

She clutched the five coins in her palm. Life was already so bitter, would it be too much to buy a candied haw to reward herself?

“Sister, how much is this candied haw?” Cheng Songer caught up and asked.

“Five coins each.” The peddler woman looked at Cheng Songer, dressed in plain and even shabby village woman attire, but with exceptionally beautiful features. With her tall figure, she appeared even more extraordinary. So she stopped to talk with her.

Five coins? That’s a third of her daily wage.

Cheng Songer hesitated for a moment, then gave up. Food and clothing were more important.

She looked at the peddler woman’s cart full of goods and asked, “Sister, do you sell salt?”

The peddler woman nodded, “Yes, five coins per pack.”

Cheng Songer gave her all the money: “Then give me a pack of salt.”

With the heavy salt in hand, Cheng Songer sighed and continued on her way.

When she got home, Cheng Songer saw the door tightly closed. She pushed it open and went in. She saw Cheng Qingzhi hurriedly trying to hide in the side room, his long hair covering the left side of his face.

Cheng Songer keenly sensed something was amiss and grabbed his hand: “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Cheng Qingzhi said timidly, keeping his head down. As he moved, his long hair slipped slightly, revealing two vivid red marks on his neck.

Cheng Songer narrowed her eyes, her hand unconsciously reaching out to touch. Cheng Qingzhi, like a frightened small animal, trembled all over and shrank behind the door.

Men and women should maintain proper distance. Cheng Songer let go of her hand, keeping a distance, and asked, “What happened to your neck?”