Cui Xiaoqi watched his departing figure, biting her lower lip in frustration.
She should have shot him in the leg just now.
She hadn’t slept a wink the night before, her eyelids drooping with exhaustion, but Wang Wenhan’s mad antics had chased all sleepiness away. Her heart was stuck in her throat, anxious and uneasy.
The man’s identity was unknown, and he was still unconscious. She had to complete the marriage before the officials arrived—with a marriage contract in hand, it might offer some protection.
Just as she was thinking this, her stomach growled loudly, twisting with hunger.
Wang Wenhan had gone to the city to report to the authorities; the round trip would take at least two or three hours. Her mother had taken her sister and left before dawn to fetch the official marriage certificate and hadn’t returned yet.
Waiting idly was no solution—better to fill her stomach first.
She hurried into the kitchen, where two hares hung from the roof beam, still frosted over.
Cui Xiaoqi stood on tiptoe to take them down, and with swift knife strokes, cleaned them in a few quick motions.
A roaring fire blazed in the stove. She scooped a chunk of wild boar fat with her spatula and dropped it into the iron wok.
Once the oil was hot and bubbling with sizzles, the hare meat went in, filling the air with fragrance as she stir-fried.
She added more than half a wok of water and covered it with the wooden lid. Before long, a bubbling sound rose from the pot.
Cui Xiaoqi sat before the stove, staring blankly at the dancing flames.
Her sister Xiao Jiu’s cheerful voice came from outside the courtyard: “Seventh Sister! We’re back!”
Before the words had even faded, the kitchen door creaked open, and her mother Xu Qiaoqiao pushed in with Xiao Ba and Xiao Jiu crowding behind her, all three covered in snowflakes, stomping their feet against the cold.
“Mother, did you get the marriage certificate?” Cui Xiaoqi stood up quickly and asked.
Xu Qiaoqiao brushed the snow off her clothes as she pulled the marriage contract from her bosom and waved it. “I got it, but your mother thinks this man with his unknown identity is too dangerous! Why don’t we just borrow money to pay this year’s taxes instead…”
When it came to her daughter, Xu Qiaoqiao felt nothing but helplessness.
Two years ago, Xiaoqi had been chased off a cliff by a pack of wolves while hunting. When the villagers found her, she had no breath left.
After her body had lain in state for a day, she suddenly “came back from the dead” and woke up.
From then on, her temperament turned strange, and even her words were sometimes hard to fathom.
If not for Wang Shougen meddling and forbidding matchmakers from proposing matches for Xiaoqi, she wouldn’t still be unmarried at sixteen.
No matter what, she couldn’t let her daughter jump into a fire pit.
Xu Qiaoqiao turned to leave, but Cui Xiaoqi called out to stop her: “Xiao Ba, Xiao Jiu, stop Mother!”
The two little girls in dark blue coarse cloth clothes, hearing their sister’s command, immediately grabbed onto Xu Qiaoqiao’s arms, one on each side, holding tight.
Of the two girls, Xiao Ba, Cui Xiangyang, was thirteen this year, picked up on the road a year and a half ago while they were selling game in the city.
She couldn’t answer any questions about herself, so they had no choice but to bring her home.
A head shorter than Xiao Ba was Xiao Jiu, only ten years old, found frozen stiff by the river last winter. After they warmed her up at home, they learned that her entire family had starved to death, leaving her all alone.
And so Cui Xiaoqi had kept both girls, and they called Xu Qiaoqiao “Mother” along with her.
“Mother, it’s just a fake marriage. Once the tax deadline passes, I…”
Before Cui Xiaoqi could finish, her mother cut her off: “What fake marriage! Once you’ve pressed your thumbprint on an official document, you’re husband and wife for real! You silly girl—there’s no such thing as a fake marriage between husband and wife!”
“Fine, your daughter said the wrong thing. But honestly, this works out too—better than marrying that fat boy!!” Cui Xiaoqi picked up where Xu Qiaoqiao left off, not wanting her to worry. In this world, women were raised from birth on the belief that a husband was their master and that arranged marriages were no trifling matter.
She took the marriage certificate from Xu Qiaoqiao’s hands. “Mother, the meat in the pot will be tender after another bit of stewing. Keep an eye on it—I’m going to check if he’s awake.”
With that, she hurried into the house. It had to be done quickly.
Inside, the man still lay with his eyes closed.
The marriage was only a stopgap, so naturally there had been no proper ceremony.
Cui Xiaoqi crouched by the bed and drew a blade across her fingertip. A bead of blood welled up.
Just then, Xiao Ba burst through the door. “Seventh Sister, even a fake marriage is too much—you can’t marry this man! He’s a ‘calamity’! We can’t afford to provoke him. We need to dump him, and fast!”
“Hm?” The bead of blood dripped to the floor. Cui Xiaoqi turned back, puzzled. “You know this man?”
She’d hit the nail on the head.
Xiao Ba’s eyes darted away, and she stammered, “It’s just… just that the clothes he’s wearing are Dongchang garb. He’s definitely no good man!”
Cui Xiaoqi gave a soft “mm,” pressed her fingerprint down, then took the man’s hand and pressed his fingerprint beside hers.
“Seventh Sister!” Xiao Ba cried out in desperation, raising her voice. Why wouldn’t she listen?
This man was far too dangerous—not someone an ordinary farm girl could afford to get tangled up with.
Cui Xiaoqi rose calmly. “Xiao Ba, your own background isn’t exactly ordinary either, is it? I saved his life. If he dares harm us, I have plenty of ways to deal with him. Right now, I have no other choice.”
Her archery skills were no boast—she hadn’t won international championships for nothing.
“Sister, I…” Xiao Ba’s heart tightened. So Seventh Sister had known all along that she was hiding something.
But some things she truly could not tell.
Cui Xiaoqi paused, her tone softening. “I know you mean well. Don’t worry—I know what I’m doing.”
One could keep up an act for a while, but not for a lifetime. After two years of living side by side, she was certain Xiao Ba was a good person.
Things being what they were, Xiao Ba opened her mouth, but in the end only gave a quiet “mm.”
Still, a faint unease stirred in her heart. She had a feeling the days ahead would not be peaceful.
Suddenly, a loud “bang” came from outside.
Both women’s faces changed, and they looked out the window at the same time.
Cui Xiaoqi frowned. How had they arrived so quickly?
The bamboo gate, half a man’s height, crashed to the ground, sending up a spray of snow particles.
No wonder they’d come so fast.
Outside the courtyard gate, several lean horses pawed restlessly, the white mist of their breath crystallizing into frost in the cold air.
At their head, a burly officer on horseback, the blade at his waist glinting coldly.
And it just so happened that Wang Wenhan, halfway down the road, had run into a squad of officers galloping along. In desperation, he’d planted himself in the middle of the road, arms spread wide, and forced them to a halt.
The moment the officers heard there was an enemy spy to be caught, they perked right up.
Capturing a spy earned a tael of silver reward—that would cover the boys’ drinking money for days.
A fat payday indeed. They couldn’t be bothered to scold Wang Wenhan for blocking the road, and hurriedly shouted for him to lead the way.
Cui Xiaoqi tucked the short blade into her sleeve, forcing down her unease as she weighed her options and slowly walked out to meet them.
Wang Wenhan, nose in the air, looked at Cui Xiaoqi standing in the courtyard with a smug grin. “It’s this house!!”
Once they took that man away, wouldn’t she be free for him to mold however he pleased?
“How dare you harbor spies from an enemy state! Seize them, all of you!!” The bearded official on horseback shouted viciously.
The common people fear the authorities.
In the kitchen, Xu Qiaoqiao had never witnessed such a scene. Her legs gave out beneath her, and she collapsed onto a stool by the stove.
Xiao Jiu timidly hid behind Cui Xiaoqi, her small hands clutching tightly at the hem of her clothes.
Cui Xiaoqi turned back and stroked Xiao Jiu’s head to soothe her.
Xiao Ba took Xiao Jiu’s hand, fearless in the face of danger.
Then, with a cool, steady gaze showing no trace of fear, neither servile nor arrogant, she said, “Sir, do you have proof that we are harboring enemy spies?”
“How dare you, woman! This man is the son of your village’s Lizheng. If he says there are spies, how could it be false? Yet you dare question an official like me!”
“So being the Lizheng’s son means he can turn black into white on his word alone?”
Cui Xiaoqi shot back. Then, looking on the verge of tears, she raised a hand to wipe away faint, barely-there teardrops, pointed at the fence wall lying collapsed in the snow, and wailed,
“Today was the day of my wedding. He barged into my home by force and tried to… to force himself on me. Look at this fence wall—see what condition he knocked it into!”
Her hands, held behind her back, reached into her long sleeve and scratched hard. Then she drew them out, pushed up her sleeve, and on her fair, tender forearm were unmistakable red scratch marks, with a layer of skin torn up. She declared resoundingly, “Here is incontrovertible evidence—you cannot deny it!”
With that, her long sleeve fell back to cover the wound.
The official’s gaze lingered on the fence wall for a moment, then swept over Wang Wenhan.
Indeed, Wang Wenhan’s build matched the damage to the fence wall quite well, and this farm girl was so strikingly pretty that it hardly seemed like a fabricated tale.
Seeing this, Cui Xiaoqi squeezed out two tears by sheer force and said pitifully, “Fortunately, I know archery, so he didn’t… He held a grudge over it, so he’s slandering my husband as a spy, and even boasted that everyone in the government office does his bidding…”
Her voice grew more and more choked with sobs. “If a woman like me lost her innocence, I might as well be dead…”
Watching the officials’ suspicious gazes, Wang Wenhan panicked and protested at once, “Sirs, she’s lying! Yes, I lusted after her, but I never got near her! She nearly shot an arrow right through me—look, the arrowhead is still stuck in the old locust tree!!”
The moment the words left his mouth, a vicious gleam flashed in his eyes as he glared at Cui Xiaoqi. “You little wretch, how dare you frame me! Just wait till I deal with you…”
Xu Qiaoqiao had heard barely half of it before her blood boiled up into her head. This vile beast!! Strength suddenly surged into her legs. She snatched up the fire poker and charged out, swinging it at Wang Wenhan, every blow landing solidly.
“Fat pig! How dare you take advantage of my Seventh Sister!” Xiao Jiu gritted her teeth, pounced on him, wrapped her arms around Wang Wenhan’s leg, and bit down.
“Ah—!”
“Ah—!”
Wang Wenhan howled endlessly, collapsing to the ground in pain. His body was too round for him to even fight back.
“I—I never succeeded, stop it, stop hitting me, please…” Wang Wenhan covered his head and caved.
Seeing this, the official had already formed his judgment. Everything this woman said appeared to be true, while the Lizheng’s son hadn’t a word of honesty in him—nothing he said could be believed. And come to think of it, in such a remote, impoverished backwater, what would a spy even come here for—to drink the northwest wind?
“Audacious! Lawless! Filing a false report with the authorities—you’ve earned yourself a beating, that’s certain.” The official surveyed the courtyard, found no paddle, and could only order his men, “Go give him ten slaps across the face!!”
The underling quickly dismounted, sat on Wang Wenhan’s body, and slapped him hard with both hands, left and right.
Wang Wenhan howled like a pig being slaughtered. His face was swollen beyond recognition, drool mixed with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth—a sorry sight indeed.
Having vented their anger, the officers immediately remounted their horses and galloped off in a hurry.
“Are you trying to die? How dare you hit my son!” A loud voice rang out from far away.
Xu Qiaoqiao had enjoyed the beating, but upon hearing the shrill, broken-gong voice of Wang Shougen’s wife, Yang Da’e, she instinctively backed up a few steps—that woman was no pushover.