Not far out of the Lou family courtyard, Fu Ruyi ran into the Wang family. Wang Erlang, along with his parents and elder brother, were carrying plows and driving an ox, exhaustion written all over their faces. But the moment they recognized her, the fatigue on their faces quickly gave way to something else—as if facing an enemy, each of them turned cold, either staring at her with complicated expressions or deliberately looking away, unwilling to meet her eyes.
Fu Ruyi slowed her steps and moved to the side of the road to let them pass.
As the two groups brushed past each other, Wang Erlang stopped. He asked, knowing full well the answer: “What are you doing here?”
“Just some small business.” Fu Ruyi had no intention of elaborating.
Her attitude gave Wang Erlang the wrong idea, and he sneered: “Small business? Too ashamed to say it? Aren’t you here to see that barbarian? You’ve got some nerve.”
“There’s nothing I’m ashamed to say—I just don’t owe you an explanation.” Fu Ruyi was blunt. She looked him up and down and asked with amusement: “What’s with that reaction of yours? Looking like you’ve suffered some great grievance—it’s hilarious. Oh, and please recognize your place. You and I are barely more than strangers. We don’t have the deep friendship you seem to imagine.”
“You!” Wang Erlang’s face flushed red with anger.
“Watch your mouth! Don’t push your luck.” Mother Wang charged over like a protective hen, feathers ruffled and ready to peck.
“Enough, enough, enough, enough—don’t pull that act with me. Who’s pushing whose luck? I wasn’t the one who started talking to you.” Fu Ruyi was thoroughly disgusted. She said to Wang Erlang: “From now on, pretend you don’t know me when we meet. Don’t speak to me.”
“Can’t you just pick another man? You’re slapping me in the face.” Wang Erlang spoke with the air of one enduring great humiliation.
“No, I can’t.” Fu Ruyi saw Lou Zhaoshui’s elder sister-in-law and eldest sister hurrying over, and her irritation instantly dissolved. She perked up and raised her voice: “Between the two of us, there was only a matchmaking meeting that came to nothing. I didn’t even drink a sip of water in your house—I’m completely innocent. The moment I walked out your door yesterday, our marriages and funerals were none of each other’s business. I don’t see how I’ve slapped your face. We’re neither married nor promised to each other. If you insist on putting a cuckold’s green hat on your own head, maybe you enjoy that, but to me it’s just bad luck.”
“Shameless! A whole family ganging up to bully a young woman.” Wan Qianhong stepped in front of Fu Ruyi to shield her, glaring fiercely at the Wang family.
“It’s getting dark—hurry home.” Lou Yueming moved to one side and ushered Fu Ruyi away.
Fu Ruyi looked back. The Wang family was huffing and puffing from her scolding, especially Wang Dalang and his mother, who looked like they might explode into violence at any moment. If she just walked away, she’d leave trouble behind for the Lou family. The men of the Lou household weren’t home, and she worried the Wangs might take the chance to strike at the women and children—just like they’d killed that little lamb. Once the harm was done, apologies and compensation would be too late. Whoever bore the pain would suffer the greater loss.
“You lot, come with me to our Dapo Village. I’ll call the matchmaker, and you can say all that again in front of my father and brothers.” Fu Ruyi used her family as a shield, then taunted: “Wang Erlang, do you dare repeat what you said to me in front of my father and brothers?”
“What did I say?” Wang Erlang dared to do it but not to own it.
“You know exactly what you said. Who are you to me that you get to meddle in my affairs?” Fu Ruyi pressed her advantage.
“Go, all of you, go back. What’s there to say to them?” Father Wang, the head of the household who had been playing deaf and dumb, finally poked his head out like a turtle startled awake by spring thunder.
“I’ll have my eldest brother come find you tomorrow to demand an explanation. I’ll make this a big deal, let everyone in the surrounding villages know that you, Wang Erlang, have been pining after me. Let’s see who’d marry you and wear a green hat.” Fu Ruyi tried to scare them.
The Wang family grew anxious at once. Father Wang had already walked off but turned back around, his face stern as he said, “Young miss Fu, even if the match didn’t work out, there’s still goodwill between us. Don’t push things too far. You know full well why you changed your mind on the day of the meeting with Erlang. We haven’t said a word about it outside, haven’t wronged you in any way. Don’t think you can bully the weak just because your family has influence.”
“Uncle Wang, if you’d been this reasonable from the start, none of this would have happened.” Fu Ruyi tucked her hands into her sleeves and leaned against Lou Yueming, speaking casually, “From now on, we’re going to be neighbors. We’ll see each other all the time. Just keep your son and your old wife in check, and don’t come looking for trouble with me.”
Villagers who heard the commotion came rushing over to watch the excitement, and from the other direction several groups of people leading oxen and donkeys also arrived, surrounding the scene of the dispute from both sides. Father Wang felt humiliated. His face tight, he barked a couple of reprimands at his second son and turned away first, fleeing the scene of trouble.
The Wang family all left in a flurry. Lou Yueming let out a hearty laugh. With one arm around Fu Ruyi and the other waving toward the crowd, she called out, “Little brother, come here. You escort young miss Fu back.”
As an outsider family, they’d been lacking someone formidable to represent them out in the world. She was delighted.
“Eldest Sister, my name is Ruyi,” Fu Ruyi said quietly.
“Little brother, escort Ruyi back,” Lou Yueming called out again.
Lou Zhaoshui walked over. Covered in sweat and dust, he kept a few paces of distance and said, “I’ll walk you back.”
Only a faint trace of sunset glow remained on the ground, and the crescent moon in the sky was not very bright. Light and shadow intermingled across the land. In the twilight between day and night, Fu Ruyi noticed that the great beauty’s gaze kept darting away—perhaps there was a secret hidden in his eyes, and he no longer dared to look directly at her.
Fu Ruyi was both surprised and delighted. She desperately suppressed the corners of her mouth that insisted on curling up on their own, lowered her head, and quietly followed the figure a few steps ahead, leaving Pinghe Village.
The sound of flowing water replaced the voices of people. The clamor of the day dissipated, and the night grew still—so still that only the sound of two sets of footsteps remained. Lou Zhaoshui grew more flustered with each step, driven onward by the footsteps behind him.
This was the second day he’d known her. Only the second day, only the third time they had met, and yet his heart was already in turmoil.
The footsteps ahead reached the bridge. Fu Ruyi spoke up to stop him: “This is far enough. I just need to cross the bridge and I’ll be home.”
Lou Zhaoshui looked at the long bridge floating over the river and said, “Let me walk you across.”
Fu Ruyi thought to herself, you might as well just walk me to my doorstep. But enough had happened today. The great beauty had been teased by her in the morning, worked hard in the fields in the afternoon, and by evening his mind had been thoroughly shaken by her boldness. He probably couldn’t process any more emotions right now.
“Some other time.” Fu Ruyi declined again, brushing past him as she stepped onto the bridge. “I want you to walk me across because you want to, not because someone told you to.”
Lou Zhaoshui opened his mouth to explain himself but dared not say a word. He could only watch helplessly as she walked farther and farther away.
The deepening night enveloped Fu Ruyi’s figure, and gradually, she disappeared from the bridge, vanishing from the gaze behind her.
Lou Zhaoshui grew uneasy. Every splash on the river sounded like someone falling in. He hurriedly quickened his steps to follow, walking faster and faster until he saw that figure again.
Fu Ruyi crossed the bridge. She stood at the bridgehead looking toward the opposite bank, seeing nothing, but when she withdrew her gaze, a blurred silhouette flickered in the middle of the bridge and disappeared in an instant.
Lou Zhaoshui quickly stepped back. He hid in the darkness, using the sound of flowing water to cover his frantic heartbeat. He watched the figure at the bridgehead pause for a moment before leaving, and only then did he turn around and head back.
* * *
Wan Qianhong was cooking in the kitchen, while Lou Yueming was outside telling her parents how Fu Ruyi had shown her ferocity. In the past, relying on the fact that they couldn’t speak Chinese fluently, Mother Wang would either cry or curse in front of them, leaving them unable to answer. Today, in front of Fu Ruyi, she too was scolded into silence. Not just her—Old Man Wang was also scolded until his face turned ashen.
Lou Yueming wasn’t actually sure what Fu Ruyi had said in full. By the time Fu Ruyi finished scolding, Lou Yueming still hadn’t caught up with her words, but she knew that Fu Ruyi had won. She recounted it haltingly, gestured wildly, and laughed with unrestrained joy.
When Father Lou and Mother Lou rushed back, they caught only the end of the confrontation. Before the two of them could even prepare to intervene, they saw the Wang family fleeing with their tails between their legs. After that, their attention all fell on Fu Ruyi, and they secretly took a good look at her.
“She’s as tall as you, though not as sturdy as your eldest sister-in-law. She looks well matched standing next to your younger brother.” Mother Lou was surprised by Fu Ruyi’s height. “Does she also have foreign blood in her ancestry?”
“Auntie Fu’s parents both look Han Chinese, and her father is also very tall,” Little Blondie chimed in. “Fu Ying’s father is tall too.”
“What about her family? Do they know whose children you are?” Mother Lou probed. “Does her family know about her relationship with your uncle?”
“They know… Uncle is back.” Little Blondie saw his uncle enter from the door and continued: “Auntie Fu’s family is very kind, and the children in her family are also good. The village children are good too—unlike the children of Pinghe Village who look down on us. They all like us, and they also like my uncle. They praise my uncle for being handsome, and they praise me for being beautiful.”
The Lou family all looked at Lou Zhaoshui at once.
“Did you see her home?” Lou Yueming asked.
“No.”
“Then why are you back so late? Were you trapped by some thief who has their eye on you?” Lou Yueming said teasingly.
Lou Zhaoshui didn’t understand and was in no mood to ask. At this moment, he was like a stallion in heat on the pasture—having roamed the wild all spring without finding a mare, he returned home exhausted and drained, yet still pent up with frustration.
“Stop talking about her. Let me have a moment’s peace.” The mere mention of Fu Ruyi’s name made Lou Zhaoshui’s heart restless, and mixed into that restlessness was a thread of fear. In just two days, she seemed to have already planted herself in his life.
Lou Yueming clicked her tongue in disdain, ignoring her brother’s words. She continued: “Father, Mother, this evening Ruyi brought the two children back. She told me to plant mung beans and soybeans in the wasteland, and once the bean plants flower, plow them under. The bean plants buried in the soil will enrich it over the winter, and next year we can plant whatever crops we want.”
“Just planting beans and no more manure? Will that really work?” Father Lou perked up, answering his own question. “What kind of relationship do we have with her? Anyone could deceive us, but she wouldn’t. So let’s listen to her. What else did she say?”
Lou Yueming shook her head.
“Auntie Fu told me to tell Uncle that if our family wants to grow vegetables, he should open up the vegetable garden. In a few days, she’ll bring us a load of seedlings,” Little Blondie chimed in. “At noon today, Auntie Fu made a really tasty dipping sauce—spicy and fragrant, even better than chive flower paste. Everything in the sauce was grown in her own garden. Too bad it’s already too late this year to sow those.”
“Fourth, dig over the vegetable garden tomorrow,” Father Lou instructed. He also decided not to go clear wasteland tomorrow, but instead to trade for a few dan of bean seeds.
“I’ll go dig with Sister-in-law too. We won’t go learn to use the spinning wheel anymore,” Lou Yueming said, now having new hope and no longer wanting to go to the villagers to learn spinning and weaving. For the past six months or so, in order to learn the spinning wheel, she and her sister-in-law had been treated like servants and thieves alike—working as helpers for others like servants, while being guarded against like thieves, as if they might steal something from their homes.
“Then don’t go,” Mother Lou also saw a glimmer of hope. She relaxed and said, “I won’t go clear wasteland either. I’ll free up time to look at the cattle and sheep. We should start preparing—buy them early and raise them.”
Lou Yueming smiled.
Lou Zhaoshui understood that the cattle and sheep they were looking at were betrothal gifts being prepared for him. He clenched his hands but said nothing.