This year’s autumn was exceptionally cold. Even before the tenth month had arrived, the north wind was already howling down, freezing people until they tucked their necks into their collars and hurried home.
Before dawn, white smoke began to billow from the chimneys of every house in the Jiang Family Village. The men headed out to the fields to work, while the women swept the courtyards and washed clothes.
Jiang Yuanyuan also woke up early. Shivering from the chill of the morning autumn frost, she added another layer of clothing before picking up her back basket to check on the growth of the cabbages and radishes planted in her field.
When her neighbor, Aunt Zhang, saw her coming out, she greeted her with a smile, “Up so early?”
Jiang Yuanyuan, holding a hoe in her left hand, smiled back at Aunt Zhang. “Better to get to the fields early to work, just in case it rains later.”
Aunt Zhang beamed. Hearing her light and soft voice, the smile on her face grew even wider.
What a pity. If not for the fact that this girl’s parents were dead and she was stuck with a house full of scoundrel relatives, she really would have liked to bring her home as a daughter-in-law for her own son.
Thinking of this, Aunt Zhang clicked her tongue twice. On one hand, she marveled at how Jiang Yuanyuan’s father—a common farmer who spent his life scratching a living from the earth—had managed to marry a beauty like Jiang Yuanyuan’s mother. The daughter they produced had a fair complexion and willow-leaf eyebrows; she looked so fresh and radiant that she was more pleasing to the eye than the leeks in the field.
On the other hand, she lamented Jiang Yuanyuan’s bitter fate. The girl had only just reached her hair-pinning ceremony, and before her marriage could even be settled, her parents had died. Now, there were always those without a shred of conscience coming to scrounge off her. She really didn’t know how the girl would manage in the future.
Jiang Yuanyuan was entirely unaware of Aunt Zhang’s internal musings. Carrying her hoe, she walked toward her two-acre plot of land. She was thinking that it was time to harvest some of the cabbages; if she didn’t, she feared a sudden snowfall might freeze and ruin them.
It was about half a mile from Jiang Yuanyuan’s house to the field—neither too close nor too far. She greeted a few familiar aunts along the way. By the time she arrived, her inner clothes were slightly damp with sweat, and she was breathing a little heavily.
After harvesting a basket of cabbages, Jiang Yuanyuan returned before the sun had fully risen. Although she was born into a farming household, she wasn’t particularly good at farm work. She had only learned a little from her parents. Far from knowing how to sow grain or plant rice, even the growth of these few cabbages had been achieved through her own blind fumbling.
Thinking of her parents, a mist gathered in Jiang Yuanyuan’s almond-shaped eyes, though it vanished quickly. She stir-fried a bowl of cabbage for herself and boiled some porridge using last night’s leftovers, thus finishing her breakfast.
The light today was dim, and the air was somewhat misty.
Jiang Yuanyuan swept the courtyard and lit incense for her parents’ memorial tablets. As she was reaching into the chicken coop for eggs, there was a knock at the door.
It was the voice of her eldest aunt-in-law, Wu Shi. “Yuanyuan! Your grandma told me to bring you some things! Open up quickly!”
Jiang Yuanyuan acted as if she hadn’t heard a thing. Every time her eldest aunt-in-law claimed Grandma was sending something, it turned out to be either a bowl of leftover rice or half a plate of salted vegetables. Moreover, her aunt-in-law always tried to snatch things from her house to take back—from large items like tables and stools to something as small as a needle, there was nothing Wu Shi didn’t want.
Seeing that no one answered the door, Wu Shi muttered, “Where did this dead girl go? I already made arrangements with Zhang the Lame to take her for a match-making meeting today…”
Her muttering was quiet, but Jiang Yuanyuan, inside the house, heard it perfectly. With a grim face, she fed rice husks to the chickens. She felt a wave of nausea just thinking about the way Zhang the Lame looked at her with those lecherous, filthy eyes every time he saw her.
Her aunt-in-law really thought she was stupid, unable to see what the family was plotting.
But Wu Shi was clearly determined to push Jiang Yuanyuan and Zhang the Lame together today. She began banging on the door again. “Open up, open up now! Your uncle and I have already negotiated everything for you. As long as you’re willing to marry, Zhang the Lame will give our family ten taels of silver. It’s not like you don’t know he’s rich. Once you marry him, why would you worry about having a good life?”
“You young girls really don’t know the heights of the heavens or the depths of the earth. For someone like you to be worth ten taels is the absolute limit. Do you still think some young master is going to take a fancy to you and carry you off to be a concubine?”
Wu Shi’s voice was irritatingly loud. Jiang Yuanyuan heard Aunt Zhang from next door come out to try and persuade her to stop, only to be cursed away. Finally, she opened the door and said coldly, “If Zhang the Lame is so good, why doesn’t Aunt-in-law marry my older cousin to him instead?”
Wu Shi glared at her, thinking to herself that she would have loved to marry her daughter to Zhang the Lame, but her daughter wasn’t as good-looking as this dead girl. Zhang the Lame had explicitly named Jiang Yuanyuan for the ten taels; if it were her daughter, he was only willing to give three.
Ten taels of silver! They wouldn’t make that much even if they farmed for an entire year.
Wu Shi forced a fake smile. “Your parents are gone. As your uncle and aunt, shouldn’t we consider your future? If you marry well, your parents’ spirits in heaven can rest easy.”
Jiang Yuanyuan’s eyes held undisguised mockery. “And the ten taels? Give me the money first, then I’ll consider it.”
Wu Shi’s eyes darted around. “What does a little girl like you need so much money for? Your uncle and I will keep it for you first. When you need it in the future, we’ll give it to you.”
The moment the words left her mouth, Jiang Yuanyuan slammed the door shut with a ‘bang.’ She was disgusted by this attempt to play her for a fool. No matter how much the person outside made a fuss, she treated it as if she were deaf.
The courtyard was cold and lonely. When the autumn wind swept through, it felt even more desolate.
She lived alone. A few days ago, she had asked some uncles from the village to help heighten her walls and had even installed some nails on top. If anyone intended to do something untoward, they would suffer a bit while trying to climb the wall, which would also give her time to call for help.
The water vat was empty. Jiang Yuanyuan went to draw water, but before she could even haul up one bucket, her forehead was covered in a thin layer of sweat. She was always lacking the strength for this kind of physical labor. Since her parents had passed away, the water vat in the house had never been full.
She had little strength and could only pull up half a bucket at a time. Before she had made many trips, someone knocked on the door again.
Jiang Yuanyuan really worried that the thin wooden planks of her door would be broken one day.
This time, the one who came was the golden child of her uncle’s family, her young cousin, Jiang Fugui.
No one in her eldest uncle’s family was any good. This young cousin, despite his age, was already accustomed to bullying people. He used to love following her around, calling her a “money-losing commodity.”
Hearing the brat’s voice, Jiang Yuanyuan pulled the door open with a ‘whoosh.’ The instant it opened, her cousin Jiang Fugui darted inside like a streak of smoke. He sniffed around like a dog. “Aha, Jiang Yuanyuan! You actually dare to eat eggs!”
Adults might worry about appearances, but to a child, appearances were worth nothing—certainly not as much as a piece of candy.
Jiang Fugui had just heard his mother say that this “money-losing” cousin refused to marry and earn money for him, and now she was secretly eating eggs. How could he stand for that?
Jiang Yuanyuan turned to look at Jiang Fugui. The seven- or eight-year-old was shaped like a ball, his eyes squeezed into slits. He was hideously ugly and as greedy as a pig all day long.
She said, “Whether I eat eggs or not, what does it have to do with you?”
Since being raided by her aunt-in-law a few times, Jiang Yuanyuan had learned to be smart. Her previous belongings were all hidden under her bedboards. Unless her aunt-in-law completely discarded all shame, she wouldn’t go so far as to ransack her niece’s bedroom.
Jiang Fugui clearly didn’t believe her. He said haughtily, “Jiang Yuanyuan, let me tell you! Grandma said that after you get married, all your things belong to me! Your dowry also has to be saved for me to get a wife! Now you actually dare to steal eggs. I’m going to tell my mother to beat your mouth shut!”
Jiang Yuanyuan stood with her arms crossed, coldly watching her arrogant young cousin. Once he finished speaking, she grabbed the broom from behind the door and, without a word, began to whack his backside. Each strike was harder than the last. “You little brat! Not very old, but you’ve got quite the appetite. Why don’t you just stuff yourself to death!”
She scolded him as she beat him. Jiang Fugui had never seen such a display. In his memory, this cousin was like a mute who couldn’t speak. Who knew she would change so much after her parents died?
He took several solid hits to his rear. Unable to fight back, he ran home wailing.
After beating him, she felt a surge of vented anger. Knowing that Wu Shi would be coming over immediately, Jiang Yuanyuan locked the door tight and moved a table and chairs to block it before going to heat water for a bath.
Fifteen minutes later, Wu Shi arrived with the air of someone going to war. She cursed in front of the door for half an hour before leaving. Jiang Yuanyuan simply let her howl, treating it as if she hadn’t heard a thing.
However, that night, she lay in bed, her sleepiness gone.
Back when her parents were still around, although her uncle’s family mocked them for having only a daughter, they didn’t dare to openly scrounge off them. Now that her parents were gone, they felt entitled to come and take whatever they wanted. They even wanted to sell her to widowers or old bachelors for money.
Jiang Yuanyuan clenched her fists. This was all because there was no man in the house. If her father were still here, or if she had a brother, her uncle’s family wouldn’t dare to be so arrogant!
After thinking for half the night, Jiang Yuanyuan sat up the next morning with dark circles under her eyes. She had decided. To ensure she wouldn’t be bullied by her uncle’s family anymore, she was going to buy a man to come back and live her life with!