Nanjiaping Village lay seven or eight li away from Shidianzi Village.
To the east of Nanjiaping stood a towering, densely forested mountain known as Chaiyuanling.
The Xiao family’s courtyard sat at the easternmost edge of the village, right at the foot of the mountain.
Clutching her bundle tightly, Qiao Qingyan’s heart pounded the entire journey.
There was a hunter in Shidianzi Village as well—a crude, ugly man with a broad nose, deep-set eyes, and a face full of fierce-looking flesh. He looked downright frightening.
What does Xiao Jinye look like?
Is he as ugly as that hunter from our village?
Qiao Qingyan wasn’t the type to judge people solely by their appearance, but since they would be living under the same roof from now on, she sincerely hoped he wasn’t too terrifying to look at.
When they finally arrived, she spotted the secluded courtyard from afar.
A middle-aged woman stood anxiously at the entrance, rubbing her hands as she looked toward them. A few villagers had also gathered nearby to watch the excitement.
The bicycle slowly came to a stop in front of the gate.
“We’re here,” the relative said.
Qiao Qingyan got off the bicycle and finally saw the woman’s face clearly.
She looked to be in her fifties, with many wrinkles etched into her face and streaks of silver in her hair. Dressed in coarse homespun clothes, she had a gentle, kind expression.
This must be Xiao Jinye’s mother.
Smiling warmly despite walking with a limp, the woman stepped forward and took two packs of cigarettes from her pocket, handing them to the man who had brought Qiao Qingyan.
“Zhisheng, thank you for your hard work. Take these wedding cigarettes and share in our family’s good fortune.”
“Thank you, Auntie,” Zhisheng replied with a respectful clasp of his hands and a grin. “When Jinye gets back and sees you’ve found him such a wonderful wife, he’ll be overjoyed.”
The wrinkles at the corners of Zeng Yumei’s eyes deepened with her smile.
“Come inside and have a cup of tea.”
Zhisheng declined, saying he still had errands to run, then rode away.
Qiao Qingyan’s gaze quietly fell on Zeng Yumei’s lame leg.
So the rumors were true—Xiao Jinye’s mother really did have trouble walking.
Zeng Yumei also sized Qiao Qingyan up from head to toe.
Her eyes lit up instantly, delight and satisfaction filling her face.
She warmly took Qiao Qingyan’s hand.
“You’re Qingyan, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Qiao Qingyan answered politely.
For a moment, she didn’t know what to call her.
Mother?
She simply couldn’t bring herself to say it.
In the end, she softly called out, “Auntie.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced into the courtyard.
Large red paper cutouts of the “Double Happiness” character were pasted on the gate, but the courtyard itself was quiet and empty.
There was no sign of Xiao Jinye.
He hadn’t come to fetch her on their wedding day, and now that she’d arrived at his home, only his mother had come to welcome her.
What was going on?
As for the lack of a wedding banquet, Qiao Qingyan could more or less guess the reason.
The Xiao family had already spent a considerable amount on the bride price and had likely emptied their savings. They probably couldn’t afford to host another feast.
She wasn’t someone who cared much about formalities.
After all, this was a substitute marriage, one she’d accepted unwillingly.
None of those ceremonial details mattered much to her.
Zeng Yumei cheerfully answered, “Yes!” before patting her hand and proudly telling the nearby villagers,
“This is my daughter-in-law.”
Several women immediately began whispering among themselves.
“The bride is so pretty.”
“Look at her skin—it’s as white and tender as tofu…”
“And that tiny waist… those curves… tsk, tsk. That boy from the Xiao family is truly blessed…”
Their blunt remarks made Qiao Qingyan’s ears slowly turn red with embarrassment.
Just then, one of the children recognized her and shouted,
“Teacher Qiao!”
She turned around.
It was one of the students from her school.
Smiling gently, she waved back at him.
“Oh? She’s a teacher?” someone exclaimed in surprise.
“Shunzi, she’s your teacher?”
The little boy jumped down from a pile of bricks.
“Yes! She teaches my older brother’s class—the fifth grade.”
The crowd immediately erupted into another wave of discussion.
No one had expected that Xiao Jinye, an uneducated rough fellow, would end up marrying such a beautiful young schoolteacher.
Naturally, Zeng Yumei heard every word, along with the envy in everyone’s eyes.
The smile on her face never faded.
She walked over to the middle-aged man driving the donkey cart and handed him two packs of cigarettes.
“Brother Li, thank you for your help.”
Li Dashun waved dismissively.
“It’s nothing at all.”
“I’ll help carry everything inside.”
Before Zeng Yumei could politely refuse, he had already hoisted a quilt from the cart onto his shoulder and headed into the house.
“Come, Qingyan. Let’s go inside.”
Holding Qiao Qingyan’s hand, Zeng Yumei led her into the house.
She invited her to sit down, took out two coarse porcelain bowls, and poured her a bowl of water.
Then she thoughtfully added a spoonful of white sugar, stirred it with a pair of chopsticks, and pushed it toward her.
“Drink up, child. It’s hot today. Some sweet water will help you cool down.”
She poured another bowl for Li Dashun and set it aside to cool.
After that, she grabbed a bag of fruit candies and sunflower seeds and went outside to hand them out to the curious villagers.
“Come share in the wedding joy! Share in the happiness!”
Once she’d finished greeting everyone, she returned to the table and explained to Qiao Qingyan,
“Jinye went into the mountains to hunt yesterday. I’m not sure if he’ll make it back today.”
“The village’s ancestral festival is coming soon, so he needs to bring back plenty of game for the production team.”
As she spoke, her eyes remained fixed happily on her new daughter-in-law.
Beautiful.
This girl is simply too beautiful.
Her fair complexion…
Those delicate features…
The more she looked, the more graceful and refined she seemed.
If she gives our family a big, healthy grandson someday…
Oh, how adorable that child would be.
Zeng Yumei felt as though she’d found a priceless treasure.
She had never dreamed her son would marry an educated schoolteacher.
Her son was already well past the usual marriageable age, yet he’d stubbornly remained unmarried, worrying her to no end.
In the beginning, many families had come to propose matches.
Xiao Jinye had rejected every single one with one excuse or another.
Eventually, even the matchmakers stopped visiting.
She had once asked him whether he already had someone in his heart.
He’d simply replied that he wasn’t in a hurry and wanted to focus on earning money first, improving the family’s life, and taking care of both her and his younger sister.
But how could she stand by and watch her son remain a bachelor forever?
So she began searching for a suitable bride herself.
Originally, the girl she’d asked the matchmaker to propose for was Chen Xiaomeng.
A few days ago, Chen Xiuying had personally come to their house to cancel the engagement.
At the time, Zeng Yumei had been furious.
Then the woman unexpectedly offered instead to marry off the family’s eldest daughter—the high school graduate, Qiao Qingyan—to the Xiao family.
She had been puzzled.
Why change brides so suddenly?
After making a few inquiries, she finally learned the whole story.
Thinking it over, she realized Qiao Qingyan was far superior to Chen Xiaomeng in every way.
Why would she refuse?
Qiao Qingyan was a teacher at Guangming Primary School.
She was beautiful, educated, and cultured.
Once, when Zeng Yumei had taken Duoduo to Shidianzi Village to watch an outdoor movie, she’d seen Qiao Qingyan from afar.
Even then, she’d secretly sighed to herself how wonderful it would be to have such a daughter-in-law.
Unfortunately, her own son wasn’t highly educated.
He had dropped out of school at a young age.
She’d assumed a girl like Qiao Qingyan would never even glance at him.
A girl like that was like an edelweiss blooming atop a snowy mountain.
How could an ordinary man ever hope to pick such a flower?
Sure enough, she later heard that Qiao Qingyan had become engaged to a handsome, educated young man from Shidianzi Village.
She had quietly felt a little disappointed.
In the end, educated people naturally married other educated people.
Rugged country men married village girls.
Her silly son simply wasn’t fortunate enough for anything more.
Yet now…
The very girl she had once admired was sitting right before her—
Her daughter-in-law.
Zeng Yumei was so overwhelmed with joy that the more she looked at Qiao Qingyan, the fonder she became of her.
Under her mother-in-law’s unabashed gaze, Qiao Qingyan grew increasingly uncomfortable.
She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, lowered her head, and quietly twisted her fingers together.
At the same time, she discreetly observed her unfamiliar surroundings.
The house was built of packed earth, with mud walls and only a few pieces of furniture.
An old wooden table worn smooth by countless years.
Several aging chairs.
A battered cabinet.
Everything was made of old wood, but there wasn’t much clutter.
The room looked neat and tidy.
The floor had been swept clean, free of dirt and rubbish.
In one corner stood a potted flower whose name Qiao Qingyan didn’t recognize.
Its presence somehow made the humble earthen house feel unexpectedly refined.
Clean.
Orderly.
Well cared for.
Though the family was poor, it was obvious they were hardworking people who knew how to keep a home.
And this mother-in-law…
From the moment they met until now, her warm eyes and gentle words had gradually eased the anxiety that had weighed so heavily on Qiao Qingyan’s heart.
Li Dashun finished unloading everything from the donkey cart and carried it all into the house.
Zeng Yumei quickly handed him the bowl of tea and thanked him repeatedly.
After draining several large gulps, he stood to leave.
She escorted him to the gate.
Qiao Qingyan noticed the two of them politely refusing one another several times before Zeng Yumei finally forced the cigarettes into his pocket.
While Qiao Qingyan’s attention remained fixed on the scene outside, she failed to notice a chubby little figure quietly crawling out from beneath the table.
A pair of plump little hands slowly reached toward the tempting bowl of sweet sugar water on the table…