“You venomous viper! How dare you curse me? See if I don’t beat you to a pulp!”
Lin Dalang had assumed that Li Miaomiao’s unhinged behavior at the wedding had been a temporary shock, and that by now she would have come to her senses. He never imagined she would actually call him sick.
“I’m not just going to…” curse you, I’m going to beat you, too. Before she could finish, Lin Dalang’s face twisted into an expression of smug realization. “I get it now. You snake-hearted woman, you’re trying to play ‘hard to get,’ aren’t you?”
“In the past, you were terrified that speaking too loudly would annoy me, and you were crushed whenever I ignored you. Now, you’re acting all fierce just to make sure I remember you.” He smirked. “Well, let me tell you—even if you turned into a great beauty, I still wouldn’t look twice at you.”
Playing hard to get?
Li Miaomiao narrowed her eyes. She snatched up a piece of timber from the ground and hurled it straight at him. As Lin Dalang scrambled to dodge it, she lunged forward, grabbed him by the collar through the gap in the fence, and delivered a ringing slap to his face.
Smack.
It didn’t matter how “savage” the original owner had been; it was no excuse for him to discard her so heartlessly. And here he was, actually coming to her doorstep to spout this shameless drivel. The more Li Miaomiao thought about it, the angrier she became. She landed a second slap.
“What kind of lowly worm do you think you are? Why on earth would I need to play ‘hard to get’ with you?”
“My husband is ten thousand times more handsome than you. Do you honestly think I’d waste my effort sucking up to you?”
“You call me ugly? Take a look at yourself—you look like a dung beetle. You aren’t even fit to lick my husband’s boots!”
“You still have the nerve to call yourself a scholar? You’re nothing but a beast who judges by appearances. Go to the academy and look at the real scholars there—not one of them is a waste of space like you, who only knows how to strut around and bully people!”
She was livid. The scum had colluded with Li Xiaorou to drive the original owner to her death, knowing full well they could have called off the engagement months earlier. Instead, they had covetously clung to her dowry until the very day of the wedding.
“I’m going to beat you to death today, you faithless cur!”
She was still fuming, so she released him, vaulted over the fence, and prepared to finish the job. Lin Dalang, a scholar coddled by his family since birth, had never been struck like this in his life. He clutched his burning cheeks, staring at the raging Li Miaomiao in absolute, stunned silence. His mind had gone completely blank.
Only after she let him go did he snap back to reality. Seeing her vaulting over the wall after him, his fury ignited. “You shrew! You dare strike me? If I don’t teach you a lesson today, I’m no man!”
He balled his fists and swung at her. Li Miaomiao caught his punch mid-air and landed a swift, clean blow directly onto his nose. Blood immediately began to trickle from the corner of Lin Dalang’s mouth.
“A ‘real man’? I’ll beat you into a bug in the mud today!”
She lunged forward, planted a kick square in his stomach, and sent him sprawling half a meter away. Growing up as the only girl in a house full of boys, her grandfather had insisted she learn martial arts and Tai Chi from a young age specifically to ensure she wouldn’t be bullied. Dealing with Lin Dalang was child’s play.
Lin Dalang scrambled to his feet, clutching his stomach, looking at the murderous intent in Li Miaomiao’s eyes. He was genuinely terrified. His father had told him she’d cut down a tree with a single stroke of a blade, but he had doubted it—until now. Seeing her today, he finally realized that this “poisonous woman” had truly changed.
Is she possessed by a ghost, or was she really driven insane by Xiaorou and me?
Seeing her clench her fists and march toward him, he knew he couldn’t win. He wiped the blood from his mouth and let out a vicious roar: “A gentleman doesn’t fight with women! Just you wait!”
And with that, his heels greased, he ran faster than a frightened monkey.
Li Miaomiao didn’t bother chasing him. She unclenched her fists, though the rage in her chest hadn’t dampened in the slightest. She kicked a pile of mud in the direction he had fled. “You scum. Come back, and I’ll beat you every single time.”
Knowing Lin Dalang’s nature, he would undoubtedly run home to complain to his parents. She would be right here waiting to see when the Lin family decided to show up at her doorstep.
She hopped back over the fence, dusted off her hands, and headed toward the kitchen. As she looked up, she froze. Xiao Xian was leaning against the doorframe, propped up on his crutches, watching her with a gentle, inscrutable expression. He murmured a line of poetry, his tone dripping with irony:
“The beauty of spring cannot be kept within the garden, as a single red apricot branch leans over the wall.”
Li Miaomiao’s eyelid twitched. She tilted her head slightly and looked at the broken, ugly fence. Well, cultured men certainly have a unique way of being insulting.
Thinking back to last night, when he had accused her of still pining for Lin Dalang, she decided that no matter what she said now, it would be wrong. She chose to play dumb, plastered on a wide, goofy grin, and said:
“My husband has such a refined way with words! I’m going to the kitchen to see how the stew is doing.”
As she headed toward the kitchen, Xiao Xian murmured, his voice heavy with hidden meaning, “Playing dumb, are we…”
Li Miaomiao lifted the pot lid, and a rich, savory aroma billowed out. She dipped a spoon into the broth to taste it; it lacked a bit of salt, so she added a pinch, ladled the stew into two large bowls, sprinkled some chopped scallions on top, and carried them into the main room.
They sat on opposite sides of the table. After long hours of simmering, the intestines and radish were tender and soft, the broth a rich, milky white. The scent alone was enough to stir the appetite. Li Miaomiao picked up a piece of intestine, blew on it, and popped it into her mouth, her eyes crinkling with satisfaction. “It’s delicious!”
She ate with gusto, but Xiao Xian didn’t pick up his chopsticks. Looking at the intestine in his bowl—which, to his eyes, still resembled a worm—he recalled its original, raw state, and his appetite vanished.
Seeing he wasn’t touching his meal, Li Miaomiao realized that many people weren’t fond of organ meats, especially intestines. To ensure it wouldn’t be greasy, she had painstakingly scraped away almost all the fat from the surface. She set down her chopsticks and looked at him with wide, pleading eyes.
“Just try one piece. I promise there’s no foul odor. If you really don’t like it, I’ll go cook some noodles for you instead.”
Her clear, apricot-shaped eyes were as innocent and earnest as a rabbit’s. Faced with her soft, sweet entreaty, Xiao Xian found himself remembering how her voice had sounded, sweet and soft, against his ear that night. He studied her for a long moment before finally lifting his chopsticks to take a piece.
He chewed slowly and deliberately. Li Miaomiao watched, torn between nervousness and expectation; she genuinely wanted him to enjoy this meal.
The intestine wasn’t at all as pungent as he had imagined. It was tender, flavorful, and not the least bit greasy. Once he swallowed, Li Miaomiao bit her lower lip, asking nervously, “Well?”
He looked at the expectant woman across from him, his gaze calm. He tapped a finger against the tabletop and replied offhandedly, “It’s decent.”
Hearing “decent,” Li Miaomiao let out a sigh of relief. “Decent” meant edible—she really didn’t want to have to cook noodles. Feeling at ease, she picked up her own chopsticks, her tone brightening. “Eat up! There’s plenty more in the pot if you’re still hungry.”
Xiao Xian gave a faint nod.
Aside from carpentry, she knows how to cook these things that ordinary people avoid, and she has martial arts skills to boot. She used to hang on Lin Dalang’s every word, yet now she seems to hate his guts. Most women abandoned like that would just want to die, yet her entire disposition has shifted. Can a person’s personality change so drastically in just a few days?
He watched her discreetly, observing her joy as she ate. The finger he had been tapping against the table stilled.
Is she… truly Li Miaomiao?
I’ll let her live a few more days to observe her further.
Li Miaomiao, oblivious to his inner thoughts, finished her bowl and headed to the pot for seconds. To her surprise, when she went to wash the dishes, she saw that Xiao Xian had actually finished his entire bowl of stew.
“Would you like more?”
“I’m full.”
After washing the bowls, she set the intestine soup aside and swapped in a pot of braising spices to prepare the remaining intestines. She had some pig kidneys left, which she planned to stir-fry tomorrow.
She stepped out into the courtyard to toss some cypress twigs into the fire. With a moment of free time, she thought about taking a nap, but caught a whiff of her own clothes. “I smell a bit strong.”
She had planned to bathe in the evening, but the thought of having to navigate the room with only a single oil lamp sounded like a hassle. She decided to just wash up now.
No sooner said than done. She went to the well, drew water, and poured it into an empty pot. After a hot bath and a thorough hair wash, Li Miaomiao felt rejuvenated. The rainy season in the Northwest was short, and her bedding had dried completely. She gathered the warm quilt, headed to the guest room, spread it over the dry straw, and collapsed onto it, rolling around in pure bliss.
“Finally! I can sleep by myself.”
Hearing her exclamation of relief from the next room, Xiao Xian opened his eyes. His cold tone was laced with a strange, calculated certainty.
“I hope you’re comfortable enough to stay in that room for a long, long time.”