“I’ve got five eggs — let’s fry them into sunny-side up.” Su Xiaoqi’s body was craving rich food. “I’ll go pick some greens from the field.”
“All right. Grab two tomatoes too, to make a base for soup.”
“Got it.”
Su Xiaoqi slung the cloth bag over her arm and handed it back to Yang Huaihua.
Yang Huaihua ran her hand over the bag.
Her heart ached as if it were bleeding, yet she still wanted to snap at her. “In the countryside, men always eat first and get the best portions. Women just need enough to not starve. You glutton will get what’s coming to you.”
“Your Meizhen eats no less than I do. Why hasn’t she faced any retribution?”
“How dare you compare yourself to Meizhen!” Yang Huaihua’s mind went fuzzy with anger. What good could come of a woman married to Zhou Ye?
Her Meizhen was meant to wed someone with an official position.
“Your Meizhen really can’t compare to me. What is she, anyway? Just a useless good-for-nothing.”
Having said that, Su Xiaoqi turned and walked straight to the fields. She picked a handful of lush, tender greens, then plucked two tomatoes that were half-red and half-green — the fully ripe ones had long since been eaten.
When she returned to the kitchen door, she scraped the mud off the soles of her shoes against the threshold.
Zhou Ye had already rolled out the noodles.
“Fry the eggs, and use plenty of oil,” Su Xiaoqi instructed as she stepped inside.
Aside from the brief exchange on their wedding day, this was the most they had spoken to each other. Strangely, there was a natural ease between them. Zhou Ye nodded in agreement.
“Can you light the stove?”
“Not really. I know how to light coal briquettes, but not firewood.” The original owner of this body had been a city-educated youth sent down to the countryside, so she’d never used a wood-fired stove before.
“I’ll do it.”
Zhou Ye went over to the stove and lit the fire, not letting Su Xiaoqi lift a finger. He cooked a whole pot of noodles all by himself.
At the kitchen door, two little boys with runny noses were peeking in. They were Xu Yonghua’s sons — Xu Tiansheng and Xu Tianzhen. Though they looked well-behaved right now, they’d teased and bullied Su Xiaoqi plenty of times before. Just two little troublemakers.
A large spoonful of oil went into the pan. Zhou Ye moved quickly and efficiently.
Su Xiaoqi suddenly thought life like this wasn’t so bad. Maybe two people who’d both had rotten luck could still turn this plain, simple life into something warm and fulfilling.
Yang Huaihua caught the scent of frying eggs and stormed over, yelling and cursing.
Su Xiaoqi leaned against the doorframe. “Yell one more word, and I’ll smash a bowl. Let’s see if you have enough bowls in the house for me to break today.”
Yang Huaihua clamped her mouth shut at once.
“Truly, I’ve brought a pair of debt collectors into this house,” she muttered.
Su Xiaoqi shot back without hesitation: “Then stop piling up so many debts to pay.”
“Wife, come and eat your noodles.” Zhou Ye had wiped the small wooden table clean and set two bowls of noodles on it.
Su Xiaoqi turned around.
One large bowl held four fried eggs; the other had only one. Zhou Ye pushed the bowl with four eggs toward her and started eating from his own.
Joy lit up Su Xiaoqi’s eyes. She picked one egg from her bowl and placed it into his. “You have two.”
“You’re too thin — you need to eat more.”
Zhou Ye tried to move it back, but caught the sharp look in her eyes. He quickly left it there.
“I’m a grown man; it doesn’t matter what I eat,” he said, though inside he felt a warm surge of happiness. For the first time, someone cared if he was being scolded, or if he was eating well. Even as he spoke, he couldn’t suppress the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
By the doorframe, Xu Tiansheng and his brother kept swallowing hard, their mouths watering. Tiansheng was the eldest grandson of the Xu family, and in his mind, the most important person in the house.
“Mean woman! I want eggs!”
“If you won’t give me any, I’ll tell my mother to beat you again!”
Xu Tianzhen was still young and naive enough to think his mother could do no wrong. “Yeah! She’ll beat you until you kneel and beg for mercy!”
Zhou Ye paused, his chopsticks hovering in mid-air. His handsome features hardened, and his voice turned cold as ice in mid-winter: “Does your mother hit her often?”
Xu Tiansheng froze, too terrified to speak. Though only seven or eight years old, the look in Zhou Ye’s eyes was so intimidating that he wet his pants right there.
Xu Tianzhen was slower to catch on. He stuck out his chest and boasted:
“Her and my second aunt both beat her! I even peed on her once!”
Zhou Ye turned his gaze toward Su Xiaoqi, searching her face for answers. This woman standing before him didn’t seem like someone who would take abuse lying down — unless there was something more to the story?
Su Xiaoqi thought to herself: Damn it.
She hadn’t fully gone through all the memories of the original owner, but hearing this made her blood boil. Her eyes turned red as she glared at Zhou Ye. “Back then I was so sick I could barely breathe. I had no strength to fight back — I was just prey for them to do as they pleased.”
Her heart ached with grief and anger over all the suffering her predecessor had endured.
Zhou Ye started to stand up, but Su Xiaoqi stopped him.
“How long are you home for?”
“One month.”
“Then there’s no rush. We’ll settle the score slowly and properly.” With that, she went back to eating her noodles.
Zhou Ye relaxed his clenched fist, feeling a deep sense of regret. He had married her, yet failed to protect her. He finished his bowl of noodles in just a few bites.
Su Xiaoqi couldn’t finish her portion. She set down her chopsticks and said, “I’ve had enough.”
Without a word, Zhou Ye picked up her bowl and ate the rest.
Seeing him finish her leftovers, Su Xiaoqi could only think: …
“Fair enough — in this day and age, just having noodles to eat is already pretty good.”
Who cared whether there were leftovers or not?
Once the two had finished eating, they left the bowls unwashed and stacked them right inside the pot.
Su Xiaoqi shot Zhou Ye a look. He walked outside, grabbed Xu Tianzhen and Xu Tiansheng by the backs of their collars, and dragged them toward the outhouse at the back.
The two boys kicked and screamed, begging for help.
“Grandma! Save us!”
“Grandpa! Help!”
Neighbors from the next house craned their necks, eager to catch the latest drama unfolding at the Xu family’s place.
Seven or eight men and women stood outside the Xu compound’s mud wall. Some held shoe soles in their hands, while others had picked a bunch of chives and squatted on the ground to sort them.
“Zhou Ye’s back — looks like there’ll be more excitement at the Xu house today.”
“Uncle Youtian never did right by him. If Old Granny Nine at the end of the village hadn’t stepped in, that boy would’ve been carried off by wolves long ago.”
“Even now, he still sends twelve yuan home every month to support the family.”
“Is he back to stand up for his wife?”
Xu Laoliu was only twenty-three or twenty-four, but looked much older than his years. He loved nothing more than prying into other people’s private business, which he would trade for a cigarette or a piece of candy.
Hearing this, he grinned slyly.
“You folks don’t know the real story — but I do.”
“What’s going on?” Everyone leaned in, ears pricked, while also listening to Xu Yonghua yelling and cursing furiously from behind Zhou Ye.
“Yang Huaihua was trying to marry Educated Youth Su off to that good-for-nothing hooligan.”
“What?!”
“But Zhou Ye and Educated Youth Su already held the wedding feast!” Everyone was too shocked to speak properly.
Back then in the countryside, having an official marriage certificate didn’t matter nearly as much; holding a banquet was what made a marriage official. “How could they try to pass their own daughter-in-law off to such a worthless nobody?”
The crowd murmured quietly among themselves.
Meanwhile, Xu Yonghua was being pinned down and beaten by Zhou Ye inside the outhouse.
The two Xu boys also ended up with their shoes and legs covered in filth.
Zhou Ye only gave them a scare — if they hadn’t been so young, he would have done far worse.
Xu Yonghua didn’t dare make a sound.
His face was pressed flat against the outhouse floor, with wriggling maggots crawling right before his eyes. He clamped his mouth shut and sobbed in pain.
“Your wife and your sons bullied my wife. So now I’ll settle the debt with you.”
Zhou Ye pressed his foot down harder.
All the rage he’d been holding in finally erupted. The thought that Su Xiaoqi — a woman bold enough to face down wild boars — had been mistreated by the Xu family made his blood boil. He bore down even harder.
Su Xiaoqi rushed in, then quickly rushed right back out — the stench inside was unbearable.
“Zhou Ye! Don’t forget about Xu Yongguo too — we’ll deal with them one by one!” she shouted, then shot a sharp, disdainful glare at Yang Xiaolin, who came hurrying over.
Yang Xiaolin was frantic with worry for her husband. She wanted to curse and yell, but didn’t dare. Instead, she complained loudly:
“Su Xiaoqi! You already took ten yuan from us — what more do you want?!”
Su Xiaoqi crooked her finger, beckoning her closer.
“Come here, and I’ll tell you.”
Yang Xiaolin didn’t suspect a thing — she had no idea Su Xiaoqi’s body was now occupied by someone far more cunning and sharp.
Her face flushed with anger. “Su Xiaoqi! We’re still family after all. Everything before was just a little sisterly joke between us. If you can’t take a joke, we won’t do it again.
It’s only because Zhou Ye left right after marrying you without even consummating the marriage. We were just worried you’d feel left out — we meant well.”
A mocking smile tugged at the corner of Su Xiaoqi’s mouth.
“A joke? Well, right now my husband Zhou Ye is playing a little joke on you too.”
“Su Xiaoqi! Don’t think we don’t know you’ve always had a crush on that fellow educated youth Xia Wenjie! Do you really intend to stay as the Xu family’s daughter-in-law?”
Zhou Ye pressed his foot down even harder.
Su Xiaoqi spat straight onto Yang Xiaolin’s face.
“You must have shit for brains! I married Zhou Ye — why would I ever be the Xu family’s daughter-in-law?!”
“How dare you ruin my reputation! Who told you I liked Xia Wenjie?!” She raised her hand and slapped Yang Xiaolin hard across the cheek.
The two women began to wrestle and grapple.
Yang Xiaolin tried to use the same old tricks she’d used before, but Su Xiaoqi overpowered her and pinned her flat onto the ground.
The sunbaked hard clods of dirt dug painfully into Yang Xiaolin’s skin.