Sister-in-law Miao didn’t care whether her sister-in-law, Miao Xiugu, would live well after marriage. What she cared about was the fact that Qin Xiao could hunt and never lacked meat at home.
If Xiugu married him, wouldn’t everything Qin Xiao owned eventually end up benefiting their family?
Dragging along the reluctant Miao Xiugu, she followed Madam Qin inside.
Miao Xiugu knew Qin Xiao.
The last time she had seen him was two months ago, when he was skinning a wolf by the river.
This was a man who could kill a wolf with his bare hands, cut open its belly without even blinking.
Covered in blood from head to toe, he had looked terrifying.
She didn’t like Qin Xiao.
But she had no choice.
If she didn’t marry him, her elder brother and sister-in-law would force her into becoming an old man’s concubine.
The moment she stepped into the kitchen, Miao Xiugu froze.
Qin Xiao’s tall figure stood beside the stove, washing dishes with hot water from the pot.
The woman beside him tried to help, but he gently pushed her away.
“Your hand is still injured. Don’t touch the water.”
As he looked at her, his eyes softened and a smile lingered on his lips.
There wasn’t a trace left of the ruthless man who had gutted a wolf.
His gaze was filled entirely with tenderness.
It was exactly how Brother Daniel looked at his wife after their marriage.
The resistance she had felt instantly disappeared.
Perhaps marrying him wouldn’t be so bad after all.
After all, this was the first time she had ever seen a man willingly washing dishes.
But…
Who was this woman?
Did he already have a wife?
Then why had Madam Qin come to her family proposing marriage? Why had her sister-in-law brought her here to meet him?
Filled with questions, she stepped inside.
Qin Xiao turned when he noticed the visitors.
The smile on his face instantly froze.
“Mother, is something the matter?”
As he spoke, he discreetly pulled Qinghe behind him, shielding her from view, afraid his mother would once again hurl cruel words at her.
Unexpectedly, Madam Qin ignored him completely.
Instead, she pulled Sister-in-law Miao toward the table and pointed at the leftover dishes.
“See? I told you. My son’s family eats meat every single meal.”
The dishes were leftovers from the dinner they had shared with Zhou Ye the previous evening.
Qinghe’s drunken episode had interrupted the meal before much of it had been eaten.
At noon, because the weather was hot, she had made cold noodles. Most of the dishes had been finished, but there was still plenty of rabbit meat left.
Sister-in-law Miao swallowed hard as she stared at the bowl of rabbit meat.
“Aunt Qin is absolutely right. I think so too. If Xiugu marries into this family, she definitely won’t suffer.”
“Xiugu? Marry into this family?”
Qin Xiao immediately understood what was happening.
So his mother had come to arrange a marriage for him.
He let out a cold laugh.
Looking at Miao Xiugu, who was secretly sizing him up, he recalled that if his memory served him correctly, this young woman had already been married twice.
Both marriages had been arranged as wedding vigils for dying men.
Both grooms had died on the wedding night.
Afterward, she had been sent back to her parents’ home to await another marriage.
He never thought his mother would drag her into this.
He didn’t think Miao Xiugu was a bad person.
She was merely another pitiful woman being manipulated by her brother and sister-in-law.
The Miao couple and the Qin family were remarkably alike.
When there was a reasonably attractive daughter in the family, they treated her like a money tree.
But was his mother truly this heartless toward him?
Was it not enough that she had spent her life feeding off him?
Now she wanted to bring another member of the Miao family into his life to suck him dry as well?
Besides, thanks to her brother and sister-in-law, Miao Xiugu had already been branded as unlucky.
Qin Xiao himself never believed such nonsense.
But Madam Qin did.
Had she really stopped caring about him to such an extent?
“That’s right,” Sister-in-law Miao chimed in. “Your mother said you’re old enough to marry. Our Xiugu just has bad luck. People outside say she caused the deaths of two husbands and that her fate is too strong.”
“Fortunately, your mother doesn’t mind. She said you survived eight years in the army and came back in one piece. No one’s fate could possibly be stronger than yours. You wouldn’t be afraid of marrying a woman with a strong fate, so here I am.”
Her mind was completely occupied by the grand promises Madam Qin had fed her.
She never noticed that Qin Xiao’s face was darker than the bottom of a soot-blackened pot.
She kept talking enthusiastically.
Even pulling Miao Xiugu forward like merchandise being displayed.
“Look at our Xiugu. Can you find a prettier girl within ten miles of here?”
The boastful words died in her throat the moment she noticed the face peeking out from behind Qin Xiao.
Good heavens.
Madam Qin had never mentioned that the convicted servant Qin Xiao bought was this beautiful.
Even as a woman, she couldn’t help taking a second look.
This was bad.
Her sister-in-law probably had no chance of catching Qin Xiao’s eye.
She immediately turned toward Madam Qin.
Madam Qin lowered her face and assumed the authority of an elder.
“Eldest son, this is what I think. That little temptress you bought isn’t suitable for running a household. Look at her. She can’t even wash dishes. How is she supposed to take care of you? You’re the one serving her instead.”
“Xiugu is different. She’s capable both at home and in the fields. She’s the kind of virtuous wife a man should have.”
“Marry Xiugu and hand this servant girl over to me. I’ll teach her properly. Besides, your younger brother could use a maid by his side.”
Why would a rough man like Qin Xiao need servants?
Her real son was different.
He was a scholar.
A future government official.
Only someone like him deserved attendants.
Qin Xiao narrowed his eyes and laughed at himself.
The smile never reached his eyes.
Bitterness filled them instead.
“There’s no need.”
“Tomorrow I’m going to register a marriage contract with Qinghe. From then on, she’ll be my wife.”
“And stop calling her a servant girl. She never broke any laws.”
“I have my own hands and feet. I’ve taken care of myself for all these years. I don’t need to marry a woman just so she can look after me.”
He remembered clearly.
From the moment he could walk, he had been made to work.
Once he learned how to wash clothes, his mother never washed them for him again.
As for dishes?
Even when he was too short to reach the table, he had stood on a stool to wash them.
Now, in order to take Qinghe away from him, his mother suddenly cared about whether he was being looked after.
If he guessed correctly, the bride price for Miao Xiugu was probably incredibly low.
Otherwise, his mother would never have agreed to arrange the marriage.
“What?” Madam Qin exploded. “You want to marry her?”
“I won’t allow it!”
“Since ancient times, marriage has required the approval of one’s parents and the arrangement of a matchmaker…”
“Mother!”
Qin Xiao’s voice suddenly rose, cutting her off.
“Take a look at yourself. You brought people here today, but did you bring a matchmaker?”
“No, you didn’t.”
She was too stingy to spend money on a matchmaker for his marriage.
“Since you can arrange a marriage without one, why can’t I? As long as I go to the official marriage office and have the documents drawn up, then there will be both a matchmaker and a formal marriage. It won’t violate any law.”
“And as for parental authority…”
“I’ve had enough of it.”
“You don’t need to concern yourself with my marriage.”
“Just wait and drink the tea your daughter-in-law serves you.”
Before outsiders, he wasn’t giving his mother even the slightest bit of face.
Madam Qin trembled with rage.
“Dream on!”
“As long as I’m alive, you will never marry this pretty but useless fox spirit into the family!”
“You unfilial son!”
“I raised you from infancy, changing your diapers and feeding you. Is this how you repay me?”
“When you burned with fever in the middle of the night as a child, if I hadn’t watched over you, you would have died long ago!”
…
Qinghe had already stepped out from behind Qin Xiao.
This matter involved her.
She had no reason to hide.
She could see the muscles in his jaw tightening beneath his beard.
His trembling eyelashes.
His clenched fists.
The redness around his eyes.
Every sign revealed the same thing.
At this moment, he was suffering as though ten thousand arrows were piercing his heart.
Yet Madam Qin, his own mother, noticed none of it.
She continued spraying accusations without pause, condemning Qin Xiao for being unfilial.
Listing all the times she had cared for him when he was sick as a child.
Claiming that his actions would disgrace his younger brother, Qin Yue, and ruin his future official career.
What a joke.
A nineteen-year-old county-level scholar was still unimaginably far from an official position.
The merciless neglect of a biological mother was like thorn-covered vines growing from the tree of family affection.
They left wounds all over a person’s body, yet still made it impossible to swing the blade and cut them down.
To destroy a person’s heart without spilling blood, this was exactly that.
Qinghe couldn’t tolerate it for another second.
“Shut your mouth!”
Her face twisted with fury as she stepped forward and stood protectively in front of Qin Xiao.
Before Madam Qin could react, Qinghe rolled up her sleeves and unleashed a torrent of scolding.