I Am A Husband Curser, And You Are A Wife Curser. - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Xiang Xi is a Ger

Changxing County was located near the Imperial Capital. Relying on its docks, it was a prosperous small county seat.

There was an exceptionally large number of traveling merchants coming from the north and south, along with outsiders hoping to strike deep roots and make a living here.

On the bustling docks.

Xiang Xi’s biological brother had his head broken today; there was a large gash, and blood covered his entire face.

Earlier today, Xiang Xi’s brother, Xiang Qiang, and his sister-in-law had gone to the docks as usual to set up their stall and sell hubing (sesame flatbreads). Xiang Xi stayed home to look after his young nephew, Bao’er.

Bao’er was the posthumous child of his sister-in-law and her deceased first husband; he was five years old this year.

Years ago, when Xiang Xi and his brother were wandering about the docks trying to make a living, they met his sister-in-law, who had just lost her husband and was pregnant.

The sister-in-law had asked for the brother’s intentions: if he didn’t mind the child in her belly, she would marry him, and the child would take his surname in the future.

The sister-in-law had a house and a small business, so she wouldn’t let the two brothers, Xiang Qiang and Xiang Xi, starve to death.

Xiang Qiang agreed and moved into her house, bringing Xiang Xi along.

They had lived there for many years now.

This afternoon, after Xiang Xi finished feeding Bao’er and coaxed him to sleep, he began washing clothes and doing chores in the courtyard. After the laundry, he had to prepare dinner.

Once his nephew woke up, Xiang Xi wouldn’t have time for these things; he had to keep a constant eye on the boy. At this age, boys were at their most mischievous.

Xiang Xi was busy every day, spinning like a flywheel.

“Xiang Xi, Xiang Xi, open the door! Quick, open the door!” His sister-in-law’s voice came from the alley. Unlike her usual exhaustion, this time it was filled with urgency and panic.

Xiang Xi was startled and hurriedly opened the wooden door.

At first glance, he saw his sister-in-law supporting his brother at the entrance. There were dried bloodstains on his brother’s face, and the white cloth wrapped around his head was already soaked through with blood.

What happened? Xiang Xi was so anxious he was nearly in tears. He helped his sister-in-law support his brother into the house.

“Those damn animals… of all places to fight, they had to cause trouble at the docks,” his sister-in-law’s voice still carried a sob.

At noon today, the couple had been tending their stall as usual, selling small flatbreads for two wen and large ones for three, along with some noodle soup on the side.

Business had been steady.

Suddenly, chaos broke out at the docks. People were shouting about a fight and someone being killed.

It turned out that two local gangs of thugs were fighting over territory.

Seeing things take a turn for the worse, Xiang Qiang hurriedly tried to get his wife away, leaving them no time to pack up the stall.

In the panicked crowd, while trying to protect his pregnant wife, Xiang Qiang was accidentally struck in the head by a stranger’s carrying pole. For a time, the blood wouldn’t stop flowing.

Only after reaching a safe area did the sister-in-law realize her husband’s face was covered in blood. Terrified, she rushed him to a clinic to have the wound dressed.

The doctor examined him and said that while it looked severe, the wound wasn’t actually that deep. He told them to go home and rest well.

Xiang Xi, go to the docks and see if the rioting has stopped. If it’s safe, go to the stall and see if there are any flatbreads left. Bring them all back. The sister-in-law knew in her heart that in such a chaotic situation, there likely wasn’t much left, but she couldn’t give up without looking—that was all money, after all.

Xiang Xi understood her meaning. After all, with so many mouths to feed in the house now, they relied on the money from those flatbreads.

Xiang Xi first went back to the room to see if his nephew had woken up.

Fortunately, he was still asleep. Tucking the corners of the boy’s blanket, Xiang Xi hurried toward the docks.

A large crowd of onlookers had gathered at the docks. Constables from the yamen, carrying sabers, were blocking the area and preventing anyone from approaching.

Being a Ger, Xiang Xi was not tall, but he managed to squeeze his way through the gaps in the crowd to the front.

One look and his heart sank. Several people were lying on the ground at the docks, covered in white cloths—they were dead as could be.

Xiang Xi saw that his brother and sister-in-law’s stall was within the cordoned-off area.

He wanted to go in but couldn’t, and he was so anxious he didn’t know what to do.

Just then, he saw the dock manager, Uncle Chen, following behind a constable, describing the scene of the incident.

Taking the attitude of “treating a dead horse as if it were alive” (trying one last desperate hope), Xiang Xi pushed forward with all his might.

“Uncle Chen! Uncle Chen!” Catching the right moment, Xiang Xi called out.

“Uncle Chen, when can we go in? My sister-in-law wants me to bring the flatbreads home!” Xiang Xi shouted at the top of his lungs, drawing many people’s eyes.

“Nonsense! Can’t you see there are dead people here? You’re a Ger, don’t add to the mess. Go home quickly.” Uncle Chen was an old acquaintance of Xiang Qiang and Xiang Xi.

Years ago, a plague had broken out in a small southern city. People died in droves. Xiang Qiang and Xiang Xi’s father had unfortunately passed away because of it.

Their mother had taken the two children and their meager belongings to join the wave of refugees heading north to escape the disaster.

On the road, their money ran out, and they couldn’t even compete for wild herbs or tree bark.

When the three of them truly couldn’t survive any longer, the mother sold herself, exchanging her freedom for a few taels of silver to give her children a chance at life.

“Run to a big place. You can live in a big place.”

That sentence was Xiang Xi’s last memory of his mother.

Xiang Qiang was only a teenaged boy back then, burdened with a Ger and no one to lean on. The two of them followed the crowd, confusedly heading north.

They didn’t know how long they walked.

Eventually, they arrived outside the walls of Changxing County.

There, they met Uncle Chen, who worked at the docks.

Uncle Chen saw how pitiful the brothers were and brought them to the docks to do odd jobs. Even the marriage between the brother and sister-in-law had been brokered by Uncle Chen.

“Who is he?” a cool, detached voice asked.

Only then did Xiang Xi see the person standing beside Uncle Chen clearly.

Wearing the uniform of a yamen constable, he stood five feet seven inches tall (approx. 190cm/6’3″), as sturdy as a bull. The gaze he leveled at Xiang Xi was full of scrutiny.

It made Xiang Xi shrink his neck in fear.

Constable Yang, this is the little Ger from the family that sells flatbreads. His brother was just injured in the chaos. Their stall hasn’t been cleared yet, so his sister-in-law sent him to check the situation.” Uncle Chen stepped in front of Xiang Xi.

“The docks are cordoned off. There is a curfew tonight. Come back tomorrow,” Constable Yang told Xiang Xi coldly.

What a bold little Ger, not even afraid of dead bodies, Yang Tongchuan thought, taking a few more glances at this “bean sprout” of a boy.

“Yes, yes, yes. Did you hear what Constable Yang said? Hurry home.”

It wasn’t that Xiang Xi wasn’t afraid; he simply had no other choice.

Uncle Chen sent Xiang Xi away.

Xiang Xi returned home and explained the situation to the couple.

His nephew, Bao’er, was already awake and playing in the room.

“Then there’s nothing for it. We’ll talk tomorrow. Go make dinner first; keep it simple.” The sister-in-law touched her belly, her face full of worry.

Her deceased first husband had been a drunkard. When he wasn’t drinking, he was somewhat human and could work the stall with her to earn money.

But once he drank, he was no longer a person. She had been pregnant several times, but each time the child was lost because he kicked her during his drunken rages.

One year, during a freezing lunar December just like this, the dead drunk went out to drink and slipped on the way back. He lay in the snow and never got up again.

By the time someone found him the next day and told her, his body was so stiff they couldn’t even get him into his funeral clothes.

Only after handling the drunkard’s funeral did she realize she was pregnant again.

Just as she was worrying about how to survive, she met Xiang Qiang.

Aside from being a bit poor and a bit slow, this man had no other flaws. The two of them just made do and stayed together.

They didn’t even hold a banquet; Xiang Qiang simply brought Xiang Xi and moved into her house.

After Bao’er was born, she had always wanted to give Xiang Qiang a child of their own.

Perhaps it was because she had lost too many children before, but despite their efforts over the years, she would conceive only to lose the baby after a few months. The one currently in her belly had stayed the longest.

However, after today’s incident and the shock, she felt her stomach starting to ache again.