The Comments Section Said She Was My Wife - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

◎ Look, that’s Xia Shi’s wife! ◎

Early in the morning, the sun was shining brightly. In Shitian Village, everyone was in the heat of a busy autumn harvest.

The Liu family, who lived at the entrance of the village, were all busy working in their fields. Since their plot happened to be right at the village gate, Liu Laoda would occasionally straighten his back to massage his waist during the harvest. As he looked up, he caught sight of someone darting down from the fog-covered mountains nearby.

Liu Laoda squinted. As expected, he saw a slender, agile figure. The person had a shadow across their shoulder, looking as if they were carrying something.

“Hey, it’s Xia Shi. She must have caught some prey again,” said Liu Sheng, Liu Laoda’s son. He wiped the sweat from his brow, stretched his aching waist, and added with envy, “She’s so lucky; she doesn’t even have to participate in the autumn harvest.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than he received a slap on the back of his head. His father glared at him and scolded, “Always dreaming of good things! Just look at your own scrawny frame, do you think you’d even have enough meat on you to satisfy the wolves and leopards on that mountain?”

Liu Sheng ducked two steps away, clutching his sickle. He looked down at his own thin, weak arms, but still muttered defiantly, “What’s the big deal? Xia Shi is a woman and she can hunt, why can’t I?”

Liu Laoda feigned a step forward, instantly scaring Liu Sheng into scurrying back. Seeing his son’s cowardly demeanor, Liu Laoda couldn’t be bothered to argue. Is being a hunter really that easy? That’s a skill passed down for generations. Their ancestors were farmers, they knew nothing but farming. Besides, this kid was too timid. If he tried to learn to hunt, he’d probably starve to death!

On the village road leading to the county town not far away, the figure descending the mountain was already far off, unaware that anyone was discussing her.

Shitian Village wasn’t too far from Fengle County. A villager with a quick pace could walk there in less than an hour, or even faster if they paid two copper coins to ride an ox cart. However, villagers usually headed into town early; Xia Shi was clearly late, and the ox carts at the village gate would have already reached the town by now. There was certainly no second cart to take her.

Fortunately, Xia Shi was long accustomed to traveling on foot and never relied on transportation. She carried the deer she had hunted at dawn on her shoulder, not feeling the weight of the hundred-plus-pound carcass at all, and strode toward the county town.

Before noon, Xia Shi finally reached the outskirts of Fengle County. From afar, she could see the bustling scene at the city gates.

It was currently the autumn harvest. Some villages were quick and had already finished reaping, so villagers brought their surplus grain—after setting aside their rations—to the county town to sell. Grain merchants had long been waiting to buy, so for the next month, the county town would be particularly lively.

Xia Shi came to the county town often and was used to this. She bypassed the grain sellers and entered the city.

The town was as bustling as ever. Having spent so long in the mountains, Xia Shi didn’t know what special day it was, but there were clearly more pedestrians than usual. She walked through the streets, occasionally turning sideways to avoid brushing the deer blood onto people’s clothes.

After walking for a quarter of an hour, Xia Shi finally reached the back door of a familiar restaurant.

The manager of Mingquan Tower was already waiting at the back door. He had looked impatient, but his face immediately brightened when he saw Xia Shi. Of course, the smile wasn’t meant for Xia Shi herself, but for the deer on her shoulder: “Good, good! Little Xia, you truly are amazing. You said you could hunt a deer, and you really did. Someone, come quick—carry this deer down. This thing is heavy as lead; carrying it for a second longer is exhausting.”

As he spoke, two kitchen helpers from Mingquan Tower rushed over, both reaching out to take the deer.

Xia Shi sidestepped to avoid their hands and stared straight at the manager. The manager, realizing what she wanted, immediately reached into his pocket and pulled out two silver ingots: “Here, money for the goods.”

Xia Shi just glanced down but didn’t move.

The manager’s mouth twitched, and he had to pull another piece of silver from his sleeve to top it off: “Fine, including the deposit, thirty taels total.”

Only then did Xia Shi take the silver and hand over the deer, this was the agreed price. Recently, many merchants had come to the county town, and someone had ordered a venison dish at Mingquan Tower, which was why the manager had specifically commissioned Xia Shi to hunt it. A job with a specific target and deadline was naturally more expensive than a random sale, and Xia Shi had spent quite a bit of effort on the mountain for this deer.

The deal was done. The manager felt a pang of heartache, but after handing over the money, he smoothed his emotions and smiled at Xia Shi: “Little Xia, there are many merchants in town lately. If there’s anything else needed, I’ll be sure to find you.”

Xia Shi nodded, tucked away the money, waved her hand, and turned to leave, as reclusive as a mute.

Today, she had earned thirty taels of silver from selling the deer—nearly the annual income of a village family—but Xia Shi didn’t feel particularly happy.

She was an excellent hunter. Even though she was a woman, she was much stronger than most men. With her agile skills and her family’s secret hunting techniques, there wasn’t a beast on Yunwu Mountain she couldn’t catch. She had saved quite a bit of money over the years, but unfortunately, since her foster father passed away, she was the only one left on the mountain. Usually, she didn’t even have anyone to talk to, so saving money seemed pointless.

Holding the thirty taels, Xia Shi only planned to toss them into her coin jar and bury it again. As for when she would ever use this money, she had no idea herself.

It was another boring day. Before leaving the city, Xia Shi thought for a moment and took a detour to the West Market.

The West Market was exceptionally busy today, filled with people selling grain. Xia Shi had only walked a few steps when she heard someone yelling behind her: “Make way, make way! Be careful not to get hit by the cart…”

It was a small grain cart. Xia Shi stepped aside to let it pass, and it was in this moment of movement that a flash of bright red caught her eye.

As a hunter, Xia Shi was particularly sensitive to the color red, so she immediately followed her peripheral vision. But when she looked, she froze—what on earth was that? Could she be seeing things after staying in the mountains for too long? How could there be words floating in mid-air?!

Before Xia Shi could recover from this spectacle, she was shocked again.

The reason was simple: she was an illiterate hunter who only knew how to write her own name, yet she recognized every single character of the line floating in the air. It read: Look, that’s Xia Shi’s wife!

Who is Xia Shi? Oh, Xia Shi is me. And what is this “wife”? What wife?!

Xia Shi blinked, then blinked again. The floating line of bright red text was still there. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but it remained unchanged. She couldn’t help but gasp softly, and she instinctively grabbed a person nearby.

The person she grabbed happened to be a weak-looking young scholar who looked like he could read: “What are you doing?”

Xia Shi ignored his question. She pointed at the text floating in the air and asked, “Look, what is that?”

The young man was naturally curious, so he immediately followed where Xia Shi pointed. But when he looked, he saw nothing but empty air. He couldn’t help but look confused: “What? What are you talking about?”

Very well, Xia Shi didn’t need to ask again. Those massive characters were something anyone with eyes could see.

Xia Shi wasn’t stupid. She guessed that either she was hallucinating, or this text was only visible to her. So, she pushed away the scholar she had grabbed and decided to follow the text to see what was going on.

Crossing the street and winding through an alley, she moved closer to the source of the text. Xia Shi finally saw the origin: it was a group of human traffickers selling people. Their carriages were parked nearby, as if they were just passing through. It just so happened that Fengle County was lively today, so the traffickers had joined the crowd to take advantage of the business. And the line of text Xia Shi saw was floating directly above a woman’s head.

Xia Shi’s gaze inevitably followed the text to the woman. She was dressed in thin, shabby clothes and looked in a sorry state. Although her features were vaguely delicate and she seemed to be a beauty, that wasn’t the first thing people noticed…

A passerby took one look and spat on the ground right in front of Xia Shi: “Dragging a dying person out to sell? These traffickers must be crazy for money!”

Yes, the woman was sick, and her illness was so severe she couldn’t hide it. The reason the traffickers hadn’t washed her face or let her show herself properly was that they were afraid her sickly complexion would be exposed, making her even harder to sell.

Whether by coincidence or fate, as Xia Shi looked over, the sickly woman opened her eyes and met Xia Shi’s gaze.

The woman’s eyes were deep and dark, as if brewing an invisible storm. Xia Shi immediately and uncomfortably looked away. But just as she looked up, the text above the woman’s head appeared in her vision again—especially the word “wife,” which for some reason, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from.