The Comments Section Said She Was My Wife - Chapter 15

◎ Chu Tang was truly stunned by this form of address ◎

Xia Shi took Liu Laoda and his group into the mountains.

Chu Tang, of course, couldn’t go along. After being pulled aside by Xia Shi for a few parting instructions, she led the goat back inside and locked the door.

Finding someone is not necessarily difficult, but it isn’t easy either. The main issue was that Xia Shi didn’t know Liu Sheng well and had no idea where he had entered the mountain or which direction he might have taken. At the start, the search was almost aimless.

The only advantage of Xia Shi being there was her familiarity with the terrain; she could steer them away from the territories of dangerous predators, ensuring that the villagers searching for him didn’t run into any perils.

Xia Shi had been gone for the better part of the day. There was no chance of her returning home for lunch, and as the afternoon sun began to slant toward the horizon, Chu Tang still hadn’t seen her. Instead, the usually quiet little mountain courtyard received a second wave of visitors.

Unlike the men who had come twice before, this time it was two women. They were clearly here for the first time; they lingered outside the fence with baskets in hand for a good while before finally knocking on the gate.

At the time, Chu Tang was in the kitchen preparing porridge. Hearing the noise, she rushed out, hoping it was Xia Shi, but was met with two strangers. A wave of disappointment washed over her, though she didn’t show it on her face. She slowed her pace and, as she had done before, asked through the fence: “May I ask what brings the two of you here?”

The women didn’t mind her caution. “Don’t worry, sister, we aren’t bad people,” they replied. “I’m Tian Er’s wife, and she’s Shiquan’s wife. We’re both from the village down the mountain.”

When Tian Er’s wife saw Chu Tang still looking blank, seemingly unaware of her husband’s name, she quickly added, “We’re the ones who came up to trade meat with you last time. My husband was the leader of that group, he’s the one who came to ask Xia Shi for help today.”

With that, Chu Tang placed them. “I see. And what can I do for you?”

Tian Er’s wife lifted the baskets in her hands and smiled. “My husband hasn’t returned yet, so we figured your Xia Shi probably hasn’t either. Don’t worry, they’re just up there looking for someone, it’ll be fine. Since Xia Shi is going out of her way to help, it shouldn’t be for nothing. This is a thank-you gift from the Liu family. I figured I’d bring it up to you and keep you company while we wait.”

Bringing a gift was true, and keeping her company was also true, but that wasn’t the whole story. Families of hunters like Xia Shi were used to the mountains, but farming families were different. They had grown up hearing tales of Yunwu Mountain’s dangers and harbored a deep-seated fear of the deep forest. Now that their husbands were up there, the two wives had been anxious all day and decided to come to the hunter’s home to wait together.

Chu Tang didn’t know this, but seeing the heavy baskets, she felt it would be rude to turn them away. After a moment’s hesitation, she opened the gate. Once inside, the women didn’t look around but found a place to set down their baskets.

Chu Tang then saw the contents: one basket was half-filled with eggs, it must have taken a long time to collect that many, and the other was overflowing with pears. They must have prepared these specially after seeing Chu Tang buy pears on her last trip down.

The gifts weren’t overly extravagant, but they were thoughtful. Chu Tang’s tense expression eased slightly.

The women had sharp noses; they smelled the smoke of the hearth and exchanged a glance. They hadn’t come to scrounge a meal—in fact, farming families usually ate two meals a day, and they had already eaten. But to arrive just as someone was cooking and then ask to stay for a meal would be improper, so they prepared to take their leave.

They were disappointed, as Tian Er’s group would likely pass this way on their descent from the mountains. Waiting here meant not only having company but also seeing their husbands sooner. Chu Tang was not a woman of many words, but she took in their expressions and sensed they were about to say goodbye. She didn’t want them to leave, but just as they were about to speak, she suddenly thought of something.

“I have a request I’m hesitant to make, but I was wondering if you two could help me,” she said.

The busyness of the autumn harvest had lasted for many days. Though they still had to dry and thresh the grain, they could finally take a small sigh of relief.

It was during this lull that Liu Sheng ran up the mountain.

He clutched his wood-cutting knife, full of ambition, his mind filled with the gossip he’d heard from his neighbor, a boy named Shi. Shi had many siblings, and his second elder brother, who had gone to the city as a shop assistant years ago, had recently returned to the village to visit.

In casual conversation, Shi’s brother had talked about the “little hunter” on the mountain. He said the hunter had delivered venison to the city twice recently, stealing business from the restaurant Shi’s brother worked at. He claimed venison was expensive and two deer could fetch dozens of taels of silver. He even added that Xia Shi had sold the deer and bought himself a wife, a beautiful young lady.

These were just idle stories to the neighbor, but to the restless Liu Sheng, the words ignited a dormant fire. He thought to himself: So the little wife on the mountain is prettier than any girl in the village because she was bought with money. If I had money, couldn’t I buy a beautiful wife too?

At sixteen, Liu Sheng was at the age where his heart was easily stirred. Once the thought took root, he couldn’t let it go. After a sleepless night waiting for the harvest to end, he finally set out with his knife.

His actions were reckless, yet he convinced himself he was being rational. He knew he didn’t have Xia Shi’s lifelong training, but he didn’t expect to hunt a deer for dozens of taels on his first trip. Catching a pheasant or a hare, however, surely couldn’t be that hard?

With this in mind, he headed up the mountain, choosing a different path to avoid crossing paths with Xia Shi.

His plan wasn’t entirely unrealistic. The mountains were teeming with wildlife, and there was only one hunter in this sector of the mountain. Therefore, despite Xia Shi’s constant hunting, the game remained plentiful—she could often pluck a passing pheasant while simply picking fruit.

Liu Sheng felt the same luck. Before long, he spotted a vibrant pheasant. The boy’s eyes lit up, and he lunged without thinking, missing entirely as the bird took flight.

He was more cautious the second time he encountered one. He approached slowly and threw his knife at the first opportunity. His aim was mediocre, grazing the bird’s wing. It panicked and tried to fly, only to find its wing damaged, preventing it from gaining any height.

Liu Sheng was overjoyed. He scrambled after it, knife in hand. But a flightless bird could still hop and flutter. The chase dragged on until Liu Sheng realized he could no longer see the village and had no idea where he was.

He didn’t panic yet. He figured he could find his way down if he kept to a general direction. Besides, he was hungry, and the autumn forest was a treasure trove of wild fruit that tasted sweeter than anything near the village. He felt as if he had stumbled upon a gold mine.

After spending half the day and nearly exhausting himself, Liu Sheng finally caught the injured pheasant. The satisfaction of holding the bird in his hands washed away his fatigue. He wasn’t a greedy person; he had decided he would go home once he caught one bird, and he intended to stick to that.

But when he turned to head home, he realized he had no idea which direction was which. After hesitating for a long time, he picked a path, but it seemed his luck had run out.

He walked from mid-afternoon until dark without finding the way down. The encroaching dusk in the forest began to fill him with genuine fear. Children are usually vibrant and fearless, but villagers often describe the mountains as terrifying places to keep kids away.

Liu Sheng had grown up hearing those stories, and while his youthful impulse had initially drowned them out, they came rushing back in the dark. Especially after he heard the first howl of a wolf—the supposedly fearless teenager suddenly felt his legs turn to jelly.

Just then, something bumped into his lower leg. Recalling the wolf’s howl, Liu Sheng shuddered. Fear overriding his exhaustion, he abandoned the pheasant he had spent all day chasing and scrambled up the nearest large tree.

When Xia Shi and the others arrived, drawn by his cries for help, the boy was huddled in the branches, clutching the trunk and sobbing.