The Comments Section Said She Was My Wife - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

◎ She wants to buy herself a wife ◎

Chu Tang had been ill for many days. If it weren’t for this sickness, she would never have appeared in this small town.

In Xia Shi’s eyes, Fengle County was a prosperous city, but to Chu Tang, it was truly nothing more than a small, insignificant town. She had been born in the capital, the daughter of a Minister, and the name “Miss Chu” had once been famous throughout the capital, leading countless men to seek her hand in marriage.

Alas, that was all in the past. A month ago, for reasons unknown, her father the Minister was implicated in a rebellion case. He had long since been beheaded, and the entire Chu family had been sent into exile. The reason Chu Tang appeared here was that she had fallen gravely ill during the journey to exile. She had slipped into a coma, leading the guards to believe she was dead, so they had “discarded her corpse” by the roadside.

Fortunately, Chu Tang was not destined to die. Because of her beauty, she was picked up by passing human traffickers, and after many twists and turns, she arrived in Fengle County. Along the way, the traffickers had tried to sell her to a brothel for a good price, but unfortunately, she was too ill, and the brothel wouldn’t take her.

Chu Tang saw all of this. While she felt fortunate to be alive, she also clearly understood that she had to seize every opportunity to save herself.

The sickly woman struggled to sit up, her dark, heavy gaze lingering on the hunter opposite her. She saw a young woman with a tall, well-proportioned frame, dressed in a short tunic that allowed for easy movement. A blood-stained hunting knife was tucked into her belt, radiating a fierce aura.

Moving her gaze upward, she saw that the hunter’s features were not delicate, but rather sharp and cutting. Her long hair was tied in a high ponytail at the back of her head, and her spirited, heroic appearance was nothing like that of a sheltered young lady.

She looked more like a valiant young general!

The thought rolled through Chu Tang’s mind, and she truly began to size the person up. In fact, apart from this person, she had no other choice—the traffickers had been lingering here all morning, but Fengle County itself wasn’t very wealthy, and not many people were buying slaves.

Not to mention, Chu Tang was draped in an aura of sickness, and everyone who saw her avoided her. This female hunter was the first person to actually fix her gaze upon her. After their eyes met, the woman didn’t leave, perhaps she would actually buy her?

Chu Tang tried her best to sit straight, though she was still nervous. The trafficker, however, was clearly more proactive than her. Seeing Xia Shi standing there watching for quite a while, he took the initiative to approach: “Young lady, are you looking to buy someone?”

Xia Shi’s focus was still revolving around the words “wife.” Although she didn’t know where these words came from, she knew very well what a “wife” was—it was a family member you could take home to wash your clothes, cook your meals, and warm your bed.

Setting everything else aside, Xia Shi, who lived alone in the mountains, was fed up with the loneliness. She longed for companionship too deeply.

Her hand subconsciously rested on the hilt of the hunting knife at her waist. The familiar touch gave her a sense of calm and courage. Xia Shi withdrew her gaze, glanced at the woman beneath the floating text, and asked, “How much?”

The trafficker was shrewd; he saw exactly where Xia Shi’s gaze fell and was immediately overjoyed. Finally, someone was willing to take this cargo he’d picked up for free off his hands. He had been traveling with these people for half a month, wasting quite a bit of grain, and if he couldn’t sell her, he’d truly lose a fortune.

He immediately put on a smiling face and boasted: “Young lady, you certainly have a good eye! This girl is a beauty, it’s just that the fatigue of the journey hasn’t allowed her to wash up yet. If you buy her and take her home to wash her face, you’ll see just how much she’s worth…”

Xia Shi hadn’t lived without dealing with business people, she had no patience for the trafficker’s self-promotion and waved her hand: “She’s about to die of sickness, isn’t she? What difference does it make if a dead person is beautiful or not? Besides, I’m not here for a beauty. Give me a fair price.”

The trafficker choked on his words. His gaze flickered over Xia Shi’s furrowed brow and the rough palms gripping her knife, realizing that this person wasn’t the type to pay for mere looks. Usually, he would have switched to recommending someone else with average looks, but this woman was on the verge of death; getting rid of her quickly was better than letting her die in his hands.

Thoughts raced through his mind. The trafficker didn’t hold back as he opened his mouth, immediately raising three fingers: “Thirty taels.”

Xia Shi’s brow twitched. She cast a suspicious glance at the trafficker, if she hadn’t known he hadn’t seen her sell the deer earlier, she would have suspected he knew exactly how much money she had. But thirty taels…she had exactly that much from the deer…

With a bit of confidence in her heart, Xia Shi ignored the trafficker and walked over to squat down in front of Chu Tang. As their eyes met again, Xia Shi tightened her grip on her knife hilt. Though she was terrified inside, her expression was even colder and more rigid than before: “I’m not buying someone to put on a pedestal. What can you do?”

Chu Tang knew many things: zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and prose. There was no talented woman in the capital more brilliant than her. But because she was smart, she knew clearly that this female hunter wouldn’t need these skills. So, she took the initiative to ask, “What do you need me to do?”

Xia Shi thought for a moment and said very bluntly, “Wash clothes, cook, and warm the bed. Can you do that?”

The implication was clear. Chu Tang and the trafficker both understood: she wanted to buy a wife. The prevailing atmosphere in this dynasty was quite open, and same-sex marriage was acceptable. However, this trend was mostly found in big cities, it was rare to hear of two women marrying in small, remote places.

The reason was quite realistic, daughters of wealthy families had no worries about food or clothing, so they could naturally seek a considerate lover, while daughters of common families had to worry about survival.

The trafficker hadn’t expected the little hunter to have such thoughts, but he was dismissive of them in his heart. After all, even if buying a wife, one should buy someone healthy. What could this sickly thing do besides cost money for medicine?

Of course, as the seller, the trafficker was eager to get rid of her and immediately intended to answer for Chu Tang. But before he could open his mouth, Chu Tang, who was even more desperate to escape her current situation, beat him to it. Her voice was resolute: “I can!”

The credibility of this statement wasn’t very high, but Xia Shi didn’t intend to probe further. Her hand was already in her pocket, touching the silver, when she heard the woman in front of her add: “But I am not worth thirty taels. I am worth ten taels of silver at most.”

Once these words were out, let alone Xia Shi, even the trafficker was stunned, immediately followed by a burst of rage: “Nonsense! Is it up to you to decide what you’re worth? I say thirty taels, so it’s thirty taels. If you’re short even one tael, I…”

Chu Tang replied calmly: “Not selling? And then waiting for me to die of sickness tomorrow?”

The trafficker was choked again. He glanced at Chu Tang’s sickly face, which even the dirt couldn’t hide, and found it hard to say whether she would really die tomorrow. If she really died, he wouldn’t even be able to recover the cost of the rice porridge he’d fed her these past few days.

Thinking of this, the trafficker subconsciously turned his gaze back to Xia Shi, hoping she would just be decisive and pay up.

But Xia Shi wasn’t a fool. Since Chu Tang had taken the initiative to save her money, she certainly wasn’t going to hold her back. Far from paying, she had already turned her gaze elsewhere and pointed at someone else, asking the trafficker: “How much for that one?”

The trafficker became anxious. Without even looking, he blurted out a high price: “Also thirty taels.”

As soon as Xia Shi heard this, she stood up and prepared to walk away: “Profiteer. Do you really think I don’t know the market? In the city, girls like that only sell for two taels at the market. You’re asking for ten times that. Do you think I’m a sucker?”

The trafficker turned his head and saw that Xia Shi had been pointing at a thin, gaunt, and unattractive little girl—truly a two-tael piece of cargo. He immediately grew annoyed. Then, seeing Xia Shi leaving and Chu Tang’s complexion becoming even more withered, he didn’t dare to be greedy anymore.

He hurried to chase her and blocked her path: “Hey, hey, young lady, don’t be in such a rush. Buying and selling is all about asking high and paying low. Why are you in such a hurry to leave without even haggling?”

Xia Shi frowned, looking thoroughly impatient: “Your asking price is so ridiculous, how am I supposed to haggle?”

The trafficker was speechless. After stammering for a moment, he said: “Then…just give me a price to start with.”

Xia Shi simply spread her palm and halved Chu Tang’s own valuation: “Five taels. Not a penny more.”

The trafficker: “…” If I had known, I would have sold her for ten.

Xia Shi didn’t give him a chance to hesitate. Seeing the trafficker didn’t immediately agree, she started to walk around him. Naturally, she was blocked again. The trafficker looked heartbroken, as if a piece of his flesh had been cut off: “Fine, five taels it is. Consider me kind-hearted. You must use the rest of the money to take her to a doctor; if she dies of sickness, your money will be wasted.”

The trafficker didn’t say this out of kindness; he felt he hadn’t made a profit and didn’t want Xia Shi to actually save that much money. But it had to be said, this had been Chu Tang’s original intention, she had saved Xia Shi money precisely so that she could afford to buy medicine for herself.

However, Chu Tang was more forthright than the trafficker. Watching Xia Shi return, she said truthfully: “If you buy me and take me home, you must treat my illness. By saving twenty-five taels out of the thirty, I don’t know if it will be enough for my medicine.”

Upon hearing this, Xia Shi didn’t hesitate in the slightest as she pulled out the silver, handing over the five taels to the trafficker to redeem Chu Tang.

Marrying a wife in the village didn’t require ten taels of silver, and buying one could be even cheaper. Now that she had opened her mind to this idea, Xia Shi could naturally have other options.

But as she watched the floating text above Chu Tang slowly fade away, she didn’t consider any other possibilities, such a strange encounter gave Xia Shi a sense of fatalistic certainty, a certainty that the woman before her was her wife destined by fate!