The Comments Section Said She Was My Wife - Chapter 7

◎ Having someone accompany her was already quite enough ◎

Chu Tang guarded the grain store for a whole day while hungry and went to bed early after nightfall.

Xia Shi had gone to hunt deer, and there was no telling how long the trip would take, so she certainly couldn’t just wait around for her return. She calculated that if she still couldn’t start a fire tomorrow, she might as well head down the mountain to check things out. Although she hadn’t left the premises in days, she had heard Xia Shi mention that the road in front of the hut led straight down to Shitian Village. Once she met someone, she could trade for a fire-starter, and lighting a fire wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

As for what to trade for the fire-starter, Chu Tang had already thought of that. There was plenty of smoked meat hanging in the kitchen; grabbing a strip would be more than enough.

With a plan in place, Chu Tang clutched her growling stomach, finally feeling somewhat at ease. Because there was no fire, she couldn’t light the oil lamp, and in the pitch darkness, there was nothing to do but sleep.

Chu Tang pulled up the quilt and decided to call it a night.

With Xia Shi around, she usually fell asleep quickly and deeply, but tonight, perhaps because someone was missing from her side, she tossed and turned in her quilt, unable to fall asleep. That wasn’t even the worst of it; the mountain night was different from others.

When they were in the same room, her thoughts were always occupied by the other person and she hadn’t noticed, but tonight, alone in the mountain hut, she kept hearing all sorts of noises outside that wouldn’t stop.

One moment it was a “thump, thump, thump” sound, which could have been the wind blowing against the door, or perhaps someone knocking heavily. Chu Tang listened intently for a long time but didn’t dare to respond, eventually deciding to stick to Xia Shi’s advice and not go outside.

After a while, perhaps growing accustomed to the “thumping,” Chu Tang finally relaxed and began to feel drowsy. But before she could drift off, she heard an “Awoo, Awoo” sound, like a wolf howling in the mountains. Though the noise sounded quite far away, the human instinctual fear of wild beasts still made her heart tremble with terror.

After hesitating for a moment, Chu Tang finally threw off the quilt and got up. She fumbled around in the pitch-black room and eventually successfully located an old hunting knife, one Xia Shi had used in her youth. It looked a bit blunt and hung on the wall. Chu Tang had noticed it early on, and even in the dark, she knew exactly where to grab it.

The cold, heavy hunting knife felt substantial in her hand, and she could faintly smell the scent of old, dried blood. Suddenly, her heart settled. She returned to the bedside, hugged the hunting knife, and lay back down. This time, she finally closed her eyes and fell asleep with peace of mind.

But this night was destined to be turbulent. Chu Tang had finally fallen asleep listening to the wolf howls, only to be awakened in the middle of the night by an unusual sound.

Since her exile, Chu Tang had become exceptionally alert. Things like the wind or wolf howls were sounds she could ignore after getting used to them, but a clearly abnormal movement just outside the door could jolt her wide awake in an instant.

Chu Tang sat up with a “whoosh,” clutching the hunting knife in her arms. She looked toward the door with vigilant, obsidian eyes, as if she had never been asleep at all. She tilted her head to listen to the sounds outside and, sure enough, heard a series of light footsteps, this sound clearly wasn’t the wind or a beast; someone must have climbed over the wall!

The Chu Tang of the past was a naive young lady, but the Chu Tang of today had already witnessed the cruelty of human nature…Late at night, deep in the mountains, a solitary hut, and an intruder—what could happen? It might be even worse than encountering a beast!

Her grip on the hunting knife tightened. Chu Tang got off the bed softly and slowly crept behind the door.

The door to the hunter’s hut was primitive and certainly not airtight, but at this moment, it happened to work to Chu Tang’s advantage. She pressed her eye to a crack in the door to peek outside. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t good tonight, and the moonlight wasn’t clear. She only caught a faint glimpse of a dark silhouette moving through the courtyard.

Someone had definitely broken in!

Chu Tang’s heart leaped into her throat. She gripped the hunting knife with both hands, ready to strike if the person tried to break through the door. However, she didn’t dare to initiate a confrontation herself, so she could only stay vigilant and observe the courtyard through the crack. Strangely, the person didn’t come toward the main room but instead went straight to the kitchen next door.

Perhaps someone traveling through the mountains was hungry and broke in to find food?

Chu Tang found this guess absurd, yet she hoped it was true. If the intruder filled their stomach and left, that would be for the best.

Unfortunately, the intruder only stayed in the kitchen for a moment before coming back out. Chu Tang’s nerves tightened again, and her palms broke into a sweat, but she quickly realized something was wrong—how did the person come out shorter after going into the kitchen?

Wait, after becoming shorter, the figure’s height seemed to become familiar!

The moment the lamp was lit, the tension that had held Chu Tang’s heart all night completely evaporated. She dropped the knife onto the table with a “clatter.”

The person who had returned in the middle of the night was Xia Shi, and the one who lit the lamp was naturally her as well. Hearing the noise, she looked at the old hunting knife on the table and couldn’t help but grin: “What’s this? Were you still a bit scared staying home alone?”

The lamplight was as dim as a bean, but it was enough to illuminate Xia Shi’s face. The smile at the corners of her lips appeared rather irritating to Chu Tang. The woman who had been so docile lately couldn’t help but glare at her, her tone sharp: “You return to your own home in the middle of the night, choose not to use the front door, insist on climbing the wall, and now you blame me for being timid and scared?!”

Xia Shi, scolded like this, had an awkward smile. She reached up to rub the bridge of her nose and explained weakly: “Well, the courtyard gate was bolted from the inside, and besides, it was so late, I was afraid of waking you up, that’s why I climbed the wall.”

She hadn’t expected Chu Tang to be so vigilant. Fortunately, Chu Tang had recognized her in time; otherwise, being stabbed in the dark would have been truly unjust.

The explanation was perfectly reasonable, and Chu Tang wasn’t an unreasonable person. Once she had vented the anger born of fright, her rationality returned. She didn’t dwell on Xia Shi climbing the wall in the middle of the night and instead asked: “Weren’t you supposed to hunt deer, and didn’t you say it would take two or three days? Why are you back so soon?”

Finishing that, she recalled the trip to the kitchen and added in surprise: “Did you already hunt a deer?”

Xia Shi shook her head: “Not exactly. The deer around here live deep in the mountains, and in just this half a day, I haven’t even reached the deep mountains yet.” She finished and took Chu Tang’s hand, pulling her toward the kitchen: “Come, let’s go see. I brought you something good.”

Chu Tang, perplexed, was pulled into the kitchen, where she saw a mountain goat tied up on the floor in the lamplight.

Xia Shi crouched down, moved the oil lamp closer to the goat, and pointed to its belly: “Look, I met this on my way into the mountains. It’s a milking doe, you’ll have goat milk to drink from now on. The people in the village say goat milk is nourishing. Little children grow very strong drinking it. You drink this for a while, and you’ll definitely be able to nurse your health back.”

In the orange glow of the lamp, Xia Shi’s tone was light and her eyes shone brightly, her joy undisguised.

Chu Tang watched her profile quietly, and a part of her heart softened in an unexpectedly profound way, the value of a goat was nothing, but it was always easy to feel whether someone was putting their heart into caring for you.

Her expression softened, and just as she was about to say something, a sudden “Gurgle…” came from her stomach.

Chu Tang was stunned. Xia Shi was very familiar with that sound and naturally turned her head to ask: “Did I wake you up in the middle of the night? Are you hungry?”

Xia Shi didn’t think much of it, but Chu Tang’s ears turned red. She hadn’t eaten all day, so naturally, she was hungry, but faced with Xia Shi’s question, she was embarrassed to tell her that she didn’t even know how to start a fire.

Fortunately, Xia Shi didn’t dig into the topic and, after asking, rubbed her own stomach. She had carried the goat half the night to get back, so she was naturally hungry too. She started looking for something to eat in the kitchen.

When she opened the pot lid and saw the rice that had been soaking, Xia Shi didn’t think anything of it, because some families liked to soak rice before boiling porridge, which was said to make it softer and more delicious. She didn’t have the patience for that, but there was nothing wrong with Chu Tang being meticulous. It was just that drinking porridge in the middle of the night didn’t seem like it would fill one up.

Xia Shi looked at Chu Tang. Just as the latter’s eyes began to dart away, Xia Shi said: “I’m hungry too. After hiking half the night, porridge might not fill me up. I’d like to add some more rice and cook it into actual rice. Is that alright?”

Chu Tang felt an inexplicable sense of relief, not knowing if it was because she didn’t want the other person to see her previous deception or simply because she felt ashamed about not knowing how to start a fire. Regardless, it was better that Xia Shi hadn’t noticed or revealed the truth. She nodded readily: “Do as you wish.”

Having Xia Shi return from her trip, even without hot food ready, was enough since someone was accompanying her.

She was quite content, happily rinsing some rice to add to the pot, then crouching before the stove to start the fire.

This time, Chu Tang watched every single one of her movements in detail. Seeing Xia Shi rinse the rice, she couldn’t help but glance into the pot—she had forgotten to rinse the rice when she added it at noon; that shouldn’t be too much of a problem, right?

Before Chu Tang could hesitate about whether to tell Xia Shi, she saw that Xia Shi was already sitting before the stove starting to light the fire. Chu Tang, who had been tormented all day by the technical difficulty of starting a fire, immediately forgot about the rice-rinsing issue and watched Xia Shi’s every movement with even greater focus, trying to learn it in one go, much like she used to do when studying and practicing calligraphy.