The Comments Section Said She Was My Wife - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

◎ She began to look forward to it, looking forward to that person’s return ◎

After finishing their meal and washing up, it was already well past midnight when they returned to bed.

After all that bustling, Chu Tang should have been wide awake, but as Xia Shi pulled her into her arms, the familiar warmth provided a sense of reliance, and sleepiness surged over her like a tide.

She vaguely remembered Xia Shi talking to her as she closed her eyes, but she couldn’t make out what was being said, and her consciousness quickly sank into darkness.

When she opened her eyes again, the room was bright with daylight. After a moment of disorientation, Chu Tang reached out toward her side, only to find the spot cold and empty, with no lingering warmth at all.

For a fleeting moment, Chu Tang even wondered if Xia Shi’s return in the middle of the night had just been a dream.

Fortunately, the sounds from outside soon proved that everything from last night was real. Chu Tang draped a robe over her shoulders, got up, and opened the door. Looking out, she saw Xia Shi in the courtyard, wrestling with the mountain goat she had brought back.

Perhaps to avoid disturbing her sleep, the poor goat was not only tied at the hooves but had its mouth bound as well, looking exceptionally pitiful as it struggled in Xia Shi’s grip.

“What are you doing?” Chu Tang couldn’t help but ask as she watched the two of them struggle.

Only then did Xia Shi realize she was awake. She held up a bowl, smiling: “I’m milking the goat. I’ll boil it for you to drink in a bit.”

She said it lightly, but observing from the side, Chu Tang could see that Xia Shi had likely never milked a goat before, and the wild mountain goat wasn’t exactly cooperative. Who knows how long they had been at it, but Xia Shi only had half a bowl of milk to show for her efforts, and she had nearly been kicked over by the goat’s hooves.

Chu Tang wanted to tell her to just forget it, as she didn’t particularly want goat milk, but she didn’t have the heart to reject such good intentions. After another half an hour of struggling, during which Chu Tang even finished washing up, Xia Shi finally managed to scrape together a full bowl of milk, dripping with sweat. The exhausted doe lay on the ground, no longer kicking its hooves, looking utterly defeated by life.

For some reason, seeing this scene, Chu Tang couldn’t help but laugh, and the gloom that often clouded her brow was swept away.

Xia Shi saw this and laughed along, calling out a greeting before turning to head into the kitchen, presumably to boil the milk. Seeing this, Chu Tang hurried to follow, intending to take the opportunity to review the fire-starting process.

However, she was clearly too late. Xia Shi had already lit the fire first thing in the morning and had also prepared breakfast for both of them. Although the fire was burning low, a quick stir made it roar back to life. Xia Shi poured the freshly milked goat’s milk into the pot and tossed something into it, Chu Tang stepped closer and recognized it: almonds.

Seeing her leaning in, Xia Shi explained casually: “Almonds remove the gamey scent, otherwise this milk would be undrinkable.”

Chu Tang nodded; she knew that much. Although as a Minister’s daughter she had never stepped foot in a kitchen, she read extensively; the result of reading various miscellaneous journals was that she knew a lot of common knowledge and had a fairly rich theoretical background.

Boiling the goat milk didn’t take much time; about a quarter of an hour later, it was ready. Xia Shi skimmed out the almonds and used a new bowl to serve it, handing it to Chu Tang: “Let it cool slightly and drink it while it’s warm, it’s good for your health.”

Chu Tang held the bowl with both hands. The heat from the freshly boiled milk traveled through the ceramic and into her palms, making them feel just a bit too hot. She cupped it, feeling the warmth, and once it felt slightly stinging to the touch, she placed the bowl on the stove counter.

Seeing her cupping the bowl to warm her hands, Xia Shi frowned. Although it was autumn, it was actually quite hot outside—certainly not cold enough to need to warm one’s hands. But last night, when holding her in her sleep, she had noticed that Chu Tang’s body was always ice-cold, especially her hands and feet. It was a sign of a severely depleted constitution that needed nourishment; goat milk alone wasn’t enough, she needed to earn more for medicine.

With that thought, Xia Shi handed her two pheasant eggs: “I picked these up while I was up the mountain yesterday. There are more in the basket, remember to boil and eat them.” After a pause, she added: “Don’t worry about the medicine money, I’ll earn enough.”

Chu Tang was taken aback by the sudden eggs: “I didn’t…”

She hadn’t expected to keep drinking expensive supplements, but before she could finish, she noticed Xia Shi looking toward a corner of the kitchen. Following her gaze, she saw several square medicine packets… That was right, because she couldn’t start the fire yesterday, she hadn’t eaten, nor had she brewed her medicine.

Xia Shi might not have noticed how much rice was left, but she could certainly count the medicine packets.

Chu Tang bit her lip, too embarrassed to admit she had starved for a day because she couldn’t start a fire. She averted her gaze and used a careless excuse: “I don’t like taking medicine, it’s too bitter.”

Xia Shi already knew this, so she didn’t doubt her and coaxed: “Be a good girl, you still need to take it. I’ll buy you some sugar later.”

Even now, she was still thinking about coaxing her with sugar.

Chu Tang found this child-like coaxing amusing, and her expression softened.

As they talked, the goat milk cooled down. Xia Shi took the eggs from Chu Tang’s hands, helped her peel the shells, and urged her to finish the milk.

Urged on by Xia Shi, Chu Tang forgot all about years of etiquette and stood in the kitchen drinking half a bowl of goat milk in one go. Before she could even look up, the tender white egg was held to her lips. She hesitated, then bit into it. A boiled egg didn’t have much flavor, but as she chewed it slowly, it seemed to taste a little sweet.

Xia Shi left again after breakfast, giving even more instructions than the day before.

After the usual warnings, she told Chu Tang how to feed the mountain goat—if it was too much trouble, just feed it some grass. As for milking, if Chu Tang didn’t know how, she could wait until Xia Shi returned.

Chu Tang agreed to everything again, but this time, sending Xia Shi off felt much more reluctant than the day before.

She stood at the courtyard gate to see her off, but called out to her as Xia Shi turned to leave: “Be careful in the mountains. I heard wolf howls last night; there must be wolves in there. Don’t worry about the medicine money, just come back once you’ve hunted a deer. If you return late, don’t climb the wall again; no matter what time it is, just knock on the door and I’ll open it for you.”

Chu Tang’s instructions weren’t many, and certainly couldn’t compare to Xia Shi’s non-stop rambling, but they clearly carried much more concern than the day before.

Xia Shi naturally felt it, beaming at the instructions and promising readily. She didn’t bother to explain that during all her years of hunting in these mountains, wolves were nothing; she had even hunted tigers, or else how could she roam Yunwu Mountain as if it were her own backyard?

After a few more words, they parted ways, and Xia Shi stepped into the forest again.

Chu Tang watched her silhouette disappear into the trees before turning back to the courtyard. There was a sense of emptiness similar to yesterday, as if the courtyard had become hollow without that person. But it was different from yesterday, perhaps because there was now a goat in the courtyard, a living creature to keep her company, Chu Tang didn’t feel as empty or distressed as she had the day before.

She fed the goat and sat in the courtyard, the autumn sun filtering through the branches and leaves, casting dappled light that created an air of leisure. She began to look forward to it, looking forward to that person’s return—perhaps tomorrow, perhaps the day after; in any case, it wouldn’t be too long.

Chu Tang didn’t wait for Xia Shi’s return; she waited for several strangers to arrive at the door instead.

The hunter’s hut was located in the mountains, but it was unavoidable to have dealings with the people from below. Especially since Shitian Village was right at the foot of Yunwu Mountain, Xia Shi usually didn’t go to the more distant county town for rice, flour, oil, and salt, but traded with the nearby villagers.

It was currently autumn harvest, and the people of Shitian Village were busy reaping. With new grain in storage and the exhaustion of the harvest, villagers would usually find Xia Shi at this time of year to trade new grain for meat. Xia Shi had an unspoken agreement with the villagers, during the harvest, she would always bring hunted pheasant and rabbit down the mountain and wait at the entrance of the village for the trade.

But this year was different. With a wife, Xia Shi spent every waking moment doting on Chu Tang and had completely forgotten about this.

The people of Shitian Village waited and waited, but Xia Shi never appeared. Since going to the city for meat was too expensive, they finally couldn’t help but send someone up the mountain to ask, the trip wasn’t just for a few pounds of meat, of course.

It was customary for Xia Shi to buy grain from the village after the harvest, and whoever went up was expected to ask how much grain she planned to buy this year and negotiate the price beforehand.

However, once the person climbed the mountain and found Xia Shi’s hut, they found Xia Shi absent, with only an unfamiliar woman sitting in the courtyard.