The Lady Butcher and the Delicate Bride - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Mu Dingxiang stared at the couple before her, unable to believe she was a piece of flesh that had fallen from their bodies.

The woman before her had mean, venomous eyes, looking as though she wanted to swallow Dingxiang alive. Beside her, the man with the thick beard was fuming with rage. He strode toward her, his heavy palm swinging toward her face.

Dingxiang reacted quickly, dodging the blow.

Since the age of ten, she had refused to let anyone slap her face. She was unlike her two submissive older sisters; it was no wonder the Mu couple cursed her daily for having a “rebellious bone” and being untamable.

To call Mu Dingxiang rebellious was actually an injustice. She was just a delicate girl who refused to lead a life of blind obedience. She stiffened her neck against her eccentric parents and stood her ground against her overbearing brothers. In the end, however, she was the one who ended up with a foul reputation.

Thanks to her gossiping mother, everyone in the village now “knew” that the third Mu daughter was an uneducated, ill-mannered girl. This reputation spread further and further, and by the age of sixteen, no one was willing to come forward to propose marriage.

“With that fox-like face of yours, no one dares to want you anyway. A grown woman like you staying at home—who knows how much grain you waste every day,” Mrs. Mu (Mu Zhou-shi) hissed through gritted teeth. “Why can’t you be like your two sisters and trade yourself for a few acres of land? You’re utterly useless. If I’d known, I would have drowned you the moment you were born to save myself this eyesore.”

“Mother, I handle all the farmwork now. Since I was ten, I’ve gone out to cut pig grass for others to earn money. I haven’t eaten a single meal from you for free,” Mu Dingxiang said, her heart turning cold at her mother’s harsh words.

“Pig grass, pig grass! How much money can you get from that? If you’re done with the fields, you’d be better off coming home to help your mother feed the pigs. Running outside all day—where is your sense of propriety?” Old Man Mu tapped his tobacco pipe against the ground, the deep furrows on his face filled with dissatisfaction.

“And yesterday, you helped the Zhao family plant peanuts and got ten copper coins, didn’t you? Give them here to buy brushes and ink for your eldest brother. Kongqing sent word through a villager a few days ago saying he accidentally broke his brush and needs extra silver to set up a new set.”

“Eldest Brother has been studying for so many years. Everyone in this family who can work is supporting him. With such high monthly expenses, even a mountain of gold and silver would be eaten hollow.”

The thought of working hard in the fields every day only to support such a person made even her soft nature unable to suppress the fire in her gut. Dingxiang had heard villagers whispering that Mu Kongqing was supposedly studying at the county academy but was actually idling his days away. He failed the exams every year, yet he was never stingy when it came to spending money.

However, these words hadn’t reached the Mu couple’s ears, and no one dared mention it to them. Dingxiang wasn’t foolish enough to say such things to her parents’ faces.

For as long as she could remember, her brother Kongqing had been studying. He had finally passed the Xiucai (entry-level) exam, but he was at the very bottom of the list, and there had been no progress since. Yet, the Mu couple, who were so cruel to their daughters, treated this son—who knew a few characters—like a precious treasure. They kept the best of everything for him; even in their small, dilapidated house, he had his own private room, while she had to squeeze into a tiny space with her sister and younger brother.

Fortunately, her older sisters had married off, so the room wasn’t as crowded. But her younger brother, Mu Jue-ming, was now fifteen, and it was no longer appropriate for them to share a room. To make matters worse, Jue-ming had started hanging out with the wrong crowd over the past two years. His temper had soured, and whenever he came home, he treated his unmarried third sister like a servant.

Dingxiang had fought with him many times. She used to win, but as Jue-ming hit his growth spurt, she gradually lost the upper hand. She felt more and more that she could no longer stay in this house.

“Then just leave! If you go, I can have the room to myself. I can’t wait for you to get out! But who would want you? Everyone in the surrounding villages knows Mu Dingxiang is a lazy, unfilial daughter. No one would take you even for free. What a waste of a pretty face; you’re nothing but bad luck.”

“I’m lazy? Father works for others all day to save money for Eldest Brother. Mother stays home, cooks three meals, and complains about being tired from feeding two pigs. Eldest Brother studies outside and never cares for the home. And you—you’re nowhere to be found all day! Isn’t all the work in the fields done by me alone?!”

Hearing even her younger brother speak this way, Dingxiang could no longer hold back and snapped back bitterly. The weight of the household and farm chores fell entirely on her shoulders, yet everyone in the house slandered her. It was enough to turn anyone’s heart to ice.

Mu Dingxiang knew exactly why her parents disliked her. She had been different from her sisters since childhood. When she was seven, her mother tried to make her learn to cook; Dingxiang simply flipped the pot of corn porridge onto the ground, feeding it to the pigs instead. She did this for three days straight. After two severe beatings, the Mu couple finally gave up on the idea of her entering the kitchen.

When she was ten, Old Man Mu arranged for her second sister, Bai-zhi, to marry a man in his fifties as a concubine for five taels of silver. Bai-zhi refused and was beaten by her parents before being carried off to the old man’s house. Every time Dingxiang saw her after that, Bai-zhi looked dazed and broken.

From then on, Dingxiang decided she would no longer be submissive. If they told her to cook, she would dump so much salt in the food that it was inedible. Salt was as expensive as silver, so this “waste” earned her many beatings. Whenever her father tried to hit her, she would run and hide, or earn a bit of pocket money cutting pig grass to keep from starving.

However, as a young girl with no money and no specialized skills, she didn’t have the courage to leave the Mu family for good. She could only wait for her father’s anger to cool before returning to work in the fields. She knew she was only allowed to stay because no one else was willing to do the farmwork. Her father was out working as a laborer, her mother was lazy and only knew how to nag, and her fifteen-year-old brother was a hoodlum.

Dingxiang worked hard and ate very little—that was the only reason she hadn’t been kicked out yet. But she knew that as soon as the price was right, they would sell her off without hesitation.

The Mu family’s poverty was largely self-inflicted. Mu Kongqing had been studying since he was five. Since he became a Xiucai at twenty, the entire family revolved around him. He got the best food and clothes. His tuition at the prestigious county academy cost two taels of silver a year, and his monthly living expenses totaled one tael. For a small family relying on a few acres of land, this was a staggering burden.

Old Man Mu earned only thirty copper coins a day hauling timber. A month of backbreaking labor couldn’t cover Kongqing’s expenses. The rest had to be squeezed out of the daughters.

Today, Dingxiang had returned home via a different path and hadn’t had time to hide the ten copper coins she earned from the Chen family. Mrs. Mu had felt them through her pocket. Dingxiang had managed to slip away before they were snatched, but she hadn’t expected her father to try and strike her over ten measly coins.

The couple looked frantic—tomorrow was likely the day her eldest brother would return from the academy to collect his allowance.

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