Rank
Alternative
Author(s)
Tag(s)
Old Man Mu, for the sake of three acres of paddy fields and two taels of silver, intends to marry off his sixteen-year-old third daughter, Mu Dingxiang, to the village widower, Old Man Zhang. Thinking of Zhang’s three previous wives who all died in quick succession, Dingxiang would rather die than submit.
That very night, she runs to the river to end her life, only to stumble upon Chu Yu, the village’s female butcher, who is busy washing clothes by the bank.
Rumor has it that the female butcher has a strange temperament and a “fondness for women.” Young girls usually take the long way around just to avoid her. But Mu Dingxiang looks at the bright eyes and white teeth of the woman before her and blurts out:
“Chu Yu, why don’t you marry me instead? Look, you can’t even get your clothes clean. I can wash them for you; I can cook for you.”
Chu Yu glances at Mu Dingxiang and doesn’t agree immediately: “I can do the laundry and cooking myself. What other skills do you have?”
Mu Dingxiang’s pretty face flushes red: “I can also farm, raise pigs, and tend to chickens. I can… warm the bed for you at night. As for other things… if you want to… it’s not entirely impossible…”
Chu Yu: “Now that you mention it, my house happens to be short of someone to cook and clean. I’ll go to your house to propose tomorrow.”
