Wen Wan sat under the jujube tree, picking string beans.
Inside the house, her stepmother, Mrs. Zhou, chatted quietly with her mother, Mrs. Wu.
Mrs. Wu said, "Your stepdaughter will be sixteen after the new year, right?"
Mrs. Zhou sat cross-legged on the kang, working on some needlework. Hearing her mother's words, she raised her eyelids slightly and nodded.
Mrs. Wu couldn't help but worry for her daughter, seeing Mrs. Zhou's indifferent attitude. "How come no one has proposed yet?"
Mrs. Zhou shook her head, "Not yet!"
"Why aren't you worried?" Mrs. Wu's voice grew more intense.
Mrs. Zhou glanced out the window, making sure Wen Wan couldn't hear their conversation, then lowered her voice. "What's there to be anxious about? It's better she stays at home, taking care of everything inside and out. As her stepmother, I can enjoy some peace. If she leaves, who'll do all the chores? The cows, the sheep—am I supposed to handle everything myself?"
Mrs. Wu slapped her thigh in disapproval. "My dear daughter, you can't just think about the present. You should also think about Shunzi."
Wen Shun was Wen Wan's stepbrother's name.
Hearing this, Mrs. Zhou paused her action of biting the thread, and looked towards Mrs. Wu. "Mother, what do you mean?"
Mrs. Wu thought about the recent events in their village and couldn't help but feel envious. "Do you remember that poor scholar from our village?"
"The one who tried for years but never passed, and the wealthy master personally broke off the engagement?"
"Exactly, in the past few years, he assured Ning's wealthy master that he would pass the exam and marry his daughter. But he failed right at the end. Ning's daughter waited from a young girl till she was a grown woman. Wouldn't she be furious? Ning's wealthy master, being a man of temper, broke off the engagement without a word."
"That scholar became the laughingstock of our village. He went to the province to try again this year, and guess what happened?"
Mrs. Zhou's eyes widened. "Did he pass?"
Mrs. Wu spoke with a bitter tone, "They just had a banquet yesterday. Your father even went for a drink. He said a few wealthy merchants came to town to present gifts to Mr. Scholar! Filled up half the main room, goodness, all very precious."
Mrs. Zhou listened eagerly, "Winning the scholar title can bring such benefits?"
"Why else would they call the poor scholar Mr. Scholar? If he passes, he has the chance to become an official at the county government. Everyone will be eager to curry favor, especially those doing business. They are clever, starting relationships early; they will certainly need favors in the future." Mrs. Wu looked at her daughter. "I'm telling you, send Shunzi to study. Maybe he'll earn a title too. Then you'll be Scholar's Mother, receive benefits from hanging fields, and won't worry about food or clothing."
In the Great Chu Dynasty, lands under a scholar's name were exempt from 400 mu of land tax and eight labor corvée per person.
So if someone passed the exams, people from neighboring villages would rush to them, pleading to hang their lands under the scholar's name to reduce taxes, even trying to establish familial ties to avoid labor duties.
Within years, even if the scholar didn't become an official, they'd be a wealthy landowner with no worries about food and clothing.
Though Mrs. Zhou felt envious, she curled her lip. "Sounds nice, but where would we find the money to send him to study? The tuition is two taels of silver per year. Selling a pig I raised for a whole year would only fetch that much. If spent on him, what would we do about living expenses?"
Mrs. Wu thought of something, glancing at the quietly sitting Wen Wan outside, and whispered, "Isn't money easy to get? Just marry Wan Niang off, and the bride price would be enough to fund Shunzi's studies for a few years."
Seeing Mrs. Zhou's hesitation, Mrs. Wu seized the opportunity to add fuel, saying how Wan Niang, a mute who lost her mother young, couldn't even utter a sound, would be fortunate if anyone wanted her at all. Who are you to be so picky?
She mentioned that Limp Wang from their village lost his wife last year and had plenty of paddy fields. He couldn't manage them alone, so he rented them out and now lived off the rental income. Limp Wang hadn't remarried yet because he's interested in Wan Niang, and it's been said that as long as Wan Niang agrees to marry him and take care of him, the bride price would be generous—two acres of paddy field and five taels of silver.
Mrs. Zhou was immediately tempted.
Limp Wang's paddy fields were in a high-yield area and would cost five taels of silver per mu to purchase. If they offered two acres of paddy fields and five taels of silver, that would be a deal with no loss.
…
Before leaving, Mrs. Wu received some cucumbers and eggplants from Mrs. Zhou who went to pick them in the garden.
Having spread the news of Limp Wang's interest in Wan Niang, and having sown discord for her daughter, Mrs. Wu left satisfied with her vegetable basket. She paused beside Wen Wan outside the main hall, her voice tinged with the affection of an elder. "Wan Niang, picking string beans?"
Wen Wan looked up and met Mrs. Wu's smiling eyes, nodding.
Mrs. Wu crouched down and patted Wen Wan's hand. "Good girl, you're truly beautiful. You'll surely marry well and have a good life."
As Mrs. Wu's hand touched Wen Wan's, a strong premonition surged inside Wen Wan. She foresaw herself being tormented to death by a man with a crippled leg.
Having experienced an unusual sense of foresight since a high fever damaged her voice at the age of three, Wen Wan had grown accustomed to it. Unable to speak afterward, she could always foresee trouble and cautiously avoid it.
In the autumn harvest when she was five, while digging potatoes, she foresaw she would be bitten by a snake, so she feigned illness and stayed home that day. That evening, Father Wen returned and told her a snake appeared while they were digging potatoes, which he killed with a hoe.
At the age of eight, Hehua from next door invited her to go cattle grazing, but she had a premonition that she'd lose the cattle and get beaten upon return. So she found an excuse to go to the fields with Father Wen, while Mrs. Zhou took the cattle out. That evening, Mrs. Zhou returned crying, saying the cattle were lost.
In the summer two years ago, under a cloudless sky, she had a premonition that the roof of her bedroom would collapse in a storm that night, and she would fall ill from the rain. So, during the day, she asked Father Wen to help reinforce the roof tiles, and sure enough, that night, it rained heavily. She huddled under the covers, secretly relieved.
In the past, those premonitions, though unpleasant, had never endangered her life.
But this time, she actually had a premonition that she was about to die.
Although Wen Wan couldn't speak, she wasn't foolish.
She had the premonition as soon as Mrs. Wu touched her, suggesting it had something to do with Mrs. Wu.
Without showing emotion, Wen Wan withdrew her hand and carried the selected string beans to the well to wash.
Since she couldn't talk, she didn't have to worry about being impolite.
Mrs. Wu glanced at this quiet girl, sneering inwardly, "Just keep you around for a few more days, and then sell you off for a good price!"
...
Wen Shun, who had been playing wild somewhere, returned covered in mud, just behind Father Wen in the evening.
At the dinner table, Wen Shun kept clamoring to go to school.
Earlier in the day, he was at Fatty's house, where he saw Fatty's dad braising meat for him, saying it was to nourish a scholar's brain.
Seeing that studying came with meat, Wen Shun couldn't sit still and clamored even louder.
Father Wen disagreed, saying they had no money.
Wen Shun, dissatisfied, rushed out in anger, accidentally fell into the river, and by the time he was found, he was half-dead with a fever, muttering about going to school even in his sleep.
Mrs. Zhou's heart ached, and she wept.
Seeing his son in such a state, Father Wen's hardened heart softened, and he relented, "If he wants to study, then send him to the village school. At worst, I'll sell the cattle."
Mrs. Zhou disagreed, "If you sell the cattle, what about spring plowing next year?"
Father Wen replied, "We'll just borrow from his uncle's house, they have two cattle and can spare one."
Seeing Father Wen determined to sell the cattle for Wen Shun's education, Mrs. Zhou panicked. Seizing the chance when Father Wen was out, she called Wen Wan to look after Wen Shun and said she had to run back to her mother's place for something.
When Mrs. Zhou saw her mother, Mrs. Wu, she didn't even have time to drink a sip of water and anxiously said, "Mother, Shunzi's father wants to sell the cattle for him to study. You must think of a way for Limp Wang to come to us with a marriage proposal, or if the cattle are really sold, we won't be able to make it."
Mrs. Wu patted her daughter's hand reassuringly, "Don't panic. Since Limp Wang has already said so, he's certainly going to marry Wan Niang. You go back and wait for news; I'll visit Limp Wang's house right away."
...
The day Father Wen was going to sell the cattle, even before he left, the matchmaker from the neighboring village came by, smiling broadly. After greeting Father Wen, she got straight to the point, explicitly mentioning that as long as Wen Wan agreed to marry, Limp Wang would pay two mu of paddy fields and five taels of silver as a bride-price.
Mrs. Zhou, who was in the kitchen cooking porridge for her recovering son, heard the matchmaker's words. She wiped her hands on her apron and walked out, asking the matchmaker, "Is this person reliable?"
The matchmaker assured boldly, "If you don't believe it, go out and ask around. Apart from his limp left leg, what's wrong with Limp Wang? His wife passed away and didn't enjoy blessings, or else he wouldn't be seeking your Wan Niang."
These words were unpleasant to hear, and Father Wen was about to refuse when the matchmaker continued, "After this year, your Wan Niang will be sixteen. Girls her age will have their pick. Besides, Limp Wang has land and a house, and Wan Niang can enjoy a good life by marrying him. What are you worried about? If you let this opportunity pass, where will you find such a chance again?"
Father Wen was silent, his grip on the cattle's lead slackening.
At lunchtime, Wen Wan returned from collecting firewood on the mountain. As she put down the basket and caught her breath, Father Wen came over and recounted what the matchmaker had said that morning.
Father Wen sighed, "I had hoped to keep you another two years since your mother passed early. But I'm afraid if I delay, you won't find a good family in the future."
Wen Wan pressed her lips together, clenching her fingers tightly.
If Limp Wang were a good man, she might have agreed, but she had a premonition that he'd torment her to death. How could she foolishly marry him?
Wen Wan neither nodded nor shook her head, internally contemplating how to escape this marriage.
Seeing her lack of response, Father Wen softly called, "Wan Niang?"
Wen Wan looked up and signaled to Father Wen with her hands, indicating she needed more time to consider.