As Thu Quynh felt herself falling from a cliff, she heard a woman's sobbing voice:
"Don't blame me! Please forgive me, I can't live without him… sob… sob…"
The moment she heard this sentence in her head, she couldn't help but feel her anger boil. Goddamn you!
You dare mess with me?
Having just transmigrated, she wouldn't have cared what she had become. But to be harmed by someone before she could even catch her breath?
Then a wave of dizziness washed over her, and just like that, Quynh lost consciousness.
...
Van Dai was a famous hunter in Phuong Village. After his mother passed away, only he and his two siblings were left in the house.
Before she died, his mother held his hand and begged him to make sure he found a wife for his younger brother, because he wasn't as capable as Van Dai.
Busy with arranging his brother's marriage and marrying off his younger sister, five years passed in a flash, and he became an old bachelor in the village.
Today, having caught a decent-sized wild boar, Van Dai took it straight down to the town, exchanged it for over a quan, and bought some food, drinks, and clothes to bring home.
"Eldest brother, why didn't you catch anything today? Oh my, buying so many things, did you catch some big game and sell it today?"
Van Dai glanced at his sister-in-law. Seeing her covetous expression, he felt a deep sense of disgust.
If his younger brother hadn't insisted on falling for such a woman, he would never have spent fourteen quan to marry her for him.
It was bad enough that she was gluttonous and lazy, shrewish and shortsighted, but on top of that, there was her appearance.
Although Van Dai was honest and had an ordinary appearance, he was by no means a fool.
"No, we were out of food at home, so I went down to the town."
Seeing her brother-in-law ignore her, Thi Mai pouted her wide lips and muttered:
"Eat, eat, eat, why don't you just eat yourself to death? Saving so much money for a dowry for some wasteful daughter, let's see who you'll rely on when you're old!"
Although Van Tu was not as tall and large as his older brother, he was much more handsome.
There were no paddy fields in the mountains. Even the two mau of land for crops were mostly tended by his older brother. Those who didn't know better might have mistaken him for some pampered young master.
Hearing his wife muttering, he came running over with a grin:
"Darling, what are you talking about? Have you prepared dinner yet? Oh right, I just saw eldest brother come back, did he hunt a wild chicken or anything?"
Thi Mai was also a lazy person. Initially, she used tricks her mother taught her to seduce Van Tu, then forced him to make his older brother build a new house and pay fourteen quan as a betrothal gift.
It should be known that Phuong Village was a true mountain hamlet. Although from the mountainside one could see the town below and even the distant district capital, a trip down the mountain was an eighteen-mile journey.
Although this mountain village wasn't small, with several dozen households, the roads were truly difficult. Girls from the lowlands didn't want to marry up into the mountains, while the girls from the mountains wanted to marry down, resulting in a great many bachelors in the village.
There were many bachelors, but few were well-off. Moreover, handsome men from wealthy families were even rarer.
Thi Mai had a very ordinary appearance. She married Van Tu mainly because she was taken by his looks, and because he had an older brother who was a skilled hunter but likely wouldn't be able to get married.
Just then, hearing her husband think only of food, Thi Mai felt very annoyed. She suddenly thought of her brother-in-law's large bag of goods, and her eyes darted around:
"It seems eldest brother caught some big game. He went down to the town today and bought a lot of things."
In an instant, Van Tu's eyes lit up:
"Really?"
Thi Mai nodded her head repeatedly: "Of course, it's true. How could it be fake when I saw it with my own eyes?"
Van Tu narrowed his eyes: "I'll go see eldest brother tonight!"
Van Dai had no idea his younger brother and sister-in-law were plotting against him. After setting his things down, he took the rest of his money and put it into a cloth bag he retrieved from a hole in the wall:
"Mm, I'll try to hunt more this year. Next year, I'll go down the mountain and marry a wife too."
After putting the money back in its place, Van Dai roasted two sweet potatoes and added two cassava cakes he had bought in town for dinner. Once he had eaten his fill, he prepared to take a bath.
Looking at his truly dirty and disheveled state, he grabbed a cotton towel and a coat and went straight to the large river in the village.
Phuong Village was surrounded by mountains on three sides. The terrain was high, the water was cold, and good fields were scarce. The villagers survived by planting some crops, hunting, and gathering forest products and herbs. Because the road down the mountain was a long and winding one with nine bends and eighteen turns, the villagers were all quite poor.
"Dai, going for a bath?" a man squatting under the large village tree, tamping shredded tobacco into his pipe, called out to him.
Van Dai grinned widely: "Uncle Sinh, Dau, are you two out here enjoying the cool air?"
Van Dau laughed heartily and waved him over: "Dai, come sit for a bit before you go. It's still early, anyway."
Van Dai sat down cheerfully: "Any new gossip to share?"
Just then, Tran Hung from the village walked over: "Dai, you haven't heard? Hai Toan's family brought home a new wife today. I heard they married her from over the mountain, cost them two quan."
Van Dau, who was in his early twenties, said with a face full of admiration: "That's right, I saw her too. She's a bit dark-skinned, but she has big hips."