The men joked for a while.
Seeing that the sun had set behind the mountain, Van Dai quickly said he was going to bathe and got up, heading towards the riverbank.
Although it was the sixth month, the river water was very cool in the evening.
Van Dai's rugged body soaked in the water, and for a moment, he didn't want to get up.
The Phuong River's water flowed down from the mountains, so clear you could see the bottom. He thought to himself unconsciously:
[When I marry a wife in the future, I will definitely cherish her. I won't let her do any work; all she needs to do is be idle every day.]
By now, the sun had completely set, and the dim river grew even more hazy and indistinct.
Suddenly, a "splash" cut through Van Dai's beautiful daydream:
"Who's there? Say something! Making a sound like that all of a sudden, you'll scare a person to death…"
He called out several times, but no one answered.
Very displeased, Van Dai stood up. He had to find whoever had ruined his wonderful daydream.
Suddenly, in the dim light, he spotted a white, moon-like object floating towards him on the water's surface not far away.
As it got closer and closer, Van Dai's eyes widened:
"Heavens! Could this really be a fairy fallen from the sky?"
Carried by the current, the white object became clearer.
The white object on the river was a woman?
Van Dai couldn't seem to believe his eyes. He pinched his thigh hard, only coming to his senses when the pain brought tears to his eyes:
"Is it real? Oh, Heaven, is it really real? Dau wished for this so many times and got nothing, and such a good thing happens to me? Oh, Heaven, you are too kind! Do you know how miserably I've longed for a wife? Thank you, Heaven, thank you, Heaven…"
Van Dai was so agitated he could barely stand. His legs trembling, he scrambled to the riverbank and, with one arm, lifted the woman and ran ashore. With shaking hands, he picked up his own clothes to wrap her in, then hastily put his dirty set back on and headed home.
It wasn't completely dark yet, so Van Dai, afraid of being discovered, deliberately took a roundabout path to carry her home.
The house he lived in had been his parents', containing only a single earthen platform bed. As soon as he was through the gate, seeing no one had noticed him, Van Dai shut the courtyard gate tight, slid the bolt across, and then carried the person into the house.
Not until he placed her on the platform did he breathe a sigh of relief.
Outside, it had been a bit dark, and Dai hadn't had a chance to get a good look at the woman. Now that she was in his house, she was his. Only then did Van Dai feel at ease enough to gaze at her.
A quick glance was one thing, but under the dim lamplight, Van Dai was stunned...
He saw the woman's hair clinging to her small, fair face, shimmering with a black gloss. Her eyelashes trembled occasionally, making one think her eyes might open at any second. Her small, cherry-like lips were slightly parted and pale from the water, but her breath was strangely fragrant.
Van Dai had never touched a woman, but in this mountain village with few girls and many men, matters between the sexes were not strictly regarded.
Of the unmarried men in the village, seven or eight out of ten would find a widow to satisfy their needs.
Van Dai disliked Thi Hoa because he had, on more than one occasion, caught the widow Dien sneaking around with the bachelors of the village!
Especially on hot summer days, he had secretly seen the widow Dien and a few bachelors in the stone thickets by the river.
The village was relatively simple and rustic, and moreover, this large mountain had the rules of the mountain folk.
For example, with hunting, whoever set a trap in the mountains, any prey caught in that trap belonged to that person's family.
If the prey escaped the trap, then it belonged to whoever found it.
Now, having found a great beauty, Van Dai was certain in his heart: This must be the wife that Heaven had bestowed upon him!
Why, you ask?
Because he had just been thinking that he wanted to marry someone to pamper.
The moment he thought it, Heaven sent him someone. And such a beautiful woman at that. If this wasn't Heaven looking out for him, what was?
"Knock, knock… knock, knock… Eldest brother, are you in there?"
In an instant, Van Dai's face darkened:
"Tu, what are you doing here so late? I'm already asleep!"
Van Tu could clearly see a light on in the house, yet his older brother said he was asleep. This was a deliberate attempt to keep him out, wasn't it?
Thinking of his wife's words, Van Tu felt displeased:
"Eldest brother, I need to see you about something. Can you open the door?"
Van Dai felt as if on fire. With his younger brother now bothering him, he grew angry:
"Can't whatever it is wait until tomorrow?"
Van Tu was determined to get the goods today:
"Eldest brother, please open the door. It's really urgent."
Hearing that tone, Van Dai knew that if he didn't open the door, his brother would not leave him in peace tonight.
To prevent any further disturbances, Van Dai immediately got dressed and went outside with a lamp:
"What on earth is so urgent? Don't you know I've been running around the mountains all day? I'm exhausted. Whatever it is, spit it out."
Seeing his brother's disheveled clothes, Van Tu realized that he really had been getting ready for bed:
"Well, eldest brother, Mai hasn't been feeling well these past few days. She throws up whatever she eats and says her mouth has no taste. Son's mother said she might be… you know…"
His sister-in-law was pregnant?
Van Dai, who had been very displeased, felt a little better after hearing this news:
"So what do you need from me?"
Van Tu glanced timidly into the house: "I was wondering if eldest brother has any white rice, wild chicken, or rabbit. Son's mother said I should make my wife something nice. If she really is pregnant, she needs to eat well so the baby will be healthy…"
Normally, upon hearing this, Van Dai would certainly have given him all the food and drink he had bought that day. But things were different now.
The beautiful woman on his bed needed to eat something good tomorrow, otherwise she wouldn't be willing to stay and bear children for him.