Ji Huan scoured the mountain. She found plenty of wild persimmon trees, but she already had those behind her house. The wild apple and pear trees were bare, and she couldn't reach any pinecones.
She did manage to pick some wild hawthorn on the southern slope and found a few wild chestnuts, but that was the extent of her haul.
It made sense, she mused. The villagers swept through the mountain whenever they had free time; it would be a miracle if anything good was left. The mountain was busiest in the spring and summer. These days, the only people who came up here were either gathering firewood or grazing their cattle and sheep.
Most of the wild vegetables were too tough to eat, but Ji Huan selectively dug up a few. She also gathered a good amount of common medicinal herbs like mugwort, honeysuckle, plantain, centipede grass, and mayapple.
Luckily, she had brought the cloth sack she used for dried sweet potatoes. She tossed everything inside, planning to sort it all out when she got back.
On her way down the mountain, she ran into a few villagers. Ji Huan greeted them casually, pretending not to notice the surprise on their faces.
But soon, she began to wonder if maybe she shouldn't have left the house today…
The mountain path was narrow. A chubby girl stood in her way, hands on her hips, with an expression that screamed "looking for trouble."
Her name was Zhang Cuicui, the "original owner's" romantic rival, who also had a crush on Jiang Wu.
Ji Huan felt a headache coming on. 'Have all the men in Dafeng Village died out?' she wondered. 'Why is it always about this Jiang Wu?'
Zhang Cuicui didn't waste words, launching straight into a tirade.
She cursed Ji Huan for being incompetent, for being unable to keep her man. She called her a spineless coward who deserved to be bullied to death. Then, with baffling confidence, she declared that if *she* had been the one engaged to Jiang Wu, that Fox Spirit Tian would never have been able to seduce him away.
What could Ji Huan even say to that?
First, she'd run into a couple of lunatics on her way up the mountain. Now, on her way down, she was being blocked and berated by this girl. Even someone as patient as Ji Huan was starting to lose her temper.
Meanwhile, Zhang Cuicui had moved on to personal attacks.
Ji Huan took a deep breath. "Say that again."
Zhang Cuicui snorted. "I'll say it again. You're a wild brat!"
Ji Huan stared at her large, round face and clearly enunciated two words: "Pancake face."
Zhang Cuicui's face instantly turned green.
"What did you say?!"
"I said you have a pancake face."
"You... you're a useless burden!"
"You're ugly."
"You were born a jinx!"
"You're ugly."
"You're shameless! Shameless! Shameless!"
"You're ugly, you're ugly, you're ugly..."
"You... you... WAHHH... I'm going to tell my mommy..."
Just like that, the frustration in Ji Huan's heart vanished. 'Making someone cry and run off in a huff, huh? Looks like I've got a talent for arguing after all.'
Back home, she sorted through her haul, cleaning and preparing everything. After a flurry of activity, evening had fallen. No wonder they say time in the mountains passes quickly.
She boiled the prepared wild chestnuts with some dried sweet potatoes for dinner, and ate a few dates afterward. A big, bright moon hung in the sky, illuminating the ground. Ji Huan strolled around the yard for a while to let her food settle before going inside to sleep.
At around the same time as the night before, the strange sound returned.
Ji Huan waited patiently. When the noise outside suddenly ceased, she got out of bed, slipped on her shoes, and tiptoed to the door.
She opened the door a crack. The bright moonlight illuminated the yard, but she didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
Then, Ji Huan glanced to her right and couldn't help but smile.
'So that's what the "ghost" looks like!'
In the kitchen, a dark figure was leaping up and down. At first glance, it looked like it was dancing, but a closer look revealed it was trying to reach a bundle hanging from a roof beam.
After jumping for a while to no avail, the dark figure spun in anxious circles. Then, it planted its two hind legs firmly on the ground and straightened its upper body, almost like a person standing up.
Just as it was about to succeed, the figure suddenly gave up and darted out of the kitchen into the yard.
Ji Huan knew she had been discovered, so she stepped out from behind the door.
In the moonlight, she could finally see it clearly. The dark figure was a dog.
The dog lowered its front paws to the ground, a warning growl rumbling in its throat.
Ji Huan held up her hands to show she meant no harm. She then slowly edged along the wall into the kitchen and took down the bundle she had hung from the beam with a strand of straw.
The strange noise from the previous night had bothered her all day. She still refused to believe it was a ghost, and considering the hole in the wicker fence, she figured an animal was the more likely culprit.
Sure enough, a packet of boiled sweet potato jerky had lured out a big yellow dog.
Dogs were carnivores, yet this one was desperate enough to crave sweet potato jerky. Looking at its emaciated frame, so skinny it could barely stand, she felt it was in a situation quite similar to her own.
Ji Huan looked into the dog's eyes, trying to project goodwill as she soothed it with a gentle voice and attempted to draw closer.
The dog kept its eyes glued to the food in her hand, but it didn't let its guard down at all. As Ji Huan moved forward, it retreated. Finally, it gave her two fierce barks, then turned, squeezed through the hole in the fence, and vanished into the night.
Ji Huan felt a pang of disappointment.
'The moon is so lovely tonight, and all I wanted was some company,' she thought. 'Who knew even a dog wouldn't give me the time of day.'
Still, confirming that the "ghost" wasn't real was a load off her mind. At least now she could get a proper night's sleep.
'I just don't get why the dog would deliberately try to scare me at night,' she wondered. 'Could it... have become a spirit?'
As soon as the sky brightened, Ji Huan ducked into the kitchen to check. Sure enough, the packet of sweet potato jerky she had intentionally left on the floor was gone.
'Looks like Dahuang circled back after all,' she thought. 'Pretty smart.'
After breakfast, Ji Huan's worries returned.
She had already been up the mountain and found nothing she could use to make a quick profit. And her half-sack of sweet potato jerky wouldn't last much longer...
Just as she was pondering this, someone called her name from over the wicker fence.
The visitor was Widow Xie, who had been a good friend of Mrs. Wei.
When Aunt Kang had tried to sell the original Ji Huan as a warding-off-misfortune bride, Widow Xie had gotten word of it. She'd stood at the Ji Family's gate and cursed out Aunt Kang's entire family for their heartlessness. The commotion drew the whole village's attention, leaving a humiliated Aunt Kang to insist that Widow Xie was slandering her and that nothing of the sort had happened.
Reassured, and with other matters to attend to, Widow Xie had left for her maiden home the next day.
Who could have known that shameless old hag, Aunt Kang, would go back on her word? It was like her promises in front of the whole village were nothing but hot air!
Widow Xie immediately launched into a lecture, scolding Ji Huan for being too gullible and not having the sense to run when she was about to be sold.
Although being scolded was unpleasant, Ji Huan knew the woman was just blunt and didn't take her words to heart. Besides, despite her harsh tone, she had brought a small sack of millet with her.
However, after Widow Xie took a quick tour of the house, she immediately slung the sack of millet back over her shoulder and told Ji Huan to pack her things and come with her instead.
Ji Huan waved her hands frantically. "I'm doing fine here, really! You don't have to trouble yourself, I'm fine..." She wasn't used to the idea of staying in a stranger's home.
Widow Xie's eyes widened in a glare. "Can't you see that massive hole in your roof? You call this livable? You have no pots or bowls, not even a proper quilt! The weather's about to turn cold. Next thing you know, you'll freeze to death in here, and nobody will even notice until the wild dogs drag your body away!"
Ji Huan finally understood why the body's original owner hadn't liked this woman. Her good intentions were completely warped by the time they came out of her mouth, and her aggressive tone made you want to start a fight.
The original owner had been just a young girl; how could she have understood the concept of a sharp tongue hiding a soft heart? No wonder that of the two people close to Mrs. Wei, the original girl had preferred Widow Tian over Widow Xie.
But in Ji Huan's opinion, the sweet-faced, bitter-hearted Widow Tian couldn't hold a candle to the cold-faced, warm-hearted Widow Xie.
While Ji Huan's mind had wandered for just a moment, Widow Xie had already laid out a clear plan for her. "...so that's settled. You'll stay at my place for now, and when they have a moment, I'll have my two boys come fix your roof..."
Then she added, "If it wasn't for your mother's sake, I couldn't be bothered to care about you!"
Ji Huan had no room to argue and was dazedly dragged away by Widow Xie.