Ch 124 (Extra 6): Reborn to Raise My Husband

Lately, Xiao Yuanbao felt that he had been dreaming more than usual.

He often dreamed of the past—of his childhood in Geshan Village, living with Xiao Hu, Madam Qin, and Wang Chao.

In his dreams, that mud-brick cottage and that tiny village were always set in late autumn or early winter.

Mist and drizzle blurred the distance. The earth and withered grass were damp everywhere.

The wind cut cold against the body. There was no charcoal fire in the house. Hands and feet felt like frozen blocks of wood.

At night, the wind howled outside the broken window, sounding like ghosts crying or beasts wailing.

Inside, it was pitch dark. The small child he once was lay stiff beneath a hard quilt, eyes squeezed shut, trembling and afraid to sleep.

He would think—if only Father were home.

But in the dream, Xiao Hu was still that taciturn hunter with a stern-looking face. He was always heading into the mountains and was rarely seen.

The ones he saw every day were Madam Qin and Wang Chao ge’er. Yet neither of them seemed to like him much. They did not speak to him much, nor did they play with him.

And so he missed his own mother even more.

But he knew that no matter how much he missed her, she would never return. Madam Qin had told him that his mother was dead, buried in the earth, and would never, ever be seen again.

He dared not cry in the daytime. Only at night would he hide under the quilt and cry quietly.

In this cautious way, he grew up under Madam Qin’s hand until he was sixteen or seventeen…

“These families are all no good. That man is truly ugly—small eyes and a big nose aside, his family only has thirteen mu of land. With such circumstances, how dare they come to propose? Mother, I will not marry.”

Xiao Yuanbao was tending the fire under the stove. Lifting his eyes, he saw from the kitchen window the people who had come to arrange a match leaving their small courtyard.

No sooner had they gone than Wang Chao’s voice rang out in the main hall, sharply ridiculing the man who had just come to see him.

Xiao Yuanbao’s brows moved slightly.

The Lu family who had come to propose were already considered well-off in the village.

The two elders of the Lu family were diligent and easygoing. Besides farming, they made incense and candles to supplement their income.

Though Lu Dalang was not particularly handsome, he was tall and strong, the steady sort who did not run off idly to the county town.

Xiao Yuanbao had thought that this time Madam Qin and Wang Chao might approve of him. He had not expected that even this man would fail to catch Wang Chao’s eye.

If he himself could find such a family, he thought, that would already be good fortune.

But he was reserved and not good with words. His body was frail, that of a farm boy, and he was not as striking as Wang Chao ge’er. What right did he have to choose among families?

If anyone were willing to choose him at all, that would already be a blessing.

“But the Lu family just said they are willing to give fifteen guan as betrothal money. That is no small sum—far more generous than the previous families. It shows they have savings.”

Wang Chao thought for a moment. After looking for so many years, he was already about eighteen. If things were not settled soon, people would begin to mock him instead.

“If Mother thinks this family is acceptable, then besides the fifteen guan, I want a white jade hairpin and a silver cicada hairpin.”

Madam Qin’s face lit up. She patted Wang Chao’s hand happily. “My son knows how to calculate. I will have the matchmaker speak to them. Once the marriage is settled, when the hunter’s family comes, I will make him give more silver for your dowry.”

Hearing this, Xiao Yuanbao lowered his eyes and tossed another piece of firewood into the stove.

“What are we eating at noon?”

Wang Chao walked into the kitchen, lifted the lid of the pot, and saw radishes cooking. He pursed his lips. “Why don’t you make some meat?”

“There will be meat for supper. Father is coming down from the mountain today,” Xiao Yuanbao said softly.

Wang Chao shook his head and left the kitchen again.

Later, Xiao Hu returned from the mountains.

This time the harvest was good—he had hunted a fat wild boar and carried it back himself.

Madam Qin’s face blossomed with smiles when she saw it. She hurried forward. “This pig is truly sturdy. People will surely compete to buy it.”

“Father, your hunting skills grow more refined by the day. With you here, our whole family eats well.”

Xiao Yuanbao was cleaning the chicken coop in the back courtyard. Hearing Xiao Hu’s voice, he quickly stepped out.

From the corner of the yard, he saw Madam Qin tenderly wiping sweat and pig’s blood from Xiao Hu’s face. Wang Chao’s words were sweet as honey. The family seemed so intimate.

He had meant to go over, but seeing the scene, he hesitated. He was clumsy with words. Even if he stepped forward, he would not know what to say.

Watching from a distance and seeing that Xiao Hu had returned safely without injury was enough to ease his heart.

A faint, unnoticed smile touched his lips. He turned back into the house and washed his hands.

He brewed a bowl of tea for Xiao Hu and set it on the table, then fetched his favorite wine from the storage room and placed it beneath the table.

He also lifted the lid of the pot to test whether the water he had heated at noon had cooled.

After exchanging a few words with Madam Qin and Wang Chao, Xiao Hu glanced around the yard. “Where is Bao ge’er? I haven’t seen him.”

“Perhaps he is still napping. He is the cleanest of all—you’re covered in pig’s blood, he probably cannot bear the smell. Chao ge’er boiled hot water for you early this morning. Go wash.”

Madam Qin added, “You’ve been in the mountains so many days. Your hair is all tangled.”

“No rush to wash. I’ll butcher the pig first. Otherwise I’ll just smell again afterward,” Xiao Hu said.

“As you wish.”

Just then, Zhao Lizheng suddenly approached their house.

“Xiao Dalang is back from the mountain! How fortunate—there’s a letter for you. I was afraid you might not be home.”

“A letter? From whom?”

Madam Qin was startled. Aside from the villagers, Xiao Hu had no known correspondents.

She could not help wondering whether it might be from the family of the first wife.

Xiao Hu was also puzzled. Who would write to him?

He said politely, “Lizheng, please come sit inside. Thank you for making the trip. I just brought down a mountain boar—once it’s prepared, take a portion home to taste.”

Seeing the black pig in the yard, Zhao Lizheng exclaimed. “Such a fat pig! Rare to hunt one like this. How can I take meat you meant to sell?”

Xiao Hu said, “I cannot read many characters. I will trouble you to read the letter for me.”

Zhao Lizheng waved it off. “It’s nothing. I will read it to you.”

They entered the house. Xiao Yuanbao, seeing the Lizheng arrive, had meant to stay quietly in his room. But hearing there was a letter, he thought the same as Madam Qin—perhaps it was from his maternal relatives.

So he stepped out softly, called to the Lizheng and Xiao Hu, and brought tea for them.

Madam Qin shot him a glance.

Xiao Yuanbao pressed his lips together but remained in the main hall, standing in a corner to listen.

Zhao Lizheng took a sip of tea, opened the letter, and glanced at it. “The handwriting is very fine.”

He cleared his throat and began to read:

“Uncle Xiao, upon seeing these words, may you be well in health.

It has been long since I last wrote. I hope Uncle will not blame me. I have been occupied with the examinations, traveling and toiling, unable to find quiet time to write. By the grace of the Son of Heaven, years of study have not been in vain. In this year’s examination I have succeeded and have been granted official appointment. I have been assigned as Tongzhi of Linzhou.

I have now settled in Linzhou and, thinking of Uncle’s well-being, wish to visit Ling County to see you.”

When he finished, Zhao Lizheng’s eyes were wide. “Dalang, since when have you had such an accomplished nephew? I have never heard you mention him.”

Madam Qin and Wang Chao were stunned. All eyes turned to Xiao Hu, who had remained silent.

Before hearing the letter, he had not known who it was from. After hearing it, how could he not know?

In earlier years, he had received two or three letters annually. After Qi Jinyan’s passing, the letters became fewer.

The last letter from the Qi family had come three years ago. In it, Qi Beinan had said he had passed the provincial exam. Xiao Hu had even gone to town to ask a teacher to write a congratulatory reply for him.

He had always remembered the marriage agreement between their two families. But five years ago, upon hearing that Qi Beinan had passed the examination, he had thought the matter unlikely to succeed.

In the years since, no further letters had come, confirming his suspicion.

He had decided that when Xiao Bao reached the proper age, he would find him a reliable family within the village.

He was not the sort to cling to someone who had gained fame and prospects.

He had never expected that after so many years, that boy would turn out to be so capable—having not only passed the highest examination but already taken office.

“He’s an old acquaintance from years past. Their family moved to Jiangzhou quite some time ago.”

“Good heavens, that’s extraordinary! A newly minted jinshi, and now appointed Tongzhi at the prefectural level—what a figure! If he comes, won’t even the county magistrate have to come out to receive him?”

Madam Qin saw that even the usually steady Lizheng was flushed with excitement and could not help asking, “Is this Tongzhi’s rank even higher than the county magistrate’s?”

“One serves at the prefectural level, the other at the county. How can they be compared?”

Zhao Lizheng clapped Xiao Hu on the shoulder. “How blessed you are! Make haste and prepare properly to welcome Lord Tongzhi!”

Listening from the corner, Xiao Yuanbao found it unbelievable as well.

Their household had hardly any visiting relatives to begin with, yet now a high official they had never even seen was coming to call. It was truly strange.

Zhao Lizheng stayed at the Xiao home for quite some time before leaving. Even after he was gone, the family still felt dazed.

If not for the letter lying properly on the table, they might have thought it a fanciful dream.

“If this nephew truly comes to our house, then we’ll have a great backing in the future. Let’s see who dares look down on us then!”

Madam Qin was as delighted as if the New Year had come. She tugged at Xiao Hu repeatedly. “How old is your nephew now? What does he look like? Is he married?”

Xiao Hu felt unsettled. He did not know why Qi Beinan was coming.

Though the letter did not mention it, he could not help but suspect that it concerned the marriage agreement between the two families.

Most likely—he had come to break it.

At the thought, Xiao Hu glanced toward the thin figure of Xiao Yuanbao standing quietly in the corner. His heart ached.

He was happy for Qi Beinan’s success.

But he dared not imagine that a man of Qi Beinan’s present standing would marry a ge’er from a farming household.

The difference in status between the two families was now like heaven and earth. How could they be considered a proper match? If Qi Beinan wished to dissolve the engagement, Xiao Hu would have no face to argue otherwise.

Yet he pitied Xiao Bao. He had once been promised such an extraordinary husband.

And that engagement had been arranged while his mother was still alive.

Xiao Hu hesitated, unsure whether he should tell Xiao Bao about the betrothal.

“I’m asking you a question. Say something—this suspense is killing me!”

“I only saw him a few times when he was young. It’s been over a decade. How could I still remember what he looks like? As for whether he’s married, I don’t know. But he should be past his coming-of-age ceremony by now.”

Madam Qin considered this. “Then he’s no longer young. A man like that must already be married.”

She sighed with regret. Wang Chao, listening nearby, also looked disappointed.

From a distance, Xiao Yuanbao saw the expressions on their faces and understood what they were thinking.

The man had not even arrived, yet they had already begun calculating.

Without a word, he went to the kitchen to busy himself.

Even if a great figure were coming to visit, it had little to do with him.

He only needed to prepare the food and tidy the house. In any case, entertaining guests would not involve him.

Yet that evening, after supper, as he was outside stacking firewood, his father came and stood before him.

“You’ve turned seventeen this year.”

“Mm.”

Xiao Yuanbao did not know why his father suddenly said this and could only answer softly.

Xiao Hu asked, somewhat awkwardly, “Is there any young man you’ve taken a liking to?”

Xiao Yuanbao froze for a moment, then shook his head.

Xiao Hu opened his mouth, as if wanting to say more, but in the end said nothing.

“Go back to your room early.”

“Mm.”

That night, Xiao Yuanbao could not sleep.

He did not understand why his father had asked him such a question.

He wondered whether, as he grew older and the annual marriage tax increased, his father wanted him to marry sooner.

He himself wished to marry as well. Long ago he had grown tired of living under the same roof as Madam Qin and Wang Chao.

But Madam Qin controlled the household. Even when families had come to see him, she had driven them away.

Until Wang Chao ge’er married, she would not allow him to settle his own marriage first.

Yet after suitable families were turned away, gossip spread outside. Now hardly any came to see him.

Xiao Yuanbao worried that if Wang Chao continued to be choosy year after year, he too would be delayed.

At present, he was still young enough that one or two families might find him acceptable. But if he grew older, he feared he would only be able to marry as someone’s second wife.

In his heart, he could not help but pray that Wang Chao’s marriage with the Lu family would be settled.

But with today’s sudden news, he had not even heard Madam Qin and his father speak further of the Lu proposal.

The great figure who had written to their home—the young man who had passed the jinshi examination and taken office, named Qi Beinan—arrived in late October, in the deep autumn.

After autumn, the rains were frequent.

Xiao Yuanbao’s clothes were old and thin. He had just cut a basketful of wet grass in the fields and was hurrying to carry it home before the rain grew heavier, to feed the chickens and ducks.

Through the mist and drizzle, a carriage came rattling down the village road.

It was unfamiliar—not the one from the estate.

Before he could fully process his surprise, the carriage stopped by the roadside beside him.

“Ge’er, do you know the way to the Xiao household?”

Xiao Yuanbao was taken aback.

Xiao was a rare surname in the village—there was only one Xiao family.

For a moment, he did not know how to answer.

Before he could speak, the carriage curtain lifted slightly from within, and a young face appeared.

The brows were dark as ink, the nose straight and high. He was strikingly handsome.

His tall figure was clad in a cross-collared robe of blue satin, white jade at his waist, a black cloud-patterned cloak draped over his shoulders—an unmistakable air of refinement and status.

“How curious. It feels as though I’ve seen you before. Perhaps it is only that you look familiar.”

The man in the carriage looked at Xiao Yuanbao and spoke gently.

“I have come from afar to visit relatives. I am no villain. I would be grateful if you could point the way.”

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