Chapter 3: 03 Bought Dear Wife
However, she had been seriously injured and couldn’t endure any longer, so she fainted.
As the onlookers saw Xiao Yishan carrying the thief away, someone recognized them, “Isn’t that the hunter Xiao Yishan from Wushan Village? That thief is his bought wife.”
“You know them?” someone asked.
“I have relatives in Wushan Village. I have seen the Xiao Family a few times. I saw his wife about half a year ago, but she wasn’t the Xiao Family’s daughter-in-law then. She was the wife of the two Zhu brothers from the same village. It is said that the old lady of the Zhu family bought her. The Zhu brothers found her ugly and mute, and they didn’t consummate the marriage for half a year. Eventually, a month ago, they sold her to the three Xiao brothers as a wife.”
Perhaps it was the local environment, but nearby towns had fewer women than men born. Wushan Village, in particular, was known as the poorest village in the mountain valleys.
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The village women hurried to marry out of the village, and with the scarcity of land, there were too many families in the village who couldn’t find wives. Girls from other towns were unwilling to marry into Wushan Village.
In Wushan Village, many families had several brothers marrying one wife. This was also the case in nearby towns and other villages but not as common as in Wushan Village. At least they had a wife; many others were bachelors without a chance to find one.
With no suitable partners found in formal marriages, purchasing wives became more common.
Many onlookers had heard of Xiao Yishan’s name, and the Xiao Family was notorious for being poor and having many issues.
Someone sneered, “It’s the Xiao Family, the poorest in Wushan Village. The three brothers have their problems. The third is in poor health, prone to fainting, the fourth has disabled legs, and the family depends on Xiao Yishan’s hunting to survive. It’s a struggle just to eat. The fourth son’s leg disease requires a lot of medicine every month. With that level of poverty and burden, who would marry them? The three sons have an older sister who got married a long time ago and never came back to the Xiao Family.”
“As I was saying,” the person who recognized Xiao Yishan continued, “There was a girl in the village Xiao Yishan used to like. He got his face scratched by a bear for her, but she dumped him anyway. Even this purchased wife couldn’t stand the poverty and ran away. Now that she’s been caught, she’ll have a hard time.”
“No wonder neither of the Zhu brothers consummated their marriage with that mute girl. She looks so dark and skinny, with sores all over her face. I was standing close and could smell a sour stench on her, making me nauseous… I guess I won’t be having dinner tonight. If it were me, I’d rather stay a bachelor for life than touch her.”
“The Xiao Family is indeed poor. But the Zhu Family is different. They have eight acres of land, which makes them quite well-off in Wushan Village. It’s just that the Old Lady of the Zhu family sent the second son to town to study, and all the extra food was sold to cover his tuition fees. The second son, however, didn’t do well. He failed the imperial examinations three times in a row. After nine years, the Old Lady of the Zhu family probably couldn’t wait any longer and bought him a wife half a year ago… ”
Someone didn’t understand, “Why would they buy such an ugly mute wife?”
“I’m a relative of the Zhu Family. I know this story. The Old Lady of the Zhu family was greedy for a bargain and ended up being deceived by human traders. For a mere fifteen taels of silver, how could she expect to buy someone better? However, she didn’t lose out in the end. It’s said that when she sold the mute wife to the three Xiao brothers, she got sixteen taels for her. The mute girl had her food provided by the Zhu family for half a year, so one tael of silver for food is about right… ”