Chapter 3: “You Are My Wife.”
Translator: Flying Lines
It was easy for Aunt Cui to tell that these objects were valuable. However, they said those words deliberately before. Who had thought that there was an honest woman to tell the truth?

Her countenance changed immediately and she reproached, “Mrs. Qian, shut your mouth!”

“Dear maiden, we would receive your objects. Once their values are estimated tomorrow, then we would determine how long you can stay here.”

“Fair enough.”

Finally, Aunt Cui pushed her husband and led other villagers to leave. All of their means gained their ends. But if Xie hadn’t waken up, she would be sent to somewhere unknown and all of her belongings would be cleaned out. And then she would be abandoned casually. Not that they were cruel, because after she came to their village, they lost many of their livestock. Therefore, they held the opinion that they were just too worried about themselves. It was rational for them to do that. Although it was a small village in seclusion, it was filled with intrigue.

Xie Mengxuan took a deep breath and raised her head. She saw a man who just stepped out of the kitchen with a bowl of medicine walking towards her. She picked up the bowl and said softly: “Thank you. May I ask you where I am?

“Oh, my dear wife, please don’t be so polite to me.”

“Thank you for saving my life. I’ll always bear it in mind. But I’m still unmarried, please don’t play such a joke.”

“I’m not kidding but serious, you… you are my wife. It’s me who helped you out, so you are my wife.”

She didn’t know how to respond to these words. She was actually talkative because she got closed to business accompanying with her father since she was a little girl. However, it was beyond her expectation that she couldn’t find any words to counter him.

Currently, to make sense of her situation was more important than any other things now. So she didn’t indulge herself in further debate with him but asked patiently, “Could you please tell me where this place is and who you are?”

The man erected his back and then said proudly, “Here is Zhoujia Village, and I’ m your husband.”

With her lips opening soundlessly, Xie Mengxuan smiled with a bit rage and asked, “Do you know my name if you insist that you are my husband?”

“You name is … Well, I don’t care what your name is. I only know you’re my wife. Just now I called you, and you didn’t correct me when there were so many people witnessing, right? All of the people in the village now hold the opinion that you are my wife. As soon as your legs recover, we’ll get married. Those objects that they took from you should be returned to us as wedding gifts.” It seemed that the man had nothing reasonable to say but acted perversely.

What he said did sound logical and coherent. But Xie Mengxuan’s face froze. She was open to persuasion but not easy to be bullied. She didn’t want to play with him anymore. She kept staring at him in a low mood. She had an oppressive air even though she was young in that she grew up in a big family with rather complicated struggles.

Faced with her imposing manner, Geng’s momentum faded away instantly. He slowly moved his robust and heavy build to the corner. After a while, he whispered, “My darling, don’t be so angry, Just… just because I love you, so I regard you as my wife.”

Xie Mengxuan felt a sense of guilt looking at his grievance. If he hadn’t protected her, she would be thrown away before she woke up. But he was so stubborn insisting that she was his wife, which made her have no choice but to treat him like that. Thinking of that, she felt better.

“Please answer my questions. Where is this place? And who are you? Where did you find me?” She stared at him with her dark eyes, neutral in tone.

The man answered, with his neck shrunken, “Here is Zhoujia Village, I am your…”

“Em?!” Hearing that he didn’t change his answer, Xie Mengxuan lost her temper immediately with her beautiful big eyes glaring. And this monosyllable word just coerced the man to change his answers as soon as possible.

He replied reluctantly, “I’m Geng Zhishan, a villager of Zhoujia Village. And I found you in the foot of the hill.”

Looking at his bowed head, she got too softhearted to treat the man like before. After all, it was not so good to treat a man who seemed to have a screw loose. So she eased her tone and asked, “How far is it from the village to the Imperial Capital?”

“Imperial Capital? It is far away from my village. It takes you several days to go there on foot.” Geng Zhishan thought for a while and said seriously.

Xie Mengxuan grasped the quilt and wore a slight frown at this. Then Geng Zhishan stretched out and fondled her brows suddenly. But Xie Mengxua regained her mind and slapped off his hand subconsciously. He looked his hands, saying, “I don’t hope you frown because you look really beautiful when you are smiling.”

Xie Mengxuan was sorry to bellow at him anymore for he looked so serious and concerned. Instead, she said gently, “Sorry, I don’t like people who touch me without my permission, otherwise I would feel uncomfortable.”

“But I am your husband!” Geng Zhishan took it for granted.

She pointed to Geng Zhishan with her eyes wide open, “Stop talking nonsense!”

He stood up suddenly with his chin lifted, “Now that I saved your life, don’t you think you should pledge to marry me?”

“Who stipulate it? Xie Mengxuan asked in reply, though in rage and fury.

“That’s how it goes in opera.” Geng Zhishan answered very seriously, and then he sat on the ground and claimed, “I’ll send invitations to most of the people tomorrow. As soon as your legs recover, we can get married.”

“I live alone with neither of my parents left, so you won’t have mother-in-law or father-in-law, and I’ll take care of you for the rest of my life. All you need to do is staying at home in peace.”

Geng Zhishan kept talking, regardless of the fact that the facial expression of Xie Mengxuan was getting worse and worse. When he said a lot words in weird logic, Xie Mengxuan, driven beyond forbearance, took the pillow on the bed and threw it over his head, shouting, “Get out!”

Geng Zhishan took the pillow from her and said with a smile, “Honey, you look beautiful as well even though you are angry. I love you no matter what you look like. Besides, you have acquiesced in being my wife, and everyone outside knows the fact. No one will marry you even if you refuse to be my wife. Anyway, I’m a kind person, so you’ll accept me when you live together with me.”

Xie Mengxuan frowned, staring at Geng Zhishan. It was beyond her expectations again and she couldn’t find some words to retort him. Who could imagine that even a dull man as he could take advantage of that point?! She thought carefully with her piercing eyes and her original tenderness faded, “Who on earth are you?”

“I am your husband.” Geng Zhishan blinked and squeezed out such a sentence after a while.

Hearing the words, Xie Mengxuan dropped her head with a sigh and lied on the bed silently. Geng Zhishan stayed next to her for a long time and then slowly moved to her and put down the pillow, ingratiatingly saying, “Darling, I am going to make some fish soup for you.”

…

“Robbers again! Run!”

As soon as Geng Zhishan’s words were finished, there came the screams of villagers. Xie Mengxuan was scared hearing the words. ‘Are there robbers here?’

She was pressed back to her bed and covered with quilt by Geng before she could understand what was happening. Then he ran out quickly.

Xie Mengxuan had no power to fight in that case. Instead, all she can do was lying on the bed as Geng Zhishan asked. She looked at Geng Zhishan’s serious face through a small gap, as if he changed to another person.

“Big Brother, look, the guy has fish soup at his house.”

“We have been sleeping in the open for days without food or warm clothing in order to find that woman.”

“Well, come on, brothers. Let’s have some nice food and drink, before we keep looking for that young lady. And maybe we can enjoy a good sex before selling her. So we’d better eat enough food to keep energetic.”

“What you said is right, we’ll surely have a good life so long as we follow Big Brother.”

“Ha-ha-ha…” They burst out laughing.