Breaking off the engagement

Although it was late at night, Zhao Youlin's household bustled with activity as they secretly prepared a feast, carefully removing the roe deer's hide, taking its heart and liver to stir-fry, and cutting off some meat for porridge.

In this year of famine, when everyone in the village struggled even to afford coarse rice, the Zhao Family secretly ate the meat from their hunt, barely suppressing their excitement and happiness.

Even if I have to smash the cooking pot and sell the iron, I'll pay for Feng'er to learn martial arts. At worst, he can still become a hunter, Zhao Youlin thought.

At the table, Zhao Youlin brought out his treasured millet wine for the first time in ages and poured Zhao Feng a cup. Though the wine was bitter and astringent, Zhao Feng drank two cups with his father, happy to see him in such high spirits.

Zhao Youlin picked up a piece of stir-fried roe deer heart and ate it with a sip of millet wine, his eyes narrowing with pleasure. Then he picked up another piece for his wife.

Tian Cuihua busied herself ladling more meat porridge for the two children. The whole family basked in warmth and harmony, temporarily forgetting the shadow Huang Biao had cast over them earlier.

"If only Shuo'er could come home before New Year's." Zhao Youlin's words brought tears to both Yang Shi's and Tian Cuihua's eyes, and they kept wiping them away.

Zhao Feng took another sip of the bitter, astringent wine. He had already asked around: none of the able-bodied men who had gone from the nearby villages to perform corvée labor had returned, and there had been no word from them.

Still, that did not necessarily mean something had happened. Communication was practically nonexistent in this era, and last-minute changes to corvée assignments were nothing unusual.

After dinner, Tian Cuihua and Yang Shi wrapped up several of the best large cuts of roe deer meat, along with the rabbit hide, roe deer hide, and antlers, ready to take them to the county market first thing the next morning.

The rest of the meat would be salted and dried so it could be stored for a long time.

The remaining offal would be chopped up and cooked into porridge over the next few days. Even the bones would be ground into powder with the millstone and mixed into the porridge. Nothing would go to waste.

Early the next morning, Zhao Feng had only just gotten up when he heard a commotion at the entrance and went outside to look.

In the courtyard stood a middle-aged woman with a face coated in white powder and lips painted bloodred. Her features looked mean and overbearing. With her hands on her hips, she was talking to his mother.

She was none other than the original owner's prospective mother-in-law, Zhang the Widow. Years ago, her ill fortune was said to have brought both her mother-in-law and her husband to their deaths. Her bullying and tantrums were notorious throughout the surrounding villages.

Behind her stood a young woman whose face was painted just as ghostishly, with two extra large patches of rouge on her cheeks. She was Wang Jinlian, the original owner's goddess. To please her, he had stolen his sister-in-law's hairpin and pawned it for money to buy her gifts.

But when the current Zhao Feng looked at her, what the hell was this? She was an ordinary village girl whose looks rated a five at best. Most village women in this era went barefaced. Had smearing herself with powder and rouge until she looked like a ghost really been enough to make her the original owner's goddess?

According to his memories, she was also two years older than the original owner. He had fallen for her at first sight, crying and making a fuss until his parents agreed to let him marry Wang Jinlian. Left with no choice, they had hired a matchmaker and arranged the engagement. Once they scraped together the betrothal gifts, they would visit her family to formally ask for her hand.

"Dear in-law, isn't twenty taels of silver a little too much for the bride price?" his mother, Yang Shi, asked with an appeasing smile.

"What? Twenty taels for the bride price?"

Zhao Youlin and Tian Cuihua, who had come outside at the noise, were stunned as well.

Twenty taels amounted to two or three years' income for an ordinary farming household, even before deducting taxes.

"My daughter is pure and unblemished, a beauty famous throughout every village for miles around! I think even twenty taels is too little!" Zhang the Widow barked aggressively.

"If you can't afford it, break off the engagement. There are plenty of men who want to marry my daughter."

"We don't even know whether your son has recovered from his madness. How could he be worthy of my daughter? With your family's circumstances, do you think you're a match?" Zhang the Widow said scornfully.

"My brother-in-law was only confused by a fever after falling into the water. He'll be fine in a few days. How can you throw stones at someone who's fallen into a well and break off the engagement now?" Tian Cuihua asked.

"Dear in-law, give us a little time. We'll find a way to scrape together the bride price." After saying this, Zhao Youlin seemed to age ten years in an instant, even the light in his eyes fading.

He knew his son adored Wang Jinlian and would marry no one else. Now the bride price was twenty taels, and martial arts tuition would cost another ten. The total of thirty taels had all but crushed him.

"Still, we're all neighbors, and Zhao Feng likes my daughter so much. I'll point you toward a way out," Zhang the Widow said, softening her tone.

"Master Li in town offers loans against property. You can mortgage your fields and house to him, and then you'll have the money, won't you? If you can't gather the bride price before New Year's, forget about the wedding," Zhang the Widow said.

So this was what she was after. Zhao Feng sneered inwardly. Yesterday, Huang Biao had come over and threatened them, both openly and between the lines, to mortgage the Zhao Family's property. Today, Zhang the Widow had brought Wang Jinlian over to demand the bride price and push them into mortgaging their home, threatening to break off the engagement if they refused.

It would have been stranger if those two were not in cahoots.

He turned around, grabbed a billhook, and headed outside.

"Zhao Feng! Where's the rouge you promised to buy me last time? Give me the money." The moment Wang Jinlian saw him, she held out her hand.

But she immediately noticed something was wrong. Zhao Feng, who usually beamed at the sight of her, now had a twisted mouth and crooked eyes, and was muttering something unintelligible.

"Why do you look like that?" Wang Jinlian asked in bewilderment.

Billhook in hand, Zhao Feng swung straight at her.

"Ah!" Wang Jinlian screamed in fright and scrambled away.

"You little bastard! Have you gone mad?" Zhang the Widow cursed.

"Ooh! Waaah!"

With a strange howl, Zhao Feng hurled the billhook. Thunk! It skimmed past Zhang the Widow's face and embedded itself squarely in the wooden door.

"Ah! The little bastard's madness is acting up! The wedding is off!"

"The engagement is off! It's off!" Zhang the Widow shrieked in terror.

Though she wanted to extort money through the bride price, she did not want to actually marry her daughter to a madman.

She grabbed the terrified, dazed Wang Jinlian and tried to flee.

Zhao Feng blocked the entrance, howling and waving the billhook until both women's legs went weak with fear.

"I don't want this engagement money anymore!"

In her desperation, Zhang the Widow had a flash of inspiration. She pulled a tael of silver from her pocket and flung it in another direction. Seeing Zhao Feng go to pick it up, she seized her chance.

She grabbed her daughter and ran out through the gate.

"Just you wait! This isn't over!" Zhang the Widow shouted once she was a good distance away.

After the two women had fled into the distance, Zhao Feng lowered the billhook. His mouth and eyes were no longer crooked, and he returned to normal.

"Feng'er, are you all right? Don't scare your mother." Yang Shi rushed toward him, choking back tears. His crazed behavior had terrified her; she had thought her son had gone mad again.

"Mother, I'm fine. I'm not mad," Zhao Feng said calmly, supporting Yang Shi.

Seeing the clarity in his son's eyes, Zhao Youlin also relaxed. He understood that Zhao Feng had merely been playing the mad fool.

"You rascal! You scared us half to death!" Tian Cuihua let out a long breath.

Her brother-in-law had finally started showing some sense. If he went mad again, this family really would fall apart.

"Feng'er, why did you do that...? I'm afraid the marriage is ruined now," his mother, Yang Shi, said anxiously.

"Mother, I'm not marrying Wang Jinlian." Zhao Feng shook his head. He would not take over the mess left by the original owner's foolishness. Besides, remembering how Wang Jinlian and Huang Biao had flirted, and putting that together with everything that had happened today, the original owner might already have had a whole green prairie of cuckold's horns growing on his head.

"You're not marrying her?" Zhao Youlin and Yang Shi both froze. Their son had liked Wang Jinlian so much, constantly stealing things from home to please her. Now he was simply refusing to marry her?

"That's right. I've thought it through. A man should establish himself before starting a family. I want to learn martial arts first." Zhao Feng did not want to discuss Wang Jinlian any further. This was a shameful stain on his past, even if the original owner had been responsible.

Hearing that he no longer wanted to marry her, Zhao Youlin, his wife, and Tian Cuihua all breathed sighs of relief. Zhang the Widow and her daughter had always been vulgar and nasty, but Zhao Feng had been so besotted that the family could do nothing. Now he had changed his mind, and they had even recovered the engagement money. A clean break was just as well.

Once our son has made something of himself in martial arts, we'll find him a good girl to marry! the old couple thought.