Old Bachelor

Chapter 6

The new wife was dead.

The Old Bachelor spent the entire morning cursing and swearing. His money had gone down the drain!

That was a full three thousand yuan. He had saved for so long, and over three hundred of it was money borrowed from others.

Now, the money was gone, and the person was gone too.

He was going to find those matchmakers and cause trouble.

“She was only delivered for one day before she died. They have to give me an explanation.”

Most people in the village were locals who had grown up together, so they naturally knew what kind of person the Old Bachelor was.

He had been narrow-minded and vengeful since he was a child. If anyone said something wrong or accidentally offended him, he would be like a mad dog, biting every member of your family.

It was because of this personality that even the families in the village who didn’t treat their daughters like human beings would never marry their daughters to him. That was why he had to spend a lot of money to “marry a Trafficked Bride.”

Now that he was in a fit of rage, no one dared to offend him over this matter, so everyone could only go along with what he said.

“You really are unlucky.”

“It’s that wife of yours who lacked the good fortune.”

“They should send you a new wife to make up for it.”

But as soon as the Old Bachelor said, “I don’t know where to find those people on my own, I need a few people to go to the city with me,” the villagers immediately started making excuses about having too much work at home or children who couldn’t be left alone.

So, the Old Bachelor went to ask the Village Chief to help argue his case.

The Village Chief of Xinghua Village was in his fifties. He was educated, could speak a bit of Mandarin, knew how to get things done, and was good with people. He held high prestige in the village and was the most formidable character of their generation.

Even someone like the Old Bachelor often said that there was only one person in the village he respected, and that was the Village Chief.

As soon as he arrived, the Village Chief knew what he was there for. He immediately arranged for his wife to pour tea and invited the man into the house.

Drinking the tea, the Old Bachelor felt respected. He knew in his heart that the other people in the village were only nice to his face while actually looking down on him.

Because of the Village Chief’s refined manner, the Old Bachelor also put on the air of a respectable man, speaking from the heart: “I know you’re a busy man with many important things to do.”

“Saying that makes us sound like strangers,” the Village Chief replied.

“I didn’t want to trouble you with this sort of thing, but it’s mainly because I spent the money. I was hoping to have a wife and live a peaceful life, but now the money is gone and the wife is gone too.”

The Village Chief said, “I heard about your situation today, and I immediately went to the town to ask the people at the bus station.”

Hearing this, the Old Bachelor felt even more gratified.

The Village Chief said with a troubled expression, “The people there said they can’t get in touch with them. We can only wait for the next time those people come around.”

The Old Bachelor let out a sigh.

“Don’t worry. Next time they come, I’ll go speak with them.”

Hearing this, the Old Bachelor couldn’t say much else, though he felt the words were easier said than done.

No one knew when they would come next, but since the conversation had reached this point, he couldn’t push any further.

As the Old Bachelor walked back, his mind was filled with thoughts of his lost money and his lost wife.

What was he supposed to do now? Without a wife, there would be no descendants. There would be no one to look after him when he was old, and no one to burn incense paper¹ for him when he died. He would be looked down upon even in death…

Thinking this, he prepared to find the Zhang Family. The Zhang Family had also spent a lot of money this time. He thought to himself that since the two Outsider Wives had been brought in together, perhaps the one at the Zhang Family was about to die too.

If the Outsider Wife the Zhang Family married also died, they could go to the city together to find those matchmakers.

The Zhang Family had also borrowed a lot of money. The whole family was currently busy working in the mountains, thinking every day about how to pay off the debt.

Only a tightly closed little mud hut remained at the house.

Outside the mud hut, Sha Niu was peeking here and there, trying to get inside.

This was the scene the Old Bachelor saw when he approached.

“Sha Niu? What are you doing here?”

Sha Niu turned around and saw the Old Bachelor, the person her mother disliked most in the village. She couldn’t talk to him, or her mother would be unhappy again.

She hurriedly ran away.

Watching the girl’s retreating back, the Old Bachelor paused for a moment. This girl was already so old.

In the afternoon, Sha Niu’s mother was chopping wood in the courtyard when someone arrived at the gate.

“Gangzi’s wife, busy are we?”

It was the Old Bachelor. He was different from usual; his face was piled with smiles, and he was carrying an old pumpkin larger than a human head.

Sha Niu’s mother glanced at him, said nothing, and lowered her head to continue chopping wood.

The Old Bachelor didn’t get angry at being ignored. He remained thick-skinned and said, “Is Gangzi not home? Speaking of which, Gangzi and I are good brothers who grew up together.”

Sha Niu’s mother was chopping wood, the axe and the wood sounding like a life-or-death battle, making loud banging noises.

“Gangzi’s wife, I’m talking to you. You can hear me, right?”

Sha Niu’s mother didn’t even look up, letting him ramble on.

“Back when Gangzi married you, he even borrowed money from me. Strictly speaking, I helped you two get together.”

Only then did Sha Niu’s mother look up and ask, “What exactly do you want?”

The Old Bachelor set the old pumpkin down and said, “I don’t want anything in particular.”

As he spoke, he looked at Sha Niu again. Sha Niu was currently carrying firewood into the house. The Old Bachelor said, “I haven’t seen Sha Niu in a long time. Sha Niu is seventeen this year, isn’t she? Quite the big girl now.”

Because her mother was right there, Sha Niu forgot her mother’s previous warning. She also thought the Old Bachelor was a fool, so she corrected him: “I’m eighteen.”

The Old Bachelor laughed even more happily and tried to move a bit closer to Sha Niu, saying, “I remember Sha Niu wasn’t that simple-minded when she was little. Was it a fever later on that burned her brain silly?”

Sha Niu was very unhappy with people calling her silly. What was wrong with being silly? She didn’t eat his food, so what was he talking about!

She was just about to curse him out when she heard a loud bang beside her.

Sha Niu was startled. It turned out that Sha Niu’s mother had stopped chopping wood. Her axe slammed down onto the old pumpkin the Old Bachelor had brought. The pumpkin instantly shattered into several pieces, and the pulp inside spilled onto the ground.

Sha Niu’s mother stared at the Old Bachelor with cold, dark eyes, as if the thing she wanted to chop wasn’t the pumpkin, but the man himself.

Even a rogue like the Old Bachelor was startled by her gaze. He quickly said, “I was just asking. I don’t know how to talk right, don’t mind me.”

As he spoke, he began walking away, acting completely unlike his usual self. He behaved as if he were just passing by without any particular purpose.

After taking a couple of steps, the Old Bachelor turned back and placed a package of candy by the door. “I have a bag of candy here. Let Sha Niu have some.”

The fury in Sha Niu’s mother’s heart surged to the top of her head. Ignoring whether she might offend him, she threw the package of candy straight back out.

When Sha Niu heard there was candy to eat, she also became alert. The last person who gave her candy wanted to eat her mother’s flesh. she would never eat his candy.

This Old Bachelor was usually no good, so Sha Niu felt something was wrong with him acting like a good person today, but she quickly figured it out.

The Old Bachelor must know he had offended the Immortal Lady. After all, the thunder last night had been terrifying.

He was definitely afraid of dying, so he came with candy to curry favor with her. After all, she was the Immortal Lady’s favorite person.

But the Old Bachelor had miscalculated.

She wouldn’t speak up for him in front of the Immortal Lady just for a bit of candy.

Then she thought, once everyone knew she was the Immortal Lady’s favorite, wouldn’t everyone in the village come to curry favor with her?

At this thought, Sha Niu chuckled, amused by the image she had imagined. She was just about to tell her mother about it.

As soon as she turned around, her mother’s finger poked her forehead, followed by a scolding. “Laugh, laugh, laugh! All you know how to do is laugh!”

Sha Niu thought her mother was just grumpy and said with a grin, “Mom, soon the whole village is going to be trying to get on our good side.”

Most of the people in the village had offended the Immortal Lady.

Seeing her like this, the mother’s unvented anger and pain rushed through her body. The middle-aged woman almost wanted to grab this fool and bash her head against the wall, but she held back. She only gave her foolish daughter a hard pinch.

“Next time you see him, stay far away! Do you hear me?”

Sha Niu immediately showed her loyalty. “I know, I know.”

Sha Niu didn’t quite understand. Why was Mom unhappy again?

She wasn’t angry at her mother. That was just how her mom was. Sometimes she would hold her in her arms and cherish her like the apple of her eye, and other times she would pinch and hit her as if she wished she were dead.

It had been especially like this the last two years. As Sha Niu grew up, her mother’s temper seemed to get worse and worse, and she seemed more and more unable to stand the sight of her.

Sha Niu didn’t understand what was happening, but she had a vague feeling that if only she weren’t a fool, things would be better. If she weren’t a fool, her mother wouldn’t be like this.

Thinking of this naturally made her think of the Immortal Lady. She had to build a good relationship with the Immortal Lady. The Immortal Lady could surely make her smart, as smart as Li Qingqing in the village.

In the following days, Sha Niu would often sneak past the Immortal Lady’s courtyard. She would hear the sounds of that family hitting and cursing people, but no one ever heard the Immortal Lady’s voice.

Like a little squirrel, she would stealthily and quietly press herself against the wall of the earthen house where the Immortal Lady was kept, wanting to hear her voice.

However, she never heard anything.

Sha Niu thought that even though the Immortal Lady had become a living person, she was still like the statue in the temple, always silent.

She couldn’t hear the Immortal Lady’s voice, but she constantly heard the Zhang family cursing her.

The people who cursed the Immortal Lady would surely die.

Since they were all going to die, Sha Niu felt there was no need to avoid them. Who would bother hiding from a bunch of graves?

As for the Old Bachelor, he tried to give her things to eat several times when they met on the road.

Each time, Sha Niu would run away quickly. She wasn’t going to help that man!

She even wanted to report him to the Immortal Lady.

But she couldn’t even see the Immortal Lady, so what could she do?

Sha Niu continued to loiter around the Zhang family home, and soon, she found an opportunity.

That day, the Zhang family had all gone into the mountains. Just as she used to climb into the Immortal Lady’s temple, she secretly climbed over the wall.

She hadn’t climbed the wall before because she was afraid of making the Immortal Lady angry, and she was still a bit scared in her heart.

She didn’t just remember things about the Immortal Lady from her childhood. She actually remembered her mother saying that she hadn’t been a fool at first, that she had looked very clever.

She was worried that the Immortal Lady had only chosen her to be her Child Attendant back then because of her cleverness. Now that she was a fool, would the Immortal Lady stop liking her?

She hadn’t really thought about this problem before, but now that she was actually about to see the Immortal Lady, her dull brain suddenly seemed to hear the things the villagers used to say about her.

There were certainly rumors in the village. With her being such a foolish girl, how could the Immortal Lady possibly want her as a Child Attendant?

But she wanted to see the Immortal Lady so badly. If the worst happened, she would just kneel and admit her mistake, then have a good cry. It worked on her mother, so maybe it would work on the Immortal Lady too.

After all, they both liked her so much.

“Immortal Lady…” Sha Niu’s heart filled with confidence once more.

When Sha Niu’s Immortal Lady woke up, she heard a sentence of Mandarin spoken with a southwestern accent.

Next, she saw a fuzzy little head.

It turned out someone was kneeling on the floor. Judging by the figure, it was a girl.

“Immortal Lady, do you remember me? I’m Sha Niu.” The girl immediately scrambled up from the floor and knelt by the bedside like a small animal. She propped her hands on the bed and leaned her small face close. It was a small face tanned dark by the sun, with eyes that were clear and bright, full of hope, and also full of a childhood innocence and curiosity that didn’t match her age.

The Immortal Lady coughed twice, her throat finally squeezing out a sound. “Have we met?”

“Immortal Lady, I’m Sha Niu,” Sha Niu gestured to indicate the size of a small child. “When I was this big, I got sick. Everyone said I couldn’t be cured. My mom carried me on her back to the temple to find you, and you saved me. I’ve always remembered you.”

“Don’t you remember me? I used to go to the temple to see you all the time. I even helped you eat the offerings you couldn’t finish.”

The Immortal Lady still couldn’t recall her, so the girl could only lower her head and say dejectedly, “I was very smart when I was little. Is it because I’ve turned into a fool now that you don’t recognize me?”

Sha Niu’s Immortal Lady coughed twice. She studied the silly girl’s features closely and soon recognized her. A smile touched her face. “I remember now. So it’s you. You’ve grown so much. I even saw your mother a couple of days ago.”

Sha Niu looked very much like her mother.

Having received this affirmation, Sha Niu felt even happier.

“Immortal Lady, how did you turn into a person? No one else recognized you, only I did.” she said, looking like a child waiting for praise for doing something wonderful.

“Yes, you’re the only one who recognized me. You’re very smart.”

Hehe, the Immortal Lady praised her for being smart. This was the first time Sha Niu had ever been called smart, and it was by the Immortal Lady herself.

Eager to prove she was even smarter, Sha Niu quickly asked, “Immortal Lady, do you have no magic powers right now?”

“How did you know?”

“Because when you threw those lightning bolts a few days ago to strike those bad people, you missed. That’s how I knew you must have lost your magic.” Sha Niu felt she wasn’t a fool at all; she had figured it out.

Her Immortal Lady nodded and admitted it.

Sha Niu immediately began to worry for her. “Then you must not tell anyone else you are the Immortal Lady. Everyone else in our village is a bad person.”

Even though everyone else in the village respected the Immortal Lady and were technically on her side, Sha Niu felt that no one loved the Immortal Lady as much as she did.

“You must believe me,” Sha Niu whispered, speaking ill of the others. “I was originally the Immortal Lady’s Child Attendant. At first, everyone respected me and my mother. But later, people started saying that all the children who died went to be the Immortal Lady’s Child Attendants. Now every household has a Child Attendant, and they don’t respect me or my mother anymore.”

Her mother said people were jealous of them, which was why they claimed everyone was the Immortal Lady’s Child Attendant.

Sha Niu said solemnly, “If everyone finds out you are the Immortal Lady, they’ll be nice to you at first. But later, they’ll start saying this person is an immortal and that person is an immortal too. When that happens, they won’t respect you anymore.”

As Sha Niu badmouthed the village, she couldn’t help but feel happy. Hehe, she really was a clever, naughty child.

After listening, the Immortal Lady couldn’t help but praise her, “You are very smart. That makes a lot of sense.”

After that short sentence, she couldn’t stop herself from coughing.

Sha Niu quickly helped her up. “Immortal Lady, did you get hurt when you fell from heaven?”

Sha Niu’s Immortal Lady nodded. “I had no magic when I came down, so I was ambushed by a few bad people.”

Without waiting for the girl to react, she asked, “Did they know you were coming in here?”

“They won’t let me look for you. Before, when you were in the temple, they wouldn’t let me visit, and they won’t let me now either. But it’s fine, I snuck in anyway.”

“Then you should go back quickly before you get caught. I have no magic right now and can’t protect you. You have to protect yourself.”

“If I’m caught, I’m caught. They don’t dare do anything. My mother is very fierce; she won’t let them hit me.”

Sha Niu felt the Immortal Lady pat her head. She was so happy she wanted to hug her.

She had been worried the Immortal Lady wouldn’t like her, but now it seemed the Immortal Lady liked her best of all. She wished she could give everything she had to the Immortal Lady, and everything her mother had too.

“Don’t be afraid, Immortal Lady. My mother is very strong. Once she believes you are the Immortal Lady, no one will dare bully you even if you don’t have magic.” In a child’s heart, their mother is always the strongest person in the world.

At that moment, her Immortal Lady asked, “How is it that you can speak Mandarin?”

“My mom taught me.”

Sha Niu’s Immortal Lady then asked, “Was your mother kidnapped and sold here?”

Sha Niu didn’t quite understand the concept of human trafficking, but she had heard the term before. Her mother had mentioned it, so she nodded and said, “Immortal Lady, you really do know everything.”

Sha Niu’s Immortal Lady replied, “I don’t know everything.”

“Tell me more about yourself.”

It had been a long time since Sha Niu had such a serious conversation with anyone, let alone with her Immortal Lady, whose voice was so pleasant to hear. In the past, when she was at the temple, Sha Niu would do all the talking while the Immortal Lady never answered or asked her anything.

Now that the Immortal Lady was speaking to her, she couldn’t help herself. She pressed close to her Immortal Lady’s side, just like that snowy night her mother had described countless times—the snowy night she had been saved by the Immortal Lady.

Her Immortal Lady coughed a few times and looked closely at the girl again. The girl’s hair was soft and clean, and her clothes were tidy. Although she wasn’t tall, she didn’t look malnourished or exhausted from farm work like the other girls she had seen since arriving.

“My mom said you sent her a dream back then. You told her I was your Child Attendant and that you wanted to take me back to heaven, but my mom kept crying. You thought she was too pitiful, so you let me stay.”

“Sha Niu, can you do me a favor?” Sha Niu’s Immortal Lady asked after coughing twice.

Sha Niu became excited instantly. she immediately knelt beside her, her eyes sparkling as she waited for her to speak.

In the past, only people like the Village Chief were allowed to kneel there and listen to the Immortal Lady’s divine will. Sha Niu thought that it was finally her turn.

“Help me give a message to your mother.”

Sha Niu blinked, listening with rapt attention.

“I didn’t come down from heaven on my own; I was cast down by someone. Now my leg is broken and no one recognizes me, so I can’t go back. Once I find a way to return, I will take you both back with me,” Sha Niu’s Immortal Lady said.

Sha Niu was completely stunned. “We can go to heaven?”

“Not only that, I have a very wealthy grandmother in heaven. If you help me return, you will surely be handsomely rewarded.”

Sha Niu’s eyes lit up. She immediately asked the question she cared about most. “Can you make me smart?”

Sha Niu heard the Immortal Lady say, “I will do my best. Go back and tell your mother what I said.”

Sha Niu gave a quick “Okay!” and hurriedly stuffed the honey back into her Immortal Lady’s arms.

“Immortal Lady, you eat this. You must still like me and my mother best in the future.”

She thought for a moment and added, “And Li Qingqing. Don’t like anyone else in our village. They are all bad people.”

Sha Niu was so happy, hehe.

The Immortal Lady nodded and said, “I know. I only like you all.”

Having heard the Immortal Lady’s words with her own ears, Sha Niu was overjoyed.

The Immortal Lady watched as this silly girl grabbed the windowsill, which was taller than she was, with both hands. Like a monkey, her whole body swung up. She flipped through the window and disappeared from sight. If not for the jar of honey still in her hands, she would have suspected it was all an illusion.

Sha Niu ran all the way back and couldn’t wait to tell her mother everything.

“The Immortal Lady really does like me best.” There were so many smart children in the village, yet the Immortal Lady only liked her.

“The Immortal Lady said she was injured when she came down from heaven. When she returns to heaven later, she will take us back with her. She has a very wealthy grandmother in heaven, and her grandmother will bless us then.”

Listening to her foolish daughter’s words, Sha Niu’s mother didn’t try to get the honey back, nor did she scold her daughter. She simply fell into deep thought.

Her daughter was eighteen now. In the village, betrothals were settled in one’s teens, and many girls were already married by eighteen.

Now, many problems were laid out in the open. she couldn’t avoid thinking about them.

The irritability and panic in her heart grew day by day as her daughter grew older. She spoke harsh words, saying she would raise Sha Niu as long as she lived, but what if she met with an accident?

Now, that college student was a smart person. She could quickly assess the situation without having a mental breakdown, and she knew to send a message through her daughter.

That college student must have deduced the mother’s predicament from Sha Niu’s foolish talk, which was why she took a gamble and had Sha Niu bring her a message.

The other party’s meaning was clear: as long as she could escape, she would take the mother and daughter with her and give them money.

Could she trust her? Did she have the ability to escape?

Sha Niu’s mother had been here for twenty years. She knew better than anyone how difficult it was. It truly was about as difficult as ascending to heaven.

If people here wanted to go to the city, they first had to cross mountain after mountain to reach the town. There were many forks in the road, and there were households all along the way. If discovered, one would be caught immediately.

Even if one was lucky enough not to be caught, behind one mountain was another. The mountains were all connected. If you took one wrong path, you could wander in the mountains all day without finding a way out, leaving nothing but despair after despair.

Even with her help, and even if the girl knew how to get to the town, it was useless to just get her there.

To get from the town to the city, one had to take a bus, and the town was full of their own people. If she brought someone to the town, they would be recognized as a runaway Trafficked Bride before they even reached the station and would be caught immediately.

She had once escaped to the town herself, and it was only then she realized that the people in the town were also part of the human traffickers’ network.

Sha Niu’s mother couldn’t imagine what price she would have to pay as an accomplice if the other party failed to escape or committed suicide because of a failed attempt.

Something like that had happened before. The result was that the woman who helped was forced to bear two children for that family before they would let it go.

Sha Niu’s mother didn’t dare to gamble.

On the other side, the Old Bachelor’s house remained shrouded in gloom.

“It’s definitely because we didn’t worship the Immortal Lady this time.”

“We worshipped every year in the past. This year, to marry this Outsider Wife and save a bit of incense money, we didn’t go.”

The old woman of the house kept muttering, “It’s definitely because we didn’t go. The Immortal Lady is angry.”

The old woman went to her eldest daughter-in-law to get incense oil and red cloth, then handed them to the Old Bachelor.

“Hurry to the temple and worship the Immortal Lady.”

Although the Old Bachelor was unwilling, he still carried the items to Honggu Mountain, preparing to worship the Immortal Lady.

Sister An noticed that the elderly woman hadn’t been talking nonsense as much these past two days, and she felt somewhat relieved.

The elderly woman kept her eyes closed. She sensed her granddaughter; her granddaughter’s voice was currently echoing in her mind.

“Grandmother, don’t always worry about my affairs. Why don’t you go out for a walk, or perhaps read a book like you used to?”

“Grandmother, life must go on.”

The elderly woman couldn’t bring herself to do her own things. As long as her granddaughter wasn’t before her eyes, she felt every moment that her granddaughter was suffering in a place she couldn’t see.

Sensing her fear, the granddaughter continued to tell her everything she had experienced in the village.

“Grandmother, don’t be sad. Undergoing Tribulation as an immortal is bound to be painful. But I am also very lucky. I met a silly girl. She said she was the only one in the whole village who recognized me as the Immortal Lady. She treats me very well. Even though I am locked behind earthen walls, she treats me like the Immortal Lady and gives me honey. That jar of honey helped me a lot. It gave me the strength to continue resisting the Zhang Family.”

“Oh, right, Grandmother, let me tell you something. The man who caused the death of the kidnapped girl is dead.”

Yes, the Old Bachelor was truly dead.

Translator’s Notes