Laughed Out of Spite

Chapter 8

Although Sha Niu’s mother didn’t believe Ming Wen was an Immortal Lady, her feelings toward the woman were complicated. Perhaps it was because the impression Ming Wen left during their first meeting was too deep, or perhaps the messages Ming Wen had Sha Niu relay were simply too tempting.

She was a university student, she lived in the city, and she had a wealthy grandmother.

If she could truly help her, Sha Niu’s mother believed that the woman might actually be able to help her.

Sha Niu’s mother decided to pay a visit to the Zhang family. She claimed they had run out of salt and she was going to borrow some, but in reality, she went to check on the situation.

Her relationship with the Zhang family wasn’t actually good, but since she took the initiative to visit, they were quite welcoming and even spoke to her about the “new bride.”

“Our family is just cursed with bad luck. We spent so much money to buy a university student, hoping she’d be a good one who would live a proper life with my son.”

The Zhang family mother-in-law grew angrier as she spoke: “Only now do we realize we bought a stubborn one.”

Sha Niu’s mother learned that Sha Niu’s Immortal Lady hadn’t slept or rested. She would fight anyone who came near and refused to submit no matter what. Even after one of her fingers was broken, she still wouldn’t yield.

The Zhang family couldn’t actually beat her to death…

Especially since one Trafficked Bride had already died.

Now they had her locked up, planning to starve her for a few more days.

They told Sha Niu’s mother, “We can’t understand what she says, and she can’t understand us. Honestly, it’s not like we want to kill her. After all, we spent so much money and the family took on so much debt just to marry this woman.”

“Help us talk some sense into her. Tell her to settle down and live her life.”

Talk sense into her?

What was there to say?

Without even thinking, Sha Niu’s mother refused immediately.

After returning home, her mind remained in a state of chaos, unsure of what to do.

Sometimes, she truly wished everything her foolish daughter said was true, that the university student really was an Immortal Lady. Just like the stories told in these parts, an Immortal Lady who could kill all those who deserved to die and save both mother and daughter.

But how could that be possible? Where in this world were there any Immortal Ladies? What kind of Immortal Lady would be suffering and enduring such misery herself?

Sha Niu’s mother had no way to go see Ming Wen, and she didn’t even dare to think too much about it.

After pacing back and forth, she thought about how the Zhang family mentioned starving the woman for a few days to sap her strength.

Sha Niu’s mother boiled some sweet potatoes and tucked some crispy pork lard bits¹ inside. Then, she called Sha Niu over.

“Secretly take these to your Immortal Lady.” Sha Niu’s mother knew all too well how agile her daughter was at scaling walls and climbing through windows.

Sha Niu’s eyes lit up. Mama was giving an offering to the Immortal Lady! Mama finally believed her!

Sha Niu’s lifelong experience of sneaking around, hiding from people, and climbing walls to see the Immortal Lady finally had a practical use.

She was like a little wild beast of the mountains, lacking in intelligence but incredibly agile. She quickly saw the Immortal Lady again, her young Immortal Lady.

The young deity sat in the room. Hearing a noise, she gripped a stone in her hand, but when she saw Sha Niu, she set the stone down.

Sha Niu didn’t understand her Immortal Lady’s predicament at all. In her world, the Immortal Lady had her own reasons for everything she did. Even being locked up must have a reason, just like how the Immortal Lady was usually kept inside a temple.

The Immortal Lady used to be kept in a temple too. The Immortal Lady was so pitiful. Her heart was filled with sympathy; she wanted to take the Immortal Lady to play in the mountains, to climb trees, to catch cicadas, and to pick red berries to eat on the high slopes.

She loved her Immortal Lady so much that she couldn’t help but lean in close.

“Immortal Lady! This!” She held up the roasted sweet potato, offering it piously to her deity.

“My mama made it. There are lard bits inside.”

Ming Wen was indeed hungry, and this was no time for politeness. She said thank you and began to eat slowly. Because she had been hungry for so long, she had to eat slowly, otherwise it would be bad for her stomach.

One of her fingers was completely immobile, which she had simply bandaged and treated herself. There were bruises at the corners of her mouth that pained her whenever she spoke or ate, but she continued to eat slowly, not letting Sha Niu see her discomfort.

Sha Niu chattered away beside her about the Old Bachelor’s death. She was truly happy about it, perhaps because the Old Bachelor had argued with her mother, or perhaps because her mother stopped hitting her after the Old Bachelor died.

The young deity ate the sweet potato while listening to her speak.

When the foolish girl reached a funny part, the young deity even smiled along with her.

Seeing her smile, Sha Niu couldn’t help but say, “Immortal Lady, you really like me. Whenever I talk, you look at me.”

A fool’s intuition was very sharp. In the past, when she spoke, no one would listen except for her mother and Li Qingqing.

Sunlight filtered through the window, and for a moment, the room actually felt a bit warm.

Sha Niu had to leave soon. She went to find her mother, who seemed unhappy today.

Sha Niu secretly… very secretly touched the Immortal Lady’s clothes.

She wanted to take a bit of the Immortal Lady’s divine light back to her mother.

“Mama! Mama!”

Sha Niu’s mother was weeding the peanut field. She liked weeding because when she did it, her mind focused only on hoeing the grass, and she didn’t have to think about anything else.

She looked up to see her daughter running toward her, cupping something in her hands.

She thought it was more raisin-tree fruit her daughter had found on the mountain.

Sha Niu quickly reached her mother and shoved whatever she was holding directly against her mother’s body.

Hmm?

Sha Niu’s mother looked down. There was nothing there.

“Mama, I just touched the Immortal Lady with this hand. It has immortal energy now, and I gave it all to you.”

Fine, the fool was having another episode.

Sha Niu began to talk about her meeting with the Immortal Lady, saying that the Immortal Lady had killed the Old Bachelor.

“I think the Immortal Lady definitely killed the Old Bachelor because of me!”

Sha Niu’s mother was startled by these words. Her hoe slipped, slicing right through a peanut seedling.

Sha Niu continued with her own interpretation.

“That Old Bachelor even wanted to give me candy. he must have put rat poison in the candy.”

Sha Niu’s mother said nothing.

Carrying the sweet potato vines on her back, Sha Niu’s mother led her daughter back home, passing the Zhang Family house once again.

This time, Sha Niu’s mother did not stop. She walked very quickly, as if afraid of hearing the sounds of pain.

There were some things that, as long as one didn’t think about them, one could pretend did not exist.

Meanwhile, within that space confined by earthen walls, the young deity Sha Niu spoke of did not look much like a deity at all. She was no longer sitting; instead, she was slowly practicing hopping on one foot around the room.

She thought about what Sha Niu had said, and about the stories of immortals Undergoing Tribulation.

From ancient times to the present, it seemed no immortal had ever undergone a tribulation that involved being kidnapped and sold into the mountains, being forced to bear children, and being coerced into watching other women who shared the same fate die.

Perhaps it was because myths and legends ultimately had to serve humanity, and could not truly inflict such terrifying agony upon them.

If she successfully completed this tribulation, she would probably have to become a god of death.

When this thought occurred to her, she was amused by her own dark humor.

As she smiled, a “squeak, squeak, squeak” sound came from the corner, a sound she was very familiar with.

The young deity calmed her mind to locate the source of the noise. It was under the left side of the bed.

Squeak, squeak, squeak…

The young deity lowered her head to look, but it was pitch black inside and she could see nothing.

Limping on her bad leg, she moved the bed aside slightly, revealing the source of the noise… a small grey mouse?

The sharp part of a mouse trap had pierced through the little mouse’s hind leg.

Perhaps because it saw a human, terror made the mouse struggle even more frantically.

The young deity reached down and opened the trap. The little mouse immediately scurried into a nearby hole.

The squeaking in the room ceased, and the air grew quiet. If one paid close attention, the faint, distant sound of a Taoist priest performing a ritual² could be heard from the other side.

The Old Bachelor had provoked the Immortal Lady’s wrath. Although the Old Bachelor was dead, the villagers still felt the need to perform a ritual to show the Immortal Lady that the rest of the village was blameless.

The prayers sounded solemn and majestic.

The young deity focused her mind to listen, and she could faintly hear the words spoken by the Heavenly Master over there.

“Immortal Lady, open your eyes. Immortal Lady, see the suffering of the world. Immortal Lady, forgive us for our sins of disrespect.”

The Heavenly Master was not speaking the local dialect, and the intonation was very strange, but the young deity happened to understand it perfectly.

“We once prayed for you to descend to the mortal realm, prayed for your protection…”

As the young deity listened, she suddenly let out a short laugh. The movement pulled at her injured facial muscles, and a wave of pain washed over her.

She was laughing out of pure, unadulterated exasperation.

Translator’s Notes