Sweet Wife in My Arms

But the marriage plans were scrapped with the return of Tong Ye, the daughter of the neighbor's aunt's second son-in-law's brother. Tong Ye worked in the city, and she convinced Qinghua's mother that instead of marrying Qinghua off, it would make more financial sense to let Qinghua go with her to the city and work there: she would be able to feed herself, buy nice clothes, and make enough money to support the family.

Qinghua's mother thought about it, and decided that Tong Ye had a point: it was better to get money every month than to sell Qinghua for a fixed amount of money. She called off the marriage and made plans to send her daughter to the city to make money.

Qinghua wept loudly when it was time to go, but she was not crying over the thought of being separated from her mother and brother. She was crying because she knew that she was still being sold like cattle. She turned away from her family, and the look of bitterness on her face went unnoticed.

Everyone knew that farm girls were only good for selling. They belonged to their husbands once they married, after all.

As soon as they wrapped up the scene, Yan Huan hurried to a new set, one that had been set up inside a train carriage they had rented. A few scenes would be filmed inside the train, and they had hired enough background extras to fill the entire carriage. This was why it was important to have investors--with enough money, anything was possible.

The production crew set up cameras inside the train carriage, and began to shoot the train interior scenes.

Tong Ye not only had a classy name, she was also pretty and stylish: her outfit consisted of a leather coat over a black dress, paired with knee-high boots. Qinghua stared enviously at her, wishing she could swap clothes with her.

Qinghua was wearing a faded floral blouse that had been patched in places, and a pair of trousers that had served her faithfully for many years. The shoes on her feet had been sewn together by her, but they were of poor quality and could barely pass as shoes.

It was meal time, and everyone on the train began to eat the food they had brought with them. Qinghua watched enviously as some of the passengers ate instant noodles; to her, instant noodles were a luxury only the rich could afford. The only store in her village sold instant noodles, but they were exceedingly expensive. They sold for a dollar a pack, and one dollar was enough to buy six buns. In her family, only her brother had the privilege of eating instant noodles: he was the Xiang family's precious heir, after all.

Xiang Qinghua's mouth watered. She swallowed heavily as she listened to the passengers around her slurp their noodles. She silently swore to herself that she would earn enough money to eat three packs of instant noodles for every meal. She would be so rich she would eat only the noodles and dump the soup. In fact, she would be so rich she would dump the noodles without a second's hesitation if she could not finish them.

She was busy fantasizing about her future when she suddenly remembered something. Her face split into a goofy grin.

She rooted around in her bag, and found the tiny bottle she had been looking for.

The bottle had come from the city. Everyone drank from large bowls back in the village, but apparently the city folks drank from bottles so tiny they could only be held between the thumb and forefinger. Qinghua could only assume that the city folks took elegant sips from the bottle for a taste of the minuscule amount of liquid inside.

Tong Ye had told her that it was popular among the city kids.

She had distributed the bottles to the village children, claiming that all the city kids had one. She had given one to Qinghua's brother as compensation for taking Qinghua away. Qinghua's brother had guarded his bottle zealously, squirrelling it away in one of his hiding spots, but Qinghua had found it and secretly taken it with her.

Everyone was busy eating rice out of their lunch boxes. Qinghua did not have rice to eat, or even instant noodles; all she had were dry buns from home, but she was reluctant to eat them now. She would be traveling on the train for one more day, and had to make sure that the buns would last her the entire journey.

She decided to show off; she would drink from the small bottle, and fool everyone around her into thinking that she was filthy rich.

She fished the bottle out of her bag, and then tried to look nonchalant as she deliberately held it up for everyone to see. When she was sure everyone had caught sight of it, she lifted it to her lips and took a sip.

Glurg! A large bubble emerged from her mouth.

The taste was not at all pleasant. In fact, it tasted disgusting. She wondered whether the city folks had unusual tastes.

"Auntie, why are you drinking bubble water?" a little girl asked curiously.

Bubble water? Qinghua opened her mouth to ask, but before she could say a single word bubbles drifted out of her mouth again. A few children saw the bubbles and began to chase after them, delighted.

"Auntie, keep blowing those bubbles." The little girl shuffled over to Qinghua and tugged insistently on her sleeves.

Qinghua felt like crying. She opened her mouth to say that she was most definitely not blowing bubbles--only to fill the carriage with a long stream of bubbles. She looked for all the world like a cartoon fish.

She hid in a corner and sullenly ate her dry buns. She knew now that the "city drink" was not actually a drink--it was a toy, meant to be played with. To put it simply, the bottle had been full of detergent, and she had drunk it. She began to wonder if it was poisonous.

Her concerns proved to be unfounded: she rode the train for a day and a night, and lived to tell the tale.

It took about five days to finish shooting the scenes in the train. The scene with the bubbles was a nightmare for Yan Huan; she did not actually drink the bubble water, but the air around her was thick with the sharp scent of soap nonetheless. It irritated her sinuses.

When she finally left the train set for good, she felt as though she had turned into a large piece of soap.

That evening, she returned to her lodgings, on the verge of a mental breakdown. The scent of soap was everywhere: in the air, and even in her food. Luo Lin and Yi Ling's hearts ached for Yan Huan's predicament, but they could not do anything for her.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Yi Ling opened the door. Her eyes grew wide as saucers; she tiptoed to look over the shoulder of the man before her to see if the other man had also come with him.

"He's unloading some stuff from the car. He's brought a lot of gifts for you," Lu Yi said to Yi Ling as he walked past her with He Yibin at his heels.

He Yibin nodded politely to Luo Lin and Yi Ling. He was also on the verge of a mental breakdown, but he did not show it; he had been about to go to bed when Lu Yi virtually kidnapped him and forced him to come along. He was a doctor, yes, but he did not remember ever signing up for impromptu trips to the middle of nowhere.

Yan Huan was in her room when she heard what sounded like Lu Yi's voice coming from the living room. She could hardly believe her ears--this place was a two-day drive from Sea City, to say nothing of the winding, treacherous mountain roads.

She opened the door. She was right: it was Lu Yi, and he had brought He Yibin with him.

"Give her a check-up," Lu Yi said to He Yibin.

He Yibin gave a resigned shrug as he walked over to Yan Huan to give her a health check-up. Yan Huan, for her part, did not protest--she sat obediently in her chair and waited patiently for the doctor to finish inspecting her.

"Don't worry, it's nothing. Just a bit of inflammation in your sinuses, that's all," He Yibin said after he was done. He gave her some medicine: it was only a few pills, but they would be enough to cure her.

"He dragged me here. I had no say in the matter, really." The doctor chuckled genially as he stretched. "Well, all I had to do was sit in the car so I didn't really mind."

Lu Yi poured a glass of water and placed it in front of Yan Huan.

Yan Huan took the glass, swallowed the pill, and washed it down. She lifted her face to look at Lu Yi: his face was still as inscrutable as always, but the slight crease in his brow indicated that he did not approve of her reckless ways.