Sweet Wife in My Arms

Satisfied, she swaggered out of the house, thinking: You are so haughty aren't you? Hitting my son and everything? Now that my son is accomplished and you are abandoned by Changsheng's mother, I would like to see how you are going to make a living!

Yan Huan straightened up and fetched some water to clean herself. She walked into her room—no, it wasn't hers anymore—that was filled with dust. The bed had been smashed, and the floor was scattered with the contents of her wardrobe. Even the wooden plank on the bed had been smashed through, exposing the compartment within. There was charcoal soot everywhere, and the few pieces of clothing she owned were covered in footprints. She didn't even have a single clean piece of clothing left.

Yan Huan picked up her clothes, dusted them, and returned them to the relatively clean wardrobe. She spaced out for a while, inhaling the dust in the room.

In the end, she left the clothes behind, because they either belonged to Changsheng's mother or were knitted by her.

When she walked out, Changsheng's mother was at the doorsteps, staring at her and eyeing her from head to toe.

"Those are OUR shoes. Take them off. I would rather give them to the dogs than you, you filthy thief."

"What did I tell you?" goaded Jin Gen's mother. "I knew she was up to no good the moment I saw her, yet you just HAD to help her. Who knows how much money she had stolen from you in total? She's a thief through and through."

A crowd had formed, pointing and whispering, just like when she just entered the village.

Yan Huan dipped her head and took off her shoes. A layer of ice matted the ground, and the chill travelled up from her feet and numbed her body. She paused, then walked on. The crowd dispersed to let her pass.

Yan Huan headed out of the village, toward the ramshackle hut she used to stay in. She judged she could spend the night there and go down the mountain the next day. Things might be harsher at the bottom of the mountain, but she wouldn't have to worry about starving to death at the very least.

She pushed the door open. Wind rushed into the room from every direction. The wooden window was rickety after a winter of disuse, and the the wind had torn through the plastic window films bought by Changsheng. The room smelled like dust. Back when she stayed there, she always kept the place clean, removing every last speck of dust from the floors and walls with a piece of rag. She couldn't allow herself to live in a pigsty under any circumstances.

She was a human, not a pig or a dog.

She found a spot and sat down. It was too cold outside, and soon she found herself curling up. The worn-out padded-jacket smelled awful, and left her hand covered in dust whenever she touched it. Her socks had holes in them, and her feet were frozen numb.

The wind was picking up, and the temperature had dropped to below 0 degrees.

"Sister Xiao Yan, Sister Xiao Yan,"

Yan Huan, curled up in a ball, dared not fall asleep, afraid that she would die from the cold if she did. Did she just hear someone calling her? She smiled helplessly. Was she hallucinating?

"Sister Xiao Yan…" called the voice again. It wasn't a hallucination. Someone was actually there. "Are you inside there, Sister Xiao Yan?"

"Liu Fang…" said Yan Huan. The words came out as a croak, as though her throat was filled with sand.

"I'm in here, Liu Fang," she managed to say at last. Her voice was no louder than a whisper, swallowed by the howling of the wind.

Suddenly, a ray of light shone into the room. It came from a torchlight.

"Oh my! So you were really here!" exclaimed Liu Fang, running to her with a torchlight in hand. She hunkered down. "I was afraid I couldn't find you, but here you are! I just knew you had to be here."

"There's nowhere else for me to go," said Yan Huan, cuddling her legs closer. Under such weather conditions, she did not dare to wander around, and this was the only place that would shelter her.

"Come," urged Liu Fang, standing up. She grabbed Yan Huan's hand. It was icy cold, like a large block of ice. "Come to my place. Mom and Dad have agreed to let you stay."

"Aren't you afraid that I might be a thief?" Yan Huan smiled wistfully. She was a thief before, and even more so now.

"Bah!" said Liu Fang, rolling her eyes. Did Yan Huan take her for an idiot? "Mom and Dad said we village folks don't earn much, and Changsheng is a filial son who would give everything to his mother. In the past few years, he could not have earned more than two thousand dollars in total, so how could he have given you five hundred or even more? Mom also said that Jin Gen's mother had corrupted Changsheng's mother. My brother works in the town, and he said that making money is hard work. How could a job as good as the one Jin Gen described exist? A boss buying his workers houses and cars? Bah! They are all lies. But the villagers chose to believe that low-down Jin Gen and not my father. How could they be so foolish? A good-for-nothing like him would never help the villagers hunt for jobs."

"But enough about that. Come with me. Mom said you will surely freeze to death if you spend the night out here. Changsheng's mother is a mean person to take away your clothes AND your shoes."

"Come, this way," said Liu Fang, pulling Yan Huan to her feet and guiding her to the house. Yan Huan was as cold as ice; even Liu Fang was shivering, not to mention her, who had been here for hours.

When they arrived, Liu Fang knocked on the door.

"I'm home, Mom!"

A hardened village woman opened the door.

"How did it go? Did you find her?" asked Madam Liu eagerly.

"Yup. I found her in that run-down hut," said Liu Fang, entering the room with Yan Huan in tow.

"Good, good," said Madam Liu, relieved, until she saw Yan Huan's pitiable state. That made her feel terrible. Oh, how her heart would ache if it had been her own daughter!