chapter 2

Chapter 2

Finding Cheng Yubai was an accident.

Two years ago, my father took me to the market in town, pulling the cart himself. As we passed through the snowy fields, I spotted someone lying by the roadside.

Snow was swirling down, yet that person wore only a thin shirt.

My father is kind-hearted. Seeing that he was young and lying all alone in the snow, he worried the boy would freeze to death if left there, so he decided to bring him home.

That was how Cheng Yubai came to our family.

When he woke from his coma, he didn’t speak, just cleaned the house until it was spotless.

I always thought my father was the most diligent person I knew, but Cheng Yubai was even more extreme. That old pot we’d had for years-he scrubbed it with a loofah until the bottom gleamed. Even a thief would slip and fall several times if she tried to stand on it.

After watching for a few days, my father pondered and said to me, “Daughter, how about… we let him stay?”

I knew what my father meant.

When my mother died of illness, my father’s world collapsed too.

He’d wanted to follow her, but I was just a little thing back then, not even as tall as a pile of cow dung, barely able to speak, only able to cling to his leg and cry.

He had no choice but to wipe his tears and shoulder the burden of our family alone.

Seeing me grow up lazy and gluttonous, my father started to worry about my future, afraid no one would take care of me.

Now, it seemed, just as he was about to nap, someone handed him a pillow.

I played with the grasshopper Cheng Yubai had woven for me, listening to my father’s roundabout questioning. I nodded noncommittally-after all, we could afford to keep him, and I wasn’t losing anything. If he stayed, he stayed.

The next day, my father made a whole table of dishes.

At the table, Cheng Yubai sat properly, his expression calm. I gnawed on a braised pig’s trotter, listening to my father try to probe him: “…Child, you’ve been gone so many days, aren’t your family worried?”

Cheng Yubai shook his head.

“Uncle, there’s no one left at my home.”

After a moment of silence, he said softly, “My stepmother had a son, so my father kicked me out.”

My father sighed several times, not knowing what to say.

Cheng Yubai clearly misunderstood his meaning. His beautiful eyes dimmed: “Uncle, I’ve troubled you these days… I’ll leave tomorrow.”

My father, tongue-tied, slapped his thigh in panic: “That’s not what I meant! Uncle didn’t mean that-”

I couldn’t stand it anymore. I wiped my hands and said to Cheng Yubai, “My father means he wants you to be my Child Husband!”

“Child Husband?”

Cheng Yubai repeated the words hesitantly, looking a bit confused.

My father clicked his tongue, denying my words: “What Child Husband? Nonsense! Xiao Cheng, Manman doesn’t know any better, don’t believe what she says. Times have changed, how could Uncle make you a Child Husband? That’s just feudal arranged marriage!”

I pursed my lips-my father was lying; he’d told me exactly that.

“But let me put it another way.”

My father changed his tone, smiling kindly at Cheng Yubai, speaking gently, “Good child, Uncle does want you to be my son-in-law.”

Cheng Yubai said nothing, so my father started preaching.

“Xiao Cheng, listen to Uncle. Of course we can’t have arranged marriages, that’s wrong, it’s against the rules… But only those without feelings are called Child Husband. If there are feelings, it’s called childhood sweethearts!

“Just like me and Manman’s mother-we grew up together, loved each other, and getting married was only natural. Uncle’s been through it all…”

After talking so much his mouth was dry, my father was about to take a sip of water when Cheng Yubai finally spoke.

“Uncle, I’m willing, but I’m a Deaf Man.”

His expression was calm as he pointed to his left ear, as if stating something ordinary. “This ear was damaged by my father two years ago. I can’t hear out of it.”

After speaking, he quietly lowered his head, like a criminal awaiting judgment.

My father didn’t mind at all, even felt a bit sorry for him. But since the Child Husband was for me, he still had to ask my opinion. He rubbed his hands, looked at me, and chuckled, “Daughter, what do you think…?”

Cheng Yubai also looked at me.

I thought for a few seconds, then asked him seriously, “If I marry you, can I still ignore the broom when it falls over?”

It was a tricky question, and it exposed my lazy, gluttonous nature.

But Cheng Yubai was very earnest.

After thinking it over, he answered, “Just remember to lift your foot when you pass by, so you don’t trip yourself.”

“Deal.”

I nodded, then slapped the table, declaring with an air of authority, “I announce, this marriage-

I, Lu Manman, agree!”