When the Lei Family finished their dinner, it was not completely dark. The shadow of the house and trees were made into dim silhouettes by the remnant sunlight. All peasant families were like this; they tried to eat dinner before dusk, so that they could save some lamp’s oil.
Qin Mian, Zhao and Qian washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen under Du Shi’s hostile eyes.
When he came out of the kitchen, he saw that Lei Tie took a dark brown wooden basin to draw water from the well. Qin Mian was afraid that the man would wash his feet with him, so he rushed to the well and scooped a ladle of cold water from the bucket with a wooden ladle and poured it directly onto his feet. After he washed his feet once through, he looked at Lei Tie dully for fear that the man could not see his estrangement towards him, but inwardly, he shivered. The water in the well he had just drawn was not cold in general, but his heart was chilled.
Lei Tie paused before he bowed to draw water, still without expression as before.
Qin Mian went back to the thatched cottage. The sandals were wet and uncomfortable. He simply took them off and let his feet dry naturally. There was no small seat, so he sat down on the edge of the bed. The inside of the room was very dark and the light from the outside came in through some big or small gaps on the wall, which appeared very miserable. Qin Mian saw an oil lamp on the low table at the head of the bed but he didn’t know how to light it, so he didn’t touch it.
In a moment, Lei Tie came in.
Qin Mian asked in a low voice: “Is there anyone else outside?”
Lei Tie didn’t know what he meant but shook his head, walked in and sat down on the bed.
Qin Mian thought for a moment before he said directly: “I don’t know what happened. I don’t remember anything before. Can you tell me who I am and why I married you? We are both men.”
Lei Tie turned and looked at him in surprise.
Qin Mian looked straight at him with a calm face.
“You are my wife. I’m Li Tie. Go to sleep.” Lei Tie got on the bed first and lay down on the outer side.
“I’m a man!” Qin Mian was a little anxious and asked: “How did I get married with you? Why did my family marry me off to a man?”
Lei Tie didn’t speak. The room was too dark that Qin Mian couldn’t see his expression.
“You are my wife.” After Lei Tie finished talking, no matter how Qin Mian asked, he never opened his mouth again and his breath was long and steady, as if he was asleep.
It’s no use worrying, so Qin Mian stayed very calm and blankly sat for a while. When a cold wind blew, he shivered and crawled to the inside of the bed to lie down. At least one more thing to be thankful for now: Lei Tie did not force him to exercise the rights and obligations of ‘husband and wife’. Pooh-pooh![1]
Qin Mian shook his head and drove away the appalling thought. After hesitating, he dragged the only quilt which covered Lei Tie to him. The body temperature beside him was like a warm stove. It’s hard for him to ignore it. He simply didn’t want to think about it anymore and intended to have a good sleep. After dawn, he must try to find ways to ask about. He lay down very much at ease. According to his estimation, this body was at most 12 years old, still a child. In every case, Lei Tie shouldn’t be a brutal person to really treat him like that.
……
After two days, Qin Mian finally knew his current situation. As soon as he transmigrated, he went through different time and space. Now he was in the Great Xia Dynasty and lived in Green Mountain Village of Running Water Town.
He was also very clear about the Lei Family. Lei Tie and Lei Xiangren siblings were born of the same father. Lei Tie’s biological mother died in childbirth when she was giving birth to Lei Tie. Six months later, Lei Daqiang married to a second wife, which was Du Shi. The Lei Family had one more son who was only a few minutes older than Lei Chuntao. He studied in the town’s private school and came back every few days. Qin Mian had not met him yet.
It’s a coincidence that the original owner of this body was also called Qin Mian and in was true that there’s some inside story about him marrying Lei Tie. Speaking of this, he had to say that Lei Tie was very pitiful. When Du Shi just married in, she was pretty good to Lei Tie. But when she had her own children, she was not happy with Lei Tie. If she was a little dissatisfied, she would either beat or scold him. As the saying goes; where there’s a stepmother, there would be a stepfather. Du Shi said something bad about Lei Tie from time to time and gradually swindled Lei Daqiang to not care much about Lei Tie. When Lei Tie was 12 years old, Du Shi urged Lei Daqiang to sell Lei Tie to a rich family as a manservant. Lei Tie couldn’t bear it and left home quietly. It was almost ten years ago. He came back less than a month ago with an ugly scar on his face. It was unknown what happened to him outside. The family asked and the villagers also asked, yet they couldn’t get an answer.
After all, it’s his child. Eldest was old enough and his two younger brothers were married. It’s no excuse for Eldest not to marry. Lei Daqiang then pondered how to talk to Lei Tie about his marriage. However, with a scar on the face of a straight and handsome man, which girl could fancy him? This matter then had been dragging on continuously.
Until one day, an old fortune teller came to the village and simply said that Lei Tie’s predestined person was a 14-year-old boy who would appear in the woods in the west of the village at a certain time on a certain day, a certain year! If the two of them were united, they would enjoy endless glory, splendor, wealth and rank, and even be a blessing to the whole village. But if Lei Tie married someone else, then the Lei Family would be faced with imminent disaster and the calamity even befell on the descendent.
As he listened up to here, Qin Mian’s first thought was that this fortune teller must have been invited by someone who didn’t like Lei Tie.
The talk resumed. As soon as the fortune teller’s words were out, the Lei family members all turned pale. They’d rather believe it than not! On that day, Lei Daqiang took Lei Xiangren and Lei Xiangyi to the forest where the fortune teller had mentioned and they didn’t expect to really see a teenager there!
The boy was dressed in rags, lying on the ground, unconscious.
The trio hesitated for a moment before they took the boy home.
When the teenager woke up, he only said his name was Qin Mian and he had escaped from a remote town. Other than that, he shook his head in answer to all questions.
Because Lei Tie had been away from home for many years, Lei Daqiang felt a little guilty towards him and didn’t really plan to let him marry this teenager. It’s not a big deal to raise this picked up child. Should that be able to withstand the disaster?
However, he couldn’t bear Du Shi making tearful scene in front of him, saying that it didn’t matter for two old people to be implicated by Lei Tie. Even if they lost their lives, it didn’t matter. But they couldn’t kill their other children because of one Lei Tie, right? In particular, Lei Xiangyi had no son, Lei Xiangli had not married and Lei Xiangzhi needed to study, which perhaps could become an official and glorified his ancestors in the future, as well as their only daughter, who had yet set a matchmaker.
In this way, Lei Daqiang relented and had Lei Tie married Qin Mian.
Qin Mian was ill and homeless. If he didn’t agree to marry Lei Tie, he would be driven away. Thus, he could only agree.
Note:
[1] Spit in contempt
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