Rebirth of a Farming Wife

“General, you should stop cursing. Everyone’s staring at us; it’s embarrassing!” a Vice General beside An Hu said. Used to the General’s temperament, the Vice General spoke quite freely and didn’t fear saying the blunt truth, even at the risk of reprimand.

“What’s there to be embarrassed about? The rage in my chest’s not yet quelled, goddammit. If we don’t find them soon, I don’t even know where my wife and children are suffering. The townsfolk said that my wife and son left with just two packages—inside were a few pieces of tattered clothes and some flatbreads, and with just those, they set out to find me. Who knows what hardships they endured along the way; just hope their luck’s strong enough to keep them safe.”

As An Hu spoke, his eyes reddened. Before, he hadn’t the means to keep his daughter-in-law from suffering alongside him. Later, after he joined the military, he ended up leaving her and their infant son at home. Now, after achieving fame and success, he couldn’t even find a trace of his dear wife and son. The only news he could scrounge up was that his wife, begging along the way, had come to the military camp to find him. The thought of his wife resorting to begging just to find him made An Hu’s heart feel like it was being scorched and fried in oil.

“General, what does it matter if you have no wife? There are plenty of women in the world. If you can’t find her, then so be it. Many people are eager to have their daughters share your bed. With your current social status, you could easily remarry a beautiful wife and have her bear you a son,” a soldier casually suggested, thinking An Hu’s desperate search was merely for the sake of finding an heir. An Hu, however, kicked the man so hard that he fell to the ground, spurting blood, the force of the blow revealing An Hu’s intense fury.

“Damn it, I will only have one wife in this lifetime. If anyone dares to utter such distasteful remarks again, don’t blame me for being rude. I’ll spare your life this time, but there won’t be a next time—you wouldn’t need your life anyway!” An Hu said, seething with anger. He had never entertained the thought of abandoning his family; such acts were for the conscienceless. Besides, he was clear-eyed: those women willing to marry him were only after his position and status, not out of any genuine desire to be with him, unlike his naive wife.

“Aunt, look how happy the sisters, Lan Xin and Lan Fang, appear, shopping with such gusto,” Su Wenyue said with a smile, watching them weave through the crowd. There was a time when she herself had been just like that, seizing the rare opportunity to splurge to her heart’s content. Now that she had the means to shop whenever she wanted, the thrill had faded.

At that moment, Aunt Feng had finished praying to the Bodhisattva, finding spiritual consolation and thus a lightness of spirit reflected in a smile on her face: “Indeed, daughters of a Wealthy Family don’t get out much. Everything is a novelty to them. After a few more outings, it won’t seem so rare.”

“Exactly, there’s something to be said for rarity in experiences… Aunt, what’s wrong?”

Feng Susu, who had been chatting with Su Wenyue, suddenly froze upon spotting a figure in the distance. Her eyes widened in disbelief; after double-checking to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating, she took off running towards it.

“Child’s father! Huzi!” Feng Susu called out while running. But there were too many people at the temple gate, and in her haste, she tripped over someone. By the time she got up and looked around, the familiar yet distant figure she had been searching for over a decade had disappeared.

Seeing Feng Susu in distress, Su Wenyue had just asked what was wrong when Feng Susu bolted. Hearing whom Feng Susu was shouting for, Su Wenyue started to understand. Could it be such a coincidence, or did the Bodhisattva make a miracle, allowing Feng Susu to bump into her husband? Su Wenyue harbored this thought hopefully but knew such odds were incredibly slim; it was more a spiritual comfort for Feng Susu.

“Aunt, what happened to you? Did you see An Tai’s father?” Su Wenyue asked, looking in the direction Feng Susu had run, but she only saw two women and a young scholar, none of whom could possibly be Feng Susu’s husband—not by age, not by gender.

Feng Susu seemed not to hear Su Wenyue’s voice. Even though the figure from moments before had vanished, she still pressed on, questioning everyone, persistently searching, appearing somewhat frantic.

“How could he just disappear? I clearly saw him, I clearly saw my child’s father, how could he vanish in the blink of an eye, why did I just have to fall, otherwise he wouldn’t have disappeared!” Feng Susu muttered to herself, starting to blame herself, and punched her chest several times, overcome by the shock of the joy followed by such a letdown.

“Aunt, don’t be like this, maybe you saw wrong, and it’s no use blaming yourself,” Su Wenyue said, attempting to comfort her. Seeing Feng Susu in such a state was heartbreaking for Su Wenyue, who managed to keep herself together, refraining from revealing the whereabouts of Feng Susu’s husband.

“I really saw him, I truly did. I couldn’t be wrong about my man,” Feng Susu was adamant that she had not been mistaken, but a thorough search of the vicinity yielded no sign of him. Despairing, she shouted several times.

“Child’s father! Huzi! Big Tiger! Where are you?!” After this last cry, Feng Susu broke down and wept on the ground.

“My Wife.” An Hu’s body shuddered; it seemed he heard his wife’s voice calling for him. On listening carefully again, he heard nothing. Shaking his head, he concluded he was just hallucinating from missing his wife and child too much.

“General, what’s wrong?” the Vice General asked, puzzled at the sudden pause from his commander.

“It’s nothing, let’s go back, giddy up!” An Hu said, then spurred his horse, galloping away without further hesitation. The retinue followed, kicking up a trail of dust behind them.

It took a great deal of effort for Su Wenyue to calm Feng Susu down. After venting, Feng Susu settled. She was of tough mettle, having never given up searching for many years, so she wasn’t about to break down because of this incident. Yet she still held firm to the belief that the figure she saw was her husband. This renewed a heavy layer of hope in her. No matter what, her husband was still out there, somewhere close to her and her son, and as long as she continued to look, she was sure to find him someday. And then, the day of their family’s reunion would finally arrive.