Chapter 7: Marry Me

When did the village chief and the others leave? Huo Sanniang didn't notice.

Only one thing remained in her mind.

She had to marry again.

Her parents would be punished collectively, and the fivefold tax—these were things she could not bear.

Huo Sanniang came to her senses, lightly placing her palm on the back of Chen Wuji's hand: "Wuji, the county matchmaker will remarry you with a woman; from now on… you should live well with her, I fear I won't be able to stay with you for many days."

"I don't want my parents to suffer imprisonment because of me, nor can I afford the court's fivefold tax; this person, I fear I am destined to marry."

After the original personality became foolish, Chen Wuji's memory of that period was blank, with many scenes fragmented.

But as for the court's new edict, this kid had memorized it relatively clearly.

Years of foreign wars caused the Dayu Dynasty's population to plummet; to curb this trend and quickly replenish the populace, the court not only lowered the marriage and childbearing age, but also made marriage compulsory.

Whether male or female, if you reach the appropriate age and still don't marry, then it's no longer up to you.

The constables of the xianya will personally come to your door and take you to get married.

If you refuse to cooperate, it's even simpler: you're sent straight to the frontier to be married to a recently reformed prisoner of war, and your parents will also be arrested and jailed for six months, with the following two years' taxes increased fivefold.

In short, within the Dayu Dynasty, the court does not allow anyone over fourteen to remain single; if you dream of single freedom, you're dreaming a spring‑autumn dream—absolutely impossible!

"You, marry me!" Chen Wuji firmly gripped Huo Sanniang's delicate little hand.

This was the solution he thought of while the village chief was saying those things.

He didn't want this virtuous, gentle woman to become another family's hired labor, a tool for bearing children, or even suffer beatings and humiliation.

How low the status of women in the Dayu Dynasty dynasty is, is plain to see.

Just step out the front door and look around the village and you'll know.

Yuan Laoer did something utterly outrageous yesterday, yet his original wife hid in the room without letting out a single fart.

Although he is now destitute, with bare walls, he will find a way to change all this and give the gentle woman who gave him a lifeline during his foolish period a warm home.

"Huh? Ah?" Huo Sanniang was startled, looking at Chen Wuji in disbelief.

"Wuji, what… what did you just say?"

Chen Wuji said again with utmost seriousness: "Marry me!"

Huo Sanniang stared blankly at Chen Wuji, her expression somewhat flustered: "Wuji, although the court permits widows to marry their uncle's brother, I feel this is somewhat inappropriate; let me think… think…"

She was not only flustered, but also shy.

Blushing, her face was flushed with peach‑blossom red, her eyes full of wavering, uneasy ripples.

"You, you can rest assured, I will take good care of you." Chen Wuji said.

"I know, I know, Wuji you're great, but…" Huo Sanniang pulled her hand from Chen Wuji's, "Let me think… think…"

She fled in panic, hurrying into the kitchen.

It seemed she wanted to find something to occupy herself, but looking here and there, she didn't know what to do, turning into a headless chicken.

Chen Wuji did not press Huo Sanniang further.

Still, let her think it over properly.

Although the court permits and even encourages widows and younger uncles to unite, in local custom it has always been considered a bad thing and is easily condemned.

Chen Wuji took out his wooden spear, sharpened its tip, also brought the only knife in the house, walked to the kitchen door and told Huo Sanniang: "I'm going into the mountains."

"Wait a moment." Huo Sanniang said anxiously.

"I'll make some vegetable congee; eat a bit first, then speak—how could you go into the mountains on an empty stomach?"

Chen Wuji thought that was reasonable.

Once he goes in, he'll surely return only by evening; not eating a bite, he'd have no strength to hunt.

If he could find game, he could manage in the mountains, but what if he couldn't catch anything?

Huo Sanniang lifted a yellow eel that Chen Wuji had caught yesterday from the crock, prepared it, and stewed it together with wild vegetables.

She couldn't bear to use it all, so she used only a bit and added some meaty flavor.

That counts as having both meat and vegetables.

After barely filling his stomach, Chen Wuji shouldered his tidy tools and quickly went up the mountain.

He and Huo Sanniang each carried on their heads the tax for two households, together amounting to nearly a thousand wen.

The average annual income per household locally is also about a thousand wen.

And he had to come up with a normal household's annual income in just these few days; if he didn't strive, not to mention giving Huo Sanniang happiness, both their lives would surely be lost in the frontier.

After entering the mountains, Chen Wuji first grabbed several vines to carry on his back; after catching a lively, active little squirrel, he painstakingly cut the squirrel meat into seven or eight pieces, then began searching the mountains for signs of large animals.

Hunting is certainly not Chen Wuji's forte—after all, how could a modern person manage this?

However, he comes from a mountain village and often watches wilderness‑survival shows, so he still understands a lot of basic knowledge.

For example, the activity of wild animals generally follows a pattern; by checking the freshness of droppings and the depth of footprints, one can basically judge some things.

"These footprints… look a bit like a wild boar's, but do wild boars eat meat?" Chen Wuji stared at the fresh footprints on the ground, falling into thought.

He didn't know.

"Never mind that, let's set a trap and see—maybe a blind cat will bump into a dead mouse!"

Chen Wuji muttered, then nearby selected a supple small tree, cut off its crown, then twisted the vines he had pulled earlier into two strands and tied them between the tree trunk's branches, pulling them down to fashion a slipknot in front.

He placed this slipknot on the ground in a circle, then took two stone slabs and lightly set them against each side, pressing the edges of the vines.

The stone slabs were supported by two very thin wooden sticks.

This is a combined trap that almost blocks off the entire area where that string of animal footprints passes.

Once it passes through here, even if it doesn't eat the bait inside, merely touching any one of those tiny wooden sticks will cause the stone slabs to drop instantly, and the slipknot will, having lost its restraint, snap shut and spring upward.

Chen Wuji carefully placed the chopped squirrel meat, one portion under the stone slab and another in the middle of the slipknot, marked a nearby large tree, then hurried off to look for the next spot.