Daily life of farming and supporting a family on the ancient Loess Plateau

Feng stormed into the courtyard and plopped down on the kang (a heated brick bed).

Seeing that Madam Feng still had a dark expression, Liu Taohua said, "Mother, don't be angry. Isn't it a good thing that Sister Maihua is going to earn money? Anyway, it's all for you no matter how much she earns. You should be happy. Otherwise, it's not good to get sick from being angry."

Feng snorted and said, "Why can't she die? She's really tough. Wouldn't it be better if she died young like her short-lived mother and went to enjoy a good life?"

Liu Taohua smiled and sat down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), saying, "Mother, don't be angry. Having someone earn money for you is much more useful than being dead."

Feng rolled her eyes at Liu Taohua and said, "Anyway, I feel an intense dislike for her the moment I see her."

Liu Taohua smiled just right and said, "Mother, she's been a little naive since she was a baby, what difference does a year or two make?"

When Feng heard that Maihua wanted to stay at home for another year and a half, she became even angrier: "She's a divorced woman, and she wants to stay at home for another year and a half? Does she want to delay your marriage? When she was divorced and came back, I said I wouldn't take her in, but you insisted on keeping her. Are you planning to keep her until you're old?"

Liu Taohua tugged at Feng Shi's sleeve and shook it, saying, "Mother, after all these years, why are you still so stubborn? My marriage is mine, and no one can delay it. Didn't we say before that Maihua would be my dowry? Actually, I didn't really want her. She's pretty, and if she's my dowry, what if she gets taken as a concubine? So, it's better for Maihua to remarry while she's still young. As her mother, shouldn't you help her find someone suitable?"

After hearing her daughter's words, Feng calmed down a bit, sat up straight, rolled her eyes, and sneered, "Hmph, as her mother, I'll definitely find her a good match. When a divorced woman remarries, she'll be lucky if anyone wants her—a cripple, a cripple, a blind man. Besides, a divorced woman can only pick and choose from among these men, and the villagers won't say anything."

Liu Taohua maintained her standard smile, her eyes deep and unfathomable, revealing no emotion whatsoever.

Before marrying Yang Laosan, a peasant, Feng was a scholar's wife. She lived in a mansion in the county, enjoying a life of plenty and being respected by others. Her daughter, Liu Taohua, as the daughter of a scholar, was also considered a young lady from a learned family and naturally had no worries about food and clothing. However, after Liu Taohua passed away, their lives became impoverished and miserable.

Although Feng Shi had a very hard life before Liu Xiucai passed the imperial examination, she supported him by doing embroidery or washing clothes for others.

Later, when Liu Xiucai passed the imperial examination and became a Xiucai, his family became much wealthier and Feng no longer needed to work. They even had extra money to hire people to help with chores at home.

Liu Xiucai had always treated Feng Shi with utmost respect. Most importantly, Liu Xiucai himself wasn't the kind of philandering scholar who frequented brothels. Unless invited by friends, he spent his time at home studying or teaching his daughter. Therefore, Feng Shi always felt she was very happy, much to the envy of her former friends.

However, one time, when Feng returned from visiting her parents, she heard from a neighbor that Liu Xiucai had gone to Niujia Village alone. Although she was puzzled at the time, she did not pay much attention to it, assuming that Liu Xiucai had gone to meet a friend, since neither the Liu family nor her family had any relatives in Niujia Village.

Later, she accidentally discovered that Liu Xiucai had someone deliver things to Niujiazhuang, so she paid the errand boy to find out some information.

It would have been better not to ask, because once the question was asked, Feng's blood rushed straight to the top of his head.

Before marrying Feng, Liu Xiucai had a childhood sweetheart, Maihua's mother. At that time, Liu Xiucai's family was poor. When he went to ask for Maihua's mother's hand in marriage, Maihua's maternal grandfather not only disliked that he could not afford a dowry of two taels of silver, but also disliked that he had failed the imperial examination twice. So he pushed him out of the courtyard.

Later, Maihua's maternal grandfather accepted three taels of silver from Yang Laosan and married Maihua's mother off to Niujiazhuang, which Liu Xiucai resented. At that time, Feng's father was more insightful and thought that Liu Xiucai had a promising future, so he did not ask for much dowry before marrying Feng to Liu Xiucai.

Not two years after his marriage, Liu Xiucai passed the imperial examination and became a Xiucai. He then remembered Maihua's mother, who was living on meager rations in Niujia Village, so he secretly went to Niujia Village. He hid behind a tree and saw Maihua's mother carrying a hundred-pound load of firewood, her back bent so low she could barely straighten up. Her clothes were covered in patches of various colors, and she was a far cry from her former youthful beauty and vitality. He felt that Maihua's mother was living a very hard life, and he was depressed for a long time after returning home.

After much deliberation, Liu Xiucai found someone on the street and tried to secretly give Maihua Niang some loose silver, but was discovered by Feng Shi.

After learning about Maihua Niang's existence from the errand boy, Feng went to Liu Xiucai's hometown village to inquire with a gossipy old woman. After learning about Liu Xiucai and Maihua Niang's past, Feng trembled with jealousy. She wanted to confront Liu Xiucai directly, but she was afraid that he would turn against her.

Two years later, Feng still couldn't swallow her anger. After much deliberation, she went to the street and hired a madam from a private brothel to cause trouble in Niujiazhuang, claiming that Maihua Niang had seduced a man outside.

Upon hearing that his wife was having an affair, Yang Laosan immediately began beating Maihua's mother without saying a word. Maihua's mother, who was already more than two months pregnant, died from the beating.

When Liu Xiucai learned of Maihua Niang's death, he was so distraught for three whole days that he lost his appetite and wrote a eulogy for her with tears in his eyes.

Upon seeing this, Feng wished he could die on the spot.

In Feng's eyes, Liu Xiucai's grief and eulogy were a provocation and a betrayal. She felt she had given everything for Liu Xiucai, yet he was so heartbroken over a dead woman, which she could not accept. But Maihua Niang was already dead, and she had no chance for revenge.

Just when Feng thought that with the passage of time Liu Xiucai would forget Maihua Niang, Liu Xiucai's health deteriorated, and Feng had no choice but to accompany him to seek medical treatment. However, despite spending all of the family's savings, Liu Xiucai's health did not improve and continued to decline.

Before his death, Liu Xiucai told Feng that he had arranged a marriage for their daughter, Liu Taohua.

It turns out that when Liu Xiucai was taking the imperial examination, a fellow villager caught a cold. This fellow villager was also from a poor family and had almost no money to buy medicine. Liu Xiucai took out the remaining money he had for food and used it to treat this fellow villager. Unexpectedly, the fellow villager actually recovered.

Years passed, and Liu Xiucai had forgotten the incident. However, upon learning of Liu Xiucai's serious illness, his classmate made a special trip to visit him. The two reminisced about the past, and Liu Xiucai learned that his classmate's son, even at a young age, possessed a photographic memory, could recite anything he heard, and speak eloquently. This sparked an idea in Liu Xiucai's mind. He then tearfully pleaded with his classmate, expressing his fear that after his death, his wife and child would be left without care, and begged the classmate to look after them.