The Fortunate Lady and Her Mountain Man

Chapter 252: Chapter 252: Meeting Yourself

When Widow Xie heard the vagrant’s cast was off, she rushed to Ji Huan’s house to ask about the situation.

Hearing from Ji Huan that he couldn’t walk just yet, she grew a little anxious.

"That’s a real rich man’s injury he’s got there. A pain to treat and takes forever to heal."

Ji Huan knew she was hoping the vagrant would leave because she was afraid he would bring gossip and trouble upon her.

"Well, since I’ve already gotten involved, I can’t just drop it halfway, right?"

"How could I say no?"

Widow Xie sighed. Just as she was about to leave, she slapped her thigh.

"Ji the Fourth came back a couple of days ago. You didn’t know, did you?"

’Ji the Fourth is back?’

’Does that mean Song Jing is back too?’

Ji Huan was startled by her own initial reaction, but she didn’t let it show on her face.

"They say the Scholar’s examination is coming up, so the county and town gave everyone a holiday. You should have seen how arrogant Aunt Kang was! She took her whole family to the village entrance to wait for him ahead of time. The spectacle she made... anyone who didn’t know better would’ve thought her son had returned as a gilded god! That wasn’t welcoming a son home, and it certainly wasn’t welcoming a Scholar. It was more like they were welcoming home a Bodhisattva!"

Widow Xie was about to curse Ji the Fourth to fail his exam, but she remembered what Ji Huan had said before and changed her tune.

"I hope he passes soon! It’d be best if he could take all his family’s chickens, ducks, and dogs up to heaven with him! Once they leave Dafeng Village, I don’t care if he gets a promotion or strikes it rich—at least we’ll finally have some peace and quiet."

Ji Huan stifled a laugh. It was a novel way of phrasing the old proverb about a man’s whole household ascending to heaven with him.

After Widow Xie left, Ji Huan found a needle and thread and began binding the stack of papers Dabao had recently written on into a booklet.

While she was in the middle of sewing, several children from the Hu Family came over to play.

Hu Dacheng took Xiao’an and Hua to the backyard to find A, B, C, and D, while Hu Ximei pulled up a stool, sat beside her, and watched with her chin in her hands. Or rather, she was watching the ink-covered papers in Ji Huan’s hands.

"Wan," she said suddenly. "Can I... continue learning to write with you?"

Last year, when Ji Huan had first started teaching Dabao calligraphy, Hu Dacheng and Hu Ximei had joined in on the excitement for a while.

Ji Huan figured that since she was teaching one, she might as well teach them all, so she taught them together.

But after just a few days, Hu Dacheng started skipping out, and Hu Ximei, feeling that writing was harder than embroidery, went back to her needlework.

"Why the sudden desire to learn again?" Ji Huan tied a knot, bit the thread with her teeth, and looked up to ask her.

"I..." Hu Ximei hemmed and hawed for a moment before finally mustering the courage to confess to Ji Huan.

"I learned embroidery before because everyone said that a girl who can’t do needlework won’t be able to marry when she grows up. My mother was also afraid that if my needlework wasn’t good, my future in-laws wouldn’t value me, so she had me learn to make clothes and shoes... But I don’t want to learn anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because..." Hu Ximei looked down at her toes. "I don’t want to get married anymore."

"Do you really not want to get married, or are you just afraid you won’t be able to?"

Ji Huan’s follow-up question was sharp and direct.

"Wan, I... I..."

Hu Ximei tried to hold it in, but her tears started to splash down.

Ji Huan sighed.

"Ximei, that incident is in the past. It was those wicked people’s fault, not yours. You shouldn’t punish yourself for someone else’s mistake. On the contrary, the more people try to bully you, the better you need to live—live better than anyone else."

"But I heard people in the village saying..."

Lately, aside from the occasional visit to Ji Huan’s, Hu Ximei had been hiding at home most of the time, not going anywhere.

Yesterday, while delivering something to a neighbor, she ran into a few girls her age who were exchanging strange looks and winks.

Hu Ximei quickened her pace around the corner, but then, on some strange impulse, she stopped.

In truth, those girls had only heard vague rumors that the reason for the Hu Family’s broken engagement was complicated. Someone had also seen a matchmaker enter the Hu’s house and guessed it was to arrange a marriage for Hu Ximei, but it all just came to nothing in the end.

"What does that tell you? It means the guy wasn’t interested!"

"Her mother’s a widow, and now their family business is gone. That’s why no one wants her!"

"Oh, how pitiful. She’ll probably never get married now, right? Doesn’t that mean she’ll become an old maid?"

"It’s worse than that. Her two brothers will probably end up bachelors for life, too..."

The little group of friends chattered on happily, completely unaware of how devastating their words were to Hu Ximei.

Although their speculation didn’t quite match the facts, some of what they said wasn’t entirely without reason...

"What nonsense!" Ji Huan tapped her on the head. "Let me ask you, is it shameful that your mother is a widow?"

Hu Ximei wiped her tears and shook her head without hesitation.

"Let me ask you again. When others hurt your family, is it their fault, or your family’s fault?"

Hu Ximei paused, then said slowly but firmly, "It’s not our fault."

"There you go, then."

Ji Huan reached out and ruffled her hair, then began to break down the reasoning for her.

"Ximei, I can teach you to read and write, as long as you’re willing to learn and work hard. But you should learn these things to understand the world, not to run away from it.

You can also keep learning tailoring and embroidery, as long as you enjoy it and find it useful—not for the sake of getting married or being valued by your in-laws.

You’re still young. You don’t need to think about marriage at this stage.

And don’t say you’ll never get married out of spite. Just take things as they come.

When you’re truly grown, with a sharp mind and a skill to rely on, you’ll find that whether you marry or not might not be that important.

Hmm... Of course, in the current environment, it might be difficult for a girl not to marry.

But there’s no harm in becoming an excellent person.

By then, someone even more outstanding will naturally come along to be your match.

That person won’t care about your background or the vicious rumors. He won’t care if your family has a business or if you’re rolling in money. His eyes and his heart will only be focused on you."

Hu Ximei listened in a daze, forgetting to cry without even realizing it. A look of yearning appeared in her eyes.

"Is that really possible? If I just become excellent, I’ll meet that person someday?"

"No, no, no." Ji Huan shook her head. "You become excellent for yourself, not to meet that person. Otherwise, how is that any different from learning embroidery just to find a husband’s family?"

"Then..." Hu Ximei scratched her head, very confused.

"You become excellent to meet a better version of yourself.

When you find that better self, you’ll be more confident, more at ease.

You’ll be able to distinguish good from evil, what you should do from what you shouldn’t.

You’ll know how to refuse someone who isn’t right for you, and you’ll also know how to open your heart to a wonderful relationship.

But you’ll understand in your heart that those things are just embellishments.

The nourishment for your life comes from within you. You are rooted in this world by your own strength."

Hu Ximei only half-understood what she was hearing, but she felt like she was grasping something profound.

"Wan, I get it now. I’ll study reading and writing with you seriously, because I want to be a useful person. And I won’t give up embroidery, because I love it."

After saying this with a clenched fist, she added with some trepidation, "Is that really okay? Is it too greedy?"

Ji Huan smiled and asked, "If it brings no harm to others, then why not?"

"Wha-what does that mean?"

"It means—be greedy then!"

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