16 This Is Mountain Beauty Village (Typos Fixed)

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Liu Xiufeng was scattering wheat bran in the courtyard to feed the chickens and ducks when she saw her son racing back from outside. Bits of grass clung to his clothes, his eyes were as red as a rabbit’s, and the veil that usually covered his face had vanished without a trace.

“Xi, what happened?” she called.

The tip of Ye Xi’s nose was flushed, and his whole face was full of wounded indignation, as though someone had bullied him outside. Alarmed, she hurriedly set down the feed basin and followed him into the house.

“My child, who upset you? Did someone bully you? Tell your mother at once. I’ll have your elder brother and father go demand an explanation!”

Ye Xi flung himself onto the bed and pulled the quilt over his head without saying a word.

Liu Xiufeng was so anxious she could feel the heat rising in her chest. Sitting beside the bed, she coaxed him gently. “You’ve always been strong-willed and steady-tempered. You’ve hardly ever suffered an insult in the village. Even when the Lin family came looking for trouble, you answered them right to their faces. How could you have suffered such a terrible grievance today? It breaks your mother’s heart just to see you like this.”

Ye Xi covered his head and remained silent, while Lin Jiangshan’s tightly furrowed brows kept circling through his mind.

He must think I’m ugly now!

Unable to soothe him, Liu Xiufeng rose and said, “I’m going to find your father and elder brother right now. I’ll have them ask around and see who dared bully my Xi!”

She had just turned to leave when Ye Xi sat up on the bed. His eyes were still crimson as he asked in a small voice, “Mother, am I very ugly?”

Seeing him like that, Liu Xiufeng’s heart softened like cotton. She hurried over and gathered him into her arms.

“My Xi is the handsomest young man in the whole village. Who would dare call you ugly? When I first gave birth to you, you were as fair and soft as a little rabbit. You’ve been the sweetest child from the day you were born, and you’ve always been one of the most handsome boys for miles around. So many people used to ask about you.”

Ye Xi’s lips trembled. “You said it yourself—that was before. Now my face is scarred from burns. I’m not as good-looking as the other boys. I’m an ugly monster.”

Liu Xiufeng felt as though her heart were bleeding. Clutching Ye Xi, she began to weep.

“It’s your mother’s fault. I failed to watch over you and let my child suffer so much. You aren’t ugly. In your father’s, your elder brother’s, and your mother’s eyes, you will always be our handsome Xi. Once we sell the grain, I’ll have your brother take you out to find a physician. Surely there’s someone skilled enough to heal your face!”

Nestled in her arms, Ye Xi let tears slide from the corners of his eyes.

“I won’t treat it. Let it be.”

He thinks I’m ugly. At worst, I simply won’t see him again.

In any case, I still have to go on living.

The Ye family had no idea what had happened. On the afternoon of the third day, when Lin Jiangshan came to their house, Ye Xi retreated to his room and refused to come out.

Lin Jiangshan carried a pheasant into the house and looked left and right, but saw no sign of Ye Xi.

Ye Shan hobbled out and threw an arm around Lin Jiangshan’s shoulder, delighted.

“Brother Lin, you’ve come! My leg owes its recovery to that notoginseng you found for me. It’s only been a few days, but it already feels much easier. I won’t forget your kindness.”

Lin Jiangshan answered him distractedly. Even when dinner was served, Ye Xi still failed to appear. Unable to sit still any longer with the matter weighing on his mind, Lin Jiangshan put on an affectedly casual air and said, “This pheasant stew is delicious. Why hasn’t Xi come out to eat?”

Liu Xiufeng gave a short laugh. “He’s been in low spirits these past few days for some reason, so I took his meal to his room. Don’t trouble yourself over it, young Lin. Just eat.”

Lin Jiangshan could ask no more. He could only drink and eat with Ye Shan.

When the meal ended, it was time for him to leave. Ye Xi had still not come out. Lin Jiangshan stood in the courtyard, gazing at the room lit by an oil lamp. After a while, he finally turned and left.

Only after Lin Jiangshan had gone did Ye Xi quietly open a narrow crack in the window. Through it, he watched the tall figure grow smaller and smaller in the distance.

For some time afterward, Lin Jiangshan came to the Ye household several times, sometimes claiming to bring fish, sometimes offering to help with farm work. Yet every visit ended the same way: he never saw Ye Xi.

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The clouds gathered the last hues of summer; the leaves stirred with the first sounds of autumn. Before anyone noticed that summer had ended, the seasons had already entered a new autumn.

In the blink of an eye, autumn had arrived. The leaves in the mountains began to turn golden, while the maple trees were dyed red by the autumn wind. Gold and scarlet mingled across the entire mountain.

The fields of Shanshow Village, once green with rice, had become the deep gold and crimson of sunset.

The corn had ripened and the sorghum had reddened, their heavy heads bending from the stalks. Every household was busy bringing in the harvest.

The roads and fields were filled with busy figures. Children chased one another between the rows, while carts piled high with corn rolled past. The women repeatedly called after their children, “Slow down! If you tumble into the ditch, you’ll suffer for it!”

Ye Father and Ye Shan pushed a cartload of corn home. Sitting on a low stool in the courtyard, Ye Xi stripped the husks from the ears, tore them into sections, and hung them beneath the roof beams to dry, so they could be stored for winter.

Liu Xiufeng rolled the millstone over the corn kernels, constantly sweeping them toward the grinding mouth with a small broom.

“Mother, Brother Lin’s field has been turned over,” Ye Shan said with a grin as he unloaded the corn from the cart. “That soil is wonderfully fertile—black as mud.”

Ye Xi’s hands paused over the corn husks. In his heart, ripples spread as though a stone had been tossed into a still lake.

Liu Xiufeng smiled. “Oh, that plot is excellent. Otherwise your father and you wouldn’t have kept thinking about it for so long. Now that young Lin has bought it, as long as he farms it properly, he’ll have something to look forward to.”

Ye Father said, “He’s certainly diligent. Such a large stretch of land, and he’s already cleared it. Now that it’s been turned over, he can sow winter wheat in time, and he won’t have to worry about food for next year. I can tell he’s a man who plans ahead.”

“Exactly,” Liu Xiufeng agreed. “Young Lin is a good one.”

Ye Shan began waggling his brows. “If Father and Mother like Brother Lin so much, don’t we still have a young man in the family?”

Ye Xi’s back went rigid, and the corn in his hands tumbled to the ground.

Liu Xiufeng covered her mouth and laughed. “Stop teasing your little brother. He’s shy. The last time I joked about this, he got angry.”

Ye Shan let out a laugh and carried the baskets of corn beneath the eaves, revealing a row of white teeth.

“What’s so unspeakable about it? Our family likes Brother Lin, and Xi isn’t promised to anyone. If we became one family, that would be a fine thing.”

Ye Father snorted at Ye Shan. “Don’t go saying whatever comes into your head. It depends on what Xi wants. He has to agree first.”

Ye Xi’s nose stung, and an inexplicable ache clogged his heart.

It isn’t that I’m unwilling. It’s that someone else thinks I’m ugly!

“Father, Mother, you’re laughing at me along with Elder Brother. I’m going to find Li,” Ye Xi said, rising and hurrying away.

When he reached Li’s house, Li was drying pumpkin seeds beneath the eaves. Seeing Ye Xi come to visit, he brightened.

“Well, look who it is! You haven’t come by to talk in ages.”

Ye Xi gave him a faint smile. “I’ve been feeling terribly restless, so I came to ease my mind.”

Li spread the pumpkin seeds out with his hands and laughed. “You have troubles? I thought your heart was broader than the river!”

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Ye Xi lounged against the back of the chair as the autumn breeze brushed his face. Leaves spun down from the tree overhead, while a goose honked several times beyond the courtyard. Gazing at the clear blue sky, he murmured, “I think I may have fallen for someone.”

Li’s hand stopped. He immediately set aside everything he was doing, dragged over a low stool, and sat beside Ye Xi.

“How did you suddenly come to have someone in your heart? Who is he? A man from our village? No, that can’t be. You were once betrothed to the Cao family and prepared to marry. You never even spared the other men a glance. Tell me at once!”

He shook Ye Xi’s hand repeatedly, nearly frantic with curiosity.

Ye Xi pressed his lips together before answering slowly, “The outsider living halfway up the mountain.”

Only then did Li release his hand. He casually took a handful of pumpkin seeds from the bamboo tray beneath the eaves and cracked them one by one.

“That isn’t strange at all. I told you before that this outsider was handsome. He’s tall and well-built, and I hear he’s bought several good plots of land. He isn’t lazy either—every day he’s either turning the soil in his fields or chopping wood in the mountains. My mother has mentioned him several times. She says he’s a fine man.”

Ye Xi spoke softly. “He is a good man. Otherwise I wouldn’t have fallen for him.”

Li spat out a mouthful of shells and grinned. “Then have your brother go ask about him. You’re no longer promised to anyone, and he’s unmarried too. Your family already knows him fairly well. By rights, that should make things easier.”

Ye Xi hesitated. “He must think I’m ugly. It would be better not to make my feelings plain.”

Li paused in the act of cracking another seed.

“Ah, but we can’t judge everything by looks. You’re capable, hardworking, gentle, and devoted to your family. If he married you, he’d live a blessed life.”

Ye Xi knew Li was only comforting him. Judging from Lin Jiangshan’s reaction that day, he had clearly already taken offense at Ye Xi’s face.

Seeing how troubled he was, Li gathered the seed shells from the table and rose.

“Stop worrying. Come on, let’s dig for water chestnut shoots. Autumn is almost here, and soon this dish won’t be available anymore.”

Ye Xi was feeling too lazy to move, but Li dragged him outside all the same.

Autumn was close. The reeds along the river had grown soft and downy, swaying in the wind in pleasing waves. An old farmer was cutting some to take home and weave into sleeping mats.

The water chestnut shoots grew in the shallow pools beside the reeds, spreading wild over a broad stretch. The people of Shanshow Village liked to dig up a few now and then to stir-fry at home. They were sold in town as well, though they fetched little—only one or two copper coins per pound.

Knowing that once autumn passed, these tender shoots would no longer be available, Ye Xi took a small iron hoe and prepared to dig up a basketful. He could pickle them in a jar or dry them for stir-frying with meat in winter.

Li rolled up his trouser legs and waded into the ditch, digging as he chatted. He peeled away the mud-streaked outer layers, leaving only the white, tender stalks within.

Ye Xi had dug half a basketful when he noticed that the reeds farther ahead were growing even more thickly. He said to Li, “I’ll go dig over there. If I find enough, I’ll give you half a basket.”

With that, Ye Xi waded forward, water swirling around his calves.

The reeds stood tall and dense, forming a natural curtain. Ye Xi bent over and dug for a while, then faintly heard something rustling within the reeds. He straightened and pricked up his ears, listening intently.

Unexpectedly, the sound drew nearer and nearer. Panic seized Ye Xi. This patch of reeds was secluded and hidden; if he encountered some villain here, he would have no way to escape.

He hurriedly lifted his basket and turned to leave. But after he had taken only two steps through the water, a figure burst from the reeds and came to a stop directly in front of him.

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