It had been more than two months since the young man arrived at the fishing village, and his leg had improved considerably—at least he could move around a bit now.
During this time, aside from Huang Muzhi, no one knew of the young man’s existence, because no one would come to visit the lowest rung in the village.
Huang Muzhi was someone abandoned by this small society; here, her status was even lower than that of livestock.
But the tall, robust woman was happy with it that way.
Ever since she started living with the young man, she was unwilling—and even disallowed—anyone else to intrude on the happiest moments of her life.
The young man was interesting; he was someone Huang Muzhi could never encounter in this small fishing village.
He treated everything with such serenity, like a warm fire in the bitter cold or a cool breeze in the scorching summer.
Unlike the other people in this village, the young man didn’t discriminate against her, nor did he mock or ridicule her for various reasons.
He wasn’t filthy like the other women here either; the young man was always clean, without the fishy smell clinging to him.
Even when he sweated, there was no body odor—only a peculiar fragrance emanating from him, if one had to describe it.
It was like the scent of wildflowers, but far fainter than wildflowers, not so heavy, and it wouldn’t make one feel overly cloying or sweet.
Along with the young man’s arrival came something Huang Muzhi had rarely seen in her life: luck.
Ever since Nanxi arrived, her luck had improved.
Even when fishing in the shallow seas, her catch was more than that of the others in the village who went out to sea.
She even had extra fish to sell to the vendors who came from the county town to buy catches.
In just two months, she had enough money to get a boat from the boat builder.
Although the boat builders in the village probably wouldn’t give her a fair price—they’d likely demand an exorbitant amount.
But Huang Muzhi didn’t care about that, simply because on the first day she saw the young man, he had shown a longing for boats and the sea, and that was enough.
Actually, just with the silver fragments the young man had, it would be sufficient for her to own a small boat for going out to sea.
But Huang Muzhi didn’t want to use the money he gave her.
“Young master, how was your day today?”
“The same as usual, nothing much to say. And I’ve told you not to keep calling me young master or anything like that—I’m not that noble.”
The young man complained about the woman’s deference in front of him, while busily working on weaving the bamboo basket in his hands.
He didn’t like others treating him as some rich family’s young master.
“I’ve said it more than once—you can call me Little Xi. The people around me all call me that. You’re my benefactor and friend, and you’re older than me, so you can call me that too.”
“But I still want to call you young master.”
“……Fine, suit yourself then. Let’s not talk about that—time to eat the fish.”
With that, Nanxi used his internal energy to place the grilled fish from the stove by Huang Muzhi’s hand.
The woman was already accustomed to such situations and took it in stride.
As early as the second day after she picked up the young man, she had learned from his mouth that he was a person from the martial world.
Although she didn’t actually know what a person from the martial world was, she vaguely thought it was some remarkable figure.
Then she continued busily working on weaving the bamboo cage in her hands.
“It’s delicious.”
The moment the grilled fish entered her mouth, the juicy flavor exploded in Huang Muzhi’s mouth.
The young man’s cooking skills were excellent; even with just a bit of salt, he could make the fish flavorful and tasty.
Huang Muzhi had asked Nanxi about the secret, and the young man had calmly revealed his trick.
“Just do it more, but the main thing is to remove the innards and tendons—otherwise, it’s really hard to eat.”
Huang Muzhi was a poor person—we’ve said this many times—but just how poor was she?
When she ate fish, she would completely consume the heart, liver, lungs, and even the gills.
This was also why Nanxi had found the fish soup too fishy when they first met.
In this fishing village, the caught fish were fresh no matter what, and fresh sea fish didn’t have the fishiness of river fish.
Yet Huang Muzhi could still make the fish soup fishy, mostly because she didn’t remove the innards.
Of course, although the innards were fishy, they had great benefits.
The people in this fishing village were almost all short and suffered from beriberi.
It was because they lacked the necessary nutrients from vegetables and fruits (vitamins), and fish innards happened to provide those nutrients (vitamins).
This coincidence had precisely contributed to Huang Muzhi’s tall stature.
“If it’s delicious, eat more. If it’s not enough, I’ll make more for you. You’ve caught so many fish lately anyway.”
“Better not trouble you, young master. You have an injury on your leg—it’s not good to move around too much, right?”
Huang Muzhi quickly refused, her face showing concern.
Even if the young man was some very powerful person, he was still injured in the end and couldn’t be exerted like this.
“It’s fine—it’s just a broken leg, no big deal. In another half year, I’ll be jumping and running as usual.”
Nanxi said with a smile on his face; he didn’t take this injury to heart.
Although the injury looked serious, it hadn’t damaged his foundation—it just required more time.
“If your injury heals, young master, where will you go?”
“Home. There’s someone waiting for me at home. I don’t know how that person is doing now.”
“Is that person your mother, young master?”
“No, it’s my master. She’s the most important person to me. Without her, there would be no me. If she died, I probably wouldn’t live alone either. I’ve been an orphan since I was young; thanks to my master, I could live to this age. Otherwise, I might have been carried off by some wild wolf or dog.”
“From what you say, young master, it sounds like your master could even be your wife.”
After Huang Muzhi said this, she regretted it immediately—she realized this was joking about someone’s mother.
“I’m sorry, young master, I said the wrong……”
Before the faint voice could reach the young man’s ears, his gentle yet heart-shattering words entered the robust woman’s heart.
“Thinking about it that way, it does seem so—after all, my master is effectively my wife too.”
“Young master…… you…… what did you say……? ……It must be…… I must have heard wrong……”
Huang Muzhi could no longer speak coherently.
What did he mean by being both master and wife?
That shouldn’t be possible, right?
But the young man’s words delivered another blow to the woman.
“That’s exactly what I mean. I’ve given my body to my most beloved master. Whether she acknowledges it or not, she’s my wife. But this isn’t something that can be said openly, huh.”
“……”
There was no response.
The woman, who had been in such high spirits, now couldn’t say a word.
Because the young man before her—the only boy in the world who was good to her—had a wife.
Moreover, Huang Muzhi suddenly realized an unacceptable fact: the young man didn’t belong to her. He wouldn’t stay in this house forever. Once his injury healed,
the young man would leave.
At that time, she would be alone again.
At that time, she wouldn’t eat such delicious fish anymore, no one would talk to her again, the villagers would still despise her, and perhaps until her death, she would never meet another boy who cared for her like this.