Chapter 7 — Catching Them Red-Handed on My Wedding Day

His face beamed like a blooming flower, and he repeatedly boasted to the group of young people standing around him, "What did I tell you? This child Wild Goose keeps her word! She said she would pave the road for us, and she truly has paved the road!"

I walked a few paces through the crowd and suddenly came to a halt. The very faces that once surrounded me with judgmental fingers and pointing gestures were now plastered with cautious, ingratiating smiles. I said nothing more, merely giving a slight nod before turning back toward the carriage. Green Ink was waiting for me inside. He held an official document in his hands; upon seeing me, he set it aside, his tone retaining its usual detached coolness.

"Have matters in the village been settled?"

"They are settled."

I leaned against his shoulder, catching the refreshing scent of pine wood, and suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness wash over me. The carriage rolled slowly over the newly laid bluestone path at the edge of the village. The wheels crushed against the fresh stones, emitting a low, muffled rumbling sound. I lifted the carriage curtain and glanced back. Beneath the ancient scholar tree at the village entrance, the elderly village chief was still leaning on his cane, bowing deeply from afar toward the departing carriage. I let the curtain fall and closed my eyes. Ten years had passed. The bitter snow and freezing rain of my past life had finally melted away beneath the warm spring sunshine of this new life.