Casting Nets to Catch a Husband

Chapter 198: She’s dead, you know?

Did Wang Shi miss Liu Yu?

Yes, especially during the difficult days at the Liu family. The more she struggled, the more she missed Liu Yu, the daughter she once saw as a burden and a reason she couldn’t secure her place in the family. She remembered Liu Yu’s goodness.

But no matter how much she missed her, she never dared to go to Yangshan Village to see her—not even a quick, secret glance. It wasn’t just because of the formidable Madam Wei in Yangshan Village; it was also because too many people there knew her, making it a place she wouldn’t dare to step into.

Wang Shi did love Liu Yu, but she always loved herself more.

At this moment, seeing Liu Yu and calling her name came as an instinct. Her choked voice and tears were genuine.

On the bustling dock, the small space around Liu Yu fell silent for a moment.

The Lu family had been the talk of Changfeng Town all year, especially the youngest son and his new wife. People still talked about their grand wedding, the extravagant dowry that captivated the town, and the new businesses they had since established.

Back then, in the townspeople’s minds, Zhou Qiongying, Liu Erlang’s wife, was the daughter of a grain merchant from the county. The Lu women still lived in town at that time and were easy to inquire about them. But ever since Liu Yu married into the Lu family, all they knew was that she came from a family of means, likely connected to the embroidery business in the county.

The Lu family no longer resided in Changfeng Town. After Liu Yu joined them, they all moved to the county. Chen Shi’s distant relatives were in Chenjia Village, far from town.

So the townsfolk only had scraps of vague information about Liu Yu and filled in the blanks with their own imaginations.

The more mysterious she seemed, the more they projected grandeur onto her. They speculated about her dowry, the Lu family’s rising fortunes after her arrival, and concluded that Lu’s third son must have married into a wealthy family.

But now, on this winter morning, outside the Xinfeng Warehouse, stood an old woman in worn clothing, weathered by the elements, claiming to be the mother of the Lu family’s daughter-in-law—the mother-in-law of Lu Sanlang.

A few paces separated them, but the contrast between Lu Sanlang and his wife’s fine clothing and the old woman’s faded, worn garments was striking. The people who had greeted the Lu couple, as well as passersby, fell silent, their eyes darting between the elegantly dressed Madam Lu Sanlang and the hunched, weather-beaten old woman. Everyone was buzzing with a mix of curiosity and the thrill of witnessing some juicy gossip.

Liu Yu had always known that marrying so close to home would mean crossing paths with Wang Shi again someday.

A year and a half had passed, and aside from her wedding and New Year’s, she’d rarely returned to Changfeng Town. With her substantial dowry and the county shops she brought into the marriage, townspeople assumed Lu Chengxiao had married the daughter of a wealthy family from the county.

In Liujiacun, no one connected Lu’s new daughter-in-law to her. And when Liu Sanlang and Wen Shi had incidentally gone to the Ruyi Embroidery Shop looking for work, they kept Liu Yu’s whereabouts secret, even from Wen Shi’s own family.

So the Liu family knew nothing of Liu Yu’s marriage, let alone that she’d wed Lu Chengxiao, the same man who’d once proposed to her at their home.

For a year and a half, Liu Yu had almost erased Wang Shi from her life. She rarely thought of her, and when she did, she quickly pushed her out of her mind.

Yet here was Wang Shi, in a sudden, unexpected encounter, bursting into her line of sight.

Wang Shi, vividly real and unable to be dismissed like a passing thought, stood before her, filled with eager emotion, as if she had found a lost, dearly loved daughter.

This seemingly simple, yet twisted affection was something Liu Yu could not reciprocate.

In that moment, Liu Yu wasn’t even sure how she felt.

Wang Shi had aged. Compared to a year and a half ago, she seemed five or six years older, her face weathered by time.

Lu Chengxiao glanced at Liu Yu, worry clear in his eyes. He held her hand tightly, feeling her tense, rigid frame beneath her calm exterior.

The scene was unsettling and silent. It was obvious to everyone that something was off, including Wang Shi.

Her face, already pale and sallow, grew even more sorrowful as she looked at Liu Yu, her eyes tearing up. “You don’t recognize me?” she asked, her voice wavering with grief.

As the tear slid down her weathered face, Liu Yu felt a surge of emotion she hadn’t anticipated. There’s a bond, rooted in blood, that can seem absent yet burst forth at a single moment, uncontainable.

Her ears felt muffled, blocked and slightly swollen. Not painful, but noticeable and inescapable.

Reason and emotion split. Liu Yu knew exactly how she felt about Wang Shi but couldn’t stop the urge to cry that rose within her.

Perhaps her sadness wasn’t even for Wang Shi alone. It was for her former self, for the person she was now—or maybe for both.

The grip on her hand tightened—a silent comfort from Lu Chengxiao.

The sorrow that had momentarily overwhelmed her was brief, yet it lingered, pressing on her heart like a damp, heavy cloth, heavy yet bearable.

Finally, Liu Yu looked at Wang Shi and spoke.

“Did you forget? A year and a half ago, you sold me.”

The crowd erupted in whispers.

The Lu family’s daughter-in-law was the daughter of this poor village woman—and she had been sold a year and a half ago?!

The street outside the Xinfeng Warehouse quickly grew crowded. People who had been passing by stopped, curious about the commotion, and when they realized it involved the Lu family—the town’s newly wealthy family—they quickly gathered. Soon, more and more people joined the scene.

Surrounded by onlookers, Wang Shi seemed oblivious, hearing only Liu Yu’s response and coming to a single realization: Liu Yu no longer recognized her.

Wang Shi’s tears fell even harder. She took a step forward, wanting to reach out and hold Liu Yu’s hand, but Lu Chengxiao blocked her.

Wang Shi still remembered when the Lu family had come to propose marriage after Liu Yu was taken away—the way this Third Young Master Lu had reacted upon learning Liu Yu had been sold. He had demanded answers from Liu Dalang, kicking Liu Kangsheng aside when he tried to intervene, and leaving Liu Dalang bruised and hoarse for days after.

She dared to reach for Liu Yu, but not to cross this Third Young Master Lu.

Her outstretched foot faltered and dropped, and she could only look at Liu Yu, sobbing from behind Lu Chengxiao. “I had no choice, Yu’er. Your mother didn’t have a choice.”

Her pain and regret were sincere, yet Liu Yu couldn’t empathize.

What else was left between them aside from that thin thread of blood relation?

Liu Yu couldn’t dwell on it. All she could do was distance herself.

She tugged on Lu Chengxiao’s hand. “Let’s go.”

With just those two words, she didn’t spare Wang Shi another glance, but it became the last straw, breaking Wang Shi’s composure. She sank to the ground, crying hysterically, drawing even more onlookers from a distance.

Seeing Liu Yu determined to leave, Wang Shi lost all sense of reason. She had forgotten the agreement she had signed under Wei Shi’s pressure. She feared Wei Shi, but she didn’t fear her own daughter.

Overcome with emotion, Wang Shi scrambled up, and, in a sudden burst, lunged toward Liu Yu.

Though Lu Chengxiao was on guard, Wang Shi managed to grab the hem of Liu Yu’s sleeve.

Clutching that sleeve as though it were her last lifeline, she stared at Liu Yu, both resentful and stubborn. “Liu Yu, I gave birth to you, raised you. How can you not acknowledge me? There’s no reason in this world for a child to disown their own parents!”

The crowd erupted into murmurs. Though the words were hard to make out amidst the noise, it wasn’t hard to guess the gist.

Everywhere, people revered filial piety, and here it seemed that Liu Yu, looking prosperous and strong, was refusing to acknowledge her poor and vulnerable mother.

Lu Chengxiao’s expression darkened, and he was about to pull Wang Shi away, but Liu Yu stopped him with a gentle hand.

Her face was calm, but beneath that calm, something deeply repressed seemed to simmer. Sensing this, Lu Chengxiao instinctively held back.

Without looking at him, Liu Yu’s gaze slowly shifted from her sleeve, which Wang Shi held tightly, up to Wang Shi’s face.

“Yes, you did give birth to me.”

The crowd gasped again. She really was her biological mother.

Ignoring the crowd, Liu Yu continued to fix her gaze on Wang Shi. “But have you forgotten why I was even born? Have you forgotten how my father and uncle died, or why I ended up in Liu’s village?”

Her voice wasn’t loud, but each word seemed to chill Wang Shi, draining the color from her lips and making her instinctively recoil. Only her hand, clutching Liu Yu’s sleeve, remained—though she herself knew how weak her grip had become.

Wang Shi took a step back, and Liu Yu took a step forward.

“You gave birth to me, and I had no choice in that.”

“But the person you gave birth to… you sold her. She’s dead.”

“Dead. Do you understand?”

Her expression was a strange blend of indifference, hatred, numbness, anger, calm, and despair, as if she were talking about someone else’s life and death.

But Wang Shi was close enough to feel the surge of emotion coming off Liu Yu, to see the faint redness in her eyes and the thin layer of tears there.

She stumbled backward, finally collapsing onto the ground.

Wang Shi couldn’t understand what “dead” meant. Wasn’t her daughter standing right in front of her? What did she mean by “dead”?

Shocked, she tried to grasp a different interpretation. Perhaps she meant the daughter she sold was gone, and the one standing here no longer considered her a mother?

Her mind buzzed, as though thunder had struck, shattering her spirit and leaving her too weak to stand.

Liu Yu’s voice was soft, and amidst the clamor, few people in the crowd probably heard her clearly, but Lu Chengxiao, standing behind her, felt a jolt.

As a martial artist, his hearing was sharper than most, and his whole attention was on Liu Yu.

Seeing her turn, he caught a glimpse of her repressed emotions, shocking him to his core.

He heard…

But there wasn’t really much to it.

Liu Yu felt a bit guilty, wanting to give a reassuring smile, but her lips quivered, unable to muster the strength to curve upward.

“I’m fine, let’s go.”

She was about to head into the warehouse.

In such a situation, there was no mood left to shop. Lu Chengxiao held her hand, saying, “Let’s head home first. We can come back another day.”

As for Wang Shi, someone who would even sacrifice her own daughter for a better life for herself, Lu Chengxiao didn’t spare her another glance as he led Liu Yu away.

The crowd buzzed with gossip. Those who hadn’t heard clearly asked those closer to the scene what had been said between the mother and daughter.

Some had heard, but couldn’t quite make sense of it. But judging by Wang Shi’s reaction, they guessed that what the young Mrs. Lu said was probably true. Rumors swirled.

There happened to be some villagers from Liu’s village in the crowd. Upon seeing Liu Yu, they were too stunned to speak for a long moment, and by the time they recovered, she was already gone.

One woman stammered, asking another from the village, “That was Liu Yu, wasn’t it?”

The other women were just as shaken. Liu Yu was still here in Changfeng Town!

They all nodded, “Yes, that was Liu Yu.”

Who else could it be? The woman sitting on the ground like a wooden doll was definitely Wang Shi.

The group of women listened to the chatter around them. They heard that Liu Yu was now the young daughter-in-law of the Lu family and something about embroidery shops and warehouses. The more they listened, the wider their eyes grew.

Oh heavens, what a shock!

~

Chen Shi had just put her young grandson to sleep when she saw Lu Chengxiao and Liu Yu return shortly after they’d left. She blinked in surprise. “Back so soon?”

She then noticed Liu Yu’s somewhat troubled expression. “What’s wrong, Yu’er? You don’t look well.”

Liu Yu opened her mouth but couldn’t find the words. It was Lu Chengxiao who replied, “We ran into people from Liu’s village outside the warehouse. We didn’t go in and decided to come back first.”

Chen Shi furrowed her brows. It wasn’t her fault; she simply had too vivid a memory of the Liu family.

She looked at Liu Yu with concern. “Did you bump into someone? Who was it?”

Her gaze shifted to Lu Chengxiao, but Liu Yu herself answered softly, “My mother.”

The words were light, but she pressed her lips together afterward, saying nothing more.

Hearing it was Wang Shi, Chen Shi felt a pang in her chest. In Liu’s village, if there was anyone Liu Yu would struggle to sever ties with completely, it was her birth mother, Wang Shi.

The bond of giving birth and raising a child—just this single label could suffocate a person.

She looked at Liu Yu with worry, asking gently, “Meeting your mother, are you alright?”

Liu Yu shook her head, then reconsidered and sighed. “There was a big crowd watching. I worry people will come asking questions here too.”

“‘Asking questions’ is putting it politely,” Chen Shi thought. Having lived in town for a long time, she understood well enough. If Liu Yu and Wang Shi had a public encounter that didn’t go well, by tomorrow, everyone in town would be talking. Most people didn’t care about the truth; they were just thrilled to have fresh gossip to discuss for days on end.

Chen Shi didn’t let it bother her. She comforted Liu Yu, saying, “Don’t worry too much. The ties were severed long ago. We know what happened, and the townsfolk will chatter for a few days. But we won’t hear it ourselves. Don’t let it weigh on you.”

Liu Yu nodded, though it was impossible for her to be completely unaffected. She said goodbye to Chen Shi and went to her room.

Unlike the cheerful mood she’d left with that morning, Liu Yu was now deeply dejected.

As she’d once told Lu Chengxiao, marrying her meant inheriting her troubles. While her Aunt, Wei Shi, had once managed to scare them off, would there not be similar encounters in the future? Wouldn’t Lu Chengxiao and the Lu family be dragged down with her?

Lu Chengxiao recalled the night, over a year ago, when he’d saved Liu Yu from the river. She’d said then, “You don’t know… you don’t understand what marrying me really means…”

He remembered her words today: “You gave birth to me. I had no choice in that.”

And how she had told Wang Shi, “The one you gave birth to, you sold her. She died…”

“Dead. Do you understand?”

On the way back, both of them had been silent. In his mind, Lu Chengxiao kept replaying her words. He had only seen her back, yet could vividly imagine her expression as she spoke.

Even now, his heart still ached.

He pulled her into his arms, uncertain whether he was offering her comfort or seeking solace for himself.

~

Outside the Xinfeng warehouse, Wang Shi was still sitting on the ground, dazed and spiritless.

With the spectacle over, the crowd had long dispersed. Some people passed by, glancing at her as she sat there, lost in her own world. Some were indifferent, while others cast a few curious glances. A few compassionate ones even asked if she needed help.

After several people inquired, Wang Shi gradually returned to her senses. She glanced at the sky, realizing it was time to go home and prepare dinner. Slowly, she got up and began to shuffle back.

Nearby, a young man who’d been selling eggs noticed she’d left half a basket of eggs behind. He hesitated, then picked up the basket and hurried after her, calling, “Auntie, your eggs.”

Wang Shi saw the basket and paused for a moment. She nodded to the young man, took the basket, and walked away, blending into the crowd like a wandering soul. Going home was a choice made by instinct, a decision of her legs rather than her mind.

She wouldn’t sell the eggs anymore, and preparations for the New Year were forgotten.

Her mind was filled with Liu Yu’s final words:

“The one you gave birth to, you sold her. She’s dead…”

“She’s dead. Do you understand?”

“She’s dead.”

…

On the last big market day before the New Year, many people from Liujiacun were in town gathering supplies. By this time, most who didn’t need to sell anything for money had finished their shopping and were heading home.

Wang Shi crossed the stone bridge in the northern part of town and encountered several villagers from Liujiacun also on their way back.

But she was in a daze, oblivious to anyone around her, and naturally, no one greeted her.

Her family had, at some point, been entirely isolated in the village. No one wanted to interact with them anymore. People she used to chat with along the road stopped speaking to her altogether. Over the past year, even brief exchanges had ceased.

When had it started? Maybe when she sold Liu Yu, or maybe when they drove the third branch of the family away.

At first, Wang Shi would still greet others, but she would only get brief, curt responses. No one lingered, and any conversation would quickly peter out, leaving her feeling awkward and embarrassed.

Gradually, she realized the change and stopped greeting people herself.

Now, she walked in silence.

In the past, when she met villagers along the way, her arrival would often bring a hush over any lively conversation. People would stop talking and laughing. And as soon as she was out of earshot, the chatter would resume, sometimes with barely hidden whispers, letting her hear fragments of disdainful gossip.

Her family’s reputation had already spread throughout Liujiacun, and she had become a joke among the villagers—the foolish, heartless mother who, unlike even a fierce tiger, would abandon her own child. She was considered less than an animal.

Wang Shi walked slowly. The crowd thinned, and no one whispered behind her anymore.

Yet she could still hear voices echoing in her ears, buzzing incessantly.

In her heart, there was now an empty, aching, humiliating hole.

She didn’t want to see anyone and didn’t want to go home, but aside from that house in Liu’s village, she had nowhere else to go.

Just before reaching the village, Wang Shi instinctively took a detour. With nowhere else to go, she sat down with her basket of eggs by the edge of a field.

The wild countryside was empty. It was nearing noon, and far in the distance, a villager was leading an old ox along the road. Wang Shi’s hollow gaze fixed on the old ox for a long, long time.

Her eyes began to sting and blur, and in the mist of her tears, memories flashed by—little Liu Yu carrying firewood, fetching water, feeding chickens, sweeping, standing on a stool to help with cooking. Liu Yu, a little older, showing her the cords she had braided.

Suddenly, Wang Shi broke down, wailing in grief.

She was wrong. Even an old ox had someone who cared for it. She realized she was not as good as an ox.

The only daughter who had once cared for her, whom she had cherished, was now lost to her forever, pushed away by her own hands. She would never acknowledge her again.

Wang Shi cried until she was hoarse, yet there was no one left to wipe her tears.

Sansukini: Again, she made her own choice, even if she regretted now, she must live with it. When I read this chapter, I did wish Liu Yu could be a little soft-hearted towards her mother. She did a terrible thing selling her daughter, but she still tried to help her that time, giving her money and a weapon to defend herself. But I also understand that if she even tried to help Wang Shi, she would be entangled with Liu Kangsheng’s family again.

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