This is the picturesque village of Shanshou.

A tall and sturdy stranger had arrived in the village, and by the next day, everyone knew about it. They all whispered behind his back, speculating about the solitary man who had come from elsewhere to settle in Mountain Beauty Village.

Ye Xi, heeding his mother’s words, kept far from the house on the mountainside and no longer went to the riverbank in that direction to cut grass.

It was Liu Li, the boy next door with whom he was close, who came looking for him.

When he arrived, Ye Xi was sitting in the shade of the courtyard tree, sorting soybeans. Upon seeing him, Ye Xi smiled, fetched a chair, and said, “I haven’t seen you in days.”

Li sat next to him, propping his chin as he watched Ye Xi’s fair, slender hands selecting plump soybeans from a bamboo sieve. “I was away at my grandmother’s for a few days, only got back yesterday.”

Ye Xi replied enviously, “It must be nice to have a grandmother. Not like my family—there’s no elder left to dote on me.” Ye Xi’s father’s parents had passed away, and Liu Xiufeng had lost her own parents as a child.

Unlike Li, Ye Xi had never known the love of a grandmother or grandfather.

Li grinned, “My grandmother spoils me. When I left, she secretly slipped me twenty coins.”

Ye Xi poured more beans from the cloth bag into the sieve and resumed sorting. “So you’ve managed to save up a bit more spending money. When the peddler comes by in a few days, you’ll probably waste it on all sorts of odds and ends again.”

Li clicked his tongue, unwilling to admit how easily coins slipped through his fingers. “Next time the peddler comes, I’ll only buy some thread, that’s all.”

Ye Xi smiled, pretending to believe him.

Li reached out to help him sort the beans. After some time, Li spoke up again, “I heard yesterday, right after I got back, that a stranger has come to our village.”

Ye Xi nodded. “He’s living in the house on the mountainside that used to belong to Blind Liu.”

Li lowered his voice, “Hey, you don’t know—he’s really tall and strong. My parents told me to keep away from him. He’s a stranger, and no one knows his background. They’re afraid he might be up to no good.”

Ye Xi tossed a bad bean into the winnowing basket and nodded. “My elder brother says he’s built like a barbarian.”

Li moved his chair closer and whispered, “Your brother’s exaggerating. He doesn’t look like a barbarian at all.”

Ye Xi glanced at him, “You’ve seen him?”

Catching a glimpse of a man was something to be embarrassed about, but Li nodded very faintly and confided in Ye Xi, “This morning, I went to the river to wash clothes. From afar, I saw a man casting a fishing net in the river mist—a broad, powerful figure, and he cast the net beautifully. I hid in the reeds and snuck a few glances. When he turned around, I got a good look at his face in the morning light.”

Ye Xi asked, “Was he covered in a big beard, with fierce bulging eyes?”

Li shook his head. “No, his beard was already shaved. In fact, he looked...” Here, his ears turned red, but he pressed on, “Handsome—a striking man, really.”

Ye Xi teased him, “You haven’t even had a betrothal match yet, and already you’re calling some man handsome behind his back. Careful, or someone will hear and laugh at you.”

Li stuck out his tongue. “Anyway, I only tell you, so I’m not afraid of being laughed at.”

Ye Xi’s lips curved into a smile, his eyes arching into crescent moons.

Li gazed at his face and sighed, “Xi-ge, you’re so good-looking. It’s such a pity about your burn. Has it gotten any better?”

Ye Xi shook his head, having long since accepted it. “There’s no cure for it. Look, these scars are here to stay. I’ll probably have to wear a veil forever.”

Li gently lifted Ye Xi’s veil to sneak a quick look, and as expected, saw a patch of uneven, gnarled scars marring the left side of Ye Xi’s face.

He voiced his worry, “What about your engagement with the Cao family? Have they said anything?”

Ye Xi replied calmly, “Nothing at all. If they want to break it off, I’ll agree. I won’t make things hard for them.”

Li squeezed his hand in comfort. “I heard the Cao family’s son is a scholar, and their family is well-off. Surely they won’t be so shallow as to judge by appearances alone. Let’s wait and see what they say. If they keep their promise, everyone around here will think highly of them.”

Ye Xi gave a faint smile. “If the Cao family is willing to marry me, I will live a good life with them.”

They chatted a bit longer. Soon, Liu’s aunt stood at her door, calling Li home.

Ye Xi tidied up the courtyard and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

That evening, when Father Ye and the others returned, the family gathered in the hall. A clay stove in the middle simmered cooling herbal tea, the fierce sun had sunk behind the mountains, and a cool night breeze swept away the day’s heat.

Water boiled and rattled the ceramic kettle lid, steam swirling in the air. Father Ye smoked his long pipe to ease the fatigue of the day.

“Tomorrow is the day we agreed with the Cao family for the betrothal,” Liu Xiufeng said anxiously. “Their family hasn’t given a word these days—do you think they’ll come or not?” The worry in her heart had not lifted for days; a child’s marriage was a matter that kept parents awake at night.

Father Ye took a few puffs on his pipe and after a long pause, rumbled, “It’s hard to say. Since Xi-ge got burned, the Cao family hasn’t asked after him except for sending a string of coins at first as consolation. If they want to break off the engagement, there’s nothing we can do.”

Liu Xiufeng grumbled bitterly, “Well, I won’t return the betrothal money. I’ll keep it for Xi-ge, so he has something to fall back on.”

When the Cao family proposed, they gave five taels of silver as a betrothal gift. If they were unwilling to marry Xi-ge now, at least the money would serve as some compensation—for there hadn’t been a single case of a boy being rejected in marriage in all the nearby villages.

If word got out, Ye Xi would be the laughingstock of the region.

Father Ye glared at his wife. “Five taels is a lot. The Cao family won’t agree. At the very least, we’ll have to return two taels, otherwise if the Cao family makes a fuss, won’t that make things even harder for Xi-ge?”

Tears welled in Liu Xiufeng’s eyes. The thought of her son’s fate pained her terribly.

Ye Xi, seated on a low stool by the stove, the orange firelight flickering across his face, his curled lashes casting shadows beneath his eyes, comforted his parents. “Father, Mother, if the Cao family doesn’t want to marry me, just return all the silver. Let’s save ourselves the gossip. We may be poor, but we don’t do anything with a guilty conscience. It’s not really the Cao family’s fault—after all, I’m the one who got burned. No one wants to marry a monster.”

The Cao family wasn’t just wealthy in the neighboring village; they also had some connections in the county office. Ye Xi didn’t want his parents making trouble for his sake and bringing unnecessary trouble upon themselves.

Elder Brother Ye Shan patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t be afraid, Xi-ge. Your brother will look after you and find you a good family yet.”

Ye Xi nodded. “I believe you, Brother.”

The next day, most of Mountain Beauty Village knew it was the day the Cao family was supposed to come to the Ye family with the betrothal gifts. The women and aunts idled at the village entrance, gossiping away. Farm life was dull and monotonous; now, with such an event, they would have something to talk about for quite some time.

“Hey, do you think the Cao family will bring the betrothal gifts or come empty-handed?” one of the village aunts asked, crunching on her own roasted soybeans amid the crowd.

Another woman took a handful of roasted beans, chewing noisily as she replied, “My guess is they’ve come to break off the engagement. Everyone knows what happened to Xi-ge’s face—the burns are terrible. I saw when the doctor changed his dressing. Heaven above, it was frightening—his whole left cheek ruined.”

“Well, if it were my family, I wouldn’t dare marry him. Imagine waking up in the night to that face beside you—you’d be scared out of your wits!”

“It’s such a pity. Xi-ge was so handsome. My eldest son was set on him, begged me to propose to Father Ye. Not anymore, though,” grumbled Aunt Liu at the end of the village, her tone tinged with bitterness.

The Ye family knew well enough about the gossip, but they couldn’t control people’s tongues. They simply busied themselves cleaning and waiting at home. Near midday, a group of people could be seen coming from afar along the village road, led by a matchmaker in a red silk dress.

Father Ye stood by the fence at the edge of the yard, staring intently. Ye Shan went inside to call Liu Xiufeng, who straightened her apron and hurried out.

“Did they bring the betrothal gifts?” she asked anxiously as she came out.

Father Ye snorted, his face dark as an iron pot.

Ye Shan replied, “The Cao family came empty-handed. No sign of any gifts.”

Liu Xiufeng’s face immediately darkened as well. She pressed her lips together, saying nothing—today their family’s reputation was surely lost.

As they spoke, the Cao family arrived. The matchmaker opened the gate to the little courtyard, her expression slightly awkward. But upon seeing the Ye family standing in the yard, she put on her trademark smile.

“Oh my, Old Ye and Sister Liu, you’re both here.”

Father Ye said nothing, seating himself on a low stool and leaving the Cao family standing, showing no intention of hospitality.

Though her husband was gruff, they couldn’t lose propriety. To avoid being the subject of even more gossip, Liu Xiufeng said coldly, “Matchmaker Wang, you’re here. Please, all of you, come in and have some water.”

Only then did the Cao family enter the hall, looking uneasy. Present were the parents of the man engaged to Ye Xi, along with four uncles.

After all, they were here to break off an engagement in someone else’s village—if things turned ugly, there was strength in numbers.

Once everyone was seated in the hall, Ye Shan went to the kitchen to boil water, and though Liu Xiufeng was resentful, she still brewed rough tea and served it.

The matchmaker began the conversation. After sipping her tea, she sighed regretfully, “Oh, this was meant to be a marriage decreed by heaven, a pair of mandarin ducks. Who would have thought fate would fall short? Such a pity, truly.”

Father Ye sat stiffly in the main seat and snorted, “It was you who were so eager for the engagement, who sent people running to us, piling up promises and guarantees. My wife and I agreed because we believed you were sincere. And now it’s you who want to break it off—do you think my son is some object, to be taken when you please and discarded at will?”