There was a backyard and there was a simple kitchen, restroom, shower area, and a woodshed.
There was also a short hut made of mud several meters from the house where the man reared two cows, one large and one small.
It was already 7 PM and the sky had darkened and the surrounding area was shrouded in complete darkness.
The man took out a key, unlocked the door, and the wooden door opened with a creak.
He walked toward the left side of the door and felt for a string on the wall. He pulled down on it and soon, a light bulb on the ceiling turned on. It was a filament lamp with only 15 watts, so it could only give off a dim, yellow glow.
This village had only started to have electricity two years ago. The villagers were all very poor and thus, they used lights with the lowest voltages in order to save electricity.
After he placed the woman down, the man closed and made sure that the door was locked properly, as though he was afraid that the woman would run away. Then, he took a metal chain that he had prepared and locked one end of the chain on the ceiling and looped the other end of the chain around her feet and locked it. It wasn’t a heavy nor a thick chain but it was several dozen meters long. It would allow the woman whom he had just bought to roam freely around the house but at the same time, it would prevent her from escaping.
He pulled at the chain and made sure that it was locked securely before he carried the woman to a small wooden table. It was a square table and looked a little worn but it was clean and spotless.
He dug out a pencil and a small notebook from the table’s drawer.
He flipped the notebook open and sat down at the table. He wrote something on it and after he finished, he presented it to the woman as though he was presenting some kind of treasure.
The woman looked woodenly at the words he had written and blinked, as though she was surprised at how well he could write.
He had written two lines on the notebook.
The first line read, ‘My name is Chen Jiahang and you’re my wife from now on. You can’t leave this place unless I don’t want you anymore.’
The second line read, ‘I’ll go cook something for you. Wait here. If you’re thirsty, you can pour yourself some water.’
Then, he went into the kitchen in the backyard.
The kitchen wasn’t very big and was only slightly more than ten square meters. There was a pile of wood at the corner of the wall.
He took out a bowl and chopsticks from a wooden drawer and opened a vat where there was still some rice. He reached into the vat and grabbed two handfuls of rice, washed the rice on a plate, then poured it in a clay pot and started to make porridge.
There wasn’t much to eat at home. He could only find the dry bamboo shoots he had soaked this morning and two eggs.
He threw the eggs into the pot and whipped up a simple stir-fry with the bamboo shoots.
30 minutes later, he brought the food he had cooked to the living room and placed it on the table.
The woman he had bought was surprisingly quiet. He heard from others that the wives they purchased would kick up a huge fuss and even attempt suicide, but this woman was extremely quiet. She had even taken his pen and notebook and was writing something on it.
Could she write?
His curiosity piqued, he put down the dishes and silently moved to stand beside her.
He could see that she was drawing something and soon, a portrait of a child appeared on the notebook.
This child looked very young and adorable.
She could draw and even draw better than him.
Chen Jiahang sprawled out on the table and smiled at the woman like a silly grown-up child.
His curiosity grew as he stared at his wife who didn’t speak at all.
He frowned and snatched the book and pencil away in mock indignance. He quickly scribbled on the book, ‘What is your name? Can you write? I can teach you how to write if you can’t write.’