Spring Equinox had passed, yet beyond the Pass, spring showed little sign of arrival.

Deep within Bailong Mountain, snow still lingered, layered over barren branches that clung to winter’s grip. Only on sun-kissed slopes did a layer of newly sprouted, emerald-green grass peek through—short and sparse, the first spring sustenance for wild deer.

The twenty-eighth day of the second month marked Huo Ling’s descent from the mountain.

The nearest town, Baojia Town, held a grand market on the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month, lasting three days. Since the mountains remained bleak in February, offering few quality goods, he skipped the mid-month market.

It took him another half-month to gather a basket of decent items, finally preparing to descend the mountain to trade them for silver.

Alongside the mountain goods, he had bound a pair of large antlers with hemp rope. He’d found them a few days prior, following the scent of grass and deer tracks.

Male deer shed their antlers in late winter or early spring. Often, if one antler falls, the deer will rub the other against tree trunks until it comes off, too. Thus, a pair of antlers is usually found close together. An experienced hunter could easily collect a pair in one go.

Antlers served medicinal purposes or could be ground into beads and carvings. Though wild deer roamed the mountains in abundance, they weren’t particularly valuable. Still, for mountain hunters, every little bit helped.

“Dager, let’s go!”

After securing the door latch, Huo Ling whistled sharply, calling back the large dog that had been urinating against a tree root nearby.

The dog heard the whistle and came running, its long black fur flowing in the wind. Well-fed and sturdy, its four paws planted firmly on the ground, its shoulder height nearly reached Huo Ling’s waist, showing just how big it was.

The path down the mountain was rough, but over the years, they had become familiar with it. In less than two hours, the man and his dog had already entered the territory of the village at the foot of the mountain.

Several years ago, after their mother passed away, Huo Ling and his elder brother Huo Feng formally divided the family estate. Huo Ling received the small mountain courtyard built by their grandparents, while Huo Feng took the few houses their parents had constructed later in the village.

In truth, the brothers remained close. Huo Feng kept one room empty for his younger brother, providing a place for him to rest when descending the mountain.

The few acres of farmland were tended entirely by Huo Feng and his wife. Huo Ling contributed little labor beyond spring planting and autumn harvest, so he simply took his share of the annual harvest, divided according to their agreed-upon portion.

For Huo Ling, though his parents had passed away early, his brother and sister-in-law’s home was his home.

He usually set out early on his descent days, aiming to arrive home before noon. As lunchtime approached, the village paths were usually deserted, but today felt strangely off.

Traveling from east to west, Huo Ling noticed many people heading south in groups. What was remarkable about that area wasn’t the few households living there, but the Zhou family, who had produced two village chiefs.

Not only adults were heading there, but children too. He raised his hand to call out a little boy who ran up, rolled up his sleeves, and wiped his nose. “Er Mao,” he asked, “Why aren’t you at home waiting for your mother to make lunch? What’s all the commotion you’re running off to see?”

Huo Ling, despite never marrying or becoming a father, was quite popular with the children.

Since he often stayed in the mountains and rarely came down, he’d occasionally find time to entertain the village children with tales of mountain adventures. On summer days, he’d share wild fruits he’d gathered.

Er Mao craned his neck upon seeing him, sniffling as he called out, “Uncle Erling!” “I’m following Hu-zi and Gou-zi to the village chief’s house to see the new bride!”

“New bride? Is there a celebration at the village chief’s house?”

Huo Ling was puzzled. If there were festivities, he should have heard about them during his last trip down the mountain.

“Are you going to the wedding banquet by yourself? Aren’t your parents coming?”

Er Mao shook his head. “It’s not a banquet! We’re just going to see the new bride!”

The other two boys ahead, noticing Er Mao hadn’t caught up, stopped to call him. Er Mao, flustered, hopped about impatiently. Without waiting to see if Huo Ling understood, he took off running.

Huo Ling shook his head, thinking it was probably just kids playing and he’d misheard. He didn’t give it another thought.

Moments later, he arrived at his brother and sister-in-law’s home. His little niece, Huo Ying, was overjoyed and came running toward him with a “tap-tap.”

“Uncle!”

“Aye!” Huo Ling responded with a smile, setting down the antlers. He bent down, picked up the little girl, and gave her a little lift. “Let me see if you’ve gotten heavier.”

His brother and sister-in-law had been married for several years but had only one daughter, Huo Ying. Now four years old, she was the precious little treasure of the three adults in the household.

The little girl giggled happily at his coaxing, her two pigtails bouncing up and down on top of her head.

“Uncle, did you bring me any sweet treats?”

“The mountains are still barren this season—no sweet fruits yet. But Uncle brought you something else.”

Huo Ling, strong as an ox, held the four-year-old with one arm while his free hand rummaged inside his coat.

Soon he pulled out two plump, round pinecones—clearly chosen with great care, perhaps even one in a hundred. He let Huo Ying hold one in each hand.

“No sweet treats, but how about these pinecones?”

“They’re round nuts!”

Country children had few toys to play with, and since Huo Ying was so young, everything fascinated her. She raised her short little arms, holding the pinecones and examining them from every angle, never tiring of looking.

“I want to put them in my little box!”

“You can put them wherever you like.”

After a few more playful exchanges, Huo Ling told her to go down the hill to find Dager. Just then, Ye Suping, Huo Ling’s sister-in-law, came from the backyard, a small basket slung over her arm—likely heading out to gather eggs.

Seeing it was Huo Ling, she smiled warmly. “I figured you’d be coming down today. Put your things down and have some water. We’re making braised noodles with dried beans for lunch.”

Huo Ling called her “Sister-in-law” and asked where his brother had gone.

“He said he’d take a stroll through the fields first, then head to the butcher’s in Sanjia Village. He wants you to come down quickly so he can cut some meat for the pot.”

After saying this, she went into the kitchen to fetch water for Huo Ling. He didn’t want to trouble her, so he went in himself, one hand holding a bowl, the other the kettle. He tipped his head back and drank, gulping down two bowls.

By the wall in the courtyard, Dager was also drinking with his head down. The fur around his mouth got soaked, and when he shook his head, droplets splattered everywhere.

Huo Ying squatted nearby, not flinching, finding it rather amusing.

Before long, Huo Feng returned carrying a cut of marbled pork and several chopped pork shanks. He explained that these were the last pieces available and had been sold at a bargain price.

“You’re a lucky boy to have caught this meal.”

Ye Suping took the bones and meat, repeatedly praising the deal.

“Slice this pork and make a plate with noodles. Simmer the marrow bones with pickled cabbage. Once the broth is ready, I’ll stretch out a couple more handfuls of dough. We’ll have soup noodles again tonight.”

Since Huo Ling still had to go down the mountain to rest, he would also give money to the household for shared expenses. Ye Suping worried he didn’t get proper meals up on the mountain, so whenever he came down, she’d make a special meal with meat—either white noodles or rice—as a treat.

So early that morning, the couple got busy: one kneading dough, the other buying meat.

Huo Ying exclaimed happily, “Meat! Meat!”

Ye Suping went into the kitchen to prepare the meal, while Huo Feng called Huo Ling over. He mentioned that the family’s flatbed cart had broken down yesterday, and since both of them were free, they might as well take the opportunity to fix it.

Having not seen each other for some time, the brothers inevitably chatted while working.

Huo Feng learned that Huo Ling, having been off the mountain for so long, had long since finished the corn cakes and flatbreads brought from home last time. For the past while, he had been making do with porridge.

At best, he added an egg or occasionally set traps with Dager to catch a wild rabbit or something, throwing it into a quick stew. His brow furrowed at the thought.

“You’re not exactly incapable of cooking. Back home, you were quite diligent. Yet once you enter the mountains, you become slovenly and lazy. Not only do you neglect proper meals, but last time I visited, I saw the kang bed left unmade day after day, clothes and pants strewn about, dried mud patches left unwashed, and the stove platform covered in a layer of dust thick enough to leave a fingerprint.”

“I’m living alone. Why bother with all that fuss?”

Huo Ling spoke honestly. He was a rough-and-ready sort to begin with. After all that effort, he’d only be eating the meal himself. Why waste the trouble?

Folding the bedding was pointless since no one would see it, and he always thought it better to save a few extra clothes to wash together—why waste water otherwise?

“You always have an excuse!”

Mentioning this only made Huo Feng angrier.

“If you hadn’t stubbornly refused to come down the mountain to farm, insisting on staying up there as a mountain herder instead—with your strong build, good looks, and perfectly capable hands—you wouldn’t still be unmarried in your late twenties.”

“What decent girl or ger would want to go live like a wild man in the mountains with you? You may not fear bears, but they sure do!”

Huo Ling had heard similar complaints countless times over the years, honing his ability to let words go in one ear and out the other.

Though he did worry about when he might find a wife or husband, he knew that the moment he responded, his eldest brother would bring up the idea of his leaving the mountains to farm the land. So he stubbornly pretended not to hear.

In the end, it was Ye Suping who, after listening for a while, forgot to put down the knife she was using to chop vegetables. She stepped forward, knife in hand, to smooth things over.

“Second Brother is actually a hard worker. He just can’t muster the energy to tidy up in the mountains. Besides, he’s out in the hills for hours at a time every day. By the time he gets back, he can’t even catch a hot meal. If it were you, would you have the energy to sweep floors, dust rooms, and wash clothes all day long?”

With that, she addressed both Huo Feng and Huo Ling.

“Second Brother, I really don’t think we can delay your marriage any longer. I hear the county town has begun conscripting laborers to repair the city walls again. When the time comes, they’ll follow the usual practice—first drafting able-bodied young men from families with unmarried brothers. When it’s our turn, we’ll either have to send someone or pay a fine to avoid it. Either way, we lose. Why not put in the effort this year and get it done?”

Ye Suping’s words rang true—this had happened two years prior.

Back then, Huo Ling was just twenty. He’d scraped together a small nest egg from mountain-clearing work, but before it could even warm his hands, he’d had to fork over five taels of silver to buy his way out of corvée labor. Add in bribes for the middlemen handling the transaction, and it cost him well over eight taels—more than an ordinary family could earn in half a year of hard work.

The thought of going through that again made his liver tremble.

If marriage were truly that simple, why would he still be unattached?

He’d lost his mother at fifteen. Due to mourning, marriage talks didn’t begin until he was eighteen. Yet, as Huo Feng put it, he’d been bewitched by some strange force, insisting on living in the mountains. He’d taken up the mantle from his grandfather and father, continuing as a mountain hunter in Bailong Mountain.

The deep mountains were no paradise. Misfortune lurked around every corner—encounter a bear, and it would gnaw you to the bone. Moreover, Huo Ling’s father had died after falling from a tall tree during his mountain-travelling work.

What respectable family would willingly send their daughter to such a place? Even if she didn’t lose her life, becoming a widow would be a death sentence.

Less respectable families might “sell” their daughters for a dowry, but Huo Ling had no desire to marry into such households.

“We’ll discuss it later.”

After so many failed matchmaking attempts, Huo Ling couldn’t help but feel disheartened.

Seeing him press the matter no further, Ye Suping and Huo Feng exchanged a glance and dropped the subject.

At noon, a large bowl of braised noodles per person and a basin of pickled cabbage pork bone soup were served.

The noodles were made from mixed flour, though a handful of white flour had been added.

Paired with dried beans and pork slices stir-fried in lard, the dish was richly savory. The noodles were chewy and satisfying—shoveling down several big mouthfuls brought immense contentment.

Not much meat remained on the pork shank, but after gnawing it clean, one could slurp out the marrow inside. While eating, Huo Ling deliberately left some marrow behind, giving the rest entirely to Dager.

Dager’s teeth were far stronger than anyone’s. With two sharp bites, he crushed the shank, devouring every last bit inside and out.

Huo Feng couldn’t eat as fast or as much as Huo Ling, while Ye Suping and Huo Ying had long since put down their chopsticks.

When Huo Ling finished eating, he noticed his niece had been sent off to play elsewhere. His brother and sister-in-law were looking at him, as if they had something to say.

Recalling his sister-in-law’s words before the meal, Huo Ling’s gut told him they likely had new ideas about his marriage prospects.

As expected, Huo Feng and Ye Suping then took turns explaining their plans to Huo Ling.

Several counties within the Pass had suffered two consecutive years of severe drought, forcing many to become displaced migrants seeking livelihoods beyond the Pass. Changlin County had one advantage: its vast land and sparse population. It had always been quite accommodating to incoming migrants, allowing nearly all who arrived to settle.

Once in the city, these people were categorized. Those with families were the most stable and least likely to cause trouble. The county office allowed them to choose a place to settle and cultivate wasteland.

The county’s fertile land, encircled by mountains, ensured that anyone with hands and feet would never starve.

Single young men and women were mostly taken in by wealthy households as long-term laborers. Those who made it to the area alive were undoubtedly strong and healthy, able to work hard after eating their fill.

The landlords, with their vast tracts of prime farmland, could easily employ ten or twenty laborers per household without complaint.

The final category comprised young women and gers—some widowed by circumstance, others never wed—all entrusted to matchmakers in each township. They were guided to villages below to find suitable matches.

This was the simplest method of resettlement, conveniently soothing the restless hearts of bachelors who lay awake yearning for spouses.

“The village head received word some days ago and came specifically to warn us. He said if you haven’t come down from the mountains by the appointed time, he’ll come looking for you himself.”

“This time, the quota has been assigned to our village—both girls and ger. If you find someone suitable, you can take them home directly. Since they’re displaced people, their journey here was arduous. Just having their lives intact is a blessing. Don’t expect a dowry, and we won’t be asked to pay a bride price either. We just want to share our lives together.”

Skipping the dowry? For the menfolk, this was an opportunity worth fighting over. Huo Ling could already picture the crowd of men swarming around those few girls and ger, each vying for a glimpse.

No wonder so many people headed toward the Zhou household on the way back—likely to gather news, drawing even little kids like Er Mao along for the spectacle.

He had savings set aside for marriage, but they’d never been used. The dowry wasn’t the issue—it was finding the right person.

Seeing him silent for so long, Huo Feng’s eyelid began to twitch. “You’re not backing out, are you? The village chief has spoken. Even if you want to be stubborn, keep it to yourself.”

Huo Ling had wanted to say this sounded less like matchmaking and more like a slave trader peddling people. It felt deeply unsettling. Who knew if the person brought home would be sincere?

But matching displaced people with families wasn’t exactly unheard of. It was just that Shanshan Village was remote and poor, so it had never been their turn before.

When visiting other villages, he often heard stories of wives or husbands who had fled from disasters. To establish themselves here and survive, they all lived perfectly normal lives.

Such was the world—blind marriages still existed.

Even if there was a chance to meet beforehand, it was merely a glance—ensuring the person had a nose and eyes, no missing limbs—and the match was sealed. It was just a few more formalities than simply taking someone home.

Seeing his brother’s gaze grow increasingly insistent, Huo Ling couldn’t avoid it any longer. He could only say, “Fine, I’ll go. Whether it works out or not, I’ll see for myself first.”