"I found Wan'er by the river.
It was a very ordinary afternoon. My father and I were hoeing the dry land at the foot of the back mountain. Suddenly, it started to rain heavily, and we hurriedly ran back home from the field.
When passing by the river at the foot of the mountain, I saw clothes floating down from upstream. At first I thought someone was washing clothes upstream and the river was pulling the clothes away.
But when we looked closely, we found that it was a girl. We were terrified at the time, thinking that it was a girl who had fallen into the water while washing clothes.
Human life was at stake, so I didn't think much about it at the time and jumped off the small bridge to intercept her.
Because of the rain, the river became very turbulent, and my father and I had a hard time rescuing her to shore.
Only then did we realize she wasn't a girl from our village. She was unconscious, but fortunately still breathing. It was raining so hard that we had no choice but to carry her back home in the rain.
That day, when Tian Mingwu and his son carried An Wan back home, it was raining heavily and all the doors and windows in the village were closed. They ran all the way back without being seen by anyone.
Tian Mingwu's mother was also a refugee who was taken in by Old Man Tian. She felt very sympathetic towards An Wan, who had also suffered a disaster. She took care of her personally for three days and asked Tian Mingwu's father to go to the county town to sell food and buy medicine to wake her up.
When An Wan just woke up, she was very wary of the Tian family. For several months, she didn't say a word to them and never left the Tian family's courtyard, which made them think she was a mute.
Although she was silent, she would help Tian Mingwu's mother with some housework. However, she was not very good at housework and often made things worse by being clumsy.
Tian Mingwu's mother was a very kind and patient woman. Not only did she not blame her, she also taught her how to do things carefully.
Although An Wan didn't speak, she learned from her very seriously. However, she was very shy and would not see anyone except the people from the Tian family. If any neighbors came to visit, she would hide in the house in advance.
This resulted in her living in the Tian family for several months without outsiders noticing that there was an extra person in the family.
An Wan was very beautiful and had fair skin. Even when she wore Tian Mingwu's mother's coarse linen clothes, it was difficult to conceal her elegant demeanor. She did not look like a girl raised in a farming family at all.
The people of the Tian family originally thought that she was a lost daughter from a wealthy family in the county, and wanted to ask for her address and send her back.
But when they asked her name or where she lived, she just shook her head, and started crying when they asked her too much.
When Tian Mingwu saw her crying, he became anxious and forbade her parents to mention sending her away. So An Wan stayed in the Tian family.
The first time An Wan spoke was because the Tian family had to pay taxes.
The weather was bad that year and the crops were not good. As the tax payment date was approaching, the Tian family was so anxious that they couldn't sleep all night. Tian Mingwu and his father planned to go to the county dock to carry bags for people to make money.
Carrying a bag is very hard work. Even a strong man with excellent physical strength would be exhausted, not to mention that Tian Mingwu was just a little boy.
But if they couldn't pay the taxes, they would have to serve in the military, and for farmers like them who knew nothing, military service meant going there and never coming back.
An Wan heard outside the door that Old Man Tian was going to take Tian Mingwu to carry the bags. She was so anxious that she pushed the door open and spoke out in a hurry. She said that she could embroider and could embroider purses to help them make money. She wanted Old Man Tian not to take Tian Mingwu to carry the bags.
Her voice was very pleasant and gentle, but the three people present were stunned when they heard her speak.
Tian Mingwu looked at her in disbelief, "Aren't you mute?"
An Wan had no choice but to lie to them. She said she only knew her name was Wan'er and didn't remember anything else. She pretended not to be able to speak because she was afraid they would kick her out.
The naive boy Tian Mingwu believed it without even thinking about it.
Old Man Tian was indeed cautious, but Tian Mingwu didn't give him a chance to ask An Wan.
The young Tian Mingwu finally followed Old Man Tian to carry the bag.
But An Wan, who stayed at home, also asked Tian Mingwu's mother to go to the town to buy needles, thread and cloth for her.
During that period, An Wan embroidered purses day and night. Tian Mingwu's mother took the purses to an embroidery shop to sell as she asked, and she made a lot of money. She raised enough money to pay the taxes in advance and brought Tian Mingwu and his son back home.
When Tian Mingwu came back, he was as thin as a monkey, which made An Wan feel so distressed. The two of them interacted more often.
An Wan, who used to be a very quiet person, would always talk to Tian Mingwu after he came back from working in the fields, and later she even taught him to read.
Tian Mingwu's parents watched the interaction between the two, and since their son was not young anymore, they became interested.
While Tian Mingwu was out working, his mother asked An Wan for her opinion in both open and covert ways.
Although An Wan had some feelings for Tian Mingwu, she always remembered her identity. She still wanted to go home, but didn't want to make the Tian family sad, so she pretended not to understand and kept dragging it out.
Until the following year, not a drop of rain fell for the entire year. The rivers dried up, the land cracked, the crops failed, and even wild vegetables could not grow on the mountains. It seemed that the Tian family’s food reserves were almost gone.
In order for the children to survive, Tian Mingwu's mother quietly saved her own food rations for Tian Mingwu and An Wan.
By the time they found her, she had already starved to death at the foot of the mountain.
The remaining three people successfully survived the natural disaster. An Wan believed that it was because of her appearance that Tian Mingwu's mother starved to death. If she had not appeared, their food should have been just enough to last them, and Tian Mingwu's mother would not have died.
Feeling guilty, she thought of Tian Mingwu's mother's dying wish, and went to find Old Man Tian and said that she was willing to marry Tian Mingwu.
It was only later that Tian Mingwu found out what his parents were thinking, and he thought An Wan agreed to marry him out of guilt.
He then found her in private and asked her what she thought, telling her not to feel guilty. He knew he was not worthy of her, and if she didn't want to, he would treat her as his sister and would not drive her away.
Originally, An Wan was somewhat reluctant, but Tian Mingwu's behavior dispelled her reluctance.
From that moment on, Tian Mingwu was the person she had chosen, and when she returned, she would definitely bring Tian Mingwu back with her.
But she didn't expect that later Tian Mingwu went back, but she herself couldn't go back.
Although An Wan agreed to marry Tian Mingwu, the Tian family was penniless at that time and the two were still young. Tian Mingwu did not want to let her down, so the two did not rush into the marriage.
Later, after he had finally saved up some money, a matchmaker came to propose marriage to Old Man Tian.
Old Man Tian didn't want to agree at first, but he considered that after An Wan married Tian Mingwu, if she gave birth to a child, she would need someone to help her and take care of her during the confinement period.
She was young and didn't understand many things. Neither did the two grown men. There was no mother-in-law at home to teach her. She didn't know what to do alone, so she asked for their advice.
The two of them felt that their mother was gone and their father would be lonely living alone, so they agreed.
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