My Villainess Is Definitely Not a Black Lotus - Chapter 2

Fu Jianxu struggled to convince herself Well, this is the situation. We can’t make either of them sleep on the floor, right? We can squeeze in… Besides, the young girl still looks like a child… I’ll just treat her like a younger sister.

Fu Jianxu stared blankly ahead, sitting motionless for a long moment.

No! She refused to believe that among all the people in the world, she was the one chosen for time travel. She abruptly sat up.

What if this is just a prank? Or maybe this is a film set? After all, time travel defies all scientific principles…

Refusing to give up, Fu Jianxu strode out of the courtyard and began walking down the village path.

She had barely taken a few steps when she encountered a lame old woman carrying a slop bucket as she emerged from the neighboring courtyard. The woman deftly emptied the contents into the biogas digester nearby. Catching sight of Fu Jianxu out of the corner of her eye, she casually greeted her, A’Xu, is your cold getting better? Have you eaten? Where are you off to in the middle of the day?

The old woman’s friendly greeting struck Fu Jianxu, a social anxiety sufferer, like a sudden thunderclap. Her fingers unconsciously tightened around the hem of her shirt. She dared not speak, fearing her body’s new occupant would be discovered yet she couldn’t remain silent, lest her unusual behavior arouse suspicion.

Lowering her head, she mumbled, I’m… much better. I’ve… eaten…

I saw Xiaoyu picking a bunch of wild vegetables this morning. Are you out of food at home? Aunt Fu, despite her limp, moved with surprising agility, grabbing the dazed Fu Jianxu by the arm. Come on, let’s go pick some cabbages from Aunt Chunhao’s garden.

Fu Jianxu stumbled as she was pulled along, not daring to resist Aunt Chunhao’s iron grip. She pursed her lips and reluctantly followed.

Inside the house, a lean, dark-skinned man was setting dishes on the table.

His face darkened further when he saw Fu Jianxu. Mom! Why did you bring Fu Jianxu home for dinner again?! he snapped.

Fu Jianxu lowered her head, meekly murmuring apologies while inwardly cursing the Original Host Damn it! Did the Original Host really come here for free meals all the time? How thick-skinned can you be?!

But there was good news too at least she now knew the Original Host shared her name, Fu Jianxu.

Oh, Xiaoxiao! Aunt Fu scolded as she pulled several crisp cabbages from the garden and stuffed them into Fu Jianxu’s arms. A’Xu and Xiaoyu are two women living alone it’s not easy for them. We should help when we can.

She turned and called into the house, Dazhuang! Dinner’s ready!

A tall, sturdy man emerged.

He had fair skin, sharp eyebrows, and bright eyes—a handsome face. So handsome, he almost looked… like a male lead?

But… the male lead? As a lesbian, she only read yuri novels. Where did this male lead come from?

Dazhuang, are you feeling better today? Aunt Fu set out the bowls and chopsticks, gesturing for them to sit down.

Thank you, I’m much improved, Dazhuang replied, lifting his robe to sit with a restrained nod.

Why does this guy seem so pretentious? Fu Jianxu thought, her lips twitching almost imperceptibly as she watched his elaborate movements.

But… Dazhuang? That name sounded familiar…

A sudden realization struck her, her eyes lighting up. I remember now! It all fits! Last week, my straight best friend was ranting about this ridiculously old-fashioned romance novel called After Picking Up an Amnesiac Prince.

She recalled the plot the female lead, disguised as a man, teams up with the wealthy young mistress to start a business, while also taking in the amnesiac male lead. The straightforward female lead names him Dazhuang.

She could still hear her friend’s anguished cry Listen to this! Dazhuang! What kind of male lead is named Dazhuang?! Does the author hate him or something?!

Then the female lead and the female supporting character teamed up with Dazhuang to fight against the villainous female supporting character and her awful relatives. The early chapters were said to be incredibly exciting as her friend described them with spittle flying, Fu Jianxu had stubbornly detected a faint, almost imperceptible romantic tension between the female lead and the young mistress female supporting character!

Refusing to eat when the food was practically being spoon-fed to her wasn’t her style. She had to see for herself just how compelling the cross-dressing female lead and the young mistress female supporting character’s interactions truly were.

As it turned out, their interactions were indeed compelling.

But then the male lead regained his memories, and the author’s actions felt like shoving a steaming mouthful of sh1t down her throat. The male lead’s enemies assassinated him, and to avoid revealing his whereabouts, he indirectly caused the deaths of the female lead’s entire family! Yet the author still forced a happy ending! The male lead packed up the female lead and the female supporting character together and took them home as concubines, while the readers in the comments section cheered, Forced love is so satisfying!

Satisfying? she wondered. How exactly is that satisfying?

Fu Jianxu had been so furious at the time that she’d cursed the author’s ancestors for eighteen generations.

Now, all for the sake of indulging in a CP, she’d not only been forced to swallow a mouthful of sh1t with unknown ingredients, but now she’d been directly transported to the very village where the story took place!

Fu Jianxu slapped her forehead. She finally realized where she was. But… she couldn’t recall any character named Fu Jianxu in the book.

And what was the female lead’s name again? Aunt Fu had just called her Xiaoxiao?

Xiaoxiao?

Fu Zhixiao! Fu Jianxu exclaimed, suddenly remembering.

What? The dark, skinny man—actually Fu Zhixiao disguised as a man—immediately glared at her suspiciously. I don’t have any money to lend you.

Haha, I’m not asking for money, not at all! Fu Jianxu stammered, her toes curling into the ground in embarrassment, forcing out a couple of awkward laughs.

Stop scheming, Fu Zhixiao warned, her eyes radiating skepticism. For the umpteenth time, she lectured, Treat Ji Xiaoyu well. You two need to make a good life together. My mother can’t take care of you forever.

Ha-ha, yes, I will, I will. Th-thank you for the cabbage, Aunt Fu. I’ll head home now, Fu Jianxu mumbled, clutching the cabbage as she shuffled toward the door. This kind of parental lecture was terrifying—cold sweat dripped down her back, as dreadful as being interrogated by her seven aunts and eight grandaunts during Lunar New Year!

Fu Jianxu slipped back to her courtyard like greased lightning, suddenly recalling Fu Zhixiao’s earlier words Xiaoyu? Ji Xiaoyu? That scrawny girl in our house is Ji Xiaoyu?

The Ji Xiaoyu from the original novel? The one who murdered her wife, framed the female lead, seduced the male lead, wreaked havoc for over a hundred chapters, and ultimately had her true nature exposed by the male lead before drowning herself in a lake?

Fu Jianxu was stunned. Could this bean sprout of a girl really be capable of such things?

Wait—murdered her wife?

Who? Wife? Her—Fu Jianxu?

Fu Jianxu Sweating buckets now…

Ji Xiaoyu stood by the door, frozen in the same posture as when she’d left. Seeing Fu Jianxu return with a dark expression, she lowered her head even further, wishing she could shrink into the wall’s cracks, terrified that Fu Jianxu would vent her anger on her.

Fu Jianxu took several deep breaths, forcing herself to shake off her shock. Noticing the girl still standing there like a fool, the untouched food on the table, and remembering the girl’s earlier stomach growls, she stepped forward and asked, Didn’t I tell you to eat? Why haven’t you touched it?

Ji Xiaoyu’s face remained blank. Let her eat?

A flicker of mockery crossed her eyes. Why repeat the same trick twice? Just days ago, this woman had said the same thing. Ji Xiaoyu had gratefully put the food in her mouth when Fu Jianxu, her face dark with anger, overturned the table, accused her of lacking respect for her wife-master, and beat her mercilessly with a table leg.

Her gaze fell on the table, now propped up with stones to compensate for its missing leg, leaving her with a limp. Her heart burned with irony, but her lips smoothly offered flattery Without you here, Wife-Master, I wouldn’t dare eat alone.

Fu Jianxu’s toes curled again, as if she had developed an allergy to the word Wife-Master, her voice rising in agitation D-don’t call me that!

As you wish, Wife-Master, Ji Xiaoyu replied smoothly, her tone utterly calm.

She couldn’t fathom what new game this woman was playing to amuse herself. After all, Fu Jianxu herself had insisted on being addressed as Wife-Master.

Fu Jianxu ……

Heaven only knew how much courage it had cost this extreme social anxiety sufferer to utter those words, Don’t call me Wife-Master! Her face flushed crimson, she stared at the girl’s numb expression, speechless, and could only sigh in resignation.

The two women stood in silent confrontation for a long moment.

Fu Jianxu glanced at Ji Xiaoyu’s arms, as thin as hemp stalks, then at the cold, untouched food on the table. Finally, she couldn’t help but speak, Let’s… let’s eat first.

With that, she sat down without waiting for a response, placed the large cabbage she had been cradling on the table, and picked up her chopsticks to shove a large handful of wild greens into her mouth.

Bitter… so bitter and rough. Her brow furrowed deeply as soon as the greens touched her tongue.

Seeing that Fu Jianxu showed no signs of violence today and seemed to be in a more normal mood, Ji Xiaoyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

With permission granted, she cautiously circled around the table to retrieve her bowl and chopsticks only after the woman had started eating. Suddenly, she caught sight of Fu Jianxu’s furrowed brow in her peripheral vision and froze, slamming her utensils onto the table. The rickety table, already unstable, couldn’t withstand the sudden force and tilted, sending the chopsticks rolling off the slanted surface and clattering to the floor.

Clang! Ji Xiaoyu’s heart leaped at the sound. She closed her eyes. Is she… is she finally going to hit me?

Fu Jianxu, who had been mechanically chewing the tasteless greens, choked at Ji Xiaoyu’s sudden movement. A mouthful of greens lodged in her throat, refusing to go down or come up, turning her face crimson as she frantically stood up and began hopping around like a circus monkey performing tricks.

After finally dislodging the foreign object from her throat, Fu Jianxu remembered the living, breathing audience beside her.

Instantly, her face flushed crimson, the blush spreading down her neck. She dared not meet Ji Xiaoyu’s eyes, retreating to her bed as if her feet were greased. In one fluid motion, she kicked off her shoes and wrapped herself completely in the quilt, cocooning herself from head to toe.

Meanwhile, Ji Xiaoyu squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the familiar sting of a slap or the sting of a scolding. But after a long wait, the expected pain never came. She cautiously cracked open one eye, only to see straw sandals scattered haphazardly on the floor and a bulging, uncommunicative silkworm on the bed.

I can’t eat anymore, a muffled voice rumbled from beneath the quilt. You eat it yourself.

Ji Xiaoyu’s mouth dropped open involuntarily. Had this woman taken the wrong medicine today?

Her chronically malnourished body lacked the energy for deep thought, and she no longer cared to decipher this fickle woman’s moods.

She was simply too hungry… She sat down, picked up the bowl, and shoveled rice into her mouth in large mouthfuls. As she ate, her eyes uncontrollably reddened, tears streaming down her cheeks and mixing with the coarse grains. She swallowed them down, forcing herself to keep eating.

The brown rice was dry and hard, grating against Ji Xiaoyu’s throat, which hadn’t tasted food in days. Yet she swallowed it down quickly, as if she felt nothing. She didn’t know what torturous methods the woman might have in store for her next, nor when she’d get another bowl of brown rice with so few wild greens mixed in.

So, even if the woman used this as an excuse to lash out, she would eat! She would eat her fill, eat until she was stuffed. She would make up for the half-year of deprivation in one go.

Huddled under the covers, Fu Jianxu pricked up her ears, listening to the faint clinking of bowls and chopsticks outside. When she realized the girl was finally eating, she let out a long, relieved sigh.

At least she’s willing to eat now. She finally understood why Ji Xiaoyu would later become the vicious villainess.

The girl didn’t even dare eat properly at home, looking perpetually starved and abused by her wife. Her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, and her stunted growth was a clear sign of malnutrition. How could she not feel inferior? How could her mind not become twisted?

If Fu Jianxu had endured such treatment, she’d probably have gone even madder and more completely insane than Ji Xiaoyu.

With a sigh, she thought, Poor girl.

Now she had become Fu Jianxu, the woman who had abused Ji Xiaoyu. She didn’t know how long she would have to stay in this era. When she recalled Ji Xiaoyu’s crazed state as she remembered killing Fu Jianxu in the original story, she couldn’t help but shudder. Well… no matter what, I can’t just stand by and watch her commit spousal murder.

Still… I’m here now, so I might as well make the best of it. Ji Xiaoyu’s many misdeeds in the original story stemmed from the seeds of evil planted by the original Fu Jianxu. She had not only inherited the original owner’s body but also the karmic debt she had left behind. Having taken her place, she had to nip these nascent buds of evil in the bud before they could bear bitter fruit.

Immediately, she began plotting how to use her culinary skills to reform the villainous female supporting character in her household and nourish this frail little sapling back to health.

Heaven knows how much it pained her, as a chef, to see a young girl so emaciated before her eyes! Black chicken stewed with yam to replenish qi and bl00d, beef and scrambled eggs for strength, red date and white fungus porridge to nourish the spleen and stomach…

A series of delicious and nutritious recipes flashed through her mind, as if she could already see Ji Xiaoyu’s cheeks flushed with health.

Suddenly, a thought struck her like a bolt of lightning, causing her to twitch violently in the dimness of the bed—she had transmigrated into a family so poor that their dinner table only held wild vegetables! How am I supposed to buy black chicken, beef, red dates, and white fungus?!

No money, no money… The most urgent thing right now is to earn some!

She remembered the novel had a fictional setting, so she wasn’t sure how restrictive this era was for women. But since her original body, as a woman, could openly marry a wife, the social customs couldn’t be too feudal, right? If she’d transmigrated to an era where women had their feet bound… No joke, she’d immediately find a tree to hang herself and start over!

At this moment, she was immensely grateful for her social anxiety and stubbornness. Because of her social anxiety, she couldn’t handle jobs that required a lot of emotional labor, forcing her to stay home and build her career online. And because of her stubbornness, fueled by a refusal to give up, she had relentlessly studied culinary arts and short-video marketing, mastering both and cultivating a social media account with millions of followers across the internet.

Heaven knows what use my English degree will be here… she thought. When Ji Xiaoyu goes berserk and tries to kill me, will I just say, Calm down?

The thought of that account, which had cost her countless hours of effort and had finally started earning money, made Fu Jianxu’s heart clench with pain. Waaah… My house! My car! My phone! My good pots! All gone! I’m back to square one!

It’s okay, it’s okay! You’re the best, Fu Jianxu! She mentally cheered herself on. With her culinary skills, she could start over anywhere. The worst-case scenario would be working as a kitchen assistant in a restaurant—at least she wouldn’t starve on the streets.

Still, she needed to quickly come up with a reason to explain her sudden change in temperament, using it to establish a new, more equal relationship with the future villainess of her family…

Just as she was thinking about the pitiful little girl, muffled groans drifted from outside the quilt, as if someone was enduring immense pain.

Fu Jianxu’s heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly threw back the covers to check on the situation.