My Wife is the Vicious Supporting Character from an Era Novel - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

◎Precious Flashlight◎

After keeping Wen Miao at the Ji family’s house for dinner, Ji Baiqing sent her back to the educated youth point. After seeing her to the place, Ji Baiqing turned to leave, but Wen Miao called her name.

It was already dark, and the night was exceptionally deep. Fortunately, the moon was clear and bright, and its hazy light fell on Wen Miao’s beautiful face, making her skin appear even whiter, like a mesmerizing enchantress. She bit her lip and said with an unnatural, awkward tone, “Come in with me for a moment.”

Ji Baiqing obediently followed behind her. She watched as Wen Miao ignored the others, rummaged through her suitcase, and finally took out a silver flashlight, which she stuffed into Ji Baiqing’s hand.

Ji Baiqing was a little flattered and immediately tried to refuse. “Wen Miao, no, this… is too valuable.”

In this era, electronic products were in short supply. A common flashlight from the future would cost two industrial coupons and three to four yuan here. In the village, only the village chief had a flashlight.

Wen Miao glared at her and mumbled, “Just take it. It’s late now, so hurry back. If you don’t want it, just throw it away!”

After saying that, she turned her head away and didn’t look at Ji Baiqing anymore.

She has such a temper.

Ji Baiqing’s lips curved into a smile. She coaxed her, “Alright, I’ll take it. Don’t be angry, Wen Miao.”

“See you tomorrow.”

She knew Wen Miao was concerned about her, so she couldn’t be so ungrateful as to refuse.

When she got home, He Xiangyue looked at the shining flashlight in her hand and took it with great interest.

“Where did you get this?”

Ji Baiqing answered truthfully, “Wen Miao gave it to me because she was afraid it would be unsafe for me to walk back alone.”

“Oh, that child has a good heart!”

Ji Baiqing nodded in agreement, feeling like she had finally found a kindred spirit.

After He Xiangyue finished looking at it, she immediately took the flashlight back and put it away as if it were a treasure.

Before going to bed, Ji Baiqing specifically asked Ji Wei to talk to the village chief tomorrow to give Wen Miao an easier job. Ji Wei agreed.

With the warning from the first day, the educated youths arrived at the warehouse early the next day for work. After they signed in, she felt her brow twitch when she heard the village chief tell Wen Miao to go with the other female educated youths to pull weeds.

She looked at Wen Miao, who had her long eyelashes lowered and didn’t say anything. She sighed and gave her a fried egg pancake before she went to the fields. It was a coarse grain pancake, but it was fried until it was crispy, and with one bite, it filled her mouth with a delicious aroma.

After everyone had signed in, she went to the fields to check on Wen Miao.

Shen Niannian and the others were assigned to the bean field today. The beanstalks climbed up the bamboo poles, and long green beans hung down in a twisted shape, growing well. Similarly, after a few days of rain, there were a lot of weeds in the field. There were also a few aunties assigned to the same field. Ji Baiqing immediately saw Shen Niannian and Pan Hongxia chatting with the aunties and slacking off, while Wen Miao was all alone on the other side, focused on pulling weeds.

The weather was nice today, and the sun had come out early. By now, it was getting a little hot. Wen Miao’s pale cheeks quickly turned red, and she looked a little pitiful. Ji Baiqing felt a pang of sympathy. She had just been sick yesterday, and now she was out in the sun.

She quietly walked to Wen Miao’s side and squatted down next to her. “Wen Miao, did you eat breakfast?”

The warm breath on her earlobe startled Wen Miao. Her sensitive earlobes quickly turned red. She glared at Ji Baiqing in annoyance, which made her eyes look even more lively.

“You scared me to death!”

Ji Baiqing laughed softly, thinking she was adorable. She used her clean hand to tuck the wet hair on her cheek behind her ear. “I’m sorry.” She was very quick to apologize.

Noticing that her clothes pocket was bulging, she whispered, “You eat breakfast first. I’ll work for you for a while.”

Hearing this, Wen Miao didn’t refuse and took out the pancake to eat slowly. Ji Baiqing watched her intently for a while and didn’t notice that Wen Miao’s earlobes were slowly turning red. She suddenly thought of something and handed her her thermos bottle.

“It has goji berries and red dates. If you feel thirsty, take a sip.”

Wen Miao took it and hesitated for a moment before asking, “Have you used it?”

Ji Baiqing nodded, not thinking anything was wrong with it. In her past life, she saw videos with the hashtag ‘BFFs’ where girls were very close. Holding hands to go to the bathroom was normal, not to mention that girls would also drink from the same cup and share the same ice cream. Some girls who were even closer would kiss each other.

Ji Baiqing was a clean freak and was used to being a loner. She had never done anything so intimate with anyone before. But now that she had transmigrated into the book, when she thought about doing these things with Wen Miao, her cleanliness seemed to disappear. Instead, she looked forward to being as close as the girls in the videos.

After Wen Miao heard her admit it, her cheeks became even hotter. Her eyelashes fluttered, looking like the wings of a butterfly trying to take flight. Her shy expression was also a little alluring. She felt that Ji Baiqing was being too much. How could someone who wasn’t even together yet ask her to use the same water bottle? But if she didn’t use it, Ji Baiqing would probably feel hurt. And the egg pancake was a little dry, so she was indeed thirsty.

Wen Miao’s mind was a mess, but in the end, she unscrewed the lid and took a small sip. The water probably had sugar in it, as it was a little sweet.

Seeing her drink in small sips, Ji Baiqing thought of a kitten licking water with its tongue. She also felt a little thirsty. She turned her head and squinted at Wen Miao.

“Wen Miao, let me have a sip. I’m a little thirsty.”

Wen Miao couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What did you say?”

Ji Baiqing gave her a pleasing smile. “I’m a little thirsty~ Just let me have a sip, Wen Miao.”

Ji Baiqing had been taking care of her for the past two days, and this was the first time Wen Miao had heard her talk to her in such a coquettish tone. A youthful charm instantly appeared on her beautiful face. She was stunned for a long time. Only after Ji Baiqing urged her did she turn the thermos bottle around and press it against her pink lips, feeding her a drink.

The unspoken ambiguous atmosphere between the two didn’t last long. Shen Niannian was chatting with the aunties in a loud voice and then didn’t hear any movement from Wen Miao’s side. She looked up and saw that Wen Miao was not isolated as she had expected. She was even eating a delicious-looking pancake and wasn’t working. Shen Niannian became completely unbalanced.

She stood up abruptly, her voice rising. “Wen Miao, why are you being lazy and not working!”

Her shout pierced through the sky. The surrounding aunts and uncles heard her words and immediately looked at Wen Miao and them. After a moment of silence, someone immediately pointed at Wen Miao and began to talk amongst themselves.

Wen Miao’s first reaction was one of helplessness. After making eye contact with Ji Baiqing, she realized her unconscious dependence on her and immediately looked away in a panic. She squinted at Shen Niannian, and her red lips slightly parted.

“Shen Niannian, I haven’t even said anything about you and Pan Hongxia and the other aunties slacking off, and you’re already barking just because I’m taking a break to eat breakfast?”

“I don’t do much work, but how much work have you done? I get work points for how much I do, so if you think I’m doing too little, you can give me fewer work points. I don’t mind. But if you’re working so slowly…”

Wen Miao looked at Ji Baiqing. “Recorder, what do you say? Should their work points be deducted?”

“The aunties who are with Shen Niannian are also slow. Should their work points also be deducted?”

Work was scarce during this time, and everyone in the village knew that. Who wouldn’t want to spend the whole day lounging around to get full work points? Now that Wen Miao had pointed it out, everyone’s faces looked bad, and their gazes toward Shen Niannian and the others became unfriendly.

Ji Baiqing stood up, her voice clear. “Educated Youth Wen isn’t being lazy. I just saw that she hadn’t eaten breakfast, so I told her to rest. I’ll do her work for a while. Aunt Wang, do you have a problem with that?”

Aunt Wang was the one who had been chatting with Shen Niannian the most. When she heard Ji Baiqing’s words, she immediately nodded and said repeatedly, “No, no!”

“Everyone, get back to work.” After Ji Baiqing’s words fell, everyone lowered their heads and didn’t dare to say anything more.

Aunt Wang also took the opportunity to glare at Shen Niannian, muttering, “You talk too much. You just had to go and cause trouble!”

Shen Niannian lowered her head and didn’t say anything, but a look of resentment flashed across her face, not very clear in the dazzling sunlight.

After standing up for Wen Miao, Ji Baiqing squatted down again. After a while, Wen Miao also squatted down. The beanstalks were tall and lush, and the shadows they cast blocked some of the sunlight.

Looking at Wen Miao’s face, which was flushed from the sun, Ji Baiqing felt a little heartbroken and muttered, “I should have brought you a hat.” Her voice was low, and Wen Miao didn’t hear clearly. She leaned her ear forward and asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”

Ji Baiqing shook her head and changed the subject. “Tomorrow, why don’t I ask the village chief to assign you to cut pig feed with the kids? It’s much easier than working in the fields, but you only get three work points a day.”

Field work earned eight work points or more. Work points would be converted into food and money at the end of the year. Hearing this, Wen Miao’s eyes lit up. She asked in a low voice, “Can I?”

Her family was well-off, and her grandmother used to be a secretary for a founding father. If it weren’t for her scumbag father, Li Wenyu, and his treacherous plot, she wouldn’t be in the countryside suffering. She naturally didn’t care about the small amount of work points she would get every day.

Ji Baiqing’s heart melted when she saw her bright eyes. Her voice unconsciously softened a little. “Of course, you can.”

If her hands weren’t covered in dirty mud, she would have reached out to pinch Wen Miao’s cheeks. She still remembered the soft feeling from last time.

As usual, they went to Ji Baiqing’s house for lunch. This time, before going, Wen Miao went back to the educated youth point to get some things.

When she was about to leave, she happened to run into Fang Haiyang and the others who were coming back with their shirts off. They had also been carrying manure today. Wen Miao smelled the stench from a distance and frowned, pinching her nose. Her phoenix eyes were full of disgust as she looked at them.

When Lu Yan saw her reaction, he felt a little embarrassed and angry. He snorted coldly and said, “Don’t think I’ll fall for your playing hard to get. I don’t even want to look at a pretty but useless woman.”

Fang Haiyang and Wu Yanqing stood behind him with their arms crossed, watching the show.

Wen Miao’s expression became even uglier after hearing his words. She pinched her nose and said sullenly, feeling a little confused, “I don’t like men who smell bad, either. It’s like you all fell into a cesspool!”

After she said that, the three men’s faces immediately looked terrible. How did this woman know that they had slipped and fallen into the cesspool today?!