My Wife is the Vicious Supporting Character from an Era Novel - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

◎Blisters◎

With Ji Wei’s prior communication with the village chief, Shen Niannian and Pan Hongxia were assigned to a separate plot of land to weed and had to finish before work ended. Lu Yan and the others were assigned to carry water. Although it didn’t smell like manure, the nearest river was a certain distance from the fields, and a few trips back and forth could exhaust a grown man.

Wen Miao was assigned to cut pig feed. Ji Baiqing went to look for her after she finished her own work. After wandering around most of the village, she finally saw her on the ridge of the field.

She was wearing a white dress with lotus-leaf trim, a dark blue cardigan over it, and her curled long hair was scattered on her shoulders. Her bare face was also exceptionally moving. She was just looking down, not knowing what she was doing.

Ji Baiqing’s heart skipped a beat. She strode forward and, before Wen Miao noticed, hooked her arm over her shoulder. “Wen Miao, what are you doing?”

Wen Miao was startled by the sudden appearance of someone. She relaxed only after hearing the familiar voice and pointed to something wriggling on a leaf. “A snail.”

Ji Baiqing clicked her tongue. “Didn’t you have to cut pig feed? Get to work.”

Wen Miao gave her a cunning smile. Her phoenix eyes, when they curved, looked like a fox’s, agile and beautiful. “I asked a few little ones to help me cut the pig feed.”

She opened her hand, and a piece of chocolate lay in her palm. “This is called chocolate. It’s a little bitter, and the middle is runny.”

Ji Baiqing took the chocolate without hesitation, her fingertips lightly grazing her soft palm. After peeling open the wrapper, she unintentionally glanced at her palm again and noticed the blisters.

The taste of the chocolate was instantly forgotten. Ji Baiqing swallowed it whole and carefully took the woman’s hand in her own with a pang of heartache. The fair and soft palm had several pale blisters. Ji Baiqing was a little annoyed. She should have known the villainess was a pampered young lady. It was her first time doing manual labor yesterday. How could she not have thought of this?

The body of someone who had never done rough work before would react more obviously than a normal person’s. She gently blew on Wen Miao’s palm and asked, “Does it hurt?”

Wen Miao was amused by her furrowed face and smiled lazily. “It’s actually not bad.” It definitely hurt a little. Her skin was too delicate. But as a person who had always been strong, she was not used to showing weakness in front of others, even though she had already admitted their friendship.

Ji Baiqing thought about the personality Wen Miao showed in the book and felt like she had a good grasp of her. She just sighed softly in her heart before speaking. “Let’s go to my house. I’ll pop the blisters for you. Otherwise, it will keep hurting.”

Hearing her say that, Wen Miao hesitated and pulled her hand behind her back. Looking at the slender woman’s clear eyes, she felt a little guilty and said slowly, “Let’s forget it. They should go away on their own in a few days.”

She seemed to be afraid of pain. Seeing the hints of fear hidden in Wen Miao’s eyes, Ji Baiqing came to this conclusion and was a little dumbfounded. Who would have guessed that the seemingly arrogant villainess from the original book was afraid of pain?

Ji Baiqing suddenly remembered that the villainess was domestically abused by a man in the later stages of the story, and she felt a momentary heart attack. She silently grabbed Wen Miao’s wrist and walked toward her house.

After sterilizing a needle over a flame, Ji Baiqing held her wrist tightly before finally speaking. “Sister, be a good girl. It won’t hurt too much, and if you don’t pop them, they’ll get worse later.”

Since she had said that, Wen Miao had no room to refuse. She could only turn her head away, trying not to look at the cruel scene.

After all the blisters on both her hands were popped, Ji Baiqing let out a sigh and covered them with crushed dandelion juice. As soon as she looked up, she could see Wen Miao’s eyelashes were wet from the pain. She soothingly stroked her hair. “Okay, stay in this position for now. Wait until the medicinal herb is dry before you move.”

After saying that, Ji Baiqing stared at Wen Miao’s face intently for a while and then sighed again. Wen Miao couldn’t stand her sighing. She rolled her eyes. “What are you doing?”

Ji Baiqing answered truthfully, “I just think Wen Miao, you seem to have a lot of bad luck.” She fainted on the first day she arrived in the countryside, had a fever on the second day, and now has blisters on her hands.

Wen Miao looked down at her hands full of green juice and said softly, “I’ll get used to it later, and this won’t happen.”

Ji Baiqing stared at her in shock, her voice rising. “How can you think that?!”

Wen Miao looked at her blankly. Was there something wrong with what she said?

“Your family background is obviously very good. Why do you have to force yourself to be like us country bumpkins?” Ji Baiqing found it unacceptable. How could Wen Miao come up with such an absurd idea?

Wen Miao didn’t know how to answer and was silent for a while. “But I’m already in the countryside. I can’t not go to work in the fields.” If she could, she wouldn’t want to be in the countryside. The difference between a pampered young lady and a disheveled educated youth was not small. But she could only be carried forward by the times. The only thing she could do now was to finish her work. If an educated youth didn’t work hard, they could be sent to a farm for reform, where life was even harder. Wen Miao didn’t want to go there.

Ji Baiqing felt sad again after hearing her words. She looked at Wen Miao with her melancholic eyes, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say. “Wen Miao, things will get better.” The villainess didn’t completely trust her now. Even if Ji Baiqing made a promise, she probably wouldn’t believe it, so Ji Baiqing could only suppress those thoughts in her heart.

She had to find a way to make Wen Miao’s life better and better, to let her go home and be her young lady again.

For a moment, the atmosphere between the two was stagnant. Wen Miao looked at her hands, which were now dry, and broke the silence. “Look, are they better now?”

Ji Baiqing held her fingertips and looked carefully. “Yes, but don’t wash it off yet.”

After saying this, she suddenly remembered the question from last night. “Oh, right, Wen Miao, have you thought about it? Do you want to come and live with me?”

Wen Miao looked at her expectant eyes. If she refused, would she start crying again? Thinking of this, she finally gave a different answer. “Ji Baiqing, I want to think about it for a few more days.” Although this answer disappointed Ji Baiqing a little, it was also expected. She nodded.

It took a lot of time to pop the blisters. Just then, someone knocked on the door. Ji Baiqing opened the door and saw a little girl in clothes full of patches, standing barefoot. She pointed to a large basket of pig feed behind her.

“Manman, why are you here?” The person was Li Man, the eldest daughter of Li Da Jiao from the end of the village.

“Sister, did you see the fairy sister?” Fairy sister? Was she talking about Wen Miao?

Ji Baiqing glanced at Wen Miao in the room. Wen Miao heard their conversation and also walked to the door. Looking at the tightly packed basket of pig feed, she smiled at the little girl. “Thank you.” Wen Miao’s hands still had the juice on them. She turned to the side and gestured for Ji Baiqing to grab a handful of candy from her pocket for Li Man. “Candy and cookies are fine. Don’t give her chocolate. The chocolate has a liquor filling, so kids can’t eat it.” She specifically reminded her.

A few pieces of crispy candy and two cookies were placed in Li Man’s palm. Li Man showed a toothless grin. “Thank you, fairy sister! Sister, can you find me to help you work tomorrow?”

Wen Miao couldn’t have been happier. “Of course.”

After getting the answer she wanted, Li Man scampered away.

Ji Baiqing looked at Wen Miao resentfully. “Why don’t you let me work for you, fairy sister? I can also work for you~” She mimicked Manman’s nickname for Wen Miao.

Wen Miao glared at her. “No. Give the kids a chance to earn some snacks.”

Ji Baiqing didn’t necessarily want to do Wen Miao’s work. She was just a little jealous when she saw that the woman was more patient with the child. She sulked for a while before she finally felt better.

For the next period of time, life was as normal. Wen Miao gave her daily pig feed-cutting work to Manman. The little girl’s family was also happy that she could get some food and drinks in exchange every day.

Wen Miao ate at Ji Baiqing’s house every day and also learned how to add firewood to the stove. When she had nothing to do, she would read and draw at Ji Baiqing’s desk. She only went back to the educated youth point at night.

Wen Miao just pretended not to see the eye rolls from Shen Niannian and Lu Yan. Ever since the five of them apologized to Wen Miao on the radio, giving the villagers a good show, they had disliked Wen Miao even more. But Wen Miao was used to being on her own and didn’t care about their behavior anyway… she had Ji Baiqing with her.

A few days ago was the Qingming Festival, which happened to coincide with heavy rain, so the Ji family didn’t have time to go to the graves. The policies had relaxed a lot in recent years. Everyone in Yunshui Village knew it tacitly and went to the mountain in secret.

Wen Miao was not a member of the Ji family, so she naturally didn’t have to go. She felt awkward staying at the Ji family’s house alone, so she took two mugwort sticky rice cakes that He Xiangyue had made and planned to go back to the educated youth point to eat.

When she returned to the educated youth point, she saw Pan Hongxia washing her hands with her soap under the eaves. After she was done, Fang Haiyang used it. She watched them secretly use her soap with a cold eye. When Fang Haiyang finally threw the soap into the soapbox, she suddenly spoke.

“Is my soap good?”

Fang Haiyang and Pan Hongxia were startled by her sudden voice. Logically, Wen Miao should not have been at the educated youth point at this time, or the two of them wouldn’t have dared to be so blatant.

Noticing that Pan Hongxia’s gaze fell on the female educated youth’s room and then immediately retracted, Wen Miao quickly went into the room and pulled open the slightly ajar door. Shen Niannian was wearing a red dress and wiping her face in front of the mirror.

She heard the sound at the door and just said, “Hongxia, can you get that vixen’s necklace for me?”

Tap, tap, tap.

The sound of small leather shoes hitting the ground rang out. Shen Niannian suddenly realized something was wrong. Usually, Pan Hongxia was quiet, but she would always respond to whatever she said. But today… She turned her head and her eyes widened in horror when she saw who it was. “Wen, Wen Miao, why are you back!”

Wen Miao pulled out a smile, looking at the charming face reflected in the mirror, and flattened her lips. “What’s wrong? Shouldn’t I be back? Did I interrupt your fun?”

“I thought I was living with educated youths from Beijing with good standing. I never thought I’d find out they’re just a bunch of mice who like to steal things.”

Shen Niannian was a little ashamed after hearing her words. Her eyes bulged as she glared at her. “Wen Miao, you’re too selfish!”

“You have so many good things. Why do you hide them and not share them with us? If we don’t use them, you’ll never be able to use them all! You should be thanking us.”

The other educated youths heard the commotion and also crowded at the door. Wu Yanqing already resented Wen Miao. After hearing Shen Niannian’s words, he agreed even more. He nodded like a chicken pecking rice. “That’s right, Wen Miao. You don’t fit in with us educated youths. You’re always with that country girl. If you let us use your good things, we might be able to accept you more.”

Wen Miao snorted coldly at his words and looked at the few of them. “Do you all think that way?”

Under her gaze, Pan Hongxia pursed her lips and nodded stiffly.

Lu Yan looked at her with a complicated expression and finally said, “Wen Miao, I won’t hold what happened before against you, but you should also know that you’re always too aggressive. It’s just using your soap. How much can it be worth? As for the clothes, just give them to Niannian since she wore them. You have so many anyway.”

Wen Miao tilted her head, and the expression in her eyes was unreadable. “If you like to share with others, then give your clothes to others. You don’t have to tell me what to do with my things. I’ll arrange them however I want.”

Lu Yan was instantly choked. “How could my clothes… No one else can wear my clothes.” Besides, Wu Yanqing and Fang Haiyang worked all day and sweated a lot. He was a little of a clean freak.

Wen Miao didn’t say anything more and started to count her things. Shen Niannian saw that she had quieted down and curled her lips, thinking she had been convinced and would no longer hold a grudge. She was instantly in a good mood. The other educated youths obviously thought the same way. After standing for a while and seeing that Wen Miao was not causing any more trouble, they dispersed.

Wen Miao always had a plan for her things. She had recorded all the items she had brought. After counting all of them, she found that many items were indeed missing. A bar of soap was gone, the snowflake cream that had only been used a little was now bottomed out, and several clothes and dresses were missing. She found four of them on Shen Niannian and one on Pan Hongxia. The pastries she had brought were also almost all gone. Fortunately, the box with her money and coupons was locked, and no one could open it.

She converted these items into money and finally threw a piece of paper in front of Shen Niannian and the others. At this moment, they were eating. Their bowls were full of rice, and the green vegetables looked even more appetizing.

A light piece of paper landed on the table. Lu Yan frowned and picked it up. His frown deepened. “This is so expensive. Why don’t you just rob us?!”