To Be the Male Lead's Deceased First Wife in a Historical Chinese Exam-focused Novel - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Too Close…

After a comfortable bath and putting on dry, clean clothes, Yan An felt that if she could lie down on a soft bed right now, her life would be perfect.

She tried to lift the wooden tub to pour out the water, but…

“Heh.”

Yan An stared intently at the tub.

“When I have money, I’m going to build a dedicated bathroom!” she thought. “Then I won’t have to move this tub around, and I can just pour the water out after a bath!”

She walked out and saw Wen Ying’s back as she hung clothes in the last light of the sunset. The scene, with the dark, misty blue and orange colors in the sky, was as beautiful as a silhouette painting.

Yan An watched quietly. When she read the novel, she only saw a superficial glimpse of the story. Who knew how much effort the real Wen Ying had to put in to reach the ending in the book?

Wen Ying finished hanging the clothes and turned around. She saw Yan An quietly leaning against the door frame. She was stunned for a moment, then said naturally, “You must be tired. Go and lie down on the bed. I’ll massage you later.”

“Okay,” Yan An replied, turning and going back to the room. She lifted the blanket and lay down.

Wen Ying went into the room, carried the tub out, and returned a moment later. She pulled her hair back and saw that Yan An was already lying on her stomach on the bed.

Wen Ying knew that Yan An must have been exhausted these past two days. As she massaged her, she tried her best to relax her muscles and prevent them from getting too sore.

Yan An let out a small yawn. The room was already very dim. Only after her eyes had adjusted to the darkness could she barely make out some of the outlines.

“Okay, you lie down. I’ll massage you,” Yan An said.

It wouldn’t be right to always let Wen Ying massage her without returning the favor.

Wen Ying’s hands stopped. “There’s no need.”

Yan An immediately sat up, displeased. “Just lie down when I tell you to. Why do you have to be so difficult?”

Sometimes, talking to Wen Ying felt very tiring. She always refused when Yan An asked her to do something and only complied after being told repeatedly.

Hearing Yan An’s slightly unhappy tone, Wen Ying pursed her lips. Finally, without a word, she turned and lay down on her stomach. “Just a simple massage is fine.”

“I know what to do. Stop talking,” Yan An grumbled. Using the rough outlines, she placed her hands on Wen Ying’s shoulders and began to massage her.

But as she massaged, she felt it wasn’t quite right.

She moved from sitting on the side to straddling Wen Ying. Her arms were finally in a position to apply force.

Wen Ying’s heart tightened. Her hands instinctively gripped the blanket, and she deliberately slowed her breathing, as if she was afraid that her breathing would be too obvious and disturb something.

Although Yan An was sitting above her and not touching her body, Wen Ying still felt uncomfortable with this kind of closeness.

“Too close…”

Yan An had no idea what was going on in Wen Ying’s mind. She massaged Wen Ying’s back for a while, and when her own arms began to ache and lose strength, she stopped.

“Okay, let’s go to sleep,” Yan An said, yawning.

She had been dozing off while massaging Wen Ying and had only been holding on with a forced effort.

“Mmm,” Wen Ying gently hummed.

Yan An rolled off Wen Ying and lay down beside her. She pulled the blanket up and covered herself. Her tired mind quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Wen Ying remained on her stomach, listening to Yan An’s faint, almost silent breathing. Her thoughts began to drift.

The quiet room was suddenly broken by the sound of turning over. Wen Ying turned her head and saw that the person who had been sleeping with her back to her was now lying on her back. At the same time, one of her arms was outside the blanket, a clear outline even in the darkness.

Wen Ying gathered her thoughts, rolled over to face Yan An, and gently put her arm back under the blanket. After checking that there were no other uncovered spots, she covered herself and fell into a deep sleep.

The neighbor Aunt Li’s rooster crowed again. Yan An groggily stretched and turned her head. She saw the exact same situation as yesterday.

She blinked lightly in a daze, yawned, and sat up. She guessed that Wen Ying had gotten up early again to pick wild vegetables.

Yan An: “…”

How was she able to get up so early after a whole day of heavy physical labor? Yan An herself felt her sleep quality was better than ever. She slept so soundly she didn’t want to get up at all.

She hadn’t even been woken by Wen Ying getting up.

She sighed softly, deciding to talk to Wen Ying about this when she returned. Wen Ying was only seventeen or eighteen years old and was still growing. It wasn’t healthy to not get enough sleep.

She got up and washed. She swept the courtyard once, but Wen Ying still hadn’t returned. Yan An looked at the sky, went into the kitchen, and decided to make breakfast herself. That way, Wen Ying could eat as soon as she returned.

“Well, at least there are still some vegetables left from Aunt Li’s, enough for one breakfast,” she thought.

But…

Yan An squatted on the ground, holding two pieces of flint and copying Wen Ying’s movements from yesterday. But no matter how she struck them, she could only see a few sparks from time to time. And because she couldn’t time it right, the sparks didn’t land on the dry grass below.

Yan An: “…”

“Okay,” she thought. “I get it. Without Wen Ying, I’m going to starve.”

Yan An angrily threw the two pieces of flint down. “When I have money and can use a tinder stick, who would even look at you? Are you bullying me?”

She took a deep breath and walked out of the kitchen. She saw that the weather was nice today, so she took the clothes that had been washed and dried last night and brought them into the house. Then she took out the blanket from the bed to air it out in the sun. A blanket that had been in the sun for a while was much more comfortable to use.

After all of that, she walked to the courtyard gate and looked out into the distance. South Cliff Village was surrounded by mountains on three sides. Yan An didn’t know which mountain Wen Ying had gone to and couldn’t see her anywhere.

“Are wild vegetables that hard to pick today?” she wondered to herself. She then went back into the study and wanted to look at the books the original owner had left behind.

Actually… these were very valuable.

Yan An cleared her throat. Even if she sold just one book, she could get two or three taels of silver. With that money, the family’s situation would improve significantly.

But… before, no matter how hard the original owner and Wen Ying’s lives were, they had never thought of selling the books. Now that Yan An had taken over, it was even harder to suggest it. Not to mention, Wen Ying would need these books if she were to study in the future.

Yan An looked at the stack of books, a look of immense regret on her face.

She felt that even if she couldn’t sell them, couldn’t she at least go to Yi Shuhua and pawn a few books she didn’t have for a couple of taels of silver? When they had money, they could redeem the books. Yi Shuhua would have also finished reading them by then, so it would be a win-win situation!

With that in mind, and thinking about how poor the family was, Yan An felt this was a method she could discuss with Wen Ying to see if it was feasible.

Anyway, she had already lost her memory and didn’t know how to read or write. So what was the point of a worthless xiucai title? She wasn’t going to take the imperial exams anyway.

Yan An made up her mind to pawn some books for money. She could then buy more seeds to plant or buy some chicks. When they grew up, they could eat eggs. She had to improve the family’s life first!