To Be the Male Lead's Deceased First Wife in a Historical Chinese Exam-focused Novel - Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Provoking a Spousal Dispute

The kitchen was completely silent. Yan An looked at Wen Ying’s gentle expression and suddenly felt a lump in her throat.

“What kind of life did she have before that would make her feel like she had a home just by simply living with someone?”

In Yan An’s opinion, at least, she would never call a shared apartment a “home.” A home, in her mind, had a clear definition.

A place with love that made one feel secure could be called a home.

But now, facing Wen Ying’s eyes that were filled with a soft, warm smile and a glimmer of expectation, Yan An couldn’t bear to tell Wen Ying the correct definition of a home. She also couldn’t bear to break her current perception.

“Mmm, you have a home now. This home will get better and better in the future,” Yan An said firmly, taking a deep breath. “When this home gets better, and Wen Ying can fly to a wider sky, if she still considers me family, I naturally won’t refuse.”

Hearing Yan An say that, the layer of numbness on Wen Ying’s face completely faded. She gave Yan An a slightly bright, light smile.

It was the first time she had smiled so genuinely.

Yan An looked at her and pursed her lips. She even felt that it was a little dazzling. She couldn’t bear it and turned her gaze to the side, not daring to look at her again. She felt a闷-like ache in her heart.

“What’s wrong with her? Why is she so easily satisfied? Don’t you know that girls who are too easily satisfied are easy to be deceived!”

Yan An mumbled to herself. But thankfully, Wen Ying was the female lead. Although she had faced many setbacks, she seemed to be quite vigilant and never really trusted anyone easily. She had never been deceived.

“Hmm…”

Thinking of this, Yan An looked at Wen Ying with some suspicion. She began to wonder if Wen Ying was just putting on a show for her. “In the novel, she didn’t even let her guard down with anyone. Even with the Ninth Princess, whom she was mutually in love with, Wen Ying didn’t show this kind of expression.”

Yan An, who couldn’t figure it out, didn’t think about it anymore. “No matter what, this family still largely depends on Wen Ying. What reason does she have to show weakness to me?”

“You take the pancakes out. The porridge will be ready soon,” Wen Ying said.

Considering that they couldn’t just eat oily pancakes for dinner, Wen Ying had also made some wild vegetable porridge to cleanse the palate.

“Mmm, okay.” Yan An took the pancakes out, then came back in to get the bowls and chopsticks, and walked into the courtyard with Wen Ying.

If there were more people living here, the courtyard would seem a little crowded, but with only her and Wen Ying, the entire courtyard seemed extremely spacious. The vegetable seeds they had planted had already sprouted, and the fast-growing ones would be ready for harvest in about half a month. By then, they would have fresh vegetables to eat.

A slightly cool evening breeze blew. Yan An sat in the courtyard, drinking the hot wild vegetable porridge. The weather was getting colder and colder now, and the wild vegetables they could gather were much fewer. Fortunately, their family situation had improved a lot, otherwise, with so few wild vegetables, they might have starved to death before winter came.

“Tomorrow, I’ll let those chickens out to peck for food on their own,” Wen Ying said, listening to the soft chirping of the chicks from the coop. She felt a sense of security.

After no longer living a hand-to-mouth existence, she needed to have more visible and tangible things in the house to make her feel more secure, so they wouldn’t fall back into the same difficult situation as before.

And this group of chicks could bring her a lot of comfort. When the chicks grew up, they and Yan An would surely not be able to eat all the eggs they laid. By then, they could sell the eggs and add another source of income to the family.

“Mmm, we should watch them carefully so no dog snatches them,” Yan An nodded. These chickens still needed to be let out from time to time to the open space outside to catch insects on their own. This would provide them with both nutrition and exercise, and the free-range chicken would taste great!

Hearing her words, Wen Ying felt that she must be holding a grudge against that little black dog she didn’t know who it belonged to. The last time she let the chicks out, that little black dog almost took one of them. It was Yan An, who was not far away, who threw a rock at it to scare it away.

Thinking of this, she chuckled silently. But even though the dog was scared away, Yan An still felt wronged. She felt that when a person was down and out, even a dog would come to bully her. Their family was already poor, and if another chick was taken, it would be even worse.

“What are you laughing at?” Yan An looked at her strangely, hearing her laughter.

Wen Ying didn’t say anything. She just smiled and shook her head at Yan An.

Yan An looked away, feeling a little speechless. She thought Wen Ying was strange sometimes, laughing inexplicably for no reason.

“Hmm…”

However, compared to the way she was when she first met her, Yan An still felt that the current Wen Ying was much more pleasant to look at.

Speaking of which, she had already been in this world for over half a month without even realizing it. It was early November now. As the temperature gradually dropped, Yan An was still not used to the heating methods here, but she had adapted well to the rest of her life.

“Hmm… walking for such a long time is still a little uncomfortable.”

Yan An felt a little bitter. She had to walk so far to get to town now. If she found a job in the city, she couldn’t possibly take the ox cart back and forth every day, could she? That would be a considerable amount of money.

After dinner, Yan An was the first to take a bath. After she was done, she rolled onto the bed and faced the wall so that she wouldn’t see Wen Ying when she took a bath later.

“It’s so much trouble to have to run outside every time the other person takes a bath. Later, Yan An simply decided to turn her back and not look. Isn’t that better?”

“The weather isn’t too cold yet, but when it really gets cold, having to go outside every time after taking a bath is just torture!”

After Wen Ying took a bath, she got into bed and said to Yan An, “Are your feet uncomfortable? Do you have blisters?”

Hearing her voice, Yan An turned over to face her and nodded. “They hurt a little, but they don’t hurt now that I’m not touching them.”

Hearing her say that, Wen Ying came to the foot of the bed and lifted the blanket to check Yan An’s feet. Yan An’s feet were fair and delicate, but now the base of her toes was a little red. Although there were no blisters, the skin there would surely peel off later.

“Try to walk as little as possible in the next few days. I’ll buy some cloth and soles to make you a more comfortable pair of shoes another day,” Wen Ying said as she put the blanket back on.

“You can do that, too!” Yan An looked at her in surprise. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

She felt that Wen Ying could do anything! She could alter clothes and make shoes, she was like a jack-of-all-trades.

Wen Ying lay down next to her and chuckled softly at her words. “I don’t know how to read. I can’t do anything that involves writing.”

Yan An: “…”

“Okay, it seems this person’s biggest disadvantage is not being able to read. If only she could read, her life wouldn’t be like this.”

“Then you’ll learn soon,” Yan An said.

When winter came and everyone was not busy, Wen Ying could go to Teacher Yi’s place for lessons. With Wen Ying’s talent, she would probably get the hang of it quickly.

After all, in the novel, after Yi Shuhua taught her how to read, she read all the books the original owner had left behind and made the knowledge her own.

“Mmm. After I learn from Teacher Yi, I’ll come back and teach you,” Wen Ying’s voice was gentle. Her eyes were fixed on Yan An. They lay in bed like this, chatting.

Hearing Wen Ying say that, Yan An suddenly smiled secretly. “Then Teacher Yi is at a big loss.”

She didn’t get anything in return, and she was teaching two people for the price of one.

With the last bit of daylight, Wen Ying could barely make out Yan An’s expression. Seeing her smiling like a cat that had just stolen some fish, she thought she was cute.

“Oh, right,” Yan An said, remembering something. “Now that we have some extra money, should we ask someone to help us make a new bed? You can sleep in the western room then. If you don’t want to sleep in the room where the elders used to sleep, I can sleep there, and you can sleep here. What do you think?”

Yan An said a whole paragraph, but Wen Ying didn’t respond.

Yan An was a little confused. She carefully turned over under the blanket to look at Wen Ying and saw that she had her eyes closed, as if she had fallen asleep.

“Huh? Did you fall asleep so fast?” She was just talking to me a moment ago. Yan An tentatively pushed Wen Ying’s shoulder. “Did you hear what I said?”

Wen Ying slowly opened her eyes. She looked at Yan An, who was an arm’s length away from her. She then thought back on the changes in Yan An toward her during this time.

“So, no matter if she remembers or not, no matter what she becomes, she will never accept me, will she? Even though I’m her wife, I won’t get the treatment a wife should get.”

“Although we have some money now, there’s no need to spend it on these unnecessary things,” Wen Ying said in a slightly flat tone.

Yan An frowned, confused. “Unnecessary?”

“How can it be unnecessary? We’re still sleeping in the same bed! Since Wen Ying will have feelings for the Ninth Princess in the future, she’s a lesbian, and I’m a lesbian, too.”

“Two lesbians sleeping in the same bed…”

Yan An’s mind raced, recalling the posts she had seen online about girlfriends feeling uncomfortable when their female friends went on trips and shared a room with their girlfriends. But their girlfriends said they were just friends, and if they had anything to hide, they would have done it already and wouldn’t be together.

“Hmm…”

When Yan An saw those posts, she didn’t know whose side to take. After all, she had also slept with her female friends, but they were really, really good friends. They knew each other’s ins and outs and wouldn’t have any ambiguous feelings for each other. But at that time, she was single.

“If a girlfriend is bothered by this, shouldn’t you also be careful?”

Yan An couldn’t figure it out. After all, she had never been in a relationship. Sometimes when she saw posts about relationship issues, she couldn’t understand them at all. She even thought they were a little strange.

“But! Now that she and Wen Ying are sleeping in the same bed, even though she knows it’s a pure friendship, they are both lesbians. Won’t this have a bad influence on their future relationships?”

“Mmm. Outsiders all know that we are a married couple. If we were to make a new bed and sleep in separate rooms, what would outsiders think?” Wen Ying tried to make her voice sound calm.

Yan An: “…”

“Hmm… I really hadn’t considered that.” In this ancient time, two women getting married was already out of the ordinary, and it even became a big news story. If outsiders knew that they were suspected of having a broken relationship and sleeping in separate rooms, who knows what those people would say?

Yan An wasn’t afraid of people gossiping behind her back, but this was not like modern times. The level of safety wasn’t as high. If their story caused a stir, who knows how many disgusting people would appear.

“Fine. Let’s talk about this later,” Yan An gave up. She turned over and lay flat, saying with a helpless tone, “This is so annoying. How can people know about everything we do here?”

In modern times, if she bought a bed online and had it delivered, how many people would know? It wasn’t like here, where a bed was a big item. It would take a carpenter at least three to five days to make, and when it was delivered, the whole village would see it.

Seeing that she had given up, Wen Ying didn’t feel relieved or happy. Her eyes in the dark were as black as ink, and her face seemed to be covered in a mist. It was impossible to see her true emotions.

No one spoke after that. Gradually, Yan An fell into a deep sleep in the quiet environment.

Wen Ying listened carefully to Yan An’s very light breathing. It was steady, one breath after another. She must be truly sound asleep.

Only then did Wen Ying dare to carefully move a little closer to Yan An. She stopped when she was a fist’s distance away from her. She reached out and slowly traced Yan An’s face in the air, as if trying to memorize her outline.

Thinking about what happened in town today, she understood very clearly. Even though Yan An didn’t remember the county magistrate’s daughter, the way she looked at her was still so serious.

Yan An rarely looked at her with that kind of gaze. In fact, many times, she would just glance at her and then look away.

Wen Ying slowly moved back to her original position. She reached up and gently stroked her own cheek. She could even feel the rough sting from her fingertips.

Her eyes dimmed. She knew that her appearance was just ordinary, but Yan An was extremely beautiful.

Wen Ying turned over and faced away from Yan An. She put her hands over her chest, holding something tightly.

…

One night to the morning, the loud crowing of chickens from Auntie Li’s house sounded. Yan An slowly stretched her limbs and yawned. She could already hear the rustling sounds of someone getting up.

“Hmm, what a healthy routine,” Yan An said lazily, rolling over and lying on the bed.

In just over half a month, she didn’t really miss her phone. She didn’t seem to be busy with anything every day, but time just passed so quickly.

Hearing her lazy voice, Wen Ying said, “What do you want for breakfast today? After we eat, we’ll go and return the money to the village head and the others.”

Even now, Yan An couldn’t fully recognize everyone in the village, let alone know where the village head lived.

“Didn’t we have some pancakes left from last night? We can just heat them up and make some porridge,” Yan An said. Hearing that they were going to pay back the money, she sat up and pulled her disheveled clothes into place. She yawned, and tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.

“Okay. You get dressed first. I’ll go prepare breakfast,” Wen Ying said. She tidied herself up and went out first.

Only then did Yan An get out of bed to change her clothes. She then tried to comb her hair and tie it herself. She couldn’t tie it into anything other than a ponytail. She had no choice but to take the comb and hair tie and go out to find Wen Ying.

Now, under the eaves in front of the main hall, a small bamboo chair was placed specifically for Wen Ying to tie her hair every day.

When she came out, Wen Ying had already started the porridge and was even washing clothes.

Seeing her busy, Yan An had to put her things on the bamboo chair first. She went to feed the chickens, sweep the ground, and pull out the weeds in the vegetable patch. She suddenly remembered that there was still an empty pigsty in the backyard. She called out, “Wen Ying, do you think we should buy a few piglets to raise ourselves?”

After saying that, Yan An herself was silent for a moment. She couldn’t believe that after coming to this ancient time, she was not only raising chickens but now also wanted to raise pigs.

Wen Ying stopped washing clothes. She seemed to be seriously considering the feasibility of this.

“Raising pigs has a strong smell. Are you sure you can handle it?” Wen Ying asked, a little worried. Yan An liked to be clean. She even frowned when she cleaned the chicken coop. Although Wen Ying didn’t want her to do such work, every time she was doing other work, Yan An would find work for herself. She would go to the chicken coop and clean it, even though she didn’t like it.

Yan An listened. “…”

She took a deep breath. In the end, she turned her head back to pulling weeds. Her voice was louder. “Then let me think about it!”

Hearing her words, Wen Ying chuckled softly. She quickly washed and hung the clothes, then went into the kitchen to check on the fire. Only then did she say to Yan An, “Come here. I’ll tie your hair.”

“Oh, okay.”

Yan An rubbed her shoes on the special pile of hay beside her, making sure she wouldn’t step on mud in the courtyard. She then quickly walked to Wen Ying and sat obediently on the bamboo chair.

While Wen Ying was tying Yan An’s hair, a figure walked by outside the courtyard. Yan An, sitting down, was looking around and happened to see her. It was Zhou Xiaolu, Auntie Li’s daughter-in-law.

What she didn’t know was that after Zhou Xiaolu got home, she found Auntie Li and said with a smile, “Mom, guess what I just saw.”

“What did you see that made you so happy?” Auntie Li had always wanted a daughter, so she was naturally very good to her daughter-in-law. Seeing her smiling like this, she also laughed happily.

“Ahem!” Zhou Xiaolu pretended to be coy, teasing Auntie Li. Finally, she laughed and said, “When I went to pick vegetables just now, I saw Wen Ying in the courtyard helping Yan An comb and tie her hair! The two of them looked like they had a great relationship.”

Auntie Li’s smile deepened when she heard that. “I’ve seen it many times, too. That Girl Wen is something else. How can she spoil her so much? She even helps her tie her hair. Does that Yan An not have hands?”

She seemed to be complaining about Yan An, but her expression didn’t look like it at all.

“Mom, you can’t say that. Look at how good their relationship is now. Maybe helping each other comb their hair is… well, an intimate gesture!” Zhou Xiaolu was a little envious. “Look at how close they are to each other.”

“You, you, you just say whatever comes to your mind.” Auntie Li laughed and poked her on the forehead. But she still nodded. “Their relationship has gotten a lot better. Yan An has also become more diligent. With the two of them working together, don’t you see their life is slowly getting better now?”

“Yes, seeing them like this makes me happy,” Zhou Xiaolu said with a smile, holding Auntie Li’s arm and acting spoiled.

…

Yan An and Wen Ying didn’t know that the Li family was having a discussion about them. After Wen Ying had combed and tied up her hair, Yan An felt much more refreshed. Just then, breakfast was ready, and the two of them started eating.

“About that money bag that was thrown at me, how much money should we say was inside?” Yan An asked for Wen Ying’s opinion. People would know that she was the one who was thrown the money bag, and they would surely ask her how much was in it. If they told the truth, they might become a target for everyone.

Wen Ying pondered for a moment. In the end, she said, “Let’s say it was thirteen liang.”

Yan An gave her a look that asked why that specific number.

“The money from Doctor Zhou was mostly for life-saving medicine. If we can, we should pay that off as soon as possible. That leaves a little over nine liang. We’ll give two liang to the village head and three liang to the clan. In the eyes of outsiders, we’ll only have a little over four liang left, which is normal.”

Yan An listened to Wen Ying’s calculations but couldn’t help but go off-topic. “Did you specialize in math?”

She felt that Wen Ying was much better at math than many people. After being here for a while, she found that there were still some people who couldn’t even count, let alone calculate as smoothly as Wen Ying.

Wen Ying looked at her, confused. “Do I need to specialize in it? Won’t I just learn it over time?”

Yan An: “…’Why don’t they eat meat?”

Hearing her words, Wen Ying looked at her with a look of wanting to learn.

Yan An, feeling powerless, roughly explained the meaning to her. In the end, she said, “Look at how many people learn it over time.”

After hearing her words, Wen Ying was silent for a moment. In the end, she gave Yan An a light smile and didn’t say anything else.

Getting back to the topic, “Then, as you said, thirteen liang. For ordinary people, thirteen liang for a trip is already a lot. This way, we won’t disrespect that young lady.”

When Yan An said the words “young lady,” Wen Ying’s eyelids drooped slightly. The smile on her face gradually faded, and she didn’t respond.

The more Yan An thought about it, the more she felt that thirteen liang was a good number. This could also explain why they had so much money to buy food yesterday. After they bought and paid off their debts, they wouldn’t have much left, and no one would covet their money.

After they finished eating and washing the bowls, Yan An and Wen Ying tidied up and went out. At this time, other families had probably finished breakfast too. Going now wouldn’t be too abrupt.

Sure enough, the news that the person who had a conflict with someone at the city gate was Yan An had already reached the village. At this time, it was when every household had finished eating and was preparing to go out to work. When they ran into Yan An, they couldn’t help but stop her and ask her questions to satisfy their curiosity.

Hearing the flood of questions that almost drowned them, Yan An was extremely glad that she had aligned her story with Wen Ying’s before they left. Now, she could answer all of their questions without any mistakes. Their stories were consistent.

However, as they were talking, the topic gradually shifted to the relationship between Yan An and that young lady, and why she was willing to give her so much money.

“Yan An, I heard that when your parents were going to marry you to Wen Ying, you didn’t want to and said you had someone you liked. The person you liked wouldn’t happen to be that young lady, would she?”

Yan An: “…”

She stared dumbfounded at the person who asked such a bold question. She hadn’t expected someone to ask such a direct question, and in front of Wen Ying, too!

“Isn’t this provoking a dispute between a married couple?”

Yan An suddenly felt a little cold all over. She tugged on her sleeve, feeling that she might have worn too little today.