To Be the Male Lead's Deceased First Wife in a Historical Chinese Exam-focused Novel - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Going Out to Work

Yan An pursed her lips and looked at Wen Ying with apprehension. Her hands, hanging at her sides, were twisting at her clothes. She wasn’t very good at comforting people. “You, don’t cry. I said the wrong thing. I apologize for everything I’ve ever done to you.”

“I’m sorry.”

She wasn’t skilled at comforting people, especially not in a situation like this with Wen Ying. But since she had transmigrated into this body, she had no choice but to bear the consequences of the original owner’s actions to avoid revealing her true identity.

What’s more… she had indeed said the wrong thing.

Wen Ying looked away, her lips pursed, and said nothing. She held the rag and unconsciously wiped the stove top, her expression a little dazed.

Even though she knew this person was very different from before after her memory loss, hearing her apologize made Wen Ying’s heart feel incredibly sore. A fleeting pang of bitterness even passed through her nose.

In her life, she had rarely heard anyone say “I’m sorry” to her. Even when she was clearly not at fault, the person who made the mistake found it hard to humble themselves and say those words.

“Don’t be mad at me. The weather is getting cold now, and sleeping in the kitchen makes it easy to catch a cold.” Yan An’s tone softened a lot, but she couldn’t bring herself to say that she would give up the bed and sleep on the floor herself.

For now, the person she was most familiar with in this world was Wen Ying. She wanted to be as good to her as possible, but that didn’t mean she would make herself miserable in the process.

“I can light a fire to stay warm,” Wen Ying’s voice was low and muffled.

Yan An scratched her face, hearing the deeper-than-usual tone in Wen Ying’s voice. She tried to persuade her again. “But it’s not as comfortable as sleeping in a bed. Look at your complexion now; if you keep sleeping like that, your body won’t be able to handle it.”

After a moment’s thought, she added, “This family relies on you now. If you fall apart, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Given Wen Ying’s personality, she probably wouldn’t burn firewood all night. If she was already reluctant to use firewood, wouldn’t she freeze to death when it got even colder?

Wen Ying pursed her lips. So, was this person being nice to her now because she was afraid Wen Ying would abandon her?

Just as she was pondering this, a loud, clear voice suddenly called out, “Little Ying!”

Hearing the voice, Wen Ying set all her thoughts aside. A genuine warmth appeared on her numb face, and she walked past Yan An and out of the kitchen. She looked up and saw a head peeking over the half-person-high wall of the courtyard. It was Aunt Li from next door.

Wen Ying quickly walked over to open the door for her.

Meanwhile, Yan An was still staring blankly at Wen Ying’s sudden burst of liveliness.

Since she had woken up, she had mostly seen Wen Ying in a numb and silent state. After getting used to that, her sudden liveliness now seemed incredibly beautiful.

Snapping out of her daze, Yan An quickly turned to look outside and saw Wen Ying had already opened the door and was talking to a woman who looked to be in her thirties.

This must be Aunt Li from the novel, the one who was kind to Wen Ying.

With that thought, she also walked to the door. Just as she was about to honestly say, “Aunt Li,” she quickly remembered her amnesiac persona. She changed her words and asked, “Wen Ying, who is this?”

Aunt Li was holding a bunch of small cabbages in her hand. Seeing Yan An looking well, she let out a sigh of relief but also had a complex expression on her face. She mumbled, not knowing what to say to her.

In the past, Aunt Li rarely spoke to the original owner. The original owner was a bit cold toward people, and since she was one of the few educated people in the village and a scholar, there was a natural distance. If Wen Ying hadn’t married in and Aunt Li hadn’t grown fond of the girl, she probably wouldn’t have had much contact with the Yan family at all.

“This is Aunt Li from next door. She has helped our family a lot,” Wen Ying introduced Yan An.

Before Yan An had come out, Aunt Li had already asked about her condition and learned about her memory loss. Now, seeing that she was proactively coming forward to greet her after losing her memory and stood with Wen Ying without her usual gloominess, Aunt Li subtly gave Wen Ying a look.

Thinking about it, she felt that this memory loss might not be a bad thing. As a neighbor, she was naturally aware of what kind of life Wen Ying lived in the Yan family and how Yan An treated her. If it weren’t for her sympathy, she wouldn’t have thought of Wen Ying whenever she had some extra food.

Now that Yan An had amnesia and was being a little kinder to Wen Ying, there was finally some hope for their life.

“Aunt Li, thank you for all your help over the years.” As soon as Yan An heard this, she quickly bowed in a respectful salute. Although Aunt Li’s kindness was mainly for Wen Ying, the original owner had also indirectly received some of it.

“Oh, no, no, you don’t have to do that. I just feel close to Little Ying, so I thought of getting closer to her.” Aunt Li quickly helped Yan An up. This person was a scholar after all, and receiving such a bow made her heart pound a little faster.

Yan An straightened up and smiled. “Aunt Li is kind to her, and we will remember it.”

Hearing her words, Aunt Li’s expression was momentarily gratified. She handed the small cabbages she was holding to Wen Ying. “They’re from my own garden; they’re not worth much, so don’t be shy.”

Seeing this, Wen Ying couldn’t refuse again. She took them and said, “Thank you, Aunt Li.”

“Oh, what’s there to thank a neighbor for? I’ll be heading back now; I have a pile of things to do at home,” Aunt Li said with a cheerful laugh, waving to them as she walked back to her own courtyard.

Aunt Li already had a son and had always longed for a daughter, but she hadn’t gotten pregnant for many years. When Wen Ying married in, she took a liking to her and would help whenever she could. If it weren’t for the circumstances, she would have already considered taking Wen Ying as her goddaughter.

Wen Ying and Yan An watched Aunt Li leave. After closing the courtyard gate, Wen Ying took the cabbages to the kitchen and put them away. “You should stay home and study. I’m going out for a bit.”

Study? How was she supposed to study when she had amnesia?

Yan An grumbled quietly in her heart, but seeing the sickle in Wen Ying’s hand, she couldn’t help but ask, “What are you going to do?”

Was this person really incapable of resting even for a second? Besides that one time she saw her sitting in the kitchen after she woke up and bathed, she hadn’t seen her stop and rest at all!

Hearing her question, Wen Ying pursed her lips and said, “I took on a job to help someone harvest five mu of crops. It’s already been delayed for a few days; I can’t put it off any longer.”

Harvesting crops was a race against time; the quality could decrease with every day’s delay.

Hearing this, how could Yan An possibly stay home and act like a lord? She quickly said, “I’ll go with you!”

She didn’t have much concept of what “five mu” meant, but she knew that harvesting crops was not easy work. How could she let Wen Ying bear the entire burden herself?

Even though Yan An had already given Wen Ying too many surprises since she woke up, she was still stunned for a moment by her words.

“Didn’t you say we’re going to harvest crops? Don’t just stand there,” Yan An said, picking up a sickle from the basket of farm tools and weighing it in her hand.

Wen Ying took a deep breath, silently turned, and led the way.

In truth, those five mu of land had originally belonged to the Yan family. To gather enough money for Yan An to marry, they had sold all the family’s fields. The crops that were already planted were sold along with the land. That, along with the money they had borrowed, was just enough to gather sixty taels to give to the Wen family to marry Wen Ying.

The reputation of Wen Ying’s industriousness and capability had long spread throughout the surrounding villages. Furthermore, the fact that a woman was marrying her was considered very unconventional in the public eye. However, after the Yan family offered a betrothal gift of sixty taels, the Wen family agreed without any hesitation.

Sixty taels was more than enough to get wives for Wen Ying’s two younger brothers.

Wen Ying had known for a long time that she would be used as a bargaining chip by her parents to get wives for her brothers. But when she found out she was marrying a woman, she was slightly relieved.

At the very least, she hated men and didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of her two older sisters.

She saw her two sisters, pregnant and with large bellies, still having to serve the family’s elders and children, enduring their husbands’ abuse, and doing farm work. They showed no sign of their young age. Every time Wen Ying saw them, she was filled with a deep sense of fear.

She was afraid of becoming a vessel for a man to suck her dry, only to be discarded when she was no longer of any value.

She was afraid and disgusted, but various hardships trapped her, making her unable to escape her cage. She could only watch herself struggle in this circle, feeling helpless.

She was clear-headed, yet she was in agony.

…

Yan An followed half a step behind Wen Ying on the path between the fields. She wanted to say something to her many times, but her mouth opened and closed several times. Looking at Wen Ying’s numb and tense profile, all the words she wanted to say were swallowed back.

Forget it. The current situation of their family was truly desperate. What was there to say? After the harvest was done, she would look at the books from this ancient world and see if she could get back into studying. In her previous life, she was a 985 university student. Although she had studied computer science, it… should be manageable, right?

Thinking about the last part, Yan An didn’t have much confidence. If it had been a couple of years earlier, when her mind was at its sharpest, she would have been more confident. But she had already graduated and worked for a year when she transmigrated, and her brain was getting rusty. She felt very guilty.

The two walked along the path. Most of the crops on both sides of the field had already been harvested. From a distance, she saw a large patch of unharvested crops ahead. Looking at the vast area, Yan An couldn’t help but gulp, her voice a little strained.

“Are… are we going to harvest all of that?”

“No,” Wen Ying quickly replied, pointing. “From that line, everything on the right is what we’re harvesting. The left side belongs to someone else.”

Yan An looked at the pile on the right…

It was still a lot!