To Be the Male Lead's Deceased First Wife in a Historical Chinese Exam-focused Novel - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: You Don’t Need to Curry Favor with Me

Yan An’s eyes widened in frustration, but she knew that Wen Ying was telling the truth.

She now had the title of a xiucai but none of the skills. If she were to look for a job in this situation, she would probably still have to rely on physical labor.

Seeing Yan An’s extremely frustrated expression, a faint smile appeared in Wen Ying’s eyes. She softly comforted her, “Let’s not rush into studying. We can consider it when our family’s situation gets better.”

What was the use of thinking about such things when they couldn’t even eat their fill?

Yan An: “…Oh.”

That’s true. She hadn’t even figured out this world yet. She really couldn’t support this family all by herself.

She let out a long sigh in her heart. When would she be able to live a life of eating white rice every day?

She had never imagined that the most common thing in her past life would be something she couldn’t have now! It made her realize how much she had taken for granted.

After breakfast, Yan An quickly snatched the bowls from Wen Ying. “I’ll wash the dishes. You wash the clothes.”

They were both women. It wasn’t right to put all the work on Wen Ying. Yan An was not someone who didn’t know how to cherish and protect others!

Wen Ying looked at her for a long time, then nodded and turned to wash the clothes.

While the two of them were busy, Aunt Li passed by. She peeked inside and her eyes widened slightly when she saw Yan An washing the dishes.

Yesterday, she had heard that Yan An had gone to work in the fields with Wen Ying, but she hadn’t seen it for herself and was a little skeptical. As a neighbor, she knew what Yan An was like before all too well.

Now, seeing Yan An doing housework as well, Aunt Li finally had a concrete feeling that she had truly changed after her memory loss.

A smile appeared in Aunt Li’s eyes. This was good. Little Ying’s hardships had finally come to an end.

So what if they were two women? As long as they treated each other with sincerity and supported each other, they could still live a prosperous life!

She didn’t disturb the two of them. She just placed some of the vegetables she had picked from her own garden at the Yan family’s gate. When they opened the door, they would naturally see them.

She left quietly. Inside the courtyard, Yan An finished washing the dishes, then went to finish sweeping the ground she hadn’t completed earlier. When she saw there was nothing left to do, she squatted down beside Wen Ying, watching her wash clothes and chatting with her.

“Are we going back to the fields to harvest the crops later?”

“Yes, there’s still a lot left to cut,” Wen Ying said.

“Then after we get paid for the harvest, should we buy some vegetable seeds to grow our own vegetables?” Yan An asked again.

In the countryside, the courtyards were naturally quite large, which made it convenient to grow some vegetables for their own consumption. Not only was the courtyard large, but there was also a large empty plot of land outside the courtyard. They could use it if they wanted to.

This way, when the vegetables were harvested, they wouldn’t have to go out and pick wild vegetables early in the morning.

Wild vegetables were healthy, but if you had to get up before you had enough sleep to pick them, they weren’t so healthy anymore!

Wen Ying’s hands, which were washing the clothes, paused. She turned her head and looked at Yan An, who was squatting beside her. She didn’t expect her to think of this.

“Yes, we can buy some vegetable seeds to plant. Winter is coming soon, so we need to buy some cold-resistant ones,” Wen Ying nodded.

Hearing this, Yan An smiled. “Good. When the vegetables are ready, we can send some to Aunt Li from time to time to thank her for taking care of you.”

Wen Ying’s eyes moved at her bright smile. The expression on her face unconsciously softened a lot, and she gently responded with a hum.

“By the way, tell me who we owe money to and how much so I have an idea,” Yan An began to ramble. Although she roughly knew they owed some people money, she had only read about it briefly and had long forgotten the exact amount.

Hearing that Yan An was actually concerned about the family’s situation, Wen Ying felt as if her hard and numb heart had been gently bumped.

It turned out she wasn’t the only one supporting this family.

She tried her best to control her voice so as not to reveal too much of her emotions, but her voice still sounded a little hoarse.

“Besides what I told you last time about Doctor Zhou’s three taels and seven hundred coins, we owe the village head twenty taels and the Yan clan thirty-nine taels.”

Yan An was silent for a moment, listening to the list of debts. She couldn’t help but ask, “Why so much?”

It added up to a total of sixty-two taels and seven hundred coins! It was twice as much as she had expected!

“We initially borrowed twenty taels from the village head’s family and twelve taels from the clan. That, along with the land we sold and some other valuables, was enough to gather sixty taels to give to my father to marry me here. Later, after my parents-in-law passed away and were buried, it cost a total of twenty-seven taels. This money was also from the clan and has to be repaid,” Wen Ying listed and explained. The funeral expenses for the Yan elders were already kept at a minimum.

Perhaps the reason the Yan elders were so willing to sell all their land was that they knew their child wasn’t meant for farming. Instead of letting the land go to waste, they might as well sell it and get enough money to marry a wife to take care of her.

Now, Wen Ying was only grateful that the house hadn’t been sold. Otherwise, they would have had to live in a cave.

After hearing this, Yan An wanted to close her eyes, but she knew very well that after she closed her eyes, Wen Ying would probably have to shoulder a new pile of debt to bury her.

“I… I will work hard to earn money and pay off the debts as soon as possible,” Yan An said a little dryly.

“Mmm, together,” Wen Ying said softly.

Yan An looked at her with a strange expression. Her lips moved for a long time, but she ultimately forced herself to swallow the words, as they weren’t pleasant to say.

She felt Wen Ying’s situation was really tragic. The Yan family had borrowed money to marry her, but the money they had borrowed had to be paid back! Wen Ying had to earn money to pay back the money used to marry herself…

It was absolutely miserable…

Wen Ying didn’t dwell on what Yan An was thinking. She quickly finished washing both of their clothes. There were bamboo poles set up in the courtyard for drying clothes. She carried the wooden basin to dry them, and Yan An quickly followed her to help.

Wen Ying looked at Yan An, who was always by her side. She felt that ever since this person woke up, she had become a little… clingy?

The thought made her frown.

“Yan An, you don’t have to curry favor with me. I won’t abandon you,” Wen Ying said to Yan An, holding the wooden basin after hanging the clothes.

In Wen Ying’s opinion, perhaps this person was just insecure after waking up and losing her memory. She was the only other person in the house, and she was afraid that she would leave her behind.

“Huh?” Yan An was first surprised, then said, “I’m not trying to curry favor with you. I just think that a family can’t be supported by only one person. I also want to share the burden as much as possible.”

Although she was a little afraid that Wen Ying would abandon her, after all, her only link to this world was Wen Ying. Without Wen Ying by her side, she would feel a panic of being in an unknown world with no one to rely on. But this didn’t mean she was trying to curry favor, did it?

If she was lazy and only relied on Wen Ying, when would they ever become rich and eat white rice?

Wen Ying pursed her lips, and a hint of shyness appeared in her eyes. She sped up her pace by two steps and didn’t say anything more to Yan An.

However, before they left for the fields to harvest, she still carefully wrapped Yan An’s hands in cloth and took out a bamboo hat for her to wear.

“It can block the sun.”

Yan An felt the hat on her head and took one and handed it to Wen Ying. “You should wear one too. The sun doesn’t look very strong, but the UV rays are powerful. They can easily make a person’s skin dark.”

Wen Ying didn’t understand what “UV rays” were, but she understood that they could make her skin dark. She looked at Yan An’s fair complexion, pursed her lips, and took the hat.

Actually, she didn’t want to wear the hat. It felt a little inconvenient when she was bent over harvesting rice. But looking at the stark contrast between their skin colors…

Wen Ying looked down at her own skin color as she turned around. Not only was her skin much rougher than Yan An’s, but her complexion was also the color of wheat, a stark contrast to Yan An’s.

Yan An had no idea what was going through Wen Ying’s mind. She took the water they would need to drink and, as they were leaving, she noticed the vegetables at the gate. She paused for a moment, then turned to Wen Ying. “Wen Ying, there are vegetables at the gate. Did Aunt Li bring them?”

Hearing this, Wen Ying quickly walked over. She looked at the vegetables and felt her eyes well up. She nodded, her voice a little choked up. “Yes, they’re the vegetables Aunt Li grows.”

Seeing her like this, Yan An didn’t know how to comfort her. She simply picked up the vegetables from the ground and said, “Don’t cry. When we grow our own vegetables, we’ll give some to Aunt Li too!”

They should remember the people who were good to them and give back.

Hearing her say “don’t cry,” Wen Ying turned her head away and said in a muffled voice, “I’m not crying.”

“Oh, if you’re not crying, then you’re not crying. I’ll go put the vegetables away.” With that, she quickly walked toward the kitchen.

Wen Ying: “…”

Faced with Yan An’s attitude, she really didn’t know what to say. But with Yan An’s interruption, the mix of emotions and soreness in her heart finally subsided.

She had never felt this kind of family affection in her own home, but she was feeling it now from Aunt Li.

Yan An returned quickly, and by this time, Wen Ying had already composed herself. After locking the door, they walked to the fields. This time, many people they encountered on the way enthusiastically greeted Yan An. Although Yan An didn’t know who they were, she responded to every person with a big smile.

Wen Ying looked at her bright, smiling face. She could hardly have imagined that Yan An’s face could make such an expression before.

Yan An finished greeting someone and looked back at her. Seeing that Wen Ying was also looking at her, she smiled and said, “You should smile more, too. What’s with a straight face all the time?”

Calling her face “straight” was a compliment. But compared to her numb expression at the very beginning, she did seem a little better now, didn’t she?

Yan An thought to herself, a little unsure.