Transmigrated into the Villain's Cannon Fodder Ex-Wife (Transmigrated into a Book) - Chapter 7

“Hu… husband?”

Lin Chu felt disheveled in the wind.

The small bun beside the beautiful lady tugged at her sleeve and asked with big, bright eyes,

“Mother, does Father live here?”

The beautiful lady gently patted the bun’s head.

“Yes, Junye, we will see your father soon.”

Standing awkwardly at the door, Lin Chu felt as if she had been struck by lightning.

Junye… Han Junye?

The genuine male lead from the original story had appeared!

Then this beautiful lady… was she the male lead’s mother, Jiang Wanxue, who was Yan Mingge’s white moonlight?

Wait!

Jiang Wanxue said Yan Mingge was the male lead’s father?

Lin Chu felt her mind was a bit overloaded. In the original story, the relationship between Yan Mingge and the male lead was explained as the male lead being the son of Yan Mingge’s old friend. That’s why Yan Mingge spared his life in many situations where he could have killed him.

When Lin Chu read the book, she thought Yan Mingge valued the friendship of his former friend and found the villain intriguing. She never expected… the truth was that the male lead was his son?

That fellow with the surname Han seemed to have a bit of green on his head.

Ahem, although she also had a vast field of green on top of her head…

Despite her inner sarcasm, Lin Chu quickly sorted out her thoughts. As a villain’s cannon fodder ex-wife, she definitely couldn’t compete with his white moonlight. It was better to be sensible and act like a passerby ex-wife.

So Lin Chu put on a smiling face.

“Madam, it must be hard for you to come a long way. My husband was injured on the battlefield and can’t get out of bed to welcome you personally.”

“Yan Gege was injured?” Jiang Wanxue’s autumn-like eyes widened in surprise.

Yan Gege¹…

Lin Chu shuddered, feeling goosebumps on her arm, and revealed just the right amount of sadness on her face.

“Yes…”

She led Jiang Wanxue and the small bun, Han Junye, into the main room. When Yan Mingge saw Jiang Wanxue, he was momentarily stunned and called out,

“Wanxue.”

Jiang Wanxue’s eyes turned red as she called out,

“Yan Gege.”

The scene was quite emotional, though it wasn’t quite as dramatic as Lin Chu had imagined.

Yan Mingge’s gaze fell on the small bun, Han Junye, and the coldness in his eyes seemed to vanish instantly.

“Ye’er is here too?”

When he smiled, he was exceptionally handsome, like a ray of sunlight shining down from the Kunlun Mountains, leaving people at a loss for words to describe the shock and awe they felt at that moment.

Yan Mingge was like a demon that nourished himself by drinking human blood.

One day, after wiping away the blood from his lips, you’d realize he could transcend to immortality.

“Uncle Yan…” The small bun, Han Junye, timidly peeked out from behind his mother.

From the current demeanor of the small bun, who took after his mother, it seemed he was quite far from the ruthless male lead of the future.

While the others were in an emotional reunion, Lin Chu’s thought process clearly wasn’t on the same wavelength.

Yan Mingge noticed that Jiang Wanxue and her child looked disheveled and somewhat pitiful. He frowned and asked,

“Where is Han?”

Lin Chu suddenly felt that the tone of his question was a bit off, and she perked up her ears to listen closely.

Upon hearing Yan Mingge’s question, Jiang Wanxue’s expression changed slightly as she hesitantly replied,

“Husband… isn’t he living here?”

Yan Mingge frowned but didn’t speak.

Jiang Wanxue took off the small cloth bag she had slung over her shoulder and pulled out a letter from inside. She seemed to hesitate about handing it to Yan Mingge, then turned and handed it to Lin Chu instead. Lin Chu quickly stepped forward and passed it to Yan Mingge.

The handwriting on the envelope was neat and elegant, not hard to imagine that the person who wrote it was a handsome scholar.

However, Lin Chu could only recognize that much; no matter how neat the handwriting was, she couldn’t read traditional characters!
Yan Mingge quickly opened the letter and took a glance at it. He was always good at hiding his emotions, leaving Lin Chu unable to guess what was written inside.

“This letter was sent to me by my husband a month ago…” Jiang Wanxue said softly, her eyes red, and one hand tightly grasping Han Junye’s little hand, clearly very anxious.

Yan Mingge handed the letter to Lin Chu, who understood and returned it to Jiang Wanxue.

Yan Mingge then said,

“A month ago, Han was indeed living here. However, he was later assigned to Yao City due to military matters. I thought he had brought you here himself…”

At this point, Yan Mingge seemed to realize something and turned to Jiang Wanxue.

“Is there something that happened in the capital? How did you come here with Ye’er all by yourselves?”

Tears streamed down Jiang Wanxue’s face as she tightly held her son’s hand, as if clinging to her only hope. Choking back her sobs, she said,

“It’s nothing major, but the mistress said… I was obstructing my husband’s future and intended to sell me off… The night before the slave trader came to take me away, an old servant broke down the door to the wood room and rescued me. Yan Gege, you know… since the day the Yong’an Marquis’s residence fell, there has been no place for our Yan family in the capital! I was afraid they would harm Ye’er, so I risked bringing him along to the border to find my husband…”

Jiang Wanxue began to cry.

Lin Chu noticed that Yan Mingge’s expression turned especially cold when he heard the phrase “the Yong’an Marquis’s residence fell.”

The relationship between him and Jiang Wanxue… seemed quite complicated. The original story only briefly summarized the relationships of the previous generation, leaving Lin Chu in the dark.

However, the original text mentioned that Han Junye’s mother was a concubine and faced a lot of mistreatment because of the jealous mistress, especially since Han Junye’s father was often away from home.

Sorting through her thoughts, the one clear point was that the husband Jiang Wanxue referred to was not Yan Mingge! The villain didn’t suddenly become a father!

“These years in the capital… you’ve suffered,” Yan Mingge said, his voice a bit hoarse.

His words hit Jiang Wanxue’s sore spot, and while shaking her head, she cried,

“I haven’t suffered; my husband has treated me extremely well. Knowing that Yan Gege is still alive… gives me hope for my life…”

Lin Chu, standing silently to the side, wanted to play the role of a background character, but she realized she was somewhat shining.

After crying for a while, Jiang Wanxue seemed to realize her words were inappropriate. She wiped her tears and gave Lin Chu a slightly awkward smile.

“I’ve embarrassed my sister-in-law.”

Yan Mingge’s gaze also shifted to Lin Chu, and she immediately felt uneasy. She wanted to say, You can continue; just pretend I don’t exist.

Feeling awkward, she began to walk outside.

“I’ll go prepare dinner.”

Once Lin Chu stepped out of the room, Jiang Wanxue cautiously asked Yan Mingge,

“Yan Gege, does she… know your identity?”

The use of the word “she” already indicated her view of Lin Chu.

Yan Mingge didn’t directly answer Jiang Wanxue’s question. Instead, he said,

“As a woman, it’s too risky to travel all this way to the border alone. You mustn’t be reckless in the future.”

“I understand!” Jiang Wanxue replied in a somewhat delicate voice.

Yan Mingge suddenly fell silent, and she quickly realized that her tone was inappropriate given her current status, but her gaze still held a hint of sorrow and longing.

Yan Mingge said,

“You must be tired. I’ll have your sister-in-law find a place for you to rest.”

Their conversation seemed to have reached a natural conclusion.
Jiang Wanxue knew Yan Mingge’s temperament and didn’t dare say anything more after he had made it clear that he wanted her to leave. She walked to the door with her child but couldn’t help glancing back at Yan Mingge, her eyes filled with sadness.

“Yan Gege… do you still resent my choices from back then?”

With unexpected guests at home, Lin Chu thought she should prepare a few decent dishes.

She was busy in the kitchen when suddenly someone lifted the curtain.

Seeing it was Jiang Wanxue, Lin Chu put on a friendly smile.

“You should go rest; dinner will be ready soon.”

Jiang Wanxue surveyed the drafty kitchen and then glanced at Lin Chu, who was wearing rough clothes, before her gaze finally settled on the pot of meat soup.

“Can food cooked like this even be eaten?”

Although she spoke softly, Lin Chu found it very uncomfortable.

She shot Jiang Wanxue a look but remained silent.

However, Jiang Wanxue was not willing to let it go. She fixed her gaze on Lin Chu.

“My Yan Gege is such a noble person, is this how you serve him?”

Damn, do you really think I won’t lose my temper just because I let you have a word?

Lin Chu had put in so much effort to take care of Yan Mingge, and this girl still wanted to pick a fight?

She glanced at Jiang Wanxue’s worn embroidered shoes and said quietly,

“The journey from the capital to the border is so far. Even if you’ve worn your shoes out, you still had to come here, didn’t you?”

Implying that everyone has their moments of hardship in life.

Jiang Wanxue’s previously charming expression instantly darkened.

Meanwhile, the little gray dog, curled up in the straw pile of the kitchen, heard the commotion and came out to play.

Jiang Wanxue had been home for a while, and the little gray dog, after barking at her a couple of times initially, seemed to have accepted her as part of the family, circling around her skirt, eager to play.

“Ah! What is that!”

Unexpectedly, Jiang Wanxue screamed in fright. To shoo the little gray dog away, she kicked it hard a couple of times. The little gray dog was kicked back into the straw pile with a pitiful yelp.

“Xiao Hui!” Lin Chu was both shocked and angry; she hurriedly set aside her tasks and rushed to check on the curled-up little gray dog.

The little gray dog had glistening black eyes, and the fur around its eyes was damp, as if it had been crying, weakly curled up into a ball.

Lin Chu gently stroked its back, and it let out a heart-wrenching whimper.

“Mrs. Yan, what’s wrong?” Aunt Song, the neighbor, heard Jiang Wanxue’s scream and came to the kitchen, thinking something had happened.

Since there weren’t enough beds at home, Lin Chu had borrowed a room from Aunt Song, who had an extra guest room, to accommodate Jiang Wanxue and her son.

Aunt Song and her husband had no children of their own and loved kids, so they were delighted to play with the adorable little dumpling, Han Junye.

Little Han Junye had followed Aunt Song over. His tiny body clung to Jiang Wanxue as he called out “Mama,” but his watchful, slightly hostile gaze remained fixed on Lin Chu.

Lin Chu gently patted the little gray dog’s back before standing up, wearing a smile that seemed faultless to anyone.

“This lady is from the capital; she’s never seen the countryside dogs outside the city and got scared.”

“It’s not that! It bit me!” Jiang Wanxue clutched her child, her entire body trembling, appearing exceptionally fragile.

Lin Chu’s gaze locked onto her, but her smile remained, tinged with an unsettling chill.

“That’s why I said she was scared. This dog isn’t even a month old, and its teeth haven’t fully grown yet. Even if it were to bite, it wouldn’t hurt.”

Aunt Song, being a practical countrywoman, could tell Lin Chu was speaking the truth just by looking at the dog. She chimed in,

“Don’t be scared of that creature, young lady. A dog this size won’t bite.”

Lin Chu turned to Aunt Song.

“Could you please take this lady over to rest? Otherwise, my husband will say I don’t know how to entertain guests.”

Jiang Wanxue didn’t understand why she felt a bit frightened by Lin Chu’s gaze; she couldn’t bear to meet her eyes directly. Supported by Aunt Song, she left the kitchen, feeling a bit disoriented.