Li Xuelian’s eyes reddened once again—such a wonderful girl was actually her daughter-in-law!
Shen Xiaoyun felt a wave of fragrance wash over her as a soft hand gently patted her head. Her entire body stiffened, and she didn’t dare to move.
This woman had actually praised her for being pretty! Called her adorable!
She instinctively wanted to say something unpleasant, but when she met Jiang Yingying’s smiling, affectionate gaze, she found herself struck dumb.
After a long pause, she awkwardly clasped her hands behind her back. “I—I’m going to do the laundry!”
Jiang Yingying quickly followed. “Little sister, let me help you!”
Shen Xiaoyun walked out stiffly, her arms and legs moving in an uncoordinated manner. “No need, I can do it myself!”
After saying this, she glanced at Jiang Yingying’s delicate, pale fingers. Fine—considering she’d just eaten a piece of pastry from her, she’d let it slide today!
“Congratulations, host. Luck points increased by two.”
Jiang Yingying pursed her lips into a smile and said enviously to Li Xuelian, “Mom, little sister is so capable! Not like me—I’ve been frail since childhood and can’t do any work.”
Then, as if ashamed, she wiped away a few tears. “Mom, when I was younger, I was naive and caused a lot of trouble. But after marrying into this family, I finally understood what a real home is. It’s a pity my health is so weak. You won’t look down on me, will you?”
“What kind of talk is that!”
Li Xuelian pretended to glare at her. “Once you marry into the Shen family, you’re one of us! As long as you don’t mind our poverty and live well with A-Yao, I’ll treat you like my own daughter!”
“It doesn’t matter if you can’t do heavy work—my son and daughter are both hard workers! And I’m still strong and healthy. We don’t need you to lift a finger!”
Jiang Yingying lowered her head with a faint smile. “It’s just that little sister will have to work harder.”
Then, she called out apologetically to Shen Xiaoyun, who was already walking away, “Little sister, come to my room later! I’ll give you some hand cream! Your skin is so lovely—we have to take good care of it!”
Shen Xiaoyun, clutching a pile of clothes, thought resentfully as she walked: All she knows how to do is sweet-talk. She wasn’t going to use any hand cream!
After boiling water, Li Xuelian looked kindly at Jiang Yingying. “A-Yao went to the fields right after eating. I need to hurry and help him. Can you bring some water and lunch over at noon? There are pancakes in the pot!”
Since almost everyone traveled on foot—only a few wealthy families owned bicycles—most field workers didn’t return home for lunch.
“Of course, Mom, you go ahead. I’ll take care of things here!”
Jiang Yingying agreed readily, though inwardly she was thinking about how her system still needed a few more points. She needed to hurry and spout some more “green tea” lines.
“Ah, such a good child!”
Li Xuelian felt so happy she practically floated as she walked.
Jiang Yingying stood at the door, watching Li Xuelian leave, and let out a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness she hadn’t ended up with a wicked mother-in-law—otherwise, her sweet-talk might not have worked.
Just as she was about to turn and go inside, a small stone hit her.
Jiang Yingying glared darkly in the direction it came from. Who was the idiot throwing things around? Hitting objects was one thing, but what if it had struck her beautiful face?
As a green tea, her looks were her livelihood!
Under a large tree not far away, a man in a gray jacket was gazing at her with deep affection. “Yingying, are you doing well?”
This was none other than Cheng Wenjian, the educated youth whom the original host had even drugged in her attempts to seduce him.
Jiang Yingying narrowed her eyes as she looked him over. He might have a decent appearance, but his shifty eyes reeked of sleaziness…
Standing at just over 1.7 meters tall, he had a frail appearance that looked incapable of carrying any weight—compared to Shen Yao, he was like a scrawny chick.
Suppressing a sneer inwardly, Jiang Yingying maintained her smile. “Comrade Cheng, is there something you need?”
Her smile was reserved and elegant, her sparkling eyes seeming to hold a light, completely different from her usual pretentious and affected demeanor.
Cheng Wenjian felt a stir in his heart and couldn’t help but step forward, wanting to grab her hand. “Yingying, I know you’re still upset with me…”
The reason Shen Yao had ended up drinking that medicine was precisely because Cheng Wenjian had lured Jiang Yingying out in his own name, only to abandon her alone at the remote foot of the Western Hills.
He had also secretly switched the water canteen of Shen Yao, who was working in the fields at the time.
He had done this for two reasons: first, due to policy changes, he would soon be able to return to the city and wanted to shake off Jiang Yingying’s clinginess; second, he held a grudge against Shen Yao from a past conflict and wanted to get back at him.
But before leaving, he found himself short on travel expenses and decided to squeeze some money out of Jiang Yingying.
After all, Jiang Yingying was a fool—a few sweet words from him were enough to wrap her around his finger.
In the two years since he’d been sent to the countryside, he had taken plenty of advantages from Jiang Yingying.
“Oh, yes, I’m upset with you.”
Jiang Yingying took two steps back, pinched her nose, and gave him a once-over. “Comrade Cheng, did you fall into a manure pit? You reek! Please stay away from me, thank you!”
Cheng Wenjian stopped awkwardly. Because of the incident with Jiang Yingying, the village chief had deliberately assigned him the hardest and most exhausting tasks.
Not only did he have to feed the pigs and clean the pens, but he also had to carry slop to fertilize the fields…
There was still some time before he could return to the city, and he didn’t want to spend his days feeding pigs. So, coaxing Jiang Yingying to make his remaining days more comfortable was also one of his goals today.
“Yingying, no matter what, you still have a place in my heart.”
Cheng Wenjian sighed with a pained expression, putting on a show of helplessness. “But things didn’t go as planned. What happened… it pains me more than anyone…”
As he spoke, he shed a few crocodile tears.
How disgusting! Could someone just come and end him already?
Putting on a pitiful act in front of her—how laughable!
Jiang Yingying rolled her eyes in exasperation but subtly moved another two steps away, her expression turning serious. “Comrade Cheng, don’t speak carelessly. I’m a newly married woman with a clean reputation. If you tarnish my name, my family won’t let you off easily.”
After saying this, she too wiped away tears. “You can’t bully me just because I’m a woman, can you?”
If it came to crying, who could possibly be more skilled than her?
She had undergone specialized training—whether it was delicate weeping, pitiful sobbing, gushing tears, or silent sorrow… she could deliver any effect. Not only that, she could control the pace of her tears, letting them fall one by one, crystal-clear, without streaking her face…
This way, her crying was both beautiful and heart-wrenching, an absolute weapon to melt hearts.
A man and a woman crying face-to-face, out in the open on the road.
A few nosy women on their way to work in the fields craned their necks to watch. These two had already been the subject of plenty of gossip.
Everyone was waiting for a spectacle—would Jiang Yingying, on her very first day as a bride, already cuckold Shen Yao?
While most were there for the show, there were also a few kind-hearted souls ready to stand up for justice.
One of them was Aunt Shen, who lived next door to Shen Yao’s family. She was a distant relative, separated by two generations.
Aunt Shen stepped up beside Cheng Wenjian and glared disapprovingly at Jiang Yingying. “Shen Yao’s wife, why aren’t you working in the fields? What are you doing out here?”
Cheng Wenjian always maintained a good public image, forcing a helpless smile as he said, “Aunt Shen, don’t misunderstand. Yingying just wanted to have a few words with me.”