“Ay, there she goes, old sister-in-law. Fawning over a rich family, looking down on us poor relatives now, eh?”
“That’s right. Just the daughter of some landlord’s family, and a rotten reputation to boot. Only cares about the Jiang family’s money, that’s all you, Ji clan folks are after.”
“Dare to bring a woman like this into your home, aren’t you afraid of holding Qiuyang back from his studies? Qiuyang is the only scholar in our Daqiao Village. Such a sin.”
Jiang Jingyi: “…”
Jiang Jingyi awoke in a daze. Amidst the scattered noise from outside, she could only make out these jumbled voices. But who were they talking about? Surely it couldn’t be her, she was too kind-hearted for that…
She shifted slightly, only to realize something was off. Looking down, she froze in embarrassment, she was actually sitting on top of a man!
The man was dressed in ancient attire, his hair disheveled and his clothes even more disarrayed, revealing a sturdy chest with a thin layer of muscle heaving intensely.
Suppressing the urge to get a nosebleed, Jiang Jingyi lifted her gaze and was instantly met with a face of devastatingly handsome features. Narrow, long eyes, thin lips, a high-bridged nose, every part of him was good-looking. If it weren’t for those beautiful eyes glaring at her in fury, she thought she might have covered her mouth and screamed.
Clearly, the man was looking at her this way out of anger at her actions.
What had she done?
Could it be that the two of them had been in the middle of something unspeakable, and she had interrupted, making him unhappy?
Before she could figure out her current situation, the man growled in rage, “Jiang Jingyi, get off me! We had an agreement beforehand, why are you refusing to abide by it?”
Jiang Jingyi blinked, confused. “What agreement?”
Ji Qiuyang was taken aback, something felt off about her tone. “Get down first.”
Just as Jiang Jingyi was about to climb down, the door was suddenly pushed open from outside. Several middle-aged women poked their heads in. “Scholar Ji… Ah!”
A scream rang out as those behind caught a clear glimpse of the scene inside. The people at the door were then dragged out, and the door slammed shut once more.
Soon, laughter and teasing erupted from outside. Even without hearing their exact words, it wasn’t hard to guess what they were saying.
Now, both Jiang Jingyi and Ji Qiuyang wore unpleasant expressions. Jiang Jingyi felt humiliated and perplexed, while Ji Qiuyang felt nothing but shame.
Being pinned down on the bed by a woman attempting to force herself on him was already beyond his imagination. Now, to have been seen in such a state, how could he ever face others again? The women who had entered were notorious gossips in the village. Likely, before the banquet even ended, this incident would be the talk of the entire village.
Ji Qiuyang’s face turned ashen. Seeing Jiang Jingyi still motionless, he snapped angrily, “Jiang Jingyi, get down!”
Jiang Jingyi hastily scrambled off and absentmindedly straightened her clothes while her mind raced to process the memories flooding into her consciousness.
She had transmigrated into a book, becoming the mother of the villain in a story featuring two male leads. This mother of the villain was a real piece of work—she had schemed her way into marrying the villain’s father and, relying on brute force, had coerced him into having the villain son.
Moreover, this despicable mother was malicious and wicked. After driving the villain’s father—the man before her—to his death, she raised their son to become the most notorious villain of the Great Zhou Dynasty, a treacherous minister. In the end, the villain son was defeated by the righteous male lead in their power struggle, and both mother and son met a miserable end. In short, the two of them served as stepping stones for the righteous male lead, the quintessential villains.
Glancing at the humiliated and furious father of the villain, Jiang Jingyi felt a wave of relief. Thankfully, the original host hadn’t succeeded yet. If she had, wouldn’t the villain son already be growing in her womb? That would only entangle her further.
Stealing another look at Ji Qiuyang’s face, Jiang Jingyi couldn’t help but marvel—even in anger, he was strikingly handsome. She felt a twinge of regret about letting him off so easily.
Ji Qiuyang flew into a rage, quickly getting up and fumbling to put on his clothes.
While dressing, Jiang Jingyi touched her face and arms—smooth and tender, her skin was quite nice. If it were truly as described in the original book, this face must also be exceptionally beautiful.
As soon as Ji Qiuyang finished dressing, the first thing he did was rush to the desk by the window, pull a piece of paper from a drawer, and throw it at Jiang Jingyi. “This is the agreement we made from the start!”
Watching Jiang Jingyi touch her face, then her hips, Ji Qiuyang grew annoyed. He turned away, his voice tinged with irritation, “Such frivolous behavior, utterly unbecoming.”
He couldn’t help but recall the day Jiang Jingyi had blocked his path and thrown herself into his arms, his expression darkening further. As a scholar, he valued his reputation above all else. First, he had been forced into marrying her after she schemed against him, and now she had nearly assaulted him. How could he not be furious?
Seeing the man’s aloof and indifferent demeanor, Jiang Jingyi couldn’t help but wonder whether the original host had simply been captivated by this handsome face and thus resorted to such schemes.
Of course, the original host was no saint either. The Jiang family were landlords in the town, wealthy and prosperous. She was the legitimate daughter of the household, but her birth mother had died early, and she had been raised by her stepmother to be sharp-tongued and spiteful. The original host had long been infatuated with Ji Qiuyang, frequently trying to flirt with him. Unfortunately, Ji Qiuyang had no interest in her. Under the instigation of her stepmother and stepsister, she had eventually framed Ji Qiuyang.
However, the original host was the original host. As Jiang Jingyi, who had received nine years of compulsory education, she could drool over a handsome man, daydream about him, even flirt with him but forcing someone against their will was something she could never do.
Yet now that she had transmigrated here, she naturally had to plan for her own future. Since she wasn’t pregnant, hadn’t given birth, and hadn’t even consummated the marriage with him, was it still possible for her to run away now?
But she quickly dismissed the idea. Where could a lone woman go in this era? Not to mention that traveling required official permits, and even if she obtained one, a woman traveling alone would be extremely unsafe. She would likely be captured and sold into a bad situation within a few days.
She couldn’t return to her maternal home, and running away was impractical. Did that mean she had to follow the plot? Perhaps she could only return to her original world once the villain son met his demise?
No, no, that wouldn’t do. How could a decent, morally upright girl like her raise a villain child, let alone conceive one with a strange ancient man?
She pursed her lips and cast a regretful glance at Ji Qiuyang’s face—his hairline sharp as if cut by a knife, his eyes narrow and long, his thin lips pressed tightly together at that moment. When his gaze met hers, it was cold and tinged with disdain.
An aura of total abstinence!
After a sigh of lament, Jiang Jingyi realized that, for now, staying with the Ji family seemed to be her only option.
She then unfolded the agreement, and her eyes lit up as she read its contents.
The agreement stipulated that Ji Qiuyang would allow Jiang Jingyi to stay in the Ji household. He would not take concubines and would respect her for as long as she wished to remain. In return, Jiang Jingyi was not to force herself on Ji Qiuyang; they would be a couple in name only and maintain harmonious relations with the Ji family.
Overall, the agreement was quite favorable to her. After all, no matter how handsome he was, they had no real feelings for each other. Becoming a true couple might only complicate things.
With this agreement, she could temporarily stay with the Ji family and keep her options open for the future.
In an instant, Jiang Jingyi made her decision, feeling that heaven had been kind to her. She tucked the agreement away and said, “I’ll keep this copy.”
Seeing Ji Qiuyang frown, Jiang Jingyi clicked her tongue. “If you’re worried I might tear it up, you can rewrite a copy for yourself to keep.”
Given what had just transpired between them—he had nearly been assaulted, Ji Qiuyang clearly had no trust in Jiang Jingyi. Though surprised and skeptical of her suggestion, he still ground ink, picked up a brush, and began rewriting the agreement. Whether she would abide by it or not was one thing, but writing it down was still necessary.
Jiang Jingyi stood nearby, watching the man’s focused and earnest expression, and began to understand why the original host had gone to such lengths, even ruining her own reputation, to marry Ji Qiuyang and attempt to force herself on him.
He was truly good-looking.
They say a focused man was at his most attractive, and when paired with a handsome face, the impact was even more striking. The original host had probably drafted this agreement with the intention of reneging on it later, otherwise, why would she have been in such a hurry to force herself on him, especially with guests still outside?
Ji Qiuyang finished writing the agreement, blew on it to dry, and pressed his fingerprint onto it. As he turned, he met Jiang Jingyi’s gaze and frowned, instinctively leaning back to put some distance between them. “It’s done. Press your fingerprint.”
Jiang Jingyi glanced at the elegant regular script on the paper and couldn’t help but admire it. Handsome and talented—truly a future pillar of the state. She pressed her fingerprint and handed it back to him. “Pleasure doing business.”
Her outstretched hand was pale and delicate, appearing soft and tender. Ji Qiuyang took the agreement after giving it a brief glance, a slight frown forming as he stored it away.
Jiang Jingyi surveyed the room. It was fairly spacious, with several trunks stacked near the inner wall, each adorned with large red “double happiness” symbols. The only thing missing was a second bed.
It was impossible for Jiang Jingyi to graciously give up the bed. She turned, lay down on it, and declared, “The bed is mine. Make yourself comfortable.”
Ji Qiuyang didn’t bother arguing with her over this. He simply took out bedding from one of the trunks, spread it on the rush mat, and lay down.
The large red wedding candle had not yet burned out. The woman who had just cheerfully signed the gentleman’s agreement with him now lay on the bed with her back turned, seemingly asleep.
Could she really be asleep already?
Ji Qiuyang felt a bit disoriented, unable to discern whether the Jiang Jingyi now or the unreasonable one who had pinned him to the bed earlier was her true self.
He rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. Fine, let it be for now. Since they had made an agreement, she should at least abide by it for a few days.
The noise from outside gradually faded. Surprisingly, Jiang Jingyi fell asleep in this unfamiliar era and place—her heart truly was large.
However, Ji Qiuyang had overestimated Jiang Jingyi, and Jiang Jingyi had overestimated her own sleeping posture. In the middle of the night, she rolled off the bed and, feeling cold, instinctively clung to the warm body nearby, wrapping her arms and legs around it.
As for Ji Qiuyang, he stared in shock and understanding, his face nearly as dark as the bottom of a pot. What was worse, he couldn’t pry the person off him.
It was a truly agonizing night.
Ji Qiuyang closed his eyes in despair.
The next morning, as soon as Jiang Jingyi opened her eyes, she was met with Ji Qiuyang’s dark expression. It didn’t take much thought to realize that her habit of sleeping in an ungraceful manner had followed her through the transmigration.
Jiang Jingyi calmly released him and stood up, glancing at the roof with an air of nonchalance. “It’s daylight already.”
Ji Qiuyang choked back a breath that caught in his throat, nearly suffocating himself. This woman didn’t even mention what had happened last night, her face was too thick, utterly shameless.
“Last night…”
Ji Qiuyang’s words were cut off before he could finish by Jiang Jingyi, “What happened last night?”
Ji Qiuyang’s face flushed crimson with embarrassment, rendering him speechless. What if he said it out loud and she took advantage of it to cling to him again?
Seeing his expression, Jiang Jingyi found it amusing and deliberately twisted her waist, saying, “No wonder my waist ached in the latter half of the night—it turns out I rolled off the bed.”
“Since you know, be more careful from now on.” Ji Qiuyang muttered this awkwardly, his face flushed, not daring to look at the soft sway of Jiang Jingyi’s waist. He threw on his robe and hurried out.
Jiang Jingyi clicked her tongue, remarking, “Quite the innocent one.”
Ji Qiuyang, who had just reached the doorway, stumbled and nearly fell. He turned back and met Jiang Jingyi’s teasing gaze—her peach-blossom eyes slightly raised, the reflection within trembling slightly, clearly revealing his own somewhat flustered figure.
Jiang Jingyi narrowed her eyes into a smile. “Ah, I’m starting to regret it a bit.”
**