In this era, there were no phones or any evening entertainment, so Song Yunqiao went to bed early.
And since she slept early, she naturally woke up early too.
However, Jiang Jiyuan was even earlier than her—when she opened her eyes, he was already out of the room. The only thing left on the table were the few large banknotes she had placed there yesterday.
Song Yunqiao changed her clothes and planned to make breakfast. When she went to the kitchen, she saw that Ji Peilan had already almost finished preparing it.
A little embarrassed, Song Yunqiao said, “I was just thinking of making breakfast, I didn’t expect Mom to get up so early.”
Ji Peilan said considerately, “I’m older, I wake up early. I’ll handle breakfast, you sleep a bit more.”
Seeing that she wasn’t needed, Song Yunqiao went to wash up.
After Ji Peilan finished breakfast, Jiang Jijing and Jiang Jianan also got up.
After eating, the three members of the Jiang family all went to work in the fields.
Song Yunqiao finished cleaning the dishes when she heard knocking at the gate.
Confused, she looked at Jiang Jianan, who also shook his head—he didn’t know either.
She called out from the courtyard, “Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
Hearing that it was He Suxia’s voice, Song Yunqiao quickly went to open the door.
“Suxia, come in.”
He Suxia shook her head. “No, I still have to go to work soon, I won’t come in.” Then she glanced into the courtyard and saw Jiang Jianan standing there. Lowering her voice, she asked, “Are you doing okay at the Jiang family?”
Knowing she was worried about her, Song Yunqiao felt warm inside and smiled. “I’m doing well. Don’t worry about me. You can come find me anytime.”
“That’s good.”
Only after hearing her answer did He Suxia finally relax.
“I won’t stay any longer, I need to go to work. I’ll come see you when I have time.”
“Okay.”
After seeing her off, Song Yunqiao went to watch Jiang Jianan feed the chickens.
The family only had two old hens, which were their main source of eggs. Ji Peilan usually didn’t eat them herself and saved them for her three sons. Jiang Jiyuan didn’t eat them either and left them for his younger brothers.
The two hens were well raised. Jiang Jijing would occasionally catch earthworms to feed them, and each hen laid one egg a day.
But even so, two eggs weren’t enough for the family. In the past two days, Song Yunqiao had been eating breakfast at the Jiang house, and every day there were five boiled eggs—one for each person.
Song Yunqiao didn’t think much of it and assumed it was just the Jiang family’s habit. She didn’t know that the eggs were actually prepared specifically for her. Previously, she had brought Jiang Jiyuan boiled eggs a few times, and he thought she liked them, so he started making them every day.
On the first day, Ji Peilan had felt a bit reluctant and suggested just boiling one, but Jiang Jiyuan insisted on cooking four so everyone could have one. Ji Peilan disagreed, saying that if everyone ate them, then Jiang Jiyuan should also eat one. In the end, he had to compromise.
Eating eggs did have benefits—these past few days, everyone felt much more energetic while working in the fields.
While working in the fields, someone walked up to Ji Peilan and said, “Peilan, why don’t you let your daughter-in-law come help with work?”
Ji Peilan replied, “Xiaoqiao just joined our family. How can we let her go to the fields right away?”
Even though she said that, she never actually intended to let Song Yunqiao do field work.
The woman added provocatively, “Oh my, listen to me—you as a mother-in-law can’t be like that. You need to show authority, or she’ll end up walking all over you in the future.”
Ji Peilan ignored her.
Seeing she wasn’t getting a reaction, the woman continued sarcastically, “Those city girls are all lazy and spoiled. Don’t believe me? The old Wang family is a perfect example.”
After talking for a while and still getting no response, she lost interest and left, pouting.
Others also stopped gossiping in front of Ji Peilan, but behind her back, many still talked about the family. They believed that, like the old Wang family’s situation, Song Yunqiao would eventually cause chaos in the Jiang household.
Days passed, and a month had gone by since Song Yunqiao married into the Jiang family.
Besides not going to the fields, she caused no trouble at all. She rarely even went out. Gradually, the villagers stopped paying attention to the Jiang family.
Song Yunqiao spent her days at home cooking different dishes. Jiang Jiyuan didn’t mind her “wasting” things—whenever something ran out, he would find a way to get more. In short, she felt the life was quite good.
Now it was autumn harvest season. Everyone in the village was extremely busy, getting up before dawn and working until dark. During harvest time, even lunch was eaten in the fields, brought from home.
At noon, Jiang Jiyuan told Jiang Jijing to come back and fetch lunch, but Song Yunqiao said she could deliver it herself, so he wouldn’t need to make an extra trip.
Jiang Jiyuan looked at her fair face and said, “The sun is very strong at noon.”
Hearing that he was worried she might get sunburned, Song Yunqiao felt warm inside. After a month together, she already understood him—he was a good person, just not very good with words.
“It’s fine. It’s just a short walk. I can handle it.”
Seeing her insist, Jiang Jiyuan could only agree.
So today, after preparing lunch, Song Yunqiao packed it into a basket and brought it to the fields.
Her appearance immediately drew a lot of attention.
It was lunchtime, and everyone was sitting in shaded spots eating. Those with family bringing food could eat something warm; those without usually brought dry food from morning—mostly corn buns with water.
After finally finding Jiang Jiyuan, Song Yunqiao saw a girl standing very close to him. The girl seemed to be saying something happily, smiling brightly. The sight made Song Yunqiao feel strangely uncomfortable.
Jiang Jiyuan noticed the girl leaning in too close and instinctively stepped back. At that moment, he was thinking about whether Song Yunqiao had arrived—and when he looked up, he saw her standing not far away, watching him.
Without hesitation, he immediately walked toward her.
“Is it heavy? Let me carry it.”
Song Yunqiao didn’t move. Jiang Jiyuan naturally took the basket from her hands.
Ji Peilan watched from the side with a pleased smile.
She had personally witnessed the changes in her son over the past month.
Song Yunqiao let out a soft huff and ignored him, walking toward Ji Peilan instead.
Jiang Jiyuan followed behind with the basket. He had a feeling she might be upset.
The girl who had been standing close earlier felt uncomfortable watching this scene, but she didn’t show it. Instead, she smiled and said, “This must be Sister-in-law Jiang. She’s really beautiful.”
Song Yunqian didn’t recognize her, as she had never seen her in the village.
Ji Peilan introduced her, “She’s Wu Qianzhen, the daughter of Team Leader Wu.”
Wu Qianzhen smiled sweetly. “Sister-in-law, just call me Qianzhen.”
Song Yunqian politely responded but didn’t continue the conversation.