“Sigh—”
Lying on the bed, Wen Ye stared at the moldy, tattered thatched roof above her and let out a long, heavy sigh.
She couldn’t sleep. Not at all.
The noise outside was simply too loud.
Right now, the most cliché plotline in every farming novel was unfolding in the courtyard—
the wicked grandmother selling off her granddaughter.
“Don’t sell Lan-girl!” cried her mother, Madam Lin.
“What do you mean, sell? She’s old enough to get married,” snapped her vicious grandmother, Old Madam Wen.
Wen Ye’s head buzzed. She rolled over and covered her ears, unwilling to listen any longer. Irritation churned inside her.
In her previous life, she had been the daughter of the powerful Wen family in the imperial capital of the twenty-first century—a true apex predator at the top of society.
And then, because she accidentally choked while drinking water…
She died.
At the age of twenty-three.
And then she transmigrated into a novel.
Now she was a fourteen-year-old village girl in Qingshui Village of the Great Qi Dynasty, dirt poor and living at the very bottom of society.
The little village girl’s family was enormous. Several branches of the family all lived together under one roof.
The third branch, which she belonged to, was the most hardworking and most exploited.
They ate less than chickens and worked harder than oxen.
Five days ago, the original owner of this body—malnourished after years of deprivation—had fainted while washing clothes and fallen into the water.
By the time she was pulled out, she was dead.
And Wen Ye had become her.
She had been here for five days.
And she had spent all five days lying in bed, hoping everything was just a dream.
Yet every time she opened her eyes, she saw the same dilapidated thatched hut.
She had no choice but to face reality.
There was no going back.
Wen Ye had completely given up.
Working?
Impossible.
Fighting against fate?
Also impossible.
She had absolutely no interest in this era.
All she wanted was to die as quickly as possible and reincarnate into a better life.
According to the original owner’s memories, she only had about two years left to live.
She just needed to muddle through the plot and wait for the end.
As for her cheap family members?
They were all cannon fodder destined for early deaths anyway.
But…
What did that have to do with her?
She was just a background character.
Why should she bother changing someone else’s storyline?
At the current point in the plot, her wicked grandmother was preparing to sell her older sister, Wen Lan, to a wealthy landowner in town as the old man’s eighteenth concubine.
“Mother-in-law, how can you be so heartless? Sister-in-law, you have daughters too! Please talk some sense into Mother!”
That was Madam Lin.
“Third Sister-in-law, Lan-girl has fallen into a nest of blessings. The Liu family is wealthy. They have more than a dozen servants.”
That was her eldest aunt.
“If it’s such a blessing, then why don’t you send your own daughter? Wuuu—”
The argument continued outside.
Although Wen Ye was determined to die sooner rather than later, the noise still annoyed her.
Then a thought struck her.
Wait.
Why hadn’t she heard Wen Lan’s voice?
Wen Ye thought of her sister.
During the past few days, every time she opened her eyes, besides the moldy thatched roof above her, she would see a thin little face.
Pretty, youthful, and always looking at her with concern.
A crisp voice would ask:
“Ye-girl, are you feeling any better?”
Or:
“Ye-girl, I made egg custard. Let me feed you.”
Whenever that happened, Old Madam Wen’s furious curses would drift in from outside, accusing Wen Lan of stealing eggs.
Wen Lan would always smile.
“It’s okay. Grandma used to beat me whenever I took eggs. I don’t know why, but these past few days she only scolds me and doesn’t hit me. A few curses don’t hurt. Hurry and eat.”
Whether it was cursing or beating, Wen Ye hadn’t cared at the time.
Back then she had been completely numb.
Driven by hunger, she had simply opened her mouth and eaten the egg custard Wen Lan fed her.
Thinking back on it now, Wen Ye suddenly sat upright.
At last she understood.
Why had Old Madam Wen only cursed Wen Lan for stealing eggs these past few days?
Because today was the day Wen Lan would be sold.
The eggs Wen Ye had eaten—
after taking a roundabout path—
were effectively part of Wen Lan’s selling price.
Wen Ye stared blankly outside for a moment.
Then she got out of bed, slipped on her shoes, and shuffled toward the door.
Fine.
Wen Ye hated owing people favors.
She pushed open the door.
Sunlight fell across her yellow, emaciated face.
The noisy commotion outside instantly became real.
Her cool gaze swept across the courtyard.
The yard was packed with people.
A cart loaded with betrothal gifts stood nearby.
Outside the bamboo fence, villagers had gathered to watch the spectacle.
Old Madam Wen clutched twenty taels of silver in her hand, smiling like a blooming chrysanthemum.
The girl being sold, Wen Lan, sat nearby in a daze, looking as though her soul had left her body.
She had only recently come of age.
Though thin, she was delicate and beautiful.
Madam Lin held Wen Lan tightly while sobbing.
A short, fat middle-aged man said to Old Madam Wen,
“Then it’s settled. We’ll come to fetch the bride in five days.”
“Five days is too long. Tomorrow is an auspicious day too. You can take her tomorrow.”
Old Madam Wen was so afraid they might change their minds that she practically wanted to deliver the girl herself.
Manager Liu nodded.
“Fine. Then tomorr—AAAH!”
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly flew forward in the posture of a starving dog pouncing on food.
His rear shot up into the air as he crashed into the wall and plowed face-first through a mouthful of dirt.
“Ah—!”
Gasps erupted from every direction.
Old Madam Wen, Madam Lin, Wen Lan, and everyone else stared in shock.
They turned around.
There stood Wen Ye, striding forward with the swagger of someone who owned the world.
She stopped where Manager Liu had been standing.
Arms crossed over her chest, her little face was taut and expressionless.
She didn’t say a word.
It was as though she hadn’t just kicked someone across the courtyard.
Everyone sucked in a breath.
Heavens!
That was the steward of Landowner Liu’s household!
She had actually kicked him flying!
Madam Lin and Wen Lan were even more stunned.
Normally, Wen Ye spoke so softly she sounded like a mosquito buzzing.
After five days of illness, she’d barely gotten out of bed and—
and…
gone completely insane!
Old Madam Wen was the first to recover.
Both shocked and furious, she shrieked:
“You little wretch! Are you tired of living?!”
As she spoke, she charged forward to hit her.
Unexpectedly, before she could get close, Wen Ye casually sent another kick her way.
“AAAH!”
Old Madam Wen instantly flew backward and rolled into a tangled heap with Manager Liu.
Manager Liu yelped and shoved the old woman off him.
Before he could even stand up, Wen Ye silently strode toward him.
On the way, she casually picked up a wood-cutting cleaver lying on the ground.
She bent down and crouched beside him.
Then she placed the blade against his neck.
Her voice was cool and calm.
“Listen. I don’t approve of Wen Lan’s marriage.”
“Go back and tell Landowner Liu this arrangement is canceled.”
As she spoke, she pressed down slightly.
A thin stream of blood immediately sprayed from Manager Liu’s shoulder.
“WHAT?!”
Manager Liu’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
He cried out in pain.
After a long moment, he finally found his voice.
Completely on the verge of collapse, he said:
“Little… little auntie, if you have something to say, just say it! Why start with kicking and stabbing?”
What kind of rotten luck was this?!
What had he even done?
He was just a servant carrying out orders!
He had only been sent to deliver betrothal gifts!
Only helping his master buy a concubine!
Why should he suffer like this?
Even if she objected to the marriage, couldn’t she have simply said so?
When other people negotiated, they waved a knife around first and only attacked if things escalated.
But this lunatic?
She skipped the talking entirely!
First the kicking.
Then the knife.
Now he was bleeding!
What kind of madness was this?
Wen Ye replied,
“Take all this stuff back.”
“We don’t agree to the marriage.”
“Then get lost.”
“Yes! Yes! We’ll leave right now!”
Manager Liu was terrified out of his mind.
Normally, he wouldn’t even spare a village girl a glance.
But this Wen Ye…
didn’t follow any normal logic.
She was a madwoman.
The kind who exploded without warning.
He’d been bitten by a rabid dog before.
He was traumatized.
Old Madam Wen, however, stared at Wen Ye in disbelief.
“You can’t cancel it! This is outrageous!”
Had this worthless girl been possessed by a ghost?
Usually she wouldn’t even dare cry when beaten.
Yet today she was kicking people and trying to kill them?
Still, that wasn’t the important issue right now.
The marriage was.
Her eyes bulged as she shouted:
“You dead girl, stop bluffing! If you kill someone, you’ll have to pay with your own life! If you’ve got the guts, kill one and let me see!”
Manager Liu, trapped beneath the cleaver:
“……”
Wen Ye looked down at him thoughtfully.
Then she asked,
“So… what’s your opinion on that?”
Manager Liu:
“……”