17 The Last Illusion

◎Farm Girl◎

The midday sun was so scorching that the farmers went home early; they could feel the burning heat of the earth through their shoes.

Ah Bao's coarse cloth shirt was already soaked with sweat, sticking uncomfortably to his back.

But she couldn't worry about all that; she had to get the work done quickly and finish it as soon as possible, without delaying any longer.

Even though he was parched from the heat, Ah Bao's hands didn't stop moving, pulling up one patch of grass after another.

"Almost there, almost there, it'll be over soon," she muttered to herself, the wet towel wrapped around her head already completely dry.

Weeding thoroughly before the wheat harvest will help the wheat grow plumper, making this year's harvest easier.

The summer breeze, carrying waves of heat, made the heat even more unbearable.

Ah Bao bent over, the wheat ears swaying in the wind, the roughness of the wheat awns stinging her cheeks.

For some reason, the next second, the world spun around.

Before Abao could even utter a sound, she collapsed straight down in the wheat field, her hand brushing against the scorching soil before going numb.

I don't know how much time passed, but a cool sensation landed on my face, subtle and refreshing.

She closed her eyes, but her lips sensed it first.

It's raining.

A few raindrops fell from the sky, hitting my cheeks and forehead, bringing the unique coolness of a summer afternoon.

A Bao's tongue unconsciously darted out, gently licking the raindrops that had fallen on her lips.

I felt like I had been walking in a dry desert for too long. My throat was so dry and sore. I had just suffered heatstroke while pulling weeds. No one had come to find me for so long. If it hadn't rained, I probably would have fainted here.

The rain was still falling, sporadic and light, but enough to slowly clear her hazy consciousness.

This is A Bao's body, a peasant girl from Zhujia Village who rents two or three acres of land from a landlord.

Although their family wasn't poor, they still had a hard life.

Her mother passed away when she was thirteen, leaving her to rely on her father for support.

Ah Bao attended a private school for a year, but he didn't become overly attached to the literati and scholars in the books. He dropped out of school to save money.

After her mother passed away, Abao took on the responsibilities of the family in a very sensible way. At first, she cooked at home, but now she has started to take the initiative to work in the fields.

With the wheat harvest approaching, her father's old ailment flared up these past few days, and his body simply couldn't hold on any longer, so she came to the field alone to pull weeds.

Unfortunately, he was physically weak and couldn't withstand the scorching sun, so he fainted.

But this dizziness brought back memories of her two previous lives.

The images suddenly flooded my mind, so vividly clear as if they had happened just yesterday.

Ah Bao, no, it was Pei Xueyan. She slowly stood up, supporting herself on the ground. Looking at the slightly yellowing wheat ears in front of her, she looked up at the falling rain, her mind filled with a daze.

Has this meant I've lived another lifetime?

Looking down at her mud-covered trousers and the red marks on her arms and hands from the wheat ears, Pei Xueyan rubbed her arms, her mind in turmoil.

Jiang Qiye, Third Uncle?

Before he died, he uttered two names.

However, the moment that name was mentioned, she almost collapsed to the ground again.

This time it wasn't heatstroke, but rather the overwhelming hatred that made me dizzy.

Based on her experiences in the previous two lives, she knew that her good "third uncle," Young Master Jiang, would definitely come looking for her this time, and then try to seduce her and make her fall in love with him.

Finally, I'll kill her with my own hands!

Does he even know how painful it is to be stabbed in the body with a sword?!

Do you know that when he used his internal energy to extract the Heart Pill last time, she was still conscious? The excruciating pain of having her internal organs ripped apart still makes her tremble when she thinks about it now!

She hated Jiang Qiye to death!

She didn't understand why this man kept provoking her.

With a gentle smile and considerate care, he gradually dismantles her defenses, letting her indulge in false affection. Once she falls completely in love with him, he ruthlessly strikes her down.

How could someone be so evil? How could someone be so cruel?

She only remembered the entanglement between the two lifetimes; everything before the illusion was a blank.

Her current body contains both the spoiled nature of a pampered young girl from her previous two lives and the simplicity and resilience of a peasant girl named A Bao.

He didn't stay idle at home; the next day he went to the fields to weed and did farm work as diligently and meticulously as ever.

Abao is beautiful and seventeen years old this year. People in the village are constantly coming to propose marriage to her.

A few days ago, a matchmaker came to the door, saying that there was a man from a well-off family in the neighboring village who was willing to give ten dan of grain and a sow as a betrothal gift, and also promised to give her family 1.2 mu of land after the marriage.

The father's eyes lit up when he heard this. If it had been the filial Abao who hadn't regained his memory, he probably would have agreed long ago.

Now, she won't.

She would wait, wait for Jiang Qiye to come to her.

Wait until he puts on that affectionate act again, wait until he uses those gentle methods to seduce her.

She wanted to get revenge on him, to make him taste the bitterness of being deceived and betrayed, to make him suffer a pain that would penetrate to the bone!

More importantly, she needed to figure out why Jiang Qiye was treating her this way.

Why did he approach her and kill her time and time again?

Pei Xueyan had no idea how long she would have to wait for Jiang Qiye.

She could only endure this day after day, politely declining marriage proposals from the village matchmakers, saying that she wanted to help her father for another two years.

While feeding the chickens and collecting the laundry, he kept looking towards the path leading out of the village, hoping to see that familiar figure appear.

Days passed by, and half a month had gone by in the blink of an eye.

That evening, just after dinner, the heat dissipated a bit, and the air grew slightly cooler.

A familiar voice sounded at the door, tinged with politeness: "Excuse me, may I have a bowl of water?"

He was repairing farm tools in the yard when he heard a sound and looked up.

Pei Xueyan was sitting on the stone bench by the door weaving a straw hat when she suddenly looked up.

It really was Jiang Qiye.

For some reason, the resentment, anticipation, and anxiety that had accumulated over the past ten days all surged into an uncontrollable rage, burning her fingertips and making them tremble.

I wanted to shout out my questions, to ask him why he had lied to me. All my grievances, resentment, and even pain welled up inside me.

She put down the straw hat in her hand, reached out and tucked the stray hairs behind her ear, revealing her entire face without obscuring it at all.

Then he stood up, walked step by step to the door, and pretended to be a complete stranger: "Excuse me, what can I do for you?"

Jiang Qiye was dressed in a faded coarse cloth outfit, and his face was darker than in his previous two lives. Gone was his former aloof and cold demeanor; he truly looked like an ordinary man on his journey.

He cupped his hands in greeting to Pei Xueyan, his tone still polite: "Hello, young lady. I live in the West Village. I'm on my way to the East Village to take care of some business today. It's hot and I'm in a hurry, so I'm really thirsty. I'd like to ask you for a bowl of water."

Pei Xueyan wanted to laugh, but she held it back.

It's only a dozen or so miles from Xicun to Dongjiazhuang. With his physical strength, he could walk there in half an hour at a brisk pace. Besides, there's a river not far from the village entrance with water so clear that you can drink it directly. Why would he need to go all the way into the village to beg for water?

Throughout their two lifetimes, she had always believed that Jiang Qiye was a virtuous gentleman, a reliable person who had studied the classics and was a respectable man.

Now it seems he's become increasingly adept at these serendipitous tricks.

Pei Xueyan suppressed the sarcasm in her heart and said coldly, "My house has no water."

Jiang Qiye was clearly taken aback, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

He hadn't expected that "A Bao" in this life would be so feisty.

Before he came, he knew that A Bao in this life was a simple and gentle farmer's daughter. Although she was quiet, she was very friendly to her neighbors. This was the first time he had heard such harsh words.

He cupped his hands in a gesture of respect and softened his tone, saying, "If there's no water, wine will do; anything to quench your thirst will be fine."

That's unbelievable! A family so poor, yet they still need alcohol?

Seeing his feigned humility, Pei Xueyan's expression turned cold into a smile. Fine, since they were destined to be entangled anyway, rather than confronting each other and only increasing her own anger, she might as well go along with his act and see what tricks he could play in this life.

"Wait here, I'll go get you some drinks."

What kind of alcohol is there at home? My father has always been frugal. He can't even afford to drink much coarse tea on ordinary days. The only jar of rice wine he owns was a gift from a relative last year during the Spring Festival. He has long kept it hidden in the back of the cupboard and can't bear to touch it.

She picked up a gourd ladle from the stove, walked to the water vat, and scooped up a ladleful of cool water that she had just drawn from the well.

The water still carried the coolness of the well bottom. Pei Xueyan added some muddy water, sand, and bitter salt to it.

He stirred it with his fingers and walked out excitedly.

As soon as he stepped out the door, he saw Jiang Qiye in the yard, who had rolled up his sleeves and was squatting next to his father, holding a hammer and helping to repair farm tools. His movements were so skilled that they didn't seem like he was faking it.

After making some simple repairs, I took some hay to feed the cattle.

He said with a smile, "Uncle Zhu, make sure it grows well these next few days, because it won't be long before we have to harvest the wheat."

Father was very happy; his eyes were practically glued to the screen.

However, these images were so bizarre that I was completely baffled.

His skill in agricultural work made Pei Xueyan doubt that her previous memories were all fake.

And when he rolled up his arm, there were even bulging muscles...

At this moment, Jiang Qiye also saw Pei Xueyan, smiled, got up and walked over, naturally taking the gourd ladle from her hand.

Before Pei Xueyan could react, he had already tilted his head back and drunk the water in the ladle in one gulp, as if he hadn't tasted the roughness of the mud and the bitterness of the salt at all.

Pei Xueyan stared at him in shock, stammering, "You—you—"

Jiang Qiye wiped his mouth, a slightly naive smile on his face: "The taste is a bit strange, but it's cool and refreshing, so it quenches my thirst."

Pei Xueyan was even more confused.

He should have sensed something was wrong, so why did he react this way?

He drank some water, then turned around to help his father tidy up the farm tools before politely taking his leave.

Even after walking a long distance from Zhujia Village, Jiang Qiye's heart was still pounding, unable to calm down for a long time.

After his previous life ended, he fell seriously ill and lay in the farmhouse for ten days.

In fact, Jiang Qiye already knew that his heart had been stirred by Pei Xueyan's experiences in life after life.

He had to end all of this quickly; he had to finish this in this lifetime.

Otherwise, he feared he would truly become trapped in this cyclical dreamlike emotional state, unable to escape, ultimately ending up physically and mentally exhausted and utterly ruined.

To make the identity of the farmer more realistic, Jiang Qiye even implanted some fragmented memories of rural life into his consciousness.

Harvesting wheat, weeding, and repairing farm tools—these tasks suddenly became easy to handle.

The next morning, Jiang Qiye had just gotten up and was thinking about how to create another chance encounter in Zhujia Village when he saw a woman who looked to be about forty or fifty years old standing at the gate of the courtyard. She was wearing a clean blue cloth shirt and was peeking inside.

He recognized the woman; she was Aunt Wang, a well-known matchmaker near Zhujia Village.

When Aunt Wang saw him open the door, she immediately greeted him with a beaming smile, her voice so loud it could be heard in the next courtyard: "Oh, Jiang family's young man, we've been waiting for you to get up! Your good days are coming!"

Jiang Qiye stepped aside to let her in, looking puzzled, and asked, "What do you mean by that, Aunt Wang? What good days have I been living?"

Aunt Wang grabbed his arm, her eyes almost squinting with laughter: "You don't know? Abao from Zhujiazhuang is a famous beauty for miles around, even more beautiful than Xi Shi. Big eyes, oval face, so many young men have asked me to propose marriage to them, but they all refused! But yesterday, Abao's father came to me and insisted that I come to Xicun to find you, saying... saying that Abao is interested in you!"

As she spoke, Aunt Wang winked and made a gesture of giving two thumbs-up to each other, the meaning of which couldn't be clearer.

Jiang Qiye was completely bewildered, standing there for a long time without coming to his senses.