Chapter 2
After finishing her breakfast, Mi Yao, as usual, found a good spot on the boat to read in a sheltered place. She nestled half her face in the snow-white fox fur, gazing at the snow-covered green mountains in the distance, watching the migratory birds fishing nearby, and listening to the crisp sound of the boat cutting through the river and hitting the thin ice. Occasionally, she would glance at her book, yawn, and start her afternoon nap.
After waking up, she read for a while. Only when the steward came to inform her that the ship would arrive at the shore in a few hours and that she would stay at the post station tonight and travel by land to Kuizhou tomorrow did she feel like getting up.
Mi Yao was neither looking forward to nor afraid of seeing the male lead soon.
I only heard that we would be docked soon, and I knew that I would be jostling in a carriage tomorrow.
She opened her hair care daily planner and changed tomorrow's hair care routine to today.
After drinking a bowl of hair-nourishing soup made from black beans, black sesame seeds, walnuts, and mulberries, I went back inside to let my hair down when it was almost time, and started applying a hair-nourishing cream made from he shou wu (Polygonum multiflorum) and flower oil.
Shuanghua massaged the acupoints on Miyao's head, while Shiya applied a beauty cream made with pearl powder to Miyao's face and neck.
Before she returned, smokeless silver charcoal had been lit inside the house. When she entered, a warm and fragrant aroma wafted over her, and Mi Yao felt sleepy again.
She slept whenever she felt like it, and after a short nap, she closed her eyes and slept for about half a cup of tea's time.
When she woke up, the ointment on her face and hair had been cleaned off. Shuanghua and Shiya were drying her hair, while Yuxiu used the remaining beauty cream to apply to her face. She took a small elm wood stool and sat down next to her. When she opened her eyes, she immediately handed her some fragrant tea to rinse her mouth.
Why are you staring at me like that?
Noticing Yu Xiu's gaze fixed on her, Mi Yao reminded her, "Your face cream is drying out, go wash it off."
Yu Xiu touched the white ointment that was gradually drying on her face. Thinking about the medicinal ingredients it contained, she felt it would be a pity to remove it so soon after applying it. She stood up but did not wash her face for a long time.
"Sister, do you think your brother-in-law will like me?"
Mi Yao heard Yu Xiu mention Xiao Chuan twice in one day, and she figured it must be because the ship had docked and she would be meeting Xiao Chuan in a few days, and the little girl was so nervous that she kept bringing it up.
Thinking back to how Yu Xiu usually watched her apply face masks or pounded medicine for her, it was different today as she also applied a face mask.
She didn't want to interfere with the characters' behavior in the book. Her original plan was to wait until Yu Xiu, like in the story, ran into a wall and dared not provoke the male lead again, and obediently stayed by her side.
But when she heard Yu Xiu keep mentioning wanting Xiao Chuan's favor, she couldn't help but speak up: "Why do you want him to like you? You're my sister. You relied on me before, but you don't want to rely on me anymore?"
"Of course I want to rely on my sister, but..."
Yu Xiu lowered her eyes and fidgeted with her fingers, hesitant and unsure of what to say.
Judging from her expression, Mi Yao could guess her concerns: "It's my business if I marry Xiao Chuan and rely on him for food and drink. You don't need to worry about these things. Just do what you did before and continue to do what you did before."
Mi Yao listed the food chain. Previously, the patriarchs of the Yu family were at the top of her food chain. Now that she is married, Xiao Chuan has become her next stop.
This change has nothing to do with Yu Xiu. If Yu Xiu wants to rely on her for protection, everything can remain as it is.
But after she finished speaking, Yu Xiu still seemed to have a lot to say but didn't know how to express it. It was unclear whether she didn't understand or wanted to bypass her, the middleman, and directly connect with Xiao Chuan, the upstream.
When Mi Yao was awakened by the cold morning wind, she realized that Yu Xiu hadn't misunderstood her. She was staring at her because they were about to part ways. Her eyes showed anxiety and reluctance, as well as Mi Yao's unease and helplessness at not knowing how to connect with the upstream after being taken away from the middle class.
"Huhu, you're awake?"
Huan Guanbin, who was sitting in the car, was already staring at Mi Yao with great anticipation. When he saw her open her eyes, he immediately grabbed her hand with delight, "From now on, no one can separate us again!"
The suddenly enlarged face made Mi Yao frown and move back: "That's not a good thing."
Looking around, his gaze swept over the sticky black grime on the corner of the car, the old and tattered reeds that couldn't stay still, and Huan Guanbin's half-new dark green satin clothes.
Having the original owner's memories, she knew that the clothes Huan Guanbin was wearing were made by the original owner the year before.
The original owner, under the guise of making clothes for her brother, secretly kept a lot of cloth and cotton, and also made a brocade cotton coat for Huan Guanbin.
This garment is almost exactly what Huan Guanbin wore last winter; judging from the wear and tear on the cuffs, he must have worn it quite a bit this year as well.
If it were the original owner of this body, she would probably think that Huan Guanbin valued her feelings.
But according to her memory, Huan Guanbin simply didn't have the money to buy more decent new clothes.
A descendant of a fallen family with little income, whose talent was limited to writing a few sentimental poems, could neither pass the imperial examinations nor become an official, and who, proud of his lineage, looked down on the hard work of copying books and teaching.
They lived in a thatched hut on the outskirts of the Yu family mansion, which was lent to relatives who were freeloading off them. They made do with whatever money they could get by, borrowing from here and there.
He had no status, no wealth, and his appearance was only barely fair and pretty.
She only inherited the original owner's memories, not the original owner's thoughts. At first, she didn't understand why the original owner wanted to fall in love with Huan Guanbin.
Love is truly an unpredictable thing.
After reading the original owner's notes, I roughly understood that the original owner was just as awkward as she was during her youth.
She was just too busy making money during her youth to care about money, while the original owner chose a man who was terrible in every way to show that she was superior and not vain and greedy as others thought, and wanted to use her looks to get ahead.
Originally, after she transmigrated, she didn't intend to get involved with Huan Guanbin. Knowing that the original owner had no feelings for him, she put him out of her mind even more.
Who knew that she had avoided the original owner's elopement with her lover, and that her lover, whom she hadn't seen for half a year, was still able to team up with Yu Xiu to sneak her out of the inn.
"Send me back."
"Huhu, what's wrong with you? You've become a completely different person these days."
Mi Yao's cold words upon waking cooled Huan Guanbin's burning heart. Thinking of her avoidance over the past six months, Huan Guanbin eagerly grasped her hand, only to have her pull away again.
"Huhu, do you really want to marry that brute Xiao Chuan? He's from a poor family, illiterate, but he was lucky enough to save the military governor of Jiannan and become his adopted son. Aren't you afraid of being ridiculed by the world if you marry him?!"
"So I won't marry him, but will marry you and have a bunch of poor kids, all of us dependent on my family and begging for their charity?"
The carriage was dirty and cold, with a mixture of animal stench and male odor. Mi Yao was extremely impatient. "Send me back. It's been half a year. Don't you understand that I look down on you?"
"No, I don't believe it. Hu Hu, I know you. You're different from those vulgar women. Gold and silver are nothing but worthless things to you. How could you possibly care about them?"
Huan Guanbin looked flustered, as if he believed Mi Yao's words, but was unwilling to believe that the honor that proved he was different had disappeared.
Mi Yao didn't care whether he believed it or not.
All she wants now is to escape this place.
Parting the stained curtain, Mi Yao wanted to tell the coachman to stop the carriage, but before she could speak, Huan Guanbin pulled her into the carriage.
"Huhu, don't be temperamental. Our priority is to leave Jingzhou and go to your aunt's place. Then you won't have to worry about your engagement with Xiao Chuan anymore."
“That’s my aunt, she has nothing to do with you. You have the guts to abduct people but have nowhere to put them, and you have to hide at the woman’s relatives’ house.”
Mi Yao knew he was talking about her aunt in Chizhou, and she frowned in disgust at his matter-of-fact tone.
“I’m not joking, nor am I saying anything out of anger. I really do think you’re poor, unattractive, and mediocre. If you truly care about our past relationship, then send me back.”
"I know you're putting on this act because you're afraid of implicating me and being blamed by Uncle Yu. How could you possibly be willing to marry that brute Xiao Chu!"
Seeing that Huan Guanbin was losing face and unwilling to admit that he had gotten his lover by sheer luck, the woman finally came to her senses.
Mi Yao was a little tired.
Spending long hours lying around all day won't give her enough sleep or more energy; it will only make her body more accustomed to long periods of rest.
I don't want to waste my energy on fools.
Thinking back to the story where the original owner eloped with Huan Guanbin, Xiao Chuan caught the two of them without much effort.
Mi Yao felt that she could only wait for Xiao Chuan to come to her.
This isn't far from Kuizhou. I hope he can catch her quickly and spare her suffering.
"Go and get a clean and spacious carriage. This one is smelly and bumpy. You can stand it, but I can't."
Knowing that Huan Guanbin wouldn't have the money to buy a car, Mi Yao opened the package beside her and saw that it belonged to her.
Pulling open the ribbon, Mi Yao lifted the mahogany box and scoffed, "You really are a hypocrite. You treat money like dirt, but you steal my most valuable things."
The box had three layers, and it was filled with all her most valuable jewelry.
Huan Guanbin was hurt by the sarcasm in Mi Yao's tone, and his face flushed red: "These are the bags that A-Xiu packed, they have nothing to do with me."
Mi Yao glanced at him with a flicker of her eye, clearly disbelieving.
"Huhu, how could you become so unreasonable? Has someone said something to you in the past six months?"
While Mi Yao was unconscious, he was still marveling at her beauty, feeling that she was more beautiful than before. In the past, she only had a hint of spring in her eyes, but now her face was flushed with spring, and she had the graceful appearance of an orchid, so beautiful that she seemed unreal.
Now that she's awake, her first words are sarcastic and disgusting, making it impossible for him to appreciate her beauty anymore.
"So looking down on you makes you unreasonable?"
Mi Yao hugged her white fox fur tightly to avoid catching a cold in this wretched place.
The Daxing region admires plump beauties, but the original owner prefers the Wei-Jin style, believing that only slender women possess the ethereal beauty of a fairy.
The original owner of this body was born with a shapely figure, and when she first arrived, her chest was so tightly bound that she could hardly breathe, and her stomach was growling with hunger.
Just like when she transmigrated, the original owner of this body also rarely got out of bed. However, the difference was that she did it because she was lazy, while the original owner did it because she was too tired to eat and was weak and bedridden.
During this period, she took great care of her health. Even in the depths of winter, she didn't catch a cold or sneeze. She was really afraid that she would catch a cold and get seriously ill today.
And what people fear most often comes to pass.
Several hours later, Mi Yao woke up feeling dizzy.
Huan Guanbin had some backbone, but not much. He disliked her sharp tongue, so he drugged her again.
Instead of retaliating by abandoning her on the road, he threw away her jewelry box filled with the stench of money.
The vehicle was also changed, from a dirty horse-drawn carriage to an oxcart covered with straw and with a canopy.
Feeling her throat begin to dry and burn, Mi Yao truly regretted not having brought a knife with her so she could stab Huan Guanbin to death: "What's wrong with your brain?!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
