Chapter 3
3.
Guan Yue sat by the river for a long time. As the sunlight gradually slanted, she stood up as if sensing something, walked behind a tree, and after a while, sure enough, someone came over.
They are from the village.
Everyone was carrying a basin filled with clothes of various colors. They walked and talked as they came to the riverbank in twos and threes.
Some people were holding their children's hands. The children cheered and jumped for joy when they saw the water. The adults' scolding could not stop their enthusiasm for playing in the water. Fortunately, the riverbank was shallow. The adults washed clothes, looked after their children, and chatted with the people next to them.
Guan Yue didn't go out. Although she had accepted her current identity, she wasn't adapting to it quickly. She always felt like an outsider and a "rogue." She didn't even know how to speak if she were in front of people.
Of course, Guan Yue's timidity stemmed from her social anxiety. Even in her own time and space, she was a slow-to-warm-up and introverted person with few friends and only casual acquaintances with her colleagues. She would even go to the self-checkout machine to pay for something instead of going to the cashier.
Introducing her to a completely unfamiliar environment is worse than torture.
Guan Yue could only observe the people here from the shadows. She found that most of the people who came here to wash clothes were men, and there were also some women, but not many women. Moreover, the women washed clothes in a rough and quick manner, and left very soon after finishing. On the contrary, the men chatted very enthusiastically, and the children playing in the water were basically being looked after by the men.
The men here seem quite attentive. Guan Yue's heart stirred. Could it be that this world is all about caring for one's wife? Or is it like a matriarchal society where men have a lower status?
To avoid being discovered, Guan Yue deliberately hid far away. Therefore, even though she could hear people talking, she couldn't make out what they were saying. She could only catch snippets of conversation, which seemed to be trivial matters concerning family and friends.
Guan Yue stood there for a while. The crowd had gradually dispersed, and the sky was turning crimson. Only a few villagers who had arrived late were still washing their clothes. She should have left too, but for some secret reason, she did not move.
I wonder if he will come, but he probably will.
So she waited a little longer until a blue figure caught her attention.
It was her angelic neighbor!
Guan Yue unconsciously straightened up and stretched her neck. Her good neighbor, like everyone else, was carrying a wooden basin in one hand and holding her child's hand in the other, walking slowly towards the riverbank.
His voice was as soft as a breeze, and Guan Yue couldn't hear him at all, but that didn't stop her from seeing the smiles on his and his son's faces; it must have been a warm family conversation.
Guan Yue felt a sense of expected regret. She had thought that if her neighbor hadn't brought his child to the riverbank, she might have been able to talk to him alone. Perhaps it was because of that bowl of rice that she had developed a biased view of him, thinking that he was different from others. After all, someone who was willing to bring food to her, a "rogue," must be kind and willing to accept her.
They were neighbors, and they even brought her food. Perhaps they had exchanged a few words before? The friendly neighborly relationship enveloped her like a holy light as she lay dying. If she had asked him about the village and how to live in ancient times, she should have been able to adapt to the environment quickly.
But her family clearly didn't like her. Of course, Guan Yue could understand; after all, her body had a bad reputation. Having inherited someone else's body, she naturally had to inherit everything that came with it.
She saw that her neighbor had already found a spot to wash clothes, but for some reason, he kept a distance from the others, unlike other villagers who squeezed together to wash, and even if they couldn't wash together, they would still shout a few words. He washed very quietly, as did his four or five-year-old son. Unlike other children who made a fuss about going to play in the river, he just stayed by his father's side, picking up pebbles and throwing them around, occasionally looking up and talking to his father.
Are they also unfamiliar with the villagers?
Guan Yue thought, surely he's not like her, someone who's disliked? He's so kind, maybe it's just social anxiety?
No wonder the children she raised are so well-behaved.
Guan Yue doesn't like noisy children. She was also autistic since childhood. Although she got better as she grew up, she still prefers to be alone and avoids contacting anyone except her family unless absolutely necessary.
As a result, she has very few friends, and only her colleagues maintain basic interpersonal relationships. Her grandparents used to nag her about it, but she didn't care. She often went to eat hot pot alone, went to the movies alone, and played with puzzles at home alone. She was very comfortable when she was alone—she was always very good at being with herself.
Such quiet neighbors made her feel that even the filter was softer.
Guan Yue watched them finish washing their clothes and walk back hand in hand. By then, it was getting dark. She followed them at a distance for a while. The man and the child walked to the other side of the street, while she went home.
Her stomach was getting a little hungry again, but since Guan Yue had been able to endure it for several days, this slight emptiness didn't bother her much. She simply lay back down on the bed, looking at the moon outside the window. The weather was quite nice; it was hot when the sun came out, but cool in the morning and evening, and there weren't many mosquitoes. Her eyes shone brightly as she lay in bed.
Hunger makes one more alert, she thought, but if she kept being hungry, she probably wouldn't stay awake for long. She could even smell the aroma of other people's food from her bed. It was so early, still dinnertime, and she was already in bed. A breeze was blowing in gusts from her broken window, bringing all sorts of tempting fragrances.
"That's great, everyone has food to eat," Guan Yue thought calmly to herself.
For some reason, she always had a sense of unreality. It was as if she was in this place, but she would always think of her real family and the meals they cooked for her. If she really starved to death, it would only be her current body that would die. This body did not belong to her; it was just something she was temporarily occupying.
Homesickness filled her heart at that moment.
But without the self-destructive feeling she had during the day, Guan Yue wasn't sure if it was because of someone's kind gesture of giving her a bowl of rice—she had lost everything in the past, but now she had the present when she had nothing.
After all, I still have to repay the favors I've received.
Guan Yue fell asleep under the gentle caress of the moonlight. It was a rare dreamless night, and she slept peacefully, with the soft lullaby woven by insects and birds constantly playing in her ear.
She woke up when the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn.
Guan Yue had never gotten up this early before, but she felt extremely energetic. Although her stomach was empty, she was full of energy. Before she transmigrated, she was a corporate slave who had been tormented by work for many years. She would never get up early on her days off, and when she did, she would look like a dead ghost whose energy had been drained. In addition, she used to have a delicate body and would get sick at the drop of a hat. Now, however, she felt that she had slept very well and her body was full of energy.
Could it be that ancient feng shui was more beneficial to people?
But she clearly hasn't eaten anything for several days. Even if she did eat one meal, was that meal really that nutritious?
Although he's a thug, he's a strong and powerful one.
Guan Yue was somewhat satisfied with herself. She now had very low requirements for herself. As long as she had something to eat and could solve her basic needs, that would be enough. She was pleasantly surprised to have such a good body. Anyway, she didn't plan to make a living based on her looks. In the ancient rural area, it would be best to be able to fill her stomach by working with her own hands and feet.
Guan Yue got up early and searched the house again, finding a net bag, a handmade slingshot, several ropes, and some rusty farm tools. The house wasn't small, but it looked somewhat empty, with most of the things piled up in her room. She guessed that the other rooms had once been occupied, but later she was the only one left, so she moved all her things to her own room. The evidence was that she also saw a collapsed wooden bed in another room, smaller than the one she was sleeping on now. It must have been her old bed, which was replaced with the larger one after it broke.
The bed was very old. In fact, everything in the room was old and broken. The chair had a broken leg, the table was chipped, and the cabinet was covered in cobwebs. There wasn't a single copper coin. It was outrageously poor. Guan Yue was speechless. No wonder he had to be a rogue. He probably sold off anything of value. It was a remarkable thing that the original owner was still alive.
Looking at the pile of odds and ends in her room, Guan Yue fell into deep thought. Could she really support herself?
Guan Yue's confidence has plummeted. If she were in modern times, no matter how socially awkward she was, she would have a way to find a job and make money using the knowledge and experience in her mind. But here, she is completely, completely, completely clueless!
She sat on the ground, covering her head. For Guan Yue, having the means to survive was the most important thing. She had always been like this since she was a child. She was not used to relying on others and did not like to cling to anyone. She would try to repay even the smallest favor she owed. This sense of distance made her seem cold, but it was actually the source of her sense of security. Even in ancient times, she did not feel that she was a weak woman. On the contrary, she felt helpless because she knew nothing.
She also felt an increasingly strong sense of urgency; no matter what, she had to find a way to get food.
After finishing today's meal, Guan Yue stuffed the net bag and slingshot rope into her waistband, slung a bamboo basket with only one rope over her shoulder, and headed outside.
When Guan Yue pushed open the courtyard gate, she looked up and saw the tightly closed gate opposite. Two door gods for warding off evil were pasted on the simple door, and dark blue vines climbed and entwined above it. It was clear at a glance that the people inside were romantic and had a great sense of life. Looking back at her own door... well, it was better not to look.
Come to think of it, she didn't seem to have seen the woman across the street before. As Guan Yue walked out, she wondered if women shouldn't be allowed to show their faces in public so easily. But this was a village after all, and the rules shouldn't be so strict. She had seen a few women before, but they were probably working at home or had a minor illness and hadn't gone out. She should be able to see them again in time.
Guan Yue's sensitive nerves sensed that something seemed amiss in this world, but no matter how hard she racked her brains, she would never have imagined such an absurd place.
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