Chapter 2
Seeing that the boy was shy, Wang Ying stopped teasing him and walked around the room a few times.
The bedroom was simply decorated, with a four-poster bed, a few low wooden cabinets on the side, and a bookshelf and desk near the window, with a few books scattered on them.
Books are precious things, and there aren't any in the village. Wang Ying walked up, picked up a book, and started flipping through it.
This book must have been copied by the author himself, as there are traces of ink corrections on it. The traditional Chinese characters written vertically are a bit difficult to read, but you can understand them if you read slowly. It should be the Doctrine of the Mean, one of the Four Books.
Lying on the bed, Chen Qingyan couldn't hear anything for a long time, so she couldn't help but turn around. She saw the person flipping through her book and, in a fit of anger, she sat up in bed.
"Don't touch my book! Cough cough cough..." Then came a hoarse cough that seemed to be coughing up his internal organs.
Wang Ying was startled and quickly put down the book, handing over a bowl of water. "Don't worry, I won't read it anymore, okay?"
Chen Qingyan waved his hand to knock the bowl of water out of his hand, "Marrying you was not my intention. I will tell my mother in a little while that I will send you home!"
That won't do!
Wang Ying didn't want to go back to that home; she might even be sold off again by those heartless parents.
Her eyes darted around, and she thought to herself that this kid wasn't feeling well, and she shouldn't upset him to death. She should try to coax him.
"I've already married into your family. How am I supposed to get married again if you send me back like this without any explanation? If you really want to kick me out, I might as well just kill myself!" After saying that, she pretended to walk towards the wall.
Seeing this, Chen Qingyan quickly grabbed his arm. After several attempts, he was covered in a cold sweat and looked even paler.
"I'm not trying to kick you out..."
Wang Ying breathed a sigh of relief, knowing she had made the right bet, and quickly helped him lie back down on the bed.
"Now that I'm married to you, we're family. Don't treat me like an outsider. Just treat me like a brother. From now on, we'll treat each other like brothers, and I'll take care of your daily life, okay?"
“Nonsense, you’re a young man… how can you call me brother?”
"You look down on me?"
"No..."
"That settles it then!" Wang Ying picked up the bowl of water again and handed it over.
Chen Qingyan hesitated for a moment, probably because he was extremely thirsty, and then drank the whole bowl of water from his hand without taking a breath.
Then, blushing, she stammered, "Please call Uncle Chen for me."
Do you need to use the restroom?
"..."
"Going to the toilet is such a hassle. Do you have a chamber pot? I'll empty it for you once you've peed."
"No need! Cough cough cough..." Chen Qingyan's face was so embarrassed that it was almost dripping blood. What kind of boy is so vulgar, saying such things?
"Okay, okay, I'll go get someone." Seriously, this kid is too thin-skinned.
Before long, Chen Sanlang led an old man into the house and carried Chen Qingyan toward the outhouse at the back.
After a while, they carried the man back from the outhouse. The boy was covered in sweat again. Going to the toilet was such a hassle, no wonder he preferred to be thirsty rather than drink water.
After tucking the blanket in for him, Wang Ying followed the two men out of the room.
"Sanlang, wait a moment."
"Sister-in-law, sister-in-law." The child was a little shy, lowering his head and rubbing his toes with his shoe.
Wang Ying was taken aback by this title. "Can you tell me what illness your older brother has?"
Sanlang became more talkative when the topic turned to him. "Last year, my eldest brother failed the county exam. On his way home, it happened to rain and he got his clothes wet. He fell ill as soon as he got home."
"At first, I only had a fever and cough. Later, the fever subsided, but my body became increasingly weak. The doctor prescribed many medicines, but none of them worked. By this spring, I couldn't even stand up and had to stay in bed to recuperate."
"Your brother participated in the imperial examinations?"
Chen Sanlang nodded. His brother was a famous scholar in town. He passed the imperial examination at the age of fourteen and thought he would pass the county-level examination last year, but he failed the exam.
Having learned the whole story, Wang Ying understood the situation. It seemed that the boy's illness was mostly caused by psychological issues, and dragging it out like this was not a solution.
In her previous life, Wang Ying grew up with her maternal grandparents. A few years ago, her maternal grandfather became seriously ill, and she took care of him for a long time. She was very experienced in treating patients.
It's definitely not good for Chen Qingyan to not eat or drink like this. He's already weak, and with his low water intake and slow metabolism, he'll develop illnesses even if he wasn't sick before.
Since he would be relying on the Chen family for a living in the future, he might as well help raise the person well. Perhaps the other party would remember his favor and give him a few more acres of land.
After figuring out a way out, he returned to the bedroom. The person on the bed had already closed their eyes, and he didn't know if they were asleep or just too lazy to pay attention to him.
Wang Ying pondered how to open the window, as the poor air circulation in the room was very bad for the patient's health.
Ancient windows were very simple, unlike modern ones. For example, the windows of the Wang family were just a few wooden planks that were taken down during the day and put back up at night.
The Chen family's windows were slightly more upscale, with paper pasted on them, so the house was bright even during the day without needing to open them.
Lying in bed, Chen Qingyan heard rustling sounds and couldn't help but open his eyes to look. He saw that the young man had opened all the windows in the room.
"What are you doing?"
"Open the window to let some fresh air in; the room smells rancid."
"The doctor said my illness can't be exposed to wind."
"Don't listen to his nonsense. Didn't you catch a chill when you went to the toilet? Is something wrong?"
Chen Qingyan remained silent, his impression of this young man worsening by another three points.
He's a country bumpkin, uneducated and ignorant of manners, so I won't stoop to his level.
The window was opened, and a gentle breeze blew in, instantly freshening the air in the room. Through the window, one could see the lush green branches of trees swaying in the breeze, and a group of guests were having dinner not far away.
The thought of these people attending her wedding banquet felt surreal to Wang Ying.
Just a few days ago, he was still single, his biggest worry being the crops in his experimental field. Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, he would be married, and even transmigrated to ancient times to marry a man for good luck?
Wang Ying pinched himself, and hissed in pain. He could never have dreamed of such a bizarre thing.
After a while, the noise from the guests outside grew louder and louder, and it sounded like someone was arguing.
Wang Ying turned her head to look at the sleeping Chen Qingyan, gently closed the window, and tiptoed out.
As soon as I reached the front yard, I saw a drunk man sitting on the ground throwing a tantrum. “My parents are biased… When the family divided the property, they gave all the land to my eldest brother, hiccup~ and only gave me a few dilapidated shops. Now we can’t even afford to eat… If my sister-in-law doesn’t give us some money to help us… we won’t survive.”
"Second son, get up first. Don't cause trouble on Yan'er's big day." Mother-in-law Li, with a worried look on her face, asked the servants to pull him up. However, the man was big and fat, and they couldn't move him no matter how hard they tried. Seeing that the guests who were eating were coming over to watch the fun, she was so anxious that she was sweating profusely.
The person sitting on the ground throwing a tantrum was none other than Chen Qingyan's second uncle, Chen Biao.
The Chen family had four siblings in the previous generation. Apart from the third daughter who got married, the old man divided the family property among his sons when he passed away.
The eldest son, Chen Qingyan's father, was allocated land and lived in the ancestral home. The second son, Chen Biao, and his family were allocated shops in the town to run a business. The fourth son, Chen Zhan, received the most money. After passing the imperial examination, he went to another place to serve as an official and has not returned for many years.
Speaking of Uncle Chen's family, they used to run a shop and lived a very comfortable life. However, their son became addicted to gambling and squandered the family's fortune in just a few months.
Originally, there were five shops, but only one remained, barely enough for the family to make ends meet. They lived a very frugal life.
When they were having a hard time, they would come to their elder brother's house to beg for money. When the master was alive, he didn't dare to cause such a fuss; at most, he would cry about being poor to get his brother's pity.
After the master passed away, he began to bully the orphan and widow, demanding money from them in an increasingly aggressive manner. If they didn't receive money, they would sit in the courtyard and throw a tantrum. This had happened more than once or twice.
Li was too shy to do anything about it, so she had no choice but to let her daughter go inside to get the money.
Chen Qingyun spat angrily, turned and ran into the house, while Chen Sanlang shielded his mother behind him, glaring angrily at the person in front of him.
Chen Biao wasn't annoyed and shamelessly waited for his niece to bring the money.
A short while later, Chen Qingyun came over with two strings of cash and threw them on the ground, saying, "Our family is out of money, Second Uncle, don't come asking for it next time."
Seeing that he only had two strings of cash, Chen Biao continued to throw a tantrum, "Oh dear brother, now that you're gone, no one will take care of your younger brother. They say that the eldest brother is like a father and the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother. Now your younger brother can't even afford to eat, and your sister-in-law doesn't care either. What can you do with just two strings of cash?"
The onlookers began to whisper among themselves. Li blushed and didn't know what to do, so she could only pull her daughter and say, "Xiaoyun, go and get some more for your second uncle."
“Mother, we really don’t have much money left. Last month you gave Second Uncle three strings of cash, and now Eldest Brother’s wedding cost more than twenty strings. If we give him any more, how will we make ends meet?”
"I still have my dowry..."
Upon hearing this, Chen Biao stopped crying and waited with gleaming eyes for his sister-in-law to bring out the silver.
"Mother, you're confused! That money was saved for my eldest brother to take the imperial examination!"
"But, but Qingyan is so ill now, how can he possibly take the imperial examinations..."
Chen Qingyun's eyes reddened with anxiety, "My brother needs money to treat his illness! What will our family do if we give it all to them!"
Seeing this, Chen Biao, who was sitting on the ground, snorted coldly and said, "What do you know, you little brat? Your eldest brother is useless, and Sanlang is still young. In the future, this family will have to rely on your two cousins and me. Go and get the money!"
Chen Qingyun stomped her foot in anger, then turned and ran back into the house.
Just when Chen Biao thought he would return home with a full load of goodies, a burst of cheerful laughter suddenly came from the backyard.
Hahahaha.
The crowd was drawn to the sound and saw a handsome young man dressed in green walking out of the backyard.
"Sister-in-law?" Chen Sanlang exclaimed in surprise.
Li didn't know why her son-in-law had suddenly come out, and she was afraid he would laugh at her, so she nervously gripped the hem of her clothes with both hands.
Wang Ying was furious when she saw her cowardly appearance. They were bullying her right at her doorstep, and she didn't even know how to fight back. Sooner or later, these relatives would skin her alive and eat her dry.
"I've really seen something amazing today. I've never seen a younger brother-in-law so shameless, eyeing his sister-in-law's dowry."
A note from the author:
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