Chapter 3: Building A Career
Su Yaoguang snorted coldly in her heart.
In this life, Xiao Yanci and Jiang Yihuan had become master and servant.
She really wanted to know what kind of sparks they, who were together day and night, would create.
As far as she knew, Zhong Lanhua had sky-high ambitions and doted on her daughter, wanting to pick a rich man for her to marry.
Jiang Yihuan had not let down her mother’s teachings and had raised quite a few fish. In outsiders’ eyes, Jiang Yihuan was gentle and quiet, knowledgeable and reasonable, the white moonlight in many people’s hearts.
Only she, her rival who stared at her all day, knew how two-faced this woman was, even flirtatious.
Smack smack smack! Su Yaoguang forcefully beat the clothes.
“Oh dear, Yaoguang sister, can you hit them a bit lighter? The water splashed on my face,” Jiang Yihuan said aggrievedly. “I heard that long-term hired hand from our family was originally the one you fancied. You were short on money and couldn’t come up with that much silver money, so you bought one who was about to die. Don’t be angry. Whenever you scrape together enough money, we’ll sell him to you. For now, we’ll keep him at our house so he doesn’t get bought by someone else, and you won’t be able to buy him back even if you want to.”
“That’s ridiculous. Who said I can’t afford him? Who said I wanted to buy him?” The force in Su Yaoguang’s hands did not lessen.
Jiang Yihuan shifted the water basin aside and continued to provoke her: “Don’t hide it from us. I’ve heard all about it. The one you originally fancied was Yanci. Because you didn’t have enough money, you pretended to have no interest. Actually, if you didn’t have enough money, you could have asked everyone to chip in. You really shouldn’t have bought one who’s half-dead.”
Su Yaoguang stopped her movements and looked at Jiang Yihuan mockingly: “Scholars are the most proud. You say you’re hiring him as a long-term hired hand—can you really make him work? I’m afraid in the end you’ll have to take care of this bookworm yourselves. I think what you bought isn’t a long-term hired hand, but an ancestor.”
“Since he’s a long-term hired hand, of course he’ll do work. My mom spent one and a half taels to buy him. If he doesn’t work, then what do we need him for?”
“Is that so? Then we’ll all watch! Your family, Eldest Miss Jiang, now has a long-term hired hand too. We’ll see if you know how to manage your own family’s long-term hired hand.”
Xiao Yanci, enjoy your life as a slave and servant!
In her previous life at her house, he didn’t have to do anything. The money she and her mother earned supported his studies, and he had never suffered the slightest hardship.
This time, let’s see how his white moonlight takes care of him.
Jiang Yihuan carried the wooden basin into the courtyard.
She had a delicate appearance, fair skin, and beautiful features. She was out of breath and drenched in fragrant sweat from carrying it.
Xiao Yanci, who had just changed clothes and come out, hesitated for a moment, then walked over to help her hold the wooden basin.
“Xiao Gege, thank you.” Jiang Yihuan wiped her sweat. “Luckily you’re here, or I would have fallen.”
Xiao Yanci was stunned for a moment, his expression uneasy.
“Xiao Gege, I’m not feeling well, and now I feel even worse. Can you help me hang the clothes?”
Xiao Yanci: “……Alright.”
“Right, there’s no firewood left today. Chop the firewood in the courtyard too. Thank you, you’re so diligent. Mom was right to bring you back—it’s a big help.”
Xiao Yanci frowned.
Zhong Lanhua came back from outside, cracking melon seeds as she said: “Why be so polite to him? He’s the long-term hired hand we bought for our family. All the work in the house is his.”
“Mom, don’t say that about Xiao Gege. Xiao Gege, don’t overthink it. There’s only me and my mom at home. My brother is at the academy studying, so we’re usually too busy. You’re so capable, you can definitely help us a lot.” Jiang Yihuan said sweetly. “My mom and I usually do embroidery to earn money, so we can’t do much housework.”
Xiao Yanci first hung the clothes, then chopped the firewood.
He had never done these things before, so he was very clumsy. Every time he made a mistake, Zhong Lanhua would scold him from the side. Every time Zhong Lanhua scolded, Jiang Yihuan would console from the side.
By the time he finished the work, all ten fingers were blistered.
At night, he lay in the wood shed, covered with tattered clothes. He thought of his confiscated home, the past glory and wealth, his fallen family…
“Xiao Yanci, so you’ve come to this day too!”
The legitimate son of the Xiao family had actually fallen to this point.
Long-term hired hand!
His identity now was so lowly.
Knock knock! Someone knocked on the door.
“Who?”
“Xiao Gege, it’s me. I brought you a quilt.”
Xiao Yanci got up and opened the door.
Jiang Yihuan, dressed in thin clothes with soft black hair draped over her shoulders, stood there, her delicate face full of heartache.
“Sorry, Xiao Gege. Our family’s conditions are limited, so you have to put up with this for now. Once my mom and I earn money, we’ll have a carpenter make you a bed.”
Xiao Yanci looked at the young girl’s pure and clean face, feeling warmth in his heart.
“Thank you.”
“I won’t come in—after all, men and women should keep their distance. You take it yourself!” With that, Jiang Yihuan stuffed the quilt into his arms and ran off.
Jiang Yihuan returned to her room, leaning against the door with a smug smile flashing in her eyes.
“That idiot Su Yaoguang will never know that the best way to make a man willingly serve you is not with brute force, but with tactics.”
Su Yaoguang looked at the two taels of broken silver plus eight hundred wen in front of her, the empty rice jar, and the crumbling broken house, with only one thought in her mind: make money.
In her previous life, her mother continued as a midwife, and she found work as a shop assistant in a cosmetics shop. The money they earned supported her nominal husband Xiao Yanci’s studies, and they barely got by.
Later, she was the top scholar’s wife for a few years. Because she was from a farming background, the noblewomen looked down on her and hardly sent her invitations. Xiao Yanci often didn’t come home, and when he did, he shut himself in the study, leaving her even lonelier.
Thinking of those noblewomen mocking her for being rustic, mocking her dark skin and yellow, waxy hair, she began researching various beauty and skincare prescriptions. She had worked in a cosmetics shop for years and had experience in this area, plus some talent, so she really managed to develop quite a few hair and skin nourishing prescriptions.
While Su Yaoguang was still worrying, voices came from the doorway. One was Zhang Zhaodi’s voice, and the other was somewhat familiar, but she couldn’t recall it for the moment.
“Mom, don’t say anymore. My daughter won’t marry that idiot Mutou. She already has a husband now, so don’t worry about her affairs anymore.”
“Mutou may be a bit foolish, but he’s her male cousin. If she marries over, her mother-in-law is her own aunt—would she really mistreat her? You’d rather let her buy some man of unknown origin than let her marry someone we know well. Are you trying to anger me to death?”
Su Yaoguang stood at the doorway and, upon hearing their conversation clearly, finally recalled this person from her memory.
“Grandma, Mom is right. I already have a man. Don’t try to play matchmaker for me.”
This was also one of the reasons her mother was eager for her to find a son-in-law who lives with the wife’s family.
Her grandma was set on marrying her to that idiot male cousin. If the aunt got her, Second Uncle and Third Uncle could divide her family’s farmland.
