Chapter 2: Married Off

"I give my body to you, please save my mother... save her... I beg you!"

A female ghost in red knelt before her, kowtowing incessantly, begging. Only when she saw Du Ruo nod did she show a joyful smile, "Thank you."

The female ghost's body gradually became illusory and transparent, and soon disappeared.

"Hoo..."

At the same time, Du Ruo also let out a long breath and suddenly opened her eyes.

She was reborn.

Only, she had changed her identity; she was no longer the modern Chief Pharmacist Du Ruo, but a poor seventeen-year-old girl in Da Zhao.

Today was her big day.

The bridal sedan chair landed, the curtain was lifted, and a pair of fleshy hands reached in to help her out.

The sun shone on Du Ruo's head through the red veil, bright and glaring. This body of hers was too fat, and it was flabby fat. At 1.6 meters tall and weighing 200 jin, having been hungry for a whole day, she went black before her eyes and fell face-first in an extremely ungraceful posture.

A burst of laughter erupted all around.

But immediately after, the laughter stopped abruptly. Everyone was silent, staring at that face with horrified eyes.

"Mom, look, the bride is so ugly!" At the foot of the wall, a naked child with two snot trails pointed at Du Ruo and shouted loudly.

His mother quickly covered her son's mouth, "You're going to die, you little bastard, what nonsense are you spouting? She's a young lady from an official's house, how could she be ugly?"

After saying this, she smiled guiltily at Du Ruo as an apology.

"Landing and blooming, wealth and glory!" The chubby matchmaker hurriedly helped Du Ruo up, picked up the red veil from the ground, shook off the dust, and covered Du Ruo's head again.

She was also startled. She had been in this line of work for over a decade and had seen all kinds of brides—pretty ones, ugly ones, very ugly ones—and had long been accustomed to it. But she had truly seen such an ugly one as the Du girl for the first time.

Under the veil, Du Ruo couldn't help but complain internally.

You're the ugly one, your whole family is ugly. She wasn't born ugly; it was all caused by the original owner's vicious younger sister.

Just wait, once she stood firm here and recovered her health, she would go and repay that Du Mingzhu for her "great kindness"!

Du Ruo braced herself and completed the ceremony. Following a shout of "Send to the bridal chamber," she was led into a room. The matchmaker said a few auspicious words, then closed the door and went out.

The surroundings finally quieted down.

Du Ruo tore off the red veil. She was already starving to death and wouldn't be stupid enough to sit and wait for the groom to lift her veil. Being hungry for too long would cost her life.

What came into view was a dilapidated room with earthen walls, paper-pasted windows, and a bed covered with straw, showing poverty everywhere.

Du Ruo sighed.

It made sense; if it were a good family, how would Du Mingzhu be willing to let the original owner marry over?

Speaking of which, this marriage was originally Du Mingzhu's.

Back then, her father Du Ren Mei and the master of this house, Jiang Mo Nian, were classmates and good friends, and the two families had arranged a childhood marriage.

Jiang Mo Nian was a famous talent in Wutou Xian. He passed the imperial examination at a young age and was the top scholar in the provincial examination, truly brilliant. Later, he was even appointed as the third-place scholar by the Emperor, his popularity unmatched for a time.

Unfortunately, people have misfortunes, and Jiang Mo Nian encountered bandits on his way to take office, fell off a cliff, and went missing. Not even his body was found.

People are fickle; his wife, Su Shi, had no choice but to take the children back to the ancestral home, which was the Longquan Cun where Du Ruo was now.

Not long after, Su Shi died in childbirth, leaving behind three young sons and a newborn daughter, and the Jiang family completely declined.

At this time, Du Ren Mei had long since had good luck; not only did he pass the provincial examination, but he also climbed up to a noblewoman from the Marquis's mansion. Although she was only a concubine's daughter, it was enough for him to get ahead.

Soon, Du Ren Mei took office as the County Assistant of Wutou Xian with his status as a provincial graduate. The first thing he did upon returning home was to divorce his wife, Zheng Shi—the original owner's mother—on the grounds of having no sons.

Zheng Shi was divorced and returned to her maiden home only to discover she was already three months pregnant. She gave birth to the child and named her Du Ruo.

Half a year later, that noblewoman from the Marquis's mansion also gave birth to a daughter prematurely, who was Du Mingzhu.

So logically speaking, this marriage contract should have been fulfilled by Du Mingzhu, the proper official's daughter, not the village girl born to the divorced wife...

But it was too late to say these things now. Since she was already married, she could only take it one step at a time.

Du Ruo got off the bed, stretched her limbs, and started looking for food.

The room was empty, with only an old wardrobe and a shelf holding a washbasin, towels, and such. As for other things, let alone food, there wasn't even a drop of water.

Finally, she found a few peanuts, longans, and lotus seeds in the quilt, presumably scattered by the matchmaker for her and Jiang Li to have children early.

Du Ruo was starving and didn't care if they were edible; she filled her stomach first.

Then, she choked.

Although she knew it was against the rules, Du Ruo had no choice but to open the door and go out to find water.

The outside was even more dilapidated than the inside, which could be described as having nothing but four bare walls. There were two side rooms on each side, and a narrow corridor in the middle. Walking across it led to the main hall, which only had a paint-peeled square table and a few long benches with broken legs.

A person was standing next to the benches, with their back to her, lighting incense for two spirit tablets on the wall.

Du Ruo stopped.

Judging from the bright red groom's robe on him, it should be her cheap husband, Jiang Li.

Jiang Li was not very tall, estimated to be about 1.7 meters, and his figure was very thin. The patched wedding robe looked very loose and baggy on him.

*Cough, cough*, Du Ruo coughed twice on purpose to remind the other person that there was someone behind.

That person indeed turned around immediately.

Their eyes met, and both were stunned for a moment.

Du Ruo suddenly widened her eyes.

Wow, this kid was too good-looking! He looked about sixteen or seventeen, with exquisite features and a face like jade. Especially his eyes, clear without a trace of impurities. The whole person looked like he had been refined by Goddess Nüwa with a beauty camera.

Du Ruo subconsciously touched her own face; the gap in looks was a bit big. However, she was the one taking advantage, so she was still quite happy. She just didn't know if the other person would be as happy as her when he saw her appearance. She figured probably not.

She tried to guess the other person's attitude from the micro-expressions on the beautiful youth's face.

As a result, the beautiful youth only glanced at her and turned his head away, his face red. He didn't look disgusted, just at a loss, seemingly not knowing how to get along with her.

Du Ruo waited quietly.

Waiting for the other person to call her "wife," for her to reply "aha," and then naturally ask him for water to drink.

After waiting for a long while, the air was so awkward it could curl up, and she still hadn't heard him speak.

Forget it, if the mountain won't come to me, I will go to the mountain. Du Ruo had no choice but to take the initiative and call him: "Husband?"

The youth's face changed drastically. He walked quickly to the door and looked out a few times before turning back and saying sternly: "Sister-in-law, be careful with your words!"

Du Ruo: "............???"

Could it be that the customs of this place were particularly different, calling a wife "sister-in-law" instead of "wife"? ===== CHAPTER 3 =====