Chapter 3: Apply Some Medicine

Seeing her looking confused, the youth seemed to realize something, hurriedly took off the groom's robe he was wearing, straightened his expression, and bowed to Du Ruo.

"Younger brother Jiang Zhan, greets sister-in-law."

Jiang... Zhan? Not Jiang Li? Aefu...??

Her gaze fell on the wedding robe to the side.

Seeing this, Jiang Zhan knew there was a misunderstanding and hurriedly explained: "Sorry, sister-in-law, eldest brother went to the county town to serve corvée labor half a month ago and won't be back for two months. Helpless, we had to resort to this strategy, and I had to stand in for eldest brother to welcome the bride."

So that was how it was.

Du Ruo sneered inwardly.

Du Mingzhu indeed inherited Du Ren Mei's monkey-like nature, fearing that the marriage contract would block her upcoming good marriage, so she couldn't wait to marry her into the Jiang family, not even caring if the groom was present.

She suddenly remembered something.

When Du Mingzhu had people kidnap the original owner, she had once "congratulated" her to her face, saying the Jiang family was a bottomless pit and she would never be able to crawl out once she fell in; she also said Jiang Li was a reckless brute, ugly, and extremely cruel, killing without blinking.

Du Ruo wasn't afraid of a bottomless pit; she still had confidence in herself. As a dignified modern female doctor, even if she couldn't live a prosperous life in ancient times, at least she wouldn't have a problem with food and clothing, right?

She wasn't worried about violent personality either; at worst, she would just apply some medicine to him, make him unable to take care of himself, and see how he could still be cruel!

But there was one point, she was a super face-control, and her husband was ugly... this, this, this was really not okay.

Du Ruo felt complicated.

However, looking up at Jiang Zhan, she ignited the fire of hope again. What Du Mingzhu said wasn't necessarily true; maybe she was just scaring the original owner, after all, she had always used abusing the original owner as a hobby.

Besides, Jiang Zhan was so good-looking, and their father Jiang Mo Nian was said to be a famous handsome man back then. According to genetic science, the possibility of Jiang Li being ugly was not high...

"Second brother, second brother! My master refuses to come over to treat that woman's face, what should we do—"

A dark-faced youth rushed in in a rage, but suddenly caught sight of Du Ruo and stopped his voice abruptly.

Du Ruo looked him over curiously.

The youth was about thirteen or fourteen, with a wide face, flat nose, dark skin, thick lips, and a few sunspots on his face. At first glance, he looked a bit like a sausage placed on a hand-grabbed pancake, with a few sesame seeds sprinkled on it.

Not only was he not pleasing to the eye, but looking at that dull little look, his IQ seemed to be lacking, making people inexplicably think of a husky.

Seeing the two staring at each other, Jiang Zhan hurriedly introduced: "Sister-in-law, this is third brother Jiang Cheng."

*Pfft*, the fire of hope Du Ruo had just ignited was instantly blown out.

It seemed that genetic inheritance also had times when it was unreliable. These brothers from the same mother were so different, then Jiang Li...

Sigh, better not let her imagination run wild for now. When the boat reaches the bridge, it will naturally go straight; she would deal with it then.

Du Ruo smiled at the two brothers: "I'm thirsty, is there water?"

"Yes." That husky led her toward the kitchen in the corner of the courtyard, stealing glances at her as they walked. Although he didn't say anything, Du Ruo could still see his dissatisfaction with her from his face.

"Does third brother also think I'm ugly?" Du Ruo teased him on purpose.

Jiang Cheng shook his head: "Not really, just feel that you and my eldest brother... don't quite match."

Du Ruo became interested, "Oh? Tell me, how don't we match?"

Jiang Cheng looked at her again and curled his lips, "Don't match anywhere."

"..." Du Ruo rolled her eyes. Sure enough, one's own dog poop is fragrant, and outsiders aren't good enough to eat it.

The kitchen was actually not bad, with all the pots and pans, and it was kept quite clean.

It was just that she didn't see any food.

Jiang Cheng scooped a ladle of water and handed it over. Du Ruo drank it in big gulps. This water seemed to be mountain spring water, a bit sweet. After a ladle of water, she felt much more comfortable from the inside out.

Just after drinking, the beautiful youth Jiang Zhan came over, "Sister-in-law must be tired today, go to the room and have a good rest. When dinner is ready, I'll have little sister call you."

After Du Ruo went into the room, he immediately pulled Jiang Cheng aside and whispered, "Third brother, you stay at home and make sure the old house doesn't come over and snatch away our last bit of food. I'm going out."

Jiang Cheng nodded and asked, "Second brother, what are you going to do?"

Jiang Zhan sighed, "I'm going to sit at Clan Head grandfather's house and borrow some silver. Sister-in-law has a disease on her face, we must find a doctor to take a look quickly, otherwise, it will definitely leave scars."

How important a face was to a woman. Although he was also dissatisfied with this marriage and felt his eldest brother deserved a better woman, since sister-in-law had already entered the door, she was a member of their Jiang family from now on. For his eldest brother's sake, he would take good care of her.

What's more, this was a marriage arranged when his father was alive. As children, they should obey.

Du Ruo was about to return to her room when she suddenly noticed that the door of the opposite side room was opened a crack, and a pair of timid eyes were secretly observing her.

Du Ruo's mind shifted, and she walked over and tentatively pushed open that door.

It was a little girl of seven or eight.

She looked very delicate and had some resemblance to Jiang Zhan. Especially those big eyes, misty, like a lost little deer in the mountains, very lovable; it was just that she was too thin, and her complexion had an unnatural whiteness, showing that her health was not good.

"What's your name?" Du Ruo struggled to squat down her fat body and carefully held the little girl's hand. In the hot weather, her hands were cold and all bones.

The little girl seemed to be afraid of her and shrank back like she was startled, her voice as small as a mosquito's: "Jiang Wan, my name is Jiang Wan."

Jiang Wan, she should be the youngest child of the Jiang family.

It was said that she was a posthumous child. When Jiang Mo Nian died, she was still in Su Shi's belly, and Su Shi died in childbirth when giving birth to her.

So Jiang Wan had never seen her parents since birth and was raised by several older brothers.

Du Ruo felt some pity for this little sister-in-law, so she deliberately tried to get close to her: "Sister Wan'er, I am your sister-in-law."

Jiang Wan nodded her little head, indicating she knew. Seeing Du Ruo smiling, her courage grew a little, and she bit her lip and asked: "Then will you pinch me?"

Du Ruo was stunned, "For no reason, why would I pinch you?"

Jiang Wan lowered her feather-like eyelashes and said softly: "Chunhua's sister-in-law always pinches her secretly, and sometimes even pricks her with needles..."

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

So this child was scared by someone else's sister-in-law, no wonder she was hiding from her.

"Don't be afraid, sister-in-law is different from Chunhua's sister-in-law, sister-in-law doesn't like pinching people." Du Ruo pinched the little girl's nose and smiled, "Sister-in-law likes squeezing people, especially little friends as cute as sister Wan'er, sister-in-law likes it the most."

Jiang Wan blinked. Although she didn't know why sister-in-law wanted to squeeze her, it didn't hurt at all, much gentler than Chunhua's sister-in-law.

After thinking about it, she turned and ran to her bed, took out a small diamond-shaped mirror from under her pillow, and held it to Du Ruo, "Give it to you."

If the little girl's eyes weren't too sincere, Du Ruo would have suspected that the other party was implying she was ugly. Who gives a mirror upon first meeting?

However, she soon realized she was overthinking. Jiang Wan said she was giving it, but her gaze was always fixed on the mirror, obviously very reluctant.

Giving one's most cherished thing to someone else was either because the relationship was deep, or to please the other party.

They were meeting for the first time, so naturally, there was no talk of deep sister-in-law affection. Jiang Wan was a child without a sense of security, so she tried her best to release goodwill to Du Ruo in exchange for an easier life in the future.

Du Ruo felt more and more pity for her, reached out to take the mirror, and smiled: "This mirror is really beautiful, sister-in-law likes it very much. But sister-in-law has a big face, this mirror is too small to fit. How about this, borrow it for a few days, and when sister-in-law earns money in a few days, I'll buy a big one, and then return it to you, okay?"

After comforting her little sister-in-law, Du Ruo took the mirror and returned to her room.

Having just traveled over, her soul was still a bit unstable, and she had been busy for most of the day. At this moment, she couldn't hold on anymore, her brain was dizzy, so she fell asleep.

She didn't sleep soundly either. Scenes from her past and present lives appeared alternately in her dreams. One second she was wearing a protective suit in the laboratory, high-fiving and cheering with her team; the next second she was trapped in the car, river water pouring into her chest, a tight, painful feeling. She struggled desperately, but couldn't make a sound...

"Ah!" Du Ruo woke up from the nightmare.

Looking around, she suddenly realized her current situation.

In the 21st-century Earth, she most likely couldn't go back; she had promised a wrongfully dead soul to live well for her and protect her relatives.

Her face started itching again. Du Ruo took out that small mirror from under the pillow and looked at the person in the mirror. ===== CHAPTER 4 =====