The Morning After the Wedding
When Jiang Lianyue opened her eyes again, she found the room rather dim.
Was it already dark?
She pulled back the curtain and looked outside. The sky was only just beginning to brighten, and the surroundings were completely quiet. The only person on the road was a cleaner in grey work clothes, sweeping with his head lowered.
Oh. It was morning.
She had actually slept straight through from the previous afternoon until dawn the next day.
Jiang Lianyue felt somewhat dazed—not only from waking after such a long sleep, but also from the shock of suddenly transmigrating here from the future.
Yesterday, she had been so focused on resolving the issue of her marriage to the male lead that she had not had time to grieve or feel sentimental. Now that everything around her was so quiet, an inexplicable sense of loneliness suddenly welled up inside her, as though she were the only person left in the entire world.
Jiang Lianyue stood there blankly for a moment, then suddenly smiled.
Oh, that was not quite right.
She had a family.
Although Jiang Lianyue had been born and raised in the village, she had three older brothers and was the youngest child. Father Jiang and Mother Jiang had only gotten the daughter they longed for after having three sons, so they spoiled her endlessly. Her three brothers doted on her as well.
As a result, she had developed a spoiled and wilful personality, believing that she had to obtain anything she wanted.
It was precisely because of this temperament that, after seeing Zhou Jiajing, she became infatuated with him and insisted on having him no matter what. In the end…
Jiang Lianyue let out a long sigh.
Although the original Jiang Lianyue did not have a good personality, at least she had a family who loved her.
In the novel, after Jiang Lianyue divorced, her three brothers went to Zhou Jiajing to demand an explanation. In a moment of impulse, her second brother attacked him and was eventually sent to prison.
Her eldest brother left home to work and earn money so that they could pull strings for the second brother, but he never returned.
Her third brother had to remain behind to care for their parents. Because the family’s reputation had been ruined by her divorce and because he had a brother in prison, he remained a bachelor for the rest of his life.
Father Jiang and Mother Jiang also became depressed because of the series of misfortunes that befell the family. After Jiang Lianyue died in a car accident, the two of them passed away soon afterward.
Remembering this, Jiang Lianyue sighed deeply once more.
The original Jiang Lianyue had not truly been that evil. She had merely been rather obsessive. Yet all because of Zhou Jiajing, she had brought ruin upon her family and met a miserable end.
Jiang Lianyue thought that, as long as she stopped causing trouble for Zhou Jiajing, focused on living her own life, and made something of herself, the original Jiang Lianyue’s family would not meet such a tragic fate.
“Grrrgle—”
The sound of her stomach growling pulled Jiang Lianyue from her thoughts.
She rubbed her stomach and suddenly remembered that she had not eaten anything since yesterday morning.
Before she left the Jiang family home in Jiangxiang Village yesterday, Mother Jiang had made her eat two fried eggs. After arriving in Hengzhou County, she had gone straight into this bridal chamber, and then…
Jiang Lianyue poured some water from the thermos into the washbasin. After washing up, she opened the door and left the bedroom.
The living room was not large. On one side stood a wooden dining table with four chairs. Sunflower seeds and peanuts were still scattered across the tabletop, clearly left over from entertaining yesterday’s guests.
Against the wall was a stepped wooden cabinet made of solid wood, with various miscellaneous items placed on top. Beside it were several woven plastic sacks, three large wooden chests, and a few earthenware jars, all pasted with large red wedding characters.
On the other side of the living room was a dressing table, and even its mirror had been decorated with a red wedding character.
All the items bearing wedding decorations were part of the original Jiang Lianyue’s dowry.
Jiang Lianyue was too hungry to bother examining exactly what they contained. She glanced around the living room and discovered that there was even a kitchen.
Zhou Jiajing was clearly quite well-off.
Although the original Jiang Lianyue had become irrational the moment she saw Zhou Jiajing’s face, she had not chosen badly. She had indeed set her sights on an excellent husband.
Jiang Lianyue recalled the novel’s plot.
Oh, Zhou Jiajing was also the son of a high-ranking official. Later, when he wanted to marry the female lead, his family placed a great deal of pressure on her, afraid that the woman he had chosen for himself would turn out to be as troublesome as the previous one.
Jiang Lianyue gave a soft, mocking laugh. She pushed aside those matters that had nothing to do with her and turned into the kitchen.
…
Zhou Jiajing had tossed and turned for a long time the previous night before finally falling asleep.
He had suddenly been forced into marriage and had even signed such an absurd agreement. It felt as though his entire life had changed from that moment onward.
He felt uneasy and confused, uncertain what the future would bring. His life seemed to be heading in a direction completely beyond his control.
He could only hope that she would genuinely behave as the agreement stated, remain quiet and obedient, and refrain from interfering with his life.
Then he might still be able to correct the slight wrong turn his life had taken and put it back on the proper path.
With that hopeful thought in mind, Zhou Jiajing eventually fell asleep.
After drifting in and out of sleep for three or four hours, he suddenly sensed that something about the air was wrong and abruptly opened his eyes.
He sniffed hard and realised that it was the aroma of food.
He gave a self-mocking smile.
Jiang Lianyue had made him so tense lately that even a change in the smell of the air could wake him from his sleep.
Zhou Jiajing rolled over, intending to continue sleeping.
More than ten minutes later, he abruptly sat upright.
Why was the smell becoming increasingly fragrant?
Zhou Jiajing sniffed hard again and realised that the aroma seemed to be coming from his own kitchen.
Had a thief broken into the house?
He hurriedly got up and quietly crept outside.
After opening the door, he swept his gaze around. The master bedroom door was open, and the kitchen light was on.
He sniffed gently. A rich aroma drifted from inside.
Zhou Jiajing’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
He quietly approached the kitchen and saw that Jiang Lianyue was indeed standing inside, frying or cooking something in a pot.
Beneath the warm orange light, the woman’s figure appeared slender and graceful. Her luminous pale face seemed even more beautiful than it had the previous night.
However, Zhou Jiajing had no attention to spare for her beauty at that moment.
He inhaled deeply.
It smelled incredible!
Now that he was closer, the aroma was even more tempting. Zhou Jiajing had never smelled anything so fragrant in his life. Saliva immediately began gathering in his mouth, and he could not help swallowing.
He did not know how to cook, and the machinery factory had its own canteen. Apart from occasionally eating out for a treat, he ate all three meals a day at the canteen.
The food there was not bad, but eating it constantly became tiresome.
Yet neither the dishes served in restaurants nor the food from the canteen had ever smelled this good.
Zhou Jiajing unconsciously took a step forward, wanting to see what she was making.
Sensing someone nearby, Jiang Lianyue turned her head. When she saw Zhou Jiajing standing in the doorway wearing a white vest, she smiled and greeted him.
“Morning.”
Faced with that radiant, flower-like smile, Zhou Jiajing suddenly remembered that Jiang Lianyue had smiled just as brightly when she learned he had agreed to marry her.
The appetite that had been surging wildly through him instantly disappeared. His expression cooled, and he replied indifferently, “Morning.”
After exchanging greetings, Zhou Jiajing lost interest in what she was cooking. He turned around and returned to his room.
Jiang Lianyue did not care.
He had always treated the original Jiang Lianyue this coldly.
She turned back and continued stirring her egg congee.
This was Lingnan, where rice was widely grown. The original Jiang Lianyue’s family doted on her and worried that she would struggle to adjust in her new home, so they had given her most of the finest rice in the household as part of her dowry.
The eggs had also come from her dowry.
They had been packed in rice bran and stored in a large earthenware jar. There was an entire jar full of them. Mother Jiang had used her private savings to buy them from villagers before the wedding.
They were free-range eggs, and the moment one was cracked open, it released a rich egg aroma.
The rice was excellent, and the water in this era had not yet suffered serious pollution. As a result, the congee had begun releasing a fragrant aroma from the moment the water boiled.
The longer it cooked, the more fragrant it became.
The scent reached its strongest point when Jiang Lianyue cracked two eggs into the pot. Even she could not help swallowing.
She was truly starving!
When the congee was finally ready, Jiang Lianyue eagerly filled a bowl. She blew on it and carefully took a sip.
Ah, it was so fragrant!
The delicate aroma of rice blended with the rich fragrance of egg. It was so delicious that Jiang Lianyue nearly swallowed her tongue.
Zhou Jiajing came out fully dressed and saw Jiang Lianyue holding a bowl and drinking the congee in large mouthfuls, her small face filled with satisfaction.
Zhou Jiajing secretly inhaled deeply.
It smelled amazing.
What was she eating? How could it smell so good?
Jiang Lianyue noticed him and greeted him.
“You’re leaving this early?”
Zhou Jiajing, who had originally only planned to come into the living room for a glass of water: “…”
Did she dislike him that much?
Was she already trying to drive him out of the house first thing in the morning?
He silently finished drinking his water, set down the cup, and said lightly, “I’m going to work. There’s a set of keys in the upper compartment of the stepped cabinet.”
“Bye-bye.”
Jiang Lianyue waved at him.
Zhou Jiajing picked up his briefcase and walked out. After taking two steps, he stopped again.
Bye-bye?
Of course, he knew that “bye-bye” meant farewell.
But wasn’t Jiang Lianyue merely a junior secondary school graduate? Why did she use English so naturally?
The national college entrance examination had been restored two years ago, and many educated youths who had been sent to the countryside were studying for it. A wave of enthusiasm for learning had spread everywhere.
Could the atmosphere of study in Jiangxiang Village really be so strong that even an ordinary villager knew how to say goodbye in English?
Zhou Jiajing turned and looked back at the tightly closed door.
After interacting with her, he had discovered that Jiang Lianyue was rather different from the person he had previously imagined.
Could it be that his preconceived prejudice had caused him to mistake a good young woman for a bad one?
The moment that thought appeared, Zhou Jiajing hurriedly shook his head and cast the dangerous idea from his mind.
What a joke.
What kind of good woman would force the man who saved her life to marry her?
“Officer Zhou, heading to work so early?”
A neighbour happened to step out of his home and greeted Zhou Jiajing when he saw him.
Zhou Jiajing: “!”
He had only planned to go out and buy breakfast.
However, he could not admit that he was leaving his newlywed wife alone to eat breakfast outside.
A trace of awkwardness flashed across Zhou Jiajing’s pale face.
Everyone knew that he had gotten married yesterday. If he went out alone for breakfast the morning after his wedding, it would be difficult for people not to make assumptions.
“There’s an urgent matter at the factory. I need to go and deal with it immediately,” Zhou Jiajing said, trying his best to look anxious.
The neighbour knew that Zhou Jiajing was a university graduate highly valued by the director of the county machinery factory.
If the factory had called him in early on the second day of his marriage, it must have been an extremely urgent matter.
The neighbour did not delay him further and hurriedly waved his hand.
“You work so hard. You can’t even rest after getting married. Go on, then.”
Zhou Jiajing smiled and nodded at him.
The moment he turned around, the corners of his mouth dropped.
It was only six o’clock in the morning.
What was he supposed to do at the factory?
Feed the mosquitoes?
Jiang Lianyue drank two bowls of congee and felt her stomach becoming bloated. She could not drink any more.
She set down her bowl and looked at the more than half a pot of congee remaining.
This body’s stomach was far too small.
She had been hungry for so long, yet she could only manage two bowls.
After cleaning the kitchen, Jiang Lianyue began sorting through the dowry piled in the living room.
The earthenware jars contained food supplies, including mung beans, soybeans, hyacinth beans, and preserved mustard greens. They were all foods that could be stored for a long time.
The woven plastic sacks contained rice, quilt covers, cotton quilt filling, blankets, and other items.
The wooden chests held Jiang Lianyue’s clothes. Some were newly made, while others were clothes she wore regularly.
Jiang Lianyue carried the chests into the master bedroom.
When she opened the wardrobe, she saw that a large section was still empty. She took the clothes out of the chests and hung them inside.
There were indigo trousers, white dacron shirts, and white floral dresses.
For this era, the styles were fairly fashionable.
This alone showed how much the Jiang family doted on the original Jiang Lianyue. Even girls in the city might not own so many fine clothes, yet she had three entire chests of them.
After organising the clothes, Jiang Lianyue also unpacked the woven sacks. She took out everything that needed to be removed and found suitable places for the rest.
By the time she had finished organising everything, the sun outside had already risen high into the sky.
Sunlight streamed through the window, filling the entire room with brightness.
Now that Jiang Lianyue had finished unpacking and had more or less settled into the home, her mood suddenly brightened as well.
It was March, the rainy season in Lingnan, and sunshine was rarely seen.
Since the sun had come out, many people had taken clothes outside to dry. Jiang Lianyue looked downstairs through the window and saw that every available drying space had been filled with clothes and bedsheets.
Many people had also taken advantage of the bright weather to bring their children and elderly relatives outside for a walk.
Jiang Lianyue thought for a moment, then picked up the money and various ration coupons she had found inside one of the wooden chests and left the house.
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