Chapter 1: The "Irritable" Wife Knows How to Show Affection (1)

Rubbing her somewhat dizzy head, Su Qiruo opened her eyes in a daze.

The sight of the thatched cottage and a roof that revealed half the sky made Su Qiruo smack her lips; this home was so poor that even a mouse would leave in tears.

How pitiful, how truly pitiful!

"This isn't right! Ouch..."

Su Qiruo sat up excitedly. How did she end up here? Why did her head hurt so much?

Pain—a tearing sensation that made Su Qiruo’s entire body tremble.

Holding her head and waiting for the sensation to subside, Su Qiruo dragged her exhausted, aching body off the bed.

A low-quality blanket, tattered yet relatively clean, lay on the floor. Su Qiruo leaned down, pinched it with two fingers in disgust, and tossed it onto the wooden board that could barely be called a bed.

The moment she lowered her head, she saw her own patched, ragged clothes, her feet with fingernails filled with unknown black substances, and caught the sour, foul odor wafting from her body. Su Qiruo finally couldn't hold it back—

She vomited!

She vomited until the world spun and the stars shifted.

Damn it!

What kind of sin had she committed?

How did she end up transmigrating into such a godforsaken place just by sleeping?

Stumbling to the door, the glaring sunlight made her feel dizzy. If it weren't for the beautiful landscape outside, which looked like a fairyland on earth, Su Qiruo would have suspected she had descended into hell.

Leaning one hand against the doorframe and the other on her waist, Su Qiruo let out a long sigh.

"Spring comes to the lake like a painting, peaks scattered around the level water..."

Su Qiruo couldn't help but murmur, and as something clicked, her handsome face suddenly turned pale.

Don't bully her for being uneducated; wasn't this exactly what was written in the abusive novel she read last night?

This scene—the broken water vat at the door, the low wattle fence.

The character's attire—tattered and barely covering her body.

The poverty of this household... everything matched the content of the book.

Looking down at her current body again, Su Qiruo was certain: she had transmigrated into the incompetent female lead of the book, a woman with a tendency for domestic violence who knew nothing but how to beat her husband and wait for death.

Su Qiruo had long been bothered by the fact that the perverted female lead in the book shared her name. Now that she had tragically become the very person she despised most, it was truly a disaster!

Heavy footsteps sounded from behind. Su Qiruo turned to look and saw a thin, delicate-looking man struggling to carry two buckets of water toward the broken vat by the wall.

This man was named Yun Zimu. He was originally the son of a concubine from the Yun family in town, but his father died early, and the Yun household’s fortunes declined day by day. The head of the Yun family had taken it upon herself to sell off the concubines' sons.

It just so happened that on that day, Su Qiruo had partnered with others to hunt a wild boar and brought it to town to sell. Seeing that Yun Zimu was good-looking, Su Qiruo had used all the money she had earned from her share, plus the savings she had set aside for house repairs, to buy him.

At first, Su Qiruo had felt some pity for Yun Zimu, but Yun Zimu refused to let her touch him, and every attempt ended in an unpleasant scene.

Over time, Su Qiruo grew tired of his wooden personality, and looking at this dilapidated house, she began to regret her decision.

She had spent her life savings on a husband she couldn't even touch; she truly had the worst luck in eight lifetimes.

Had she known it would be like this, why would she have spent so much?

The money used to buy Yun Zimu would have been enough for her to marry two husbands.

There were a few people in the village who were on decent terms with Su Qiruo, and they liked to tease her about this whenever they joked around. Later, after a bout of heavy drinking, Su Qiruo had beaten Yun Zimu.

Since then, whenever Yun Zimu looked at Su Qiruo, his guarded gaze was mixed with fear.

In the book, Yun Zimu’s ending was not good. After Su Qiruo brought another man home, he became a servant to the couple, not only serving them daily but also suffering frequent beatings.

Eventually, on a day when Su Qiruo was away from home, that man found a human trafficker and sold Yun Zimu again.

Unwilling to suffer further humiliation, Yun Zimu chose to hang himself.

His life could be described as extremely tragic. As a concubine's son, one could imagine how difficult his days were.

Later, he met a wife who frequently committed domestic violence; besides being beaten and overworked, he had never experienced what it felt like to be cherished.

Perhaps sensing the gaze upon him, Yun Zimu’s body stiffened. His aching legs gave way, and the two buckets of water fell to the ground, spilling everywhere.

Seeing this, Su Qiruo quickly gathered her thoughts and strode toward Yun Zimu.

Yun Zimu bit his lower lip hard, hugged his aching legs with both hands, and closed his eyes, waiting for the familiar pain to strike.

Su Qiruo instinctively reached out to help him up, but seeing his terrified expression, she crouched down to pick up the buckets that had rolled onto the ground.

The "Su Qiruo" who had been drunk last night must have just beaten Yun Zimu, likely using the very shoulder pole in her hand to strike his legs.

Looking at the trembling Yun Zimu, Su Qiruo’s voice, slightly hoarse, came out awkwardly.

"Your clothes are all wet. Go change into something dry; I'll go fetch the water."

Without waiting for Yun Zimu to react, Su Qiruo carried the shoulder pole and buckets out of the courtyard.

Yun Zimu loosened his grip on his legs and secretly glanced at the retreating Su Qiruo, his eyes full of confusion.

She didn't beat him today?

What happened to his wife?

"Hiss..."

Yun Zimu secretly rolled up his pant leg to look at the injury on his leg, gasping in pain.

He didn't go inside to change his clothes; he just wrung out the water from his pant legs and stood up, supporting himself.

He was afraid Su Qiruo would suddenly return and catch him, and even more afraid that she would pull at his clothes like she did last night.

When Su Qiruo returned, she saw smoke rising from the kitchen and walked over with the two buckets of water.

She really couldn't stand the foul smell on her body anymore; even if she didn't eat, she had to take a bath first.

"Um... sorry to trouble you, but could you help me boil some hot water? I want to... wash up."

Su Qiruo rubbed her nose awkwardly, not daring to get too close to Yun Zimu, fearing she would offend the young man.

Yun Zimu was stunned, his large eyes filled with bewilderment. Was his wife actually speaking to him?

"Oh! Never mind, I'll just go wash in the small river at the foot of the mountain."

Su Qiruo felt she couldn't wait for the water to boil. It was midday, the sun was high, and it shouldn't be cold.

Placing the two buckets neatly at the kitchen entrance, Su Qiruo dug out a tattered but clean set of clothes from the main room and left.

Seeing Su Qiruo leave in such a hurry, Yun Zimu felt a pang of panic. Was his wife angry with him again?

Grievously tugging at the corner of his shirt, Yun Zimu lowered his eyes and sniffled. He hadn't said he wouldn't boil the water for her!