CHAPTER 6

Life in the village passed both quickly and slowly. As the sun set, people who had worked all day walked along the field ridges with bamboo baskets on their backs. The glow of the sunset reflected in the rice paddies, dyeing them golden, symbolizing another bountiful harvest.

Xiao Yan had been absent the entire day. It wasn’t until evening that she returned, hopping and humming a tune. It seemed she had spent the whole day eating at Qi Chen’s house.

If only the other one could be so well-behaved too.

Night fell, and the mountain village sank into slumber.

Lying under a peach-pink mosquito net, Wen Yang listened to the whirring of a small fan on the stool beside her, the breeze pushing one side of the net inward. She got up and secured the net more tightly with a bamboo mat.

Behind the house, a rooster crowed twice, flapping its wings noisily. Soon after, there were a few barks from a dog, followed by snorting noises that sounded like a pig.

Wen Yang suddenly remembered she hadn’t fed them in days. Stifling a yawn, she drowsily thought, I’ll be kind tomorrow and check on you all.

At the break of dawn, Wen Yang’s door opened.

Dressed in long sleeves, long pants, and knee-high rain boots, she had a beige scarf wrapped around her head and a pair of green-stained, grimy gloves in hand, which she was carefully putting on.

After heading downstairs, she slung a bamboo basket over her back, fully geared to cut grass and feed the pigs.

She followed a narrow trail beaten by many feet, carefully parting the tall vegetation on either side with her hands. Whenever the leaves brushed her temples, her heart raced, fearing a chubby, green-bristled caterpillar might be lurking beneath. Her overly delicate eyes remained on high alert as her feet moved quickly.

After crossing the patch of grass, she walked a bit further to reach a low-lying meadow. She set down her bamboo basket, bent over, and began pulling out grass randomly. Grass is grass—it’ll all taste the same mixed together anyway.

In no time, she had filled the basket to the brim, tamping it down to keep it from spilling during the walk back.

On her way back, she bumped into the elderly neighbor, who also had a bamboo basket on her back, clearly heading out for pig feed.

“Yangyang, off to cut grass for the pigs?”

Wen Yang’s system translated the local dialect in her ear. She immediately put on a fake smile. “Yes.” After saying that, she realized it didn’t match the impression people in the village had of her character as a supporting antagonist, so she added, “Grandma, you’re going too?”

“Ah, yes, best to cut more now. It’s going to rain in the coming days, and we won’t be able to get into the mountains,” the old lady said, noticing Wen Yang’s awkward speech. “Why are you speaking standard Mandarin all of a sudden?”

Wen Yang improvised, “The school encourages us to practice. We’ll need it for college later.”

“Ah, ah,” the old lady nodded, then asked, “You’re going to college?”

“Yes.”

“Girls your age in other families are already raising kids,” the old lady said, tilting her head to look at her. Her dry, wrinkled lips puckered as she muttered, “I have a boy at home who’s a year older than you. You should meet him. It’s better for girls to marry early than waste time studying, don’t you think?”

Should she treat this person kindly?

With a forced smile, Wen Yang replied, “Grandma, you shouldn’t impose your outdated opinions on others.”

The old lady didn’t understand what she meant—or even her basic tone.

“What did you say?”

“I’m advising you to mind your own business,” Wen Yang dropped the act.

The old lady was stunned. She didn’t expect this usually sweet girl to suddenly have such a sharp tongue. “What’s gotten into you, girl? How did you turn out like this?”

Wen Yang wasn’t interested in wasting words. She kept walking.

---

“Young master, I’m at the village entrance. Which house are you at?”

A voice message played from Wen Yang’s phone. Zhang Yuan clicked on it, and a reply came: “Wait there.”

The voice sounded familiar to Wen Yang. Considering the person had addressed someone as “young master,” there were only two possibilities in this place: Qi Chen or Xu Yi. Most likely, it was Xu Yi.

But Wen Yang was never the type to meddle.

Rounding a corner, she passed Xu Yi, who had just stepped outside. Because of her outfit, Xu Yi didn’t recognize her.

She headed to the pigsty behind her courtyard, dumped the pig grass, and started chopping it up.

---

Elsewhere.

“Young master, how are you holding up here?” Zhang Yuan eagerly approached Xu Yi, overjoyed to see him.

Xu Yi didn’t answer but glanced at the group behind Zhang Yuan, frowning. “Why did you bring so many people?”

Zhang Yuan quickly explained, “This one’s a chef, that one’s here to move appliances, and… that one, I don’t know.”

“Young master Xu, how have you been recently?” The man with a thin mustache and black-rimmed glasses spoke, habitually stroking his mustache as he talked.

The man’s name was Hu Lishi, a talent scout. Years ago, he had encountered Xu Yi by chance on the street. Despite Xu Yi’s refusal to give him a WeChat contact, Hu Lishi had been fixated on him ever since.

Recently, hearing that Xu Yi’s father had sent him to the countryside, severing ties in anger, Hu Lishi thought it was the perfect opportunity to persuade Xu Yi to enter the entertainment industry.

However, he hadn’t expected to run into a familiar face—Zhang Yuan. Zhang Yuan had previously warned him to stay away from Xu Yi, but a good talent scout never gives up on an exceptional prospect.

Jumping down from a tractor, Hu Lishi followed Xu Yi closely.

Xu Yi instructed Zhang Yuan and his group to wait under a tree in front of the house while he went to inform the homeowner. It would be impolite to let a group of strangers barge into her house without notice.

The moment Xu Yi left, Hu Lishi took advantage of Zhang Yuan’s distraction and snuck in after him.

He glanced around at the surroundings, curiosity piqued, and took a few photos with his phone.

Xu Yi came downstairs after failing to find Wen Yang.

Hu Lishi, startled and afraid of angering this “demon prince” young master, instinctively ducked into a side path. He heard a dull thud and took a few steps forward.

Wen Yang held her breath as she stood outside the pigsty, pouring feed into the trough.

A click sound came from Hu Lishi’s phone. Wen Yang turned her head toward the noise.

In the filthy, smelly pigsty stood a girl dressed oddly but strikingly beautiful, her presence completely out of place with the grimy surroundings—like an angel fallen to Earth, enduring hardship.

Hu Lishi’s heart was captivated at first sight. He declared to himself that she was destined to be the next top star in the entertainment industry.

Her gaze was hostile. “Who are you?”

“You don’t need to know who I am. You only need to know that I can help you escape this life.” Hu Lishi began his polished talent scout pitch, taking a step closer. “Do you know the hottest celebrity right now, Gu Yunzhe? That’s—ah, hey!”

What kind of mental hospital built their facility out here?

Wen Yang grabbed the stick she’d been using to stir pig feed.

“Get out!” Xu Yi suddenly appeared.

Now, two stunning individuals stood together. Hu Lishi was overjoyed, ignoring Xu Yi’s warning and brimming with excitement.

Zhang Yuan, hearing the commotion, rushed in, followed by four other heads popping in from behind him.

When Wen Yang saw so many strangers, a wave of irritation surged within her. She tossed aside the stick, pushed past Hu Lishi, and walked out.

As she passed Xu Yi, she didn’t say a word, but her eyes burned with anger.

Xu Yi spoke in a low voice, “Zhang Yuan, take him to the police station. Leave the stuff here, and the rest of you go back.”

Zhang Yuan hesitated. “Young master, these two are chefs, and I—”

“Enough,” Xu Yi’s tone turned icy.

Zhang Yuan quickly had Hu Lishi carried out. Hu Lishi struggled, shouting, “Xu Yi, how do you know that girl doesn’t want to be a star like you don’t?”

Zhang Yuan clapped a hand over his mouth.

“Mmph! Mmph!”

“Young master, we’ve left everything in the yard,” Zhang Yuan said reluctantly. Having met Xu Yi for less than an hour, he already had to leave. “Young master, I’ll be going now.”

Xiao Yan stood by the tractor that had brought her there that day, watching the mustached man being dragged away and the man walking out of the courtyard. Her gut told her she’d just missed a dramatic scene.

She tugged on Qi Chen’s shirt hem. “Come pick me up for school tomorrow.”

Qi Chen lowered his head, looking at her pale, soft hand, and helplessly replied, “Okay.”

Xiao Yan grinned, her eyes forming crescents, her small tiger teeth showing. “What time will you come? I’ll set my alarm.”

“Seven o’clock.”

“You’d better not forget,” she said, pulling his hand to hook pinkies.

Qi Chen’s dark complexion turned bright red.

Xiao Yan went upstairs and saw Xu Yi standing outside Wen Yang’s door, knocking with a suitcase in tow. She quietly passed by, her instincts as a gossip enthusiast prompting her to shut her door and spy through the crack.

Under someone else’s roof, Xu Yi had no choice but to lower his pride. He was indeed in the wrong this time.

He knocked on the door.

After a few seconds, he heard the sound of slippers shuffling across the floor. Wen Yang opened the door.

“I looked for you, but I couldn’t find you.” Xu Yi pushed the suitcase forward, only to have it blocked by the door. His expression was slightly awkward. “This is an apology. Snacks.”

Wen Yang didn’t take it and instead went over to knock on Xiao Yan’s door.

Inside, Xiao Yan’s eyes widened. She waited a few seconds before opening the door with a forced calm. “What’s up?”

Wen Yang stood between the two. “There’s instant noodles in the kitchen downstairs. If you’re hungry, cook for yourself. If you don’t want instant noodles, figure out your meals on your own.”

Damn, caught in the crossfire. Xiao Yan realized she’d been dragged into this mess by Xu Yi. Faced with the cold beauty, she didn’t dare utter a word of protest, especially since she still had Qi Chen.

“Okay,” Xiao Yan replied, stifling her laughter internally. At least now she had a reason to openly mooch off someone else’s food.

On the other side, Xu Yi’s expression darkened. It was his first time lowering himself to apologize, only to be ignored.

His Adam’s apple bobbed. After a moment, he sneered, his eyebrows raised with an air of arrogant disdain. “Fine.”

Xu Yi didn’t attend class on Monday. For the next month, Wen Yang didn’t see him again.

At first, the school principal asked Wen Yang to talk some sense into Xu Yi. She refused outright. She wasn’t there to reform rebellious rich kids. She barely got her own work done, let alone babysit a young master.

Seeing that Wen Yang wouldn’t budge, the principal planned to speak to Xu Yi himself. But just then, he received a call from Xu Yi’s father, Xu Chenglin, who said Xu Yi would return home soon and apologized for the trouble.

The principal breathed a sigh of relief, repeatedly assuring him that it was no trouble.

One evening, the temperature had dropped slightly compared to previous days. The female supporting character’s aunt came to visit, bringing her son Li Yan—the boy who had harassed Wen Yang in town.

The aunt, Wen Zhiqin, had been widowed early and raised Li Yan alone without remarrying.

She walked in, subtly and overtly trying to borrow money from her niece.

Wen Yang didn’t bother beating around the bush and directly said she didn’t have any money. Cry or make a scene if you want—she didn’t care.

Wen Zhiqin was fuming inside, but seeing Wen Yang’s firm attitude, she didn’t want to push too hard. Plastering on a smile, she said, “Your parents called me and asked me to take care of you. So this time, your aunt won’t leave. I’ll stay here to keep you company.”

There had been no call—her brother and sister-in-law hadn’t returned home in years and had probably forgotten about their daughter. Wen Zhiqin just wanted to freeload for herself and her son.

Li Yan wandered around the living room. At that moment, Xiao Yan came downstairs in a cartoon nightdress and caught Li Yan’s lewd, lascivious gaze.

Xiao Yan immediately bristled, shouting, “What are you looking at!”