Chapter 3 2/2

The driver slapped the steering wheel. “I knew it! Sister-in-law, didn’t you tell them later?”

“Why bother?” Qiao Wei said. “Is there still a need to maintain contact with such relatives in the future?”

The driver clicked his tongue and said, “That’s their loss. Sister-in-law did the right thing! We don’t need such people.”

Yan Lei shifted his gaze back from the rearview mirror and looked ahead. “Drive carefully.”

In the provincial capital, you could still see two four-story buildings. However, once they left the urban area, everything changed. It felt like they had entered the countryside directly, without even a mix of urban and rural areas.

Yan Lei remained silent, and Qiao Wei didn’t speak either. She gazed at the scenery outside, all green fields, incredibly lively. She watched with relish.

In the memories, the original owner had taken a long-distance bus, with many stops in between, a lot of people getting on and off, and a considerable amount of luggage. It took a long time to get here.

The small car was much faster, driving for over two hours. Mainly because the road wasn’t good, and occasional obstacles like herds of sheep, chickens, and ducks slowed them down.

The driver seemed helpless when faced with such situations, sticking his head out the window to call the locals to quickly move the animals aside.

Yan Lei glanced at Qiao Wei from the rearview mirror. He thought she might get impatient. She always hated these situations.

She was a city girl who had always longed for the provincial capital and disliked the countryside.

Unfortunately, after marrying him, she could only live in the town near the military base, where the families of the military personnel resided. The conditions in the town were much worse than in the city. He knew that she married him for a better life, but just this aspect disappointed her too much.

She had always wanted him to retire. Officers transitioning from the military usually end up in relatively good positions. If he made some efforts, he might even find a job in the provincial capital.

But Yan Lei was only twenty-six, and he hadn’t thought about retiring. He had been on the battlefield, and with the complex geopolitical situation around the country, there might be future wars.

He didn’t have much education, unlike her, who finished high school. But he rose from a rural boy to a military officer, and now everything comes from the country and the military. He had a fervent sense of patriotism and wanted to serve the country with this body.

They had argued about this many times, but eventually, they stopped bothering. The two of them had nothing left to say to each other.

Yan Lei originally thought that as long as he could maintain a home, it would be enough. He never expected the high school girl to be so naive, swayed by a few seemingly profound poems and sweet words from someone else, that she actually eloped, abandoning her husband and child.

He glanced at the woman in the back again.

It was strange; she was looking at the sheep, chickens, and ducks outside, and there was a smile on her face, as if she really enjoyed it.

She used to hate these things. She detested how the town was surrounded by the countryside, merging into one.

Yan Lei furrowed his brow again. This day, he had lost count of how many times he had frowned.

Qiao Wei really liked this pastoral scenery.

She watched as Driver Zhang and the locals chatted happily, their voices loud, almost like they were arguing. Finally, Driver Zhang handed a cigarette to the local, and the local quickly drove the herd away.

Qiao Wei couldn’t help but smile.

The driver complained, “This is how the roads are in the countryside.”

He felt a bit sorry for his cigarette.

Speaking of cigarettes, memories were reactivated. Qiao Wei remembered that there were also cigarettes in her “home.” Yan Lei, this man, also loved to smoke.

She looked over and happened to see Yan Lei smoking.

From this angle, she could see his profile. A firm jawline, long and thick eyebrows, and a straight nose.

He was the male lead! Of course, he had to be exceptionally handsome.

Without a good-looking face, how could one be the male lead?

This reminded Qiao Wei that she had transmigrated into the world of a novel.

In this world, the original owner was a cannon fodder who had never shown her face. Even when Qiao Wei read it, she focused on how the female lead married the widowed male lead and how she became a virtuous stepmother—those stepmother novels had become quite popular for a while.

No one cared about the original wife, who was thrown away.

Especially when the female lead was a reborn woman. In her previous life, she despised the male lead for having a child and being older, so she married the down-to-the-countryside educated youth she liked. The marriage turned out to be miserable. In this life, she knew from the beginning that the male lead had great prospects, so she found ways to marry the male lead and live a prosperous life.

It was one of those feel-good stories.

But now, Qiao Wei had transmigrated, and the female lead’s feel-good story was her big bad ending.

This couldn’t go on.

She had crossed over from another tragic life, and now she had a young and healthy body, a handsome and promising husband, and a home waiting for her to return to.

She couldn’t let anyone take all this away from her.

Especially when she thought about “home,” her heart felt uncomfortable, and a small figure appeared in her mind.

“Mom, when are you coming back?” the child asked when handed over to the neighbor.

The child was unaware of being abandoned.

The original owner, Qiao Weiwei, died in heartbreak and despair, leaving her body and life to the transmigrated Qiao Wei. However, she also left a deep imprint on Qiao Wei’s heart—the guilt and regret for abandoning the child.

The original owner hoped that the transmigrant would make amends for her—a kind of trade-off.

Qiao Wei accepted this deal. She received a healthy body, a handsome husband, and this home, and in return, she had to give the original owner’s child a happy life.

It was a fair trade.

So, Qiao Wei couldn’t become an invisible cannon fodder like the original owner.

The story had changed from the moment she transmigrated.

If this marriage were to continue, then in the future… Qiao Wei glanced at the rearview mirror once again, and her eyes met with Yan Lei’s gaze.

Hello, male lead.

From now on, I am the female lead in your life.