Chapter 2: Found

◎ I Will Take Responsibility for You ◎

The whole family, including Brother Wei’s two sons and Second Brother Wei’s son and daughter—fourteen people in total—gathered around the table, filling it to the brim.

On the table were three large bowls: one with corn porridge, one with stewed potatoes and string beans, and one with cucumber salad. Not a single trace of oil or meat could be found in any of them.

Even so, this was considered a good meal in her memories. After all, it was the busy farming season, which at least meant they could eat until they were about eighty percent full. Come winter, when there was less work, their meals would be even worse than this.

Wei Xuan sighed silently in her heart. It seemed that in both of her lives, she was destined to have no luck when it came to food.

Mother Wei controlled the food distribution in the household. Since the men did the hardest labor, they received the largest portions. Holding a large ladle, she scooped up the thickest part from the bottom of the pot, ensuring that each working man got a full bowl of corn porridge.

As for the rest, everyone except for the four children received only a small half-bowl. The children got even less—just half a ladle each.

Wei Xuan looked at the small half-bowl of corn porridge in front of her and estimated that just one trip to the latrine would leave her with nothing in her stomach.

Mother Wei finished serving the food and turned around to see her daughter staring blankly at her bowl. Thinking that she had no appetite, she turned to her eldest daughter-in-law and asked, “Did you steam the eggs like I told you?”

Eldest Sister-in-law Wei quickly put down her chopsticks and stood up. “Yes, yes, I did. They’re in the kitchen. I’ll bring them right now.”

When she returned with two bowls of steamed eggs, Mother Wei took one and placed it in front of Wei Xuan, then handed the other to Third Sister-in-law Wei. Third Sister-in-law Wei reached out to take it in disbelief. “Mother, there’s a portion for me too?”

“What? You don’t want it?” Mother Wei pretended to pull her hand back.

“I do! I do! Thank you, Mother!” Third Sister-in-law Wei hurriedly took the bowl and quickly withdrew her hands, not even caring about the heat. She scooped up a spoonful and brought it to her mouth, afraid that her mother-in-law might change her mind.

“Hmph.” Mother Wei scoffed, clearly disapproving of her petty behavior. With a displeased expression, she sat down and then softened her tone as she spoke to her daughter beside her. “You’re not feeling well today. Eat more to nourish yourself.”

These words were deliberately said for everyone at the table to hear—making it clear that no one should eye the bowl of steamed egg. Wei Xuan was an exception because she was sick. As for Third Sister-in-law Wei’s portion, everyone knew it was because she was pregnant.

Sure enough, Second Sister-in-law Wei, who had initially wanted to say something, just pouted and muttered a couple of words under her breath but didn’t voice any real complaints.

Wei Xuan looked at the bowl of steamed egg in front of her and felt deeply moved. However, she didn’t have the heart to openly enjoy special treatment while everyone else watched. So, she picked up the bowl and quickly scooped a spoonful into Father Wei and Mother Wei’s bowls. Then, she gave a small spoonful each to the two youngest children, leaving only a small amount for herself—just enough to get a taste.

Seeing their daughter being so considerate, Father Wei and Mother Wei smiled in relief and did not refuse her filial gesture. However, they turned to give their sons and daughters-in-law a few words of admonishment.

After finishing lunch, everyone went to rest for a while—after all, there was still work to be done in the fields that afternoon.

Wei Xuan returned to her room, having witnessed firsthand the hardships of this era. She needed to seriously think about how to navigate her future.

The original owner of this body was seventeen years old this year and had graduated from high school last year. By right, she should have already been working in the fields with her family, but Mother Wei, feeling sorry for her daughter, had kept delaying it—until today.

But this wasn’t a long-term solution. The work still had to be done; there was no avoiding it. If she kept evading it for too long, it wouldn’t just be her sisters-in-law who would complain—her three brothers probably wouldn’t be happy about it either.

Besides, Wei Xuan wasn’t the original owner, who could simply accept being taken care of by the Wei family without a second thought.

She wasn’t afraid of hardship, but enduring hardship while not eating well was truly frustrating. In her past life, due to illness, she had been restricted from eating many things. In this life, she was determined not to shortchange herself.

But in the countryside, even getting enough to eat was difficult—let alone eating well.

After eating bland meals for several days in a row, Wei Xuan finally geared up and prepared to go to the fields with her family to earn work points.

Since she had to live here, she would have to go through this sooner or later—it was better to adapt early.

Second Sister-in-law Wei glanced at her little sister-in-law, who had wrapped herself up so tightly that only her eyes were visible. Rolling her eyes, she muttered to herself, wondering what kind of strange idea Wei Xuan was up to this time.

Of course, Wei Xuan knew her outfit would attract attention, but the sun was simply too harsh. If she spent a whole day under it, her face would be completely ruined. There was no sunscreen available, and she wasn’t willing to let the fair skin the original owner had maintained get tanned. With no other choice, she endured the bewildered and amused looks from others, who stared at her as if she were crazy, and stubbornly kept herself wrapped up tightly.

Mother Wei took Wei Xuan to the team leader to get assigned wheat-harvesting work. She kept her head down and worked hard for an hour, but when she finally stood up and looked around, she realized she had fallen behind the neighboring group by more than a third. No matter how loudly the slogans were shouted, only after actually stepping into the field did she understand just how exhausting this work was. Staring at the vast expanse of wheat in front of her, Wei Xuan suddenly felt dizzy and lightheaded.

In the end, Wei Xuan was carried back home by her eldest brother…

It only took half a day for the entire village to hear about how she had gotten heatstroke from wrapping herself up too tightly while working in the fields.

Lying on her bed, Wei Xuan listened to the sounds of Mother Wei angrily banging things around outside. The shame she initially felt gradually settled into calm acceptance.

Although she had been laughed at by the whole village for getting heatstroke due to her lack of experience and poor planning, she also realized something important—relying on fieldwork to earn work points and satisfy her appetite was probably impossible.

But in an era where private trading was illegal, was there any other way to make money?

Before she could figure out an answer, another problem came her way.

That day, while Wei Xuan was busy at home—ever since the heatstroke incident, Mother Wei had flatly refused to let her return to the fields—so she had no choice but to stay home and take charge of cooking for the entire family.

In the afternoon, with nothing else to do, Wei Xuan decided to give her room a thorough cleaning. Houses in this era were made of mud bricks and easily collected dust. Fortunately, the original owner’s room was in relatively good condition, with newspapers pasted on the walls. However, most of the newspapers had yellowed with age, and some corners had already peeled off. Since this was going to be her living space for a long time, she didn’t want it to be too messy.

She first moved everything out of the room. There wasn’t much—aside from the bedding, there was only a wardrobe for clothes, which didn’t contain many items and was light enough for her to move alone. The only other pieces of furniture were a table and a chair.

Once the room was emptied, Wei Xuan wrapped her hair in an old cloth, stood on a stool with a broom, and cleared out all the cobwebs and dust from the ceiling and corners. Then, she started pasting new newspapers onto the walls.

Just as she finished cleaning and putting everything back in place, Jiang Che came looking for her.

When she heard her name being called over the village loudspeaker, she was momentarily stunned. As far as she knew, the original owner didn’t have any close friends. Who could be looking for her?

Wei Xuan went to the courtyard to fetch some water and washed her face. After quickly tidying up her clothes, which had become disheveled from all the cleaning, she locked the courtyard door and headed toward the brigade office.

As she walked, she wondered who would bother coming to find her under such scorching heat.

When she arrived and saw Jiang Che standing at the entrance with an impatient expression, a memory suddenly hit her—how could she have forgotten something this important? It was all because she had been too preoccupied with figuring out how to make money and eat better that she had completely overlooked it.

Jiang Che had finally found a chance to leave home and come looking for Wei Xuan. He had been eager to tell her that his family had agreed to their marriage. But the moment he excitedly boarded the bus, he realized he had no idea where Wei Xuan’s house was.

With no other choice, he first went to the county town, then asked a friend for directions to her home and even borrowed a bicycle to make the trip. The journey had been exhausting and unbearably hot, draining all the excitement he had started with. And now, after all that effort, when he finally saw Wei Xuan, she was just standing there in a daze. Naturally, this made him even more annoyed.

Jiang Che took a few quick steps toward Wei Xuan, furrowing his brows. “What are you standing there dumbfounded for? Have you forgotten me after just a few days?”

Wei Xuan grumbled inwardly—she really had forgotten. Facing the original host’s fiancé, she had no idea what kind of attitude she should take when dealing with him.

She hesitated for a long moment, only managing to speak just before Jiang Che lost his temper. “It’s so hot today. Why did you come all the way here?”

At the mention of this, Jiang Che finally remembered his main purpose for coming. His expression shifted from irritation to satisfaction, with a hint of pride. “My family has agreed to our marriage. I came today to tell you the good news. In two days, a matchmaker will come to your house to formally propose. See? I told you I could convince my mother. Now do you believe me? Aren’t you happy?”

Wei Xuan: “…….”

Could she say she wasn’t happy?

Jiang Che saw that Wei Xuan had fallen silent again, but this time, he didn’t get angry. He assumed she was so happy that she had gone dumb from excitement. After all, between the two of them, it had always been Wei Xuan who clung to him more.

What he could never have imagined was that the person standing before him now was no longer the same inside.

From that point on, no matter what Jiang Che said, Wei Xuan barely registered any of it. By the time she snapped out of her daze, he was already preparing to leave.

“I’m heading back now, or I won’t make it in time for the last bus to the city. See how good I am to you? I came all this way just to personally deliver this news. Your home is way too remote. Once you marry me, you’ll finally get to enjoy a better life.”

The way he said it made it sound like she was the one getting an incredible deal.

Wei Xuan screamed internally: There’s really no need! Honestly, it’d be great if you just forgot about me.

But in order to keep up appearances, she could only force a smile and silently watch Jiang Che ride off into the distance.

With heavy steps, she started heading home. On the way, she ran into Wei Mother, who had rushed back in a hurry after hearing her name on the village loudspeaker.

“My girl, what happened? Who was looking for you?”

Wei Xuan wasn’t in the mood to say much to Wei Mother, so she casually brushed her off with a vague response and turned back into her room.

Lying on the bed, she went through all the memories she had of Jiang Che, combing through every detail, and fell into deep thought.

So how did the original owner end up getting involved with Jiang Che, a city boy?

The key person in this story was none other than the original owner’s classmate and only friend—Bian Qianqian.

Bian Qianqian was from the county town. Her family’s financial situation was average at best. She had an older brother and sister above her and a younger brother below, which meant she wasn’t particularly favored at home. In fact, her life wasn’t necessarily any easier than Wei Xuan’s, a girl from the countryside.

However, she had an aunt who had married into Beijing, and ever since she was a child, her biggest dream was to follow in her aunt’s footsteps—marry into the capital and live a good life.

The reason she and the original Wei Xuan got along so well wasn’t just because of their similar personalities but also because they shared the same unspoken little dream deep in their hearts.

It was normal for young girls to fantasize, but the problem was… now this mess had landed on Wei Xuan’s shoulders.