The additional sound of breathing in the room made Yu Li feel extremely uncomfortable, instinctively wanting to snuff it out.
She clenched her hand, repeatedly reminding herself not to act impulsively.
Fortunately, when she woke up last night, this body was so weakened by heatstroke that she didn’t have much strength, preventing a serious mistake. Otherwise… she might not have been sitting peacefully at the Fu family’s table today, drinking bean porridge.
At the moment, Yu Li was rather inclined to stay with the Fu family. Though she came here as a maidservant, they had bean porridge, pickled vegetables, and green vegetable soup.
The food here was all-natural, without any pollution or artificial synthesis. Even coarse grains tasted far better than the nutrient solutions and compressed rations made from who-knows-what dark materials. Even a simple sip of clean water felt like a luxury.
Thankfully, her body still felt unwell, and even though she wasn’t used to this situation, her body’s need for rest overcame her discomfort. Accompanied by that faint, almost imperceptible sound of shallow breathing, she gradually fell asleep.
She slept until dawn.
After waking up, Yu Li found her body still soft and weak, with little strength. The persistent discomfort hadn’t disappeared—it felt like something was lurking inside her body, striving to break through the surface.
Her gaze was somewhat blank, and it took her a while to get out of bed.
While washing up, Yu Li noticed that the water in the water vat was nearly gone.
Thinking for a moment, she recalled that in rural areas, if a household didn’t have a well, they would need to fetch water from the river.
The Fu family didn’t have a well, so they fetched water from the river for cooking, washing, and other needs.
After breakfast, Yu Li asked, “Mother, the vat is out of water. Where is the bucket? I’ll go fetch some water.”
In this household, there was one person lying unconscious in bed, one elderly and frail person, and two young children. None of them could handle physical labor, so naturally, fetching water fell to her.
Yu Li saw herself as a “maidservant” in the Fu family, understanding that she needed to be tactful and do work if she wanted to have food to eat.
Zhou Shi glanced at Yu Li’s slender, bamboo-like figure and couldn’t help but ask, “Can you manage?”
Although she knew Yu Li might be stronger than she looked, people are often deceived by appearances. Seeing her thin frame, Zhou Shi couldn’t help but feel a bit of pity.
“Forget it. I’ll go ask Da Zhuang from next door to help carry a few buckets later.”
Even though Yu Li was brought in as a bride to bring good fortune, Zhou Shi still felt somewhat guilty.
This guilt made her want to treat her daughter-in-law a little better. Aside from having her take care of her youngest son, she didn’t force her to do much else and certainly wouldn’t make her work as tirelessly as she had in the Yu family, spinning like a top all day.
“It’s fine,” Yu Li said. “Even though I’m not very strong right now, carrying two buckets of water is no problem.”
If it were her body from her previous life, she could have carried the whole water vat to the river, filled it up, and brought it back. Now, being so weak, she could only manage to carry buckets to fetch water.
Zhou Shi was still hesitant. Seeing her insist, she reluctantly found the wooden buckets and a shoulder pole, thinking that if Yu Li couldn’t manage, she would ask Da Zhuang to help and give his family some beans or coarse grains as compensation.
That’s how their family had been getting water—by asking neighbors for help.
Yu Li took the buckets and shoulder pole and left the house.
Qingshi Village was crossed by a river. When the villagers needed water, they would go to the upstream section, designated for fetching water. Generally, villagers wouldn’t wash clothes in that area.
Following her memory, Yu Li arrived at a river not far from the Fu household.
By this time, the sun had already risen. There were quite a few villagers by the river washing clothes, most of them married women, with only a few unmarried girls.
When they saw Yu Li walking past with two wooden buckets, the people by the river couldn’t help but look over, quickly recognizing her.
Someone called out to her, “Li Niang!”
Yu Li turned her head and saw a slightly plump auntie with a kind face—it was Aunt Feng, who lived next door to the Yu family.
Yu Li obediently greeted her, “Aunt Feng.”
Aunt Feng smiled and said, “Li Niang is here to fetch water?”
Yu Li gave a quiet “mm” in response, walked to the upstream section, filled two wooden buckets with water, then lifted them and left with the shoulder pole.
The people by the river watched her carrying the water away before resuming their work and starting to chat.
“Li Niang is such a pitiful child. What the Yu family did wasn’t right. If something really happens to that Fu Wenxiao…”
“It’s no surprise—twenty taels for a bride price. Who wouldn’t be tempted?”
“Only the second day after the wedding, and Li Niang already has to fetch water. What kind of family would let a new bride do such hard labor? It’s true that Chong Xi marriages are different from normal ones.”
“I think Granny Zhou seems kind. She probably won’t mistreat Li Niang, right?”
“Hard to say. Even the kindest people change when it comes to their own children.”
—
The story of the Yu family accepting twenty taels of silver from the Fu family and sending Yu Li, the second house’s eldest daughter, to marry into the Fu family for good fortune had already spread throughout the village. Many families who cherished their daughters thought the Yu family had gone too far—actually marrying their daughter off to someone on the brink of death.
However, since the Yu family had two scholars, and the eldest Yu was known to be capable, no one dared to say anything openly, though they secretly despised them.
As they spoke, they saw Yu Li coming back with two empty buckets to fetch more water.
This time, she didn’t use the shoulder pole to carry the water. Instead, after filling the buckets, she simply carried them by hand and walked off.
Most people used shoulder poles for fetching water because it was less tiring. Few would carry the buckets by hand like her, and she walked rather briskly too.
Seeing this, those who had been chatting earlier suddenly fell silent.
Someone muttered in surprise, “Why does it seem like Li Niang is quite strong?”
Aunt Feng glanced over and, being used to it, said, “Li Niang is indeed quite strong. During busy farming seasons, she often worked in the fields with her parents and even helped carry grain back home. In the Yu family, she’s the most capable of all the girls.”
Living close to the Yu family, Aunt Feng was familiar with their situation and knew the conditions of the daughters in the second branch.
She shook her head silently, feeling that some of the Yu family’s actions were truly disgraceful.
Though many people in the world favored sons over daughters, few treated their daughters as poorly as the Yu family did. The daughters of the second branch were truly unfortunate to have such relatives.
—
Yu Li made several trips back and forth and quickly filled the water vat.
Zhou Shi, initially worried, was rendered speechless when she saw Yu Li effortlessly carrying two buckets of water without breaking a sweat.
It seemed this daughter-in-law was indeed quite strong.
The summer in Qingshi Village was muggy and stifling. Even early in the morning, the temperature was already rising. After walking around outside, Yu Li worked up a considerable sweat.
Zhou Shi brought over a bowl of water and said with a smile, “Li Niang, you’ve worked hard. Have some water.”
Yu Li took the bowl and downed it in one gulp. She licked the corner of her lips, looking expectantly at Zhou Shi.
Zhou Shi couldn’t help but chuckle. The expression on her face was easy to read—she wanted more.
So, Zhou Shi poured her another bowl. When she saw Yu Li looked like she was ready to drink even more, Zhou Shi felt a chill run down her spine.
Zhou Shi quickly said, “Li Niang, are you hungry? If you’re hungry, just say so. You don’t have to keep drinking water.”
She knew all too well the feeling of hunger—so desperate that you could only gulp down water to fill your stomach.
In her eyes, the way Yu Li was drinking water seemed no different from someone who was starving and trying to fill up with water. She couldn’t help but wonder, had Yu Li not eaten enough during breakfast?
Yu Li hadn’t eaten her fill, but she wasn’t hungry either. She simply found the clean, odorless water irresistible and couldn’t get enough of it.
It wasn’t just water—anything edible in this world piqued her interest.
She felt this world was wonderful—completely unpolluted, peaceful, harmonious, and so beautiful it seemed like a dream.
Thinking Yu Li was hungry, Zhou Shi buried a few sweet potatoes in the stove’s fire chamber while boiling medicine. The ashes in the chamber roasted them to perfection—fragrant, soft, and oozing sweetness.
Yu Li was familiar with roasted sweet potatoes. The original owner of this body had sometimes secretly buried one in the fire chamber while helping her mother in the kitchen, later sharing it with her younger sisters at night.
For children in rural areas, roasted sweet potatoes were a rare and satisfying treat.
Soon, the house was filled with the strong aroma of medicinal herbs.
The decoction was for Fu Wenxiao. Each dose of the medicine was expensive, and although the doctor had advised preparing for the worst, Zhou Shi couldn’t accept it. Clinging to hope, she had the doctor prescribe a few days’ worth of medicine and boiled a bowl every day, even adding ginseng roots to try to prolong Fu Wenxiao’s life.
The Fu family’s household was simple, and since they rented out their farmland, there wasn’t much work to do.
After fetching the water, Yu Li had nothing else to occupy her, so she sat by the fire, tending to the boiling medicine. When the sweet potatoes were ready, she used the fire poker to pull them out from the chamber.
Peeling one steaming sweet potato, she caught the sweet and unique aroma of roasted sweet potatoes. Yu Li secretly swallowed a mouthful of saliva and carefully took a bite, her eyes widening in surprise.
Two children passing by the kitchen saw her eating the roasted sweet potato and gulped down their saliva audibly.
They had eaten roasted sweet potatoes many times before and never thought much of them, but seeing her eat made them crave it desperately, almost painfully.
Their gaze was too intense to ignore. Yu Li glanced at them, then at the sweet potato in her hand, and finally, reluctantly, broke off a piece for them.
“Thank you, Auntie,” they said sweetly, smiling adorably to please her.
Since the sweet potato was still hot, Yu Li helped peel off the scorched skin, revealing the soft, honey-dripping flesh inside. Only after it cooled a little did she hand it to them.
The three of them—one adult and two children—squatted in the kitchen, eating roasted sweet potatoes together, unfazed by the heat.
Zhou Shi caught sight of this scene and smiled faintly.
But when she thought of her youngest son, still unconscious in the house, the smile vanished, replaced by a look of worry and sorrow.
When the medicine was ready, Zhou Shi poured it into a bowl to cool, planning to feed it to Fu Wenxiao later.
Meanwhile, Yu Li fetched a basin of clean water and carried it into the room.
After setting down the basin, she took the chance while Zhou Shi wasn’t around to open the window and let fresh air circulate through the room.
As soon as the window opened, the room brightened significantly.
Yu Li approached the bed and finally got a clear look at the man lying there.
Though his skin was unnaturally pale, making him look like a corpse, there was no denying—he was incredibly handsome.
He looked to be in his early twenties, with refined and elegant features and a handsome, delicate appearance. Quietly lying there, his jet-black hair spread across the pillow, accentuating his picturesque eyebrows. His entire being seemed sculpted from snow and jade, exuding a pure, ethereal beauty that felt otherworldly, as though he didn’t belong to this mortal realm.
The simple, rustic house seemed to gain a touch of brilliance and elegance solely because of the man lying on the bed.
Yu Li was momentarily dazed, her gaze lingering on the man a few moments longer before calmly twisting a clean cloth.
Although she had only observed it once, her learning ability was excellent, and she followed Zhou Shi’s steps to clean his body.
After washing his face, she moved on to cleaning his body.
Yu Li supported the unconscious man, about to undo the front of his garment when a hand suddenly reached out, grabbing her wrist and halting her movement.
Her expression froze, and as she lifted her head, she met a pair of cold, deep, and shadowy eyes.