Accidentally Marking The Vicious Female Lead After Transmigrating Into A Period Novel - Chapter 4

Although it was the slack season for farming, the end of the year was approaching, and the production brigade still had plenty of work to do. After a few more words and realizing time was getting late, Li Chunmei and Xu Xiufen hurriedly put on their padded jackets to head out for work.

As Li Chunmei dressed, she didn’t forget to nag: “There’s still warm food in the pot. Yanyan, make sure Yishu eats. There are peach crisps in the cupboard that I just bought yesterday, remember to bring those out for her too. After eating, you two take a rest.”

At this point, she suddenly glared at her youngest daughter, her tone turning stern. “Don’t stay home and bother your sister and the guest. Go out and play with your classmates or sit quietly and do your homework. Your sister must be exhausted from yesterday, and Yishu surely hasn’t rested well these past few days. Don’t disturb them, do you hear me?”

Li Can nodded repeatedly, showing a hint of impatience at her mother’s nagging. “I know, I know! I’m a big girl now, I understand. Alright, you and Grandma head to work. Auntie Zhang and the others have already left.”

Li Chunmei glanced through the hazy glass window, sure enough, several figures had just passed the low courtyard wall.

Without further ado, she buttoned up in a few quick motions and headed out the door.

Once she confirmed her mother was gone, Li Can, who had been sitting obediently on her stool, jumped up and began wrapping her scarf and putting on gloves.

Seeing her like this, Li Yan instantly understood. “Going ice skating? Be careful and stay safe.”

Li Can bundled herself up tightly. Although only her eyes were visible, her smiling expression was clear.

Her voice was muffled beneath the scarf, yet it couldn’t hide the playfulness of a teenage girl. “Don’t worry, Sis, I’m being careful! Besides, the ice is really thick. Er Ya and the others said it’s safe, they went yesterday. I’m the only one left! I’m so glad you came back today, Sis. I’m so happy!”

Seeing her so joyful, Li Yan didn’t say more and simply waved her off.

Once the house fell silent, leaving only her and Lin Yishu, Li Yan belatedly felt the awkwardness creep back in.

Seriously, who wouldn’t feel awkward after doing… this and that upon their very first meeting?

Consequently, she could only bury her face in her food, nearly stuffing her head into the bowl.

The room became so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Aside from the sound of chopsticks hitting the bowls, there was no other noise.

For a moment, Li Yan felt a daze, as if she couldn’t even sense the person sitting across from her.

She couldn’t help but lift her head slightly to steal a glance at the face opposite her.

Lin Yishu had her eyelashes lowered, seemingly lost in thought, appearing not to notice the peeking gaze.

Watching her, Li Yan couldn’t help but marvel inwardly again.

Lin Yishu was truly too beautiful, a beauty that seemed to transcend this era.

An oval face, large eyes, a high bridge to her nose, long lashes…

Even though she was wearing Li Yan’s old, faded floral padded jacket, she still possessed an ethereal beauty.

Framed by her upright shoulders and slender neck, even the floral jacket managed to look somewhat fashionable.

Li Yan looked down, pulling back her own dusty outer coat to look at the gaudy floral jacket underneath. She closed her eyes and let go after a second.

Forget it. Comparisons are odious.

She comforted herself by thinking that being warm was enough.

But oh, how she missed the days of wearing short sleeves under a down jacket!

Lin Yishu had indeed not noticed Li Yan’s gaze because she was currently locked in a battle of wits with the “thing” in her head.

Lin Yishu didn’t know why this thing had suddenly appeared in her mind, but over the past few days, she had slowly grown accustomed to it.

Yes, this thing called a “System” had appeared a few days ago, on the day she decided to flee her arranged marriage.

Ever since she manifested as an S-class Omega at the age of fifteen, she knew this day would come, so she had long been mentally prepared.

She just hadn’t expected that the night before, this “System” would suddenly appear, telling her that her only chance of survival was to flee to a place called “Xili Village.”

Initially, Lin Yishu didn’t want to believe it, but the System was strange, it seemed to know everything about her.

It was as if….

The trajectory of her life had been pre-arranged by it.

Lin Yishu felt a spine chilling horror, but alongside the fear, she felt an inevitable curiosity.

Could this thing truly control her?

So, along the way, while following the route the System provided toward Xili Village, she tried every way possible to fish for information.

This System didn’t seem particularly bright at least, not in her eyes.

Despite its principle of speaking as little as possible, Lin Yishu had still managed to glean a lot.

For instance, although the System existed in her mind, it didn’t seem to have her best interests at heart. It claimed it was the only one who could save her, but she could faintly sense that its only goal was to get her to Xili Village.

Especially this morning. Perhaps due to the exhaustion of the journey and the freezing weather, her pheromones had suddenly become disordered, seemingly spiraling out of the System’s control. It had panicked, and in its urgency, it accidentally let slip two words: “Male Lead.”

After several attempts at testing it, she roughly understood.

Lin Yishu’s expression became darker than ever before.

It turned out that the “Male Lead” it spoke of was its true master. She was merely a vessel, everything it had done, including inducing her to come here, was just so she would encounter him.

Despite the System’s claims that she was the “Female Lead” and thus naturally destined to meet the “Male Lead” here, Lin Yishu could not accept it.

She believed her life should be her own to command.

Even if it truly reached a point where she couldn’t decide for herself, why couldn’t the “Male Lead” come to meet her? Why did she have to travel thousands of miles to find him?

Thus, she had wanted to turn around and leave immediately.

Unfortunately, the pheromone disorder was too severe. Before she could take two steps, her feet felt weak, and she collapsed in the grass.

Even now, that damn System was still nagging in her head, saying that in this situation, the “Male Lead” should have been present.

Lin Yishu was irritated by the noise when a strange fragrance suddenly hit her nose. It wrapped around her like fire, but it didn’t feel scorching instead, it felt soothing. Her entire body, down to her toes, felt warm.

She forced her eyes open and saw a face with sharp contours. It looked like a girl, but her features weren’t conventionally soft, they were somewhat heroic.

Lin Yishu could sense the pheromone compatibility between them. Amidst her surprise, she wanted to test the System’s reaction.

As expected, the System was shocked. Fearing she would get involved with the person in front of her, it repeatedly urged her to wake up.

The more it acted this way, the more she decided not to follow its wishes.

She even decided on the spot to change her mind. Since she was already here, she would stay in Xili Village and see what was really going on.

Amidst the System’s panicked screams, Lin Yishu had directed the clumsy person in front of her to release her pheromones as much as possible.

The pheromones leaking from her neck seemed to find a home, intertwining and colliding with that other strange fragrance until they finally merged.

Thinking of this, the corners of Lin Yishu’s mouth curled into a playful smile. She spoke to the System, which was currently playing dead in her head: “Come out. Don’t play dumb. I know you’re there.”

The System remained silent.

Lin Yishu scoffed, threatening: “Weren’t you laughing at me pretty loudly just now? Are you really mute now? If you don’t speak up, believe it or not, I’ll really let her mark me in a moment.”

System: “…”

Agony. It had never seen a System more miserable than itself.

It truly didn’t understand where things had gone wrong. It had tried its best to stay quiet and only appear at critical moments, yet she was still so sharp, always finding its loopholes.

Ahhh! We’re only at the first step of the plot!

Complaints aside, the threat worked.

The System appeared obediently, its tone somewhat resentful: [What?]

Lin Yishu got straight to the point: “You told me to come to Xili Village, and I’ve come. Where is this ‘Male Lead’ you speak of? Which one is he?”

The System was silent for a long time before replying: [He hasn’t arrived yet. He’s still on his way.]

“Oh,” Lin Yishu drawled, her tone dripping with mockery.

“In that case, don’t blame me. It’s his own fault for being so slow.”

Hearing this, the System instantly became alert.

[What do you mean by that? What are you going to do?]

Lin Yishu: “Why are you so anxious? I didn’t say I was going to do anything. Look at how worked up you are.”

The System stubbornly retorted: [I’m not anxious. I was just asking.]

Lin Yishu didn’t bother arguing. She said lazily: “Fine, go back. There’s nothing for you here.”

Since the damn System hadn’t given her any further instructions, it seemed the so-called “Male Lead” really hadn’t arrived yet. Therefore, theoretically, her actions were completely free for now.

After reaching this conclusion, Lin Yishu felt much more at ease.

In contrast, the System retreated indignantly.

Fortunately, I kept a trick up my sleeve and didn’t tell her her real identity, or else the plot would be even harder to push forward!

Li Yan was caught red-handed on her fifteenth or perhaps eighteenth, attempt at peeking.

The other woman’s brows knitted slightly as she stared back. “Why are you peeking at me?”

Li Yan awkwardly retracted her gaze, laughing nervously. “I… uh, right! I saw you hadn’t eaten much of this. I thought maybe you aren’t used to these coarse grains. We have peach crisps at home. I’ll go get them for you!”

She “sprang” up from her stool and bolted toward the bedroom.

Awkward. So awkward.

Their encounter was already awkward enough, and now she’d been caught staring. She really couldn’t talk her way out of this one.

As Li Yan climbed onto the bed to get the key to the cupboard from under her pillow, she tried to rationalize things to herself.

It’s fine, it’s fine. Since things have already reached this point, at worst, we’ll just follow the ‘marry first, love later’ trope (?)

Help! Why am I thinking of such ridiculous things!

Wait, no. Maybe there’s still a turning point.

Li Yan felt like two little people were fighting in her head.

One was brainwashing her, saying: “You picked up a beautiful wife for free and you’re still not satisfied?” The other, more rational one, was nagging: “But you’re not a lesbian! You’re going to ruin her life.”

Li Yan nodded sincerely. She really wasn’t a lesbian.

But she was an Alpha…

This was getting even weirder.

Forget it. I’ll take it one step at a time.

Li Yan brought the peach crisps out, a strained, unnatural smile on her face as she pushed them toward the guest. “Have some peach crisps first. We’ll fry some meat for lunch later. Oh, also…”

She pulled her cloth bag over and dug out the few candies she had seen earlier. “I have some candy here. Do you want some? You should like White Rabbit Cream Candy…”

Lin Yishu watched her coldly, making no move to take the items. After a moment, she opened her lips and said: “Before that, sit down. I want to talk to you.”