I Transmigrated and Already Had a Wife - Chapter 11

Jiang Zhou covered her face with both hands. Did they think she was stupid? Not run away?

She had her own pride, and it took a while for the heat on her face to subside. She couldn’t help but sigh. How could she be so useless, blushing like this just from a slight touch?

When her teammates were flirting with their girlfriends, she never saw anyone’s face turn this red.

She really was useless.

Thinking this, her energy suddenly drained away. No wonder she transmigrated to ancient times; with such an easily blushing face, she was indeed most suitable to live here.

However, the moment she remembered that the person who made her blush had his heart set on someone else, a twinge of sorrow ran through her.

Unhappy. Very unhappy.

After calming down for a long time, she finally came out of the room. Lin Muwan was standing in the courtyard chatting with Madam Jiang. The scene was very harmonious: a good mother-in-law and a respectful daughter-in-law. Her just-recovered mood instantly dipped again.

Jiang Zhou pouted.

If it were her own mother, she would definitely treat Lin Muwan even better than Madam Jiang did.

Her heart felt so sour it was almost bubbling.

Lin Muwan noticed her come out and looked up. Jiang Zhou lowered her head and shuffled to the stove, carefully collecting the wood ash and putting it in a corner for later use.

She added water to the pot. After it boiled, she put the chicken and ginger slices into the pot to remove the chicken’s gamey odor, then fished the chicken out and washed it.

With the prep work complete, she added a little oil to the pot and heated it, stir-fried the scallions, ginger, and garlic until fragrant, then dumped the chicken in and stir-fried it. When the chicken turned golden, she added water and started to stew it.

Lin Muwan had been standing by the side, watching the entire process without a word.

This person’s movements were skilled; it was clear this wasn’t the first time doing something like this. As suspicion rose in her heart, her eyes fixed on Jiang Zhou’s profile. A thin layer of sweat had beaded on Jiang Zhou’s forehead. She subtly lifted her hand, then dropped it, clenching it tightly inside her sleeve, and turned to go back inside.

?!

Jiang Zhou turned her head just in time to see a retreating figure disappear into the room. Shaking her head, she walked over to the pile of stones, selected three suitable ones for stools, and carried them into the courtyard, then locked the door from the inside.

About an hour later, the chicken was soft, tender, and fragrant. The three of them sat on the stones, each holding a bowl. Madam Jiang took a sip of the soup and said with a smile, “I didn’t expect my son’s cooking skills to be so good. This flavor is comparable to the chef in our manor.”

Lin Muwan’s expression hardened, and she glanced sideways at Jiang Zhou. She was eating happily, seemingly not taking Madam Jiang’s compliment to heart at all.

She frowned, then looked at Madam Jiang again. Seeing her mother-in-law eating the chicken as usual, she breathed a sigh of relief.

A slight irritation welled up in her heart; she found Jiang Zhou a bit unpleasant. How could this person’s guard be so weak? It was only thanks to her mother-in-law’s nature that things were fine. If it were anyone with a more careful mind, her secret would have been discovered long ago.

Jiang Zhou looked up. “What’s wrong?” Lin Muwan was wearing very little, and her cheeks were slightly flushed. Her long eyelashes blinked lightly. The temperature was low at night, especially outside in the courtyard.

Jiang Zhou felt a pang of worry. She put down her bowl, took off her outer coat, and draped it over her.

“Didn’t I buy you a thick coat? Wear it when you come out at night. The evening cold is heavy.”

Then, she turned to Madam Jiang and said, “Mother, do you know how to sew clothes? I bought a bolt of cloth for my wife. Could you see if you can make a garment for her? If you can’t, I’ll ask someone else.”

She said it with such righteous confidence.

Lin Muwan reached out to try and cover her mouth, but unfortunately, it was too late; she had already finished speaking.

She looked at her mother-in-law. Madam Jiang’s mouth was open, and she seemed about to reach out and pinch Jiang Zhou’s ear again. Lin Muwan quickly intervened: “My clothes are enough. Let’s make one for Mother another day.”

“Hmm?” Jiang Zhou looked at her, dead serious. Just as she was about to speak, Lin Muwan, disregarding etiquette, quickly picked up a piece of meat with her chopsticks from her own bowl and stuffed it into Jiang Zhou’s mouth. “Didn’t Husband say he was hungry a long time ago? Hurry up and eat.”

Jiang Zhou nodded, cheeks bulging, and mumbled, “You eat too. Don’t worry about giving me meat.”

Saying this, she lowered her head and started eating the meat in her bowl.

Lin Muwan’s face turned red, and she secretly glanced at her mother-in-law.

Mhm, her expression wasn’t very good. She inwardly complained, how could this person say anything? Who would ask their mother-in-law to make clothes for the daughter-in-law? No wonder Mother was angry.

Fortunately, everyone started eating the meat again, and no one brought up what was just said.

After the meal, Lin Muwan stayed behind to wash the dishes, but Jiang Zhou immediately sent her back to the room. Madam Jiang looked deeply at her daughter, sighed long and loud, said nothing, and also returned to her room.

Jiang Zhou quickly washed the three bowls. Like last night, she did some exercise in the courtyard and would only go back after Lin Muwan was asleep.

Otherwise, Lin Muwan would definitely hear her booming heart, which sounded like gongs and drums.

After exercising for a long time, Jiang Zhou secretly pushed the door open. The room was dark; no candles were lit. By the faint moonlight, she could see Lin Muwan lying on the bed, her back to the outside. The quilt covered her up to her shoulders, her delicate shoulders exposed outside. She looked extraordinarily small within the large quilt. Jiang Zhou had held her and knew how thin she was.

Worried about waking her, Jiang Zhou took a deep breath, slowed her steps, moved to the side of the bed, lifted the corner of the quilt, and lay down on the outside.

In fact, Lin Muwan had not been asleep the whole time. She dared not easily entrust herself to someone else, especially a person whose origin and identity were unknown. Therefore, no matter how sleepy she was, she dared not fall asleep first. It was only when she heard the long, steady breathing beside her ear that her tense nerves slowly relaxed.

She truly hoped that the two of them could continue to live in peace like this.

The next day, Jiang Zhou woke up earlier than usual. Unsurprisingly, Lin Muwan was in her arms again, her cheek buried in Jiang Zhou’s neck. As soon as Jiang Zhou moved, she immediately clung closer, one hand resting on Jiang Zhou’s waist, sleeping soundly.

Jiang Zhou was no longer as alarmed as she had been on the first day. She gently withdrew her arm. She needed to go into the mountains before breakfast. She had set traps yesterday, and after a night had passed, she needed to check on them.

Dressed and with the chopping knife she used for cutting firewood tucked into her waist, she stepped onto the morning frost and hurried into the mountains.

Following the markers she made yesterday; she quickly found the first trap. Opening it, her heart filled with joy: there was a rabbit inside! Its grey fur was stained with blood, and a wooden arrow about half a meter long was stuck in its thigh. It lay faintly in the trap, barely alive.

Jiang Zhou took the rabbit out of the trap and hung it on her waist. She then restored the trap to its original state, leaving it for tomorrow. Next, she checked the second trap. The wooden sticks on this trap had been scattered, and the trap was empty. Jiang Zhou guessed that a larger animal must have entered this trap but managed to escape. The trap she made could only catch small prey; it couldn’t contain large beasts at all.

She felt a little disappointed. If she had a handy tool, the trap could have been made larger. Then she wouldn’t have to worry about catching bigger prey.

Sighing lightly, she re-set the trap and continued to the next one.

After checking two traps in a row, both were empty. Finally, having checked all the traps, she had caught one rabbit and one small, unknown creature that looked like a puppy. Jiang Zhou decided to take it back first and see if she could sell it in town.

Returning home, Lin Muwan was already standing by the stove cooking porridge. She held a spoon in one hand, stirring the pot. Seeing her return, she paused, put down the spoon, and looked at her. “Wash your hands and we can eat.”

“Oh, good,” Jiang Zhou was momentarily stunned, swallowed hard, then came back to herself and smiled. “I can do this kind of work in the future. You can sleep in a little longer.”

Saying this, she took the game hanging from her waist. The rabbit was already dead. The small, unknown creature, which looked like a puppy, was not injured and was staring at Jiang Zhou with fright.

Worried that it might run away, Jiang Zhou found a piece of rope and tied it up.

Lin Muwan looked over. Jiang Zhou explained while washing her hands, “I set a few traps in the mountains yesterday, and caught these this morning. I plan to go to town later to exchange them for some money.”

“Mhm.” Lin Muwan looked at the small creature, then raised her head and asked in confusion, “What is this? It’s so tiny.”

Jiang Zhou finished washing her hands and focused her gaze on the little creature for a moment. She set out the three bowls. “I’m not sure. It looks like a small dog. It was in the trap this morning, and I didn’t see any others.”

Lin Muwan nodded, walked over to it, and squatted down, tilting her head to observe it. It was tiny, and its eyes were full of wariness.

“If you like it, we’ll keep it. If you raise it from a young age, it will become attached to people,” Jiang Zhou said.

Lin Muwan turned her head to look at Jiang Zhou, her eyes slightly curved, hiding stars within them. Jiang Zhou’s heart skipped a beat. This was the first time in many days she had seen Lin Muwan smile—bright and beautiful, like a blooming green lotus, suddenly shedding its elegance and bursting forth freely under the sun.

Jiang Zhou was mesmerized. After a moment, she recovered and said, “Don’t touch it yet. It’s not familiar with you right now and might bite you.”

“Mhm.”

“Let’s eat first, then we’ll see what it can eat,” Jiang Zhou said.

Madam Jiang didn’t object to keeping a small animal. Her only fear was not knowing what this thing was. Would it be wild? It wouldn’t be good if it hurt someone.

Jiang Zhou said, “We’ll know what it is when it grows up. If we raise it well, it shouldn’t deliberately hurt people.”

After breakfast, Lin Muwan gave the little fellow some chicken bones and rice porridge mixed together. At first, the little creature huddled in a corner, trembling. After waiting for a while and seeing no danger, it tentatively walked up to the food, sniffed it, then looked up at Lin Muwan. After a long pause, it lowered its head and began to eat, only nibbling on the meat attached to the bones, leaving the porridge untouched.

Jiang Zhou looked over and chuckled. “It’s really picky, only eating meat and not even the bones. It seems it’s not a dog; dogs eat bones.”

Saying this, she took a piece of meat from her bowl and gave it to the creature. The little fellow seemed to know they wouldn’t hurt it and began to devour the meat heartily. After eating, it rubbed its head against Lin Muwan’s feet on its own accord.

“Can you untie it?” Lin Muwan asked.

Jiang Zhou thought for a moment. She was genuinely worried it might hurt Lin Muwan. Looking at the anticipation in Lin Muwan’s clear, bright eyes, she gritted her teeth and firmly refused: “No. For now, we’ll keep it tied up. When I get back from town, I’ll give it a bath, and then we can let it loose.”

Lin Muwan pursed her lips, a hint of disappointment in her eyes. She said nothing more, her gaze returning to the little creature.

“You can give it a name first.”

“You name it. I can’t think of anything.”

Jiang Zhou was terrible at naming things. In that instant, the name ‘Awang’ popped into her mind. Ptooey, ptooey! Only dogs are called Awang, and this isn’t a dog.

So, she refused to name it.

She’d better hand this arduous task over to Lin Muwan.

“I think you two shouldn’t argue. Why not call it Zhoūzhōu? It’s easy to remember and nice to hear. Just by the name, you’ll know who raised it,” Madam Jiang interjected timely.

“Hmm?” Jiang Zhou reacted.

What kind of nonsense was that?

It didn’t sound good at all!

She pouted, unhappy.

“Mhm, then you’re Zhoūzhōu from now on.” Lin Muwan agreed, reached out a finger, and tapped its little head, her eyes brimming with a smile.

?!

Jiang Zhou was startled, looking at Lin Muwan in disbelief. What was with the mischief in her eyes? Was this still the dignified and virtuous Lin Muwan?

She highly suspected that the one who was soul-transmigrated wasn’t herself but Lin Muwan.

To actually join in her unreliable mother’s antics.

Yes, it was antics, improper behavior!

Jiang Zhou registered her protest.