I Transmigrated and Already Had a Wife - Chapter 26

“Jiang, can I ask you a question?”

Jiang Miao turned her head to look at her, noticing her low spirits. Her gaze lingered, and her tone softened as she said, “Go ahead.”

The wheel ran over a stone, and the carriage jolted. Jiang Zhou stabilized herself, leaning against the carriage wall and bracing her leg against the other side. She hesitated before asking, “How did you and my sister-in-law get married?”

As far as she knew, Jiang Miao was also a woman, and in this backward ancient era, two women marrying was truly unconventional. Her own marriage to Lin Muwan was a reluctant choice by Mother Jiang. So what was the story with Jiang Miao?

Although she wasn’t sure if Jiang Miao would tell her, they were both women and both modern people. It couldn’t hurt to get some advice from her.

Jiang Miao was silent for a moment, then slowly said, “She clung to me and insisted on marrying me.”

?!

Jiang Zhou was stunned, her mouth wide open. How could that be? A beauty like Mu Liyan should be highly sought after everywhere. Even in her original world, she was no less popular than the celebrities on TV.

Her beauty was striking yet not aggressive.

Looking back at her fellow transmigrator, she was good-looking, but her personality, for example, was a bit wanting.

“She was sold by her stepmother to a butcher in the village. That man was about the same age as her father.”

“Oh.” Jiang Zhou nodded, her gaze fixed on Jiang Miao’s back. She could roughly guess the rest of the story.

Jiang Miao, seeing that the woman was beautiful, was moved by lust and married her.

Later, the two lived a happy life.

It could be considered finding one’s life’s destination by chance.

Sure enough, happiness always belongs to others.

Unlike herself, she had a long and arduous journey ahead.

Lin Muwan was hot and cold towards her, and her mind was hard to fathom.

Thinking of Lin Muwan, she immediately lost the desire to chat. She was dispirited, her shoulders slumped, like a golden retriever abandoned by its owner, utterly listless.

Jiang Miao noticed the silence behind her and glanced back, offering rare words of comfort: “She doesn’t seem to be completely without feelings for you either. Maybe it’s just her personality; she likes to keep things hidden in her heart. To get close to her heart, you need more patience. She will feel it one day.”

“Really?” Hearing this, Jiang Zhou immediately perked up. “Do you really think she likes me?”

Jiang Miao: “…”

She said nothing.

An hour later, the carriage stopped in front of the official kiln. Jiang Zhou lifted the curtain. The mountains looked even greener in the autumn rain.

She took a deep breath, jumped down from the carriage. The guard at the gate was the same one as yesterday. Upon seeing her, he directly led her to Madam Lin’s tent. The environment inside the tent was tidier than yesterday; it seemed Supervisor Yao had arranged for someone to clean it up.

Madam Lin smiled slightly when she saw her. Her complexion looked better, but she still couldn’t stand up, sitting with her back against the tent wall.

She sat upright, maintaining the dignity of a principal wife, and nodded to Jiang Zhou, saying, “Young Master Jiang.”

Jiang Zhou nodded in response and quickly urged Jiang Miao to examine her. Jiang Miao put down her medicine chest, lightly placed her index finger on Madam Lin’s wrist, frowning deeply. After a long pause, she withdrew her hand and said, “Excuse me, Madam.”

She lightly pressed a hand on Madam Lin’s leg. Madam Lin doubled over in pain, a thin layer of sweat appearing on her face.

Jiang Miao’s brows furrowed. She gently lifted Madam Lin’s pant leg. The lower leg was bruised purple and tightly swollen.

“Madam, this is a fracture,” Jiang Miao said.

“Can it be set?” Jiang Zhou held Madam Lin’s arm, clearly feeling her body trembling from the pain.

Jiang Zhou’s heart tightened.

Jiang Miao glanced at her, nodded, and said, “There are no fixation tools here, and the wound is severely swollen, which suggests infection. Medication is needed immediately.”

“What should we do then?”

“Go out and find some wooden splints. I’ll first fix her leg, and we’ll deal with the rest later.”

“Oh, alright.” Jiang Zhou rushed out of the tent in a flurry. A moment later, she came back with several wooden planks of varying sizes in her arms. She placed them in front of Jiang Miao. “Do you think these will work?”

Jiang Miao selected two suitable ones from the pile, looked at Madam Lin, and said to Jiang Zhou, “Hold the Madam down. I’m going to splint her broken limb now.”

Jiang Zhou held Madam Lin’s hands, gritted her teeth, and said, “I’m ready.”

The prolonged delay in treating the broken limb made the process complicated. Jiang Miao disinfected, set the bone, and splinted the limb methodically. Throughout the entire process, Madam Lin did not utter a single sound. Her forehead was slick with sweat, and in the end, she fainted from the pain.

Lin Muwan’s temperament for enduring hardship was very much like her mother-in-law’s; no matter what happened, she could bear it without a sound.

Jiang Zhou sighed and laid her flat on the straw.

“Time is short. Quickly feed her this.” Jiang Miao took out a black pill from her medicine chest. Jiang Zhou cooperated, prying open Madam Lin’s mouth and placing the pill inside.

After all was done, Jiang Zhou was slightly sweaty. The two exchanged a look and walked out of the tent, one after the other. Outside the tent, Supervisor Yao, having heard the news, rushed over and met them face to face.

“Brother Jiang is here,” Supervisor Yao greeted with a smile, inviting Jiang Zhou to stay for lunch, and had his servants prepare a large table of food and wine.

Jiang Zhou politely declined but ended up sitting at the table with him. She cupped her hands and said, “It’s all thanks to you, Elder Brother Yao, that I was able to resolve a worry for my mother this time.”

“Oh, Brother, saying that is too formal.” Supervisor Yao smiled and waved his hand, then turned to ask Jiang Miao, “May I ask about Madam Lin’s condition?”

Jiang Miao: “Madam Lin has a fracture in her lower leg. I have already set the broken bone for her. Because the delay was quite long, an infection has appeared. Whether she can pull through depends on fate.”

Supervisor Yao nodded and comforted her, “Brother Jiang, you have done everything humanly possible.”

“Yes, we’ve done all we could. I can now go home and report back to my mother. As for Madam Lin’s future, that will depend on her own fortune,” Jiang Zhou sighed, deliberately putting on a look of powerlessness and regret.

Supervisor Yao thought to himself: Brother Jiang has done everything he can to repay his mother’s kindness. It’s not easy for him to offer help under such great pressure when the Lin family is in trouble. People like Brother Jiang, who are loyal and righteous, are rare.

It’s better not to let Brother Jiang know about Madam Lin’s matter later, lest it cause him trouble.

He quickly offered some words of solace and was about to pour wine for Jiang Zhou. This was unacceptable. Jiang Zhou hurriedly waved her hand, placing one hand over the cup’s rim. “I truly have no capacity for alcohol.”

Are you kidding? If she got drunk, who would save her mother-in-law?

Could she drink this wine? Definitely not!

She gave a chuckle. “Elder Brother Yao, please help yourself.”

Supervisor Yao pried her hand away from the cup, teasing, “It’s just fruit wine. It won’t make you drunk. This wine was personally brewed by my wife and sent from her hometown. You can’t buy it outside.”

Despite Supervisor Yao’s insistence, Jiang Zhou glanced at Jiang Miao, mouthed “Don’t drink” secretly to her, and then raised her cup to drink with Supervisor Yao. The fruit wine was sweet and refreshing upon entering the mouth, full of fruit aroma, leaving a lasting pleasant taste.

“This wine is indeed delicious,” Jiang Zhou praised.

Supervisor Yao laughed heartily. “To be honest, my wife’s family runs a liquor business. Her winemaking skills were passed down from her family. Outsiders can’t drink wine this good. I’ll get you a jar to take back later, Brother Jiang.”

“Cough, cough.”

“What’s wrong?” Supervisor Yao quickly poured a cup of tea and handed it over.

Jiang Zhou waved her hand, coughed twice while covering her mouth, wiped her lips with her sleeve, and subtly sized up Supervisor Yao.

She saw that he was slightly frowning while looking at her, and his worry seemed genuine.

She took a breath. What was wrong with this man? He kept wanting to give her things.

However, Jiang Zhou didn’t reject his kindness. Besides, the wine was indeed delicious, and she could take it back for her wife to try.

With less psychological burden, she happily agreed.

As a result, when leaving the official kiln, she was holding the wine jar in one hand and Jiang Miao’s arm in the other, her head swimming, staggering onto the carriage.

It couldn’t be entirely her fault. This so-called fruit wine tasted good but had a strong kick. Even someone with a good tolerance would feel slightly tipsy after two cups, let alone Jiang Zhou, who could get drunk on a cup of beer. After one cup of fruit wine, she felt light-headed.

Jiang Miao sighed, “Can you still hold on? We’ll bypass this area in a moment and go up the mountain from another place.”

“Hmm?” Jiang Zhou paused; her reaction visibly slow. Her body swayed left and right as she sat in the carriage. She grinned. “I’m not drunk.”

Jiang Miao was silent, pulling the reins twice, and the horse trotted forward.

Jiang Zhou’s body lurched forward from inertia, lost her balance, and fell into the carriage.

When she woke up again, the carriage was parked at the foot of a mountain. The difference was that the trees were lush here, and the vegetation was continuous, but there was no path visible on this side of the mountain.

Jiang Zhou: “This is the other side of West Mountain?”

Jiang Miao nodded. “While it’s dark, we need to climb up the mountain and find a place to hide. When those people dump Madam Lin on the mountain, we must rescue her immediately. Any delay and she could easily be dragged away by wild beasts.”

“What are we waiting for?”

Jiang Miao took out two sickles from the carriage and handed one to her. “Take this. It’ll be useful if we encounter wild beasts.”

Jiang Zhou took the sickle, swung it a couple of times, and nodded in agreement. They walked one after the other, using the sickles to clear a path. When they reached the summit, they hid in the concealment of a thick tree.

The night was deep and cold. After the recent autumn rain, the cries of beasts echoed mournfully in the mountains. The two leaned against each other for warmth. Jiang Zhou gripped the sickle tightly with one hand and held onto a tree branch with the other. Neither dared to speak, afraid that any sound would attract wild beasts.

As the night passed and the sky gradually brightened, Jiang Zhou, who had been trained for a long time, had better hearing than ordinary people. She nudged Jiang Miao with her hand and whispered, “Someone is coming.”

Jiang Miao became alert, parted the branches in front of her, and squinted her eyes to look. Sure enough, four people were carrying a straw mat. The mat was rolled up, and she guessed correctly that Madam Lin was rolled inside. They slowly approached, walked to a sparsely treed area, put down the straw mat, clasped their hands together, bowed to the mat, muttered a few words, and then ran off quickly.

As they walked away, “Hurry, let’s go down and take a look.”

Jiang Zhou jumped down from the tree and quickly ran over. Opening the straw mat, the person wrapped inside was indeed Madam Lin.

“Why is her face so pale? She’s not really…” Jiang Zhou looked at Jiang Miao, her heart leaping to her throat.

Jiang Miao didn’t speak. She placed two fingers on Madam Lin’s neck, then took out a pill from her sleeve pocket. “Open her mouth.”

Jiang Zhou did as told. After feeding the pill, she asked anxiously, “Will she be okay?”

“She will be, but if you don’t leave soon, you might not be.”

With that, Jiang Miao got up and returned the way she came.

“Hey, aren’t you going to help me…”

“Carry her yourself.”

Leaving these three words, the person disappeared into the vegetation.

Jiang Zhou had no choice but to carry Madam Lin on her back. Madam Lin was unusually thin from long-term labor and lack of food, so she didn’t weigh much. Jiang Zhou quickly caught up in a few strides.

The young woman was full of energy. She sprinted the whole way, passing through the woods and onto the carriage in the blink of an eye.

“Let’s go back first. She’ll wake up naturally in an hour.” As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Miao cracked the whip on the horse’s rump. The carriage rattled and sped away. Treading on the morning frost, they returned to Jiang Family Village in no time.