Turns Out I’m the Villain They’re Supposed to Redeem? [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 40.1

“What?”

Widow Sun was momentarily taken aback, still trying to recall when she had ever refused to help the village children in danger.

Frowning, she instinctively wanted to deny it, but then hesitated, had her son bullied them before?

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. Sun Xuedong was mentally slow, and when he roughhoused with the other village kids, he often didn’t know his own strength. Widow Sun had been confronted many times before by angry parents.

Li Xuzhi coldly averted his gaze, indifferent to her reaction. He simply tugged on the dog leash and continued walking forward.

Baring its teeth and hissing at Widow Sun, the fox spirit swaggered proudly behind Li Xuzhi. The small bell around its neck jingled cheerfully with every step.

The villagers in the fields had naturally noticed the scene. Most were just there for the spectacle, and seeing Widow Sun humiliated, they chuckled quietly among themselves.

Huo Yuwan had just returned from the city. Hearing that Li Xuzhi had been harassed by Widow Sun, she gasped in shock. In the original storyline, after Li Xuzhi married into the Sun family, she had suffered constant mistreatment from this malicious mother-in-law. Could it be that Widow Sun was already starting to bully her?

She didn’t dare dwell on the image, it made her blood boil. Anxiously, she pulled Wu Xiao aside to ask, “What did Widow Sun want with Teacher Li? Was she bullying her?”

Seeing Huo Yuwan’s fierce, ready-to-fight expression, Wu Xiao quickly tried to calm her down. “No, no, I wasn’t there either. I heard it from my mom. It seemed like Widow Sun went to ask Li Xuzhi for help, I’m not sure what exactly she wanted, but she was crying and begging. I think it had something to do with her son.”

Wu Xiao wore a knowing expression. “Who else would make her go to such lengths besides that foolish son of hers?”

“She was crying?” Huo Yuwan was taken aback. This sounded completely opposite to the original plot.

“So don’t worry. Li Xuzhi is really popular in the village now, how could anyone dare bully her?” Wu Xiao patted Huo Yuwan’s shoulder, then changed the subject. “Come have lunch at my place. I’ll have my mom introduce you to a few good young men from the neighboring village. I think a couple of them are quite suitable.”

“Better not. I’m not thinking about those things right now.”

Huo Yuwan felt a bit helpless as the conversation inexplicably turned back to her. Lately, Wu Xiao kept trying to play matchmaker. She knew it came from a good place, Huo Yuwan had no parents or living relatives, and Wu Xiao, being a few years older, couldn’t help but worry about her and wanted to find her a good family to rely on.

“I’ve been studying physics with Teacher Li lately. I’m really interested in missiles, satellites, and all that, I don’t have time to think about those other things,” she said casually, brushing it off. “Besides, Teacher Li gave me a book by Mr. Qian. I couldn’t even find this book in the city.”

Pulling out the blue-covered book she always carried with her, Huo Yuwan waved it in front of Wu Xiao.

Wu Xiao had no idea who this “Mr. Qian” was and just shook her head. “What’s the use of learning all that?”

She thought Huo Yuwan had become foolish from reading too much and was even more determined to regularly offer guidance in the future, lest she turn into a complete bookworm.

“Can you actually understand this book?”

Yang Nanjun, a hoe resting on his shoulder, stopped a few steps away from the two and looked directly at Huo Yuwan.

Even when working in the fields, he couldn’t bear to change his clothes. His white shirt was washed and worn, worn and washed. A few days ago, he even asked a villager going to the city to help him buy a few more.

“Yang Zhiqing.”

Wu Xiao greeted him with a smile. A few days ago, her daughter had gone to the river to catch fish while playing around. She didn’t manage to catch any fish and almost got swept away by the current. Wu Xiao had been so frightened that she froze for a moment, but Yang Nanjun, who happened to be washing clothes nearby, had promptly fished the child out.

Hearing Yang Nanjun’s words, she nudged Huo Yuwan with her elbow and whispered, “Yang Zhiqing is talking to you.”

Huo Yuwan was also aware of this, so she nodded and replied, “I can understand it.”

“Mr. Qian’s book is something even many university graduates can’t comprehend.” Yang Nanjun glanced at the blue-covered book in her hand.

“Really?” Wu Xiao was somewhat surprised, then realized that even Yang Nanjun, who had come from the city, knew about this Mr. Qian, which meant he must be a great scholar. Her eyes immediately lit up, and she patted Huo Yuwan’s shoulder with delight and pride. “It seems our Yuwan really has a talent for studying. She’s bound to achieve great things in the future.”

Huo Yuwan smiled helplessly. It seemed Wu Xiao hadn’t believed a single one of her bold declarations from before, but now that Yang Nanjun had said one thing, she was convinced.

Shaking her head in amusement, she didn’t notice the complicated look Yang Nanjun was giving her.

“You can understand such a complex book, yet you can’t even get a simple idiom right?”

“Huh?”

Huo Yuwan didn’t react immediately and only realized he was referring to the incident at the village school several months ago after a moment’s pause.

Yang Nanjun found her feigned ignorance irritating. Frowning deeply, he sneered, “If your parents knew that the daughter they worked so hard to raise was pretending to be illiterate just to pass the time, they probably wouldn’t rest peacefully even in their graves.”

Suddenly subjected to such inexplicable sarcasm, and with her parents dragged into it, Huo Yuwan was instantly furious. It had been Yang Nanjun who started the trouble back then, and besides, what did it matter to him whether she pretended to be illiterate or not?

“What’s it to you? I’ll do as I please.”

Mindful that he was the savior of Wu Xiao’s daughter, Huo Yuwan held back her anger and only rolled her eyes, replying irritably.

Yang Nanjun’s eyes were filled with dissatisfaction as he sharply rebuked her, “If you want to learn, you can tell me. I can teach you, and I have that book too, even the original English version. If you want it, I’ll give it to you. There’s no need to study with Li Xuzhi. If you end up causing trouble, you’ll regret it!”

Huo Yuwan and Wu Xiao exchanged bewildered looks. What was going on?

Just last time, he had looked down on her, snorting and avoiding her whenever they crossed paths. Why was he suddenly offering to teach her now?

Shaking her head in confusion, Huo Yuwan hesitated but firmly replied, “I’m not afraid of causing trouble, and I believe I won’t cause any.”

Narrowing his eyes, Yang Nanjun tightened his grip on the hoe.

Sensing his anger, Huo Yuwan quickly pulled Wu Xiao back a step. “Calm down! I’m really strong, you know. In a one-on-one fight, you might not be able to beat me!”

The original plot hadn’t mentioned such a capricious character.

Snorting coldly, Yang Nanjun lowered the hoe from his shoulder. “How strong can a little girl like you possibly be?”

Wu Xiao, sensing that a fight might break out, quickly pushed Huo Yuwan behind him and stepped between the two to mediate.

“Yang Zhiqing, calm down. Yuwan has genuinely learned a lot from Li Zhiqing, and we’ve all long accepted her. We’re more than happy to welcome her, how could she possibly cause any trouble? Please let go of your prejudices…”

“Foolish! If she truly wouldn’t cause trouble, she wouldn’t have ended up in such a lonely and helpless situation.”

Yang Nanjun sneered coldly, then turned and walked away with his hoe, his soft-soled cloth shoes stomping out angry footsteps.

He had only learned from a letter sent from home that Huo Yuwan was the child of his eldest sister, whom he had never met. There were four children in their family, with the eldest, Yang Nanting, and the youngest, Yang Nanjun, separated by twenty-two years. By the time Yang Nanjun was born, his eldest sister had already married and never returned home in over twenty years.

Back then, Yang Nanting had defied their parents’ objections to marry Huo Yuwan’s good-for-nothing father, leading to a complete break with the family and no contact since.

It wasn’t until he sent a letter home describing the scenery of Shihe Village that his parents realized their son was living in the same village where their eldest daughter had settled after her marriage.

Huo Yuwan watched his furious retreating figure, feeling equally angry. She bent down, scooped a ladle of freshly drawn well water from Wu Xiao’s bucket, and drank while muttering, “What kind of person is he? Completely unreasonable.”

“Yang Zhiqing has a peculiar temper, but he means well. Don’t take it to heart,” Wu Xiao said, though equally puzzled. Still, he could tell Yang Nanjun was concerned about Huo Yuwan, so he offered a few words of comfort.

…

When Huo Yuwan returned home, she took advantage of Li Xuzhi’s bath time to communicate with the fox spirit, recounting the day’s events and asking it to check the storyline again to see if they had missed anything.

After a careful search, the fox spirit indeed found traces of Yang Nanjun in the plotline.

According to the description, after the male lead achieved success in the city, he returned to his hometown intending to move his mother’s family to the city. Before leaving, his mother suggested going up the mountain.

From the first year the educated youth were sent to the countryside, their family had lived in the Huo family’s house. Over the years, they had grown attached to it, and before leaving, they finally thought to visit Huo Yuwan’s grave on the mountain to pay their respects and express gratitude.

As the mother and son ascended the mountain, they passed a young man. The male lead paid him no mind, but when they found Huo Yuwan’s gravesite, they saw it already adorned with fresh fruits and snacks. Staring at each other in surprise, they recalled the stranger they had just encountered.

It was then that the male lead suddenly remembered, he vaguely recalled knowing that man from distant memories. He was an educated youth who had been sent to the countryside alongside his wife.

“…”

Huo Yuwan fell silent after hearing this. She never expected that her character, who died as soon as she appeared in the original plot, would still be remembered by someone.

Based on the timeline of the original storyline, Yang Nanjun had never met Huo Yuwan, yet he still visited her grave over a decade later, showing the depth of his feelings for her…

“Could it be related to the previous generation? My mother’s surname was also Yang,” Huo Yuwan guessed, stroking her chin.

The fox spirit crouched before her and nodded. “That is indeed possible, madam. Please try to recall carefully, did your mother ever mention her maternal family in past memories?”

Huo Yuwan furrowed her brows upon hearing this, lost in deep thought.

“When I was little, I think I heard my mom talk about my maternal grandmother’s family. She said my grandfather studied abroad, and my grandmother was a university professor. My mom had two younger sisters and a younger brother. When she married my father, her brother was just two months old…”

At this point, Huo Yuwan’s voice trailed off. She lowered her head and stared wide-eyed at the fox spirit.

“Could it be…?”

“No way.”

Huo Yuwan’s expression was complicated. How could an uncle suddenly appear out of nowhere?

The fox spirit couldn’t hold back a grin, baring its dog-like teeth in amusement. “A real uncle! They say uncles dote on their nieces the most, turns out it’s true.”

“Thinking about it, your uncle is quite a character. On one hand, he’s genuinely concerned about you because of family ties, but on the other, he’s so frustrated he’d like to whack you with a hoe. Quite the bold personality.”

“This is just speculation! And his so-called concern is just overthinking and prejudice.” Huo Yuwan retorted seriously.

“Nobody’s perfect, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about you,” the fox spirit said, wagging its tail.

“…”

Huo Yuwan had no rebuttal. More importantly, she picked up the fox spirit and narrowed her eyes at the little white dog.

“I’ve noticed something off about you today. Why are you always speaking up for Yang Nanjun?”

The fox spirit grinned sheepishly, baring its teeth. “This morning, he fed me two small fish he caught from the river. They were delicious.”

“…”