Seeing her awake, Cui Dafu quickly handed over the chipped bowl in her hand and advised with concern, “It’s easy to get heatstroke in the scorching heat. Why don’t you listen to advice, child? Resting for an hour or two, you can still work in the afternoon! Quick, drink some water and moisten your throat!”

The generous offer was hard to refuse. Changning took the chipped bowl and, under Cui Dafu’s eager gaze, tilted her head back, opened her mouth, and poured a mouthful of water into the air.

All the actions were done in one smooth motion, and not a single drop of water spilled from the bowl.

Cui Dafu was slightly stunned. She rubbed her head and laughed, “You learned that from your delicate husband, right? City folks are always particular. Our conditions in the countryside are poor, we can’t afford to be fancy like that!”

Changning did not refute. She just smiled at the person across from her. That smile was not as simple-minded as usual, but had a few more hints of liveliness.

Cui Dafu blinked, a strange feeling passing through her heart.

While she was in a daze, the women gathered under the shade of the tree started chattering again.

“Changning, this time we really have to say a word or two. You and your husband are newlyweds, and it’s understandable that you dote on your… husband at home. But no matter how much we women spoil men, we can’t take our own health lightly!”

“It’s already the height of summer, and you work from dawn to dusk every day. You’re wearing down your body!”

“Changning, listen to auntie’s advice. If you ruin your health just to earn a few copper coins to buy cosmetics for your husband, it’s not worth it!”

“That’s right! Especially for such a… ahem, anyway, don’t be foolish anymore, niece!”

…

The sun was scorching overhead, and the ripe crops in the fields were bent over from the heat. The grasshoppers hidden among the vegetable leaves in the fields sang for this midsummer.

The women rested for a while on the field ridge. Seeing that Changning was fine, they all shouldered their hoes and went home for lunch. Before leaving, they didn’t forget to urge Changning to hurry home and rest.

The surroundings quickly quieted down. Changning squinted her eyes and, bracing her weak body, limped to the small stream not far from the farmland.

Along the way, there were bird songs and insect chirps in her ears. As far as the eye could see, there were grass, haystacks, and wilderness.

She had transmigrated again.

The moment she woke up, the vague memories of this body were forcibly poured into her mind.

After watching the original owner’s fragmented life scenes, she belatedly realized that the world she had transmigrated to this time was actually the book Wei San had sent her the day before yesterday.

She had read a small part of it before bed to pass the time.

According to the description in the novel, this was a female-dominant society where women were revered and men gave birth. Women’s social status should be extremely high, but in this novel called “The Imperial Uncle,” the cannon fodder Liu Changning’s life was lived in extreme misery.

Oppressed by vicious relatives, she finally separated from the family and married a husband, but he turned out to be a philandering butterfly. That man, with a dazzlingly beautiful face, flirted with women everywhere, giving the original owner one green hat after another.

The plot developed to the point where the original owner’s latent poison suddenly flared up, leaving her bedridden. But at that time, the male lead heartlessly left.

It truly embodied the saying, “Husband and wife-master are birds in the same forest; when disaster strikes, they fly in different directions.”

When the story reached this point, Changning couldn’t bear to read any further. With different values, further reading would only make her angry at the original owner’s lack of assertiveness and the male lead’s lack of conscience.

Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, she had actually transmigrated into this pitiful and lamentable cannon fodder!

The esteemed Old Ancestor Changning of the Tianling Realm’s Heartless Sect, after failing the heavenly tribulation, instead of having her soul scattered, had transmigrated twice and tenaciously survived two lifetimes. It should be considered a gain.

However, judging from the situation in this life… Changning smiled bitterly.

The surface of the small stream reflected the original appearance of this body – thin as a stick, withered skin and hair. The only outstanding feature was that pair of round eyes, but now, perhaps from staying up late to work, the eyelids were drooping, and the lower eyelids had dark circles.

The original owner was born with fetal toxin, resulting in a sallow and thin appearance. Her body’s foundation had been poor since childhood, and without proper nourishment, it worsened from overwork. Surviving to adulthood was already a mercy from the heavens.

Changning had lived a total of three lifetimes. In this life, her appearance and situation were the most miserable.

She raised her hand and rubbed her chin that was so pointy it almost pricked her hand. Her eyes flashed with light. Fortunately, it was not a big problem.

As a tribulation-passing old ancestor, although she had transmigrated through two lifetimes without spiritual energy cultivation, she knew simple methods to improve her physique.

As long as there were enough medicinal herbs, the cold poison in this body could be completely removed.

After carefully sorting out the information in her mind, Liu Changning washed her face with clear water and then leisurely walked back home from the riverside.

At this time, the sun was high in the sky. Along the way, the sweat on her body couldn’t stop. The short hemp shirt was soaked through again and again. Liu Changning frowned and couldn’t help but quicken her pace.

The original owner’s house was at the westernmost edge of Xiqiao Village, five li away from the fertile fields in the village. Because of the long distance and proximity to the mountain, only her family lived in this area on the western edge of the village.

This was the old house she received during the division of the family last year.

When the original owner was ten years old, her mother passed away. Her father, overcome with grief, also followed soon after. The second aunt, under the pretext of raising her, unabashedly occupied the house and land left by the original owner’s mother.

But the original owner was born with a timid and honest personality, not daring to fight for it. She was used as a slave by the second aunt’s family and didn’t dare to resist. Fortunately, last year when she came of age, the kind-hearted women in the village asked the village chief to intervene, finally allowing the original owner to separate from the family and establish her own household. The eldest aunt gave her the old house at the west end of the village and reluctantly allocated three mu of fertile land.

Liu Changning stepped on the field ridges, one foot deep and one foot shallow. Her feet were already swollen red from the earlier fall. Even though she quickened her pace, her movements were still slower than usual. Under the scorching sun, the sweat on her body was like water from a sponge. She frowned, looking weary.

The old house was not far away. Because it was isolated, the small courtyard could be seen from a distance.

Bracing her nearly exhausted body, she dragged her steps towards home.

However, at the doorstep of the house, she saw the newly married husband of this body.

He… was engaged in flirtatious conversation with a peasant woman.