Chapter 10 Yan Jiyue’s Transformation

After divorcing her husband, Su Mu would remarry soon.

What kind of man would she like?

Xie Yi rubbed his fingertips that had just touched Su Mu’s hand. After the brief cool sensation, there was a scorching heat, as if burned by fire.

At the dinner table, Su Mu kept her head down eating without speaking. Xie Yi held his chopsticks but had no appetite at all.

This question kept circling in his mind, buzzing incessantly.

“Eat quickly, the food will get cold soon,” Su Mu said, seeing that Xie Yi still wasn’t using his chopsticks.

Xie Yi made a sound of agreement and picked up some stir-fried lotus root slices with his chopsticks, putting them in his mouth. Crisp with a slight sweetness, the cooking was just right. Who would believe that such delicious dishes were made by a woman’s hands?

Xie Yi raised his eyes slightly to look at Su Mu, who was eating with her head down.

Her thick long eyelashes hid the light in her eyes, making her expression unclear. The armband on her arm was still not removed. Her wrist was as clean and pure as jade, thinner than that of ordinary women, but it didn’t make one feel weak. Her fingers were also slender and delicate, with a kind of lean and elegant bearing like that of a scholar.

Just thinking that his fingertips had just slid over such slender fingers, Xie Yi’s eyes welled up with an insoluble thickness.

“Are my hands very beautiful? Why do you keep staring at them?” Su Mu put down her chopsticks, resting her chin on her hand as she teased him with a smile.

The lotus root pieces nearly got stuck in Xie Yi’s throat. He barely swallowed them down before explaining, “No, I wasn’t looking at Elder Sister Mu.”

Xie Yi’s beauty was famous in the small town on the frontier of the desert. The frontier customs were loose, and the women were all rough and unrestrained. They often teased Xie Yi with crude jokes, saying dirty things.

Xie Yi had long gotten used to it. Not only that, he had learned how to use these women to gain benefits for himself.

Although he was young, he was not the kind of man who would blush and stammer at a woman’s teasing.

But faced with Su Mu’s words that couldn’t even be considered offensive, he stumbled and could barely speak, his mind short-circuiting, giving an explanation that only made things more suspicious.

Xie Yi secretly regretted it. What was wrong with him?

“Then eat quickly, the lard will congeal and won’t taste good,” Su Mu didn’t pursue the matter further, just urging him to continue eating.

This made Xie Yi feel relieved, but he also felt vaguely disappointed that she didn’t continue to probe deeper.

“Tomorrow I have to go take an exam, so you’ll have to cook for yourself at home,” Su Mu said while eating.

“Exam?” This wasn’t the first time Xie Yi had heard this word. When he was at Scholar Li’s house before, her husband would talk about exams all the time.

He asked curiously, “What is an exam?”

Su Mu thought for a moment. With Xie Yi’s current level of Central Plains language, it would be difficult to explain to him the deeper meaning of the imperial examination system. So she simply said, “It’s a kind of competition. If you pass, you get money and food.”

In the female-dominated world, the regulations stated that anyone who passed the scholar exam would receive 6 dou of rice and 500 wen of money every month. Even if they never passed the higher level exams, they could still rely on the title of scholar to live a life of eating public grain while lying down, more comfortable than passing the civil service exam.

Moreover, she was living alone now, not needing to support a husband or children. Five hundred wen a month, plus six dou of rice, was enough for her to live comfortably.

“Elder Sister Mu will definitely pass,” Xie Yi sincerely wished.

“Pass my ass! What kind of lowly thing is Su Mu, she actually wants to take the scholar exam? She really doesn’t know her own limitations, keep dreaming.” The middle-aged man with a round figure, his face like a silver plate, narrowed his eyes coldly and rolled them.

In the garden full of flowers, Yan Ruyu sat lazily and snorted, “That’s right. If I hadn’t seen her fill in her own name at the scene with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. Dad, where does she get the face to do this? When Uncle first brought her home years ago, she could barely write a few characters.”

Liu Cui took a sip of tea and said disdainfully, “She probably learned a few characters in secret, but she doesn’t use her brain to think. With that little knowledge, she can barely keep accounts, yet she dares to dream of taking the scholar exam. Huh, it’s like showing off knowledge in front of a sage, not knowing one’s own limitations.”

“Exactly, don’t think that learning a few characters temporarily means you can pass the scholar exam. If it were that easy, I would have passed long ago. Dad, just wait and see Su Mu make a fool of herself.”

“Who’s making a fool of themselves?” Yan Zhujun had appeared behind the two at some point, his face as cold as ice.

The father and daughter were startled. Seeing Yan Jiyue and a group of people standing behind Yan Zhujun, they were frightened and immediately bowed in greeting.

“Greetings, brother-in-law.”

“Greetings, uncle.”

“Were you just talking about Su Mu?” Yan Jiyue’s eyes were still red, his long hair slightly disheveled, and his clothes wrinkled. The usually elegant and handsome Young Master Yan had never been so disheveled before.

However, his cold and beautiful expression remained unchanged. He could bow and scrape in front of Su Mu, but in front of others, he still maintained that pride that made people unable to look directly at him.

Liu Cui and his daughter didn’t dare to raise their heads. It was Yan Ruyu who spoke up: “I saw sister-in-law filling out her name at the student examination. When I asked, I found out she was also there to take the scholar exam. Cousin, you know, Su Mu may recognize a few characters, but taking the scholar exam, how could it be so easy?”

“Hmph, really bringing honor to the family,” Yan Zhujun said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

Liu Cui noticed Yan Zhujun’s dissatisfaction with Su Mu and added fuel to the fire: “Exactly, my Ruyu even advised Su Mu not to be too hasty, to go back and study diligently for a few more years. Otherwise, if she hands in a blank paper during the exam, it would be embarrassing and would bring shame to our Yan family. But she didn’t appreciate it at all, and even scolded our Ruyu.”

As he spoke, Liu Cui became aggrieved, clutching his handkerchief and complaining to Yan Zhujun: “Brother-in-law, you tell me, how long has Su Mu been married into our family? Now she’s even publicly scolding Ruyu. In a while, how arrogant will she become? You must help us teach her a lesson.”

“Teach a lesson? On what grounds?” The corners of Yan Jiyue’s eyes were as cold as frost.

“Jiyue, what are you saying?” Liu Cui was slightly angry: “Su Mu is overestimating herself by wanting to take the scholar exam, and she publicly insulted your cousin. Doesn’t that deserve punishment? She’s just a married-in husband, she needs to learn some rules.”

Yan Jiyue’s phoenix eyes swept contemptuously over Liu Cui’s large face: “What’s wrong with Su Mu taking the scholar exam? Is your daughter allowed to take it, but she can’t?”

Liu Cui was at a loss for words and forced a smile: “That’s not what I meant, it’s just…”

“There’s no ‘just’. Since my wife-master wants to take the scholar exam, it proves she has that ability. It’s not for you to discuss,” Yan Jiyue raised his beautifully curved chin arrogantly.

“You—”

“And cousin.” Yan Jiyue directly interrupted Liu Cui, his gaze moving to Yan Ruyu, his expression full of cold aloofness. His thin lips uttered slightly mocking words: “The exam starts tomorrow, is cousin fully prepared? You’ve been taking it from sixteen to twenty-six, surely you can pass this year?”

Yan Jiyue smiled contemptuously, not waiting for Yan Ruyu to answer before leaving with his attendants.

Left behind, Liu Cui and Yan Ruyu, father and daughter, watched Yan Jiyue’s back as he was surrounded by people, gnashing their teeth in hatred.

“A man who has fallen so low as to take in a servant as a husband, what right does he have to be so arrogant!” Liu Cui picked up the teacup on the table and smashed it viciously on the ground.

“Daughter, you must bring honor to your parents. You must pass this year. Once you become a scholar, you’ll be a great merit to the Yan family. Then we can step on Mo Hui and Yan Jiyue’s heads and vent our anger thoroughly.” Liu Cui pulled Yan Ruyu, his eyes full of hatred.

“When you pass then, we’ll find a way to get rid of Su Mu. At that time, the Yan family will be in our father and daughter’s pockets. What Young Master Yan, what Yan Zhujun, I want to drive them all away and vent my years of humiliation.”

“Father, don’t worry.” Yan Ruyu promised solemnly: “…But father, did you notice that Yan Jiyue seemed a bit strange today?”

Liu Cui smiled meaningfully: “How could I not notice? In the past, he always referred to Su Mu as ‘that woman’, but today he actually called Su Mu his wife-master. It’s like the sun rising from the west.”

Yan Ruyu felt uneasy: “Do you think it’s possible that their relationship has improved?”

“Absolutely impossible.” Liu Cui’s voice was shrill: “It was because we were a step too slow back then that Yan Jiyue took in Su Mu as his husband, and you couldn’t inherit the Yan family business. If Yan Jiyue really improves his relationship with Su Mu and they have a daughter, you’ll have no hope of inheriting the Yan family.”

“Then what should we do?”

Liu Cui sighed helplessly: “We can only go back and think of a way, and also find out how their relationship suddenly improved. We need to find a way to continue to make their relationship tense.”

The father and daughter hurriedly returned to Yuegui Garden together.

In Hantan Courtyard, Yan Jiyue sat at the bedside as if in a daze.

Since he was reborn, he had inherited the memories of this young body. He didn’t understand why after his rebirth, he and Su Mu didn’t end up like in his previous life. Instead, Su Mu even proposed divorce.

Her attitude was so resolute that it made him feel terrified from the bottom of his heart. Where had things gone wrong?

Was it because in this world, Su Mu met Xie Yi first?

…Would she only turn back to look at him if Xie Yi died?

“Young Master-” Xiao Ping cautiously approached Yan Jiyue, seeing his eyes cold to the bone, his heart trembled.

He took out what he had prepared early on, thinking this thing would surely please Yan Jiyue.

“Young Master, don’t be angry. Look, this is Miss Shen’s calligraphy that this servant obtained from outside.”

Yan Jiyue’s cold gaze moved to the paper Xiao Ping had spread out, on which was Shen Yuxue’s flowing handwriting. He took it.

Xiao Ping just breathed a sigh of relief.

But the next second, Yan Jiyue tore it to shreds, threw it in Xiao Ping’s face, his whole person so gloomy he could drip water: “Don’t ever bring me Shen Yuxue’s things again. Get out!”

Xiao Ping was utterly shocked and scrambled out.

“Come back!” Yan Jiyue’s voice was laced with hidden anger.

Xiao Ping had to tremble back, kneeling in front of Yan Jiyue.

“Are you afraid of me?” Yan Jiyue looked down and lifted Xiao Ping’s chin.

Xiao Ping’s whole body was shaking.

Yan Jiyue crouched down, his cold and beautiful features enlarged in front of Xiao Ping. He pinched Xiao Ping’s chin: “Why are you afraid of me? Am I very fierce?”

Xiao Ping’s face turned pale, stammering, unable to squeeze out a single word.

Yan Jiyue let go: “Get out.”

Xiao Ping ran away with relief.

Yan Jiyue sat alone on the damp and cold ground. Even his personal attendant was afraid of him. No wonder Su Mu would rather like that little slut Xie Yi than stay by his side for a moment longer.

What’s so good about that little slut? Su Mu was just deceived by his disguise.

What understanding, gentle as water, it’s all lies.

Yan Jiyue pressed his lips tightly, and after a while, he laughed coldly.

It’s just pretending, isn’t it? He can do that too.

***

She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!” (Female-dominant)

Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.

After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.

She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.

But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…

Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!

――

This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!

The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.

That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”

Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”

The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”

That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”

Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”

The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.

Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.

“She was originally a ‘she’!”

At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.

The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”