The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure

Ming Zhu remembered she was queuing up to buy cosmetics for her cousin in China when she fainted from the heat.

She should have woken up in a hospital, right?

How could it be this scene?!

What caught her eye was a mud-brick adobe house with a roof of thatch mingled with bamboo strips; the earth walls were mottled with traces of rain leakage down the sides.

She was now sleeping on a clay bed, and under the washed out white sheets, there lay a layer of thin blackish grey old cotton padding with some dry straw peeking out beneath it.

The room's window was very small and high, a sliver of light seeping in through it.

Casting its glow on a set of old red lacquered wooden cabinets, one of the cabinet's feet was missing, propped up with a piece of wood, slanting against the wall.

Ming Zhu felt somewhat bewildered.

She came from a well-to-do family, her parents were both municipal leaders, and she herself had always excelled academically, ranking within the top three of her school from childhood, and after a year of university, she smoothly went abroad to study, her hands sore from collecting various scholarships...

Aside from on television, she had never seen such a poverty-stricken environment.

Her first reaction was, could it be that after she fainted, she had been trafficked by human traffickers to the supposedly remote mountainous area to become a bride for some old bachelor?

But then, thinking it over, she was overseas, in full public view; human traffickers shouldn't be so brazen, and she had been queuing up with her roommate, too.

Looking again at her hands and feet, her body...

What the hell, a dark, chubby girl, what kind of ghost was this?!

These hands were fat, like steamed buns!!

And they were buckwheat flour buns!!

The arms were so thick, they were almost the same diameter as her legs used to be, weren't they?

Touching her chin, she discovered double chins that seemed like they could be shaken.

A bad feeling began to surge within Ming Zhu.

The eerie word "transmigration" inexplicably popped into her mind.

Could it be... she had transmigrated?

Don't think that being an academic whiz meant she didn't read web novels! The efficiency with which a scholarly whiz read novels was only higher, never lower.

Suddenly, a child's head popped out from the side of the bed, around five or six years old, big eyes rolling around as they looked at her...

Ming Zhu was startled.

Not only had she transmigrated into a dark, fat, ugly woman, but did she also have a son this big?

No way?!

Lately, aside from winning a few national level math competition awards and physics experiment awards, she hadn't done anything outrageously crazy! How had she ended up being saddled with this mess?

There was a direct correlation between being academically excellent and disliking children; she would rather write ten essays on mathematical proofs than look after a child!

Suddenly,

The child shouted happily towards the door, "Granny, granny... Old Auntie's awake! Old Auntie's awake!!"

This shout suddenly gave Ming Zhu a headache.

A flood of memories came rushing in...

It was over!!

She... had... truly... transmigrated!!!

She had transmigrated into a poor mountain village called Qilidun, into a family with the surname Wang.

She was now called Wang Yongzhu, the old unwed daughter of the Wang Family.

Wang Yongzhu had an older stepsister and four brothers, all of whom were already adults. Except for her Fourth Brother, who wasn't married yet, everyone else had already started their own families. Her mother was known as Old Granny Zhang, and her father, Wang Laozhu, used to be a skilled carpenter.

Wang Laozhu's original wife gave birth to a daughter and then, after languishing sick in bed for several years, she died without providing the Wang Family with a son to carry on the lineage. Later, he remarried Old Granny Zhang as his second wife, and within three years of entering the household, she bore him two plump sons, ensuring the continuation of the Wang Family's line.

Old Granny Zhang thus became a significant contributor to the Wang Family. Later, she successively gave birth to another two sons, further elevating her status. She held so much sway in the Wang household that what she said was law.

By the time the eldest son was getting married, Old Granny Zhang gave birth at an advanced age to a daughter. The family was as delighted as if they had found a treasure, treating her like the apple of their eye; all others took a back seat.

In this poor and destitute village where even a full meal was scarce, the fact that a peasant girl could be raised so plump was surprising enough to imply the status that Wang Yongzhu held within the family.

As for which dynasty or what the larger environment was, Ming Zhu had no idea.

Because the original owner of the body had no such memories.

The original owner's memories were so narrow it was pitiful. The farthest she had ever been was to the small town outside Qilidun.

Her most abundant memories were of eating...

Looking once again at the Little Bean in front of her, she was thankful to the heavens that this was not her child.

This was one of her little nephews.

She was still a virgin.

At that moment, the curtain at the doorway moved, and in walked a dark and thin middle-aged woman with a slightly hunched back, rough large hands, sallow and lined skin that seemed like the tough bark of a tree weathered by wind and rain, but her eyes sparkled with a shrewd light. Her thin lips and deep marionette lines made her seem somewhat harsh and difficult to get along with.

Seeing Ming Zhu staring blankly at her, the woman cried out in surprise and joy, "My Zhuzhu! You've finally woken up! Please, don't ever do anything so foolish again. Zhuzhu, you are the flesh of my heart; if you had drowned, I wouldn't want to live either."

From this behavior, it was clear she was now the mother of the body she inhabited, Old Granny Zhang.

The noise was so loud it gave her a headache.

In her previous life, her mother was a municipal committee leader; she spoke slowly and methodically, calm and composed, mature and intellectual—a stark contrast to the rural middle-aged woman before her now.

Ming Zhu felt a bit overwhelmed.

Seeing her daughter's listless and lifeless demeanor, Old Granny Zhang felt even more heartbroken.

"Zhuzhu, how can you be so silly, jumping into a pond? The Song Family has accepted our betrothal gifts; you are already Song Chongjin's fiancée. Whether Song Chongjin wants to marry or not, he has to marry you. Don't listen to him; he has no way out if he wants to call off the marriage. If he is determined to cancel, let him return the betrothal gifts double—no, triple—and see if the Old Song Family can afford it. Poor scum; sickly weakling..."

She spewed her words, spraying all over Ming Zhu's face.

The memories in Ming Zhu's mind also began to unravel.

The original owner's cause of death...

The original owner had long been fond of a man from the village named Song Chongjin, but the feeling was not mutual. He had asked her to meet to call off the marriage, and naturally, the original owner did not agree. Out of shame and anger, she threatened Song Chongjin by attempting to commit suicide by drowning.

Unfortunately, she bungled the act and really did drown herself.

Then Ming Zhu transmigrated.

...

Ming Zhu felt somewhat speechless. Wasn't it said that the rural folks were simple and honest?

How come this old girl of the Wang Family had such gall?

To pursue love freely, no less?

Too bad, she was ruthlessly rejected by a man!

Upon further consideration, it made sense. With her rotund figure and her dark complexion... it would be odd if she hadn't been rejected.

Cough!

She definitely wasn't obsessed with looks; she was just stating the facts.

Ming Zhu, influenced by her family from a young age, had a temperament that was calm and adaptable, with a strong ability to go with the flow.

She didn't know how long this transmigration would last.

Perhaps she could never return. From now on, the once honored and top-ranking student would become an ordinary peasant girl.

She decided to take things one step at a time.

Thus, she weakly opened her mouth and called out, "Mother, I was wrong. I shouldn't have jumped into the pond. I won't like Song Chongjin anymore."

PS: