When the Top Chef Transmigrated into a Scum Alpha (GL) - Chapter 4

Shang Wumian could not grasp the trick of it, and with her leg inconvenient besides, hoeing the field was extremely difficult. Lin Qingwan sat to the side watching her, her gaze empty, no one knew what she was thinking.

The Shang Wumian of now was indeed very different from the one in her memories from her previous life.

If it had been the Shang Wumian from her previous life, never mind trying so hard to hoe the ground here while injured—she probably would have refused outright when Lin Qingwan told her that morning to go out with her.

Lin Qingwan believed she had seen very clearly just how selfish and self-serving that person was. But now that the other party was putting on this appearance, what exactly was she pretending at?

Lin Qingwan lowered her eyes. When she lifted them again, all emotion had already been hidden away. She knew Shang Wumian was injured, yet she had still made things difficult for her without a trace, all for the sake of testing her, to see whether the other party would reveal her vile nature because of it.

Judging from things now, Shang Wumian had still not shown any flaws. Lin Qingwan could not help sneering inwardly. Heh, she’s putting on quite the act.

However, it could also be seen that Shang Wumian truly was not good at hoeing. The patch of ground she had worked over could simply be described as too tragic to look at. Comparing the two lives, this person had become proficient in cooking, yet had forgotten this most basic skill.

Lin Qingwan swept a glance at the few people passing by at the edge of the field, finally stood up, and stopped the other party. “Enough. Stop hoeing. Go rest to the side.”

Setting aside how inefficient the other party was, if her appearance of dragging along her injured body while remaining steadfast in spirit spread out, then Lin Qingwan would instead become someone who harshly mistreated her lifesaving benefactor.

Although Lin Qingwan did not care about other people’s opinions, when she thought that she and Ah Fu would probably still live here for a while, she did not want to draw too much attention.

Shang Wumian readily accepted this advice and immediately stopped what she was doing, lifting her head to look at the other party. In just this short while, she had already noticed that her waist ached and her back hurt. Her constitution was outrageously weak.

Looking at Lin Qingwan, on the other hand, her movements were crisp and efficient, and she controlled the force of the hoe as it struck the ground very well. The distance she hoed quickly surpassed what Shang Wumian had strained herself to finish earlier.

Shang Wumian then looked at the few strangers farming in the nearby fields. Although she could not tell whether they were Qianyuan or Kunze, without exception, they were all perfectly at ease with this task.

Looking around, it seemed she was the only one who could not do it.

But Shang Wumian did not dwell too much on this fact. She was an outsider to begin with, and in her original world, she had lived in comfort and privilege. It was not strange that she did not know these things.

Shang Wumian carefully leaned against a tree and sat down, laying her injured leg flat. Then she shifted her attention and began observing the surrounding environment.

The air was fresh, and the ancient atmosphere was simple and rustic.

The environment she had originally only glimpsed through text was now being presented so realistically before her eyes, making a strange feeling rise in Shang Wumian’s heart.

At the same time, she thought carelessly that even the sets and costumes in historical dramas were probably not as real as this place.

Shang Wumian drifted off into her own thoughts. When this fell into Lin Qingwan’s eyes, she merely frowned, and in the end, she still did not bother with her.

In Lin Qingwan’s view, someone she already planned to have nothing to do with was not worth another half glance. So after she finished hoeing, she said nothing, directly gathered up the tools, and prepared to go home.

Shang Wumian consciously followed. With one hand, she gripped the hoe and used it as a crutch as she limped along. With the other, she carried the water pot the two of them had used to drink from earlier.

After all, Lin Qingwan truly had no obligation to let someone she was not very familiar with stay in her home, eating and drinking for free. Shang Wumian had not been of any real help this time, so she could only make up for it in this regard.

All the way back, Lin Qingwan never deliberately stopped to wait for her. In any case, whether she could keep up or not, this person would be able to find her way back eventually. Besides, even if she really could not find her way back, that would be even better for Lin Qingwan.

Shang Wumian limped along, secretly rejoicing in her heart that fortunately, her memory was decent and she could clearly remember the way back.

On the road, they ran into several older Kunze from the village. Looking at Lin Qingwan and Shang Wumian passing one after the other, they habitually began gossiping. Their subtle, observing gazes were cast in the direction of the two of them.

Lin Qingwan knew the habit these idle Kunze had when they gathered together. She only kept her eyes straight ahead and left calmly.

Shang Wumian was slightly socially anxious. Seeing so many people gathered together from afar made her inexplicably think of those nosy aunties who often appeared in television dramas, always holding a handful of melon seeds and pointing fingers when they had nothing better to do.

That kind of gossip about this family’s business and that family’s affairs was the most headache-inducing.

Shang Wumian did not really want to experience the full force of their collective attention, so she wanted to walk a little faster too. Unfortunately, her legs and feet were not very nimble, and she could not do as she wished.

What could still be considered lucky was that until they finally left, Shang Wumian did not hear them bring up anything about her, and she could not help letting out a sigh of relief in her heart because of it.

It seemed she had overthought things and wronged those people.

What Shang Wumian did not know was that these Kunze all had rich experience in gossiping. Every time, they only began formally discussing things after the people involved had already walked quite a distance away.

Auntie Shi crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked in the direction Lin Qingwan and Shang Wumian had left, taking the lead in bringing up the related topic.

“Hey, did you see? Isn’t that the girl surnamed Lin over there?” Auntie Shi narrowed her eyes and continued, “The one following behind her is that outsider Qianyuan, right?”

Once the gossip was started, the other familiar Kunze joined in one after another, and for a time, everyone began talking at once.

“Yes, it’s them. I heard that Qianyuan is living in Lin Qingwan’s house now.”

“What do you mean you heard? When I came over, I saw with my own eyes that they went out together and came to the fields.”

“What’s going on? A lone Qianyuan and an unmarried Kunze, just living together like that? Little Lin used to look like such an honest child. How is she doing something so foolish now? Is she really not afraid of the villagers gossiping?”

In the end, Madam Zhong could not listen anymore. “It’s not just the two of them, isn’t there also that little girl Ah Fu? I’m telling you all, don’t make up nonsense about people when you have nothing better to do. Didn’t that Qianyuan save the lives of Girl Lin and Ah Fu from the fire a few days ago? Isn’t it normal to let her stay for a few days?”

The other Kunze all echoed, saying “That’s true,” and when they saw someone new passing by, they very quickly shifted to another topic.

A little later after returning home, Shang Wumian faintly felt some pain in her palms. She lowered her eyes to look and realized two blisters had formed. Just holding a hoe for less than half a day had turned them into this state.

Because of her profession, Shang Wumian had always cherished her hands. She frowned, hesitated briefly, then still tried asking Lin Qingwan whether she had any ointment.

Lin Qingwan did not have any especially strong reaction. She only turned around, went back into the room, rummaged around for a bit, and then did indeed find an ointment for her.

Shang Wumian looked at the other party, her eyes seeming to want to speak, yet stopping short.

The blisters on her hands had grown evenly, one on each hand, making it truly inconvenient to apply the ointment herself. She wanted to ask Lin Qingwan for help, but hesitated over whether she would be refused.

When she had read the novel before, it had not felt intuitive enough. Now, after Shang Wumian had truly transmigrated in, she deeply understood what the comment section had often shouted about—cold beauties are my love.

Shang Wumian held the ointment with two fingers and thought: your beloved female lead… is already so cold that she feels like even if I now performed an on-the-spot fainting act, Lin Qingwan would only glance over in confusion to confirm I wasn’t dead, then leave as if nothing had happened.

Lin Qingwan’s senses were sharp. After waiting for Shang Wumian for ages and still not hearing her speak, then combining it with the other party’s behavior, she knew what this person before her was planning.

It was Lin Qingwan who took the initiative to ask, “You want me to help you apply the medicine?”

This question struck right at Shang Wumian’s heart, so she immediately nodded.

Lin Qingwan did not say anything more. For reasons unknown, she was surprisingly easy to talk to and chose to help.

Only after she directly took the small medicine bottle from Shang Wumian’s hand did she seem to have just remembered something. She temporarily set it aside and instead went to look for a needle.

Looking at that inch of cold gleam, Shang Wumian suddenly felt a little nervous.

Lin Qingwan lowered her eyes and burned the needle over the scorching candle flame. Then she lifted her eyes and looked at Shang Wumian with an unreadable expression.

Shang Wumian instinctively sensed a trace of danger. In the blink of an eye, quite a few terrifying scenes flashed through her mind, and she suddenly no longer wanted the other party to help her.

Holding the needle in her hand, Lin Qingwan said to Shang Wumian in a tone that brooked no doubt, “Let’s puncture the blisters first. Bear with it?”

Even though Shang Wumian had made a certain amount of mental preparation in advance, she still could not control her perception of pain and could not hold back an “Ah!”

Shang Wumian hissed in pain, faint physiological tears appearing at the corners of her eyes. All her attention was on the two blisters that had just been pierced, so naturally, she had no mood to pay attention to anything else.

Because of that, she had no way of noticing that Lin Qingwan hooked the corner of her lips without a trace.

Does it hurt? Good that it hurts. It would be best if it hurt you to death.

“Ya, ya!” The two of them each had their own focus, and so neither noticed Ah Fu, who had just returned from school and was now looking at them with an excited face.

Sister Qingwan and Sister Wumian seemed to be getting along pretty well. They were even holding hands just now!

Ah Fu secretly peeked at the two people before her through the gaps between her fingers and declared in a very proper manner, “Sister Qingwan, you two can continue. I didn’t see anything at all~”

If Shang Wumian had known Ah Fu’s thoughts, she definitely would have felt dead inside: thanks, but that was absolutely not some mutually willing hand-holding between them. It was Lin Qingwan pressing her down tightly and refusing to let her move, making it easier for the needle to do its work.

And when the other party used the needle, she was extremely decisive, as if she were going to stab it straight into her life gate. If this could also count as the two of them loving each other dearly, then she really would not be able to hold back a fragrant stream of curses.

When Lin Qingwan faced Ah Fu, her attitude was much gentler. “Rest for a while, then go do the homework your teacher assigned.”

Ah Fu was obedient and well-behaved. When told to do homework, she did homework.

At that moment, Shang Wumian was sitting not far away. The pain in her hands had eased. She unintentionally heard a few sighs, so she looked at the little girl over there with some amusement. “What’s wrong? Why are you sighing?”

Ah Fu’s face collapsed, and she answered bitterly, “I’m doing the schoolteacher’s homework…”

A tiny head filled with great confusion. It was too hard. She did not know how.

Shang Wumian found it curious, so she stood up and went over to Ah Fu’s side to take a look: arithmetic questions and poetry-matching questions. They were actually quite simple.

She stretched out a finger and gave this little bitter bun a few pointers.

Ah Fu immediately beamed with joy, picked up her writing brush, and started writing.

Lin Qingwan had been paying attention to the situation over here. Without even looking for an excuse, she naturally walked over and took the opportunity to rub Ah Fu’s head.

In truth, she also wanted to come over and look at the paper with her homework.

There were no mistakes.

Lin Qingwan looked at Shang Wumian once and did not speak.

…How did this person know how to read and write too? In her previous life, this ignorant and incompetent Qianyuan had clearly hated books more than anything. Even before she died, she had still been unable to recognize a single large character.

Lin Qingwan thought to herself that it seemed after her rebirth, Shang Wumian really had undergone quite a few changes.

And every one of these changes was strange.

Shang Wumian did not know that Lin Qingwan, standing beside her, had already turned the matter over in her mind several times. She only responded to Ah Fu’s request and wrote down a few little tips for matching poetry.

Her blisters had just been punctured, so writing was not very convenient. She could only endure the pain a little and do her best to write as she usually did. Even the characters she wrote under these circumstances almost immediately earned praise.

“Sister’s handwriting is so pretty!” Ah Fu’s eyes could not help shining with a little worship.

It was not that Ah Fu specifically wanted to flatter Shang Wumian with rainbow farts. Shang Wumian’s handwriting truly was beautiful.

Unlike hers, which was crooked and twisted.

—She had even been scolded by the teacher, who said it looked like she was drawing ghost talismans.

“Practice more, and you can do it too.” Shang Wumian curved her eyes slightly. After putting down the brush, she conveniently rubbed the other party’s fluffy little head. One of her friends also had a little niece at home, around the same age as Ah Fu.

She was likewise very loved by Shang Wumian.

Ah Fu took the writing brush and wrote two characters, then realized they were still ugly. Compared to Shang Wumian’s, they were even more unbearable to look at. So she said with great expectation, “Can Sister Shang teach me?”

Shang Wumian smiled. “I…”