Meanwhile, in the same year, Jiang Qu married He Xing, who had made quite a sum from selling the first batch of second-hand appliances. On their wedding day, He Xing borrowed a friendâs Santana to bring Jiang Qu home with great fanfare, and also gave the Jiang Family 1,888 yuan as a bride price, giving Jiang Sheng a lot of face.
After all, Hetao Village was so small that even city folk getting married might not be able to afford a Santana and such a significant bride price.
Jiang Laiâs death had no impact on the overall story. Jiang Qu and He Xingâs life got better and better, and He Xingâs business continued to grow, eventually setting up a factory in the village where he hired all the villagers to work.
Soon, the couple moved out of Hetao Village, bought a small villa in nearby An City, and lived a harmonious and happy life together.
The story ends here.
Jiang Lai, as the unreasonable and harsh younger sister of the protagonist, only had a brief role in pushing the development of the male and female leads during the protagonistâs early growth and was mostly forgotten by the Jiang Family.
After understanding everything, Jiang Lai sat up, yawned, and casually looked out at the gray sky, nonchalantly asking.
"So, what about the task?"
"The original host also wanted a good life like her sister and wanted to be loved by others. The task is: first, you need to gain the wholehearted love of a man, which means achieving 100% affection. Secondly, you must pursue your studies; the original host used to have good grades, but she dropped out because she didnât like school, so you need to continue and fulfill the original hostâs wish."
"Study, huh..."
Jiang Lai propped her chin, frowning.
"Thatâs a bit difficult, isnât it?"
Little Buding chuckled.
"A wise woman is the most beautiful. Women hold up half the sky. The nationâs construction depends on you, good luck, little slacker!"
"Shut up, you little trash."
You canât get ivory from a dogâs mouth.
"Come on, draw a prize. You did great on the last task, so you retain the skills and stamina from the last world. Besides that, you can pick one more prize."
Jiang Lai casually picked the one in the middle.
"Congratulations, youâve earned the title âMost Beautiful Village Flowerâ! The prize has been issued. Enjoy your task!"
"..."
Damn it, whatâs the point of a title.
Jiang Lai thought for a moment, currently, the timeline is right after her reputation had just turned bad, and Jiang Sheng had already asked He Xing to marry her.
As the brigade leader, Jiang Sheng, and the father of Jiang Qu, He Xing obviously couldnât refuse directly without angering him. The best approach was to agree first, then let Jiang Lai back out of the marriage herself. That way, they could get rid of Jiang Lai while making Jiang Sheng feel indebted.
Truly deserving a future business tycoon title, calculating so cleverly.
"Lai, get up quickly, the matchmaker is taking you to the He Family today, no more sleeping in."
Jiang Lai quickly got up, folded her quilt, washed up, braided her hair into two pretty braids, and chose a light-blue blouse from the closet with gray pants and black cloth shoes, then headed to the He Family with the matchmaker.
As they reached the door, Jiang Lai heard a loud chicken squawk, with a strong smell of blood wafting over from the He Familyâs dilapidated rooftop.
Walking inside, the steps were uneven, and the two wooden doors seemed like they could fall off with a gust of wind, scaring the matchmaker to step over quickly while warning Jiang Lai.
"Say less, just listen to me."
Jiang Lai obediently nodded and carefully walked around the blood in the yard.
The He Family was living in an old house from long ago, which had long lost its former splendor due to disrepair and suffering a fate. Only a few cracked, darkened tiles on the roof gave a hint of its past grandeur.
In the yard, He Xing was indeed slaughtering a chicken, shirtless with robust muscles, gripping the chickenâs neck with one hand and wielding a knife with a cold look in his eye, swiftly cutting and tossing the chicken which flapped on the ground, staring fixedly at the sky. Against the desolate backdrop, even without seeing Jiang Lai, the matchmaker wanted to run.
If she hadnât taken the brigade leaderâs red envelope, she would never have set foot in this placeâso unlucky, truly unlucky.
He Xing of course knew that they were coming. He deliberately made everything here a bit bloodier, especially staining himself with blood, making him look more menacing with his already stern face.
Upon turning his head, he didnât see the expected fear but instead a pair of bright black eyes staring intently at him, with rounded apricot eyes and lifted corners, looking like peach blossoms hanging on fingertips.
He Xing was baffled because there wasnât a trace of disgust or fear on Jiang Laiâs face, only pure curiosity.
"How many years have you been slaughtering chickens?"
Being asked such an unconventional question left He Xing momentarily dazed.
"Used to help in the army, five years."
"No wonder, your movements are so swift. You should be the one to butcher pigs every year, youâd definitely do it quickly and well!"
Impressive?
Did he hear that right?
This girl didnât run away in fright, moreover, she even praised his skill?
He Xing lowered his head and casually picked up a jacket nearby to wipe off the blood, listening to the matchmaker.
"He Xing, why are you slaughtering chickens in broad daylight? Itâs so inauspicious."
"My chickens, Iâll slaughter them whenever I want, need I choose a time?"
The matchmakerâs words were stuck in her throat by such blunt words, and she continually tugged on Jiang Laiâs sleeve, giving her eye signals.
Jiang Lai acted as if she hadnât seen anything, continuing to observe everything in the yard.
In the corner was a big pile of wooden frames, with the paint all peeled off, which vaguely looked like the legs of some kind of cabinet.
"Whatâs this?"
He Xing looked at the bookshelf she pointed at and casually replied.
"Bookshelf."
Jiang Lai walked over directly, bent over to pick up a covered book from the corner, and flipped through a few pages to find it was an English foreign literature book.
Having that here, He Xing must have felt it was safest in plain sight, since no one in the village could read it.
"Donât need this anymore?"
Jiang Lai held the book up, looking at He Xing, who hesitated a moment and nodded.
"I donât."
"Then can I have it?"
"Itâs just a useless book, what do you want it for?"
After saying that, he reached out to take it, but Jiang Lai dodged him sharply, finished the act with a grin at He Xing, her tone carrying a bit of girlish willfulness and innocence.
"I like the cover, and youâve already ruined my reputation in the village. What harm is there in giving me a book?"
With Jiang Lai putting it like that, what else could He Xing do except watch her stuff the book into her little cloth bag.