TRAVELING BACK TO ANCIENT TIME, I'M MARRIED TO A FARMER AS HIS BEAUTIFUL WIFE - Chapter 1

The sunlight was dim, and behind the residence of the Prefect of Shizhou, the sounds of people gradually began to rise.

At the hour of the Tiger (3-5 AM), the master and mistress, along with the young master and young mistress, had woken up and washed their faces. The maids and servants were already ready.

If it were modern times, Shui Ling would have also woken up around 5 AM. After tidying up, she hurriedly drank a few sips of porridge and called for a maid to bring warm water to help her wash her face.

“Shui Ling, have you packed your luggage? Yesterday, Mother sent someone to deliver a message; we must leave for the capital at the beginning of April,” Zhao Yunlian, the eldest daughter of the Zhao family, asked slowly and gently.

Shui Ling, standing beside her, was styling her hair while replying, "Reporting to the young lady, the clothes, jewelry, and the paintings and poems you read every day have all been arranged by Qiao Lan. They can be put directly into the trunk before departure."

"Shui Ling, are you willing to leave the mansion?"

Her busy hands immediately stopped.

Twelve years later, she still remembered clearly that she wasn't Shui Ling, but Fu Yue, an ordinary office worker from 21st-century China, a thousand years later. After working overtime for over two weeks, she caught the last subway train of the day to go home.

The subway swayed and rocked, and Fu Yue was so exhausted that she drifted off to sleep.

When she woke up, she was in a mud-walled room with a group of young girls, her whole body aching, her consciousness hazy.

In the tenth year of the Kangping Dynasty, continuous heavy rains caused floods, making life difficult for many people and causing them to be displaced. After this great flood, the original owner's parents both died. Six-year-old Fu Yue and her seven-year-old brother were kidnapped and separated by a woman [1]. The journey was arduous, and the little girl, exhausted and frightened, finally couldn't bear it any longer.

[1] A woman who lures people into prostitution or kidnaps children to sell.

Just then, the Zhao family, the magistrate of Fengyang County, needed to buy a group of maids. The mistress of the Zhao family, Zheng Yuzhou, chose Fu Yue—pale-faced but with bright eyes—along with another little girl, whose names were changed to Shui Ling and Qiao Lan, to serve Zhao Yunlian, her only daughter.

Otherwise, in Fu Yue's situation at that time, she would most likely have ended up in a dirty brothel.

Lady Zheng was kind-hearted, and Fu Yue became her head maid, spending her days reading and playing with the four-year-old girl, gradually recovering her health.

Unfortunately, their happiness was short-lived. Just a year later, Lady Zheng's health deteriorated, and before her death, she entrusted her wet nurse, Granny Li, along with Fu Yue's indenture contract and those of other trusted servants, to Zhao Yunlian.

Shortly after the funeral, the head of the Zhao family, Zhao Qingting, elevated his concubine, Fang Hua, to the position of principal wife. Fang Hua was the second daughter of the wealthy Fang family. The daughter of the first wife of the Fang family had passed the imperial examinations with Zhao Qingting and later rose to prominence, becoming a high-ranking official.

With the undercurrents of the powerful family rising, Fu Yue, lacking status and freedom in the inner chambers, began to be cautious in both her words and actions.

For the past twelve years, Fu Yue had secretly saved up some silver and jewelry, enduring the rules of the era to redeem herself from the mansion.

After all, she was independent, having received a modern education, and she always reminded herself of her self-respect and freedom.

She preferred to accept the poverty of an ordinary family rather than be a concubine or mistress of a wealthy family, unable to do as she pleased.

Fu Yue regained her composure and lowered her eyes.

"I obey your every command, young lady."

"For all these years, I've grown accustomed to having you by my side. But…"

Zhao Yunlian looked up at the girl in the bronze mirror—a delicate nose, willow-like eyebrows, a slender waist, fair skin, a calm and refined demeanor, and a red mole near her left eye that added to her captivating charm. Although she wore a light blue maid's dress, it was difficult to conceal her overall demeanor.

No wonder.

No wonder that spoiled, dissolute younger brother was moved.