Traveling Through Those Years Of Farming (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 30

Tang Dingyuan doesn’t even know how he manages to persuade Lu Baobao to go back. When he closes the door and sinks into the chair, a sudden shiver runs down his spine.

Why does Lu Baobao’s ‘friend’ want to read stories about widows and blacksmiths instead of the typical tales of talented men and beautiful women? Is she simply curious about them, or…

Tang Dingyuan furrows his brows and takes a long time to relax them.

He is probably overthinking it; Baobao’s friend is about the same age as her, so how could she understand those things? Even he only has a vague understanding…

He presses his somewhat cool hand against his burning cheek to cool himself down.

As for widows and blacksmiths, he doesn’t understand them at all.

“Haah—”

As the heat in his face subsides, he quickly shakes his head, trying to dispel those messy thoughts. Taking a long breath, he calms himself and begins to work on the plot for his storybook.

However, Tang Dingyuan can’t think of anything. He holds the pen, but his slow writing causes ink to drip from the tip onto the paper, leaving unsightly blotches and wasting another sheet.

It seems that coming up with a plot today is futile. Sighing, he decides to take out the ancient book manuscript he received as a reward from the academy after the last exam and starts reading it.

Writing storybooks to make money is merely a side job for him. He will never forget what his main goal is.

******

“Yuan Ge’er, did you not sleep well last night? Why does your face look so bad?”

In the morning, Lu Miao rinses rice in the front yard when she notices Tang Dingyuan emerging from his room and asks in surprise.

At that moment, Tang Dingyuan’s condition indeed reflects his sleepless night. His eyes are dark, and red veins mar the whites of his eyeballs. He looks utterly disheveled, as if he hasn’t slept all night.

“I am reading the two ancient books that the teacher gave me last night and get completely absorbed in them,” he replies, rubbing his face in an attempt to shake off the fatigue. After doing so, a bit of color returns to his cheeks. In truth, he is lying; he had a dream last night and is unable to fall back asleep after waking from it.

In the dream, he transforms into a blacksmith, working in a sweltering room, hammering away at a red-hot iron block. He is naked, his muscles bulging under his dark skin, and drops of sweat trickle down the contours of his powerful physique, creating a striking image of strength and majesty.

“Brother Blacksmith.” A pair of soft, delicate hands wrap around him from behind, and a sweet, familiar voice calls out to him.

“Who?” He pauses his work, turning away from the iron.

“It’s me, your dear widow sister.”

That simple sentence jolts Tang Dingyuan awake from his dream.

What a terrible nightmare!

Once awake, he doesn’t dare to recall the fragments of the dream. Instead, he gasps for breath until his breathing stabilizes, keeping his eyes wide open until dawn.

Yesterday was his birthday, and he turned sixteen. At this age, many people are already married with children. Lu Baojin married at seventeen. It is only natural for him to experience urges and desires.

Tang Dingyuan is not naive. Many of his classmates at the academy come from official or wealthy families. By the age of thirteen or fourteen, their families arrange for them to have bed servants. These polite young men sometimes gather in groups and share crude jokes in private.

The classmate who lives with Tang Dingyuan already has two maids at home. As a good friend, he once jokingly offers to give Tang Dingyuan a maid to help him “grow up” as soon as possible, but Tang Dingyuan declines.

He feels indifferent toward the erotic escapades his peers yearn for. His classmates often tease him for being a virgin, claiming that he has never experienced such pleasures. They suggest he finds women dull, but Tang Dingyuan merely smiles, never seriously contesting their words.

To him, women are not something that can make him lose control.

He has already been betrothed at a young age, and since the Lu family has been kind to him, why would he hurt his future wife’s feelings and damage that gratitude for something so trivial?

In those moments, Tang Dingyuan considers more about repaying kindness and the deep bond he shares with Baobao, who has grown up with him like a sibling.

After experiencing that bizarre dream, Tang Dingyuan’s thoughts undergo some changes.

The familiar voice of the little widow in the dream…

Perhaps some feelings are starting to change.

He can’t quite understand the reason for this shift, and he is fully aware that Lu Baobao has not yet turned fourteen and remains as innocent as a child. Thus, he decides to keep things as they are. Even if there are budding feelings, he will let them sprout slowly with time until a beautiful flower can bloom.

“Yuan Ge’er, don’t tire yourself too much. You’re still young, and your health is the most important thing,” Lu Miao says, showing no signs of doubt.

After hearing that Tang Dingyuan has been neglecting his sleep due to reading, her gaze toward him becomes even more loving. At nearly the same age, she finds her grandsons much more exasperating than him. If only they could be half as diligent as Tang Dingyuan, they wouldn’t be stuck at home farming; they could at least learn something and work as bookkeepers.

Not long after, the other family members emerge from their rooms one by one.

“Elder Sister, Brother Yuan wants to write a storybook. He’s so stingy! Yesterday I asked him to lend me some storybooks to show my friend, but he wouldn’t part with them,” Lu Baobao complains, feeling a little miffed for not being able to borrow the storybook about the widow and the blacksmith, which has profound literary value, and directly exposes Tang Dingyuan in front of her cousin.

“Your friend?” Lu Xiuyu looks at her cousin curiously.

Most girls in the village around Baobao’s age are busy helping with household chores and have little time for playing or fooling around. Given Lu Baobao’s enviable life, Lu Xiuyu is intrigued by what kind of friends she could have in Sandangkou Village.

“Sister, the focus is on the storybook!” Lu Baobao’s gaze flickers nervously. Realizing that her cousin has misunderstood, she quickly redirects the conversation.

The reason she brings this up in front of her cousin isn’t to embarrass Tang Dingyuan but to hope that her time-traveling cousin can teach him story elements that will make him popular in the future.

In terms of clever plot twists and melodramatic storylines, the diverse and vibrant offerings of the future don’t fall short of the ancient storybooks. Plus, with Xiaoyuan’s talent for writing, their family might even produce a bestselling storybook author.

“Brother Yuan, what are you planning to write? It won’t affect your studies, will it?”

Lu Xiuyu is clearly much more mature than Lu Baobao. Upon hearing that Tang Dingyuan is going to write a storybook, she first thinks about his studies. It is important to Lu Xiuyu to have a brother with a good reputation in the family.

“It won’t have any impact,” he replies, shaking his head while casting a quiet glare at the little girl who is secretly laughing.

“What are you going to write?”

Lu Xiuyu knows that Tang Dingyuan is steady and capable. After he assures her that his writing won’t interfere with his studies, she drops the topic. However, she is genuinely interested in the storybooks of this era.

“I haven’t thought about it yet.”

Tang Dingyuan feels a bit embarrassed. Most of the popular storybooks are centered around love; the themes of talented men and beautiful women are timeless. Since both Lu Baobao and Lu Xiuyu are unmarried girls, discussing such topics feels inappropriate.

Still, he is aware that many of the storybooks sold in libraries are purchased by the servants of the literate ladies in wealthy families.

“Oh.” Lu Xiuyu responds, having guessed his concerns with just a glance, and she doesn’t press any further.

Is that it? Lu Baobao feels anxious. Isn’t her cousin going to offer some guidance?

She feels uneasy, wishing she could step in for her cousin and give Tang Dingyuan a literary lesson on her cousin’s behalf.

Unfortunately, she is timid and worries that she might speak carelessly. She has so many ideas—like broken engagements, face-slapping plots, or tales of counterattacks and time-traveling plagiarism—but these are not the thoughts of a little girl who has grown up in the countryside without any adventures. She fears that sharing these ideas might reveal her identity as a time traveler in front of her cousin.

“It’s time to eat!” Lu Miao calls from the kitchen.

Lu Xiuyu and Lu Baobao go to help serve the rice and fetch the bowls, ending their discussion about the storybook.

During the meal, Jiang Bai’e can’t help but bring up her daughter’s marriage. “The matchmaker Wang from the village came to see me a few days ago. She wants to ask for our Xiuyu’s hand on behalf of the grandson of the village chief from the next village.”

With Lu Xiuyu turning eighteen in a few months, she is considered an old maid in this era. If she doesn’t settle down soon, it will be challenging to find a suitable partner.

Lu Xiuyu is quite capable, managing such a large business on her own, and many suitors from nearby villages want to marry her. Unfortunately, it seems that she has not taken a liking to any of them, and over the years, numerous matchmakers have come to propose, only to return empty-handed.

Jiang Bai’e is growing impatient. She has witnessed the number of marriage seekers dwindle from the time her eldest daughter came of age, when suitors were plentiful, to now, when matchmakers appear only every ten days or so. This makes her increasingly anxious.

She fears that if this drags on, even if her daughter is truly outstanding, no suitable young men will come to propose marriage.

Thinking of this, Jiang Bai’e can’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy toward the second household. If she had known that Tang Dingyuan would succeed in the prestigious academy, she should have acted before the second family and made him her son-in-law when her in-laws were adopting him.

Although Tang Dingyuan is two years younger than her eldest daughter, what harm could that cause? As the old saying goes, “A woman three years older brings gold bricks.” The age difference is still within acceptable bounds.

Yuan Ge’er is an admirable young man—good-looking and well-educated. If he passes the exams to become a scholar or a juren in the future, he will be a prime catch among many. It is unfortunate that he is already bound to the second branch’s girl, who has little to offer aside from her looks.

She can’t help but glance at the family from the second branch sitting across from her. The four of them fill their bowls with pickles and salted duck eggs, stir them into their porridge, and slurp noisily.

Their carefree demeanor is truly identical.

Why is it that her own family works hard to earn a living, yet it seems that the second family has a more enjoyable life in the end?

Jiang Bai’e shakes her head, quickly dismissing such dangerous thoughts. Why would she compare herself to that family? They haven’t even split their household yet. Given the second family’s behavior, once they do separate, life will surely become difficult for them.

“Mother, I’m not in a hurry,” Lu Xiuyu says, recalling the person her mother mentioned.

“You’re almost eighteen. Do you really want to spend your life at home as an old maid?”

Though Lu Xiuyu isn’t in a rush, Jiang Bai’e feels great urgency. With her youngest son Baoyin soon to marry, it troubles her to have his unmarried older sister still at home.

Lu Xiuyu smiles bitterly. In her previous life, she escaped her original family to focus on her career. She never anticipated that the pressure to marry, which she escaped in her past, would catch up to her in this era.