Quick Transmigration: My System is a Big Liar

Aunt Ruan, who had appeared behind Jiang Lan at some point, continued, "Xiao Lan is right. We are a respectable family and would never do such petty things. As long as Xiao Lan doesn't mind my frail body, the doors of our Ruan family are always open to her."

She had come to help Sister Jiang, but unfortunately, her health failed her and she was a step too late despite her hurried pace. Luckily, neither Sister Jiang nor Xiao Lan was injured.

Zhou Lingling was furious. She had originally wanted to use Jiang Lan and Ruan Ziheng's secret rendezvous to make people forget about her and Bai Zhiqing being caught in bed together.

But judging from the current situation, it seems that it has not achieved this effect.

The farce ended when the brigade leader intervened and deducted twenty work points from Genzi's mother, which were considered as compensation for Jiang Lan's emotional distress.

Jiang Lan didn't care about the twenty work points, but seeing the constipated expressions on the faces of the Zhou family and Genzi's mother, she accepted them.

From that day on, the rumors about Jiang Lan and Ruan Ziheng faded considerably, but some people still didn't believe that they were innocent.

Why does Jiang Lan go to the Ruan family every day? Twice a day without fail. Even when Ruan Ziheng isn't home, everyone says that Jiang Lan is going to curry favor with her future mother-in-law and brother-in-law.

Jiang Lan never offered any further explanation, after all, the innocent have nothing to fear, and she still made two trips every day without fail.

Besides, she couldn't possibly sever ties with the Ruan family over such a baseless rumor!

Half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

The day that Old Lady Zhou and Bai Xiuwen had agreed upon had arrived.

Early in the morning, the Zhou family's house was surrounded by onlookers.

Bai Xiuwen arrived late, his usually clean and tidy clothes now wrinkled, his hair disheveled, and his beard unkempt—he looked completely different from before.

"Brother Xiuwen, you're finally here." Zhou Lingling rushed over as soon as she saw Bai Xiuwen appear, but Bai Xiuwen dodged her.

Old Mrs. Zhou smiled broadly and warmly invited Bai Xiuwen into the house, serving him tea and water. After a while, they finally got down to business.

"Bai Zhiqing, have you brought the bride price money?"

Bai Xiuwen nodded hesitantly, took out a wad of cash from his pocket, some in small change and some in large bills, and handed it to Old Lady Zhou.

Old Mrs. Zhou couldn't stop smiling and immediately started counting the bills one by one.

After counting several times to make sure there were no mistakes, he turned his attention to Bai Xiuwen and Zhou Lingling.

“You’re so straightforward, son-in-law. Now that I’ve accepted the bride price, Lingling is your wife. You can take her away. Even though we’re from the same village, a married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl. Don’t come back unless necessary.”

Old Mrs. Zhou immediately told them to leave; she didn't want a worthless person coming back to freeload. As for whether or not to hold a wedding, that was none of her business.

Bai Xiuwen understood the meaning behind her words, and walked out with a dark face, without waiting for Zhou Lingling at all.

He had a complete falling out with his family over a dowry of two hundred yuan, only managing to get one hundred. The remaining one hundred he scraped together was by selling a watch and borrowing from everyone he could.

I didn't expect to be kicked out before I even had a sip of water after entering the room.

Zhou Lingling, dressed in tattered clothes, followed Bai Xiuwen back to the educated youth compound.

Housing was already tight for the educated youth. The boys had one room, the girls had one room, and the remaining room was the kitchen. There were simply no spare rooms for them to live in.

Finally, the captain arranged for them to stay in the old house next to the Jiang family's house.

The happy married life that Zhou Lingling had hoped for did not come true, because Bai Xiuwen was penniless and heavily in debt after receiving the huge dowry.

They could barely make ends meet each day by relying on a small amount of grain borrowed from the brigade and bitter wild vegetables.

Because of that incident, Bai Xiuwen was often pointed at and gossiped about in the village, and his personality became increasingly unpredictable. Whenever he was in a bad mood, he would punch and kick Zhou Lingling.

Ever since Zhou Lingling moved in next door, Jiang Lan has given Ping An a strict task: to keep a close eye on Zhou Lingling to prevent her from doing anything bad.

Jiang Jun and Ruan Ziheng returned to the village on the afternoon of the twentieth day. They were thinner and paler than when they left. After all, they had been in the car every day for the past twenty days without being exposed to the sun. How could they not be pale?

That evening, Jiang Lan cooked a large feast, and the two families gathered together for a lively celebration.

There were dishes such as braised green beans with pork, spicy fish chunks, braised rabbit, stir-fried pickled cabbage with cured pork, stir-fried eggs with chili peppers, and several vegetarian dishes.

They were all so full that they could barely move and were slumped in their chairs.

Even Aunt Ruan, who usually has a poor appetite, ate a bowl of rice and a lot of vegetables, and still wanted more. If it weren't for the fact that she wouldn't be able to digest it all at night, she would have liked to eat some more.

The aroma of various meats and vegetables tempted the two people next door who were munching on wild vegetable buns.

Bai Xiuwen disliked Zhou Lingling for lacking femininity and being filthy.

Zhou Lingling complained that Bai Xiuwen was incompetent, all looks and no substance, and couldn't support himself.

The two got into a fight over this.

Meanwhile, Jiang Lan and Ruan Ziheng finished their meal and were kicked out by their parents under the pretext of taking a walk to digest their food.

[Host, they're trying to set you two up. Why don't you just go for it? Ruan Ziheng is handsome and treats you well, so you won't lose out by taking him in.]

[There are plenty of handsome men in the world, how could I possibly accept them all?] Jiang Lan said that she was very picky about finding a boyfriend, okay? Handsome, ambitious, and obedient to her in every way—all three were indispensable.

[As long as your lower back can handle it, it's not impossible.]

【roll. 】

Jiang Lan couldn't help but wonder if her system was some kind of experienced driver.

Ruan Ziheng thought of the rumors he had heard in the village that afternoon, and seeing that the person next to him didn't seem inclined to speak, he felt a little uneasy. He hesitated to take out the gift from his pocket, afraid that she would be angry.

"Xiao Lan, you..."

"Brother Ziheng,"

After walking around most of the village, the two spoke at the same time, then stopped at the same time, looked at each other and smiled.

Ruan Ziheng took a small box out of his pocket and handed it to Jiang Lan, "Xiao Lan, this is a gift that your brother Ziheng picked out for you. Do you like it?"

Jiang Lan had already learned from Ping An that the box contained a bracelet, and a top-quality emerald jade bracelet at that.

Decades from now, this will be priceless.

Moreover, these were Aunt Ruan's dowry, two in total, meant for her future daughter-in-law; she couldn't accept them.

"This is too valuable, I can't accept it." Jiang Lan opened it, glanced at it, closed it, and prepared to return it to him.

Ruan Ziheng took a step back. "Xiao Lan, didn't we agree that you would help me take care of the house and I would bring you a gift? Why don't you want it now?"

“Brother Ziheng, I would accept any gift I asked for, such as a bag of snacks, a scarf, or a piece of clothing. But I can’t accept this; it’s too precious,” Jiang Lan explained. If it were just an ordinary piece of jewelry, it would be fine, but it was left by Aunt Ruan for her future daughter-in-law. How could she accept it?