Farmer girl swaps husbands: buys a sickly villain and pampers him

Chapter 226 Awakening
Seven days later. The young monk brought in a vegetarian meal and said to Su Yaoguang, who was guarding by the bedside, "Female benefactor, please eat something first!"

Su Yaoguang said hoarsely, "Thank you for your trouble, little master. You can put it down now. I'll come back to eat when I get hungry."

“Master said that this benefactor is seriously injured, especially in such a critical area as the head. He hasn’t woken up for so long, and I’m afraid the day he regains consciousness is far off. Female benefactor, it’s not a long-term solution for you to stay here. Do you think you should take him home to recuperate?”

"Okay, I'll take him home to rest first thing tomorrow morning."

After the young monk left, Su Yaoguang held Zhou Wangshu's hand and whispered in his ear, "It was my fault. I shouldn't have let you take this risk. Xiao Ci was a top scholar in his previous life, someone protected by the heavens. Now that he jumped off the cliff, you've suffered the backlash. You barely survived. Originally, if you had just stayed far away, you wouldn't have been affected by these things. But because of me, you've incurred Xiao Ci's wrath, which led to this series of events."

"Wang Shu, do you know how tragically you died in your past life? You've survived this life, you should live a carefree and brilliant one. Wake up! Someone as outstanding as you deserves a bright and promising future. If you die like this, wouldn't that be even more frustrating than your past life? You worked so hard to get first place in the exam, are you really willing to hand over your honor to someone else?"

In the middle of the night, Su Yaoguang lay on the edge of the bed, her head resting on Zhou Wangshu's arm.

Zhou Wangshu moved his arms and slowly opened his eyes.

Su Yaoguang noticed the commotion, sat up, and looked at Zhou Wangshu, whose eyes were wide open.

“Master Yi Xing…” Su Yaoguang called out to the outside.

Master Yi Xing was in the next meditation room. Hearing her cry, he came over shortly after. He took Zhou Wangshu's pulse and then examined his mental state.

"Congratulations! This benefactor is truly blessed and has survived. He is all right now."

Su Yaoguang let out a soft breath and pointed at his head, saying, "What about here?"

“Once he wakes up, these external injuries can heal slowly,” Master Yixing said. “Female benefactor, you have been watching over him for seven days. You can finally close your eyes in peace.”

"Thank you, Master."

Su Yaoguang thanked them, thinking that she would donate more incense money tomorrow to express her gratitude to the Bodhisattva in the temple.

After the master left, he closed the door.

Su Yaoguang said to Zhou Wangshu, who hadn't spoken until now, "You're finally awake. Are you hungry? I'll go get you something to eat."

He's been unconscious for the past few days. Besides giving him his medicine on time, she can only feed him rice gruel. Seven days have passed; even an iron body couldn't withstand this. If this continues, by the time his injuries heal, he might starve to death.

Su Yaoguang was about to go to the kitchen to see if there was any leftover vegetarian food. If not, she would make him a bowl of vegetarian noodles, which would be better than rice porridge.

Zhou Wangshu grabbed her wrist and looked at her suspiciously: "Who are you?"

Su Yaoguang: "..."

She waved in front of him, her expression changed, and she sat down again, asking him, "Don't you recognize me?"

Zhou Wangshu shook his head: "Should I know you?"

Su Yaoguang's eyes reddened again: "You are... then do you know who you are?"

Zhou Wangshu shook his head, looking at Su Yaoguang in front of him with a blank expression.

"No, I'll go ask Master Yi Xing." Su Yaoguang wanted to go out to find Master Yi Xing, but Zhou Wangshu grabbed her arm.

"What is our relationship?" Zhou Wangshu asked. "Are you my...wife?"

Su Yaoguang hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded: "Okay."

If he's truly mentally impaired, let alone conducting scientific research, he'd probably have difficulty even taking care of himself. If she's his sister, it might be inconvenient for her to care for him. For the long term, it's better to say they're husband and wife. Only husband and wife can take care of each other for a long time.

She had no intention of remarrying anyway, so taking responsibility for his injuries was only right. Zhou Wangshu was in this state because of her actions. Whether out of responsibility or obligation, she should take good care of him.

"Are you really my wife?" Zhou Wangshu continued to ask.

Su Yaoguang nodded: "Yes."

"I don't believe it." Zhou Wangshu looked at her with suspicion. "What proof do you have?"

Su Yaoguang said irritably, "Would I, an unmarried woman, randomly claim a husband? You're injured now, what use would it be if I tricked you into going back?"

"Then kiss me. If you kiss me, I'll believe you're my wife." Zhou Wangshu said, leaning closer to Su Yaoguang and closing his eyes.

Su Yaoguang: "..."

Just as she was struggling with this dilemma, Zhou Wangshu opened her eyes and burst out laughing.

Seeing his expression, Su Yaoguang's eyes flashed with anger: "You lied to me?"

Zhou Wangshu slowly lay back down, the idiotic expression from before disappearing, returning to her usual demeanor: "You looked really funny just now."

"Zhou Wangshu, I was so worried! And you're joking about something so important?" Su Yaoguang said, pinching his arm. "Do you think this is funny?"

Zhou Wangshu winced in pain and begged for mercy, "I was wrong. I just saw you were too nervous and wanted to help you relax."

Su Yaoguang sat back down: "I thought you really had amnesia. If you had amnesia and become an idiot, wouldn't I have to take care of you for the rest of my life?"

"I'm fine." Zhou Wangshu saw that her eyes were bloodshot and could imagine how she had endured these past few days.

Thankfully, he woke up. If he hadn't woken up, and remained in this state of limbo as he has these past few days, he might have truly become a burden to her.

Actually, he could hear what she said while she was unconscious. He learned her secret, and he also learned that the dream wasn't a dream, but something that had actually happened. It turned out that in his past life, he was an unlucky guy who barely appeared twice, and she was a foolish woman who was completely deceived by a man.

He wouldn't tell her that he already knew the secret. She was complaining that Zhou Wangshu was scaring her in this way and didn't notice the pity in his eyes.

Zhou Wangshu hugged Su Yaoguang tightly.

Su Yaoguang stopped nagging and gently patted his back: "It's okay. You must have been in a lot of pain when the rock hit you, right?"

"Yaoguang, let's be a real couple!" Zhou Wangshu said. Su Yaoguang: "..."

Zhou Wangshu didn't get a response from her and continued, "Look at my head, it's been smashed like this. It'll probably leave a scar. It'll be so ugly no one will want me. You have to take responsibility for me."

Su Yaoguang was initially a little nervous when he said those things, but he remained as nonchalant as ever. The more nonchalant he was, the less she took it seriously.

"I'll go get you something to eat." Su Yaoguang stood up. "Do you want noodles or something else?"

“It’s so late, I don’t have much of an appetite. I’ll eat whatever you make,” Zhou Wangshu said.

The next morning, the monks at the temple saw that Zhou Wangshu seemed unharmed and were all relieved that he had survived such a close call.

Su Yaoguang said she wanted to donate money for incense, and sure enough, she donated a large sum of money for incense and lit a prayer lamp before leaving.

The brothers from Mingye Hall have been keeping watch here for the past few days. Now that Zhou Wangshu has woken up, they immediately prepared a carriage and took Su Yaoguang and Zhou Wangshu down the mountain.

As for Xiao Yanci's body, they didn't find it, nor did they want to look for it anymore.

Su Yaoguang was worried about Zhou Wangshu's injuries, so after returning to the provincial capital, she immediately took him to see other doctors to confirm that his injuries were not serious and that he would be fine as long as he did not suffer any more impacts before he recovered. Only then did she drive the carriage slowly back to the provincial capital.

Zhou Wangshu's head injury wouldn't heal easily. His head had been wrapped in cloth strips the entire way. When they arrived in the county town, Zhou Wangshu insisted on removing the cloth strips.

"They're back! They're back!" Zhang Pandi exclaimed happily.

Zhang Zhaodi came out excitedly and said, "Our champion is back! Everyone, my son-in-law is back! We have a happy occasion in our family today, so everything is 30% off!"

"The proprietress is so generous!"

"Boss lady, your family is so lucky to have found such a good son-in-law."

“That’s because my daughter has good taste,” Zhang Zhaodi said proudly. “Starting tomorrow, our family will have a continuous feast for three days.”

Zhou Wangshu said, "Mother, isn't this too extravagant and wasteful?"

“It’s a rare occasion for our family to have such a joyous event, so of course we should celebrate it a bit and be extravagant. But believe me, there will be absolutely no waste,” Zhang Zhaodi said. “The leftovers can be given away to others if they are clean, and the leftovers can be used as pig feed. In short, it’s a rare occasion for our family to have such a joyous event, and no one can stop me from celebrating this one.”

Zhang Pandi said with a smile, "When the official who brought the good news came to the door, your mother was overjoyed to hear that Wangshu had come in first place. The official who brought the good news received a reward of ten taels of silver!"

"Hasn't your uncle come back?" Su Yaoguang asked. "We checked the list, and your uncle was on it, ranked in the thirties. But we didn't see him."

“Chu Shan came back and said he had seen him,” Zhang Zhaodi said. “He said he also met your aunt’s husband on his way back. At that time, he and your aunt had just rushed to the provincial capital to see the list of successful candidates. They planned to go directly to the capital after seeing the list and not return to the old house.”

“I really envy my aunt. Her life is so good,” Jia Chunni said. “We’ve never even been to the provincial capital, let alone the capital. I wish we could go out and see the world.”

“Wang Shu is going to the capital to prepare for the exam this time, why don’t we move there too?” Zhang Zhaodi said. “We can go with him to broaden our horizons. Besides, it would be too lonely for Wang Shu to go to the capital alone. If we go with him, we’ll have someone to talk to.”

Su Yaoguang thought back to her past life when she became the wife of the top scholar and arranged for her servants to bring Zhang Zhaodi to the capital, but she died on the way.

In her past life, Zhang Zhaodi had never been to the capital. In this life, she wanted to take Zhang Zhaodi to travel all over the country and appreciate the scenery of different places. Perhaps, as she said, this was an opportunity.

Originally, she hadn't planned to go to the capital. If Zhang Zhaodi wanted to go, then let her go and see! Now that Xiao Yanci was gone, and Jiang Yihuan was gone too, there were no obstacles in her way.

“Mother is right, let’s go to the capital,” Su Yaoguang said. “We have enough money now, and we can even buy land in the capital.”

"Really?" Zhang Pandi asked.

"real."

Su Yaoguang made the final decision, and everyone was overjoyed.

It's just tough on those guys.

Some of the workers couldn't bear to leave their families and couldn't go to the capital with Su Yaoguang and the others. With their boss gone, the shop would likely close, and they would lose such a good job. Others, without relatives or ties, could go to the capital with their employer. They firmly believed that following their employer was the right thing to do, since those who worked with Su Yaoguang had generally acquired houses and land within six months.

Su Yaoguang invited Cui Rong over and signed a new cooperation agreement with him.

She handed over Taoyaofang to Cui Rong to manage, with profits to be split 50/50. Of course, the employees who didn't go to the capital with her were also to be settled by Cui Rong.

After a three-day feast, Zhang Zhaodi took Su Yaoguang and Zhou Wangshu back to their old house in the countryside. After paying their respects at the cenotaph of Su Yaoguang's father, they treated the villagers to a meal and donated a sum of money to the village's ancestral hall, asking them to help take care of Su's father's cenotaph and the old house they left there.

All of this was prepared for half a month. Half a month later, Su Yaoguang and everyone packed their things, hired a security escort agency, and left the county town in a grand manner.

Zhong Chushan and Chen Buyu traveled together.

Chen Buyu was newly married and didn't want to be separated from his wife. But now that he was a husband, he had finally grown up and was more ambitious than ever before.

Chen Buyu was determined to pass the imperial examinations and make his new wife proud, and also wanted to bring her honor.

From the county town to the capital, the journey involved first by land, then by water, and then back by land, a process that lasted two months. Only under very favorable circumstances could one finally reach the capital.

They had plenty of time and no need to rush. So, along the way, Su Yaoguang took Zhang Zhaodi and the others to eat, drink, and have fun, enjoying the beautiful scenery and delicious food along the way.

Three months later, they arrived in the capital.

At the main gate of the capital, the crowd looked at the majestic gate and were filled with emotion.

“This is the capital city, it’s so luxurious!” Jia Chunni said. “If we opened a shop here, we could definitely make more money.”

“We haven’t even settled down yet, and this little girl is already thinking about making money,” Zhang Pandi laughed. “You wouldn’t believe how much she’s spent, how much she’s used up, and how much she’s lost on the journey. She says that if we were in the county town, she could make so much money every day, but now she’s not only not making a penny, she’s actually losing money.”

“Our Chunni has really grown up. I think she’s becoming more and more like Yaoguang, that little money-grubber,” Zhang Zhaodi said. “That’s good.”

"Let's find an inn to settle down tonight. Everyone's exhausted, so let's rest first. We'll find a place to rent a house tomorrow," Su Yaoguang said. "We can definitely earn money, and we'll earn even more in the future. We haven't been traveling for nothing. I've thought of many recipes on the way, and we can start making new products once we're settled."