She saw the person behind her staring at her blankly, motionless. His originally extremely beautiful face now had a hint of dullness.

Liu Changning took a cautious step back, her face expressionless. “What are you looking at? With your appearance, you’re ugly and repulsive to me.”

Pei Yuanshao’s peach blossom eyes were full of venom as he sneered, “Madam, you can rest assured. The three rules, this lowly concubine will keep them in mind. Besides, don’t you look in the bronze mirror every day? With your appearance, even if this lowly concubine never engages in such amorous affairs in his entire life, he will never have the slightest desire for you!”

“That’s excellent!” Liu Changning replied indifferently.

Pei Yuanshao clenched his fists tightly and then loosened them. He would be a fool to argue with such a stubborn woman like her.

Her absurd and unreasonable behavior made it seem as if he had truly wronged her!

She knew very well what the truth was. Although he had set up the situation in advance and forcibly dragged her into it, if she herself had been unwilling to sign the contract, how could he have forced her?

The contract was bought back by Guan Er for a hundred taels of silver.

Not to mention where this peasant woman used the silver, she had been putting on a pitiful and honest act of waiting for her husband to return, truly laughable!

Today, she finally stopped looking at him with those pitiful eyes, but she wanted to settle old scores with him.

Every word she spoke was sarcastic. He knew he was in the wrong and had many concerns, so he let her be. Otherwise…

Pei Yuanshao stroked the red whip at his waist and restrained himself, letting his hand fall to his side. Unable to vent his frustration, he simply stopped speaking.

He averted his gaze and squatted down, following her instructions to strike a stone to start a fire. He placed the sparks into the fluffy dry grass inside the stove, and the flames leaped up.

He picked up the firewood beside his feet and was about to throw it in.

The woman in front of him swiftly grabbed his arm.

Pei Yuanshao glared at her, wishing he could roll his eyes like those in the brothels.

He stared at her rough hand and slapped it away, mocking, “Men and women should not have physical contact. Madam, you just set the three rules a moment ago, and in the time it takes to burn an incense stick, you’re already going back on your word and taking advantage of me?”

Liu Changning: …

She opened her mouth but found herself unable to refute. The usually sharp-tongued Liu Laozu couldn’t find the words to retort.

She almost forgot that this was a society where gender roles were reversed. Her action of directly grabbing a man’s arm just now was undoubtedly frivolous.

Liu Changning was stunned for a moment. Coming back to her senses, she pointed at the flames in the stove and explained calmly, “I apologize for my hasty temper. I was in a hurry to stop you from throwing the firewood into the stove to prevent the fire from going out. It won’t happen again, don’t worry.”

As she spoke, she squatted beside him and personally demonstrated the method of placing firewood for him.

Her bare hands supported the firewood in the stove and added some dry grass underneath.

In less than half an hour, the firewood was burning and crackling.

The sparks were reflected in her moist eyes, shimmering brightly. Her ordinarily plain face was coated with a halo by the firelight in front of her.

The two were separated by a fist’s distance. As she lowered her head, the grassy fragrance of her hair wafted into his nostrils.

Pei Yuanshao’s peach blossom eyes flickered, and a complex emotion flashed and disappeared.

—

Once the fire was started, Liu Changning didn’t have much patience to teach him how to cook step by step.

She herself was still a novice, relying only on the original owner’s memories.

She brought over a wooden stool and sat in the middle of the kitchen, briefly explaining how to use the cooking utensils and the order of cooking.

Liu Changning was not a good teacher, but Pei Yuanshao was a good student.

Although he had never done any manual labor, he was intelligent since childhood and learned quickly. He could also draw inferences from one example to another. Especially as a martial artist, his knife skills were particularly exceptional.

After going through the cooking process, Pei Yuanshao’s peach blossom eyes even showed a hint of bewilderment.

In this second life, he had been diligently working and carefully planning for a year. With every step he took, he pondered repeatedly before cautiously moving forward, fearing that a single misstep or a moment of carelessness would cause him to lose everything.

Never before, in either his previous life or current life, had he abandoned the schemes in his heart and been forced to do such menial tasks.

In his ears were the drowsy instructions of that person, and in his nose was the fresh scent of grass and wood from outside. In the large pot before his eyes, slices of meat sizzled and splattered with oil.

Everything felt real, yet it also gave the illusion of a peaceful and tranquil life.

He glanced at the woman sitting on the wooden chair behind him, nodding her head, seeming to be extremely tired.

A strange feeling suddenly arose in his heart!

If his guess was correct, she was also reborn, but she seemed to have undergone a complete transformation, becoming carefree and untroubled.

He, on the other hand, had returned from hell with hands covered in blood.

An inexplicable sense of envy welled up in his chest.

Turning his head again, he saw that her hair was dull and yellow, her complexion pale and waxy. She wore patched clothes, looking disheveled and weak.

Pei Yuanshao shook his head and smirked at himself. It was ridiculous to envy someone like her.