Pretty idiots are born to be played with and ruined by their husbands.

Chapter 12 Dead people, right? Aren't dead people made of paper?

When Ruan Zhijuan returned home, she took off the clothes that the old lady had given her, folded them neatly, and put them in the wardrobe.

Actually, the old lady wasn't that scary. She gave him peaches and clothes.

Ruan Zhijuan thought for a moment, then poured all the peaches into the sink, filled it with water, added dish soap, and carefully rubbed each one.

Zhou Gangxun usually washes dishes like this, making them very clean without any grease, so he must wash peaches very clean as well.

Ruan Zhijuan rinsed it several times before she started eating.

He calculated the time; it was eleven o'clock now, and Zhou Gangxun would be back at seven in the evening. Eight hours would be enough time to eat one dish per hour, and he could finish them all in just the right amount of time.

The reason why the peaches were not kept is...

He was afraid the peaches would spoil.

In his past life, a girl in the village gave him a bottle of sweet water. He had never tasted water that was so sweet and delicious. His parents had never bought it for him before. Ruan Zhijuan was reluctant to drink it, so he would sip it little by little. He even slept with it in his arms. But one day, when he came back from work, the sweet water was gone.

His parents told him that if the bottle smelled sour and it was spoiled, he should throw it away and save the bottles to sell for money.

Ruan Zhijuan cried in distress, and cried for several days before her parents bought her another bottle.

It wasn't the same as what he had drunk before; it wasn't as good, but since there was something to drink, he smiled again.

So Ruan Zhijuan would eat whatever he had quickly after that. Last night... he was too sleepy and only had half left. Luckily, he heard Zhou Gangxun moving the bag in the morning.

Ruan Zhijuan lay on the sofa with her legs crossed, eating a peach while watching the static on the TV screen. The TV in the rented room was faulty, and Zhou Gangxun said it might be old or have a bad connection, so it needed to be taken apart and checked.

But Ruan Zhijuan felt that this was already very good. Sometimes, after a long time, a sound would appear, and if you were lucky, you could even see some blurry images. If Zhou Gangxun broke it, he would have to pay for it.

This is like losing money on both the TV and the money; you might as well buy him some more peaches.

Ruan Zhijuan casually opened the stack of newspapers on the table. They were bought by Zhou Gangxun and contained financial news that he couldn't understand.

They're already bankrupt, why are they still looking at those vague and unrealistic things?

That makes sense. Falling from grace overnight, Zhou Gangxun, a wealthy man who was once high and mighty, suddenly became a manual laborer who had to be subservient to others. He was bound to be resentful.

"This character... what's it pronounced again... I knew it before..." Ruan Zhijuan blinked hard in disbelief, trying to figure out the pronunciation of the character in front of her.

He had never been to school in his previous life, and he found it amazing to see his younger brother's printed books. He realized that the words he spoke were actually written word by word.

Of course, I also feel envious and afraid.

He envied the two people in his family, while his younger brother could go to school. He was afraid that everyone else could read and write, while he felt like a fool, anxiously and fearfully anxious.

However, in this lifetime, Ruan Zhijuan completed her primary and junior high school education in the Ruan family. She was still being taught high school by hiring excellent teachers to come to her home. The main focus was on literacy and writing, while other subjects were cultivated as interests.

Because Madam Ruan said that all the money in the Ruan family would belong to Ruan Zhijuan in the future, and even if he didn't study, the Ruan family's wealth would be enough for him to live as he pleased for several lifetimes.

But because he was a fake young master, he was kicked out of the Ruan family and no longer had endless money.

Ironically, Ruan Zhijuan found himself losing his ability to read. After being kicked out of the Ruan family and losing all memories of the good days he had spent there, he was now even forgetting the words and knowledge he had once learned.

"Hmph, you scoundrel!" Ruan Zhijuan angrily threw the newspaper onto the coffee table, no longer bothering to read it. Anyway, he was going to turn back into the illiterate fool he was in his previous life; it was only a matter of time.

The newspaper slipped off the side of the coffee table and fell to the floor with a "clatter," lying there all alone.

Ruan Zhijuan had a dream in which he returned to the night of his wedding to the old blind man. The old blind man seemed to be hitting him. He was in great pain all over his body and wanted to fight back, but the old blind man pushed him hard, and he hit the corner of the wooden bed. His head was broken and a lot of blood flowed out, and he couldn't move.

Later, his parents took him back home, and he recovered after lying in bed for a few days. His parents said they wouldn't marry him off to the old blind man anymore, saying that the family was now rich and they could live a good life from now on. They also said they bought him new clothes, that pink embroidered dress.

They also gave him roast chicken to eat and sweet water to drink.

After Ruan Zhijuan finished eating and drinking, he left home wearing his beautiful new clothes, but for some reason, it took him a long time to reach the village.

The villagers all rushed over when they saw him. Even those who usually looked down on him looked at him with envy, touching his clothes. "Ruan Zhijuan, your clothes are so beautiful. They must be very expensive!"

Upon hearing this, Ruan Zhijuan shook her head and chuckled boastfully, "Of course, my parents bought it at a shopping mall in the city. Don't let me get it dirty."

"You look even prettier than that handsome boy who lives at the village chief's house, Ruan Zhijuan. I want to play with you from now on."

"He... he's just average-looking." Ruan Zhijuan crossed her arms, tilted her head back happily, and put her hands on her hips. "If I had nice clothes every day, I would be pretty too. I'm pretty right now."

What Ruan Zhijuan was referring to was what she would receive in the Ruan family after her death...

He paused for a moment, wondering why he had suddenly brought up the topic of death. Wasn't he living a good life with his parents right now?

Someone then said, "Your parents are so good to you. I thought they only doted on your younger brother."

Ruan Zhijuan was a little unhappy. Her smiling face drooped a bit, and she argued with the man, "Of course they treat me well. I am their son too. How could they not love me?"

"Yes, I misspoke. Your parents gave birth to you, how could they not love you..."

Ruan Zhijuan snorted and pouted, saying with dissatisfaction, "Good that you know."

"Hmph, don't be too happy yet. Your parents bought you nice clothes, they're probably just selling you off to that old blind man in the village who's lost several wives!"

"You...your parents sold you to that old blind man!" Ruan Zhijuan trembled with rage, raising her hand to strike the man. In the chaos, someone tugged at her clothes, "Rip—"

Ruan Zhijuan's clothes were torn open with a large tear so easily.

The surrounding voices were cold and disgusted: "Huh? What kind of clothes are these? How come they tear so easily? Are expensive clothes like this?"

"Look everyone, this isn't clothes, it's just a pile of paper!"

"Wow, Ruan Zhijuan, so your clothes are made of paper? Who would make clothes out of paper? They'd just melt if you splashed water on them."

"Dead people, of course. Aren't dead people made of paper anyway?"

Several people bounced around him, mocking him maliciously, "Even though you're dead, your parents still won't dress you in nice clothes?"

"Ruan Zhijuan, you're so pitiful. You'll freeze to death down there in those clothes."

Ruan Zhijuan felt a chill run down her spine from what she was being told, and tears streamed down her face. "No...it's not like that...I'm not dead...I'm not..."

His words abruptly stopped, and all the villagers surrounding him transformed into paper figures dressed in red and green. "If the paper clothes don't burn completely, the spirit will feel the chill at night... If the paper clothes don't burn through, the cold wind will make you thin as a bone..."

"There aren't enough paper garments, so we'll suffer for all eternity... suffer forever..."

Ruan Zhijuan cried out, "Waaah waaah," but couldn't make a sound because the cheap paper clothes he was wearing were stuck to his mouth and nose.

Soon, he stopped moving.

……

In the evening, Zhou Gangxun went home after work.

The moment he saw the situation inside the house, he involuntarily clenched his fist on the key. Ruan Zhijuan, lying on the sofa, looked like a corpse.

The body of an old man who had been dead for a long time.