Chapter 2

It was unknown how long had passed, but sunlight filtered through the window, illuminating a not-so-pale buttock—oh no, it was a face. The sleeping person squinted and pulled the blanket to cover their face tightly.

After a while, the small house echoed with a creaking sound, as the old wooden door was slowly pushed open.

The person in bed was still asleep. A girl, who looked to be under twenty, walked into the small house.

The girl had a ponytail of medium length, with slightly long bangs swept to one side, covering half of her eyebrows. Her delicate face was framed by a pair of bright, large eyes, a pretty nose, and a small mouth. Her fair and smooth skin, along with her slender figure, made her look like a beautiful fairy who had just emerged from the forest.

This pretty girl was our protagonist, the wife bought from human traffickers, named Liu Qingqing. She was nineteen years old. Many girls her age were still in school, but she had been sold by human traffickers to be someone's wife, and to a lazy man ten years her senior. It was undoubtedly an injustice from heaven.

A year ago, when she was first forced to marry this lazy man ten years older than her, Liu Qingqing was very unwilling. She resisted, threatened, and sought help from the villagers, but no one came to her rescue. Instead, she was confined to the house by the Ye family and could only see the three members of the Ye family.

Liu Qingqing remembered very clearly that on her eighteenth birthday, she married the man who was now lying in bed, drunk. On that day, he took away her virginity.

After more than a month of resistance and sorrow, Liu Qingqing began to accept her fate. As a girl who had been raised with traditional values, she could only accept the fact that this man was her husband.

Fortunately, apart from her husband, Ye Rongyao, the two elders of the Ye family treated her well, regarding her as their own daughter. They did not make her do any heavy or tiring work, which made Liu Qingqing feel more at home.

However, fate can be unpredictable. Six months ago, a car accident took the lives of the two kind elders. From that day on, the burden of the household fell on the shoulders of this nineteen-year-old girl. Fortunately, the driver who caused the accident compensated them with 100,000 yuan. Otherwise, the young Liu Qingqing would not have known how to manage the household. As for her husband, she had no hope in him at all.

Her husband, apart from being lazy, had become addicted to gambling, drinking, and even beating her after his parents' death. This made Liu Qingqing think of leaving this home and this village several times.

But when she thought of her once prominent family and looked at her current situation, married to this worthless man in a poor village, Liu Qingqing gave up the idea of returning home. She was extremely proud and had always believed she would marry the best man in the world. She could not bear the shame of returning home, especially since she was no longer a virgin. Returning would only tarnish her family's reputation.

"Rongyao, Rongyao, wake up, it's time for breakfast," Liu Qingqing called out to the person in bed, her clear voice like a bird's early morning chirp.

The person in bed did not move at all.

Liu Qingqing frowned slightly, then walked to the bed and gently pushed a bulge under the blanket, calling out again, "Rongyao! Rongyao!"

Liu Qingqing's push seemed to hit a vital spot, and Ye Rongyao sat up almost instantly, glaring at the girl.

With his unkempt beard, messy hair, and eyes filled with sleep, Ye Rongyao's appearance frightened Liu Qingqing, who took a few steps back, fearing that he might hit her in the morning.

"What are you shouting for so early in the morning? Do you want to let me sleep or not?" Ye Rongyao, still half-asleep, cursed instinctively.

Just as Ye Rongyao was about to go back to sleep...

"Beep! Lazy Man System detection in progress. Host binding requirement: Complete the first task issued by the system within 24 hours, or the system will disappear, and the host will be humanely terminated."

"The first mandatory task of the Lazy Man System is to show concern for your wife, making her feel that you care about her. The task completion criteria are to make your wife truly feel that her husband cares about her and is concerned for her. If the task fails, the system will disappear, and the host will be humanely terminated."

"System evaluation: For a lazy man, a good wife is crucial. Without a diligent and good wife, the host will struggle to even eat, let alone become a perfect lazy man. Therefore, this task is very important."

"If the host cannot complete such a simple task, there is no need for him to live in this world. It would be better to let the system humanely terminate him, rather than become a lazy man who starves to death and disgraces the lazy community."

A strange electronic voice appeared in Ye Rongyao's mind.

Ye Rongyao confirmed that the strange electronic voice appeared directly in his mind. After the electronic voice, he thought about it and "saw" a shimmering gift box with an electronic watch drawn underneath. The watch showed a 24-hour countdown that had just started!

Ye Rongyao looked at his beautiful wife, Liu Qingqing, and saw that her expression had not changed, indicating that she had not heard the strange electronic voice.

What was going on?

Ye Rongyao had wandered outside for a few months a few years ago and had read a few web novels, so he had some idea, but he still found it hard to believe that it was happening to him.

"Rongyao, are you okay?"

Liu Qingqing, seeing her husband sit motionless on the bed after scolding her, asked cautiously, a bit worried.

"I'm fine."

Ye Rongyao, regaining his composure, replied. He realized that the most important thing now was not to figure out the so-called "Lazy Man System" in his mind but to complete the task issued by the system. Ye Rongyao did not want to be humanely terminated.

"Then get up and have breakfast. You drank a lot yesterday and vomited a lot. I made some corn porridge, which will be good for your body."

Liu Qingqing said. Although she did not like her husband, as a traditional girl, she was already Ye Rongyao's wife and had gone through the wedding ceremony. Although they had not yet obtained a marriage certificate (one reason was that Liu Qingqing had not yet reached the legal marriage age of twenty in China, and the main reason was that she was bought by the Ye family, so they did not dare to register the marriage), they were still a married couple in reality. Therefore, Liu Qingqing still fulfilled her duty as a wife.

"How did I end up in the house?"

Ye Rongyao, now fully awake, asked in confusion. He clearly remembered being hit by a meteor and passing out on the road last night. How did he end up in his bed this morning?

"Last night, I was worried when you didn't come home late, so I went to the village store to look for you. I found you lying on the road and had someone carry you back home," Liu Qingqing explained.

"Wife, I'm sorry. I won't go gambling anymore, and I won't come home drunk again."

Ye Rongyao apologized to Liu Qingqing. At this moment, he truly realized that his beautiful wife, who was ten years younger than him, was really a good person. He did not know what had blinded him before, making him often beat and scold her.

"Ah... Rongyao, are you okay?"

Liu Qingqing was taken aback. In the year she had been in this house, her husband had only ever beaten and scolded her, never saying "I'm sorry." Suddenly hearing him apologize, Liu Qingqing was shocked. She even suspected that he was still drunk and talking nonsense.

"I'm fine, Qingqing. I was foolish and ignorant in the past. From now on, I won't beat or scold you anymore. Can you forgive me?"

Ye Rongyao said seriously. Part of it was to complete the system's task, but another part was from his heart. Although he had not finished junior high school, he knew that his bought wife was a very talented woman. It was truly inhumane of him to treat her so poorly.

"Let's not talk about that. Rongyao, you should wash your face and have breakfast."

Liu Qingqing looked at her husband strangely and said calmly. Although she was surprised by his words, she did not easily believe him. Who knew if he was just talking nonsense in a moment of impulse?

"Yes, wife."

Ye Rongyao immediately responded, got up, and washed up. He knew his wife would not easily believe his words of repentance. He only had 24 hours, and he dared not disobey his wife. If he could not show concern for his wife and make her feel touched within 24 hours, he would be "humanely terminated."

It was the first time Liu Qingqing had heard her husband call her "wife" in such a manner. Although she was surprised, she did not think much of it and turned to leave the room to prepare breakfast. Her husband was a lazy man, and he needed everything done for him, even for breakfast. When his parents were alive, his mother used to do these things. Now that the elders were gone, the responsibility of taking care of her husband fell on Liu Qingqing.

If her family, classmates, and friends saw her married so young and serving her husband every day, they would be shocked. Liu Qingqing thought about it and dared not think further. She felt that she would never return to her familiar city or have any contact with her past.

For the rest of her life, she would stay in this poor village, serving this lazy man as a village woman. Perhaps, when her old acquaintances saw her again, they would not recognize her as the former "school beauty."

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