Thud——
……
Thud——
Shen Song sat up from the floor, rubbing his forehead.
He looked around in a daze, and finally came eye to eye with four little kids on the bed board.
After being stunned for a moment, Shen Song remembered that he had transmigrated.
He had transmigrated to an ancient era short of food and clothing, so poor it could make people cry.
Shen Song knew that he had completely merged into this body, and a Space-Time Tunnel wasn't something you could just stumble upon at will—even if he did find one, he couldn't leave this body behind.
There was no way he could leave this place and return to the Interstellar Era.
Come to think of it, he had at least undergone survival training on a Desolate Planet. No matter how hard things got, could they really be worse than a Desolate Planet—surrounded by yellow sand on all sides, with harsh climates and monsters lurking everywhere ready to attack at any moment?
Shen Song pushed himself up against the door panel and stood, feeling that he needed to pull himself together.
Not everyone was lucky enough to transmigrate to ancient times and witness what the ancient era looked like, along with its long-lost culture.
The culture lost in the long river of time was something they could never imagine from the few scattered written records that remained.
Now that he had come here, maybe he could see it for himself.
There were no monster attacks here, no yellow sand in every direction, and the climate wasn't harsh.
He'd heard that food ingredients in ancient times were incredibly abundant—thousands upon thousands of varieties, while the Interstellar Era had barely a hundred or so.
Thinking this way, Shen Song found it a little easier to accept.
But good intentions aside, he was so hungry he felt dizzy. The moment he stood up, he collapsed back onto the bed board like a limp noodle.
Hungry—so hungry—
Shen Song clutched his stomach, breaking out in a cold sweat from hunger.
Culture could wait. Right now, all he wanted was to fill his belly and get something to eat.
At this moment, Shen Song deeply regretted secretly dumping out his Nutrient Solution back then because he didn't like drinking it.
If he had some Nutrient Solution now, he would drink it down to the very last drop.
Of the four kids on the bed board, two were three years old, one was two, and one was only a year old.
Shen Wuxi was the daughter of the eldest son of the Shen family, and Shen Siping was the ge’er child of the Shen family's fifth son's household.
The two of them each watched over a younger brother, keeping them from crawling onto Shen Song.
This was the task Shen Sanqiu had given them when he got up, and the two children were taking it very seriously. They had marked out a zone for the little ones, and whenever they crossed the line even a little, they would push them back.
Shen Song lay on the bed board clutching his stomach, watching the four children.
Big heads, small bodies, thin little limbs.
What the four children wore could barely be called clothes—really just rags covered in patches. Far too big and ill-fitting.
Three-year-old Shen Wuxi and Shen Siping weren't as active, so the large rags wrapped around them still managed to cover them.
The other two, at one or two years old, were at the active, crawling-everywhere stage. If Shen Wuxi and Shen Siping didn't now and then pull the cloth back up, they would have long since been completely bare.
But they couldn't actually take the clothes off—the weather was still a bit cold. If they caught a chill, the family had no copper coins for a doctor.
Not only would they suffer for nothing, they might even die from it.
Shen Song's eyes fixed on Shen Siping, and on the forehead of Shen Liurui, who, the more he was kept from crawling over, the more he wanted to crawl over.
On their foreheads there was a red mole.
Though the color wasn't very vivid—more of a dark red.
Shen Song remembered that Sanqiu had the same red mole on his forehead. And it wasn't just Sanqiu—at dinner yesterday, he had vaguely noticed red moles on the foreheads of the two adults as well.
At this moment, relevant memories surfaced in Shen Song's mind.
When Shen Song learned what that red mark meant, his eyes went wide.
It turned out this place had three genders: men, women, and ge’er.
Ge’er looked like men but weren't men, because they could bear children.
Those with a red mark between their brows were ge’er.
That red mark was called a Fertility Mark—the more vivid its color, the more easily one could bear children.
Shen Song was stunned.
In the Interstellar Era, reproduction didn't require the mother to carry the child herself. Parents only needed to provide egg and sperm cells, which were injected directly into a Gestation Pod. After that, one simply waited ten months before the child could be taken out of the Gestation Pod.
So this was the ancient era, when babies still needed to be carried and born from a human body.
And according to the memories, this body was also a ge’er.
Shen Song clutched his stomach—not from hunger this time, but as he rebuilt his entire worldview.
He could actually carry a baby in his belly?!
Shen Sanqiu had finished sweeping the courtyard and came inside to check on things. Seeing Shen Song clutching his stomach and staring blankly at the roof beams, Shen Sanqiu shook his head with a maturity beyond his young years.
He was imitating the adults of the household, pitying that his little uncle was a simpleton.
Although everyone in the family thought the little uncle was a simpleton, no one ever said it out loud, for fear of upsetting Grandpa and Grandma.
Shen Sanqiu stepped into the room and asked Shen Song as if coaxing a child, "Little Uncle, what are you looking at? Are you holding your stomach because it hurts? Should I rub it for you?"
Shen Song came back to his senses and looked at Shen Sanqiu, his gaze landing on the red mark between the boy's brows before moving away. He saw how small the boy was, how thin—only about ten years old—yet in his memories, he had long since begun helping out with the household chores.
Now he handled all the sweeping and washing inside and out, cooking and taking care of the children—all of it was on him.
Shen Song sat up, his head spinning with dizziness.
After recovering for a while, he asked Shen Sanqiu, "Sanqiu, is there anything to eat?"
He rubbed his stomach and said pitifully, "I'm so hungry."
As soon as he said it, Shen Song regretted it.
A scene of the family's meals surfaced in his mind—on days when they didn't work, they only ate that one meal in the evening.
Realizing he had put Shen Sanqiu in a difficult position, he was about to tell him not to worry about it when Shen Sanqiu told Shen Wuxi and Shen Siping to keep an eye on their little brother, then pulled him outside and pressed a small wild-vegetable ball into his hand.
Shen Sanqiu had been holding that wild-vegetable ball clenched in his hand the whole time, not daring to let the children see it.
"Grandma told me to save this for you, Little Uncle. She said your health is poor and you need nourishment to get better."
The wild-vegetable ball in Shen Song's palm was still a little warm—not from the ball itself, but from Shen Sanqiu's hand.
Seeing that Shen Song wasn't eating, Shen Sanqiu held out his palm to show him.
"I washed my hands specially, so it's not dirty. Eat it, Little Uncle. Once you eat, you won't be hungry, and if you're not hungry, your body can get better."
Before Shen Song's eyes appeared a pair of small hands, with thin calluses on the palms—clearly hands that worked often. There were also scars from the work, with dirt ground in so deep that even after washing, faint marks could still be seen.
He heard the faint sound of Shen Sanqiu swallowing, along with the hungry rumbling of the boy's stomach that he couldn't suppress no matter how hard he tried.
Shen Sanqiu heard his own stomach growl too, and he hurriedly walked away—otherwise, the more he looked at the wild-vegetable ball, the hungrier he got.
The moment he turned around, a thin, bony hand reached over from behind his head, fingers pinching off a small piece of the wild-vegetable ball.
Shen Song said, "Sanqiu, you're hungry too. Eat."
Shen Sanqiu swallowed, shaking his head. "I'm in good health. I don't need to eat."
"But you're hungry. If you don't eat, I'd feel bad eating by myself," Shen Song said honestly.
Shen Sanqiu turned his head and looked at Shen Song with some puzzlement.
His little uncle seemed to have changed—he'd become talkative.
He hardly used to open his mouth at all.
And he'd become considerate, too. Shen Sanqiu smiled and, a little embarrassed, accepted the small wild-vegetable ball.
"Then I'll eat with my little brothers and sisters."
"I set some aside for them. That one in your hand is yours," Shen Song said, holding up the wild-vegetable balls he had left. He had calculated the portions long ago—everyone got a share.
Back in the room, the four children watched the two of them return with eager eyes.
They had heard their little uncle ask if there was anything to eat, and then Third Brother had pulled him away.
They must have gone out to eat something, and it wasn't for them.
Shen Wuxi and Shen Siping, who were just as hungry, hadn't gotten out of bed to follow. They knew how hard things were at home—only the adults who worked in the fields got to eat twice a day, morning and evening.
For the little ones like them, there was only one meal a day, in the evening.
The two youngest had wanted to follow along. They were too young to really understand; they'd only heard their little uncle say he wanted something to eat, and Third Brother had taken him out.
They wanted to eat too.
But Shen Wuxi and Shen Siping had stopped them.
The four children thought their little uncle had come back after finishing his food, but instead, he popped a bite of wild-vegetable ball into each of their mouths.
Shen Wuxi and Shen Siping stared blankly at Shen Song, not even daring to chew. Both were stunned—they hadn't expected to get any.
The two little ones were already chewing away happily. To them, this stuff wasn't bad at all—it was a rare treat, something hard to come by.
Something only adults got to eat.
Shen Song smiled and urged Shen Wuxi and Shen Siping to eat quickly, then popped the last small bite into his own mouth and chewed.
It really was awful.
Shen Song frowned as he finished chewing and swallowed the small bite of wild-vegetable ball. The balls had wheat bran mixed in, and he nearly choked swallowing it.
He had to get up and bounce around a couple of times to get it down. Afterward, he felt rather regretful—he'd finally gotten a bite to eat, but all that bouncing had burned off most of the energy.
That little mouthful of wild-vegetable ball did nothing to fill his stomach at all.
He'd have to find more food.
Shen Song asked Shen Sanqiu, "Where do you dig up these wild greens? Can we go dig some?"
"We dig them at the foot of the mountain," Shen Sanqiu said. "Grandma and Auntie dig them and bring them home."
Shen Sanqiu would have liked to go digging during the day too, but he had to stay home and watch his little brothers and sisters and their little uncle.
Although Wuxi and Siping could look after the two little ones, they couldn't manage their little uncle.
And he didn't dare take their little uncle out, afraid he wouldn't be able to keep an eye on him.
Hearing this, Shen Song said, "Sanqiu, let's go dig wild greens. More food means we can eat a bit fuller tonight."
Shen Sanqiu hesitated. If he'd dared to take their little uncle out, he would have done so long ago.
But ever since last night, their little uncle seemed different from usual—no longer with that dull, slow-witted air.
Recalling Shen Song's behavior and words, Shen Sanqiu wondered—could his little uncle's soul be whole now? Was he no longer simple-minded?
Shen Sanqiu couldn't be sure, but Shen Song was determined to go out and dig up plenty of wild greens to eat.
He went to find a bamboo basket, assuming that Shen Sanqiu's earlier hesitation was because if they all left, there'd be no one to look after the children at home.
Shen Song slung the bamboo basket over his arm and said to Shen Sanqiu, "Sanqiu, stay home and watch your little brothers and sisters. Uncle's going out to dig wild greens!"
Shen Sanqiu was startled at this and stopped deliberating. He told Wuxi and Siping to keep a good eye on their little brother and not leave the house, then immediately grabbed another bamboo basket and chased after him.
Shenjiagou, nestled between mountains and water, was a rather nice place.
Every household in the village lived in thatched cottages with fenced yards—no family stood out in particular.
Still, even by the standard of thatched cottages and fenced yards, the Shen family's cottage was simply too run-down.
Looking at it from outside, Shen Song felt it wasn't a house fit for living in, but a mound of earth about to collapse.
Along the way, Shen Song was full of curiosity.
The flowers, grass, and trees here were all real—not virtual, or fakes made to imitate the appearance and scent of the real thing.
There was so much land here too. Everything beneath his feet was actual soil.
Unlike in the Interstellar Era, where one had to purchase such soil from specialized planets. Because of the steep price, even their academy, as a top agricultural academy in the interstellar world, had only two experimental fields.
Though the soil in those fields was excellent, Shen Song had never much liked the earthy smell.
Shen Sanqiu took in the sight of his uncle looking around curiously at everything, and for a moment couldn't tell whether his uncle had recovered or not.
The two of them walked for nearly half an hour before reaching the foot of the mountain.
Shen Sanqiu didn't know many wild greens either, but he knew the few kinds the family ate regularly.
Others had long since come to dig wild greens at the foot of the mountain. Since the adults all had to work in the fields, those who came out were all quite young.
They were mostly older girls or young ge’er, bringing along their little brothers and sisters.
Once boys got a bit older, they had to go work in the fields with the adults.
When the children digging wild greens saw Shen Song and Shen Sanqiu, their faces turned unfriendly.
Shen Sanqiu, under their disdainful gazes, lowered his head and silently walked toward a more out-of-the-way spot.
Shen Song hadn't noticed those looks at all; he'd been absorbed in the real natural scenery around him—blue skies and white clouds, mountains and water, birdsong and the fragrance of flowers.
Seeing Shen Sanqiu head toward a shady spot off to the side, Shen Song caught up and asked, puzzled, "Sanqiu, the wild greens were growing really well back there. Everyone else is digging over there too—we could chat with them, and we'd have sunshine so we wouldn't be cold."
Shen Sanqiu was now certain his uncle hadn't recovered—he didn't even know the villagers looked down on them.
"It's too crowded with so many people. I want to dig somewhere with fewer people."
Although Shen Song would have preferred a sunny spot with more people, hearing that something was off in Shen Sanqiu's voice, he followed him to the shady area anyway.
The wild greens here barely got any sunlight, so they grew poorly and were sparse.
The family had no other farm tools, so they could only dig the wild greens with their bare hands.
After digging up just a few, Shen Song's fingers already ached badly.
His hands were covered in mud, so he couldn't tell whether he'd hurt himself. Seeing that Shen Sanqiu kept his head down digging, with half again as much in his basket as Shen Song had, he gave up on the idea of going to the river to wash his hands and check.
If he dug less, Shen Sanqiu would have to dig more.
Whether in the Interstellar Era or now, he was older than Shen Sanqiu.
It wasn't that he needed to do better than Shen Sanqiu, but at the very least he shouldn't hold him back and make a younger child suffer more on his behalf.