“Huh? What is this place?”
Yun Xi opened her eyes and realized she was not in her own room. Everything around her looked completely unfamiliar. She clearly remembered checking the seedlings in her experimental field when she suddenly felt the world spinning before losing consciousness. Was she in a hospital now? But hospitals usually had white walls and that strong disinfectant smell.
She slowly turned her head and discovered, to her shock, that she was inside a thatched hut. Judging by the layout, someone obviously lived here. Could a nearby farmer have rescued her from the experiment field? No… who still lived in such a rundown hut nowadays? Calling it a house was already generous—the roof had holes large enough to see the sky outside, sunlight seeping through in strands. The walls were patched with uneven layers of mud, clearly washed down repeatedly by rain.
Inside, there was only a single bed—one she was currently lying on—a wooden table that had already lost its original color, an oil lamp, a cloudy mirror, and a cup of steaming liquid.
What was this place? She remembered very clearly that although the experimental field was on the outskirts of the city, it wasn’t anywhere this poor.
Then she recalled her sudden dizziness and blackout. Had she been kidnapped? Her hand instinctively reached for the hard object strapped to her left arm. Good, it was still there. Her “breadwinning tool” was still intact—maybe she could use it when the kidnappers showed up.
At that moment, the door creaked open. A woman in her fifties walked in carrying a steaming bowl.
“Xier, you’re awake! Thank goodness. Your father will be so relieved. Come, have something to eat. I secretly took these seeds meant for next year’s planting to make this for you. Don’t tell your father.”
The old woman helped Yun Xi sit up and placed the bowl at her lips. Inside was a thin, clear rice soup with only a few lonely grains floating in it.
Yun Xi blinked in confusion, her mind foggy. Where was she? Why did everything look like a scene from primitive times? Since when were kidnappers so considerate as to feed their hostages?
“Old lady… where is this?” Her voice was hoarse from just waking up.
“Xier, what nonsense are you saying? I’m your mother.”
The woman anxiously touched Yun Xi’s forehead—not feverish, yet something seemed wrong.
“My… mother? You’re my mother?” Yun Xi’s confusion deepened. What kind of situation was this? She had lost her parents when she was young and was raised by her uncle. How did she suddenly gain a mother? What kind of international joke was this?
Wait—no. This wasn’t kidnapping.
Could it be… she actually transmigrated, just like in novels?
“M…Mother…” Yun Xi forced the word out. “Um… what year is it now?”
“This child! A little illness and you start talking nonsense? How could you forget? It’s the fifteenth year of Fengli.”
“Fengli? What’s that supposed to mean?” Yun Xi felt even more lost.
“What’s gotten into you, child? Are you possessed? No, this won’t do—I must fetch the doctor!”
The old woman put the bowl down, laid Yun Xi flat on the bed, and hurried out of the hut.
Yun Xi replayed everything she had just seen and heard and reached one shocking conclusion—
She hadn’t been kidnapped. She had definitely transmigrated!
Transmigrated into an unknown country… and into an unbelievably poor household! A poverty level so extreme it was almost tragic.
Fifteenth year of Fengli? Fengli Kingdom? There was no such country in any history book she knew of.
She wanted to see what she looked like now, but her body was too weak to get up. She lowered her gaze to her hands instead—small palms, sallow skin, bones jutting out, nails with barely any moon marks. Severely malnourished.
Yun Xi frowned. In this situation, she couldn’t come up with any immediate plan. The best she could do was follow the old “amnesia” trope often used in novels.
She wasn’t someone who cried over fate. She had always been adaptable. Losing her parents early, growing up in someone else’s home, enduring hardship, swallowing her pride—she learned long ago to rely only on herself.
Now, it seemed she would have to rely on herself once again.