On a remote path overgrown with weeds, a sturdy middle-aged woman was angrily cursing and dragging the arm of a tall, skinny man forward. Behind them, a raggedly dressed child stumbled along, trying to follow their pace.
The woman’s sharp voice pierced through the treetops that startled numerous birds.
“Are you a fool? Are you a debt collector sent by the heavens? He doesn’t want you, so you kneel down and beg? He still won’t agree? Then go and die at his doorstep! Why return to your mother’s house? You have no shame! Our Hua family still cares about reputation. Do you think you’re qualified to marry into a decent family? Forget about your pockmarked face, just look at this little monster you’re bringing along. Who would want you? Who would dare take you? If Qu Qing dared to flirt with you, then you should stay stubbornly at his place. I don’t believe he won’t acknowledge it!”
The man’s lips turned pale as he looked at the woman with resistance and pleading, almost on the verge of tears. “Mother… I’ve already been driven out. He won’t accept me. If I’m driven out again, I’ll die. Please don’t drive me away. I’ll do any work, and you can reduce mine and Mao’er [1]“Mao’er” (猫儿) literally means “cat child” or “cat son.” It’s often used affectionately or playfully to refer to a character, possibly highlighting … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3527576_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3527576_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });’s food by half in the future. Please, Mother… don’t drive me away…”
The woman halted abruptly, turned to look at him, and with a complex gaze, reached out to touch his hair. Her eyes fell on the red cloth tied around his hair – today, it was his only dowry, and also his wedding dress.
She said, “Gou’er, don’t blame your parents for being heartless. We’ve raised you for eighteen years, and even allowed you to feed this little monster with four years’ worth of our family’s food. In any village or town, any family would consider this more than generous. Besides, where in the world does a grown man not marry? If you can’t marry and stay at your mother’s, it would shame our ancestors and disgrace them in their graves. Moreover, if people see our eldest son living at home, still carrying along a burden, who would dare propose marriage to our family? Haven’t you thought about your siblings?”
The man called “Gou’er” [2]“Gou’er” (狗儿) literally means “dog child” or “dog son.” it’s a nickname, likely used affectionately or derisively to refer to the man, emphasizing … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3527576_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3527576_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });” tightly bit his lower lip, unable to utter a single word of rebuttal, his heart aching with waves of sorrow.
There was a moment of silent stillness, standing in place.
At this moment, the child behind them, who had stumbled several times and now bore scratches from the stones, but still chased after them without a whimper, finally caught up. The child
quietly raised his head for a quick glance in the direction of the man, then quickly lowered it head again, quickened his steps to reach the man’s side, avoiding the woman. He tightly grasped the man’s hand on the other side, his small, cold hand trembled constantly.
Feeling the little boy’s fear, the man squeezed his hand even tighter.
The woman cast a cold glance at the frail, dirty, and injured child, her eyes filled with accustomed indifference. He wasn’t her child, nor did they share any blood relation, so she felt no sympathy. She continued:
“You know the situation at home. Your sisters and younger brothers are all married or about to be. We can’t afford to support two extra people anymore. I don’t want to scold or drive you away, but I have no choice. Although Qu Qing is not a decent person, at least his family has some land. Follow him, serve him like an ox or a horse, pouring tea, massaging his shoulders, enduring his beatings and scoldings. As long as he lets you stay and gives you food to eat, at least… you won’t starve. Do you understand?”
‘Gou’er’ looked at his mother, who had never shown such tenderness before, but there was no joy in his heart because he knew he was being completely abandoned. That’s why he was being treated so kindly now. But… he would rather be like before, a beast working tirelessly day and night, enduring beatings and insults. At least then, he had a home.
A child playing in the countryside noticed the red cloth on his head and saw his spiritless, ugly face. Immediately understanding the situation, the child loudly and exaggeratedly started laughing and making fun.
“Come quick, everyone! The Hua family’s vicious Gou’er is being given away! The freak and the little monster! Even if they give them away for free, no one wants them!”
After hearing this, the woman angrily drove away the brats and hurriedly pulled her son deeper into the mountains.
‘Gou’er’ stumbled along, half-dazed while dragged forward. In the past, if anyone dared to insult his Mao’er, he would have fiercely confronted those brats like a protective mother hen. But today… he had no energy left to pay attention to such things.
He didn’t even know if he could survive the day with Mao’er.
Qu Qing lay semi-conscious. Before fully waking up, he smelled a strong stench of sweat that made him wish his sense of smell had failed its function. His body felt heavy, and he struggled to control it. After who knew how long, he managed to force his eyelids open. The first thing he saw was… a thatched roof?
This realization struck him, and he sat up abruptly, wide-eyed, looking around—besides the wooden plank bed he lay on, the dirty, cramped room contained only a rickety square table, two long benches, and a worn-out cabinet that barely passed as furniture. Most other things appeared to be junk.
The uneven walls made of adobe looked as though they might collapse at any moment, and the thatched roof allowed sunlight to filter into the room, casting scattered patches of light on the floor. His chest heaved violently, unsure of what expression to make in the face of this situation.
He decided to get out of bed and take a look outside. As he pushed himself up from the bed, the sensation under his hand made him look down in surprise. He saw that the bed he had slept on was actually filled with straw, and the bedding on top was not only thin but also emitted a strange, foul odor, as if it hadn’t been washed for hundreds of years!
Qu Qing, who loved cleanliness, felt somewhat on the verge of a breakdown. After calming his emotions, he lowered his head and tried to pretend to be calm as he struggled to put on the tattered cloth shoes beside the bed. The moment his feet touched inside, he felt a squishy sensation. Stooping down and taking off the shoes, he found them filled with dirty sand and mud. Suppressing his disgust, he shook off the dirt and reluctantly put the shoes back on. Standing up, he surveyed the dirty and messy surroundings and then walked outside.
The door was wide open, and the weather outside was fine, indicating that it was almost noon. Outside the house was a courtyard enclosed by adobe walls about two meters high, also wide open to the outside. It seemed the previous owner wasn’t afraid of theft at all. But then he thought again—with the house so poor, thieves probably wouldn’t bother to come, so why be afraid of theft? Thus, leaving the door wide open while sleeping seemed to make sense under such circumstances.
In the courtyard stood a pear tree, currently in full bloom with snow-white flowers. The wind blowing in also carried a hint of the early spring’s lingering chill, despite the warming days.
Standing in the yard, Qu Qing looked around the surroundings and noticed a large mountain behind the house. It was covered with wildflowers in various vibrant colors, exuding a natural beauty that spoke of untamed wilderness. The air was fresh, which somewhat eased the bad mood he had felt upon waking up to the harsh environment.
He saw two more rooms beside the main house. Upon entering them, he ‘wasn’t disappointed’. One was still a dirty and disorderly woodshed that doubled as a kitchen. In one corner stood a large jar containing rice. Opening it revealed about a third left, which might suffice for a while. Suddenly, he noticed something moving inside the rice. Upon closer inspection, he was shocked to find… rice weevils! And there’s quite a few of them!
For the first time, the good upbringing Qu Qing felt an urge to curse.
With a clang, he quickly closed the lid of the rice jar and took a deep breath. Stay calm, I need to stay calm!
Turning around and walking out, he decided to check the other room. Pushing open the door, he found it covered in dust. This room had only a small, high window open. In the center of the room were several clean bags filled with various items, which seemed somewhat out of place compared to the poor environment here. He went over to inspect and found that the bags contained seeds for three crops: potatoes, corn, and rice.
Looking at these items, he immediately remembered the small advertisement he had seen on the wall before he crossed over:
[Sincerely recruiting, excellent treatment, annual salary of one million, full social benefits, private estate, beautiful companions, work for ten years and retire. What are you waiting for!!]
If he hadn’t been desperate, he wouldn’t have given such an advertisement a second glance. At that time, he went, thinking that at worst, it would be the end of his life, trying his luck and perhaps finding a way out.
The mysterious man had told him that he would never lie, but it needed clarification: the one million annual salary was before taxes, and after deducting living expenses and taxes, the actual take-home amount he would get would only be 300,000. The money could be paid in full at once, but an important point had to be clarified beforehand: the location and nature of the work he was about to undertake for ten years were quite unique. It was in ancient times, living like an ancient person without any golden fingers [3]“golden fingers” (金手指) refers to special abilities, cheats, or advantages that the protagonist has, making them more powerful or successful than ordinary characters. These can … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3527576_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3527576_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); or external help, relying solely on his own abilities to survive for ten years in ancient times. In addition, there was a condition: the money he saved up during those ten years in ancient times could be exchanged for the equivalent value in modern currency based on purchasing power.
In fact, Qu Qing had actually figured out halfway through that the other party was most likely a scammer, perhaps even someone with serious mental issues. However, when he heard that the money could be paid in full upfront, he felt a twinge of excitement and tentatively agreed, but asked the other party to transfer the money first.
What he didn’t expect was that the person readily took him to the bank without hesitation, promptly transferring three million into his account, and gave him five days’ time before the job would start.
At that moment, he still didn’t believe it. But because of the strange uneasiness in his heart, he immediately went to the hospital and cleared all his debts and prepaid for his mother’s hospitalization and treatment for the next ten years. He entrusted the remaining money to a friend, requesting that if anything happened to him, the friend would visit his mother annually.
On the fifth day, when he woke up and confirmed he was still in the modern world, he thought that the mysterious person must indeed have serious mental issues. Planning to confront the person and discreetly obtain their contact information to discuss returning the money. However, as soon as he saw the other party, he lost consciousness, and seemed to vaguely hear words like: “The seeds are prepared.”
Now, it appeared that the food he was seeing was actually seeds for this year.
Now he felt a bit afraid. Fortunately, he had made all the arrangements in advance. Otherwise, if he had truly disappeared suddenly and arrived here, what would happen to his mother?
Recalling the conditions stated in the advertisement, he matched them one by one. Annual salary of one million—well, realistically it was three hundred thousand, but let’s assume it was true. Full social benefits—apparently, the other party had made him sign a similar contract, so let’s assume it was true. Private estate—he searched around and indeed found several property deeds. This shabby thatched house plus a few acres of land… let’s assume it was true. Overall, although the environment was very poor, astonishingly, the conditions mentioned in that advertisement were mostly true.
Now, all he had to do was endure for ten years. If things went well, he might even be able to earn some money to bring back.
After recognizing the environment and his current situation, he quickly came out from the gap between imagination and reality. He rolled up his sleeves, and prepared to give this dilapidated and dirty home a thorough cleaning. Suddenly, a sharp female voice came from outside the door.
“Qu Qing! Get out here!”
Qu Qing was somewhat surprised. How did the people here know his name? It was then that he realized he still didn’t know whether he had transmigrated into someone else’s body with his soul or had come with his own body. Without time to think further, he walked out and saw a middle-aged woman standing outside, accompanied by a man with a red cloth tied around his hair. Behind them was a timid child, hiding behind the man.
As soon as the middle-aged woman saw him, her expression turned fierce, putting on a menacing appearance. She roughly pushed the man beside her forward until he was in front of
Qu Qing. Seeing the man about to fall, Qu Qing instinctively took a step forward and helped him up. He frowned at the woman’s actions and asked, “What do you mean by this?”
The woman was surprised to see him voluntarily assisting her son, but she also sensed there might be something to gain from this situation.
The man helped up by Qu Qing seemed intimidated by his displeased tone. He shrank back momentarily, glanced up at Qu Qing, then quickly lowered his head and stepped back a few paces. The child, seeing this, cautiously approached and tightly held onto his hand, continuing to hide behind him. From the direction he was avoiding, Qu Qing could tell that the child seemed to fear him.
At that moment when the man glanced up at him, Qu Qing noticed that his face was covered with acne, which looked quite unsightly. However, Qu Qing himself had experienced acne before, so he didn’t show any particular expression upon seeing it.
The woman raised her voice times higher, “What do I mean? I also want to ask you what you mean! You’ve tarnished the innocence of my son. Today, you think you can just walk away without acknowledging it? Let me tell you, no way! Today, my son has entered your household. Whether he lives or dies, he belongs to your Qu family. Today, you must acknowledge it, willingly or not!”
The middle-aged woman finished speaking like that, then left, leaving her son and the little child behind.
Qu Qing looked at the child who appeared to be about three or four years old, thinking to himself, ‘The original owner’s son is already this big?’
Wait a minute!
Is this child really this man’s son? Otherwise, how could there be talk of “tarnishing innocence” and “acknowledging responsibility”?
Isn’t this too surreal? But considering that crossing into another world has become a reality, perhaps a man giving birth to a child isn’t that surprising too.
Suddenly, he remembered the last line he had missed on that advertisement. “A beautiful companion”… It seems there is a companion too, as for beauty…
Let’s just assume this is true for now. When he thinks about it, surprisingly, not a single thing that mysterious person said turned out to be a complete lie.
Qu Qing sighed softly, turned around, and walked into the house. After a few steps, sensing no movement behind him, he turned his head and said to the two standing dumbfounded outside, “Come in.”
The two outside were both stunned.
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