Meng Wan changed the bathwater three times before he could scrub all the mud off his body. While he was washing, he noticed a strange-looking thing that looked like a string bean next to the tub. He picked it up and smelled it, but it didn’t smell. He rubbed it on his hands and found that it produced some foam.
Is this soapberry? Meng Wan used the beans to take a bath and was pleasantly surprised to find that they actually cleaned him. He thought he would have to scrub dry, but he didn’t expect there to be an auxiliary tool. Not bad, not bad.
The south side of the cabin has a wooden window. There is no bed, but a kang (heated platform bed) with two sides against the walls and one side against the window. It is not as large as the master bedroom and is similar to a modern tatami mat, but it is higher.
On the north side was a desk, a tall cabinet, and a chair. A long robe and a pair of gray underpants were draped over the chair. Meng Wan picked up the clothes after taking a shower and was about to put them on when he found a small piece of cloth that had fallen out. There were four straps on it. He held it up to his body in disbelief and found that it was a bellyband!
Embarrassed, he wiped his face and finally realized his current identity and gender. He studied how to put the things on. It seemed to be made of cotton and was quite comfortable to wear. The outer robe was too loose and the sleeves were too long. He rolled it up twice and finally realized that if he didn’t wear that thing, he would easily expose himself.
He opened the back door, poured the dirty water from the bucket into the corner, tidied up his things and put them back in their original places, before opening the kitchen door and going out.
”Aunt Song, are these clothes for me?” Meng Wan asked timidly, his long hair still wet.
There were two jujube trees in the yard, with a hemp rope tied between them. Chang Jinhua was hanging clothes on them when she heard this and turned around. She was stunned by what she saw.
Meng Wan’s originally round face had become noticeably thinner due to the harsh conditions on the road. At this moment, his chin was pointed and his waist was slender. Although his skin hadn’t darkened much because he spent most of his time in the car, it was still a shade darker than when he was serving people in the mansion. In this remote mountain village in the north, this skin tone was already considered astonishing.
What stands out most is not these features, but Meng Wan’s exquisite and beautiful features. His eyebrows are thick, dark and long without being plucked, his eyes are not round but resemble peach blossoms, his nose is high and straight with a small tip, his lips are neither too big nor too small and have a slightly light color, his philtrum is full and plump, and the birthmark that all men have is a bright red one, bigger than a sesame seed but smaller than a grain of rice, clearly set under the corner of his eye, a few millimeters away from the tear mole.
He is younger than in his previous life and deliberately tries to act well-behaved, with his head slightly lowered and his dark eyes trembling uneasily. Coupled with his androgynous beauty, he is truly dazzling.
Even Chang Jinhua, who was used to keeping a straight face all year round, couldn’t help but open her mouth wide and stare wide-eyed at this scene. My goodness, what did I buy from the slave trader?
”You…you…who are you?”
”My name is Meng Wan.”
He’s not some ugly slave!!!
Chang Jinhua withdrew her chin and cleared her throat twice. “Ahem… those are my eldest son’s clothes from two years ago. We don’t have any extra coarse cloth at home right now, so you can wear his for now.”
”Oh.” Meng Wan stood there, at a loss.
”Aunt Song… Aunt Song.”
”Yes,” Chang Jinhua replied quickly.
”What do you want me to do now?” Meng Wan asked nervously.
Chang Jinhua was now completely satisfied with him. “There’s not much work to do in the fields right now, and even if there were, you wouldn’t be able to do it. It’s getting late, so help me light the fire while I cook.”
There was grain in the cupboard in the main room. Chang Jinhua originally intended to scoop out the coarse rice as usual, but thinking of Meng Wan’s slender waist, she opened another smaller cloth bag, scooped out half a gourd ladle of fine rice, and put it directly into the pot with water to cook without washing it.
Meng Wan obediently added firewood to the stove, but Chang Jinhua couldn’t stand it and reminded him, “Once the water in the pot boils, you don’t need to add any more firewood. Do you really think it’s easy for me to gather firewood?”
When Meng Wan arrived at her house, he really acted like a pampered young master who knew nothing of the hardships of life. It was only after Chang Jinhua reminded him that he realized firewood wasn’t inexhaustible.
”How about I go up the mountain to collect firewood tomorrow?” he tentatively suggested.
”No need for that. Besides, the firewood is all wet now, and it will take a lot of effort to dry it. There will be plenty of time after the autumn harvest, and you won’t be able to avoid going then.”
Chang Jinhua didn’t want him to go out for a while; aside from anything else, his face was a problem even before they got married.
Thinking about it this way, Chang Jinhua felt it wasn’t quite right. She felt that Meng Wan didn’t seem like someone who could settle down and live a stable life, and she needed to observe him further.
The aroma of polished rice quickly filled the kitchen. Meng Wan squatted by the stove and swallowed hard. He had been eating unleavened flatbread and water for months and had long forgotten what rice tasted like. Today, he had only drunk a sip of water. The damned slave trader even skimped on half a flatbread for him.
The open space near the gate of the courtyard had been cultivated into a vegetable garden. Stones and yellow mud were piled up to knee height, and half-meter-long brambles were stuck on top. Chang Jinhua opened the garden gate, picked a handful of celery from the vegetable garden, and picked two cucumbers from the melon trellis against the wall.
Back at the pot, Chang Jinhua ladled the porridge into a basin, washed the pot, and asked Meng Wan to add more firewood. She dipped a corner of a wooden spatula into the oil jar and put it into the bottom of the pot. She cut the celery into long sections, washed it twice with water, and threw it into the pot. The strange aroma of the vegetables burst forth. Chang Jinhua only added half a spoonful of salt, stirred it a few times with the wooden spatula, and then ladled it into a plate.
Cucumbers are even simpler to prepare: smash them, cut them into chunks, add a little salt, and stir them a couple of times with chopsticks.
”Okay, let’s eat.”
Meng Wan had been waiting for her to say those words. There was a wooden basin for washing hands and face next to the water vat. He scooped water to wash his hands before going into the house to help Chang Jinhua serve the food.
Chang Jinhua was considered one of the cleanest people in the village, but upon seeing her, she couldn’t help but mutter, “He’s quite particular.”
Meng Wan lost both parents at a young age and grew up in the home of his second uncle and aunt. They supported his schooling and provided him with food and clothing. However, his second aunt would occasionally scold him and make veiled accusations.
He had seen his cousin act coquettishly towards his second aunt, and the three of them seemed to be enjoying each other’s company. He had envied them, but he knew that those things were ultimately not his own. Living under someone else’s roof was not a good life. When he was eighteen and passed the college entrance exam, his second uncle only said that he had fulfilled his responsibilities and kicked him out of the house, never mentioning the 600,000 yuan inheritance left to him by his parents.
Meng Wan did not argue. He picked up a few of his clothes and left the “home” where he had lived for more than ten years. It was not that he was weak, but that he had only this one relative in the world and did not want to give up his last hope. If he were to choose again, it would be a fool not to sue his uncle and make him cough up his inheritance!
To get back to the point, Meng Wan’s habit of constantly having to read people’s faces made him overthink things. Even when he was starving, he didn’t touch his chopsticks until Chang Jinhua sat down.
Chang Jinhua brought over the porridge that had been cooling aside, scooped up a solid spoonful of thick rice from the bottom of the bowl, and said, “Start eating! What are you standing there for?”
”I’ll wait for Aunt Song to eat together.”
Chang Jinhua ladled a bowl of thin soup into her own bowl, a slight smile playing on her lips. “Alright, eat up.”
Seeing her sit down and take the first bite, Meng Wan quickly picked up his bowl and drank a mouthful of rice porridge.
Ah! It smells delicious!
Meng Wan was almost moved to tears. It was so delicious that he drank half a bowl of porridge in one go before taking a moment to pick up a piece of stir-fried celery.
This is delicious too!
Meng Wan squinted, quickly finished a bowl of porridge, and then secretly glanced at Chang Jinhua.
”Why are you looking at me like that? Can’t you scoop the porridge yourself?”
Meng Wan smiled shyly and drank two more bowls of porridge before feeling full.
”How old are you this year?” Chang Jinhua asked Meng Wan after clearing away the dishes.
Meng Wan recalled that when he first transmigrated, the maidservant beside the girl had mentioned his current age, so he replied, “Sixteen.”
Chang Jinhua was delighted, “That’s three years younger than my eldest son, which is just right.”
Meng Wan lowered his head to help her tidy up, remaining silent.
Seeing that he seemed unwilling to mention his son, Chang Jinhua put the washed dishes and chopsticks into the kitchen cabinet and called him into the main room.
”I won’t go into those empty words. You probably know why I bought you. I know you may have some background, but in your current situation, if you hadn’t been literate and bought by me, you would probably have been sold to some slave family by the brokers. Now that you’re in my family, you don’t have to suffer. As long as you marry my son, you can be released from slavery and become a respectable young man.”
Meng Wan really took her words to heart. He had a basic understanding of what the status of a slave was in this world. No matter how eloquent you were, in front of your master, you could live or die at his whim. Who would give you a chance to defend yourself?
In this way, getting married and changing one’s household registration to that of an ordinary citizen would indeed be a good thing. Getting married? Sigh… well, let’s just leave it to fate for now.
Chang Jinhua pulled him to sit on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), cleared her throat, and continued, “My husband passed away early, and I raised Dalang by myself. He is now studying at a private school in town and only comes home once every ten days. There are only a handful of scholars in the surrounding area. Although my Dalang has had some bad luck these past two years and hasn’t passed the imperial examination yet, with his talent, it’s only a matter of time before he becomes a scholar. We can’t say for sure about other things, but we can definitely help you become a scholar’s wife.”
A widow and her orphan, a scholar who had failed the imperial examinations for several years?
Meng Wan clenched his fist. My fate is in my own hands, not in the hands of heaven!
That night, Meng Wan slept in a small room. In the summer, when the window was open, a cool breeze blew through, making it pleasantly cool. Meng Wan thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep, but as soon as his head hit the pillow, he fell into a deep sleep.
In the middle of the night, Chang Jinhua tiptoed through a crack in the door and peeked inside by the moonlight. Meng Wan was already fast asleep, wrapped in a thin blanket.
Chang Jinhua felt relieved and went back to her room.
Meng Wan settled into the Song family’s home. Chang Jinhua wouldn’t let him go out, so he did what he could in the courtyard. He even washed the clothes he had brought with him clean; the fabric was good, to say the least. Chang Jinhua told him to alter a different undergarment for himself—the kind with four straps.
Meng Wan compared it to the one she was wearing—said to have been made by Chang Jinhua years ago but never worn because she couldn’t bear to part with it—and decided to let him have the benefit of it.
This thing is easy to make; it’s just a piece of fabric. You just need to cut it roughly and sew on the straps. Meng Wan cut it a bit crookedly, and the straps were sewn crookedly as well, but it was barely enough to make a change of clothes.
He couldn’t make anything more difficult, like a coarse cloth short jacket, so Chang Jinhua took some time to find a robe that belonged to his son and altered it for him.
Poor families always alter their clothes again and again. They only cut and paste them up to make shoe soles if the clothes are too worn out to wear. Otherwise, they would never throw them away no matter how long they wore them.
Widow Song’s gate had been closed for several days, and the villagers had already begun to gossip about it.
Zhang Xiaoyu wished he could walk around the village entrance three times to talk about Widow Song’s son, but he was afraid that Widow Song would complain to his husband, so he could only suppress his anxiety.
When Song Tingzhou returned to his hometown carrying a book basket, he happened to see him looking around furtively outside his own house.
”Second Aunt”.
”Ah! It’s Tingzhou! Why do you walk so quietly?” Zhang Xiaoyu was startled and almost fell off the wall.
Meng Wan, who was watering the vegetable garden inside, heard the conversation outside the door. He hurriedly put down the water ladle and went back into the house. Damn it, it really seems to have been ten days. Aunt Song said that the day she went into town was when her son went to private school, and she went with him to buy things.
”Dalang, you’re back! Why are you back earlier than usual today?” Just then, Chang Jinhua returned from fetching water from the river. There was a water vat in her yard and another in the kitchen. The kitchen vat was for drinking water, which she usually drew from the communal well in the center of the village. She used the river water not far from her house to water vegetables and take baths.
”Zhang Xiaoyu? What are you doing at my house?” Chang Jinhua put down her water-carrying load, her face not looking good. The joy of seeing her son had been swept away by this gossipy man.
”I…I’m just passing by, just passing by.” Zhang Xiaoyu turned and walked away as if he had oiled his feet, his steps quick.
Song Tingzhou bent down and picked up the load from the ground with steady steps.
”Dalang, you don’t need to do it, your mother can do it.” Chang Jinhua felt sorry for her son who had to walk back to his hometown and help her with the work.
Song Tingzhou dodged her hand. “Mother, open the door first.”
”Okay.” Chang Jinhua quickly took out the key from her bosom and unlocked the brass lock hanging on the door.
Song Tingzhou carried two buckets of water in. “Why do you lock the door during the day?” His mother was just going to the village well to fetch water; she wasn’t going on a long trip. Why lock the door? He then thought of Zhang Xiaoyu peeking into the yard from the mud wall of his house…
”Dalang, come inside with me first. I have something to discuss with you.”
Chang Jinhua told her son to put down the carrying pole and follow her into the house. After Song Tingzhou went in, he first glanced at his usual small bedroom, which was tightly closed, and then followed his mother into the master bedroom, where there was only one quilt on the kang (a heated brick bed).
”Tingzhou, Mother bought a young boy in town,” Chang Jinhua said bluntly.
Song Tingzhou pursed his lips slightly, “Send them away.”
”Dalang, you…”
Song Tingzhou, however, ignored her advice and spoke frankly. Being tall and long-legged, he turned around and took two steps to the door of the small bedroom.
“I don’t know your background, but since you’ve been bought and sold, you must come from a bad family. I won’t force you. You can stay here for the next few days. I’ll leave to go back to the private school in town. Once you’ve found a good place, you can leave on your own.”
Meng Wan leaned against the wooden door in the room, feeling increasingly uneasy as he listened. He was still unaware of the laws of this world, but he had heard from slave traders on the road that he was already registered as a slave in the government’s household register. Even if the Song family returned his indenture, he would at most be considered a free slave and still would not be able to open an account to buy land.
Furthermore, according to the ancient history of his previous world, those who made more than a thousand taels of silver in business were automatically classified as merchants. However, he was not even classified as a merchant, but as a slave, and was collectively referred to as a lowly class along with prostitutes, actors, and beggars.
Slaves were not allowed to do business or trade. If they were discovered, they would be arrested and sent to the army. As a young man, it’s easy to imagine what kind of army he would be sent to. It would be better for him to die on the way, otherwise he would be tortured to death in the army camp.
The opera troupe traveled all over the country, their livelihood uncertain, and the actors were all handpicked and trained by the troupe leader from among the youngest beggars.
He’s too old for that now, so he only has two options left: become a prostitute or a beggar.