Televisions, washing machines, air conditioners, mobile phones… there was no point even mentioning such advanced devices. In ancient times, they were luxuries beyond imagination.
So let’s just talk about the most basic things.
Food, clothing, shelter, and transportation—starting with clothing.
The clothes worn by villagers were made of rough fabric, covered in patches upon patches. No one was any better off than anyone else. As long as the clothes didn’t have holes, they were considered decent. As for looking good—don’t even dream about it.
As for her own clothes, they were actually too short and too small, clearly ill-fitting.
Back in modern times, she had piles of clothes in all kinds of styles. She had been a talent livestreamer, good at styling and dressing herself. Now, after coming to ancient times, she could only wear ragged, patched-up clothes every day. The psychological gap was enormous.
Shoes were even more outrageous—poverty really limited one’s imagination.
She never would have thought that poor people in ancient times wore straw sandals—shoes woven from grass. Families that were even poorer simply went barefoot. In summer, the men in the household went to work in the fields barefoot.
Of course, there were cloth shoes, boots, and leather shoes—but those were for wealthy families.
For a poor farming family like theirs, only her grandparents each had a pair of cloth shoes, made from the cheapest coarse fabric. Even then, the two elders were reluctant to wear them.
Everyone else wore straw sandals.
In winter, straw sandals could wrap around the feet.
In summer, they exposed the toes—like modern sandals.
Her parents doted on her and managed to get her a pair of hemp shoes, woven from hemp rope.
They were just a tiny bit better than straw sandals, but she still found them uncomfortable.
In modern times, she wore athletic shoes from big brands like Adidas and Nike—comfort went without saying.
Even her high heels had been brand-name items. Now she could only wear hemp shoes. The bitterness of that change was something only she herself could truly understand.
Food was even more frustrating. Salt was precious in ancient times, and poor families were reluctant to use it when cooking. The dishes were extremely bland. Oil was used so sparingly that people would dip a rag into oil and wipe the pan once—that counted as adding oil.
She had been a foodie in modern times. After earning money as a livestreamer, she often traveled and sampled delicacies from all over the country.
Here, the food was worse than a cup of instant noodles back home. And in modern times, she almost never ate instant noodles because she thought they were unhealthy. Yet now, she found herself desperately missing their taste.
What was even worse was that people here only ate two meals a day.
Her family was no exception. For someone like her, who was used to three meals a day—and often late-night snacks as well—this was pure torture.
Another thing she absolutely couldn’t stand was the ancient toilet: a large vat with two wooden planks laid across it. Sometimes, when stepping on them, she feared she might fall straight into the pit.
Thankfully, this era already had toilet paper. Otherwise, she’d have had to wipe with leaves or something like that—and she truly wouldn’t have been able to endure it.
In modern times, she had known how to enjoy life.
After earning money as a streamer, her standard of living had been high.
She never deprived herself in food, clothing, housing, or transportation, and she often traveled for leisure. She loved visiting different places to experience their customs and natural scenery.
Now, forget about traveling—she couldn’t even meet the basic standard of being well-fed and warmly clothed.
The contrast felt like falling straight from heaven into hell.
Fortunately, she had grown up in a farming family. Her hometown in modern times was also in the countryside. As a child, she had farmed with her grandmother and experienced hardship. Otherwise, under her current living conditions, she truly wouldn’t have lasted even a single day.
She had also wondered whether, as a transmigrator, she might have some special ability—like a portable storage space. She tried thinking about things in her mind, but nothing happened.
It seemed heaven hadn’t given her a “golden finger” after all. She’d have to rely on herself and work steadily.
The next day, construction began on Liang Second Uncle’s house.
Almost every household in the Liang clan sent over a young, able-bodied laborer. Villagers who were on good terms with Liang Second Uncle also came to help.
Fortunately, it was mid-August. The rice was still in its growing stage. Although the paddies needed weeding, it was still much less busy than peak farming season.
If it were October, when the rice ripened and everyone had to harvest and thresh grain, no one would have had time to help build a house.
Liang Eldest Uncle also wanted to help build the house, but Zhu-shi firmly stopped him.
Her reasoning was quite sound: “Husband, our family was allocated six mu of land. The rice will ripen in another month or two, so you need to hurry and weed the fields so the crops can grow better. There are already plenty of people helping Second Brother build his house—you won’t be missed.”
“All right, then I’ll go weed the fields. Wenyong, you go help your second uncle build the house in my place,” Liang Eldest Uncle said.
He felt that their fields truly needed tending, so he instructed his son Liang Wenyong to help instead.
“Okay, Father, I understand,” Wenyong replied, nodding.
Zhu-shi had originally wanted to stop her son as well, but Liang Wenyong insisted on going. Liang Eldest Uncle then went off to weed the fertile fields their family had received.
Aside from the one tael of silver Qianhua had recovered from the Jiang family, Liang Second Uncle’s household didn’t have a single copper coin left.
That one tael wasn’t enough to buy many roof tiles, so building a brick-and-tile house was out of the question. They could only put up a simple mud-walled, thatched-roof house.
Everyone worked together, dividing the labor.
The men split into groups: one group laid the foundation, another cut trees, another dug clay, and another bundled thatch. Everyone went about their tasks in an orderly manner.
The women worked by the temporary stove, cooking for everyone.
Several village women who were close to Madam Liu came to help her. The third brother’s wife, Madam Chen, also dragged her frail body over to help. Madam Liu assigned her lighter tasks, such as washing and sorting vegetables.
Wenjie came along with Madam Chen, and the other women brought their children too.
The children, all around Wenjie’s age, soon started playing together.
As for Qianhua, since she had only recently recovered, her mother was worried and told her to rest at home.
In truth, Qianhua felt that her body was already fine. It was just that the original body had been malnourished—thin, sallow, and physically weak.
On top of that, the original owner suffered from cold constitution, which had worsened after falling into the water. Her clothes were also too short, so she had been feeling cold these days.
Even so, she couldn’t sit still. On the second day of construction, she ran over to the site at the foot of the western hills to watch the thatched house being built.
“Qianhua, you’re weak. Didn’t I tell you to rest at home?” Madam Liu called out when she saw her approaching from afar.
“Mom, I’m already fine. Look,” Qianhua said, spinning around in place several times as she spoke.
Seeing her hopping around like a little monkey, Madam Liu couldn’t help laughing. Madam Chen and the other women nearby laughed as well.