Chapter 1: and

“Mother! Are you trying to drag this whole family to their deaths? She’s your youngest daughter-in-law, but I’ve given you your eldest grandson! It’s one thing for you to be biased—everyone knows grandparents dote on their youngest sons and eldest grandsons—and I’ve never said a word about you favoring the fourth brother and his wife. But this isn’t the time for favoritism! Fourth brother’s wife isn’t going to make it; she’s breathing more than she’s inhaling. Dragging her along is a burden on all of us!”

“Eldest daughter-in-law, one must not betray their own conscience. I know you have grievances against her, but once she stepped through the doors of the Li family, she became one of us. As long as she has a single breath left, I will take good care of her.”

“Mother! Your words are stabbing me in the heart! For the past month, she’s wasted more than half of the water we’ve been allotted, and have I said anything? I haven’t said a word! Even today, when you gave the fourth brother half the water, I didn’t make a peep. If I hadn’t been wiping her face and realized she was barely breathing, I wouldn’t have said a thing…”

The bickering between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law about whether to keep the dying sister-in-law echoed in her ears. She opened her eyes to see a low, thatched roof and walls of mottled yellow mud, the light dim and murky.

“Water…”

Qin Wangshu’s throat felt like it was burning. She swallowed several times before she could make a sound, but her hoarse voice was drowned out by the two women.

She swallowed again, licking her lips, which were dry and cracked with blood, and pushed herself up.

Her arms, weak and trembling, caught her gaze.

Pale pink silk, with delicate, elegant roses climbing the cuffs and trailing down. “Damn it.”

What the hell?

Under the sheet was… ancient clothing!

She looked up. Everything in sight was the same: coarse, short, dark garments and tattered hemp clothes. Of the four people in the room, she was the only one wearing fine fabric.

This scene was too realistic. Look at the haggard faces and the hopeless expressions on the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law—this show was going to be a hit. But she had just been pushed down an escalator by her boyfriend’s girlfriend; how did she end up on a film set? Was she cast because she looked like a corpse while unconscious?

Who agreed to this?

…Who else could it be but that bastard Qin Baiqiang?

He never missed a chance to exploit her. And she, she had been stupid to a new degree, working a job and running an online shop just to make their life easier after they got married, nearly splitting herself in two.

In the end, he used her hard-earned money to support his girlfriend.

Her thoughts shifted. Qin Wangshu figured that if she kept lying there, she might actually die of thirst. She should interrupt them and get some water, and she definitely needed to have a word with them about making her act without her consent. As for that bastard Qin Baiqiang, he could wait.

“Hey.” She reached out and tugged at the back of the man standing in front of the kang. The man turned around, and she couldn’t help but admire him. “I’m dying of thirst. Can you help me get some water?”

This person’s makeup was too good. And that look in his eyes… first surprise, then calm, then he walked to the foot of the bed with a blank expression, reached up, took a gourd from the top of the high cabinet, and opened it.

She sighed inwardly at his over-the-top acting. There were no cameras here, so who was he performing for? And the props were so professional; even a gourd was made with such detail.

Staring at the gourd, Qin Wangshu debated whether to drink. If she drank, the gourd looked like it had been used for a long time. If she didn’t, she really couldn’t hold on.

Smelling the faint, unpleasant odor coming from the gourd, she leaned toward the opening and instinctively opened her mouth.

Gulp, gulp—she drank several large mouthfuls before she realized what she was doing.

Oh god… what was happening? Not only did she drink the water, she was actually biting the mouth of the gourd.

Feeling instantly disgusted, Qin Wangshu waved the gourd away.

The man barely managed to catch it before the water spilled. He glanced at her and lowered his gaze.

“My heavens! Look at how much water was spilled!”

The woman who had been ready to lick the damp soil cursed, and the mechanical voice in Qin Wangshu’s head made her roll her eyes.

In an era where the concept of transmigration was common knowledge to every adult, many had imagined it in one way or another. During her most difficult student days, Qin Wangshu had imagined it countless times. But now that the dream had come true, she just wanted to go home.

“Eat a few more.” Li Jiang placed a small pinch of wheat into her tender, white palm, instructing her tirelessly: “Chew it well.”

“Mm.”

Transmigrators in novels were either assassins, doctors, or elites in various fields. If they were a novice, they were bound to have a golden finger.

She, an orphan from the 21st century who barely managed to finish college, had no talent for cooking, crafts, or anything else. In ancient times, she was a total novice.

As a novice, heaven was indeed fair; the Portable Universe Exchange System 003 was proof of that. But if it was a system, why couldn’t it be a proper one? What kind of exchange system was this? What were these pills, space spirit stones, aircraft carriers, robots, stone axes, and stone pots?

“*Sigh*.” Heaven wanted her dead.

Three interfaces: one full of immortal energy, one full of technology, and one full of ancient relics. She had no money, a pile of junk around her, and if she dared to trade anything, she’d probably have someone crawl out of the interface and beat her to death.

“*Sigh*.” This luck… couldn’t it have left her something? This was forcing her to her death!

“Do you want more water?” Li Jiang picked up the gourd, looking wary.

Her gaze shifted to the screen only she could see, and Qin Wangshu shook her head. “I can hold on a bit longer.”

“Oh.” He withdrew his gaze, his suspicions growing.

However, he was moved by how obedient and quiet his little wife was. If only she could stay like this.

The young couple fell into silence. Half a meter away, Mother Li withdrew her gaze from her youngest son and sighed. She reached into the basket behind her, grabbed a handful of wheat, distributed it to the children and grandchildren around her, and handed the remaining two small pinches to her youngest son.

He was her heart and soul. He had been apprenticed at ten and spent six years in that blacksmith shop. He was just about to finish his apprenticeship when the war broke out and all the blacksmiths were conscripted. If not for Wang Ergou’s selfishness, this boy wouldn’t have escaped that fate.

But after barely surviving that, something happened while he was delivering firewood with the old man.

Originally, with the war and the famine, it wasn’t easy to find a wife. Picking up a wealthy merchant’s daughter was considered a blessing, but this girl was too delicate. She wanted the best food and the best clothes.

They were just tenant farmers who had fled the town when they couldn’t survive there anymore. Even in good years, they only had coarse grains and wild vegetables; where would they find fine white flour, especially with the disasters one after another?

Last year, the farm was burned and the grain was stolen. They had barely survived on wild vegetables and tree bark. Who could have guessed there would be a great drought this year? Not a drop of rain since spring, the weather hot enough to roast a person alive. The rivers were dry, the ponds were parched, and the trees on the mountains were withered.

Originally, with the relief grain and water issued by the prefecture every day, everyone hoped to scrape by. But in the last few days, the water had decreased, and the grain had been cut from two taels per person to one.

With winter approaching and not even a few days of food stored, who could stay calm?

After the village elders discussed it, they decided they had to flee.

Privately, she had hoped the little wife would just die. Without that burden, the fourth son would have an easier time. But now, not only was she alive, she was sensible—not crying or making a fuss, eating whatever the fourth son gave her, and not saying a word or causing trouble for three days.

Today, she had gritted her teeth and kept up with everyone’s pace, and she hadn’t complained about chewing raw wheat.

Unable to help herself, as she watched her youngest son put most of his wheat into his wife’s hand, she braved the eldest daughter-in-law’s glare, grabbed another small pinch, and leaned in.

“Fourth one, eat a bit more. The road ahead is still long.”