Chapter 1: No Money in Hand

“Stop… crying!”

The man lying on the cot rasped, his voice strained as he let out a low, forceful command. This was followed by a series of intermittent coughs, rising and falling, impossible to suppress.

The young girl, who had been crying incessantly, didn't even bother to wipe the tear tracks from her face. She threw herself onto the man, wailing loudly.

“Father! Please don’t die, don’t die, wuwuwuwu…”

Hearing the commotion in the room, a little girl who had just arrived kicked the door open decisively. The old, warped wooden door let out a harsh creak, swinging open to reveal an opening for her.

She swept a glance at the sobbing older sister and the uncle who was being pinned down, looking as if he were on the verge of breathing his last and departing for the heavens. Sighing heavily in her heart, she rushed to the only table in the room, poured water with lightning speed, and carried it steadily to the bedside.

“Big Sister, if you don’t get up, Uncle is going to be crushed to death by you.”

The four or five-year-old girl’s voice was slightly hoarse, lacking the innocence of her age and possessing a composure rarely seen in one so young.

The young girl panicked immediately and scrambled to her feet. “I… I didn’t mean to… Father…” Tears welled up in her eyes once again.

At least she knew enough to take the cup and feed her father water while crying to soothe his throat.

*Just stop making things worse, Sister…*

The little girl couldn't help but complain internally, though she couldn't voice it. Heaven knows this cousin of hers seemed to have been soaked in tears since birth, weeping day and night. If it weren't for the fact that her uncle had been beaten so badly he couldn't leave his bed and required constant care, she probably would have already gone off somewhere to end her own life in despair.

It wasn't that the little girl had an overactive imagination; in this era that suppressed women, having provoked a lecherous scoundrel and nearly caused her father’s death, there seemed to be no other way out for her than to die to prove her innocence.

“Er’ya! Er’ya! Hurry and get your father some water, his throat is smoking!” Her own father’s raspy, broken voice came from outside; he was clearly parched.

The little girl, called Er’ya, accepted this incredibly rustic name with resignation.

She nimbly poured water for her hardworking father and carried it out. Watching him gulp it down heartily, she saw him smack his lips afterward, clearly still thirsty, but he had the sense not to ask for more.

The weather was too hot—abnormally hot. The small creek by the village had dried up, and the water levels in the village wells had dropped significantly. The elders said this was a sign of an impending disaster. Every household was hoarding water day and night, refusing to drink it themselves, pouring it all into the fields. The spring wheat was almost ready for harvest, and they couldn't let all their efforts go to waste now.

“Why hasn’t Mom come back yet?” the little girl asked in a low voice.

“She’s still in the fields. Sigh! Tell me, what is this all about? Who did we offend to end up living this miserable life? Your mother is a city girl; she’s never worked the fields in her life. Now she’s out there under the scorching sun cutting wheat. That sickle is hard to use, and she spent half the day just sharpening it. We’ve been out since this morning and haven't even finished harvesting one mu of land…”

The family of three had been living peacefully at home, only to wake up one morning in a different place. Their daughter said they seemed to have transmigrated…

Transmigrated, so be it. At least the family was all together. What could they do if they weren't satisfied? There was nowhere to protest.

After being enlightened by their web-novel-loving daughter, the three of them tried hard to recall, racking their brains until they were nearly bald, but they couldn't remember a single thing about their original bodies…

Then came various experiments. They cut their fingers multiple times, smeared blood on everything, but no blood-bound treasure appeared.

Later, the daughter taught them to shout things like: *System, System-dada, System-baby…*

It was just… very embarrassing.

In the end, they gained nothing.

They gave up. Let it be.

In this ancient world they had never even heard of, they would just try their best to survive.

The only thing that comforted them was their age.

Suddenly twenty years younger—aside from Er’ya’s various discomforts, he and his wife were—well, it was fine.

Ah! That lost youth!

It had returned!

It was just that their living environment was a bit bleak. The family they transmigrated into was very poor, lacking everything. There was also an uncle who had been beaten up. Over the past few days, while busy getting him medical treatment and medicine, they had managed to learn quite a bit from the constantly weeping eldest niece.

This uncle was actually a *xiucai* (scholar). One had to know that in this day and age, it was incredibly difficult for a farming family to produce a scholar, and those with official titles were one in ten thousand.

The scholar uncle’s wife had died in childbirth years ago, leaving behind a son and a daughter. The eldest nephew was studying in town, and the eldest niece was fourteen this year. Even though she was still just a child, a scoundrel had taken a fancy to her, not only stalking her day and night but also spreading rumors everywhere that they were involved, ruining her reputation.

The scholar uncle couldn't take it, went to confront the man, and no one knew exactly what was said, but in the end, he was carried back.

Between the anger and the injuries, his already frail constitution couldn't take it. He had been running a fever for days. It was a miracle he survived, but he still needed quiet recovery. The doctor changed the prescription to focus on gentle nourishment.

As for his younger brother—the body he now occupied—he was apparently quite a scoundrel. He didn't want to farm, didn't want to work, and spent his days loafing around.

He pretended to study like his older brother, but his knowledge wasn't even as good as his nephew’s. He spent his days calling friends to attend so-called literary gatherings, which were actually just excuses to go out and eat and drink for free, shamelessly relying on his older brother to survive.

His older brother was truly a good man—building the house, paying for his marriage, raising his children…

The two brothers hadn't split the household; they ate from the same pot. Since the sister-in-law had passed away early, his own wife managed the household, overseeing the food and drink, while the older brother provided silver every month for expenses.

Unfortunately, they had no memories and had no idea where the money was kept. The medical bills were all being put on credit.

They could only hope the scholar uncle had money to pay it off himself.

Today, he learned of another tragic matter. He didn't dare tell his wife, so he made an excuse to run back and discuss a countermeasure with his daughter first.

“Daughter, um, I just found out, there’s a debt outside…”

Yan—who didn't know her own full name—Er’ya: …

“What debt? To whom? How much?”

“Sigh! Gambling debt! Owed the gambling den twenty taels of silver. I saw the IOU myself, the fingerprint was real. What are we supposed to do? It’s a good thing they saw me as soon as I entered the village. If they had come to the house, your uncle would have coughed up blood from the anger. If we scared him to death, we’d be committing a grave sin!”

“Twenty taels?!” Yan Er’ya gritted her teeth. “Dad, do you know how much twenty taels is worth in ancient times? One egg is one *wen*, a steamed bun is two *wen*, and one thousand *wen* is one tael. Twenty taels could buy twenty thousand eggs or ten thousand steamed buns!”

Listening to his daughter rattle off the math, Yan-dad felt helpless. He didn't want this either; he was also a victim! Who knew that the brother the villagers called a scoundrel was such a piece of work?

Relying on his brother, not working, and even daring to gamble!

New book launch~ Throwing some flowers for myself first~ This is a lighthearted story, or so I think~~ A family of three transmigrates into a book, all together, with a standard system—or more accurately, a multi-dimensional trading platform~~ The uncle is the male lead of the book and a future big shot. Because of his rebirth, he chooses a different path than in his previous life. The family of three, who were originally supposed to be kicked out, wait for their fate, but they didn't expect~~~~ The uncle decides to properly discipline this family o(*￣︶￣*)o

A new attempt, I hope it will be liked by more people (～￣▽￣)～

(End of chapter)