"Third Brother Lu, what brings you here?"
"Lady Han, I've come to ask you for some grain."
"Borrowing grain again... you haven't returned what you borrowed last time."
"I have no choice... without food, my family is going to starve. Please, Lady Han, be kind and lend me a little more, next time... next time I'll return it all together."
"But you said the same thing last time..."
"Then I'll find Brother Mo, he'll definitely lend me some. Brother Mo, Brother Mo..."
"Third Brother Lu, don't shout, Brother Mo hasn't woken up yet from his injuries."
"Brother Mo, Brother Mo..."
"You... sigh, I'll lend you some, but this is the last time. My family doesn't have enough either."
"Alright then."
"Hmm, why is there so little?"
...
"Woo—"
Faint murmurs echoed in the bright room.
Chen Mo opened his weary eyes, feeling a warm sensation all over his body, but the place he lay was hard and his body was sore, a discomfort he couldn't quite describe.
"Where am I?"
Suddenly, he saw a figure walk in.
It was a woman wearing a linen headscarf. She had a pretty face and wore a ruqun, looking to be in her early twenties, yet her full figure exuded a mature charm.
Seeing Chen Mo awake, the woman who had a frown on her face suddenly brightened with joy, "Ah, Uncle, you're awake."
"Sister-in-law..." Chen Mo blurted out instinctively.
...
A day later, Chen Mo stood in the yard, looking at the house made of compacted yellow earth in front of him, he had to accept the reality.
He had traveled through time.
The country he was in was called the Great Song Dynasty.
The exact location was a small village named Fu Ze Village, in Pingting County, Nanyang County, Qingzhou of the Great Song Dynasty.
But this Song Dynasty was not the Song Dynasty he knew from history; according to the memories of his former self, there were "Martial Artists" who could cultivate.
His former self was also named Chen Mo, the second child in the family, aged sixteen, and had passed the county and prefectural exams as a Child Student.
Above him was an elder brother who had served in the military.
However, his elder brother had sustained severe injuries on the battlefield, and by the time he returned to Fu Ze Village, he was already on the brink of death. The mother at that time, who was still alive, spent most of the family's savings to find a wife for his elder brother to bring some joy, but not long after the marriage, he passed away, leaving behind a widowed sister-in-law.
"Uncle, the meal is ready." At this time, his sister-in-law, Han Anniang, came out of the woodshed holding a ceramic bowl.
Breakfast consisted of wheat mush and a few cornbread buns.
Wheat mush was a mixture of coarse grains like millet and wheat, steamed with wild vegetables, a staple for northern peasants.
Strictly speaking, Pingting County wasn't really in the north, just close to it, so the diet was similar to that of the north.
He had eaten this wheat mush once yesterday, and for someone used to eating refined grains, the first bite made him spit it out immediately.
If not calling it bad-tasting would be an understatement, it was downright inedible.
To put it simply, it was coarse grain, of course, the kind that wasn't refined.
By the standards he had before traveling through time, not even pigs would eat this stuff.
"Uncle, are you not hungry?"
Han Anniang saw Chen Mo staring blankly at the wheat mush and thought he didn't have an appetite.
"Sigh, I'll have to get used to it."
Chen Mo shook his head, picked up a cornbread bun, and started eating.
He was someone who liked to read novels, and theoretically, someone like him wasn't supposed to fit the requirements for time travel.
He had taken over his father's business after graduating from college, ran a sand industry, then opened a bar locally. Though the economy had been sluggish lately, he wasn't short of food or clothing, was surrounded by beautiful women, and led a prosperous life.
But after drinking a few glasses of "cat urine" one night, he woke up to find he had transformed into this sixteen-year-old boy.
Still a frail whelp.
The most critical part was, based on the memories of his former self, the world was in turmoil.
Last year, there was a severe drought in the Northern Land, the land was scorched for miles.
This year, floods started in the South, causing widespread crop failures, and grain prices soared.
In May, there was a rebellion in the North that intensified.
Last month, the Court lost a war and raised taxes...
Going from a second-generation rich kid who didn't have to worry about food to a commoner struggling to protect his own life, who could bear such a change?
The only good news was that after he crossed over, this body had healed from its injuries.
If anything, he was able to take over this body because of Han Anniang.
He looked up at the woman in front of him, dressed in a plain blue ruqun, not stunning but above average.
She looked to be no more than in her early twenties, with a pair of bright and soulful almond eyes, and a voluptuous, tall body full of mature beauty.
Her lips were slightly pursed, plump and moist.
Logically speaking, a commoner family wouldn't be able to afford to marry such an elegant girl.
Compared to the frail and sickly former self, his elder brother was strong as an ox since childhood and after serving in the military for two years, had already made military achievements and was bestowed the title of Centurion, receiving rewards from above. He purchased several acres of thin land in Pingting County and converted the original thatched house into the current earthen one.
Unfortunately, he wasn't blessed with luck. After returning home severely injured last year, he ran a constant high fever, and despite taking medicine, it was ineffective, and soon he passed away.
With the elder brother gone, the family suddenly lost its pillar, and the frail and sickly former self couldn't support the family.
As the Chen Family was considered relatively well-off in the village, they attracted a lot of harassment from village ruffians and freeloaders in these years of disaster. Initially, due to the elder brother's comrades, these people didn't dare to be too rampant.
However, as the rebellion in the Northern Land intensified, the elder brother's comrades had been deployed to suppress the rebellion. Eventually, the Court was defeated, and the elder brother's comrades lost contact, leaving the Chen Family without any support.
Two days ago, a freeloader named Wang the Pockmarked from the east side of the village used the excuse of borrowing grain to harass Han Anniang physically.
The former self, still having a sense of manhood, rushed forward to stop it, but being frail and sickly since childhood, he was no match for Wang the Pockmarked, who kicked him severely, rendering him unconscious. After that, he was replaced by me.
"Uncle, you... why do you look at me like that? Do I have something dirty on my face?" Seeing Chen Mo staring fixedly at her, Han Anniang bit her chopsticks, her face slightly red.
Chen Mo shook his head and explained, "Sister-in-law, the Chen Family has wronged you. The elder brother wasn't blessed enough, marrying you into the family only to leave you widowed so soon. If you have someone you like, Sister-in-law, you should remarry."
"Clatter..." As soon as he said this, Han Anniang's chopsticks fell to the ground with a clang, her body trembling, her eyes reddening, "Uncle, do you think I am a burden to you?"
Han Anniang thought it was because of her that uncle had suffered such misfortune.
Chen Mo quickly waved his hand, "I just think you would have a better life if you remarried."
With Han Anniang's looks, there wasn't a worry that she wouldn't be able to find a good home.
However, just after saying that, he regretted it.
Because he suddenly remembered.
The mother of the former self sold the family assets to marry Han Anniang into the house, not just to bring happiness to the elder brother, but also because she intended for her to be a wife for him.
After all, the former self's mother knew the elder brother wouldn't live long, and the joy-bringing was a last-ditch effort. If it didn't work, at least the money wouldn't go to waste, and she would serve as a wife for him.
The practice of a younger brother marrying his elder brother's widow was quite common among the folk.
The former self's mother had also talked to him about it.
But the former self was a scholar, and the teachings of propriety and shame, and moral ethics in books made it hard for him to accept such a concept.
After the elder brother's death, he often argued about this with his mother, and it was unclear whether it was because of his disobedience or the elder brother's death, but not long after, the mother also followed after the elder brother.
Tears welled up in Han Anniang's eyes: "Uncle, please don't mention remarriage, I have no such intentions. Mother-in-law was kind to me; before she died, she entrusted me to take good care of you, Uncle. If I were to remarry now while her bones are still not cold, wouldn't that make me an ungrateful person?
Moreover, what kind of man would dare to marry someone as unlucky as me?"
Chen's elder brother married her to bring joy, but within a month of her marriage, her husband passed away, and not long after, so did her mother-in-law. Although people in the village didn't say anything to her face, behind her back, they gossiped about how she was cursed to outlive her spouse.
Chen Mo opened his mouth but didn't know what to say.