"Is he dead?"

A teenager used his fingers to pull at the man's eyelids.

Another girl placed a foxtail grass in the man's nostril.

"Oh dear! My mother is here, brother... Father seems to still be breathing!"

The boy ran quickly to the door, looked around, then strode into the mud house. He frowned, whispered to the tallest boy, "Brother, why don't we let Father sleep more soundly... what do you say?"

The voices were not loud, and the children's expressions were complicated.

There was excitement, fear, and exhilaration... She looked at the tattered reed pillow made of cattail fluff by the bedside, which somehow ended up partially covering the man's mouth...

In a daze, Chen Xian had a dream in which he was extremely anxious to urinate and was looking everywhere for a toilet.

Just as I finally found a patch of wilderness and was about to have some fun, a few kids suddenly appeared out of nowhere, grinning like doting aunties. "Haha, grandpa, look up, there's a camera up there!"

Startled, Chen Xian suddenly sat up in bed!

"You bastard!"

The shout startled the children.

"father?"

Chen Xian got out of bed in a daze.

Everywhere you look, there are thatched huts, dilapidated beds, and straw mats that are tattered and worn...

The children had dark skin, and none of their clothes were intact; they were covered with large, colorful patches, with smaller patches on top of them.

My hair is greasy, with strands sticking together.

And he stared at me with a complicated look in his eyes.

Chen Xian covered his head and finally received all the information.

Chen Xian, male, 35 years old, has two sons and two daughters. His eldest son is already married.

He is currently a villager in Qingxia Village, making a living by farming. He has no other hobbies except wandering around aimlessly, sleeping in bed, buying the cheapest alcohol, and then beating and scolding his children after getting drunk.

Fortunately, when he had a wife a few years ago, she could keep him somewhat in check.

Sure enough, a few years ago, Zhao fell seriously ill and died suddenly.

No one can control him anymore.

All the work in the fields was left to the eldest and second eldest sons.

The cooking was left to the eldest son's wife.

The laundry was left to the two little girls.

Chen Xian looked at the two girls; the older one was eight or nine years old, and the younger one was seven or eight.

I have a bit of a headache.

He was roughly rubbing the clothes.

"Dad, are you alright?"

A slightly shorter boy looked at Chen Xian with a puzzled expression.

A strange tone.

Chen Xian didn't say anything, just nodded. His head was throbbing from the hangover, and he staggered to the outhouse.

Once inside the outhouse, he skillfully untied his pants drawstring. After finishing, he subconsciously reached into his pocket for toilet paper. Seeing the bamboo strips beside him, he gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and instantly burst into tears.

No way?

He stood up and saw a pile of clean bamboo strips in the corner, faded from washing. Suddenly, his expression changed drastically.

Good heavens, it's being reused?

He returned to the earthen house, dejected and distraught.

"father."

"father?"

"father!"

"father……"

Four different sounds came out of the child's mouth.

Chen Xian lay swaying on the bed, speechless and choked with emotion. He turned over, his back to the four people.

Don't call me dad.

The original owner's eldest son, Chen Dazhu, was eighteen years old, not much younger than himself in his previous life. He was exhausted from calling out "Dad" so many times.

I want to scream, I'm still a kid, in my early twenties, not even graduated from college yet, and heaven knows I woke up one morning to find myself a widower with four kids.

Chen Xian was heartbroken. He had never even experienced what it was like to be a woman, and now he was being forced to become a father. He felt unworthy.

Chen Xian covered his face with a pillow and, in a corner where no one could see, wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Brother, why is Dad crying?"

The second son, Chen Erzhu, had a troubled look in his eyes and was filled with worry. "I don't know. Maybe it's because Dad is too happy that he's come back to life."

Is Uncle Xian home?

The voices of young people could be heard coming from outside.

Chen Dazhu agreed.

"They're here."

The visitor was the village head's nephew, responsible for relaying messages and running errands for the village.

That "grandpa" was called by that child.

Chen Xian sat up in bed, his head spinning from shouting "Grandpa!"

So disheartening. Thanks for the invitation, but I've been transported to ancient times and become a wealthy man.

People in ancient times had shorter lifespans; they would die around fifty or sixty years old, and thirty-five was considered the beginning of middle age.

Su Shi wrote in his poem, "This old man is indulging in youthful exuberance." At the time, Su Shi was only thirty-eight years old when he wrote this poem, and he already referred to himself as an old man. He was thirty-five years old, so calling himself "Grandpa" would be appropriate.

Chen Daniu explained his purpose, "Uncle Xian, the county's wedding procession is almost here, and the village head wants all unmarried adult men to gather at the village entrance."

A wedding procession?

Chen Xian remembered.

The war led to a shortage of labor in the court. In order to stimulate population growth, the court stipulated that all men and women who were eighteen years of age or older must get married.

Otherwise, a 20% per capita tax will be levied.

But what does this have to do with me?

I am a widower, so I am not included in this category.

The boy explained with a smile, "My dad said that the policy has changed again this year. All men who are widowed and under the age of forty must remarry. Of course, widows under the age of thirty-five can also remarry."

The four children, especially the second oldest, Chen Erzhu, were filled with worry. Was their father getting married again? They didn't know whether having a stepmother would be a good thing or a bad thing.

Chen Xian waved his hand, "Look at my family, these kids are barely able to support themselves, how could they possibly afford to get married? I'm not going, you guys go watch the fun. I want to be alone."

I can have a wife, but not now. I just transmigrated here and don't know anything about the situation. Adding more people to the family would just make survival more difficult.

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