Le Jing was awakened by a burst of crying.
He had just opened his eyes and before he could say anything, he felt a stabbing pain deep in his head. A strange groaning sound came out of his mouth, and the voice was weak and hoarse like that of an old man.
"Brother, you're awake!" Someone held his hand and said in a pleasantly surprised voice, "Dr. Zhao's medicine is indeed effective. How do you feel now?"
The pain in his mind lingered like a bone-piercing ache. He endured the pain and looked carefully at the owner of the voice - a little girl who was probably in her teens.
Her hair was neatly tied up, and she wore an old-fashioned heavy cheongsam. She had fair skin and a delicate and pretty appearance. Her big, bright eyes were looking at him mistily, with tears of joy brewing in them.
She asked him to call...brother?
The stabbing pain in his head suddenly intensified, and in an instant countless images flashed through Le Jing's mind like a fast-forwarded movie.
Li Shuran saw that her eldest brother's face was getting paler and paler, his brows were furrowed, and he was holding his head and groaning in pain.
"Brother, what's wrong with you? Are you okay?" She stood up in panic: "I'll go call Doctor Zhao!"
"Wait a moment." Her eldest brother's weak but firm voice came from behind, "I'm fine."
Li Shuran turned around and saw her elder brother sitting up and looking at her deeply. His dark eyes turned into a deep pool, with a strange charm that captivated people. He raised the corners of his mouth and revealed a strange smile, "I'm fine, no need to call Doctor Zhao."
Li Shuran was stunned and felt that this elder brother looked so strange.
What is Big Brother like?
It should be gloomy and resentful, with cold words and sarcastic tone.
How long had it been since she saw her elder brother talk to her and smile at her in such a normal way?
Then he saw his elder brother put away the smile on his face and looked at her with strange calmness. His voice was a little hoarse due to his long-term illness: "You go out first. I want to lie down for a while."
He waved his hand and said to the maidservant standing beside him: "You can go out too."
After the door closed gently, Le Jing laughed silently.
Ha, how interesting. He didn't expect that such a common plot of time travel would happen to him. He remembered that he was lying in bed and sleeping, but when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a hundred years ago.
He lay on the bed, slowly sorting out the original owner's memories. It was 1925, the Qing Dynasty had fallen, warlords were fighting, revolutionaries were connecting everywhere, large tracts of the country's territory were annexed by foreign countries, the Chinese were third-class citizens, and foreign troops were showing off their power on Chinese soil.
The original owner's name was Li Jingran, the same age as Le Jing, and the eldest son of a nouveau riche family.
The Li family was a grain merchant, and they made their fortune by making money from the war a few years ago. As the eldest son, Li Jingran had no worries about food and clothing since he was a child, and he was studying in a famous local private middle school. In the Republic of China, where the literacy rate was less than 20% and the average life expectancy of the people was 35 years old, Li Jingran was undoubtedly an elite of the upper class. Judging from the preferential treatment of intellectuals by the government of the Republic of China, even if he did not rely on his family, Li Jingran would definitely have a very good future.
However, after Le Jing sorted out Li Jingran's memory, he could only sigh. Li Jingran was a typical example of someone who ruined a good hand.
The story of the Li family is just like a third-rate, bloody, and vulgar novel. To sum it up, the mistress took over, forced the wife to death, the biological father became the stepfather, and the two siblings, Li Jingran and Li Shuran, became the yellow cabbages in the field. If Li Jingran is diligent and motivated, he may not have a bad future in the future. After all, although Li's father doesn't like him very much, he won't stop him from making progress.
What a pity...
Le Jing sat against the head of the bed, rubbed his aching temple, lowered his eyes and smiled softly, his smile was indescribably sarcastic.
Li Jingran is a heavy smoker, and he is also a heavy smoker who indulges in eating, drinking, whoring and gambling.
He is a scumbag.
He was spoiled by his stepmother's excessive flattery.
Li Jingran was the kind of person Le Jing looked down upon the most. He was in a quagmire and didn't think about how to climb out, but chose to give up on himself and sink into the mud. Le Jing had always been disdainful of such people who gave up on themselves and fell into depravity.
At this moment, Le Jing's head hurt like the sequelae of staying up late for a long time. His whole body was tired and weak, and cold sweats broke out. It was as if there were countless ants crawling around in his heart, making him want to take out his heart and scratch it hard.
This is exactly the big trouble that the original owner had given him - drug addiction.
He yawned listlessly, that's why he looked down on Li Jingran so much.
When Li's father heard about the original owner's drug abuse, he was naturally furious again. He was completely disappointed with his son and locked him in a room, leaving him to fend for himself, waiting for him to quit drugs and come out.
Le Jing is now experiencing typical withdrawal symptoms.
Because his father is a professor at the Public Security University, Le Jing has received complete and comprehensive anti-drug education since he was a child. So he now knows that his current symptoms are early withdrawal reactions. He will also have withdrawal reactions such as palpitations, numbness and itching all over the body, hot and cold, emotional breakdown, nausea and vomiting, insomnia and incontinence, anorexia and world-weariness.
Li Jingran relied on opium to numb himself and lived a life of drunkenness and dreams, but eventually he died of a fever caused by the severe withdrawal reaction.
He died simply, but as the new owner of Li Jingran's body, Le Jing had to clean up his mess.
First of all, he had to quit drugs, and then he definitely couldn't stay in the Li family for long, he had to get out of this "devil's den" as soon as possible.
He didn't even care about the meager wealth of the Li family, and he was too lazy to waste his brain energy on a domestic feud with Wang, a woman living in a secluded house.
A good man has ambitions to go far and wide. The world is so big, there are so many wide places for him to do whatever he wants. Why would he have to scheme against an illiterate woman in the inner house? To be honest, if Li Jingran had a clear mind and self-control, Wang's flattery would not be of any use. Moreover, for Wang, who is narrow-minded and sinister, Li Jingran's success is the biggest revenge against her.
Next, it’s the original owner’s biological sister, Li Shuran.
As the eldest son, Li Jingran's father still has some affection for him, and his stepmother Wang is also a little afraid of him. However, Li Shuran, as a girl, is not as lucky as Li Jingran.
Li Shuran is thirteen years old this year. Her father and Wang have already arranged a marriage for her, as a second wife to a sickly son. She will get married in two months.
Li Jingran himself has no feelings for this sister, so it is impossible for Le Jing to have any feelings for this "sister".
But we can’t just ignore it.
Because Le Jing is now Li Jingran, he should fulfill the duties of a guardian.
Li Jingran could evade his responsibilities and live a life of debauchery without caring about his younger sister's life or death, but Le Jing could not do so. The moment he became Li Jingran, Li Shuran also became his responsibility.
If he ignored Li Shuran, it would only prove that he and Li Jingran were birds of a feather.
So he must lead Li Shuran away from the Li family.
Considering the original owner's past bad deeds, Le Jing quickly set a script for himself as a prodigal son. People are always social animals. In order to survive in society, Le Jing has become accustomed to putting on a layer of camouflage.
Le Jing has always been a successful actor.
As for what kind of job he would do to earn money to support his family after he got out, he already had an idea in mind.
He plans to write novels to make money.
During the Republic of China, intellectuals were treated better than ever before. When a new author submitted a manuscript, the newspaper would generally pay him one yuan per thousand words, while an experienced author would pay him two yuan per thousand words, and a famous writer would pay him ten yuan per thousand words. For some famous writers, the newspaper would even pay him twenty or thirty yuan per thousand words.
Mr. Zhou, a famous writer in history books, recorded in his diary that he earned 14,664 silver dollars in 1929 from royalties and copyright fees. The courtyard house he bought in Beijing before was only 800 silver dollars. One silver dollar at that time was equivalent to the purchasing power of 110 RMB in later generations, which means that Mr. Zhou earned more than 1.6 million yuan a year from royalties alone, making him a truly high-paid person.
Le Jing admitted that he could not compare with Mr. Zhou, but even if he was paid one yuan per thousand words, and wrote three thousand words a day according to the minimum standard for online serialization, he would make ninety yuan a month. You should know that at that time, the monthly salary of a nanny in Beijing was only three or five yuan, and in Fengtian City (the old name of Shenyang City) where Li Jingran lived, jobs with a monthly salary of two yuan were scrambled for.
Le Jing came from the era of information explosion. The development of the cultural and entertainment industry over the past century has endowed him with many "wonderful ideas" that the people of the Republic of China had never heard of. Time-travel literature and martial arts literature that have become outdated in later generations are still new things in this era, and it is more than enough for Le Jing to write them to make a living.
He must quit drugs before Li Shuran gets married, and then take her away to start a new life.
Le Jing does not believe in God, but he is not an atheist, he is an agnostic. He believes that there are always some things in this world that cannot be known by humans.
Although I don't know how he suddenly came to this era, I'll make the best of it. Rather than staying at home and being monitored and controlled by Comrade Le Zhengye, a good policeman of the people, without freedom, it is obvious that this strange era allows him to let go and do whatever he wants.
While I was thinking, there was a sudden noise outside the door.
"You can't go in." Li Shuran's crisp voice came from outside the door.
"Second Miss, I am also following the orders of the Madam. When the Madam heard that the young master was ill, she specially sent someone to bring some supplements to the young master."
"...My brother is resting now. Please give me the supplements."
"Madam said that this tonic must be delivered to the eldest young master personally. Miss is still young and may not know how to take this tonic. If something happens to the eldest young master... Madam will not forgive me if she finds out. Please don't make it difficult for me."
Le Jing almost wanted to laugh.
Listen, these words are so soft and hard, so thoughtful.
A servant beside the Madam could speak to the legitimate daughter like this, one can imagine what Li Shuran's status was in the mansion.
Li Shuran was only a thirteen-year-old girl. She was usually ignored and cold-shouldered in the mansion. The few words just now had exhausted all her courage. When the servant brought up the big Buddha of the wife, her voice immediately weakened and she stammered, "My brother is still sleeping..."
"Shu Ran, let them in." Le Jing said in the room: "I'm awake."
The door was pushed open with a creaking sound, and a servant in coarse cloth followed Li Shuran in. Compared with his arrogance when facing Li Shuran, he smiled flatteringly when he saw Li Jingran, nodded and said, "Master, the mistress was very worried when she heard that you were ill, so she sent someone to bring you some tonics."
He opened the lid of the medicine box as if to seek credit so that Le Jing could have a clear look: three wild ginsengs, which looked a bit old.
Le Jing glanced at them with a half-smile, coughed, and said slowly: "After listening to what you and the Second Miss said just now, I thought it was a rare and precious tonic, but it's just three wild ginsengs. Could it be that the ginseng sent by the Madam is particularly precious, and there is some special way to take it?"
After these words were spoken, not only was the servant dumbfounded, but even Li Shuran stared at him in surprise with eyes wide open.
It's no wonder they were surprised. Li Jingran has always been a bully who only cares about whoever feeds him. Even though he knew that his stepmother Wang had killed his biological mother and treated his younger sister harshly, Wang would slap him in the face and give him sweet treats from time to time, and she actually bought him over. He was usually quite respectful to Wang.
This time he actually spoke for Li Shuran and openly gave face to Wang, which was something Li Shuran and the servant had never expected.
To put it bluntly, the servant could be so fearless in front of Li Shuran only because no one in the mansion would support Li Shuran.
Facing Le Jing's stern gaze, the servant's forehead was already covered with a layer of cold sweat. He avoided his gaze and forced a smile, saying, "Master, you don't know, this is a genuine twenty-year-old red ginseng, a very tonic..." He began to introduce the effects of red ginseng in a torrent of words, praising it so highly that people who didn't know would think it was dragon liver and phoenix marrow.
Le Jing sneered in his heart. This was a blatant slap to him. It was no wonder that the servant was so bold to treat him perfunctorily. With Li Jingran's personality, it was not surprising that he was treated like this. If this was the real Li Jingran, maybe that fool would really believe it.
Le Jing took a breath. He was weak and needed to quit drugs. It was enough for him to support Li Shuran a little. It would be bad if he really offended Wang. So he paused and said coldly, "I know. Thank the lady for her kindness. Qiuju, see the guests off."
The servant said hurriedly: "Master, actually the madam asked me to come here for another important matter..." He glanced at Li Shuran slowly and lowered his head again.
"You go down first."
Li Shuran looked at Le Jing hesitantly, but in the end she did not dare to disobey her elder brother's order, so she closed the door and left.
"Then there will be only two of us in the room, and you can speak now."
The servant gave Le Jing a mysterious smile and said, "Madam has brought good things to the young master." He took off the outer layer of the medicine box containing red ginseng, revealing the bottom layer.
The bottom floor was filled with strips of stuff wrapped in yellow paper. The faint sweet smell of cooked opium drifted into Le Jing's nostrils, causing his brain to go blank for a moment. If it were Li Jingran, he would probably tear open the packaging in ecstasy and look for lighters and pipes everywhere.
Le Jing closed his eyes and tried his best to suppress the restlessness in his heart. However, the servant's noisy voice continued to chatter:
"Madam said it was just some worthless opium, and all the young men and young ladies outside were smoking it, but the master wanted to lock up the young master to stop smoking. So Madam secretly sent someone to the He family's tobacco shop to buy the best opium for the young master."
He pulled out a pipe from his bosom and said with an earnest smile, "Master, let me serve you a cigarette, please?"
For the first time in his life, Le Jing felt the urge to swear.
The author has something to say:
Updated daily, the update time is generally midnight of the same day.
I wanted to save some drafts, but I overestimated myself. So this book still has no drafts and no outline, just some random writing for fun, don't go into it too deeply.
The present time in which Le Jing lives is fictional. He travels from the fictional present time to the fictional Republic of China. In order to avoid harmony, the names of any historical figures will not appear in the text, and sensitive historical events will not be touched upon.
This book does not contain any national hatred or family feuds, nor any reforms or military infrastructure. At this time, Le Jing does not have such great ambitions. In simple terms, this world is a common story about traveling through the Republic of China to quit drugs and write novels. Le Jing is not a plagiarist, all his works are original.
Also, the prototype of Mr. Zhou, the example used by Le Jing in this chapter, is my eternal male god, Mr. Lu Xun. But this Mr. Zhou is not Mr. Lu Xun, please remember this.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
