"Brother Qing, you're confused. Once a person dies, their soul returns to Yama and they're gone."
Zheng Quchi woke up slowly and heard a Sichuan dialect roaring in his ear.
She was holding a research group meeting in S Province, so when did she find out that one of her students was from Sichuan?
As soon as Zheng Quchi opened her eyes, she saw a shirtless young man squatting in front of her.
His attire was quite peculiar: a dark blue overcoat with a belted waist, gray trousers with cloth strips tied around the legs, straw sandals, and a long braid wrapped around his head, unlike that of modern people.
Her eyes widened, a vague sense of foreboding creeping into her heart...
Then quickly look around.
The walls are plastered with yellow mud, the beams are made of old elm wood, and the rafters are made of bamboo... It is 17.64 square meters, flammable and rot-prone, and does not prevent insects or mosquitoes. The structural load-bearing capacity is C, which is classified as a partially dangerous building.
Using her eyes as a measuring tool, she precisely measured the size and materials of the thatched hut...
She had only ever seen this kind of simple, ancient-style architecture in history museums... Her eyelids twitched violently.
Could it be that I've traveled through time?
Seeing that she remained silent and had a strange, distorted expression, the young man assumed she was terrified and felt a pang of sympathy.
"I know that with the deaths of our parents, the humiliation from that bald-headed man, and the fact that I, a lame older brother, and my brain-damaged younger sister depend on you for survival, all these heavy burdens have fallen on your shoulders alone, just like these poor and miserable days that seem to have no end in sight—"
Zheng Quchi looked at him slowly, nearly spitting blood.
Is her supposed time-traveling identity really this tragic?
"But you should never have thought of killing yourself!"
Zheng Quchi found it hard to accept at first, but just then, a jumble of memories flooded into her mind. After a splitting headache, she remembered it all.
She was preparing to inspect the Xiling Gorge section of the Yangtze River when she encountered a landslide... It is estimated that she was not rescued in time.
...It seems she really did time travel.
They traveled from a mechanical industrial civilization to a backward feudal society.
A civil engineer is reborn into the body of a carpenter in the Great Ye Kingdom.
——
"Big brother, what is second brother doing?" Sang Yaomei asked.
In the open loess dam, Brother Sang was chopping firewood. He glanced at Brother Qing, who was rubbing his face and acting strangely in front of the water vat.
"Let him go crazy if he wants to."
After saying that, he picked up the firewood, used the tablepost as a stepping stone to get up in one go, and limped to the earthen stove to start a fire.
Sang Yaomei was already used to her eldest brother's stubbornness and soft heart, but the awakened "second brother" was a novelty to her.
He seemed different from his former "second brother," but she couldn't quite put her finger on what had changed.
Zheng Quchi, who was considered to have "gone mad," was now looking at his brand-new appearance.
A thin, monkey-like face was reflected in the water, with dark skin, thick eyebrows like two caterpillars, and a head of messy, unkempt wild man hair... The sudden shock left her breathless.
And yet, it's a girl?!
The "secret" that Qing Ge'er mentioned, which couldn't be discovered by anyone, was that she was a fake man.
She was quite careful; she even wore a fake handle around her waist so that she wouldn't be exposed if she accidentally made physical contact with someone.
In addition, she was born thin and flat-chested, so this matter was kept a closely guarded secret for a long time.
"Second Brother."
"Second Brother."
Sang Yaomei called her several times before Zheng Quchi finally came to her senses: "W-what's wrong?"
Fortunately, she had worked in engineering projects in Sichuan and Guizhou provinces for a few years, so it wasn't difficult for her to imitate the local accent after hearing it so many times. However, this only applies to Sichuan dialect; if it were a coastal accent, she would probably just pretend to be a babble.
"I'm thirsty, I need to drink water."
The youngest daughter, Sang Yaomei, who was only up to her thigh, was the third child in the family. She had an apple-shaped face, ruddy skin, and was five years old. It was said that she had suffered brain damage from a fever when she was an infant. She was usually quite normal, but would go crazy if she was stimulated.
She may be a bit silly, but she's very obedient.
Zheng Quchi hadn't even gotten used to having a family to support, but since he was reborn by borrowing someone else's body, he should also bear the responsibilities that came with it.
Not knowing where the water ladle was, Zheng Quchi reached out and lifted the little girl up, making her put her head into the vat to drink.
"Second brother, you're so strong!" she said, seemingly surprised.
Zheng Quchi: "Huh?"
The little girl splashed around in the water, giggling, "My second brother used to cry out in pain whenever he picked up his youngest sister."
I don't know if this Qing Ge'er is even 1.5 meters tall. He's skinny and small, like a monkey, so it's normal that he has trouble carrying a five-year-old child.
But why is she so relaxed?
Could it be that her superhuman strength from her previous life also came with her when she transmigrated?
Zheng Quchi was overjoyed, and his depressed mood finally eased a little.
——
On a cold autumn night, the three siblings squeezed together on a single earthen bed, covered by a thin, flimsy quilt made of tattered cloth that barely covered their shoulders and left their feet uncovered.
When the howling wind seeps in through the cracks in the wall, it's so cold that people can only curl up in a ball.
Zheng Quchi was cold and hungry and couldn't sleep at all.
She finally stopped worrying about anything else; the most urgent thing now was to improve her living environment.
In this area, the snow can be so deep in winter that it can submerge half a person's body, and this small, dilapidated house simply cannot keep out the cold.
Her mind is filled with architectural encyclopedias; manufacturing bricks, tiles, and cement to build a luxury villa would be no problem for her. The only problem is... a lack of money.
Qingge'er was registered as a carpenter, but her skills were terrible, and no one hired her to make furniture. The whole family relied on the eldest son to repair old furniture for the villagers to supplement their income.
She checked the family's rice bin; the family of three, who only ate one meal a day, were almost out of food.
At that moment, all she could think about was how to get rich. She tossed and turned until late into the night before finally falling asleep.
But not long after, she heard someone calling her, "Second sister, wake up!"
Zheng Quchi, being a light sleeper, immediately opened his eyes: "What's wrong?"
Brother Sang looked outside with a sullen face, only to find that the originally dark and quiet night had become noisy.
Flames approached, accompanied by chaotic footsteps and rude banging and shouting.
"Open the door! Can you hear me, you inside? Open the door now! There is a law in Da Ye that all men over the age of sixteen will be automatically incorporated into the reserve camp by their place of household registration. The county is currently building a house and urgently needs carpenters. Anyone who does not answer the door will bear the consequences."
"Take the third son inside and don't come out yet. I'll go check on the situation."
As he spoke, he rolled off the bed, grabbed a cane, and limped to open the door.
"Big brother..." The third brother was startled awake, his big eyes filled with fear.
Zheng Quchi quickly hugged her: "It's okay, your second brother is here."
Amidst the commotion outside, Sang Laoda exclaimed, "What are you doing?" Zheng Quchi was startled. Without thinking twice, he threw on a coat, picked up Lao San, and rushed out.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
