Chapter 1
The cold winter has just passed, and another severe cold weather comes after the first month of the year.
It's already February, and after a few spring rains, the weather hasn't warmed up yet. Instead, the drizzle keeps coming and going, and the days get colder by the day. Farmwork in the fields is impossible; the snow hasn't melted yet, and the rain has started again. The first month of the year is over, and the weather still feels like winter. The soil in the fields is still frozen, making it impossible to work.
It was wet everywhere, and the women in the village who loved to visit each other came to the Zhou family's house to check on them. At this time, a short and plump woman stood under the eaves and whispered to Yu: "Your daughter-in-law hasn't woken up yet?"
Yu shook her head and sighed, "Falling into the water in such cold weather, it's a blessing to be alive. He's still running a high fever and talking nonsense..."
A low voice was heard, and Ye Jia opened his eyes with a start.
The low, cramped room was filled with a pungent, musty smell. The north wind howled, shaking the broken window panels. The clanging noises I kept hearing in my drowsiness were probably the sound of the panels tapping against the window frames. The beams overhead were made of logs, a simple structure stretched across my face. Hanging above them were two tattered baskets. Inside, two rolls of yellow paper creaked in the wind.
Ye Jia sat up with the quilt and saw a skinny woman coming in through the door curtain.
The woman was hunched over, wearing a homespun cotton jacket with a slanting collar. The arms and knees were patched, and the clothes were starched and bleached. She had her hair in a bun from an unknown era, a very old-fashioned look. She walked slowly, holding a broken bowl filled with what looked like porridge. Seeing that she was awake, he exclaimed in surprise, "Jia Niang, you're finally awake!"
The strange tone, a bit literary, made Ye Jia frown.
The woman didn't notice. She put down the broken bowl in her hand and quickly walked over, carefully sitting down on the edge of the bed. She reached out and touched her forehead, sighing, "The fever has subsided. It's been three days, and I thought you wouldn't make it. Finally, you've woken up."
As he spoke, he reached out to tuck the corner of the quilt for her. The back of the woman's hands were covered with red and swollen chilblains, and her fingers were swollen like radishes.
"Don't worry about the money. Mom found a job in town. The wages will be paid tomorrow. Then we won't have to worry about not being able to make ends meet..." She spoke in a soft voice, mumbling.
Ye Jia's eyelids moved slightly, he glanced at her hand, and then looked around.
This wasn't the village guesthouse she'd organized and built, but an old mud house of unknown age. The adobe walls rustled with dust as the wind blew. Directly in front of them was a square table, a dark, unlit oil lamp perched atop it. In the corner sat a wooden cabinet, and beneath them a simple wooden bed, padded with straw.
Ye Jia herself was born in the Jiangnan water town. Even though she has been to many places, she has only seen this kind of earthen house in documentaries.
...I have a bad feeling in my heart.
Seeing that she looked pale, she thought she was feeling unwell and called out to her softly, "Jia Niang?"
Seeing Ye Jia still didn't speak, the woman panicked. She touched her forehead several times, and it was normal. Looking at her complexion, although she had lost weight due to illness in the past few days, her complexion was much better than yesterday.
She was about to ask again when the sound of a child coughing softly rang out from outside. A child timidly crouched by the door, clutching the curtain with one hand, and called out softly, "Grandma."
The woman turned around and brought the child in. Seeing that her clothes were in a mess, she immediately took them off and put them on again.
Ye Jia watched silently, her heart already pounding with turbulent waves. The little girl obediently let the woman put on her clothes, then turned to look at Ye Jia. She was about three years old and very thin. Her big head hung lonely on her neck like a stick of firewood. When she saw Ye Jia's eyes on her, she handed over a handful of malt sugar in her hand: "Auntie, this is for you."
Ye Jia moved her stiff legs, a prickling sensation creeping up on her. She lowered her head and flipped over her fingers. They were long, and the back of her hand was smooth, without any scars from the penknife. This wasn't her hand.
The strings in my head buzzed, and many unfamiliar memories suddenly emerged in my mind.
She, Ye Jia, an engineering student and a staunch scientific atheist, traveled through time and space into a book.
She pinched her thigh again, a sharp pain shooting up her head. She opened her mouth, only to find her voice had changed. Even if she didn't believe something as outrageous as time travel could happen to her, she had to admit it. She'd simply pulled three all-nighters over a project. She hadn't died suddenly, committed suicide out of emotional distress, or been in a car accident or had a manhole cover fall off. She'd just closed her eyes and was here.
This body is also called Ye Jia, the third daughter of an old scholar in a poor village in the northwest.
The family consisted of two older brothers, a younger brother, and two younger sisters. The older brothers were married, and their sisters-in-law came into the family one after the other. Although poor, they were incredibly fertile. The eldest sister-in-law gave birth to four grandsons and a granddaughter. The second sister-in-law also gave birth to three sons and two daughters. The family numbered nearly twenty people. The family had a few acres of thin farmland and a dozen sheep.
But with so many mouths to feed, life is still tight.
Three months ago, a Persian caravan came from the west to the town to collect furs.
The youngest brother, Ye Qinghe, had been a daring child, eager to capitalize on the opportunity. Grabbing his bow, he headed into the mountains, but his luck was unsuccessful. Instead of hunting, he stumbled down the mountain, nearly dead. Now, he lies at home, barely breathing. As the saying goes, the eldest child is the one who loves the youngest, and the Ye family's parents were heartbroken.
The whole family, young and old, begged and pleaded for money everywhere, but in this remote and impoverished village, every household was living on the brink of collapse. Who had money to lend? Besides, the Ye family's youngest son was paralyzed, a bottomless pit. No amount of money would help.
Could the old man from the Ye family watch his son die? Of course not.
Ye Tongsheng had his eye on his three daughters. In the early days, when the Ye family was relatively well off, they had plenty of money. Old Tongsheng occasionally enjoyed a few drinks and taught his children to read and write. Later, as they had more children, they became increasingly poor, leading to their current situation. Now that their youngest son needed help and the family couldn't afford it, their beautiful and literate third daughter had to step in.
Under the leadership of Mr. Ye, the original owner was given to the Zhou family, an outsider in Wangjia Village, as a daughter-in-law for a betrothal gift of thirty taels of silver.
The Zhou family was a notorious family of criminals. They were convicted of serious crimes, the kind that would be impossible for three generations to recover. They had no land, no money, and a burden. No family in the area was willing to marry their daughters to them.
The original owner was a beauty in the surrounding area, with so many suitors that they could have easily broken down the Ye family's doorstep. She had originally dreamed of marrying up, and had long since fallen for the second son of the town's major escort agency. They were waiting for the second son of the Cheng family to return from escort duty so they could ask him to propose marriage to the Ye family. Who could have imagined that fate would take a different turn, and she would marry into the Zhou family instead?
But she couldn't ignore her younger brother's life. Her parents begged her with tears, so she had no choice but to marry him.
Although she was married into the Zhou family, she looked down on them from the bottom of her heart. She even looked down on her husband, whom she had never met. When she was at the Zhou family, she was lazy and sly, and from time to time she would take some things back to supplement her parents' income.
Although the Zhou family was poor, Yu, the mother-in-law, was kind and gracious. She had never said a harsh word to the original owner despite her behavior. Over time, even a person would learn to be modest. The original owner gradually accepted it, figuring that since she was already married, she might as well settle down. Unfortunately, the second son of the Cheng family returned from his escort mission. Upon hearing that she was getting married, he rushed to her that very day to demand an explanation.
The two of them met at the river behind Yejia Village and were caught while talking.
Coincidentally, that person had already set his sights on Cheng Lao Er.
This wasn't surprising. The Cheng family was powerful, and Cheng Feng had been escorting his father and brothers since he was thirteen or fourteen. He'd traveled extensively, gained a wealth of experience, and now, at only nineteen, was handsome and capable. Which girl in the town or village wouldn't be obsessed with him? That girl thought of Ye Jia as a beautiful girl, something she couldn't compare to. Now that she'd married and become a slut, why was she still clinging to Cheng Feng?
Jealousy filled her, and while Cheng Feng was gone, she went to the original owner to demand an explanation. The original owner wasn't a good person either, and she thought, "What business did her and Cheng Feng have with anyone else?" She immediately ridiculed the man.
The two of them pushed and shoved each other, and the original owner hit his forehead on a rock. He rolled down the ridge of the field into the river, and died when he was pulled out.
Only then did he change his core and become Ye Jia.
Ye Jia: “…”
The husband the original owner disdained was named Zhou Jingchen, courtesy name Yun'an. He was the main villain in Ye Jia's transmigrated novel, "The Queen," the former prince and the regent twenty years later. A brilliant young talent, his father's rebellion led to his family's exile. His character subsequently changed dramatically, his mind becoming treacherous. He fled the area after his mother's niece died. It was only then that he encountered water and transformed into a dragon.
Thirteen years later, the three-way division of the empire was ended, and great unification was achieved. He defeated the barbarians in the south and the Xiongnu in the north. He slaughtered hundreds of idlers and changed dynasties. He avenged his enemies and repaid his grievances. If it weren't for the heroine's bowl of poisoned wine, he would have killed everyone in the book.
As for Zhou Jingchen's subsequent behavior, he was relatively tolerant of the original owner. After all, her behavior was truly despicable. He never tortured her, leaving her with a divorce letter after her mother's death. As for the fact that the original owner was sold to a low-class brothel by her father the day after her divorce, and was beaten to death by a client less than six months later, that's another matter.
In this comparison, the Zhou family is more kind than the Ye family.
Ye Jia rubbed her forehead, and when she touched the wound, she shuddered again. Her forehead was swollen with blood, and the top of the broken skin was still bleeding. It hurt terribly when she touched it.
"Jia Niang, Jia Niang, what's wrong with you?" Seeing that she hadn't spoken for a long time, Yu Shi waved her hand in front of her, "Why are you so pale? Does your forehead hurt?"
Yu glanced at the big bump on her forehead, stood up and got a bottle of medicinal wine, "I'll rub it open for you."
A drop of icy water dripped onto the back of her neck, giving her a shiver. Drop after drop of rain dripped onto her face and head. She looked up and saw that the shabby house was still leaking. The little bean sprout that had been lying by the door had come in at some point. He lay on the edge of the bed, staring at her intently. Ye Jia's face was pale, and the bruise on her forehead had dissipated. The pain had caused her to break out in a cold sweat.
Ye Jia let out a long sigh, closed his eyes and lay down.
...Forget it, I'd better stay in the Zhou family.
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