"Bodhisattva protect my Sanlang, he must pull through this. Bodhisattva protect us, Bodhisattva protect us, my poor child." The woman's intermittent voice echoed continually in Zhao Yan's ears.
Zhao Yan instinctively tried to raise his hand, only to find his whole body utterly lacking in strength; even lifting a hand took too much effort.
Slowly opening his eyes, the very first thing he saw was a thatched roof. Through the thatch, if you looked closely, a bit of sunlight filtered in.
Wait!
A thatched roof? Where on earth did such a crude room come from? Didn't he just take a lunch break? Zhao Yan couldn't make sense of it.
It must be a dream. It has to be a dream. Lately, his dreams had been getting more and more absurd.
With a mental shrug, Zhao Yan decided to go back to sleep.
Suddenly, a string of scolding voices came from outside. "Madam Chen, you lazy wretch, all you do is eat and never work, hiding in your room all day long. What, do you expect me to do all the work for you?"
Annoyed by the shrill voice, Zhao Yan couldn't fall back asleep and opened his eyes once more.
He saw the woman inside hastily tidying up the bowls and rushing out in a flurry, answering as she went, "Mother, don't be angry, I'm coming right out."
Only now did Zhao Yan begin to truly examine the room. Although he was still lying in bed, the room contained very few things and could be taken in at a single glance: just a table, a chair, and the bed he was currently lying on. The legs of the table were propped up with stones.
To sum it up: even a thief would despise this place. Aside from wood and more wood, there wasn't a single thing of any value.
Though Zhao Yan had taken in his current environment, he still had no idea where he was.
"Creeak." With that sound, the door was pushed open. The blazing sun outside poured in more enthusiastically, making the entire room much brighter.
Not yet accustomed to the glaring sunlight, Zhao Yan squinted.
A little girl wearing patches all over her clothes walked in. Seeing that Zhao Yan was awake, she hurried over.
Staring wide-eyed at Zhao Yan, her eye rims instantly turned red.
"Third Brother, you're awake! That's wonderful, you're finally awake, wuwuwu." As she spoke, she burst into tears.
Zhao Yan: "..."
Who on earth is this?
And who is this Third Brother supposed to be?
What is going on here?
Zhao Yan was completely baffled by these inexplicable events.
"Hey now, don't cry. No crying, nothing to cry about, there, there, don't cry." Zhao Yan hastily spoke up to comfort her.
Although he still didn't understand where he was, or who the malnourished little girl in front of him was, he was, after all, a twenty-six-year-old adult male; seeing a little girl cry, he naturally felt compelled to offer a bit of human sympathy and mild consolation.
In the past, Zhao Yan would have sworn to his dying breath that he wasn't an "older unmarried youth," but looking at the little girl before him—who seemed at most eight years old—he had no choice but to admit he truly was one.
"Third Brother, you scared Father, Mother, and me to death. You've been asleep for three days without waking up once, and Eldest Aunt even said you were going to die." As the little girl spoke, she began to cry again.
With his head spinning, Zhao Yan hurried to soothe the little girl once more.
"You said I've been lying here for three days? Do you know what I got sick from?" Zhao Yan decided to extract some information from the little girl; after all, the feeling of knowing absolutely nothing was thoroughly unpleasant.
"You fell into the river. Uncle Zhang from the village saw it and jumped in to pull you out. The doctor said if he'd been rescued any later, Third Brother, you wouldn't have made it." Thinking that her brother had been so frightened by falling into the water that he'd forgotten all about it, Zhao Yun didn't think much of Zhao Yan's unusual questions.
"How did I end up falling into the river?" Zhao Yan continued to probe.
"Eldest Brother said you wanted to find some inspiration for writing poetry over there, and your foot slipped, so you fell in," Zhao Yun said with resentment. As she spoke, she secretly glanced at Zhao Yan. Seeing no particular change in his expression, she whispered furtively, "I don't believe your foot slipped. You were definitely pushed by Eldest Brother! The two of you were the only ones by the river that day. Why else would Eldest Brother be fine while you fell in? And when you fell in, instead of saving you, Eldest Brother ran straight home—he must have a guilty conscience!"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Yan knew the matter was far from simple. Yet, lacking any evidence for now, he could only gather clues slowly; he couldn't afford to rush.
Fearing that this topic would agitate Zhao Yan and worsen his condition, Zhao Yun urged him to get some sleep. Feeling rather exhausted himself, Zhao Yan drifted off to sleep shortly after.
Zhao Yun also hurried out to get to work; after all, she hadn't cut the pigweed yet, and if she didn't finish these chores today, her grandmother wouldn't let her eat.
***
In his dream.
Zhao Yan dreamed of another "Zhao Yan," who looked extremely haggard with pale lips. Yielding to his professional instincts, Zhao Yan wanted to take his pulse, but before he could walk over, the other "Zhao Yan" spoke: "You are me now. Can you help me take good care of my family?"
"What on earth? What do you mean *I am you*?" Zhao Yan was bewildered.
"I am already dead. I was pushed into the river by my eldest brother and killed, which is why you were able to enter my body. I don't know who you are, but for now, I can only leave this in your hands. If you can, help me get revenge. I won't rest in the grave." The more the other "Zhao Yan" spoke, the more ferocious his face became.
Suddenly, that "Zhao Yan" vanished.
Zhao Yan ran over to the spot where he had been standing, but there was nobody there, and his outstretched hand touched nothing.
Immediately afterward, a vast amount of memories that did not belong to him surfaced in his mind.
I must have time-traveled.
Although Zhao Yan found this utterly unbelievable, given his current circumstances, he had no other choice.
He had no option but to accept it.
As the sun gradually shifted westward, the members of the Zhao Family laboring in the fields also returned home one after another.
Lying in his room, Zhao Yan could intermittently hear the sounds outside.
"Madam Chen, what time of day is it, and you're still not cooking? You lazy wretch, marrying you is the worst piece of bad luck the Zhao Family ever had!" Madam Li suddenly raised her voice in scolding.
Madam Chen had no time to rest. Despite being thoroughly exhausted from returning from the fields, she didn't dare utter a sound and hurriedly rushed to the kitchen to cook. Otherwise, if she angered Madam Li, Sanlang's medicine would be cut off. It didn't matter how tired she was; Sanlang couldn't afford to have anything go wrong.
Hearing this nearby, Zhao Gao felt quite uneasy. His wife had gotten up at the crack of dawn to cook, labored in the fields all day, and now, because she was slightly slow in preparing the evening meal upon returning, she was being chewed out by his mother again.
"Mother, why are you so angry? Sanlang's mother hasn't been slacking off." Although Zhao Gao was also afraid of his mother, he simply couldn't stand her indiscriminate scolding.
"What? Got a wife and forgotten your mother? I just said a single word and here you are talking back to me! Oh, how bitter is my fate! A daughter-in-law can't even be criticized without my own son turning around to lecture me! Oh, it must be that cheap woman who put you up to it! I knew she was no good, all she knows is how to slack off all day!" As she cursed, Madam Li plopped herself down onto the ground.
Panicking, Zhao Gao tried to help his mother up, but Madam Li slapped his hand away.
"Oh, Mother, don't be angry. Some people may not be filial to you, but you still have us! Once our Wei'er passes the imperial examination, you'll be the grandmother of a scholar! What a noble status—you'll be the only one in all of Baiyun Village!" Younger Mrs. Li said this with a smug glance at Zhao Gao.
However, Zhao Gao kept his head down and missed it.
Hearing Younger Mrs. Li mention her precious eldest grandson, Madam Li instantly brightened up. She glared at Zhao Gao and turned around to head back inside with Younger Mrs. Li.
Hearing the whole exchange from his room, Zhao Yan thought to himself: *This Younger Mrs. Li is some low-level green tea.*
In the kitchen, Madam Chen hurried and bustled to make wild vegetable steamed buns, with Zhao Yun helping out on the side. Although Zhao Yun looked rather frail, she worked briskly, and before long, the evening meal was ready.
When the dinner was served on the table, the basket of steamed buns sat there untouched; no one dared to move them. Zhao Dahe couldn't be bothered to care—household chores were women's work, and a real man had men's things to do.
It wasn't until Madam Li arrived that she picked up the basket containing the steamed buns to distribute them.
Apart from Zhao Dahe, who by default was always assigned four wild vegetable steamed buns first, how many anyone else got depended entirely on Madam Li's mood.
After handing out Zhao Dahe's share, Madam Li first placed two steamed buns into her own bowl, leaving everyone else to wait in line behind her.
When it came to the distribution of steamed buns, the second branch always came last. Zhao Gao had grown numb to this unfair treatment; it had been this way since he was a child, and he always had to walk on eggshells around his mother.
As for the eldest grandson Zhao Wei and the second grandson Zhao Yu, Madam Li gave them three steamed buns each. The old lady treasured these two grandsons dearly, so even though they hadn't worked in the fields, she heavily favored them. In her eyes, her grandsons were literary stars descended from the heavens, and physical labor was beneath them—only by eating well could they study properly.
She was still waiting to become the grandmother of a top imperial scholar!
As for the remaining steamed buns, the eldest daughter-in-law Younger Mrs. Li and the eldest granddaughter Zhao Min each received one wild vegetable steamed bun.
Finally, Madam Li picked up one last steamed bun and handed it to Madam Chen. Madam Chen silently accepted it, split it in half, and handed the larger portion to her daughter Zhao Yun.