Chapter 1 – Yan Family
Dusk.
In the Xize County of the Great Chu, Shaoyao Village’s rooftops exuded plumes of smoke.
Nestled in the western desolate territories of the Great Chu and near the Rongdi Kingdom, the county was a battleground, causing relentless suffering for its inhabitants.
Among them, Shaoyao Village, under the jurisdiction of Daxing town, faced severe poverty. Of its 50 households, only the opulent Yan family lived without financial constraints. The others struggled daily.
Inside the Yan residence, with its blue bricks and red tiles, the vast kitchen bustled. Two maids and an elderly lady busied themselves preparing the evening feast for their master.
One pot simmered with pig trotters, while a three-tiered steamer emitted the fragrance of plump white buns.
The villagers passing by the Yan family’s gate could not resist stopping to take a few deep whiffs of the delicious aroma.
“In these tumultuous times, it seems only the Yan family indulge in such luxuries,” one remarked.
“The Yan family is so rich. Why don’t they give the widow of the third young master a good life? The orphan and widow of the third young master live in the dilapidated straw temple at the end of the village. It neither covers them from the sun in summer nor snow in winter. It’s so pathetic.”
“This is a family affair of the Yan family. What can we do about it? Let’s go back for dinner.”
At the end of the village, in the dilapidated straw temple, a woman with white clothes patched with one layer after another, was busy behind the stove with a chipped spatula.
In a large chipped iron pot, wild vegetables with poor nutrients boiled.
“Mom, we’re back.”
The children returned and the woman’s face finally showed a faint smile. She took out a rough clay bowl from the cupboard and served the boiled vegetables from the pot.
“Perfect timing. Wash up for dinner,” she urged, setting the simple meal and coarse buns on the table. As she did, three slender girls entered the kitchen.
The woman saw only her three daughters and not the youngest son, so she asked, “Qin’er, where is Xiaosi? Didn’t Xiaosi go with you and your sisters to cut firewood? Why didn’t he come back?”
The eldest, 17-year-old Yan Shuqin, had two younger sisters, Yan Shuxue and Yan Shuyun, aged 16 and 15, respectively. Though of marriageable age, their family’s impoverishment meant no dowries, and thus, no suitors.
As for the woman, she was Ms. Zhong Suxin of the Yan family’s third house. Ms. Zhong married Yan Bowen, the third son of the Yan family. Her first three pregnancies all produced daughters, which angered the Old Master Yan Bozhen and Old Lady Jiang Yingyue, who valued boys more than girls. Finally, in the fourth pregnancy, a son was born. The child was good-looking, but unfortunately, there was a red tear mole on the corner of his right eye. The old couple regarded it as an ominous sign Before the fourth son was even a year old, Yan Bowen died, and the old man and old lady considered Ms. Zhong, a widowed mother with orphans, to be a bad omen and drove her and her orphans out of the Yan family manor.
The three sisters in the Yan family looked left and right, only to find that they could not see a trace of their younger brother, Yan Xiaosi.
The second sister, Yan Shuxue, asked anxiously, “Didn’t the younger brother go home from the mountain early?”
Mrs. Zhong patted her thigh anxiously and said, “This child, I’m afraid he’s playing around again.”
“Mom, don’t worry, I’ll go bring our younger brother back right now.” Yan Shuqin turned and ran outside.
She figured that Yan Xiaosi must be starving. He often went to the weir a mile away from the village to catch fish and roast them to eat, so she ran towards the outside of the village.
The sky was getting darker and the light was gray and misty.
On the embankment of the weir outside the village, three sturdy teenagers surrounded a slender boy of 13 or 14 years old, punching and kicking.
The slender boy had a red tear mole on the corner of his right eye.
“I’ll kick you to death, you toad.”
The slender boy laid on the ground with his head bleeding and his shaking body curled up.
“Yan Xiaosi, do you dare to flirt with Liu Qianqian again?”
“With your ominous appearance, how dare you peek at Liu Qianqian? You’re just a toad wanting to eat swan meat.”
“Pah, this bad omen is not even as good as a toad.”
Liu Qianqian was the daughter of Liu Qianhe, the village head of Shaoyao Village, known as the village beauty.
Yan Xiaosi hugged his head, curled up on the ground, and dared not resist. “Big Brother Dahe, I didn’t flirt with Liu Qianqian. It was Liu Qianqian who wanted to play with me.”
“Stinky kid, still daring to dirty Qianqian’s reputation. Erhe, Sanhe, give him a beating so bad that he would need to search the ground for his teeth.”
The leading teenager was called Chen Dahe, and the other two teenagers were his brothers, Chen Erhe and Chen Sanhe. Their father worked for Yan Boshu, the second uncle of the Yan family. Relying on Yan Boshu’s support and the fact that the Yan family did not care about Yan Xiaosi, they often bullied Yan Xiaosi.
Another round of punches and kicks fell on Yan Xiaosi’s body, and after a while, Yan Xiaosi laid motionlessly on the ground.
The embankment was stained with blood.
Seeing Yan Xiaosi motionless, Chen Erhe and Chen Sanhe panicked and looked at Chen Dahe.
“Big brother, this guy isn’t moving.”
“Did we kill him?”
Chen Dahe snorted coldly and kicked the blood-soaked teenager on the ground. “He is probably pretending to be dead, Erhe, Sanhe, continue beating him..”
It hurts, it hurts!
Yan Xiaoshi felt that her whole body was in terrible pain, like she had been crushed by a car.
Wasn’t she dead? On the way to the military camp, her Mercedes-Benz racing car collided head-on with a heavy truck coming in the opposite direction. The heavy truck crushed her Mercedes-Benz under it, and in that situation, there was no possibility of survival for her.
Could ghosts still feel pain? Yan Xiaoshi cursed in her heart. Damn it, nowadays, even being a ghost is not easy…
“Big brother, this guy moved. It looks like he really was pretending.”
“Brother, the broom star is moving. The broom star is really pretending to be dead,” exclaimed Chen Erhe and Chen Dahe gnashed his teeth.
The eldest Chen brother, Chen Dahe, glared at the small, thin young boy lying on the ground, covered in blood, “This toad dared to play dead and scare me. Beat him until his mother doesn’t recognize him.”
Yan Xiaoshi closed her eyes and sighed at how hard it was to be a ghost, when a sudden punch and kick landed on her body. This time, she felt the sensation of fists and feet very clearly.
Who dared to hit her, Yanxiao Shi, dead or alive?
She suddenly opened her eyes, shooting out two beams of cold light, and glared at the three young men swinging fists at her face. She frowned, rolled away, then quickly picked up three stones from the ground and aimed them at the kneecaps of the three boys.
The stones infused with a little bit of strength hit the kneecaps of the Chen brothers accurately, and they immediately fell to their knees, unable to move.
Yan Xiaoshi stood up, her head pounding with pain, her vision blurry, and some memories that didn’t belong to her flooded into her mind, forcing her to accept them.
After being forced to accept these memories, she finally understood that she was not being bullied by little devils in hell, but had returned to life as the youngest son of the Yan family in Shaoyao Village, Daxing Town, Xize County of the Great Chu Dynasty.
The youngest son!
Yan Xiaoshi was horrified. Did she return to life in a man’s body?
Shit, I don’t want to be a man!
In front of the Chen brothers, she untied her belt with a bitter face.
Her action stunned the three Chen brothers.
Fortunately, she was still a woman.
lmao