Chapter 1: Rebirth

His mind was clouded, heavy as lead, and he couldn’t lift it. In a daze, he drifted back into unconsciousness.

The dim room was filled with a foul medicinal odor. A mosquito net, washed to a faded white and patched with several holes, was stretched and hung from the four corners of the wooden plank bed. The person lying on the bed remained still. After an unknown period, the eyelids of the person on the bed fluttered, and a finger on the hand resting on the wooden plank twitched.

Cao Xiangnan woke up in pain. His body felt as if it had been run over by a cartwheel, aching all over. The unpleasant scent of traditional Chinese medicine filled his nostrils, making him want to retch and truly waking him up.

His brain felt like glue, impossible to stir even with a stick. He struggled to open his eyes, his vision initially blurry. He blinked a few times, and his sight gradually focused.

Opening his eyes, he was greeted by a mosquito net, washed to a faded white and patched with holes.

Since when did he have such a tattered mosquito net in his room?

His last memory was of walking back to school. Some inconsiderate person had left a manhole cover open, and in his haste to return to school after working a night shift, he hadn’t noticed it and had fallen in. Then, he had lost consciousness.

Shouldn’t he be in the hospital?

No, this wasn’t a hospital. Where was he?

“Xi…” Too agitated, he moved his body, and a sharp pain shot up his leg, piercing him to the bone, almost bringing tears to his eyes.

Was his leg injured? It felt like more than just his leg. Cao Xiangnan felt like everything was injured.

Cao Xiangnan’s body froze, maintaining his position, his neck twisting with difficulty. Only his eyeballs darted around, taking in his surroundings. He gasped at what he saw.

A small room with bare brick walls. The furnishings in the room looked old and outdated. Even the house where he had lived with his late grandmother in the countryside was larger than this room, and these things looked even older than his late grandmother’s antiques.

So?

“Waaah, Mother…” A child’s cry came, and small legs scurried over the threshold.

The child, with a face covered in tears and snot, entered the room crying for his mother. He went to the bedside, looked up, and met the eyes of his father, who had just woken up. Discovering that his father was finally awake, his crying stopped abruptly. His little face still held a grievance as he pursed his lips and called out, “Father.”

Cao Xiangnan looked at the child before him, whose face was smeared with tears and snot like a little tabby cat. His hair was tied into a cute bun, and his grayish-blue robe had several patches. Did people still wear such clothes?

Wait – Father?

His child?

When did he become a father? And the child was so old already? How could he not know about this! Overwhelmed by the sudden shock, Cao Xiangnan was stunned, completely unresponsive.

“Waa… Father…” Seeing that his father was ignoring him, the child’s little mouth twitched, and he looked like he was about to cry again.

Jinbao and Yinbao said that once his father died, they would sell him and his mother. An’an didn’t know what death was, but he knew what being sold meant. His father was clearly just sleeping, but those bad guys were talking bad about his father and saying they would sell him and his mother.

He and his mother didn’t want to be sold! Humph!

They even pushed him; they were all bad guys!

Where did his mother go? The child looked around, not seeing his mother, a look of panic and unease on his face. His little mouth trembled, and tears welled up in his eyes, holding back from crying, hiccuping pitifully.

Cao Xiangnan finally snapped out of his shock. The child was here, but where was the child’s mother?

“An’an.” A familiar voice came, and the child standing by the bed turned around, his eyes lighting up.

“Mother, An’an is here,” An’an called out.

Qi Wanfeng came back from outside and thought he heard the child crying. Following the sound, he walked towards the room. Before he even entered, he heard the child’s voice, confirming he was indeed in the room. Afraid that the child would disturb his injured and still-unconscious husband, he quickened his pace, taking two steps at a time.

Stepping into the room, Qi Wanfeng saw the child standing by the bed. He asked with some annoyance, “An’an, didn’t I tell you not to run here and disturb your father’s rest? Why don’t you listen?”

He quickly walked towards the child, intending to take him out to avoid disturbing his husband’s rest.

Sensing something was not quite right, Qi Wanfeng turned his head and saw that his husband, who had been unconscious for several days, had woken up at some point.

“…Silang, you’re awake?” Qi Wanfeng held the child with one hand, looked at his husband who had woken up on the bed, and could no longer maintain his composure. After the shock came joy, and he almost burst into tears.

Mother?

Silang?

This was the child’s mother?

This was clearly a man like him!

A flood of memories that did not belong to him surged up, causing a splitting headache…

He must be dead, or rather, the original owner of this body was dead, and he, Cao Xiangnan, had been reborn into this person’s body.

The original owner of this body was also called Cao Xiangnan, sharing the same name as him.

This world had no women, only men. Men were divided into two types: “xiaozi” , who could not bear children, and “ge’er”, who could bear children. The dynasty he was in was called the Feng Dynasty, a dynasty that did not exist in history.

So, he had transmigrated?