Chapter 1: Explosive Start

“Open the door! Open the door for me! Don’t hide inside and pretend you’re not there!”

“You dare steal my family’s eggs, may your whole family rot in the gutter. You greedy, filthy girl, you deserve to die of hunger. It’s karma that your family has ended up like this!”

Outside a low thatched hut at the foot of the mountain in Banyue Village, a stout woman was pounding on the wooden door, cursing and spitting furiously.

Inside the house, Song Anning sat stunned on the bed, her head full of question marks.

“???”

“What the hell is going on here?”

She, a recent graduate and a small fry in the workplace, had returned to the village to start her own business because she couldn’t stand the exploitation of the 996 work schedule.

Just as things were starting to look up and she had made a little money, she had performed an impromptu time travel.

O(╥﹏╥)o

The unfamiliar memories flooding her mind made her realize that her soul had traveled to an ancient era she had never heard of, and she had taken over someone else’s body.

The original owner of the body shared the same name, Song Anning, and was thirteen years old, the eldest daughter in her family.

She was known for being lazy, selfish, and dishonest, making her the most troublesome girl in the village.

A few months ago, her father and older brother went hunting in the mountains and never returned. Her mother couldn’t bear the shock and became mentally unstable.

Without anyone to discipline her, the original Song Anning ran wild and became a menace in the village.

Just moments ago, she had stolen eggs from the woman outside and, in a panic, swallowed three of them, choking to death…

“…”

Hearing a sound from inside the house, the woman outside became even more aggressive, as if she was about to tear the door down.

Resigned to her fate, Song Anning sighed. She bid farewell to the gluttonous girl and decided to make the best of her new situation.

Thinking this, she got out of bed, pulled open the door latch, and, mimicking the original owner’s tone, shouted, “Stop yelling at me! I just took a few of your eggs, I’ll give them back.”

The woman outside stumbled, fearing that Song Anning would deny the theft. She grabbed her wrist tightly and said, “How dare you call it ‘taking’ when it’s clearly stealing? Have you no shame!

Since you’re saying you’ll return them, four eggs are worth eight wen. Add to that half a catty of dried radish and two steamed buns from half a month ago, that’s a total of twenty copper coins. Pay up.”

“If you don’t pay up today, I’m not leaving!”

“That’s right, I’m not leaving!”

“Song family girl, and don’t forget the dried bamboo shoots and mushrooms from my house…”

“And the salted duck eggs from mine…”

A group of villagers gathered around, and Song Anning saw that many people were standing at her door. The village head, looking stern, stood at the front.

Song Anning mimicked the original owner’s attitude, casually digging her ear with her little finger, but in her heart, she was seriously calculating:

Over the past few months, the original owner had eaten all the poultry and grain at home. There were only three copper coins left, enough to buy a catty of mixed grains.

But now, there were dozens of creditors at the door, and she would need at least three or four taels of silver to settle the debts.

The serious issue was that the original owner’s actions had angered everyone. This time, the village head was leading the charge to collect the debts. If she didn’t provide an explanation, they might not be able to stay in Banyue Village.

As Song Anning had expected, the village head cleared his throat and began, “Anning, you’ve really gone too far. In such a short time, you’ve almost stolen from every household in the village.

Other people’s things are earned through hard work. Just because your family has had misfortune doesn’t give you the right to steal!”

“If you don’t give us an explanation today, even I, as an elder, won’t be able to protect you,” he said, giving Song Anning a meaningful look. Despite her misdeeds, she was still a member of the Song family, and he was inclined to be lenient.

The villagers expected Song Anning to throw a tantrum and deny everything as usual, but to their surprise, she spoke calmly:

“Second Grandpa, I, Anning, swear that I will never steal again. I acknowledge the debts you mentioned. It’s only right to repay what is owed.”

“However, as everyone knows, my family is in dire straits. We can’t even afford to eat, so I can only repay slowly.”

The villagers were stunned, and then heard Song Anning continue, “Today, I ask Second Grandpa to be a witness. For each debt, I will write an IOU and use my land deed as collateral. If I can’t repay within a year, I will sell the land to make up the difference.”

The village head was momentarily taken aback but then nodded in agreement. “At the latest, one year. If you steal again, Banyue Village will not tolerate you.”

Land was precious to the villagers; it was the only hope for the farming community. Her words left the courtyard in silence.

What? Did they hear that right? The notorious troublemaker had sworn not to steal again and promised to repay her debts?

The woman who had been banging on the door earlier took a few steps back in shock and patted the person next to her:

“Pinch me. Am I dreaming? Did I just hear the Song family girl say she would repay her debts?”

“It seems she did say that…”

The person next to her stared blankly at Song Anning. To hear the word “repay” from the mouth of this troublemaker was truly a miracle!

The two acres of land belonging to the Song family were worth at least a few taels of silver. There was no reason to disagree!

The joy of getting back what was lost was overwhelming!

Half an hour later, the crowd dispersed.

Song Anning was left holding several IOUs filled with writing. She carefully reviewed them and found that there were 62 households in total, owing a total of four taels and seventy wen.

The most expensive item was five hens from Carpenter Wang’s house, all of which were egg-laying hens. He hadn’t asked for an exorbitant amount, calculating based on the price of non-egg-laying hens in the town, totaling 350 wen.

In the Nan Yue Dynasty, 1,000 copper coins equaled one tael of silver. The debts left by the original owner were enough to sustain an ordinary farming family for over two years.

Carefully putting away the IOUs, Song Anning looked around the dilapidated thatched hut. Having never experienced hardship before, she finally understood what it meant to be destitute.

Inside the house, there were only two large wooden chests that were still presentable, along with two old wooden beds. The quilts on the beds were patched and so dirty that their original color was unrecognizable.

Two furry little heads peeked out from a corner of the room, grinning at Song Anning. “Big Sis, how did you get caught again? Next time, try stealing from a different house.”

“Go steal from Second Grandpa’s house. He and Second Grandma are kind-hearted and never hold grudges against us because they pity us.”

Hearing this, Song Anning’s blood pressure soared. These two children were her younger brother, Song Zeyuan, and her younger sister, Song Anyue, five-year-old twins who were usually well-behaved and sensible. It hadn’t taken long for them to be led astray by the original owner!

She gave them a cold, piercing look and scolded, “You can’t steal from anyone. Is that a good thing to do? If you get caught stealing, they can cut off your hands and feet, and it wouldn’t be undeserved if you were beaten to death.”

The two little ones were startled by her words but continued to grin mischievously. “But Big Sis, you’ve stolen plenty of times, hehe…”

“We didn’t steal, and we didn’t eat the stolen food, so we won’t get punished…”

“…”

She was numb! Completely numb!

What a disastrous start! Her father and older brother were gone, her mother had gone mad, the family was so poor they couldn’t even afford to eat, she had a notorious reputation, and the two little ones had been led astray.

“Mom, I want to go home, waaah…”

Her mother’s health wasn’t great, and her father was getting old. Since she had returned to the village to start her business, her parents had been helping her tirelessly, thinking that if they worked harder, their precious daughter would have less to worry about.

Just as she had started to make some money, she had time-traveled. She couldn’t bear to think about how heartbroken her parents must be.

Thinking of this, Song Anning could no longer hold back her tears, which streamed down her face and fell to the ground with a soft plop.

Suddenly, a mechanical voice cheerfully chimed in:

“Beep… Successfully bound to host.

Don’t cry, don’t cry, the system is here!”

^[1]IOU is a written promise to repay a debt, which Song Anning issued to her creditors.