Chapter 1: What Are This Man and Woman Doing?

Qin Nian

“You’d better keep your word this time. Don’t go back on it like last time—pull up your pants and pretend nothing happened.”

A timid woman’s voice.

“I’ll keep my word this time, I swear! Hurry up, I can’t stand how slow and fussy you are.”

An impatient man’s voice.

Qin Nian had just woken up when these two sentences drilled right into her ears, followed by the rustling of clothes.

Then came the man’s heavy breathing and the woman’s pained moans, sounding like a rat that had eaten poison. The sounds made her skin crawl.

Qin Nian blinked a few times. What are they doing? She sat up and looked in the direction of the voices—

A man and a woman, stacked one on top of the other, were doing something that needed no further explanation.

Those who know, know.

Qin Nian smiled, widened her eyes, and watched with interest, though the dim light made it hard to see clearly.

She was just about to scoot closer when her sudden movement startled the pair.

Both of them turned their heads at the same time, saw her, and froze.

The man stopped moving, then let out a shout, leapt up, and ran off. His butt was big and flat, like a poorly shaped cow pat.

He had stripped completely, and now didn’t even bother to put his clothes back on—he bolted stark naked.

The woman had only taken off her skirt. When she saw the man flee, she quickly wrapped herself in her disheveled clothes. She didn’t dare look at Qin Nian and just bowed her head and sobbed.

Her skinny shoulders shook, looking pitiful beyond words.

“Isn’t this Sister Cuizhi?”

As soon as she spoke, Qin Nian froze. There was no one by that name in her world.

And yet, the name had slipped out of her mouth naturally.

What’s going on?

Qin Nian was a doctor. A few days ago, she had attended a medical seminar.

The event ended half a day early, so she came home early as well. For some reason—maybe a hunch—she hadn’t told her fiancé.

When she opened the door, she noticed an extra pair of white high heels at the entrance—definitely not hers.

The sight of those heels made her heart race.

Without hesitation, she charged inside and kicked open the bedroom door.

On the bed—a man and a woman, one on top of the other—were doing something that needed no further explanation.

The man on top was her fiancé.

Such a cliché scene.

Qin Nian didn’t even think. She stormed over and started kicking the adulterous pair, breaking their arms and legs in the process.

She had been in poor health since childhood and started learning Muay Thai at age five to strengthen her body. She had trained for years.

She had the strength—and she used it.

The screams from her fiancé and the woman woke every child in the apartment complex. They all burst into terrified tears.

Overcome with rage, Qin Nian’s congenital heart disease flared up.

Clutching her searing chest, she collapsed to the floor.

When she opened her eyes again, she was seeing a similar scene.

In front of her, Cuizhi had her long hair tied up in a loose bun, adorned only with a plain wooden hairpin.

She wore a coarse green cloth dress. Her skin was sallow, and she was so thin she looked like a praying mantis.

Qin Nian somehow knew this woman was Lin Cuizhi, and that both she and Lin Cuizhi lived in Dawapo Village…

These memories didn’t belong to her—but to this body. The original Qin Nian of this world.

Qin Nian wailed, “I’m screwed. I’ve time-traveled!”

She sobbed a few more times. Through her teary eyes, she saw Lin Cuizhi squatting on the ground, curled up in a ball.

While crying, she desperately tried to pull her clothes over her exposed legs.

Qin Nian stopped crying.

This was ancient times. Lin Cuizhi had been caught doing something illicit with a man. Her reputation was utterly ruined. If she couldn’t handle the shame, she might take her own life.

Qin Nian wiped her tears, looked at the woman, and said,

“Sister Cuizhi, I didn’t see anything just now. Since I didn’t see anything, I won’t tell anyone. You can relax.”

Lin Cuizhi didn’t dare look up at her. She kept her head down, still crying, her voice as pained and hopeless as before.

Just as Qin Nian was about to comfort her again, the man who had run off earlier came charging back in like the wind.

He rushed over to Cuizhi, snatched up the clothes on the ground, and sprinted off again without stopping.

He moved quickly, his big butt jiggling comically—like a particularly bad cow pat.

Apparently, he didn’t dare run back to the village naked. He had come back to get his clothes.

Qin Nian couldn’t help but laugh.

With that laugh, the sorrow in her heart eased a little. She bent down, picked up the torn dark-blue skirt from the ground, and handed it to Cuizhi.

“Put this on. It’s getting dark. Let’s go back to the village.”

Cuizhi sobbed softly, her face filled with shame as she slowly put on her torn skirt.

Qin Nian glanced westward and realized they were inside a mountain cave. Judging by the light, it was dusk—around the time of Shenshi (3–5 PM).

She had died from being enraged by her cheating fiancé. But how had the original owner of this body died?

She focused for a moment, and soon, all of the original body’s memories flooded her mind.

This was Dawapo Village in Yixian County, located in the southwesternmost part of the Daliang Kingdom.

The entire Yizhou region had been hit with three consecutive years of drought. The fields yielded nothing, and every household was short on food.

The one stroke of luck was that Dawapo Village was surrounded on three sides by mountains. Villagers could go up the mountains every day to dig for wild vegetables.

But even without rain, the wild vegetables were almost all dug up. They had become extremely hard to find. Villagers who managed to find some could have a meal that day.

Those who didn’t find any could only grab some wild grass or strip a piece of tree bark for the family to chew on and stave off hunger.

Earlier today, the original owner of the body had gone up the mountain with a small basket to look for wild vegetables, just like she always did. She’d gotten lucky and found a large bunch of puputing (dandelion greens).

Thinking of her starving grandmother back home, she had started down the mountain in the early afternoon.

She was exhausted and hungry, her vision swimming with golden stars—she simply couldn’t walk any farther.

Just then, she passed by this mountain cave. She went in, ate a few of the dandelion greens, and planned to rest for a bit before heading back.

But once she lay down, her body could no longer hold on. Her soul left her body.

In other words, she starved to death.

At that moment, the soul of Qin Nian—who had just died of heartbreak—floated in and completed a cross-time soul transmigration. She returned to life by taking over this body.

With a thud, Cuizhi, now dressed, knelt down in front of Qin Nian. After sobbing softly for a moment, she choked out:

“Little Sister Nian, it’s a famine year. There’s not a single grain left in my home.

I had no other choice but to go with Dong Biao. His family’s well-off and he can give me a few coins or a handful of rice husks.

It’s thanks to that that my three children haven’t starved to death yet.

I beg you—please don’t tell anyone about what you saw. My life doesn’t matter, but if I die, my three children won’t survive either.

They’re still so young… So very young!”

After speaking, she started crying again.

Cuizhi’s husband was named Sun Dalei—ten years older than her. He was lazy and greedy. Even in such harsh times, he still lay around at home every day, never once going up the mountain to gather wild vegetables.

He let Cuizhi struggle alone through the storm of life, barely managing to feed him and the children.

To keep her kids from starving, Cuizhi had begun selling her body since last year.

Qin Nian bent down and pulled her up. “Sister Cuizhi, you’ve sacrificed even yourself for the sake of your children.

You’re a strong and noble—”

The word mother almost escaped her lips, but then she remembered this was ancient times. There was no such term. She quickly changed it to:

“You’re a strong and noble niang. I won’t laugh at you, and I definitely won’t tell anyone so they can laugh at you either. You don’t have to worry.”

Being understood, Cuizhi’s tears flowed even more, and she sobbed so hard she couldn’t speak.

“Come on, let’s go home.”

With that, Qin Nian took Cuizhi’s hand and led her out of the cave. Just as they reached the entrance, Qin Nian suddenly remembered the basket of dandelion greens the original owner had picked.

She ran back, grabbed the small basket off the ground, and then headed down the mountain with Lin Cuizhi.

Dawapo Village had more than 700 households and was the largest village within several hundred li.

After entering the village, Qin Nian and Cuizhi split up to return to their respective homes.

She hadn’t even reached her front door yet when she heard shouting and cursing coming from nearby.