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Gaoshan Village, at the home of the local thug Wang San, evening.
Wang Man was jolted awake by the pain. The very first thing she did upon waking was reach for her forehead.
Not only did it hurt, but something warm seemed to be trickling down.
Judging by her dog-like sense of smell, it was blood.
She wasn’t dead—thank goodness!
She tried to sit up, but her head throbbed with dizziness and pain, accompanied by a wave of intense nausea. She had no choice but to give up.
She knew this was a concussion—and a serious one at that.
The panic from the plane crash flashed through her mind, and instinctively, Wang Man turned her head to the side.
Wait—why did it feel like she was indoors?
And not just any room—it looked downright shabby.
Even the floor was packed dirt, uneven and full of pits, looking damp and clammy.
The worst part was that she was lying on that damp ground, her entire body cold and stiff, unable to move.
Wang Man’s eyes landed on the corner where the mud wall met another wall.
There was a huge spider web there.
A spider, about the size of a fingertip, was busily repairing the web.
Where is this place?
It clearly didn’t look like the site of a plane crash. Could someone have rescued her?
Sensing someone nearby, she lifted her gaze—and saw a man dressed in ancient-style clothing staring at her in a daze, clearly scared out of his wits.
Wang Man muttered inwardly:
What a weirdo. Plenty of people wear Hanfu these days, but this guy’s going all out—he’s even wearing what looks like a full set of ancient peasant clothes, trying really hard to stand out.
And it looked pretty realistic—there was even mud on it.
And the patches—there were just too many!
They practically covered the original fabric. How could wearing something like that even be comfortable?
Just as Wang Man was sizing the man up, he suddenly spoke:
“Wife… Wife, you’re not dead?”
After asking, he even looked visibly relieved.
That one word—“Wife”—nearly scared Wang Man out of her skin.
She didn’t quite jump up, but she did sit up abruptly.
A wave of dizziness and nausea crashed over her, and she quickly lay back down.
Damn it, what the hell is going on here?
To ease the discomfort, she had to shut her eyes. And the moment she did, a flood of unfamiliar memories surged into her mind.
Her already groggy and dazed brain felt like it was about to burst from the pressure.
Thankfully, back in the modern world, she had been a fighter.
Not just in competitions, but also in underground rings, throwing fists in illegal matches.
She was no stranger to pain.
This level of suffering was nothing to her.
With her eyes closed, she quickly sorted through the memories that didn’t belong to her.
Turns out, she really had died—and her soul had transmigrated into the body of this girl named Wang Manman.
Their names differed by only one character—one was Wang Manman, the other Wang Man. Even their written names were nearly identical.
Wang Manman had only been twelve years old, hot-tempered, and a troublemaker through and through.
When she was eight, her Mother had passed away.
Barely two months later, her Father, Wang Chang’an, married a new wife.
The stepmother brought along a daughter a year older than her—Wang Jiaojiao.
But this daughter looked exactly like her Father. There was no doubt she was his biological child.
In other words, the stepmother had already been involved with her Father before her Mother even gave birth to her.
As the old saying goes, where there’s a stepmother, there’s a stepfather—and their family was no exception.
When the stepmother arrived, she constantly looked down on both Wang Man and her big Brother.
She even arranged for her big Brother, Wang Xuezhi, to be sold off.
And it wasn’t just anywhere—he was sold to a small tavern, a place where the price was higher, about fifteen taels of silver.
They told others that their son Wang Baogen was too sick to afford a physician, so big Brother Wang Xuezhi volunteered to be sold.
Wang Xuezhi was a man of few words and somewhat quiet by nature.
But he always protected his younger sister, who was three years his junior.
Determined not to end up in such a filthy place, he managed to escape along the way.
After that, his whereabouts became unknown.
If they bought him as a servant, he would definitely come back to find the stepmother and the others.
The stepmother’s family ended up paying 20 taels of silver, emptying their savings.
So, she redirected her hatred onto Wang Man.
If it weren’t for Wang Man having learned a few fighting techniques from an old hunter, she would have been tortured to death long ago.
Even so, she couldn’t escape the fate of being sold.
When the stepmother became pregnant again, she set her sights on Wang Man.
She publicly announced that whoever paid five taels of silver could have her sold to them.
The male lead, Wang San, was a thug from a poor and broken household, with a mother whose eyesight was failing.
Their only asset was a single acre of land.
He felt that at twenty-four years old, it was time to marry a wife and carry on the family line.
But given his family’s status and his own character, no one was willing to marry him.
When he heard the stepmother’s announcement, he was immediately interested.
He sold his only acre of land for some silver and used that money to buy Wang Man.
Knowing Wang Man’s fiery temper, there was no way she would willingly be sold.
In the end, her own Father tricked her into drinking water laced with a sedative, knocking her out.
Seizing the opportunity while she was unconscious, Wang Chang’an and the stepmother cleverly bound her and delivered her to Wang San’s household.
By the time Wang Man woke up, she was already at Wang San’s place.
Thinking, since it’s come to this, she might as well make the best of it.
But when she saw Wang San approaching her, and remembering he was a thug, her mind went blank—and she slammed her head against the wall.
That was how modern Wang Man’s soul entered this body.
After gathering her thoughts, Wang Man looked at Wang San and pressed her dry lips together.
“I want water. Give me water.”
Her voice was a bit hoarse, but Wang San still heard her.
“There’s no water in the house. You’ll have to endure it!”
Wang Man…?
“Come here. Carry me to the bed.”
Feeling her body growing cold, Wang Man spoke again.
She dared not move on her own; any movement made her dizzy, like the sky was collapsing.
When Wang San didn’t move, she shot him a sharp glare.
“Are you dead? Didn’t you hear me tell you to carry me to the bed? You’re going to make me lie on the floor all night?”
Her voice was less hoarse now, but her mouth was dry—she was desperate for water.
Wang San blinked in surprise but nodded.
“Okay.”
Wang Man was only twelve years old, thin and small, looking seriously malnourished, weighing maybe only forty jin (about 44 pounds).
Wang San easily lifted her onto the wooden bed.
Once the dizziness passed, Wang Man said again,
“Bring me some water. I want to drink.”
She turned her eyes, studying the bed made of wooden planks.
The bed wobbled and creaked with every slight movement.
Wang Man was terrified—if the bed collapsed, would she get injured again?
Wang San’s eyes never left her. Just a little slip, and all his efforts would be for nothing.
No, it would be a complete loss—both his money and his girl gone.
As for Wang Man’s request for water, he completely ignored it.
His mind hadn’t caught up yet.
Why would someone want to bang their head against a wall? That’s just despair!
Look at her—already so dry and skinny, bleeding so much. Who knows how much good food she’d need to recover.
But their family was so poor; there was no money to buy good food!
And as for calling a physician, he hadn’t made up his mind.
If he called one, they wouldn’t have the silver to pay.
If he didn’t, it felt kind of wrong.
While he was hesitating, Wang Man spoke up again:
“I told you to pour me a bowl of water. Is that so hard?
What, since I didn’t die from hitting the wall, you want me to die of thirst?”