Chapter 2

Volume 1 Chapter 2

Inside the storage room, Shu Le stared blankly at the room full of men and women, and unconsciously asked, “Who are you?”

Tao Qingshui, who had originally been happy that Shu Le was awake, immediately could not smile anymore.

Beside him, Su Wanxiang immediately shrieked, “Could he have fallen stupid? What a sin. It would have been better if he had just gone like that!”

“Eldest Sister-in-law, you!” Tao Qingshui said angrily. “Le boy finally woke up. Why are you cursing him?”

“Cursing him? He doesn’t even recognize people anymore. If that’s not being stupid, what is?” Su Wanxiang pursed her lips. She secretly thought: The doctor clearly said that if this Third Brother was not given acupuncture and medicine, he would probably die. How did he suddenly wake up on his own? Although it was good not to have to spend silver on treatment, if he really had become stupid, what would they do if the Han family broke off the engagement? Were her parents-in-law supposed to support him for a lifetime?

“Alright, Wan Niang, say a little less. Since Le boy is awake, call the doctor to come take another look. Shui boy, go invite Doctor Wu again.” Wei Hehua was also muttering inwardly.

Tao Qingshui immediately ran off to find Doctor Wu.

Only when Doctor Wu stepped into the room again and took Shu Le’s pulse did Shu Le, amid his dizziness, realize that the sentence he had just said seemed to have come at the wrong time.

Blurry fragments of memory flashed through his mind but were too fast to grasp. Yet Shu Le instinctively knew that those painful memories did not belong to him. They belonged to another person.

Doctor Wu was advanced in years. He stroked his beard and withdrew his hand from the pulse: “Since he has woken up, his life is not in danger. There is a slight deficiency of qi and blood. More nourishment will do. You say he does not remember people—that should be caused by the head injury. It cannot be counted as being foolish. It may also be that after resting and recuperating for a period, he will recover.”

“How long will it take to recover?” Tao Qingshui asked anxiously.

“Hard to say. If he rests well and takes medicine, perhaps it will be faster. If not, he may also never remember.” The doctor shook his head.

As soon as she heard medicine would be needed, Su Wanxiang widened her eyes: “Didn’t you say his life is not in danger? Then don’t spend this wasted money. Does it also not affect his ability to work?”

Doctor Wu was speechless. It seemed Shu Le could forget about resting in peace.

Since that soul-searching question earlier, Shu Le had not made another sound. The wound on his head hurt fiercely, but he tried hard to control himself from crying out. A tear incontinence constitution was sometimes truly troublesome. From the conversation just now, it seemed these people did not plan to treat him, and they thought he had lost his memory. But he was certain he had never seen these people before.

Shu Le closed his eyes hard and opened them again. The scene had not changed.

It looked like a rural village. He did not remember any village near the back of the school?

Shu Le had no choice but to brainstorm madly. He had secretly felt his body just now. He was not wearing the clothes he had worn before, and his phone was obviously not on him. This broken-down room felt about the same as a warehouse, and it did not look like there was a landline either. It seemed reporting to the police would be very difficult.

That person called Shui ge seemed to be the only one present who showed him goodwill. He had to find a way to get information out of him.

Calm down. Don’t be nervous. You can do this. Shu Le secretly encouraged himself.

When Doctor Wu saw that Wei Hehua did not intend to get more medicine for Shu Le either, he left.

“Don’t spread word about Le boy’s situation for now. Delay as long as you can.” Wei Hehua made up her mind to hide it from the Han family first. Maybe one day Shu Le would recover?

“Mother, rest assured, we understand.” Su Wanxiang, like a victorious rooster, pulled Shu Younian back to their bedroom.

Wei Hehua saw that Shu Le kept looking at the roof and not at her. Then she remembered that he did not remember people now, and she felt extremely irritated. She was afraid the Han family would find out and break off the engagement, and she was also afraid that in the future Le boy would not listen to her and her husband.

As for Shu Guangquan, he had long since not wanted to stay there, so he instructed Tao Qingshui: “Take good care of Le boy. Your mother and I are tired. We’ll go rest first.”

Soon only Shu Le and Tao Qingshui were left in the room.

Shu Le immediately turned his head and said in a weak, pleading manner, “Can I call you Shui ge?”

Tao Qingshui opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, and could only nod. His heart was filled with mixed feelings. He was happy that Le boy had escaped another calamity, but when he thought that the little ge’er he had known for many years had forgotten him just like that, he also felt sorrow.

Seeing Tao Qingshui’s disappointed expression, Shu Le paused, then still continued: “Can you tell me where I am and who you people are?”

“This is Xiliu Village. I am your second brother’s husband. The ones who were by your bedside all along are Father and Mother. The ones who left first were your eldest brother and eldest sister-in-law.”

Listen to this—was this even Chinese? Shu Le was bewildered. He understood every word separately, but when they were put together, why did he not understand?

He looked steadily at the clothes Tao Qingshui was wearing again. Suddenly, a bold thought flashed through his mind. Trembling, he asked, “What era is it now? Is this Zhong—” He swallowed the word “country.” No, if it was as he thought, then if he said any strange words, would he not expose himself? If he was then taken away as a monster, that would be trouble.

He really had thought of the same thing as Han Jingchuan.

Tao Qingshui widened his eyes. How could Le boy have forgotten even this: “It is now the third year of Shunde in the Dasheng Dynasty. Le boy, have you forgotten everything? Do you still remember that you are Shu Le? Do you still know how to dress and eat?”

Shu Le was dumbstruck.

——————

Han Jingchuan lay in bed for two days and finally broke his fever. His mind was no longer muddled.

Early on the third morning, he got up and followed the directions in his memory to find the kitchen.

In front of the stove, his eldest cousin’s wife, Fang Xinghua, was busy making breakfast.

It was still February. At this hour, the sky had just begun to brighten. Ancient people really did rise early.

Hearing movement behind her, Fang Xinghua turned and looked at her young brother-in-law in surprise: “Why is Second Brother up? Is your health better? Breakfast will take a while. Go back to your room first. Later I’ll call your eldest brother to bring it to you.” As she spoke, her hands did not stop working.

“Thank you, Eldest Brother and Eldest Sister-in-law.” Han Jingchuan had originally come to find a cup of hot water, but he knew it was not very appropriate to be alone in a room with Fang Xinghua, so he was too embarrassed to say it. He could only exchange pleasantries and leave the kitchen.

Fang Xinghua was somewhat surprised to hear this. Although Han Jingchuan had always considered himself a scholar and was fairly polite, for so many years he had buried himself in studying and basically paid no attention to matters outside his window. He was not close to the family, much less would he say things like “thank you” or “trouble.” After this serious illness, he seemed to have changed somewhat.

Having failed to get water, Han Jingchuan also did not want to go back to the room and continue being a salted fish. The bed board was too hard, and the quilt was neither warm nor soft. Lying there was truly suffering. And this was probably already the best thing in the family, because everyone felt it was not easy for him to study, so good things were basically given to him first.

Pacing in the courtyard, Han Jingchuan took a deep breath. As expected of a pure natural pollution-free oxygen bar. If only Xiliu Village were not so poor.

Seeing a water vat not far away, he walked over and lowered his head, and was greatly surprised.

The original body’s appearance was exactly the same as his own, only the figure was somewhat thin and weak, with sunken cheeks. It was likely due to malnutrition and illness.

How could this be? Han Jingchuan felt his head swell. Could it be that, as written in novels, this was a fated transmigration?

For the past two days, he had passively received memories and been busy sorting them out, so he truly had no time to think about why he had transmigrated. Now that his head no longer hurt much, he finally had time to properly think about this question.

Carefully recalling the last memory before transmigration, it was that he had wanted to grab Shu Le’s hand. As a result, the moment the two touched, a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, and then his memory cut off.

So the trigger for transmigration must have been that day’s lightning. But lightning happened often, and he had never heard of anyone transmigrating after being struck. Also, could Shu Le have transmigrated along with him?

His sixth sense told Han Jingchuan that it definitely was not just the lightning strike alone that caused the transmigration. If he rashly went to get struck again, he might not only fail to return to modern times, but this hard-won little life might also be gone. Although he really wanted to return to modern times, if the modern him was already dead, then this rebirth had not come easily. People always wanted to live.

Suddenly, Han Jingchuan remembered why he had gone to find Shu Le that day in the thunderstorm and heavy rain.

Shu Le was his roommate, studying accounting, while he studied business administration. Their majors were different, so they usually did not attend many classes together. Apart from shared major courses, they only saw each other in the dorm for about an hour before lights-out at night. By rights, there should not have been any major conflict.

But in a dorm of four people, they got along well with the other two respectively. Yet he and Shu Le just could not exchange more than half a sentence without disagreement.

As for the reason, Han Jingchuan could not explain it either. Probably although he was gay, he could not say for sure what type he liked, but he did know what type he disliked most: people who cried at the drop of a hat, especially boys.

Shu Le just happened to be a delicate little crybaby. Fragile in body and health, he shed tears when uncomfortable. When arguing with people—mainly arguing with him—as the argument went on, he would also shed tears, although Shu Le always said this was caused by his tear incontinence constitution.

The moment Han Jingchuan saw him cry, he became irritated and flustered, and consequently he always wore an unpleasant expression when facing Shu Le.

Because he was too sharp-tongued, Shu Le also found him displeasing. For nearly four years of university, the entire dormitory building knew that the two of them were nemeses.

Shu Le had joined the school astronomy club. On the day of the transmigration, there had been a forecast of a once-in-a-millennium nine-star alignment, so late at night he was packing equipment in the dorm, preparing to go stargaze on the small hill behind the school.

Han Jingchuan sat on the bed playing on his phone, glancing at Shu Le from time to time, wondering inwardly whether that small body of his could even carry a telescope and tripod.

Ding dong. His phone received a notification.

“Breaking: Short-term thunderstorms, strong winds, and other severe convective weather are expected within the next five hours.” Han Jingchuan read it softly, then suddenly turned his head to look at Shu Le.

Shu Le obviously did not know about this warning and was still racking his brains over how to stuff the equipment into the same bag.

“Hey,” after hesitating for only two seconds, Han Jingchuan said toward the back of Shu Le’s head, “It’s going to thunder and rain soon. What stars are you going to see? Aren’t you afraid of being struck by lightning?”

“You!” As soon as Shu Le heard Han Jingchuan’s tone, he knew there would be no good words. Sure enough. He silently told himself not to get angry and continued packing.

Seeing that Shu Le ignored him, Han Jingchuan’s anger flared up. He raised his voice: “Didn’t you receive the warning text? Just stay put. With that little body of yours, be careful the strong wind doesn’t blow you into the sky.”

Impulse was the devil. Take a step back and the sea and sky are vast. Do not talk to this villain. Do not… Shu Le still could not hold back: “None of your business!” His eyes reddened slightly, and he slung his backpack over his shoulders and rushed out of the dorm.

The door was slammed shut with a bang.

Tsk, truly no good deed goes unpunished. Han Jingchuan bit his back teeth.

Forty minutes later, fierce winds rose, and the sound of pattering rain began.

Another twenty minutes later, Han Jingchuan looked at his phone, which had received no reply, his eyes dark.

Another door-slam.

“Damn, one after another, what the hell—” The dorm head, who had been playing games, took off his earphones and discovered that only he was left in the dorm.

Han Jingchuan was walking against the strong wind toward the back hill, so irritable he wanted to curse. “I really am sick. Shu Le, you’d better honestly have gone back to school.”

As if his muttering had worked, when he looked up again, a familiar figure was stumbling and running toward Han Jingchuan.

“Shu Le!” As soon as Han Jingchuan opened his mouth, he swallowed a mouthful of wind. Bean-sized raindrops suddenly poured down.

Shu Le was stunned. Seeing Han Jingchuan appear before him, he thought he was dreaming.

“What are you standing there stupidly for? Hurry back.” Han Jingchuan struggled to move his steps and did not notice that his hair had floated up.

Rumbling thunder exploded by his ears. Shu Le woke as if from a dream and continued running forward. He had just stopped in front of Han Jingchuan when he saw a hand reach out as if wanting to grab him.

“Give me your hand. We’ll go together.” Han Jingchuan felt inexplicably panicked. He had not expected that just as he touched Shu Le’s wrist, a piercing flash of lightning exploded before both their eyes.

Shu Le’s terrified eyes became Han Jingchuan’s last memory.

So, apart from the lightning strike, the nine-star alignment might have been the biggest reason?

If that was truly the case, once in a thousand years, he probably would never be able to return to modern times.

Han Jingchuan stopped walking and felt ice-cold all over.