WSMTATMC C1

Chapter 1

“I heard the second son of Old Wang Shuan’s family threw himself into the river!”

“Is that for real?!”

“Of course it’s true! When they pulled him out, he was already lifeless!”

“Oh dear, may heaven have mercy. Why would he be so despairing as to jump into the river?”

“Isn’t it because his parents are so biased? They’re planning to marry him off to the Chen family in town to perform a chongxi. I heard that kid’s so sick he can’t even get out of bed. If things go wrong, he might end up a widow.”

“Such a good child pushed to such an extent.”

“Who could deny it? Selling your own son for ten strings of coins, what kind of parents are these?”

Sigh…” The old woman sighed and fell silent. Every family has their own troubles, but no matter how hard life is, using children as a way out is just despicable—this Wang family is truly shameless!

At this moment, the person being talked about lay soaked in the courtyard.

Wang Ying heard voices like they were on the other side of a glass wall, muffled and unclear. He tried to open his eyes but his eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds and simply would not lift.

After a while, his stomach churned violently and he suddenly vomited a large mouthful of water, which finally brought him back to consciousness.

“Ah, Second Brother is alive!” a sharp scream rang out nearby.

People quickly gathered around. Leading the group was a middle-aged man wearing a coarse cloth short jacket, his skin darkened by the sun, sporting a mustache shaped like the number eight, glaring angrily at Wang Ying.

On the other side stood a short woman dressed in dust-gray clothes, her hair tied at the back, looking at him with a harsh expression.

“You little beast, you’re so brazen to dare jump into the river. You’ve shamed me beyond measure!” the middle-aged man cursed and reached out to slap him.

Wang Ying was startled and tried to dodge, but accidentally fell off the wooden board, the world spinning around him until he finally realized something was wrong.

Looking around, all he saw was a simple fenced courtyard, a low thatched-roof house, and people with dirt-smudged faces—like background extras in a period drama.

He was clearly in the morning going to the experimental fields to check the crops but accidentally fell into a roadside well. Nearby were villages with spacious brick and tile houses—not at all like this place. Where was he?!

Some people stopped the middle-aged man, trying to calm him: “Brother Old Shuan, don’t hit the child anymore. It’s a blessing that Second Brother can survive.”

“Yes, Yingzi was just momentarily despairing. That Chen family is a landlord’s household with hundreds of acres of fields. Marrying in means never having to worry about food or drink again.”

Wang Ying still couldn’t quite grasp what they were saying; his mind was in chaos as darkness rolled over him once more.

This time he fainted for a good half day but finally managed to piece together the memories of his original body.

The original was five years younger than him, just turned eighteen this year, and shared the same name—Wang Ying—but had a different fate.

The younger Wang Ying was the second son in the family, with an elder brother and a younger brother. By normal standards, he should have been a boy, but this era had a different category of gender called “ge’er” (哥儿).

A ge’er on the surface looks like a boy but lacks male reproductive function, and instead can bear children like a woman. Wang Ying was a little ge’er.

Since childhood, he had been unloved by his parents, and now they had priced him at ten strings of coins to marry him off to a landlord’s family for chongxi.

The original body refused to marry, begging for several days, but seeing his parents’ indifference, he despaired and drowned himself in the river. Coincidentally, Wang Ying himself had fallen into the well and drowned, and so took over the body to come back to life.

The awakened Wang Ying was even more frustrated; a straightforward, model young man was expected to become someone’s wife—who wouldn’t be oppressed by this?

However, judging by Wang family’s situation, it was impossible to get the ten strings of coins back. Dying again was absolutely not an option.

A real man knows how to be flexible and resilient—it’s just… it’s just marrying a man, putting up with it temporarily won’t hurt.

He’d heard Chen family were landlords, so maybe he could negotiate with them. If he managed to please his husband, getting a piece of land to farm would be nice.

In the following days, Wang Ying quietly waited at home for marriage. Old Wang Shuan was worried he might cause trouble again, so he had his youngest son watch over him.

Wang family’s third son noticed his second brother seemed like a different person. In the past, he was always on the brink of despair. These days, he was quiet, either sitting idly on the bed or talking to the wall alone.

Sometimes he asked strange questions like what era it was, what the seasons felt like, how many acres of land the family had, what crops they grew, how many harvests per year, and so on.

The half-grown younger brother had no idea about these things but felt that Second Brother might be possessed by a spirit, so scared that he didn’t dare share a room with him.

After four or five more days, the wedding day finally arrived.

Early in the morning, Wang Ying was dragged out by his original mother and dressed in a grassy green long gown. According to local custom, on the wedding day men wore red and women green—a tradition similar to the Song Dynasty.

Around seven in the morning, the sound of trumpets and drums echoed; the wedding procession had arrived.

The Chen family seemed to take this match seriously, even hiring an eight-pole sedan chair to pick him up—a rarity in the surrounding villages.

Women and children curiously circled the flower-decorated sedan chair. The matchmaker spoke auspicious words at the Chen household because Chen’s eldest son was too ill to rise, so his younger brother Chen Sanlang would handle the wedding.

Chen Sanlang was only ten years old this year, wearing an ill-fitting wedding robe, nervously following behind the matchmaker awaiting his new sister-in-law.

A few days ago, he’d heard that his not-yet-married sister-in-law almost died from trying to escape marrying his eldest brother by drowning in the river. He thought she might refuse to board the sedan chair today.

Unexpectedly, within moments, someone came out of the house—a person with gentle features and handsome looks, dressed in a tender green long gown like a graceful willow, so beautiful that one could not look away.

Even the matchmaker couldn’t help but praise inwardly: no wonder Chen family was willing to pay a high price for this ge’er from the Wang family, who possessed such good looks!

“The magpie lands on the branch to celebrate the wedding, two hearts united bring blessings, young sir please ascend the sedan~”

Wang Ying walked up to Chen Sanlang, grabbed one end of the red silk ribbon from his hand, and said, “Let’s go.”

“Ah, ah.” The child quickly bowed his head, blushing as he took the other end of the ribbon and followed toward the sedan chair.

Only after boarding the sedan chair did Wang Ying’s mother symbolically wipe tears from her eyes and remind him to behave and not throw tantrums at his husband’s house.

As the sedan chair set off shakily toward the town, Wang Ying’s anxious heart finally settled. He had no idea how he had survived these days, always afraid of being discovered and burned as a demon for having swapped souls.

Still, he managed to learn a few things, such as the village being called Wangjia Zhai, which geographically corresponded to somewhere in northern China. The climate was distinct in the four seasons, and it was currently June, hot and rainy.

Northern China plains are flat and not very fertile but have a suitable climate. The main crops were millet, soybeans, and wheat. Of course, there was rice, but that was for aristocrats and landlords; commoners couldn’t afford to eat it.

In his previous life, Wang Ying was a senior student at the Agricultural College, and ironically, his research topic was seed cultivation and farming. Now transmigrated to the ancient era, it matched his expertise.

The era was called the Wu Dynasty, unknown to him before. Since Emperor Wu Taizu consolidated the empire by conquering Jiangshang, this dynasty had lasted over 130 years. According to history, it was currently in its peak period, with no major wars expected anytime soon.

Wang Ying felt relieved to be transmigrated to a peaceful period, no worries about conflict. If he had come to a war-torn era, he might have died immediately.

Lost in thought, the sedan chair finally arrived at Chen family’s gate. After firecrackers blasted, Chen Sanlang opened the curtain of the sedan chair, saying, “Sister-in-law, it’s time to get down.”

Wang Ying finally realized that “sister-in-law” meant himself—a grown man now a sister-in-law. He couldn’t help but laugh softly, quickly hiding his smile with a fan as he took the red ribbon and entered the Chen family courtyard.

Unlike the village, Chen family’s estate was large, mostly brick, stone, and wood, but generally worn down, a far cry from modern buildings.

During the wedding ceremony, Chen Sanlang stood in for his elder brother. It was clear Chen’s eldest son was seriously ill.

Chen family’s elder passed away a few years ago, leaving only Lady Chen in the grand hall. Though not old, her hair had already grayed at the temples, and an ever-present worry furrowed her forehead. Seeing Wang Ying kneel and kowtow, she forced a smile and nodded.

No wonder she was worried. Since her husband passed, the eldest son had been bedridden. As his condition worsened, town doctors were helpless. In desperation, Lady Chen sought a Taoist priest at a temple.

The priest advised that Chen Dalang’s five elements lacked water, so he needed to marry a wife with the water element to extend his life. Wang Ying’s element happened to be water, so they spent money to marry him into the family for chongxi.

After the complicated proceedings, Wang Ying was surrounded by a group of women who helped him into the bridal chamber, where he finally met his nominal “husband.”

Lying on the bed, Chen Dalang was only seventeen, a year younger than the original body, but had wasted away to skin and bones from illness.

Seeing Wang Ying, Chen Dalang’s expression was displeased, likely unhappy his mother arbitrarily arranged a marriage with a ge’er.

The relatives, afraid of disturbing the sick man, only spoke a few auspicious phrases, wishing for them to have children soon before leaving.

After people left, Wang Ying quickly wiped his face—the rouge he had applied in the morning was smeared by sweat, sticky and suffocating.

He saw some snacks on the table, lifted his robe, sat down, and began eating.

The snacks were a bit dry, and after gulping one bite, his neck stretched out a mile as he was choked. There was no water on the table, and after pounding his chest for a while, he swallowed the dry food.

“Pfft…” Chen Qingyan on the bed couldn’t help but laugh.

Wang Ying turned to look and saw the boy curiously watching him.

“What are you laughing at?”

“There’s a water pot on the cabinet,” Chen Qingyan said in a hoarse voice, perhaps because he hadn’t spoken in a long time.

Wang Ying picked up the pitcher, opened the lid, and smelled it—it was cooled boiled water. He poured it into a bowl and drank it down.

After half a pitcher, his stomach finally ceased feeling empty. Seeing Chen Qingyan’s cracked lips, Wang Ying poured him a bowl of water.

Chen Qingyan licked his lips and shook his head.

“Are you afraid that if you drink water, you’ll wet the bed?”

“Rude, rude words!” Chen Qingyan was embarrassed that Wang Ying guessed correctly and blushed deeply.

Seeing his expression, Wang Ying felt even more at ease. “You have what I have. Besides, we’re both married now. There’s nothing to be shy about.”

Chen Qingyan’s ears burned; he turned his head and muttered quietly, “No, no shame!”

notes:

Chongxi (冲喜) — a traditional practice where a marriage is arranged to bring fortune or cure illness by the presence of a spouse, commonly a ritual to lift misfortune or disease.

Ge’er (哥儿) — a historical gender category in some ancient Chinese contexts referring to individuals biologically male but unable to perform male reproductive functions and capable of bearing children, similar to a third gender.

Wu Dynasty (武朝) — a fictional or alternate historical dynasty mentioned in the text.

Five elements (五行) — traditional Chinese elemental theory often used in medicine and astrology, consisting of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.

Strings of coins — an ancient Chinese currency unit, with ten strings roughly representing a significant but not exorbitant amount of money.