Half-conscious, Lin Yue felt herself being propped up, leaning against a warm and broad embrace. Something bitter was then fed into her mouth, spreading its bitterness there. Lin Yue frowned and subconsciously wanted to resist, but someone held her chin and forcefully poured the medicinal concoction into her mouth. With a feeling of resentment, Lin Yue sank back into a deep sleep.
Not knowing how long she had slept, when Lin Yue woke again, she found herself lying on a cold and hard wooden plank bed, covered with an old cotton quilt. The quilt felt slightly damp because it hadn't been washed or aired for a long time, and several grimy brown stains dotted its unclean fabric. Lin Yue, who liked cleanliness, wrinkled her brows and could hardly bear it. But at this moment, she had no mind to fuss over these things; what she needed to figure out most was the current situation. She was sure she had been asleep, so why on earth had she woken up in such a dilapidated place?
After considering numerous possibilities, which Lin Yue herself dismissed one by one, only the most absurd and unlikely one remained, yet it seemingly explained her current circumstance. Observing the withered and weak hands with visible calluses—which clearly weren't her own—and the furnishing of the room and the clothing she was wearing, Lin Yue had to accept a fact: she had traveled through time. Her soul had transmigrated into this skinny and feeble body, whose original owner must have been a poor girl from an ancient rural village.
Such a melodramatically tragic situation had befallen her. She truly seemed destined for poverty. She had grown up enduring hardships, and just when she had started to make a modest living and secured a place to call home in the vast city, before she could even enjoy her hard-earned good fortune, she traveled back to a time before liberation. Everything had to be started from scratch once more. Could anyone be more unlucky than her?
Lin Yue was bitterly complaining to herself when she suddenly heard some noise outside. Then, with a creak, the wooden door was opened from the outside. A man, who appeared to be about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, walked in carrying a bowl. Lin Yue grew nervous and curiously sized up the man, speculating about the relationship between him and the owner of the body. Considering that ancient people matured early and married young, her current body didn't seem to be more than twelve or thirteen years old. Considering the substantial age gap, could this man possibly be the father of the body's owner?
After much thought, Lin Yue felt that this was highly likely. She herself had been orphaned at a young age and raised solely by her grandfather. He passed away when she was fifteen, leaving her completely alone in the world. Having a deep longing for family affection, just the thought of the word "father" made Lin Yue's eyes moist. Although this household appeared to be poor, if it could offer her the familial love she so craved, she was willing to endure any hardship.
Zhao Erhu had just returned from hunting in the mountains, his mind burdened with gloom and irritation as he thought of his ill wife lying listlessly in the house. Although he had long given up hope of a happy marital life, he was persuaded time and again by his father and stepmother. Moreover, considering his children were still young and needed a woman to tend to the home, he agreed to the marriage after the matchmaker sang praises of how virtuous and capable the new bride was. It never crossed his mind that the matchmaker was so unreliable, and that the girl's family was so heartless. For a dowry of twenty taels of silver, they had forced a girl, not yet thirteen, who hadn't even reached the age of marriage, to wed him—a widower cursed with the deaths of his mother and former wife.
That would have been enough, but unfortunately, the young bride had been married against her will, and she was also shy. On the first night of their marriage, she trembled with fear in the bridal room, and before he could do much of anything, she fainted from fright. From then on, she lay sick in bed for days, and despite being well taken care of with a steady stream of soups and medicines, she showed no signs of improvement. Could it be that he, Zhao Erhu, was truly as the rumors said, cursed to harm his mother and wives? Not only had he lost his mother and his first two wives, but now the newly married bride seemed to be suffering from his curse as well, looking like she might pass away at any moment.
Zhao Erhu felt such gloom, thinking that he had already resigned himself to this fate after so many blows, yet still felt some reluctance in his heart. After all, he still harbored hopes and dreams. Men who grew up in the mountains might not have many extravagances or ambitions, but who wouldn't want a wife by their side who understood them, through warmth and through cold? Although he now had four sons and no worry of continuing his lineage, that could not be compared with having a wife. Sons would eventually marry and have their own lives, while a wife would accompany him for a lifetime. Nights without a wife were too lonely and desolate.
When it was time for her medicine again, he pushed open the door and to his surprise, he saw his young bride awake, leaning against the headboard, with a look of frustration and reluctance on her face, most likely unwilling to accept the fact that she had married him, a widower. Honestly, he didn't want to marry such a frail and useless bride either. Zhao Erhu felt suffocated with frustration, a sullenness rising in him, making his face not look very good. But when he saw his bride's bewildered and helpless look as she gazed at him with damp eyes, like a frightened little animal, his heart softened involuntarily. Well, she was still a half-grown child when she married him. It was natural for her to be scared. He was a grown man, what was the point of being so harsh? He would just have to get used to it and properly train her in the future.
"You're finally awake. How do you feel, is there any discomfort?" Zhao Erhu sat down by the bed and tried to ask gently, so as not to frighten his bride who had finally awakened. However, Zhao Erhu was a rough man with a loud voice, and what he thought was a gentle tone combined with his stern face sounded to Lin Yue like an impatient interrogation.
Lin Yue, not one to seek trouble, was still trying to adapt to the drastic change in her situation and status, and her mind was a mess. Additionally, she couldn't figure out what kind of person this man before her was. Despite feeling dizzy and aching all over, she shook her head subconsciously to avoid any trouble and tried to sit up, only to slump back down due to her weakness. Zhao Erhu quickly helped to support her.
"Be careful, don't act tough when you're weak. You really don't make things easy for people," Zhao Erhu, worried about Lin Yue's health, blurted out his scolding words in his concern. Lin Yue knew nothing about this body's condition and didn't know how to respond to the man, so she just obediently let him support her, keeping her head down without uttering a word, thinking this would prevent any mistake.
Zhao Erhu saw Lin Yue's docile behavior and thought she was still afraid of him, feeling both helpless and unsure about what to do with his young bride. He really had no experience dealing with girls of this age. His first two wives, from the Zhao Family and the Li Family, were already of age to know worldly matters when they married him and didn't require much of his attention. As for his four sons, they were all trouble-free, and if they were disobedient, a beating with a branch did the job, making it easy to manage them, without needing such careful consideration.