Chen Xiaobei sat on the creaky old bed for a full fifteen minutes, deep in thought.

He finally figured out one thing—he had time-traveled. He had traveled to a parallel world, a place called the Great Cang Kingdom.

This was a country that could not be found in any history books. Judging by the level of house construction and the craftsmanship of the table in front of him, it was at best comparable to the Tang or Song dynasties in real history. Although, the table was so old it only had three legs.

While he was pondering, a faint sound of footsteps came from outside.

A little girl, not even as tall as the table, carefully walked in.

She was about five or six years old, her hair was messy like a bird's nest, her face was covered in dust, and her clothes were so dirty that the original color was unrecognizable.

She walked into the room, timidly approached Chen Xiaobei's bed, and said, "Brother, Qiao'er is hungry."

Chen Xiaobei couldn't help but shudder.

The little girl in front of him was the younger sister of this body, named Chen Qiao'er.

Although in his past life he was a loser, at least working in a factory tightening screws allowed him to make ends meet.

But in this life, Chen Xiaobei was truly destitute. Apart from the bed he was lying on, there was only a three-legged table. Oh, and there was a water jar in the corner.

His stomach rumbled loudly, betraying his hunger.

But his memory told him that their so-called home had nothing to eat left.

Chen Xiaobei forced himself to stand up. "Let's go, we'll find something to eat."

He stepped out of the room and looked at their home again.

In the courtyard, there was a big locust tree.

But that was the only tree.

In the eastern room, three bricks were holding up half a steel pot.

This was their so-called kitchen.

The courtyard walls were only as tall as a person. With a casual jump, one could easily climb over.

Sigh.

Chen Xiaobei shook his head. What kind of time travel is this?

He wasn't a prince or a young master, fine, he could deal with that. He didn't even get a golden finger, but at least give him a full meal! But instead, he had no food and got stuck with a useless burden.

By now, it was almost noon, and as he walked through the village street, he noticed there weren't many homes with smoke rising from chimneys.

This village is called Hetou Village.

The village is located near Qingniu Mountain. In this kind of era, small villages like this one have little arable land and low yields. For an average family, if they manage to get through the year without starving, it's already considered a blessing. So, many families just endure until noon and get by.

As for the two siblings, one is lazy and loves to eat, and the other is still young, always eating one meal and having no guarantee for the next. That's to be expected.

Not far down the road, a few people came toward them.

The leader was the village's good-for-nothing, named Chen Ermao. These people were usually idle, gambling, drinking, and doing everything else.

When Chen Ermao saw Chen Xiaobei, he grinned from a distance. "Xiaobei, brother, I was just looking for you. Quickly, hand Qiao'er over to me."

A young man, with a sharp chin and monkey-like features, nicknamed "Monkey," continued, "Heh, Xiaobei, brother, we've found a good place for Qiao'er. Zhao Yuanwai from the city is a well-known kind-hearted man. She won't suffer over there."

Chen Ermao added, "That's right, as long as Qiao'er enters the Zhao family's door, not only will we clear our gambling debt, I'll even give you five hundred wen."

Chen Xiaobei shuddered, and his memories suddenly flooded back.

My god, in my past life, Chen Xiaobei really did plan to use his sister, Chen Qiao'er, to pay off gambling debts.

Today was the day when Chen Ermao and his group came to take her away.

Upon hearing their words, Chen Qiao'er visibly shuddered and tightly grasped Chen Xiaobei's arm.

"Brother, don't sell me. I'll go dig wild vegetables right now. You stay at home and rest, I'll go find something to eat..."

Chen Xiaobei's nose stung. Chen Xiaobei... no, the dead Chen Xiaobei... you scoundrel, a heartless bastard who would sell your own sister.

He turned and looked at the poor little girl, then gently patted her head.

"Don't worry, brother won't do that."

He then turned to look at Chen Ermao. "You must have misunderstood. I won't sell Qiao'er."

Hearing this, Chen Ermao laughed loudly. "Alright, I know you two have deep sibling feelings. Just hand her over to me, you stay at home, and I'll make sure you get your money. I'll send it to your house."

Chen Xiaobei shook his head firmly. "I said, I won't sell my sister. She is the only family I have in this world."

With that, he protected Chen Qiao'er and took a few steps backward, casually picking up a half-brick from the ground.

Chen Ermao's expression changed. "Chen Xiaobei, what do you mean by this? We had a deal two days ago."

Seeing him silent, Monkey spoke again. "Brother, think about it. Qiao'er is only six or seven years old, she can't even help you, and you're struggling with food. How are you going to feed her?"

Indeed, what Monkey said was true.

For common folk in this time period, aside from farming, there really weren't many other ways to make a living.

Chen Xiaobei had already rented out his two acres of land to someone else. The annual rent was two hundred pounds of grain, which wasn't even enough to feed them. If it weren't for the occasional charity from kind-hearted neighbors, he probably would have starved to death by now.

But none of that was a reason to sell his sister.

Chen Xiaobei shook the brick in his hand again. "I told you, I won't sell my sister."

Chen Ermao's expression finally changed, and he waved his hand.

"Go, grab him!"

When it came to fighting, Chen Xiaobei had some experience. After stepping back, he and his sister had nearly reached the corner of the wall, and he kept his sister behind him. That was the safest spot, and most importantly, he still had half a brick in his hand.

Monkey cursed as he rolled up his sleeves and charged forward, raising his hand to grab Chen Xiaobei by the throat.

In the past, with this kind of posture, Chen Xiaobei would have immediately yielded, almost begging for mercy.

But today, Chen Xiaobei unleashed an immense fighting spirit, swinging the brick toward Monkey's head.

Monkey was caught off guard and hastily dodged, but still got hit on the shoulder.

The pain made Monkey grit his teeth, and he quickly retreated.

"You son of a bitch, you're asking for death!" Chen Ermao saw this and charged forward again.

Chen Ermao had thought that, with his height advantage over Chen Xiaobei, he could easily intimidate him, but to his surprise, Chen Xiaobei didn't hesitate and slammed another brick right at him.

Seeing Chen Xiaobei fighting so fiercely, Chen Ermao quickly took two steps back.

Chen Xiaobei, with bloodshot eyes, gritted his teeth and said, "I'll say it again, I won't sell my sister."

Looking at Chen Xiaobei, who seemed mad with rage, Chen Ermao stomped his foot and shouted, "Chen Xiaobei, don't forget, you still owe me two taels of silver!"

Chen Xiaobei felt a wave of emotion at those words. That was true—he had lost two taels of silver to Chen Ermao after gambling all night.

Now it seemed like it was all part of a trap, just to force him to sell his sister.

Monkey blinked his eyes and said, "Chen Xiaobei, think about it. With your situation, forget about two taels of silver, you probably can't even come up with a single copper coin!"

Hearing this, Chen Ermao grinned. "Right, if you won't give her, then pay me back with silver."

Chen Xiaobei's mind raced. It seemed that unless he took drastic action today, this situation wouldn't be resolved. He gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, "Give me ten days, and I'll pay you back the silver."