Pain—this was the only word that echoed in my consciousness.

What had transpired? What had I done to deserve such agony? It felt as if I had been run over by a truck, every inch of my body throbbing with pain. My head ached, my body hurt; there was not a single spot on me that was free from discomfort.

The sound of sobbing, a soft, mournful wail, filled my ears.

"Hey! I'm not dead yet, so why are you crying? Really, this constant sobbing is giving me a headache. Do you have any idea?"

What bad luck!

Listening to the hoarse cries, I frowned, my hand gently caressing my aching head as I slowly opened my eyes.

The sky was bright, luminous, and a brilliant blue, with clouds so white they seemed to glow, drifting lazily across the heavens.

The weather today was exquisite!

It had been ages since I had seen such pure white clouds, such a vivid blue sky.

Where was I?

I turned my head, taking a look around.

I was stunned.

Was I hallucinating? That was the first thought that crossed my mind.

The walls were made of mud, severely eroded, with traces of something having been recently torn down. The thatched roof had a large hole in it; the blue sky and white clouds I had seen earlier were visible through that very gap.

Where on earth was I?

My head throbbed painfully.

I remembered receiving my salary, the first pay I had earned since starting work. I had wanted to treat myself to a good meal, and then... the car had collided with me.

And then... shouldn't I be in a hospital?

Confused, I looked around once more.

The sobbing continued.

Enduring the pain, I slowly sat up. This time, I got a full view of my surroundings: a mud house, rectangular in shape, with a dirt floor. I was lying in an L-shape with a woman, directly on the ground, without even a wooden plank for support. Beside the woman, a child sat crying.

I moved slightly. There was only one word to describe how I felt—pain!

Shouldn't a car accident land one in the hospital?

What was going on? Had I been abandoned? Had the perpetrator fled the scene?

But even so, shouldn't I be on the roadside? Could it be that I had been discarded?

Yet... something was amiss.

Waves of pain pulsed through my head.

Unable to withstand it, I lay back down.

A wave of dizziness overcame me, and Xu Jia'an slowly succumbed to a state of dozy slumber.

Perhaps this was all a dream, and upon waking, everything would be fine.

Xu Jia'an awoke once more, and upon confirming her surroundings, she found herself still in that mud house, lying in the same position.

The sky remained as blue, the clouds as white.

Slowly, she sat up, and there was the woman, still lying in the same manner. The child had stopped crying and was now curled up against the woman, seemingly asleep.

Taking a deep breath, she moved her hands and feet, turned her head, and still, the only word that came to mind was—pain!

Aside from the pain, there seemed to be no major issues.

However, it appeared that no one here would provide any medical care.

I'll have to rely on myself.

Reaching out, she grasped the wall, attempting to stand.

Once again, she was stunned.

She blinked.

Was this my hand?

Looking at the small hand before her eyes, she subconsciously wiggled it, the little hand clutching and moving, and a realization dawned in her consciousness—I just made it move!

I truly made it move!

Xu Jia'an's eyes widened as she looked at her hand, then slowly at her feet, lifting the tattered, mud-stained clothes with two patches on them.

An unbelievable thought sprang to her mind!

I've traveled through time!

I've been reincarnated into a child!

A child of only a few years old!

Estimating, perhaps four or five years old?

A sense of unease caused Xu Jia'an to tremble.

Goosebumps covered her entire body.

A scream burst forth from her lips.

The child, who had been sleeping, was startled awake by Xu Jia'an's cry. Looking around, the child fixed his gaze on Xu Jia'an, who was still screaming. After a long moment,

"An'an, you're awake," the child said, rushing towards Xu Jia'an and embracing her tightly, bursting into tears before she could finish her sentence.

The embrace from the child silenced Xu Jia'an's scream.

Looking at the child before her.

"Who are you?" she asked in a hoarse voice, the raspiness a result of disuse.

As if not hearing her, the child continued to cry.

Xu Jia'an raised her hand and gently patted the child's back. The sensation beneath her hand was bony, a bit rough to the touch. Looking at the crying child, she was speechless.

After a long while, the child stopped crying.

Xu Jia'an thought the child would say something to her.

But as she waited, something felt off.

The child had fallen asleep.

Xu Jia'an felt exasperated.

She thought she heard crows flying over her head, cawing, "Fool—."

After a moment, she gently laid the child down flat and took another look. The child's face was small, dirty, a mixture of mud-yellow and black smeared across it. Thick eyebrows, eyes tightly shut, lips pursed, sleeping restlessly, occasionally biting or frowning. The hair was messy, with a small bump on the top of the head, resembling the hairstyle of a scholar from ancient times.

As for the clothes, these seemed to be called cross-collar shirts, the kind worn by commoners in period dramas on television. A pair of trousers, with a cloth belt around the waist. From the collar, one could see that the body was somewhat thin, giving off an impression of malnutrition and long-term mistreatment.

What kind of era was this? It felt quite ancient!

Xu Jia'an slowly stood up, enduring the pain throughout her body, and approached the woman.

The first impression upon seeing her—thin.

Disheveled hair adorned with two twigs, eyes tightly closed, dark circles beneath them, sunken cheeks, a straight nose, pale lips devoid of any color, a coarse cloth garment with four patches covering a body that was skin and bones, the same muddy clothes, a dark brown skirt with several patches, and bare feet, no shoes.

Looking at the short-statured woman, Xu Jia'an's scalp began to tingle.

How could one be this thin?

Was she perhaps a mummy? Another alarming thought crossed her mind.

She glanced back at the sleeping child, whose dirty face still bore two streaks of tears! The child, dressed in equally patched clothes, was small and thin, now sleeping soundly.

Would the child be able to tell if someone was alive or dead?

Shifting her gaze back to the woman.

Sharing a room with a female corpse?

Chills spread from within her heart.

No, she wasn't dead.

She was still breathing!

Seeing the slight rise and fall of the woman's chest, Xu Jia'an breathed a sigh of relief.

Withdrawing her gaze, Xu Jia'an slowly made her way towards the door.

It turned out that she had been in a room; this was the hall, an empty hall with nothing in it.

Exiting the hall!

A paradise beyond the world!

In the distance were green mountains, followed by fields, closer were scattered houses, and a stream flowed by the village.

Looking back, a dilapidated mud house stood lonely on a small slope.

The stream flowed not far behind the mud house.

Beyond the slope was a grove of trees.

An ideal retreat for a hermit scholar!

But this hermit scholar seemed a bit poor!

A series of "growls" from her stomach, signaling hunger, interrupted Xu Jia'an's appreciation of the idyllic scene.

She walked towards the side of the mud house. There was a stove there. Next to the stove were a few stones, with two broken pieces of a clay pot nearby, no pot, no basin, not even a single bowl, and of course, no food.

Circling the house, behind the house was a small shed that looked like it would collapse with a gust of wind. Upon entering, oh! It was a toilet, or more accurately, a pit latrine, with only a hole and sparse bamboo poles surrounding it as a partition.

There was nothing else! Returning to the inside of the house, the hall was so empty that one glance could take it all in. Entering the room, aside from the two sleeping figures, there was nothing else.

What was this place?

It was even more desolate and worse off than the dilapidated temples and empty houses often seen in TV dramas!

Her stomach growled again, reminding Xu Jia'an that it was not the time for questions, but for finding food.

Where there were mountains and water, one would not starve, she thought, taking a deep breath.

Looking at the grove of trees beside the house.

With heavy steps, Xu Jia'an set off.

Crossing the open space, at the edge of the woods, there grew some plants with green leaves and purple stems, in clusters, densely covering an