After sitting on a wooden stump for over half an hour, Jin Feng had no choice but to face reality. 

He had traveled through time. 

From the modern 21st century, he had been transported to a backward feudal society. 

"Heavens, are you targeting me?" 

Jin Feng looked up at the sky, letting out a bitter laugh. 

In his previous life, Jin Feng came from a poor mountain village. Through relentless effort, he managed to get into university, worked part-time to support himself, and went on to complete his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in one go. After graduation, he became a high-level corporate worker—no, a senior mechanical engineer—earning millions a year. 

His story was nothing short of inspiring, and Jin Feng himself considered his life a success. 

But never in his wildest dreams did he expect that, just days into his new job, he would lose focus due to continuous overtime work, have an accident, and honorably join the ranks of time travelers. Now, he found himself in a dynasty called Da Kang, inhabiting the body of a lowly blacksmith. 

"Is every Jin Feng destined for such a hard life?" 

Yes, the blacksmith he had possessed was also named Jin Feng—and to make matters worse, his life was even more miserable.

From the moment he was born, Jin Feng had been dragged along by his parents as they fled from war and chaos. After much hardship, they finally found refuge in a small mountain village called Xihe Bay. Just as life began to settle, his mother fell ill and passed away. 

The old blacksmith knew that education might be the only path to a better future, so he tightened his belt and sent young Jin Feng to school, hoping he would one day pass the imperial exams and rise above their humble circumstances. 

Unfortunately, Jin Feng was simply not cut out for academics. Despite ten years of grueling study, he couldn't even pass the lowest-level exam to become a scholar. 

Last year, the old blacksmith died of illness, and the meager savings he left behind were quickly exhausted by Jin Feng. 

For the past two weeks, Jin Feng had been surviving on just one bowl of thin porridge a day. Weak and dizzy from hunger, he stumbled and hit his head on a pillar. That collision sent the 21st-century Jin Feng into the body of this struggling blacksmith in the Great Kang Dynasty… 

"Brother Jin! The county's marriage procession is almost here! The village chief wants you to hurry to the entrance!" 

A boy of about twelve or thirteen shouted from the doorway, not waiting to see if Jin Feng had heard him before scampering off. 

"Marriage procession?" 

Memories flooded Jin Feng's mind. 

Years of war had left the Kang Dynasty with a severe shortage of men. To boost population growth, the court had decreed that men must marry by the age of eighteen and women by seventeen. Those who failed to comply would face a 30% increase in taxes. 

With the lack of men leading to a shortage of labor, compounded by heavy taxes and bandit extortion, most commoners could barely afford one meal a day. Ninety-nine percent of them couldn't bear the additional tax burden. 

As a registered craftsman, Jin Feng was exempt from military service, but his taxes were heavier than those of farmers or hunters. Naturally, he couldn't afford the extra tax either. 

When the county officials came to collect taxes at the beginning of the year, he had no choice but to report that he would marry this year. 

But Jin Feng had already earned a reputation in Xihe Bay as a lazy loafer, clearly destined to starve to death. Who would be willing to marry their daughter to him?

But it didn't matter. In the Kang Dynasty, there was no shortage of unmarried women. 

Twice a year—once in late spring and again in late autumn—the county government organized marriage processions, sending eligible unmarried women to villages and towns for men to choose from. 

Whether the man was lame or blind, if he was chosen, the woman had to marry him and bear his children. 

"Is this the legendary 'government-issued wife'? Did Secretary Dakang also time-travel here? These benefits are too good to be true." 

Having just arrived in this era without even a bite to eat, Jin Feng felt somewhat uneasy about being forced into marriage. He couldn't help but complain silently. He didn't have high hopes for the upcoming procession. 

The women who came with the procession were those who couldn't find husbands in their own villages—essentially, the ones no one else wanted. Their "quality," as one might imagine, wasn't exactly high. 

But Jin Feng had no choice. 

Men had the right to choose, but not the right to refuse. 

In other words, whether he was satisfied or not, he had to pick a wife today. Otherwise, he would be considered a tax evader and sent to the battlefield, where he would likely die. 

Suppressing his hunger, Jin Feng walked to the village's northern platform, where three other young men were already waiting. One was hunchbacked, another was lame, and the third, though physically intact, had a sleazy, thuggish demeanor that made it clear he was no good. 

Like Jin Feng, they were the kind of men that villagers would rather send their daughters to the marriage procession than marry off to directly. 

"Look, Jin Feng's here! The Four Heavenly Kings are finally complete!" 

A child shouted excitedly upon seeing Jin Feng arrive. 

"Don't talk nonsense!" 

The child's mother quickly covered his mouth. 

The hunchback who couldn't do heavy labor, the lame man, the ruffian who liked to harass women, and the useless, bookish Jin Feng—these were the "Four Heavenly Kings" as the village children called them. 

Normally, Jin Feng despised the nickname and would get furious whenever he heard it. But today, he simply smiled at the child and stepped onto the platform. 

"Brother Jin, you're here!" 

The hunchback and the lame man greeted him with smiles. 

The ruffian, however, snorted disdainfully and craned his neck to look down the village road. 

"Brother Liu, Brother Zhang!" 

Jin Feng greeted them politely. 

"They're here! They're here!" 

The ruffian pointed down the road and shouted. 

A procession carrying red banners slowly approached from the village entrance. 

Leading the group were five county constables and a flamboyantly dressed matchmaker in a bright red skirt. Behind them trailed over twenty women, each carrying a bundle of belongings. The village chief went to greet the constables, while the matchmaker directed the women to stand opposite Jin Feng and the other three men. The marriage procession was a long-standing tradition, so the women weren't shy. Instead, they looked around curiously. 

The bundles they carried were their dowries. If chosen, they would stay behind in the village. This place might become their new home, and the people watching might become their new family… "If only there were a row of lights, this would feel like that famous dating show," Jin Feng thought to himself. But as expected, the "contestants" weren't exactly top-tier.

Most of the women showed signs of years of hard labor, with sallow complexions and sun-darkened skin. But one girl at the end of the line caught Jin Feng's eye.