Qin Mian opened his eyes and found himself lying in a leaky thatched cottage. The problem was that he was still in his family’s villa beforehand! What’s more, there was another man lying next to his leg in the quilt!

“You, you, who are you?”

The man sat up quietly, his upper body exposed as he looked at Qin Mian for a moment before he carried a worn out bowl with a cracked corner from the low table at the head of the bed. The man said in a muffled voice, “Wife, drink water.”

Qin Mian’s eyes rolled backwards and he passed out….

Qin Mian had a dream that he became a woman. Within the burst of suonas1, gongs and drums beating, he was forced into a sedan chair to marry a man.

He was scared to the point of cold sweating, then woke up, and pulled his clothes apart. As soon as he saw a flat chest, he was relieved and laughed at himself, “I’m scaring myself; it’s just a dream…”

Suddenly, he felt something was wrong. How could his clothes be so worn out? And how could he be so swarthy and thin, just like a child of eleven or twelve.

He raised his head hastily and found that he was in a thatched cottage. He jumped to the ground from the bed in fright. The thatched room was only about seven to eight square foot with two of the walls made of clay and the other two walls were merely made of wood, hay,and old cloth. There was nothing else in the room except for a wooden bed, a low table at the head of the bed, and two wooden boxes. Oh, there was also red paper-cutouts pasted on the wall, which were big character. There was no mirror, but when Qin Mian looked at his little arms and calves, he could be sure that this body was not his at all.

A thrill crept up his back. What’s going on? He clearly remembered that he had been in his family’s villa beforehand. Right, he was pushed by Qin Lian. He had rolled down the stairs and hit his head. Very suddenly, he had an incredible idea: Was he dead and reincarnated in someone else’s body?

Qin Mian dared not to believe it. He pinched himself hard but the scene in front of him didn’t change at all, as if it was laughing at him coldly.

He was completely dumbstruck. After a moment of stupefaction, he quickly looked at the pulse point on his left wrist. There was a small, unremarkable black mole there. With a thought in mind, a familiar mysterious world appeared in front of him. He breathed a moment of relieved, his tensed face also eased a lot.

He walked toward the door with great strides; his feet pressed painfully on something hard within two steps. He looked down and saw a pair of skinny black feet without shoes. The ground was full of potholes; it would be a wonder if his feet did not get pressed painfully on something hard. Looking around, there was a pair of straw sandals by the bed. They had been worn for a long time that they were half black. Under the bed were two other pairs of straw sandals, one big and one small, all of which were new. He put on the new straw sandals without hesitation.

When he opened the door, he found that the thatched cottage was built in a yard. At a glance, he could tell that it was built later. A foul smell assailed his nostrils; he could not stand it, so he covered his nose.

“Snort…”

A pig in the opposite pigsty looked up at him before lowering its head. Its dirty mouth dug the vegetable leaves scattered in the rice straws. There was a big pile of shit next to those few vegetable leaves.

Qin Mian’s mouth twitched as he walked to the tightly shut main house. He pushed open the door and called out; the unfamiliar voice was a little hoarse,

“Is anyone there?”

No one answered.

He raised his voice and called out again. He could not help frowning when he didn’t get an answer. This body was too inferior: aching, limp, and weak. He merely shouted a few words but it was like he had exhausted all his strength. He couldn’t help wondering if this body was sick?

Looking to the right, there was a closed entrance door. The entrance door was made of several planks nailed together and he could faintly see gleam of light appeared from the cracks of the planks.

Qin Mian opened the entrance door and walked several steps to escape the stink in the pigsty. A gust of wind came gently; the fresh air made him greedily take a few mouthfuls of air.

On the left side of the sky hung a half height –unbeknownst whether it was morning or dusk– sun. The sun shone on the green verdant trees reflected the rays of light, and with the sway of the wind, they looked like glittering gold. Several chimneys erected in the rows of houses not far away from each other; the smoke from the chimneys spiraled up to the sky. Looking up, there was a large field in the distance; green crops blown by the wind set off long green waves. In the field, the farmers bent their backs and went busy; the oxen swung their tails while eating grass on the ridge. Further away was a tall green mountain with green trees stacked on top of each other. Faint smog curled around the mountainside made it looked like a fairyland. From unknown direction, came fuzzy noises, which were mixed with the cries of cattle and sheep, and the bark of dog, but contrarily, it reflected the tranquility of this village even more.

What a nice little village.

If not for Qin Mian hadn’t figured out his situation, he wouldn’t mind strolling around the village. He had lived in the reinforced concrete forest for a long time. Such a small village was just what he liked.

At this time, an old woman of about 60 years old came from behind a pile of haystacks with a basket on her right arm, containing some wet clothes.

As soon as Qin Mian saw the old woman’s hair bun and ancient clothes, his heart thumped. Could it be that he not only reincarnated in someone else’s body, but also went to ancient era?

It was not easy to meet a person; he was wondering whether to go up and test out the old woman, but the old woman suddenly stepped up and came straight to him. Her expression was very bad and her two thin lips were tightly pursed, showing a thread of mean aura.

“Since you have woken up, why don’t you feed the pigs? Standing here to watch the scenery, ah?”

Qin Mian internally said: really am watching the scenery. He saw that the old woman entered the courtyard he had just come out of. He did not know what the relationship between him and the old woman was currently. He had to pinch his nose and as he walked in, his stomach rumbled like thunder booming.

He was hungry.

Du Shi was going to dry the clothes on the rope, but when she heard that there was no movement behind her, she turned her waist and glared as she roared with rage,

“Eldest family’s, are you dead, ah? Go feed the pigs quickly!”

Eldest family’s son or eldest family’s what? Qin Mian thought. Except for the old woman, he was the only one here. Even if he didn’t want to endure the old woman’s shout, but it was about him. So, he could only sigh and walked there.

Du Shi glanced at him, “Feed the pigs!”

“Can’t.”

Qin Mian smiled gently,

“I have to trouble you to teach me.”

Du Shi‘s face sank as soon as she heard it. She looked around, picked up a worn out broom and whipped it toward Qin Mian’s body.

“Can’t? Can you eat or not? Are you trying to piss me off?”

Qin Mian was shocked. He reached for the broom while internally though whether the old woman was ill to have hitting someone before saying a word? But he forgot that he was about 11-12 years old at most and with his very poor health, he was severely tugged by the old woman. The pain on his hands made his grips loose and his bum fell on the ground.

“How dare you fight back? Return to you.” Du Shi raised the broom and whipped at him again.

Qin Mian’s face coldly darkened, but he didn’t have the strength to dodge. He internally thought: what a bad luck, I’m afraid I’m going to suffer for a bit. The old woman looked old, but she was very strong.

The awaiting pain did not fall onto Qin Mian, but he saw Du Shi’s face frowned unsightly while looking behind him.

Qin Mian looked back and saw the broom was gripped by a tall man. He seemed to have seen this man somewhere before.

“Mother, he is my wife.”

Qin Mian coughed violently. No wonder he felt that he had seen the man; it was precisely the man who had handed him water and called him “wife” last night!

This man looked in his early twenties; tall and strong with a straight disposition. He was wearing a gray open-slit duanda on his upper body, tied a simple knot with a black belt on his waist with pants of the same color on his lower body rolled up to a small belly and a pair of old straw shoes on his feet. This man was rather handsome. He had waist-long black hair which simply bundled up with a mere blue cloth and a wooden hairpin. His thick eyebrows were slanted towards the sideburns with bright and deep eyes. Due to being basked in the sun often, his skin was bronze, which made him look more imposing. However, there was a scar on his left cheek, extending from the inner corner of his left eye all the way to the bottom of his earlobe. The wound looked old, but the scar was very obvious; it seemed somewhat intimidating.

He was this man’s… wife? Qin Mian coughed and stood up. His knees were a little soft that he couldn’t help sitting back down.

That man had sharp eyes and agile hands; he tightly held Qin Mian’s arm in one hand.

Qin Mian felt like a chick being picked up. He took a look at the man but he didn’t say anything and only murmured in his heart that this man was too tall, almost two heads taller than his present self. At the same time, he was surer that this body he possessed was ill and that this kind of weakness was not normal at all.

Du Shi’s face eased up as she put down the broom.

 “Eldest , mother is angered by him. He said he couldn’t feed the pigs! What’s this if not to piss me off? Properly manage your wife!”

Qin Mian didn’t make a sound. He could feed the pigs. He lived in the countryside with his maternal grandparents from birth to the age of 15, where they farmed, raised chickens and pigs at home; he could do it all. But now he was in a strange environment and had no memory of the original body’s owner. He didn’t know what the pig feed was, where it was and how much it was to be fed. If he did something wrong, it would lead the old woman to be suspicious of him, which was not good. As it was well known, people in ancient eras were superstitious. If someone found that the body had changed its core, he might have to die again. Therefore, he said directly that he could not, even if contrary to the fact, the old woman at most only thought he was deliberately looking for trouble.

Lei Tie took a look at Qin Mian; contrariwise, he didn’t look displeased and without saying a word, he strode away.

Du Shi gave Qin Mian a fierce look.

Qin Mian did not fear her. He silently thought about what to do next while he wondered about that man, who walked in a windy way, with an unspeakable sense of out of sorts. He did not know what went wrong.

After a while, that man came up with a bucket, went to the pigsty and quickly poured the rotten vegetable leaves and some kind of grass in the bucket into the trough.

Du Shi’s face was a little blue but her tone was as warm as possible:

 “Eldest, you are an adult man; why would you want to do this thing?”

Qin Mian was angry. He’s a man but I’m not a man?

Lei Tie didn’t say a word as he put the bucket on the ground. He led Qin Mian into the thatched room and sat him down at the edge of the bed.

Qin Mian was taken aback by him. He hadn’t remembered to speak yet and he watched the man go out and brought in a basin of water. He took a brand-new cloth towel from a rope tied behind the door and put it in the basin. Then, he also sat down at the edge of the bed with three fists distance with Qin Mian and looked at the opposite wall with no expression, silence without utterance.

 “Thank you.”

 Qin Mian thought to himself: truly airtight. But despite their abnormal relationship, he had nothing to dislike this man so far. He didn’t say much and used the cloth towel to wash his face and hands. When he was about to pour the water out, the man took the basin and washed his face and hands silently.

Qin Mian was a little uncomfortable. Two men share a washcloth….

“Have a meal.”

 After Lei Tie washed his face, he took the basin in one hand, stood up and looked at Qin Mian.

Qin Mian nodded and followed him out.

The man splashed the water on the corner of the wall and put the basin beside the well before he walked into the main house.

Qin Mian followed.

At this time, several people came in from the entrance door; men and women all dressed in ancient costumes, carrying farm tools, walking and talking at the same time. Those several people were followed by three small children.

Speaking of this, let’s talk about the Lei Family. The head of Lei Household Lei Daqiang was 40 year old and married to Du Shi 38 year old. The eldest child of Lei Family Lei Tie was 22 year old and his wife was precisely Qin Mian, only 14 year old. The second child Lei Xiangren was 21 year old and his wife was Zhao Shi with his eldest son Lei Dabao was 5 year old and his youngest son Lei Xiaobao was 3 year old. The third child Lei Xiangyi was 19 year old and married to

“Enough, I’m hungry.”

Lei Daqiang thumped the table with his hand and spoke.

Du Shi was very gentle when she spoke to Lei Daqiang: “Then I won’t say. Let’s eat.”

Qin Mian looked at the table with a plate of steamed buns and a pot of vegetable soup that was so clear that he could hardly see grease on the surface. Although he had expected that the living standards of ancient peasants could not be too high, he was surprised.

While he was still in a daze, each of the men had taken a steamed bun and ate it with a big bite. They ate very fast where they took only two or three bites of the steamed bun before they went to get the second one.

Suddenly, a steamed bun was stuffed in his hand and Qin Mian turned to Lei Tie. Lei Tie didn’t look at him but ate the steamed bun in silence. Qin Mian watched other people devour like wolves but this man beside him, though eating fast, hardly looked conspicuously vulgar. Once again, Qin Mian felt out of sort at the bottom of his heart.

He turned to the other table. The women ate the same things as this one, but the soup was thinner with only a few clear vegetables floating in it.

The stomach tightened again. Qin Mian took a bite of the steamed bun and frowned. He was not a man who couldn’t bear hardships. When he lived with his maternal grandparents, he usually ate less steamed cornbread or steamed bun and even steamed filled bun for breakfast. Later, life became a bit easier when Qin Mian received Qin Family’s livelihood. On top of that, he inadvertently obtained a space for planting and began to like studying and exploring gourmet food. Afterwards, when he graduated, he became a photographer of food program. Still, he didn’t know how this steamed bun was made. It’s very rough enough to scrap his throat.

Yet, he continued to eat the steamed bun and drink a bowl of soup, which then made his stomach more comfortable.

After eating breakfast peacefully, Lei Daqiang began to arrange today’s work for the labor forces in the family. Now it’s the time when the weeds were growing crazily and the grass in the rice field should be pulled out. Du Shi arranged work for the daughters-in-law:

Zhao Shi carried water and vegetables, Qian Shi cut grass and fed pigs, Qin Mian went up the mountain to cut firewood and she herself took care of the children at home. As for Lei Chuntao, this girl needed to be pampered so she could find a good family to marry. Now the sun was high, she couldn’t go out to be basked in the sun and only needed to embroider in the room.

“My wife has to take a rest.”

 Lei Tie began.

Du Shi’s face was black again and she said stiffly:

 “As someone from a pheasant family, how can he be so fragile? How many days has he been off duty? The work at home has been delayed.”

Qin Mian was very clear about this. He himself was not familiar with this place and could not leave Lei’s house for the time being, so he could not quarrel with Du Shi now. Just as he was about to respond, Lei Tie said again:

“He has to rest.”

Ignoring Du Shi, Lei Tie then led Qin Mian into the thatched cottage, closed the door and left.

Du Shi’s eyes were red as she looked at Lei Daqiang.

“Family Head, look at Eldest. He married a wife and forgot his mother…”

Lei Daqiang watched Lei Tie pick up a carrying pole and go out of the entrance door without looking back, his brows creased.

“Let it go. The health of Eldest’s wife is really not good now. Give him two days.”

Du Shi however, obeyed Lei Daqiang. Although she was not comfortable with it, she didn’t say anything more. She comforted herself that when Eldest’s wife was well, he could do more work. Thinking of this, she no longer insisted. Then, she saw the other two daughters-in-law standing there doing nothing and she was filled with anger. Her eyes were round, her face looked cold and she didn’t talk. But the anger at the bottom of her eyes was like a fierce wind blowing towards Zhao and Qian.

Zhao and Qian hurriedly took the farm tools they needed to use and walked out of the courtyard.

Qin Mian stayed in the thatched cottage and be at ease after he listened to the silence in the yard. He expressed a few thanks to Lei Tie before he inserted the latch. Then, he shook the quilt, took out some clothes and two pillows from the wooden box, stuffed them under the quilt and made them look like someone was lying in it. Afterwards, he got into the quilt and entered the space. It was no wonder he was so cautious because the cottage was too dilapidated and full of tiny cracks. It’s easy to peek in. The space was a heaven-defying existence, so he must be very careful not to let anyone find its existence.

In the ordinary course of events, if he changed his body, the space would not follow him, but maybe it was because after it recognized the owner with blood, the space was integrated with his soul, so it also followed him.

In the beginning, he was able to obtain the space was truly by chance and odd. One night, he was in a depressed moo