“To be beaten so badly, it’s truly pitiful. Those people were so cruel; how could a frail scholar like him possibly endure it?”
“Auntie Luo, why pity someone like that? He should just die sooner to be reborn sooner.”
“Exactly! So foolish and dim-witted, he’s already nineteen and still can’t support himself, having to rely on his younger sister. What a good-for-nothing.”
“Haha, well, now look at this! His entire room full of books has been seized for debt. Let’s see him be a bookworm now!”
“Brother, brother, please wake up…” A soft, mournful cry echoed.
…
The noisy sounds, rising and falling, distant yet near, reached his ears indistinctly. Immediately afterward, a sharp, piercing pain assailed him, causing him to let out an involuntary groan.
Then, he slowly opened his eyes and found himself lying on the ground. A crowd of people had gathered around him, pointing and gesticulating, chattering noisily.
What happened?
His head throbbed intensely, feeling as if it would explode into a thousand pieces. He slowly gasped a few breaths, and finally, fragments of memory began to piece themselves together.
Boom!
A torrent of colossal memories suddenly rushed in; he couldn’t bear it and let out a miserable cry, then fainted again.
When he woke up for the second time, Ye Junsheng was already lying on a bed.
The bed was very old, and he was covered by a patched quilt. He tried to lift his head and look around, only to see a simple room with four bare walls.
Ye Junsheng closed his eyes tightly, allowing himself to calm down and process everything that had happened. He was originally an ordinary young man from modern society, broad-minded and optimistic by nature. Unexpectedly, disaster struck; he contracted an acute illness and thought he was certainly going to die. Who would have thought he would transmigrate through time and space to another world?
This place was called the “Tianhua Dynasty.” It was not any historical dynasty he knew. But strangely, this plane of existence had dynasties like Xia, Shang, Zhou, Spring and Autumn, Qin, Han, Three Kingdoms, Sui, and Tang.
The river of history after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was extremely chaotic, taking a sharp turn to the Tianhua Dynasty, with no trace of the Song, Yuan, Ming, or Qing dynasties.
Could this be the so-called “Butterfly Effect”? Or the legendary parallel universe?
From those jumbled memories, after sorting them out, Ye Junsheng found some clues and understood everything. He couldn’t help but feel his vision darken, a mix of laughter and tears welling up.
Pedantic!
This person was truly a hopeless pedant.
The original owner of this body was surnamed Ye, given name “Feng,” courtesy name “Junsheng.” He was a bookworm scholar, engaged but not yet married. Currently, he and his younger sister lived, relying on each other.
As a scholar, it was natural for him to prioritize diligent study. The problem was, this person was too much of a bookworm. Ever since childhood, he had always believed in three maxims:
“In books, one finds beauties like jade; in books, one finds granaries full of grain; in books, one finds houses of gold.” [1]
As a result, he believed that books contained everything. All he needed was a book in hand, with no other desires. Therefore, apart from eating and personal hygiene, he dedicated all his time to books.
The ancestors of the Ye family were once wealthy, considered a lineage of Confucian scholars. But by the generation of Ye Feng’s grandfather, the family began to decline. Later, only a study room was passed down, along with an ancestral instruction book titled “Exhortation to Study.”
This study room was Ye Feng’s favorite place, where he would read day and night, oblivious to time. He was truly a typical *otaku*.
Ordinary people study hard for no other reason than to pass exams and gain official positions. Yet, he pretended to be a transcendent sage, viewing "wealth and status as fleeting clouds." He didn't even bother taking the scholar exam, let alone seeking employment.
Ye Feng's obsession with books had reached an excessive degree. This caused his parents endless headaches; despite their numerous pleas, all were in vain. They were left with no choice but to ask relatives and friends to help, to talk sense into him. But Ye Feng paid no heed. When guests visited, he would only make a perfunctory appearance, still clutching a book tightly in his hands. He would act as if no one else was there, reading aloud slowly and loudly, completely disregarding everyone. People could talk all they wanted; he would just keep reading.
Thus, no one could change him. They could only secretly curse, "You can't carve rotten wood," before angrily departing.
Gradually, the nickname "Bookworm" spread throughout Pengcheng County. When his parents passed away prematurely, there was no one left to rein him in.
Ye Feng was uncontrollably immersed in the world of books, to the point where he needed no friends and no wife. But people need to eat, drink, and wear clothes. The Ye family, however, had fallen into decline, with no income, and all their household items had been sold off. His poor younger sister, still a child, had to go everywhere looking for work to support herself and her elder brother.
But generally, there was no solution to this. People not only needed to solve the problem of food and clothing, but also had to pay for unexpected occurrences like illness and disease, which incurred considerable expenses. With little income and high expenditures, when money ran out, they could only borrow. As days turned into months, debts piled up, yet they were unable to repay even a small fraction.
This time, the creditors didn't care; today, they finally came to seize their assets. They seemed to have a shred of conscience, not making things difficult for his little sister, focusing only on the study room.
Books could be sold for money, especially some ancient and valuable ones.
If there was anything most precious in the Ye family, it was only these books.
Without money to pay the debts, they could only use the books as collateral.
The creditors broke down the door, startling the "oblivious to worldly affairs" bookworm inside. When he realized they were there to clear out his books, an act no different from taking his life, he immediately reacted violently, like a chicken with its throat slit, resisting with all his might. But what could a scholar who "couldn't even tie up a chicken" do? Because fists and feet have no eyes, during the struggle with several creditors, he was beaten and fell, rolling on the ground. His soul left his body due to overwhelming rage, and when he awoke, he had become a new Ye Junsheng.
Understanding the whole story, the transmigrator felt both annoyed and amused. He truly couldn't imagine such a foolish person existing in this world.
His head ached again, like an undercurrent surging. Merging with another person's memories was no joke. Fortunately, the other party had lost self-awareness, which significantly reduced the difficulty.
Ye Junsheng slightly raised himself, leaning his back against the headboard. He raised his hand and suddenly discovered he was still clutching a scroll.
“Hmm, this is...”
He quickly recalled that this was the only item the bookworm had desperately rushed out to reclaim and successfully protected. More accurately, it was a painting. Because of it, he had been pushed down, suffering a large gash on his arm, from which fresh blood flowed profusely.
“Oh, wait!”
Ye Junsheng remembered that earlier, the splotches of blood on his arm had also stained this book. Yet, looking at the book now, there wasn't a single trace of blood.
He felt a bit strange, so he opened the book to examine it:
This was a peculiar painting: towering mountains, lush forests. Near the mountainside, covered in grass, and across a green area on the slope, was a large rock. On the rock, a beautiful little fox, with fur white as snow, sat looking very lifelike. Its two ears stood erect, its eyes wide open, intently reading a book.
A white fox reading a book, like a child at school—a completely novel, vibrant, and fantastical image.
"Ling Hu Tu!"
In the blank space at the top right, the painting's name was written, along with two lines of poetry:
"The mortal world stains itself, yet green mountains remain; human hearts are like devils, while spirit foxes observe." [2]
No seal, no preface. No one knew who painted it.
The entire painting, with its vivid scenery, was truly worth appreciating. Looking at it could make one feel peaceful, calm, and very comfortable. It was undoubtedly the work of a master.
Ye Jun Sheng wasn't knowledgeable about painting, but he had inherited the memories of the bookworm. This fool had lived nineteen years, befriending books. Although he was useless, it couldn't be denied that he was very talented. In the study, there were hundreds of books on astronomy, geography, classics, history, music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and prose; he had almost memorized them all by heart.
In the Dai Hua Dynasty, this person could be considered a rare talent. However, the bookworm's personality was simple and old-fashioned, not understanding how to deal with people. Therefore, he had never thought of using his vast knowledge to pursue a career.
He hadn't thought of it, but Ye Jun Sheng wanted to, and absolutely had to think about it.
Ye Jun Sheng looked at the "Ling Hu Tu" from an appreciative perspective, assessing its worth.
This painting was naturally formed, with a fantastical artistic conception. But unfortunately, there was no seal left behind. If it were the work of a famous artist, it would certainly fetch a good price.
That's right, Ye Jun Sheng was planning to sell the painting, because his family was so destitute they didn't even have dinner to eat.
The painting, though beautiful, couldn't be eaten. He was no longer the person he used to be, starving himself to protect a room.
In reality, if all the books in the room were sold at market price, there would be more than enough money to pay off the debts. But the situation was chaotic, and the creditors had plundered everything, making it impossible to account for it all.
Debts must be paid; that was a given.
The entire study, once filled with books, now only had this one painting left. With no other option, he could only sell the painting to earn some living expenses. As for whether the painting was stained with his blood, he didn't care much. Perhaps he had been dizzy at the time and remembered incorrectly; there was fundamentally no blood staining the painting.
Suddenly, Ye Jun Sheng saw the little fox in the painting no longer looking at the book, but glaring at him. He was startled, his arm unconsciously trembled, causing the painting to fall to the ground.
What was going on?
The Bai Hu in the painting unexpectedly moved! Like an adorable girl, it blinked and made an incredibly lively gesture!
Impossible, how could that be?
Not to mention this was a painting, even if a real fox stood before him, it couldn't possibly cast a "seductive glance" at him. Could it be a fox spirit?
An illusion, it must be an illusion…
After a moment, Ye Jun Sheng chuckled self-mockingly. He bent down, picked up the painting, and examined it carefully again. The painting was still the same; the trees, grass, rivers, and mountains were unchanged. The little fox still sat on the rock, intently reading a book. Although its expression was lively, a painting was just a painting, formed by dried ink, and could not possibly be a living thing.
After looking for a while and finding nothing unusual, he put the painting away. He felt very tired at this moment. This bookworm's body was truly too frail; a mere fall that drew a little blood was enough to exhaust him. In truth, his younger sister had already carefully bandaged the wound, and by now, his poor sister must have gone to work for someone to earn money for dinner.
Thinking of this, he felt a surge of indignation, an overwhelming sense of injustice. As a dignified man, for so many years he had to rely on his younger sister to support himself, only knowing how to freeload. The thought filled him with shame.
But at present, he had no way to resolve it; his mental fatigue was unbearable. He might as well just get some sleep to regain his energy first, then he would have the strength to figure out how to support this family.
He didn't know how much time had passed when Ye Jun Sheng woke up from his dream. Suddenly, his nostrils caught a captivating aroma. Feeling a little puzzled, he quickly got out of bed and stepped outside.
Outside was a large, empty room. There wasn't much furniture except for an old table and two chairs. At this moment, two dishes and a large bowl of rice were laid out on the table, and a rich aroma wafted from the two dishes.
It smells so good!
At the mere thought of food, his stomach rumbled in protest; it was truly growling loudly. Only then did he sit down, picked up his bowl and chopsticks, and ate like a whirlwind. In a short while, he had completely devoured the two dishes and the large bowl of rice.
Putting down his bowl and chopsticks, rubbing his belly, and letting out a burp, Ye Jun Sheng suddenly felt that something wasn't right. Who cooked this delicious meal?