Taking a Godfather at the Start

The year was 193 AD, the fourth year of Chuping in the Eastern Han.

It was the depths of winter, the twelfth lunar month, and all of Xu Province lay desolate.

The land had only just endured the ravages of war. No one walked the paths between fields, and not a chicken stirred in the villages and farmsteads.

Cao Cao had raised an army to avenge his father and attack Xu Province. After Tao Qian suffered a crushing defeat at Pengcheng, he retreated to Tancheng, while Cao Cao buried hundreds of thousands of men and women in the Si River.

The histories said: "The water would not flow."

Later, when Cao Cao failed to capture Tancheng after a prolonged siege, he withdrew and attacked the other commanderies and counties instead, leaving not so much as a chicken or dog wherever his army went.

No matter how those who loved Cao the Rebel tried to whitewash him later, history had already recorded his wicked slaughter of Xu Province.

Outside Wang Family Village, south of Xiaopei City, beside a withered willow at the village entrance.

A young man who had been dead from hunger suddenly stood up.

Braving the heavy snow, the young man dragged his leaden legs toward the silent village ahead.

Where am I? Is this a dream?

And what happened to this body?

He had just reached a mud-brick house when he collapsed into the snow with a thud.

"Father, come quickly! There's someone outside." A young woman called out urgently.

Hearing his daughter's cry, a dark-faced man hurried out of the house. He glanced at the scrawny boy on the ground and shook his head. "This child must have starved to death. Qian'er, go inside and wait. I'll carry him to the mass grave outside the village."

"Father, take another look. He might still be saved."

The dark-faced man hesitated for a moment, then crouched beside the boy and held a hand beneath his nose.

Sure enough, there was still a faint breath.

"Then we'll save him. It'll be a way to repay the immortals for protecting us, father and daughter, this once." The dark-faced man hoisted the boy onto his shoulder.

A hint of delight appeared on the young woman's fair face, and she skipped along after her father into the house.

When he opened his eyes again, his vision was dim.

The roof was made of old-fashioned beams and tiles. Lan Tian propped up his frail body and sat up.

Looking around, he found himself in a mud-brick room, warmed by a charcoal brazier.

Had I returned to my childhood home? But how had this room changed so much?

"Cough, cough."

Hearing movement, a young girl rushed in.

"You're awake? Father, he's awake!" she cried happily.

Lan Tian saw that the girl was beautiful, probably sixteen or seventeen. Her old-fashioned clothes looked just like something from a period drama. Though she wore coarse winter garments, her skin was as white as jade, almost as beautiful as the film star Li Xiaoran.

The dark-faced man followed her inside. He looked at Lan Tian and nodded. "You've got a tough life, boy. Qian'er, bring him a bowl of hot soup to warm him up."

"Oh," replied the girl called Qian'er.

They sound like father and daughter.

This makes no sense. The man's looks are nothing like those of this pretty girl.

Is this the proverbial good bamboo shoot growing from bad bamboo?

Miss Qian'er brought over a steaming bowl of soup. There was also a leaf of some vegetable he didn't recognize floating in it.

The bowl looked old-fashioned, and the soup was genuinely scalding.

"Drink?" Lan Tian managed to get out after a long pause.

"Go ahead and drink. Don't stand on ceremony. You landed at my doorstep in your hour of need. It's only right that I, Gan Ji, do a good deed."

Lan Tian's eyes darted left and right as he wondered where on earth he was.

Gulp, gulp. He downed the hot soup.

Damn, this tastes awful.

Still, I'll bear it.

Though it tasted truly dreadful, Lan Tian felt much warmer at once. This dream felt a little too real.

"Who are you? Which village did you flee from?" Gan Ji asked, looking at Lan Tian.

Lan Tian stared at him, completely dumbfounded. You're asking me? Who the hell am I supposed to ask?

Seeing Lan Tian remain silent, Gan Ji stood up. "If you don't want to say, that's fine. Whether you're a local from Xu Province or a refugee who came here from Jingluo, Cao the Rebel's butcher's knife doesn't care who you are. Rest up, then go home on your own."

"My name is Gan Qian. What's yours?" The moment Gan Ji left, the girl propped her chin in her hands and asked.

"Lan Tian."

"Where did you come from?"

"Where? East China Agricultural University."

Gan Qian scratched her forehead, wondering what kind of place East China Agricultural University was.

"Did Cao Cao's troops slaughter your village, too?" Gan Qian continued.

"Cao Cao?" Lan Tian looked utterly confused.

"Yes. Father and I were washing clothes by the river at the time, so we escaped. More than a thousand people died in Wang Family Village." Gan Qian's expression darkened.

"Wait, what year is it now?" Lan Tian suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

"I heard the steward's tutor say half a year ago that it was the fourth year of Chuping." Gan Qian tried hard to remember.

Lan Tian felt as if he had been struck by lightning. The fourth year of Chuping—that sounded like an era name from the Eastern Han and the Three Kingdoms.

Lan Tian had played plenty of Three Kingdoms games. After repeatedly confirming the facts, he finally realized that this was no dream. He had genuinely traveled through time.

This was the chaotic final years of the Han, the age of the Three Kingdoms, when heroes vied for supremacy.

But his transmigration had been a bit of a mess. He knew no martial arts, understood nothing about military affairs, and didn't even have a system.

Worst of all, he didn't come from a powerful family. His origins were even humbler than Liu the Imperial Uncle's, who had started out selling straw sandals.

"Lan Tian, what's wrong?" Seeing his blank expression, Gan Qian asked in puzzlement.

"Nothing. I... I have nowhere to go. Could you take me in?" Lan Tian asked, imitating the way people spoke in period dramas.

"I can't decide that. Father has to make the call." Gan Qian hesitated.

Gan Qian walked with delicate steps into the main room. Her father, Gan Ji, had been waiting there for a while. He had clearly heard their entire conversation.

"Father, could Lan Tian..." Gan Qian trailed off, afraid her father would refuse.

"The village was just ransacked by Cao Cao's troops. The little food we have left is only enough to get us through the winter. We'll have to borrow seed for spring planting next year, too," Gan Ji said tactfully.

Lan Tian was as thin as a rake. With the family already struggling, feeding another mouth would be no easy matter. If the father and daughter let their kind hearts get the better of them, they would go hungry.

"I... I can look for wild vegetables outside," Gan Qian said, unable to bear the thought.

Now, nine out of ten homes in Wang Family Village stood empty. It was hard to find even someone to talk to. Seeing that Lan Tian was about her age, Gan Qian had taken pity on him.

"It's freezing outside. Even stripping bark or digging up roots would be hard. Never mind..." Gan Ji recalled the catastrophe from half a month ago. He and his daughter were still alive, and he thought that perhaps doing good deeds really did earn blessings.

Gan Ji had been a tenant farmer in Wang Family Village. His landlord was the village's landowner. Over the past two years, many refugees had arrived from Jingluo, and the landlord had quickly grown wealthy.

When Cao Cao's troops passed through, Gan Ji and his daughter had been washing clothes outside the village and had unexpectedly escaped disaster. But their wealthy landlord had been slaughtered without mercy while protecting his grain. The soldiers had plundered all his possessions, leaving not a single grain of millet in his storehouse.

Gan Ji's home had also been looted, but the soldiers lost interest when they found nothing but bare walls. As a result, the little food the Gan family had hidden in their cellar was luckily left untouched.

After Cao Cao's troops left, officials from Xiaopei came to the village to settle the people. Gan Ji helped gather and bury the bodies, and brought home a good number of clothes he found along the way.

They would go hungry this winter, but at least they wouldn't freeze.

Lan Tian lay in bed for two days, and his chills passed on their own. His tough constitution left Gan Ji marveling.

Every day, Gan Qian gave him millet porridge to fill his stomach. He always felt as if his belly were still empty, but since he was living under someone else's roof, how could he bring himself to ask for more?

"Big Sister, is there a river nearby? Let's catch some fish to eat." Once Lan Tian was back on his feet, he was desperate for meat.

After he recovered, Gan Qian helped him clean himself up. It turned out he was a handsome young fellow with fine features. Gan Ji reckoned Lan Tian was about fifteen, and since he got along so well with Gan Qian, he had taken him as his adopted son. He figured that when planting season came next year, the family could use another pair of hands.

Lan Tian knew that surviving was already no small feat in this era. What more could he ask for? But he was a master's graduate in agriculture. Even if he couldn't sweep across the land like other transmigrators, surely he shouldn't have to worry about food.

He quietly remembered that Gan Qian had given up some of her own food to feed him. Anyone who repaid kindness with ingratitude was an animal.

"There's a little river at the east end of the village. I usually go there to wash clothes, but it's snowing so hard outside. Won't you freeze if you go in the water to catch fish?" Gan Qian said.

"Heh, I've got a way." Lan Tian smiled mysteriously.

In the world Lan Tian had come from, short-video platforms had been all the rage. He especially liked wilderness survival videos and had picked up a lot of useful knowledge from them.

Things were rough now, but they hadn't returned to the primitive age. At the very least, they still had tools like hemp rope and knives.

The Gan family was running very low on food, so Lan Tian couldn't do what those fishing enthusiasts did and bait a spot before casting a line. Instead, he wove a few trap baskets from vines and branches, secured them at several spots along the riverbank, then prepared to leave with Gan Qian.

Gan Qian looked completely baffled. "That's it? We don't have to wait here?"

"No need to freeze out here. We'll come back and check tomorrow." Lan Tian grinned.

Just as they were about to head home, Gan Qian suddenly shoved Lan Tian to the ground. He was knocked down by a woman with a single push, which showed just how weak he was.

"Little brother, watch out! The soldiers are back!"

A troop of men was advancing along the road in the distance, braving the snowstorm. Gan Qian had been terrified by Cao Cao's soldiers half a month ago, and her reaction was instinctive.

Lan Tian had a master's degree in agriculture, but he also knew a little history. Cao Cao withdrew from Xu Province because Lu Bu had attacked his home base. He shouldn't be coming back so soon.

This place is called Xiaopei. Could it be Liu Big Ears?