Family

Li Su returned home in a state of high excitement.

He had finished class and been delayed by over an hour, so he was undoubtedly late.

His parents had already finished work and returned home.

The two of them were currently sitting on the sofa in the living room.

"Dad, Mom!"

Seeing his parents, Li Su, who had been fantasizing about entering a World Fragment to slaughter his way to the top and obtain peerless cultivation techniques, suddenly widened his eyes, and his vision instantly blurred.

He hadn't been a model child growing up, and he had caused his parents no shortage of worry.

Just as he had finally become sensible and was ready to show them proper filial piety, an accident had occurred, and before he could say a single word, they had passed away.

He lunged toward his father and mother, hugging them with tears streaming down his face and kissing them both on the cheek.

"Mom, Dad, I missed you so much!!!"

In this moment, whatever cultivation, whatever world—none of it mattered.

He had grown accustomed to living alone, so accustomed that even after transmigrating, he hadn't realized that his return meant his parents were still alive.

He couldn't help it; tears poured down his face.

"I missed you both so, so much!"

Clinging to his parents, Li Su was overwhelmed with emotion. Damn it, damn it all, how could I have forgotten something so important?

Seeing their son's state, his mother looked a bit flustered and immediately reached out to stroke his head. "Son, what's wrong? Why are you crying? There, there, don't cry. Mom made your favorite braised pork."

She was a mother through and through, always doting on him; even when he made her angry and she gave him a beating, she never forgot to make him his favorite food. He used to think of it as a slap followed by a sweet date.

Li Su lifted his watery eyes, crying tears of joy while simultaneously feeling a sudden wave of hunger.

Mom's braised pork—he hadn't tasted it in such a long, long time.

"Heh."

Beside them, his father chuckled. He reached out to pat Li Su's head, looking at him with a beaming smile. "My son, you've grown clever."

"Huh?" Li Su froze.

"These tears, this voice, this emotion—you must have been practicing for quite a while, right?"

"Ah?"

"Incredible, truly incredible. Such acting skills! If I hadn't seen you face-to-face this morning, I would have thought we'd been separated for years."

His father's smile grew brighter. His squinting eyes and upturned corners of his mouth formed a perfect, smiling mask. However, perhaps due to the lighting, the area above his nostrils was cast in shadow, giving him a chilling, sinister air.

"Dad???" Li Su shuddered. His longing for his parents was real, but the shadow they cast over him was just as real.

"Teacher Yin called just now. Not only were you dozing off in class, but you kept spacing out even after being woken up. Remarkable, truly remarkable."

As his father spoke, his mother's movements paused. Her smiling eyes opened a sliver, revealing a dangerous glint within.

"No, it's not, I..."

Li Su's eyes grew wider and wider, and he began to stutter.

Holy crap, Devil Yi! I thought she had changed, but that bastard—not only did she do it herself, she's still doing the same old thing and reporting to the parents???

In his room, Li Su lay sprawled on his bed, tears streaming down his face in defeat.

He had been beaten again.

The usual mixed-doubles beating.

Furthermore, both the bamboo rod and the belt had snapped.

Looking at the broken bamboo rod and belt in the corner, which shared the same tragic fate, Li Su felt like crying but had no tears left.

So, even after transmigrating, not a single one of those thirty-nine beatings was spared?

Not only that, the most terrifying thing Li Su discovered was a fatal issue: even though he had screamed at the top of his lungs while being beaten, his heart couldn't help but well up with endless nostalgia. He was actually missing this feeling. Ah, I want to die.

Ptooey!

Stinky Dad, bad Mom.

I hate you both.

Waaaah... How old am I? In my past life, I was nearly thirty, almost a father myself, and getting beaten like this—it's so humiliating.

Their home was still in a walk-up apartment building.

During this era, elevator buildings had only just started to become popular, and most places were still walk-ups.

Because of that, the beating he had just received had been heard by every single household on the three floors above and the three floors below.

He hadn't thought about it before, but now, how was this any different from a public execution?

I want to die, I really want to die!!!

Pulling his quilt over his head, Li Su felt miserable, wishing the whole world would just end.

"Father of our child, why don't we stop hitting him from now on?"

Outside the door, listening to their son's crying, the mother thought for a moment and said.

"After all, he's grown up now."

"The little brat is good for nothing, and the third year of high school is a critical time. If he's negligent now, he'll be heading into a World Fragment before long. If..."

"Alright, at worst he can just find a place to hide once he's inside and stay there until it ends. Being ordinary is fine too; at least there won't be so many dangerous things to deal with."

"You... sigh, fine. Since his heart isn't in it, let it be. Being alive is better than being dead, no matter what."

The father shook his head. "Then we won't hit him anymore."

Although they were accustomed to the belief that "a filial son is born from under the rod," they were not entirely unreasonable. After all, Li Su would be eighteen soon; he would be an adult.

Inside the room, listening to his parents' words outside the door, Li Su took a deep breath, a smile unable to help but bloom on his face.

It wasn't that he would never be hit again, but although the details were slightly different, this was exactly what his parents had said after the thirty-ninth beating in his previous life, and they had never laid a hand on him again after that.

"Mom, Dad, it's so good to see you again!"

"But this time it will be different. This time, it won't happen again. I will go to the World Fragment, and I will become the number one person in the world. This time, I won't let you worry yourselves to death, I won't let that incident happen because of my incompetence ever again. Never again."

Slowly closing his eyes, Li Su's anticipation for entering the World Fragment grew by another measure.

In his previous life, because he hadn't worked hard during high school, he only managed to get into a third-rate university, and his parents had spent no small amount of effort on his behalf.

Later, because of him, they both went out to handle some business, and as a result, they never returned.

When the phone call finally came, a realized Li Su learned that he no longer had the chance to serve his parents.

That day, for the first time in his life, he drank until he was unconscious; for the first time in his life, he cried until his tears ran dry, yet he couldn't let out a single sound.

In this life, all of that would not happen.

The World Fragment would become his opportunity to rise; he would become the "child of other people's families," making countless others envy his parents.

School.

Classroom!

"Today, we are going to review the usage of Ming Dynasty idioms to avoid you being treated as oddities and rejected once you go inside.

First, the capital region.

Being long-winded or talkative in the Ming Dynasty is called 'raodao' or 'laodao.'

Carrying something: 'diliuzhe.'

Pulling: 'la.'

Letting go of something: 'sa.'"

Devil Yi stood on the podium and said indifferently, "Students, you must remember that the language inside a World Fragment is not entirely the same as our language outside. Depending on the region, the spoken dialect varies greatly. Locals are already suspicious of outsiders, and if your possessed target suddenly changes their way of speaking, it will be even worse.

Although the people inside the World Fragments are artificial, don't think they are stupid or incapable of discernment. In fact, there have been people who revealed a tiny flaw and were discovered by the people of that world, leading to endless pursuit. If it weren't for his good luck, he would never have had the chance to come out alive.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty is actually simple. If you don't have enough confidence for the Tang Dynasty, then just find a small place to hide until it ends. Do you understand?"

"Understood!"

Everyone spoke in unison.

At this moment, Li Su, sitting at his desk, felt his insides tighten and his face stiffen.

Inadvertently, his textbook had flipped to the section on Tang Dynasty linguistics and Luoyang Mandarin.

Inside, it contained a poem, a poem known to everyone—it was called Quiet Night Thought!

It read like this:

"Dai diu si guo xing, jiang ze meng nue guang.

Nie jie di shang shuang, ge diu mang meng nue."

Li Su sat there blankly, feeling quite skeptical about his existence.

Is Quiet Night Thought really read like that???