"Where's that soft-boned wretch of yours?"
"Brother Heng hasn't woken up yet..."
"Why don't you just submit to me instead? What's so good about that spineless loser? Follow me and I'll let you properly taste what it's like to be a woman!"
"Get lost! Brother Heng will be fine, and we'll definitely pay you the incense money we owe!"
After a bout of dizzying disorientation, Cheng Heng faintly heard the conversation outside the door.
The man's tone was full of coercion, while the woman yielded not an inch!
"It hurts so much..."
Cheng Heng used all his strength to roll his body over on the bed, opened his eyes, and saw an environment completely different from before.
"Where is this?"
"Wasn't I pulling an all-nighter typing? Waiting for my editor to approve my contract?"
Then, a sharp pain swept through his mind, and a shattered collection of memories barged into Cheng Heng's mind, making him completely understand his situation.
"I time-traveled?!"
"What the hell?!"
This place was called the Outer City of Gaoyang County, an inconspicuous little county town in the Great Gan Dynasty.
The owner of the original body was also named Cheng Heng, a penniless and useless scholar who did no productive work and had always relied on his father to earn money and support the family.
Life at home had originally been passable!
However, a month ago, his father went to perform corvée labor in place of his second uncle, and since then the family's situation had plummeted!
After eating through all their savings, he fell gravely ill, which indirectly led to Cheng Heng's arrival here today.
"Heng... Brother Heng? You're awake??"
A woman walked into the room and cried out in pleasant surprise as she looked at Cheng Heng, who had regained consciousness.
The woman ran over in high spirits, causing her slightly undersized clothes to completely fail to contain the two big white rabbits on her chest—bouncing up and down, extremely cute!
This woman was named Li Qingwan.
She was the cheap wife of this body, betrothed to him in a childhood engagement arranged by his father long ago.
Ever since his father left, Li Qingwan had always taken care of Cheng Heng without a word of complaint.
Only...
The original owner had fancied himself a scholar and seemed to look down on his own wife a bit.
Cheng Heng gave a self-deprecating smile, not even looking at what kind of virtue he possessed himself, yet still looking down on others.
"Brother Heng? How are you feeling?"
Li Qingwan sat down by the bed and placed a pair of rough palms on Cheng Heng's forehead.
"You're not running a fever anymore? Heaven be praised, Brother Heng, you're all right!"
Cheng Heng sat up and moved his body around; aside from feeling somewhat weak, there were no other obstructions in his body.
"Brother Heng, wait a moment, I'll go make you something to eat!"
Li Qingwan was extremely happy that her husband had now returned to normal—it was a joyous occasion!
Watching Li Qingwan's slim figure leave, it took Cheng Heng quite a while to accept the current reality.
Had he really time-traveled?
And gotten a wife with such a great figure for free?
Where was his golden finger? How wonderful a double blessing would that be!
Just as he was pondering, a pale blue panel suddenly projected into Cheng Heng's mind:
[Destiny: Heaven Rewards Diligence] [Persevere relentlessly, and success shall be yours.] [Martial Dao Space: Locked]
Splendid!
The golden finger had arrived!
The Heaven Rewards Diligence destiny meant that no matter what martial arts he practiced, as long as he put in effort and hard work, he would reap rewards—and once attained, it would be permanently certified, never regressing!
He was set!
This game was in the bag!
Before long, Li Qingwan walked back into the room holding a meal.
Two coarse bran steamed buns and a bowl of salted vegetables—this meal was frankly somewhat meager.
Ever since his father left, the household expenses had relied on Li Qingwan doing odd jobs to sustain them. It was already decent that they could barely manage to fill their stomachs, let alone dream of rich food and meat!
"Were those people from the Black Tiger Gang just now?"
Cheng Heng bit into the hard steamed bun and asked.
"Yes..."
Li Qingwan nodded gently.
"Did they come to collect the incense money? How much do they want?"
"They want five hundred cash!"
Cheng Heng's tone paused. "How much money is left at home?"
Li Qingwan's face flushed red as she said cautiously, "At home... there isn't a single cash left at home..."
Dammit!
Cheng Heng cursed inwardly.
This starting hand was a bit difficult; he still had to quickly think of a way to get some silver!
The Great Gan Dynasty had already held the mandate for over eight hundred years; exorbitant taxes, levies, and corruption were already extremely severe. Coupled with the gradual decline of martial power, tax burdens increased year after year.
The common people at the bottom also had to endure exploitation by these bandit gangs—the starting difficulty of this game was truly hellish!
"Brother Heng, don't worry."
Although Li Qingwan was anxious in her heart, she still spoke to comfort him:
"I recently found a job at a tailoring shop in the Outer City. As long as I'm willing to work hard, the household expenses won't be a problem."
Cheng Heng was somewhat speechless in his heart. It was clear the former self did no work and relied entirely on Li Qingwan to support him.
What kind of luck did this original owner have, being so useless yet managing to take such a good wife!
He couldn't let things go on like this; he had to first find a way out to make money, and then carefully ponder the path ahead.
Otherwise, to say nothing else, if they couldn't pay the imminent incense money, the exploitative and blood-sucking Black Tiger Gang wouldn't let him off!
Li Qingwan raised her eyes to quietly size up Cheng Heng, and said nervously:
"Brother Heng, rest assured, I'll shoulder the household expenses. You mustn't... you mustn't sell me!!"
With that, Li Qingwan burst into tears with a wail.
Cheng Heng smacked his forehead; this was still the rotten idea the original owner had come up with.
He had actually wanted to price his own wife at two taels of silver and sell her to the Black Tiger Gang—that was utterly devoid of human decency!
"Don't worry, I won't sell you. I'll figure something out for the money the family owes!"
Cheng Heng looked at Li Qingwan, who was crying a tear-stained rain-blossom before him, and spoke out to comfort her.
After finally managing to coax Li Qingwan into a good mood, Cheng Heng sat cross-legged outside the courtyard and began to seriously consider his future path.
This world was different from his previous one; this place honored martial prowess, and the status of martial artists was extremely high!
Therefore, martial arts were an absolute must to learn, and he still had the destiny of [Heaven Rewards Diligence], which was simply tailor-made for studying martial arts.
However, before that, he still needed to solve the problem of putting food on the table.
The former self was merely a frail scholar; apart from knowing a few characters, he possessed no other strengths on his body.
The only valuable things in the house were the Four Treasures of the Study that he used for reading.
When there was even food missing, who cared about reading or not reading?
Tomorrow, he would pawn all these items and first resolve the current crisis!
Those writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones had been bought by his original father at a great expense previously; they should be worth quite a bit of silver!
In addition, his father had gone to perform corvée labor in place of his second uncle. If he went to their house tomorrow to borrow some silver, surely they wouldn't refuse him, right?
Thinking of this, the heavy stone pressing down on Cheng Heng's heart finally landed, and this immediate hurdle could somehow be cleared.
Before you continue