Chapter (1) "Sweet Bamboo Shoots"
As Bai Li walked past the other villagers, carrying a bamboo basket full of bamboo shoots on his back, he heard their nasty comments and mockery.
"What is that trash doing, breaking those tender bamboo shoots? Is he not going to feed them to his *ge'er* and kids?"
"Hey, I bet even if this poor wretch were to break off these tender bamboo shoots, he wouldn't feed them to his family. That's just for him self!"
"Hmph!That trash hasn't learned his lesson yet. It's a good thing the Bai family kicked him out. His family is going to die sooner or later anyway!"
"Look, he might leave his *ge'er* to die, but both of his kids are little *ge'er*. That trash will definitely raise the kids until they're old enough and then sell them off."
"Speaking of which, his *ge'er*, Xiao Han, went fishing in the river the other day. It's autumn now, and the river water is already cold. Plus, I heard Xiao Han's health isn't good because he's constantly enduring Bai Li's abuse, and now he's sick."
"Hah! Since Xiao Han is sick, nobody's around to feed him, so he must be breaking off these bamboo shoots to eat by himself now, huh?"
Bai Li heard all their words but kept his head down and continued on his way, pretending not to see the spit on the ground near him. He only let out a small sigh when he was far away.
The people in this village clearly hated him deeply and showed him no kindness at all. But he couldn't blame them, as the original owner of this body was indeed a wicked person.
When Bai Li woke up this morning, he realized he was in someone else's body and had received many unfamiliar memories.
The original owner shared his name and even his appearance, but their personality was vastly different: extremely rude and malicious. Though the original owner was twenty years old, he did nothing but sponge off his family's labor, spending his time and energy on gambling and lustful affairs.
The Bai family, the original owner's family, was relatively well-off in Nanchang Village, but they could no longer tolerate the original owner's abuse. He had accumulated large debts from gambling dens, and creditors, even including people from brothels, frequently came to their door. The Bai family endured this for twenty years, but slowly realized that their lack of prosperity was due to the original owner's abuse, despite their hard work. Therefore, they went to the city and told the gambling dens and brothels not to accept the original owner anymore and that they would no longer cover his debts. The original owner became the laughingstock of the entire town.
The Bai family flatly stated that they would not pay his debts if creditors came again and would report him to the authorities if he stole any household goods. The original owner was completely at a loss. Enraged, he went to the river to bathe and cool off,then he spotted Xiao Han bathing alone.
Xiao Han was a *ge'er* from the Xiao family. From the original owner's memories, Bai Li learned that there were three genders in this world: male, female, and *ge'er*. Although *ge'er* are men, they are able to become pregnant because they have a 'pregnancy mole' on their face.
Though Xiao Han was a *ge'er*, he was only fifteen and was not yet engaged. In past, people would typically arrange engagements for children at thirteen or fourteen and marry them off at fifteen or sixteen. However, the original owner was so wicked that no one wanted to marry him, which is why he was still single at twenty. Xiao Han also had his own story. He lived with a stepmother, who was waiting to sell him for a high price to a wealthy person, which is why she hadn't arranged a marriage for him yet.
Xiao Han wasn't exceptionaly handsome, but he had good skin and a lovable appearance. The original owner had already been lusting after Xiao Han for some time, and finding him alone while he was stressed and frustrated caused him to lose control.
The only thing Bai Li had to say about the original owner was, "You are a total scoundrel."
The original owner not only raped Xiao Han but also threatened him to keep silent, and he had no intention of marrying him. In the original owner's head: "Xiao Han is going to end up as someone's concubine sooner or later anyway. Who cares if he's pure or not?"
But the original owner totally miscalculated.
It was evening, and the village elder's son, who was returning from grazing his buffalo, encountered them, overhearing the original owner's threats to Xiao Han. Since the original owner was accustomed to frequenting brothels, his methods were extremely brutal, and the freshly assaulted Xiao Han's injuries could not be hidden.
The village elder's son was a really stand-up guy. He immediately beat up the original owner right there and dragged both of them to the elder's house to demand that he take responsibility for Xiao Han.
So, once the whole village found out about the situation, the original owner had no choice but to marry Xiao Han. Since the village elder made the final decision, neither family could refuse. Xiao Han's stepmother was furious—she felt like her pig, which she'd been raising for years, was stolen right before she could sell it. She screamed and yelled at the Bai family and demanded a large amount of money, which just made the Bai family really angry.
After that, the original owner and Xiao Han were given a hurried, simple wedding. But the Bai family immediately kicked them out of the house and gave them basically nothing—just a tiny house with a shack, one plot of land, and one field.
The original owner felt absolutely no remorse. Even though he couldn't sell the land because his family was watching him closely, he still refused to work the field. Instead, he rented out the land and never let Xiao Han smell a penny of the income. Even when Xiao Han got pregnant soon after, he didn't show the slightest bit of compassion and continued to neglect him.
The Bai family was so enraged with the original owner that they wanted to beat him up every time they saw him. While they seriously considered just cutting them off completely, they still helped Xiao Han give birth because the baby he was carrying was Bai family's blood. Xiao Han gave birth to adorable male *ge'er* twins, but sadly, the original owner couldn't love anyone but himself.
He could easily look the other way, no matter how much Xiao Han and the kids struggled just to afford one meal. On top of that, he would often abuse Xiao Han. Just two days ago, the original owner had run out of cash and couldn't buy any food. But because he suddenly felt like eating fish, he totally ignored the bad weather and forced Xiao Han to go fishing.
Xiao Han's health had been terrible for over three years due to the original owner's abuse, so he fell into the river. He didn't die, but he ended up with a high fever. Despite this, the original owner ate all the fish by himself and still managed to sleep soundly.
Then, Bai Li suddenly woke up in the body of this infamous piece of trash and was instantly freaked out.
After getting all those memories, Bai Li was so angry at the guy who owned this body that he wanted to strangle him. But since this body now belonged to him, there was nothing he could do.
He thought his own life was awful, but he realized that Xiao Han and the kids's lives were actually even worse.
Bai Li was a guy from the 21st century, but his parents were extremely conservative. So, he hid the fact that he was gay his whole life and decided he'd just stay single forever. Unexpectedly, his family found out and beat him almost to death. In truth, he wasn't sure if his brother and father had actually beaten him to death, but he was now in the body of a stranger in this unfamiliar place.
Bai Li felt his current situation was actually an upgrade. He hoped his parents would be happy that they no longer had such a shameful and disgusting son like him.
After that, he stopped dwelling on his past life and focused on moving forward with his current one. He then looked at the situation: Xiao Han was burning up with a high fever, hot as a furnace. Curled up right in front of him and behind him were the two little kids, looking like they wouldn't survive if Xiao Han died.
From the original owner's memories, he realized that the three of them hadn't eaten anything for almost two days, and he instantly got worried. Xiao Han was running a super high fever, and the little kids were only two years old. If things kept going like this, they would all just die.
So, Bai Li grabbed a bamboo basket and a knife and went out to gather bamboo shoots.From the original owner's memories, he knew that this was a very ancient era where food wasn't abundant, and bamboo shoots weren't even considered proper food.
Although he wished to feed Xiao Han and the kids something better, there was nothing else available now, so bamboo shoots would have to do.
As soon as Bai Li got back home, he sliced and boiled the bamboo shoots.He gently moved the little kids away from Xiao Han and put a cold cloth on Xiao Han's forehead until his fever slightly subsided.Then, he had to rush to the Bai family's house.
Although the Bai family were the biological relatives of this body, as soon as he arrived, they immediately locked the door tight and refused to open it at all. Bai Li felt totally awkward—he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
The original owner was seriously hated, not just by the villagers but even by his own family.
While Bai Li was hesitating, wondering if he should just turn around and leave, a teenage girl with two small hair buns approached him and called out, "Second Brother..."
The original owner was the Bai family's second son, and according to the original owner's memories, this girl was Bai Mei, the youngest daughter of the Bai Li family.
The original owner was very fond of Bai Mei and always brought back some snacks for her whenever he went to town. Even though those snacks were bought on credit, Bai Mei still thought her Second Brother bought them for her. Bai Mei was the only family member who still genuinely loved her Second Brother.
Bai Li copied the original owner's usual tone, then he said, "Xiao Mei, did you sneak out the back door again?"
The original owner's memories showed that Bai Mei always did this whenever he came around.
"Yeah! I heard Mom say Second Brother was here. Here, take this. I can't stay long, or Mom will get suspicious. Bye now!"
Bai Li watched the girl quickly run off and looked at the small bundle in his hand. He saw that it contained some coarse rice. The original owner's memory immediately showed him that the original owner would always ask Bai Mei to bring some like this whenever he ran out of food, and Bai Li couldn't help but let out a small laugh.
Bai Li had initially come to the Bai family's house hoping to borrow some rice. He knew from the memories that the Bai family was actually quite tolerant of the original owner, so he thought if he just spoke nicely, they would lend him some.
Looking at the still-closed door, Bai Li realized that Bai Mei couldn't have given him the rice without the Bai family's approval. He saw that his family was just pretending to hate their bad son but couldn't actually turn their back on him. Bai Li felt a surge of warmth.
He took the bundle and returned home, where he made some rice porridge and simply stir-fried the bamboo shoots. He served the two kids first. However, the kids wouldn't come near him and just hid far away.Feeling helpless, he left the plates on the table for them.
"I'll leave this here. Eat it yourselves, okay?"
Then, he gently woke up the feverish Xiao Han and quietly said,
"You haven't eaten anything in a long time. Get up and drink some porridge."
Xiao Han's vision was blurry by the fever, and he couldn't believe the person feeding him porridge was Bai Li. His tone was so gentle that Xiao Han actually thought it was someone else.
After feeding the sick man the porridge, Bai Li saw that the little kids had finished eating and were washing their bowls. He realized that even though these children were young, they had really good habits.
After that, Bai Li ate a bowl of porridge and the fried bamboo shoots himself. The rice was extremely coarse, but the bamboo shoots were sweet, so it wasn't as bad as he thought.