Chapter 2 Reborn into the Humble Family
Still struggling in his dim consciousness, Wu Xinghe seemed to have vaguely heard this heart-wrenching cry. He smelled the soft scent of a young girl, he felt very comfortable being surrounded by the scent and realized that he was probably lying in the arms of this young girl.
Although this would be a lucky experience for any man, Wu Xinghe, who was still somewhat unconscious of what was happening, subconsciously tried to push the girl away. However, the next second, an unexpected burst of pain stopped him from doing so.
The girl who was embracing him looked down in surprise. Suddenly their eyes met, and Wu Xinghe saw a pair of eyes that was clearer than spring water and even brighter than the stars.
“Wushuang?” The young girl blinked her shining eyes. Overwhelmed by joy, she forgot her tears immediately and hugged him in her arms with excitement.
“Wushuang???” Wu Xinghe wondered if he was hallucinating. When had his name changed?
The girl claimed to be his “sister,” but she looked so young and so different from him. How could she be his sister?
“Wushuang, you finally woke up!” The young girl sobbed, “Do you know how much I’ve worried about you? If you were dead, I wouldn’t want to live either! Do you know that, Wushuang?”
“Uh, sister, I know. But can you first let go of me?” Wu Xinghe hadn’t figured out what had happened, but he could sense the deep affection from the girl’s gestures and language. His heart was touched.
The girl not only did not let him go but instead, hugged him even more tightly. She looked at him from head to toe, and when she finally made sure that the person she was hugging was truly alive, she cried with joy, “Wushuang, you really are alive! I will immediately go find Father, and tell him this good news!”
“Father?” Wu Xinghe felt that his head was bursting. How on earth would he also have a father? He had been an orphan since childhood and was adopted by a mysterious old man. He had no mother or father.
Wait, could this be time travel?
Wu Xinghe sorted out the information he had in his brain, and suddenly found some residual memories of the original owner of the body. His soul has somehow entered into a different body, and now he had become a young boy who lived in a completely different universe!
The original owner of the body was a boy named Qin Wushuang, who had trained at the Martial Arts Academy in River County. During a duel with the children from aristocratic families, he was unfortunately hit on the head and had then gloriously died...
The girl who was crying and still hugging him was Qin Wushuang’s sister, Qin Xiu. She was eighteen years old and six years older than Qin Wushuang.
Wu Xinghe wanted to continue to examine those residual memories, but the large wound on his head was too painful and unbearable. On the other hand, his sister Qin Xiu was too concerned about her brother and just couldn’t stop asking him questions about how he felt.
“Sister, my head is hurting. I really want to rest...”
Wu Xinghe had not yet mentally recovered from his magical experience of reviving in someone else’s body in a completely new world. Plus he was suffering a severe headache. He just wanted to be alone and take some time to sort out everything.
“Yes, yes, of course! Lie down first.” Qin Xiu continuously nodded while still wiping her tears, “I am going to tell Father, tell him that you are not dead!”
She stood up as she talked, helping him walk to the bedside and laid him down while carefully avoiding the wound on his head. Then she gently pulled a blanket over his body, her eyes were filled with love and care.
After finishing all this, she gently touched Wu Xinghe’s cheek, and spoke with softness:”Wushuang, please rest well. I will come back soon. For now, you must not think of anything. Family matters are not going to be solved in a day or two. If what has happened to you happens again, neither your father or I would want to live any longer.”
Although Wu Xinghe was not Qin Wushuang himself, he was deeply touched by Qin Xiu’s love. He could not bear to let this caring and mature girl down, so he nodded.
As Qin Xiu walked out the door, she looked back at him with care, and then carefully closed the door.
Left with the girl’s nice-smelling scent, Wu Xinghe had some strange feelings. After he had calmed down, he thought everything over again and confirmed to himself that he had reincarnated as Qin Wushuang and had been reborn into some other dimension.
By sorting through his memories, he discovered the basic information about his new identity.
Place of Origin: Bai Yue Country, Redwood Collar State, Southcloud City, River County, Eastwood Town
Family Background: The Humble Class (the third lowest class in the aristocratic structure, which meant that it was one of the most “Peasant” ones)
Major Family Members: Father and Sister
Age: 12
Political outlook: Heir to the Humble Qin family
After figuring out the information, Wu Xinghe then came to a rough understanding of the specific reason behind the large wound on his head. So, this was how it came to be. When Qin Wushuang was studying at the River County Martial Arts Academy, he couldn’t control his emotions in an argument with students from a better aristocratic background. The argument had led to a duel between the two parties, and as a result, he was hit hard on the head by someone. Blood burst out from his wound, and he fell to the ground and died.
Although an unfortunate event for Qin Wushuang, it was fortunate for Wu Xinghe who had luckily become the successor of the body.
Coming back to Qin Wushuang, he was not one of those typically stupid aristocratic children whose only talent was to waste money and time. On the contrary, he was a very hard-working and self-motivated student. Having come all the way from Eastwood Town to River County to study martial arts, he could be considered as the most diligent student among all.
Due to the common explicit and implicit fights between aristocratic children (as they were obviously the most selfish people in the world and could do anything for their personal interests), Qin Wushuang, a Humble Class kid, had always been the one being bullied. The continuous persecution he had gone through had ultimately led to the disastrous duel and his death.
Wu Xinghe analyzed the information that he had extracted from the small pieces of Qin Wushuang’s remaining memories. He then arrived at a clear conclusion; the duel had obviously been a prepared trap.
In other words, the duel was not an accident. It was an organized, deliberate, and cruel plot against Qin Wushuang.
Although per an old Chinese saying, blood will have blood, Wu Xinghe did not hurry to start planning his revenge. The only thing he wanted to do right now was to get a good night’s sleep and recover from his injuries as soon as possible.
The injury on his head was very serious and required a lot of time to recover. Even though in his previous life Wu Xinghe had built his body to be extremely strong from the inside to the outside, and was an almost undefeatable fighter, now that his mind had been transferred into a new body, the only thing he had left was the theories and knowledge he has accumulated in his past life.
His sleep lasted for a full day and night. Halfway through he seemed to have heard Qin Xiu coming in and out for more than ten times at least, worrying about him. Every time she came in, she tiptoed, afraid of waking him, or as if she was scared that he might just quietly die in his sleep.
To not let his lovely and respectable sister worry anymore, each time when Qin Xiu came in, Wu Xinghe slightly turned his body around to show her that he was still alive and nothing bad would happen. Only after Qin Xiu saw her little brother turned, would she feel relieved.
When Wu Xinghe finally woke up, a steaming bowl of noodles was sitting in front of him. He was so hungry that he didn’t care about how barbarously he ate, and finished the whole bowl in just a few seconds. It was as if he had not eaten for centuries. And without wiping his mouth, he muttered: “More please.”
Seeing that her brother had such an amazing appetite, Qin Xiu was pleased and took that confirmation that he had come back to life. She happily went into the kitchen to prepare more food.
When she came back again, she wasn’t just carrying a bowl of noodles. In her hands were a dozen of dumplings, two large bowls of rice, plus six plates of freshly-made dishes. There was even an enormous pile of sauced pig knuckles on the side.
“I prepared these for you! You can start eating.”
The color, smell, and appearance of the food made Wu Xinghe very hungry. He grinned at Qin Xiu and swept through the food.
Qiu Xiu sat by his side and watched her brother eat. Her heart was filled with warmth.
But then her expression started to change, from satisfaction to surprise, then to shock.
The way Wu Xinghe ate was too fierce and aggressive for her to believe that what she was seeing was real. The food she had made disappeared at an unbelievable speed as if they had been teleported directly into her brother’s stomach.
“Wushuang, no need to be in such a hurry! I will make you more if these are not enough.” Qin Xiu could not help but remind him.
“Delicious! This is great!” Wu Xinghe wanted to dedicate himself to eating and did not spend any more time on commenting. He stuffed another pig knuckle into his mouth.
In less than ten minutes, all the food was gone. Wu Xinghe expressed his comfort and satisfaction by taking a long and relaxed stretch and burp.
“Uh, sister, could I get some drinks as well?”
Qin Xiu smiled: “You are being overly polite to your sister! What do you want to drink?”
“A pot of Dragon Well tea!” Wu Xinghe said casually.
“Dragon Well?” Qin Xiu stared at him with confusion.
“Well, I mean tea...” Wu Xinghe realized that Dragon Well was obviously something that only existed in the previous world that he was in, but not in this new world. How would he be able to get it here?
“Oh!” Qin Xiu understood this time and quickly went out the room to prepare. A moment later she came back with a pot of tea in hand.
The tea tasted very nice, but what attracted Wu Xinghe’s attention even more was the teapot that was used. It was a delicate bottle with gold gilding, which looked like the traces of an agile earthworm going through the earth.
According to the standards that ancient people used to judge the quality of teapots, it was said that: “The best-designed teapots are the ones with patterns like earthworms had elegantly crawled over them.” If this teapot had existed in his previous world, then it would definitely be one of those historic relics that must be protected in the British Museum.
Qin Xiu saw him staring at the teapot and for some reason thought that her brother has changed. Before he had woken up from the coma, he was an introverted, shy, and quiet child who spoke very few words and had a somewhat extreme personality. But now, looking at his eyes and expressions, Qin Xiu sensed a smart and comfortable aura. Both his movements and language had become casual, carefree and powerful, without the over-applied self-control that he had previously had.
“Sister...is Father not home?” Since he now had most of the memories of Qin Wushuang, Wu Xinghe knew that his father was named Qin Lianshan, and his mother had already passed away.
“Da...Daddy went out because he had some things to do,” Qin Xiu answered with some hesitation.
“Where did he go?” Wu Xinghe felt that it might be something related to him.
“Wushuang, you don’t have to worry about unimportant things. Just focus on having a good rest and becoming better! The future of our family relies on you. I wish nothing bad ever happens to you again.” Qin Xiu tried to comfort him, but from her expressions, he could tell that she was worried about their father, too. She was pretending that everything was okay just to not let her brother worry.
“Sister, please tell me the truth. Did Father go to find the Zhang family?”
The Zhang family was the family of the boy from the Martial Arts Academy who had killed Qin Wushuang. They were a very powerful and prominent family in River County and had many political connections. There was no way for a Humble Class family like the poor Qin family to fight against them.
“No, Daddy only said he was going out, but he didn’t tell me where he was going...” Now Qin Xiu seemed truly worried.
Wu Xinghe stood up: “Sister, I’m still alive after all, so why don’t you go ask the servants to go out and look for Father and find him?”
He knew from Qin Wushuang’s memories that his father Qin Lianshan had a gentle appearance, but had a very competitive personality in contrast; when it came to his family, he was more protective than anyone else in the world. For him, his family and his children are even more important than his own life.
Father must have had something planned in mind as he went out. I hope he doesn’t get into any trouble...The Qin family has a weak foundation and cannot endure any loss...
Suddenly, Wu Xinghe realized that he had already taken on the role of Qin Wushuang and started to worry about the fate of the Humble Qin family.