MLH | Chapter 1

“Ah~”

In front of a shabby house in Xiaohe Village, a youth sat on the threshold, both hands propping up his chin as he sighed.

He had fine features and a handsome face, his eyes lowered, and his lazy expression carried a bit of roguishness.

The reddish setting sun fell across his face, adding a touch of life to his fair complexion.

He looked like a rich young master who did not belong in this rundown village.

This person was named Fang Zichen, known as Fang Da Baba, just turned eighteen, and had only transmigrated from 2022 three days ago.

Something involving the supernatural and the strange was not something Fang Zichen had experienced, but this trope, he knew it well!

“System?” He called a few times: “Space? Spiritual spring? 007?”

Whoosh~

A gust of wind rolled up a few leaves and blew past, with not a damn thing answering him.

Fine!

Fang Zichen sighed again, feeling sour in his heart.

Why did other people get transmigration with a golden finger the size of an arm, while he had none?

This was fucking unfair.

“Father~”

A child walked over from the opposite side, holding a bundle of wild vegetables in his arms, looking down at his toes as he called to him timidly.

Fang Zichen looked at him and found him quite novel.

This child was called Guai Zai, three heads tall, no, saying three heads tall was already flattering him. He had apparently already turned three, but he was short, small, and thin, making his head look big, not at all like a three-year-old child.

How was he so small and already able to walk?

Even the Calabash Brothers were bigger than him when they popped out.

But short was short, thin was thin, Guai Zai was really cute, with big eyes, a straight nose, and bead-like lips. If he were taken back to modern times and walked down the street, there would definitely be a crowd of girls with overflowing maternal love coming up to ask, “Little friend, what color sack do you like? Is a urea sack okay?”

Fang Zichen did not speak, and the atmosphere grew a little awkward. Guai Zai gathered his courage, gave him an unfamiliar smile, and called again in a milk-soft voice: “Fa, father~”

Fang Zichen barely pulled up the corners of his mouth and answered, “······Ah!”

This child was his stepson. Just yesterday, Fang Zichen’s life had reached its peak.

How did this happen? Let us rewind the timeline to three days ago.

Three days ago, Fang Zichen had just turned eighteen, and it also happened to be the time of his university graduation, when he was preparing for a straight-through master’s and doctorate program. His adoptive parents were happy, and with a wave of the hand, they threw out a pile of money to book a restaurant and hold a birthday banquet for him. Because someone had drugged him before, he only drank two glasses of alcohol during the entire banquet.

This alcohol was not very strong, but the aftereffects were a little heavy. When Fang Zichen woke up, his brain had a splitting headache.

It was not that he should have woken up so quickly, but in his half-dazed state, he kept smelling a foul stench, a smell he could not describe.

If there were anyone here who had raised pigs, they could tell him very clearly that that stink was actually pig shit.

Fang Zichen rubbed his temples and slowly sat up. When he saw the surrounding scenery clearly, the whole person was stunned.

His heart was beating violently, the pain in his head had not yet faded, and he looked around blankly.

He felt that he must have been set up again.

Last time, he had been drugged with an aphrodisiac. This time, it should be some even more advanced poison, because he was fucking seeing hallucinations.

Big trees, wild grass, dirt ground, and then······ a few piles of things that were a little black, not very regular in shape, and were being surrounded by flies.

“······”

The hallucination was a bit too real, and it even had a smell~

Fang Zichen ran off to the side and braced himself against a tree to vomit. He vomited until he was utterly exhausted. Just as he was about to sit down and rest, movement came from the grass beside him, and a wild boar with tusks, pawing at the dirt, forced its way into view.

Fang Zichen: “······”

Fuck me, this is over, over, Barbeque Q!!!

When the wild boar saw him, it stopped pawing at the ground, exhaled twice, and, as if the motor had been turned up to max, charged at him.

Fang Zichen’s head was about to split open. If he did not run now, when would he?

After running around wildly with his head covered for two hours, Fang Zichen finally shook off that huge wild boar.

If before he had only felt like he was hallucinating, then now he was truly awake.

During those two hours of frantic running, his mood could be described as a complete roller coaster.

First panic, then helplessness, then confusion, fear, all sorts of emotions mixed into one mass.

What sin had he committed?

He thought.

Fang Zichen had graduated from university at eighteen and also possessed a million in assets. Without relying on his father, just judging by himself, he had been smooth sailing, and if nothing unexpected happened, he would also become a social elite in the future.

However, this social elite did not have time to shine for the motherland before waking up to find himself in some damn place he did not even know.

As the Third Young Master of the Fang family, no one dared play this kind of prank on him.

He had transmigrated.

Why did he have to transmigrate?

And even if you were going to transmigrate, why not give a warning at all? He had not even had time to prepare.

Fine, now he only had a set of pajamas and a pair of flip-flops. How was he supposed to start?

Panting, Fang Zichen sat down on a rock and once again called out unwillingly, “System~”

No one answered.

He imitated the main characters in novels and closed his eyes. “Space?”

Then he held out his index finger. “Spiritual spring?”

“001?”

“002?”

······

“009?”

Fuck your mother.

Fine, he had accepted reality. He was not dreaming.

After resting for a while, and unable to tell east from west, south from north in the forest, Fang Zichen randomly chose a direction and headed down the mountain. That walk lasted until afternoon.

As evening approached, the temperature dropped sharply, and the dense forest grew even more eerie.

Something in the woods started making strange cries, and as Fang Zichen listened, his steps grew more and more unsteady.

“···Little brother~”

Suddenly a voice came from beside him, sounding somewhat old and hoarse.

Like an old man.

Fang Zichen: “……”

In the deep mountains and old forests, aside from someone like him with special circumstances, there was actually someone else?

No, maybe, possibly··· not a person!!!

Fang Zichen only felt his lower abdomen tighten, his brain heat up, and then a fierce rage surged through his whole body.

In one day, twice, a full two times he had nearly pissed himself. Third Young Master Fang could not take it anymore.

Young men had plenty of yang energy and boldness, not afraid of ghosts or monsters.

He swung the wooden stick he had been using to probe the path, marched toward the sound with great aggression, and cursed as he went.

“Fuck your damn grandfather, it’s not even dark yet and you’re already coming out to scare people. Watch me smash your soul to pieces with one stick.”

The half-person-high grass was pushed aside, and on the ground directly ahead, a human head abruptly appeared.

The head had white hair, long and messy, stuck to the face. The skin visible through the gaps in the hair was dark blue, and the lips were dry and black.

Only a head could be seen, no body, as if the head had been cut off and then grown straight out of the ground.

To be honest, if Fang Zichen had not been rational and his rage had not driven up his courage a little, he probably would have fainted at this scene.

Seeing Fang Zichen, that head was very excited: “···Little brother~ help me.”

Fang Zichen: “……”

Help what? Help you find your body?

Or help you be reborn?

Fang Zichen did not answer. He moved his feet, preparing to lift the stick and rush over, just as the head spoke again.

“I fell into a ditch, my leg seems to have broken, and it hurts so much I can’t climb out. Can you pull me out and take me home?”

“My house is just at the foot of the mountain, not far, cough cough, little brother··· I’m begging you.”

The other party seemed very weak, and after saying those few sentences, he could not catch his breath.

Fang Zichen stared at that head for a good while, seeming to confirm whether the other party was dangerous. After a moment, he walked over and, keeping several steps away, used the wooden stick cautiously to poke at the weeds beside the head. He really did find a deep ditch, and at the same time, he also saw the other party’s body.

“Not a ghost啊!”

Fang Zichen let out a hard breath, wiped his face, and complained, “Old man, if you do this, someone could easily lose their life.”

“Little brother··· hurry and save me.”

Without another word, Fang Zichen immediately pulled the old man out of the ditch. Aside from some grass clippings, the old man’s clothes were also a bit dirty and messy, but they could basically still be seen clearly. That style, that fabric···· it was antique-level.

“Ah……”

Fang Zichen pressed his lips together and did not speak, seeming a little dazed. The old man called him once.

Fang Zichen sat on the ground: “What is it?”

The old man said that his home was at the foot of the mountain, not far away, and that two days ago he had gone up the mountain to chop firewood and gone too far. He had accidentally fallen into a ditch, and now his leg was broken so he could not walk, and he wanted Fang Zichen to take him home

Fang Zichen agreed, and at once carried the old man down the mountain. Thinking about how this old man had stayed in this barren mountain wilderness for two days, and thinking again of the thing he had seen when he woke up in the morning, and then thinking about the environment around that ditch, he truly wanted to turn his head and say to the old man, “What kind of colorful, gold-inlaid shit did you step in to have such a big life.”

The old man said it was not far, but after walking for more than half an hour, they still had not reached the foot of the mountain.

And the other party was probably someone who could not stand silence. He coughed twice, and not noticing that Fang Zichen’s body had instantly gone rigid, he only stared at the back of his head and asked, “Little brother, are you a monk who has left the monastery? Your clothes are quite strange.”

Fang Zichen: “……”

You think my clothes are strange, but I don’t think yours are strange?

“No, I’ve loved eating meat since I was little. A meal without meat makes no rice taste good, so how could I possibly become a monk and go shave my head?”

“Then your hair···”

“Cut it.” Fang Zichen said

“What···” The old man had fallen into the ditch for two days. He probably caught a chill at night, and on top of not having had water for a long time, when he got startled he started coughing again, asking him haltingly, “How··· how can you cut off your ha·hair.”

Fang Zichen rolled his eyes.

He was a modern person, okay! Not an actor, and not doing art. Short hair was normal, all right.

But the old man being so shocked, he probably cared about bodily hair and skin being inherited from one’s parents or something like that.

Fang Zichen said, “I got lice before, so I had to cut it.”

This reason was sufficient and reasonable. The old man relaxed: “Oh! So that’s how it is. Then you must learn your lesson next time. You’re still young, you need to be diligent, and you need to keep yourself clean. Otherwise, if you’re slovenly and untidy, you won’t even be able to find a wife later.”

“That’s impossible,” Fang Zichen jostled him once and walked steadily down the mountain, “just based on this face of mine, there are plenty of moths flying into the fire.”

The old man, unable to read a single character, coughed and asked back, “What? What fire?”

Fang Zichen got sprayed on the neck by spit again. If he had not had a bit of conscience, he would probably have thrown the man by the roadside long ago. Enduring it, he asked,

“Old man, does your leg not hurt?”

“It hurts.”

“Then you should talk less!”

“……”

Xiaohe Village.

The village chief’s family had been holding a funeral these past two days. White cloth and a white lantern hung on both sides of their front door, and in the not very spacious main room there was a coffin. A few people were kneeling on the ground, crying in low, broken sobs.

A middle-aged man knelt directly in front of the coffin, with a fire basin placed on the ground before him. As he burned paper money into it, he cried out.

“Father··· Father~ You had a hard life! You worked half your life, and even in death you couldn’t enter a coffin. It is your son’s unfilial piety, your son has wronged you!”

The few men and women beside him cried even harder after hearing this.

The nearby villagers also felt that Sixth Uncle He was somewhat pitiful.

He had only gone to chop firewood, yet he suddenly disappeared on the mountain.

Actually, not seeing the person was not such a big deal, but there were plenty of things in that mountain that could take lives. Two days had passed and the person still had not come back. No matter how they searched, they could not find him. He was probably gone.

The village chief was unwilling to give up, and yesterday he had taken the village men to search for another day, but they had not found him. Only today did they finally hold the funeral.

As dusk was falling, a young man ran in from outside, shouting.

“Dad, Grandpa’s back, Grandpa’s back.”

“……What did you say?” The village chief staggered over and gripped his second son’s hand tightly: “You said your grandpa is back? He’s fine?”

The people kneeling by the coffin instantly surrounded He Xi when they heard this, then looked outside, and there was nothing at all.

He Xi was still excited at this moment. Seeing everyone looking at him, he said seriously, “Grandpa accidentally fell into a ditch on the mountain and broke his leg. He’s been rescued by a little brother and carried back. They’re still behind. I thought I’d come back first and tell you all.”

He had run into Fang Zichen and the others on the way home. After everyone heard this, they were just about to go out to meet them when Fang Zichen had already carried the old man to the door.

The village chief’s eyes were red: “Father~”

A crowd swarmed up and surrounded the old man, asking after him in a flurry.

“You old man, you still knew to come back. Why didn’t you just die outside instead, sob sob~ I was so pitiful, thinking that by old age I’d still have to guard a widow’s life, unable to sleep all night after night.”

“Father, where did you go chopping firewood? I led people to search the back mountain all over and still couldn’t find you.”

“That’s right, Father, you scared us to death. It’s good that you’re back.”

……

Not a single person noticed Fang Zichen.

Fang Zichen had not expected that, as such a big person and so dazzlingly handsome, he would actually have a day when he was ignored this completely.

“I say,” his tone was faint, “can someone come and take the old man off my back?” I’ve fucking carried him for more than half an hour, do you want me to just throw him on the ground?

“···Oh, oh.”

Everyone hurried about again in a flurry of hands and feet. After settling their own father, the village chief finally had time to talk with Fang Zichen.

Seeing that he had short hair and strange clothing, and that his arms were bare and very revealing, he asked him where he had come from and where he was going.

Fang Zichen wanted to say that I came from my mother’s womb and am going back into the dirt, but he might, perhaps, maybe need to stay the night here, and offending them would make it hard to ask, so he rolled his eyes and started spouting nonsense.

“I came from the Tang of the Eastern Lands.”

The village chief thought about it, then frowned slightly: “I have not heard of that. Are you from overseas?”

Mm?

Fang Zichen held the bowl and tilted his head. The village chief’s gaze swept over his hair, and he said again, “Our town has a pier. A few years ago, several big ships came. Those people had blond hair and green eyes, and their hair was also like yours, very short. People here, aside from monks who have left the monastery, no one keeps hair this short, and their clothes were also more··· more little.”

“Mm, yes,” Fang Zichen breathed a sigh of relief and drank the water in the bowl in two gulps, “I really did come from overseas, you’re right.”

“Then how did you end up in the mountains?”

Fang Zichen: “……”

You ask me, who am I supposed to ask?

His brain turned over for a bit before he said, “I came here traveling. On the road I was targeted by some people. They robbed me of my things and were holding knives, wanting to kill me to silence me. I couldn’t just stand there and wait for them to hack me, could I? So I ran, and ran and ran! Later, before I knew it, I had run into the mountains.”

“So that’s how it was.” The village chief believed him.

It was not that he was easy to fool, but Fang Zichen looked young, with a tender face, red lips and white teeth, and very outstanding features. The village chief looked at his pair of long, delicate hands, which were like a girl’s, and more or less understood.

This person was not a rough man from the fields.

He also did not really seem like a bad person.

After chatting for quite a while, the village chief said he could stay in their home for a while first. Fang Zichen could be considered the old man’s lifesaver, and the village chief’s family treated him very politely. What they had just given him to drink was sugar water, sweet.

Fang Zichen nodded and agreed.