UCTOOT CH141.1

The sun was setting, the sky turning a murky dim. It was another day of working like a beast of burden.

Holding two steamed buns and a vegetable pancake, Shi Shu walked through the wall toward his small hut in the courtyard. The courtyard was desolate; rumor had it someone had hanged themselves from the old crooked-neck willow tree. Whenever he passed it, he always felt as if a pair of feet were stepping on his shoulders.

Shi Shu opened the door. The room was pitch black. He sniffed, and two tears fell.

“Mom, Dad, I miss you guys. I want to go home…”

He really wanted to go home. This wasn’t a life meant for humans.

Shi Shu had been living in ancient times for half a month. He was tormented and often had the impulse to just end it all.

Shi Shu took two steps in the dark. Suddenly, clutching his steamed buns, he backed up two steps until he was pressed tight against the door. “Who is it! Why are you in my room!”

A figure was sitting by the dining table in front of the window. His sleeve brushed the corner of the table. Hearing the voice, he stood up. “You’re back?” He lit the oil lamp on his own accord. “There’s so little here. I couldn’t bear to light the lamp before you returned. So, you lived here for those three months.”

The firelight spread out. As the light and shadow fell upon the person’s brow and eyes, it melted away the coldness in his gaze, though a sense of distance remained strong.

Shi Shu: “No, who are you?”

Xie Wuchi: “Me? I am your husband.”

Shi Shu: “??????”

?????

Shi Shu thought he was hallucinating. “What husband?”

Xie Wuchi: “Laogong (Hubby), husband, husband.”

Shi Shu: “…?”

Fck me.*

Leaving the “husband” part aside for a moment, Shi Shu’s eyes lit up when he recognized the English word. His tears dried in the wind. “You’re a modern person!?”

Xie Wuchi said, “I came from four years in the future. We transmigrated together and fell in love in this world. I am currently your husband.”

Shi Shu: “…”

Don’t daydream in broad daylight. Shi Shu: “You’re joking, right?”

Xie Wuchi: “I’m not joking, Baobao (Baby).”

Although Shi Shu thought being called “Baby” was weird—even if the voice sounded nice—he didn’t have time to dwell on it. “Brother, don’t mess around. If it weren’t for the fact that you’re also a transmigrator, I’d really want to punch you. What’s going on? Why did we transmigrate? How long have you been here?”

“Four years later, I have already ascended the throne as Emperor—”

Before he could finish speaking, a voice suddenly sounded outside the door.

“Xiao Shu!”

Shi Shu turned his head. The door was pushed open, and a sturdy man walked in. “The kitchen boiled eggs, I brought some over for you. Were you resting?”

“Not yet, Big Brother Niu. Thank you.” Shi Shu took them.

Da Niu said, “I heard you talking to yourself outside the door again just now. You poor child… unable to go home, you’ve lost your mind.”

“…”

Shi Shu looked at Xie Wuchi: “I wasn’t talking to myself!”

“Look at you! You were just muttering to yourself!” Da Niu urged earnestly, “The Third Young Master said to stay here with peace of mind. We’ll find a family for you later.”

A chill ran down Shi Shu’s spine. “Wait, you don’t see that there’s another person in the room?”

Da Niu: “Besides you and me, who else is in this room?!” After speaking, he left. “I’m going to eat. If you need me to accompany you to sleep, that’s fine too.”

“………………”

The door was shut. Silence fell.

Shi Shu was stunned for a second, a layer of cold sweat coating his back. He snapped his head to look at Xie Wuchi and backed away several steps. “Who are you? Are you a ghost?!”

Xie Wuchi: “Except for you, no one can see me.”

Shi Shu: “Help—”

“I told you,” Xie Wuchi said. “I am your husband.”

Shi Shu said agitatedly, “Impossible! I am straight! I don’t like men!”

Xie Wuchi: “That won’t be true in the future.”

“………………”

“…” Being interrupted by him, Shi Shu remembered the emotions he had just been brewing. He didn’t know how many days he had been crying while chewing on steamed buns, wanting to go home.

To be honest, Shi Shu didn’t believe a word of Xie Wuchi’s “husband” claim. But finally, there was a modern person to talk to. Besides, maybe he had also transmigrated and gone crazy? Or turned into a resentful ghost? Shi Shu handed a steamed bun to Xie Wuchi. “Are you hungry? Here, eat.”

Xie Wuchi: “I’m not hungry, Baby. I can’t feel hunger. You eat.”

“Can you stop with the Baby, Baby.” Shi Shu pinched the bun. “Are you really not hungry? I have two; eating one is enough for me.”

Xie Wuchi: “You eat. What work did you do today? Was it tiring?”

Shi Shu instantly broke down: “I went to the fields. They made me hoe the land, but I don’t know how! It was such a huge field. I worked all day—is this a farming novel? My waist hurt after hoeing for an hour. I didn’t want to do it at all, but no work means no food. Boohoo, what college student gets inexplicably transmigrated and gets into this kind of mess? I really don’t want to live anymore, brother!”

Xie Wuchi was quiet for a moment, then whispered, “Wait a little longer. Wait until late spring, and I will come to take you away.”

Shi Shu was distracted. “Who? Whatever, I’m already in despair.”

Shi Shu ate the cold steamed bun. The bun was mixed with chaff, and he had to spit some out occasionally. Shi Shu ate the first bun, but still handed the second one to him. “Are you really not going to eat?”

“I’ll taste it.” Xie Wuchi sat on the bench, took it, and took a bite.

“…?”

No, wait, how am I supposed to eat it now?!

Shi Shu looked at the bun, endured for two seconds, and ate it anyway. The water with the pancake was ice cold, exactly like the feeling in his heart. Since transmigrating half a month ago, Shi Shu sat here every night, eating buns while feeling depressed. Boundless suffocation and loneliness, with no relief.

But unexpectedly, a man suddenly appeared. Shi Shu was surprised and had an indescribable feeling. He asked, “Are you going to stay here for a while?”

Xie Wuchi: “Mn. I am your husband. Perhaps Heaven sent me to live with you.”

Shi Shu: “…”

The constant “husband” was confusing, but he accepted the status quo. After eating, Shi Shu began his daily routine. “You sit and rest, don’t be polite. I have to go take a shower and wash clothes. You know, hygiene in ancient times is bad, and few people live in this courtyard. It’s always particularly gloomy and scary; once night falls, there’s no one. I have to wash quickly!”

Shi Shu drew a pot of water and gathered firewood to heat it for a bath. The firelight illuminated the young man’s fair face, which was very silent.

Thinking of home, thinking of friends. Just thinking for a while made him melancholy. There was no entertainment in ancient times. When idle, staring at the sky, a sense of loss of control over nature and difficult-to-dispel loneliness attacked the heart.

A voice sounded beside him. Xie Wuchi said, “I’ll sit with you for a while.”

Shi Shu: “It’s okay, I don’t mind. I can tend the fire myself. I’ve long become familiar with everything ancient these past few days. I’ve adapted to life without electricity, internet, or phone. I even learned how to burn firewood, woo woo woo woo—”

“…”

Xie Wuchi handed him small twigs, and Shi Shu fed them into the stove. Once the water boiled, he took the bucket to bathe under the eaves. Being alone… he was a bit resistant to the night; once night fell, everything became scary. While Shi Shu quickly showered, Xie Wuchi leaned against the door waiting for him. After Shi Shu dressed, he went to wash clothes by the well.

Because Xie Wuchi was there, Shi Shu wasn’t as terrified. Scrub, scrub, scrub, he washed the clothes.

Xie Wuchi: “Washing so fast?”

Shi Shu: “This well looks just like the one Sadako crawled out of. I have to wash quickly every night; it’s very scary.”

Shi Shu stood up and threw the bucket in, not daring to look. Xie Wuchi came up and took the bucket. “I’ll help you.”

Clear water was poured into the basin. Shi Shu said “thank you,” washed the clothes, and hung them on the roof beam. Afterward, amidst a sudden chill, Shi Shu slipped into the room in a flash. “Sleeping, sleeping!”

After a busy day, he was finally settled in bed. Shi Shu had planned to reveal his fragility at night and secretly cry under the covers. But things being as they were, he pulled the quilt and rolled to the inner side of the bed. “Come on, come on, you don’t mind sleeping with me, right?”

Xie Wuchi said, “I don’t mind. We sleep together often.”

Shi Shu: “…”

The night in the village was extraordinarily silent. Unlike modern times, night meant complete silence. Shi Shu had no sense of belonging to ancient times. The people he met were all ancients with no common topics. Once deep night arrived, boundless loneliness struck.

Shi Shu slept on the inside; Xie Wuchi lay on the outside. In the middle of the night, rats ran around the room, and the wind outside made the door creak. Shi Shu was woken up several times, covered in goosebumps; the wind sounded like ghost wails.

For the past few days, Shi Shu had been scared awake every night. But waking up today, there was someone lying beside him.

Shi Shu looked at Xie Wuchi, and his heart seemed to settle a bit.

Before the sun rose the next morning, Shi Shu got up to wash, then went to herd the sheep and collect eggs. The sky was still foggy. Shi Shu carried a basket to the chicken coop.

Xie Wuchi followed: “I want to accompany you.”

Shi Shu glanced at him and took Xie Wuchi out together. Sure enough, the people they met couldn’t see Xie Wuchi; only he could.

Shi Shu entered the chicken coop and picked out the eggs one by one. The eggs were still warm. Xie Wuchi, dressed in luxurious clothes, also reached out to pick up an egg. Shi Shu couldn’t help looking at him. “They can’t see you, but they can see the egg. Will they see an egg flying in the air?”

Xie Wuchi smiled: “It’s possible.”

Shi Shu: “………Is this a glitch (clipping)?”

Xie Wuchi looked out of place in the chicken coop. Shi Shu: “I have to go work today. Do you want to come with me?”

“I want to go. I don’t want to be apart from you.”

Shi Shu: “…………”

No, why is he talking like that? After breakfast, the day of a long-term laborer began. It was the spring equinox season, time for plowing and planting. Shi Shu was hired for this reason, but after being hired, something ridiculous happened—Shi Shu didn’t know how to plow, couldn’t distinguish the five grains, and didn’t even know how to weed. The steward stared at him for a long time. While Shi Shu felt guilty, he heard the steward say speechlessly, “Forget it. Take the ox that plows the field out to graze. There’s also a flock of sheep. If one is missing, pack your bags and leave!”

Recalling this, Shi Shu prepared to lead the big water buffalo to the fields. The water buffalo looked terrifying!

Like a hippopotamus, with two pitch-black, shiny horns coiled on top of its head. In the countryside, when a water buffalo goes mad, its horns can disembowel a person. Shi Shu’s calves went soft as he cautiously approached to grab the rope. The water buffalo glanced at him, and he shrieked miserably while backing away in fright.

Mustering his courage, he took the rope and led several oxen up the hillside. He led them out one by one. At the same time, he had to herd the sheep. Shi Shu was a bit overwhelmed, but he saw Xie Wuchi following behind, helping drive the lambs forward together.

Seeing a lamb running astray, Shi Shu shouted: “Come back!”

It was useless. After Xie Wuchi went into the bamboo forest, moments later, the lamb came running back on all four legs at high speed.

Xie Wuchi said indifferently: “No need to thank me. Let’s go.”

Shi Shu: “…Thank you.”

Although he was a bit pretentious, he was a nice person. Shi Shu led the oxen, and Xie Wuchi drove the sheep for him. One after the other, they arrived at the back hill of Zhou Family Village. There was a pond nearby. The marshy land by the pond was full of green grass; the oxen ate there, while the lambs ate grass on the dry land.

Shi Shu took out a sickle to cut grass, filling a bamboo basket to bring back for the oxen that had just plowed the fields.

There were thorns in the grass. In a moment of carelessness, his finger was pricked and bled again. Shi Shu didn’t know how to cut grass in the first place. Seeing blood, he immediately retracted his finger. Woo woo woo, sitting on the ground like a useless scholar. “I don’t want to live anymore!” Another day of not wanting to live!

Darkness and ignorance, loneliness and despair, physical limits, completely new morals, the betrayal of civilization, a strictly stratified world—Welcome to G City: Ancient Times.

While Shi Shu was breaking down, Xie Wuchi came over, grabbed his finger, put it in his mouth, and licked it. A coolness struck his finger. Shi Shu, having been licked, was startled into alertness: “What are you doing?!!!”

Xie Wuchi: “Lysozyme has a mild bactericidal effect. Let me help you.”

Shi Shu’s finger was cold. He backed away four or five steps, staring at his finger: “Holy crap!”

Xie Wuchi walked forward.

Shi Shu: “Don’t come over!”

Shi Shu picked up the sickle and hurriedly rushed into the grass on the side, swiping and cutting grass while looking at Xie Wuchi alertly: “This is a real gay man.”

In his anxiety, he ignored the small cut on his finger and cut grass furiously. Xie Wuchi looked composed, turning to the other side to lead the ox up from the water. Unbelievable… Seeing him walk away, Shi Shu wiped the sweat from his forehead and diverted his attention. This slope was next to a bamboo forest, with several old graves nearby, looking completely gloomy. The fields were ownerless wasteland; that was why the estate let them graze the oxen here.

Shi Shu grazed cattle here every day and hated it. There were many taro leaves in the fields, which easily dirtied clothes. Shi Shu used to be a germaphobe, afraid of dirtying his clothes here, but after falling into the pond, he became completely resigned. After getting over the fear of dirt, he became afraid of seeing snakes.

Shi Shu was cutting grass when suddenly, like a flash of lightning, a big black snake glided past like a ripple. Shi Shu’s vision went black, his throat felt fuzzy. He turned his head, screamed “Ah!”, and ran!

So broken, so broken. Shi Shu’s legs were weak. After his conditioned reflex made him run dozens of meters, reason returned to his brain, and he stood stiffly on the ridge of the field.

Xie Wuchi asked: “There was a snake?”

Under the emerald green loquat tree, Shi Shu’s clean, handsome face was pale from fright: “There was a snake, a huge black snake, retch—retch—“

Xie Wuchi: “Where?”

Shi Shu: “Right there, where I threw my sickle. It shot past instantly. It was truly terrifying!” Shi Shu almost vomited. A glossy, slippery big black snake, twisting as it darted away.

Shi Shu was anxious, his face flushed red. Xie Wuchi checked the area and said, “Snakes usually run away when startled. Don’t be afraid.” He picked up the bamboo basket and sickle Shi Shu had thrown and brought them over. “Alright, don’t go where the grass is deep now. Cut grass on the outside. I’ll accompany you.”

Shi Shu held his pant legs, breaking down for a long while. Watching Xie Wuchi find a patch of grass for him, first using a stick to push aside the grass to check for snakes and disturbing the surroundings, only then did he say, “Come here, there are no snakes here now.”

Shi Shu stood in place for a while, then walked forward, lowered his head, and pulled grass: “I…”

Xie Wuchi: “If I weren’t here right now, what would you do?”

Shi Shu: “I’d break down for a while, then I’d have to go back and pick up my stuff.”

Xie Wuchi: “So, you are actually very brave. Don’t be afraid. Let’s go.”

Shi Shu listened to him coaxing him like a child, and a ripple crossed his heart. While cutting grass, seeing him patrol the surroundings and keep him company, he said, “Next time, bring an extra sickle. I’ll do it with you.”

Shi Shu held it in for a long time before saying: “You… you’re actually quite a nice person.”

Xie Wuchi: “Of course. I am your husband; it’s what I should do.”

“…………”

Can you take that sentence back?

Brother, are you a ghost who died from delusions because you couldn’t accept the reality of transmigrating to ancient times?

Shi Shu cut a basket of ox grass. With some time to rest, the rising sun had dried the dew on the grass tips. He lay on the lush green grass watching the clouds, the newly sprouted grass tips tickling his face.

Shi Shu lay there sunbathing. Xie Wuchi sat beside him and asked, “You jumped into the river?”

Shi Shu: “How do you know I jumped into the river?”

“I also know you wanted to hang yourself, but didn’t dare.”

Shi Shu: “…”

At that time, he jumped into the river and swam eight hundred meters right under a crowd’s noses, swimming to the opposite bank. Whenever Shi Shu remembered this, he felt even more broken. Someone even asked at the time: “What are you doing?” Shi Shu stubbornly said: “I’m bored, exercising.”

“Cursed. This place curses me; ancient times curse me.” Shi Shu rolled over and sat up. “Not a single good thing has happened in the half-month since I transmigrated. The fact that I’m alive now is entirely due to my strong will!”

Since the river jumping incident, everyone in the estate thought Shi Shu must have been stimulated by something, possibly lost from his family. Every day they heard him breaking down saying “I want to go home” and secretly crying at night.

Shi Shu no longer cared about his image: “Just stay alive for now. That’s how it is. My life is worthless anyway.”

As Shi Shu spoke, Xie Wuchi reached out to block the sunlight for him. Shi Shu suddenly realized he rarely complained about these things to others. Saying he wanted to go home every day really made him seem mentally ill!

Shi Shu looked at him seriously: “Can you understand me?”

Xie Wuchi was also illuminated by the sun, smiling: “Of course I can understand. Don’t be afraid. We can go home.”

Shi Shu didn’t quite believe his words, hummed a response, and covered his face with a green leaf.

After lying there for a moment, two rams fought over a mate. If they fought to the death, he’d have to pay. Shi Shu hurriedly jumped up to break up the fight, only for the maddened ram to chase him. Shi Shu spun around and climbed a tree, squatting in the fork of the tree, breaking down again.

“Savages! What kind of life is this?! Savages!” Shi Shu squatted until the ram wasn’t angry anymore, then jumped down and drove them back.

There wasn’t a second Shi Shu wasn’t breaking down; he was breaking down all the time. Every time he comforted himself for a few hours, something would happen that had never happened in his first eighteen years of life. One moment the ox ran away, then the sheep fought, then a dog blocked the road, then he went into the paddy field to support the plowshare, then he encountered a snake while cutting pigweed. He was trying very hard to live.

Finally, at noon for lunch, Shi Shu carried a bowl of food and secretly ran to the corner, saying to Xie Wuchi: “Come here quickly!”

Xie Wuchi walked to the base of the wall behind him. Shi Shu handed over the full, steaming bowl of rice: “There aren’t many people here. You eat. I don’t want others to see a bowl floating in the air.”

Xie Wuchi: “I told you, I won’t get hungry. I seem to be in a ghost state right now.”

Shi Shu: “Then why aren’t you afraid of sunlight? And I can touch you.”

Xie Wuchi: “I’m not too sure either. Probably, the System wants you to touch me.”

Shi Shu: “?”

Xie Wuchi took the bowl and smiled, “But since you’re worried about me being hungry, I can eat a bite.”

After speaking, he used chopsticks to pick up a mouthful of rice and vegetables and put it in his mouth. Then, he handed the bowl back to Shi Shu: “You eat. There isn’t much in the bowl. You’re a laborer, and you’re eighteen, at the age where you’re growing. How is just one bowl of rice at noon enough? You eat.”

Shi Shu: “………………?”

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