A wave of intense pain suddenly struck!
I opened my eyes in agony to find myself lying in a thatched hut, wearing a mended linen robe?
Looking at the simple and dilapidated furniture in the room, I rubbed my head and wondered, "Am I dreaming? Or… have I transmigrated?"
"Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! All you do is sleep! The locusts in our fields are more numerous than grains of rice! When are you going to catch them!"
Before the words could finish, the door curtain was lifted, and a resentful but beautiful young girl entered.
"Yaoyao?" I blurted out automatically.
In my mind, the memories of the person whose body I had possessed rapidly merged into my own.
What was going on? I was doing fine in college, hadn't finished writing my novel, and hadn't even married Xingyue, how could I have transmigrated?
Had I returned to Yaoyao's era? Judging by "Yaoyao's" attire, it should be the Ming Dynasty?
No, that's not right, this dynasty is called "Yi," and it doesn't exist in history. However, the person I've possessed is named Wu Chengfeng, a poor scholar who knows nothing about manual labor.
My parents were illiterate farmers with only a small plot of land. Fortunately, they knew the value of education and sent me to a private school from a young age, sacrificing all their savings for my studies. I also lived up to their expectations; after repeatedly failing the imperial examinations, I finally passed the provincial exam at the age of thirty, after my parents had passed away.
However, due to twenty years of studying under dim oil lamps, my eyes were ruined. I couldn't distinguish people and animals within a meter, and even holding a book close to my face, I struggled to read, becoming almost "blind" and losing the opportunity to pursue further academic success.
Fortunately, I had a cousin, the daughter of my maternal uncle, who could take care of me.
Last year, my maternal uncle's family was lost due to war. My younger cousin, remembering the address of her aunt's family, disguised herself as a man and begged her way to me. By then, my parents had passed away, but because I had passed the provincial exam, I was exempt from corvée labor and taxes. My cousin and I could barely make ends meet with our small plot of land.
This cousin is named Su Yao, but she is clearly not Yaoyao. She is sixteen years old, with a sweet voice and nimble hands. This morning, while Su Yao was working in the fields, I felt thirsty and went to the well to draw water. I accidentally fell into the well. When Su Yao returned home and pulled me up with the windlass, she found me a bit different. I was crying and laughing, spewing profanities and saying strange words like "Cao Ni Ma" and "Ma Ge Bi."
"Brother, did water flood your brain?"
As Su Yao was helping me into the house, a child's voice came from outside the courtyard: "Young Master Wu, the government is distributing wives to our village! Many girls have arrived, and the village head wants you to go to the threshing ground!"
"The government distributing wives? Is there such a good thing?" I gradually calmed down (became excited) from my annoyance at transmigrating.
The information of the two "mes" in my mind further integrated, finally becoming one.
This world is called "Jiuzhou."
There are six human nations on the Jiuzhou continent.
The country I am in is called "Yi," founded by descendants of the Zhou Dynasty.
East of the Yi Kingdom, across the "Daxing Mountains," is another country called "Yan," founded by descendants of the Shang Dynasty.
The Yi Kingdom is a feudal state, while the Yan Kingdom is a slave state. Due to their differing ideologies, the two countries have been at war for years. In the past few decades, the Yi Kingdom has held the upper hand. To defeat the Yi Kingdom, the Yan Kingdom, a year ago, joined forces with the desert north demon race and the west mountain demon race to attack the Yi Kingdom.
I guess the two demon races here likely correspond to the Shan Hai Yaozu and Bai Ze Yaozu.
The Yi Kingdom lost over two million elite soldiers and was ultimately defeated, forced to cede territory and pay reparations.
After this battle, the gender ratio in the Yi Kingdom became severely imbalanced, reaching an astonishing 1:4. To stimulate population growth, the imperial court issued a "Marriage and Childbearing Order," encouraging men to marry and have more children, requiring all women to marry by the age of 18 and give birth by the age of 20, otherwise their parents would be heavily taxed.
If a woman is over 18 and not yet married, and her family is unwilling to pay taxes (or cannot afford them), she will be conscripted by the government and paraded in various villages and towns as part of a wedding procession. Once chosen by a man, she cannot refuse and must marry on the spot. If, in the end, no one marries her, she will be sent to the military camp to become a "military concubine."
The men of the Yi Kingdom are generally robust, capable of eating and working hard.
Therefore, the lifespan of a military concubine usually does not exceed half a year.
I've just transmigrated, had a sip of cold well water, and haven't even had a proper meal, and now I have to get married?
However, on second thought, I don't have any particular expectations, because the Great Wilderness Village is remote and is the last stop for wedding processions in the entire county. The girls here are the leftovers, and their quality is predictable.