Chapter 1: Rebirth of a 250-Year-Old Bachelor

Chapter 1: Rebirth - A Perennial Bachelor

As the evening sun lingered and a gentle breeze blew, the villagers of Shanghe in August had nothing pressing to do and gathered together to whisper about this and that.

"Have you heard? Bing Da Lang from the Bing family threw himself into the river?" Li Shi whispered to the women next to her.

Wang Shi sneered, "Who in Shanghe Village hasn’t heard about it by now? Besides, I was right there when they were rescuing him—I saw it all with my own eyes!"

Several women, spotting an eyewitness, crowded around, chattering and asking questions.

"I heard that Bing Da Lang threw himself into the river on his own?"

"I heard that the reason Bing Da Lang threw himself into the river was because he was heartbroken."

"I heard that Bing Da Lang wasn't actually saved by the Bing family but by someone else—Shuang Er. But because Shuang Er was afraid of damaging their reputation, they slipped away early!"

The villagers buzzed around Wang Shi like a swarm of flies. Wang Shi, annoyed, shouted, "Enough, enough! Stop arguing and listen to me!"

The women fell silent, their gossipy eyes turning to Wang Shi.

Wang Shi cleared her throat and, under the expectant gazes of the women, began to narrate vividly.

"Bing Da Lang, who prided himself on being a scholar, never did any work. So even though the Bing family is now so poor they can't even put food on the table, and the whole family has gone out to dig for wild vegetables, Bing Da Lang didn't go. He stayed at home, lazing around.

It was only when Liang Shi returned from digging wild vegetables and found Bing Da Lang wasn't reading in his room that she sensed something was wrong. She went out to look for him and found that he had thrown himself into the river."

"When I arrived, Bing Da Lang had already been pulled ashore, soaked and pale as a ghost. He looked like he wasn’t going to survive."

"Liang Shi was wailing over his lifeless body—it looked like he wasn’t going to make it!" Wang Shi shook her head and clicked her tongue.

"What a tragedy—Bing Da Lang was only twenty-three this year, so young, gone too soon, never even married, just a fleeting soul," Zhang Li Shi lamented.

"But why would Bing Da Lang throw himself into the river for no reason?" Zhao Wang Shi asked.

Wang Shi looked at Li Shi, "Was it because of your daughter?"

Li Shi bristled, her hackles raised, "Wang Shi, don't talk nonsense! My daughter married into the wealthy Zhao family in town as a wife. How dare you tarnish her reputation!"

"What do you mean, marrying into the Zhao family as a wife?" Wang Shi sneered. "Everyone knows your second daughter entered the Zhao family as a concubine. The Zhao family patriarch is already forty-seven, with sons older than your second daughter by several years, and he already has a proper wife."

Wang Shi curled her lip, "How am I talking nonsense? Everyone in Shanghe Village knows about your second daughter’s engagement to the Bing family."

"Today, when Liang Shi was wailing over Bing Da Lang's body, she even cursed your family!"

"She said it was because your second daughter broke off the engagement to marry into a wealthier family that Bing Da Lang couldn't bear it and threw himself into the river."

"Nonsense!" Li Shi was both angry and frightened, her hair standing on end. Her tone was guilty, "Liang Shi is slandering my daughter’s reputation! I’ll give her a piece of my mind!"

Li Shi fled quickly and urgently, the women unable to keep up with her.

Zhang Li Shi asked, "Will Li Shi really go to the Bing family to confront them?"

Wang Shi sneered, "Listen to her! How could she dare! Bing Da Lang threw himself into the river because of her second daughter. If the Bing family doesn't cause a scene at her house, it's already good. How could she dare face the Bing family!"

Li Shi escaped from the crowd of women, her mind filled with worry. Seeing no one following her, she hunched over, sneaking like a thief, and crept along the wall toward the Bing family.

The Bing family’s gate stood wide open. People were everywhere, the chaos making it impossible to hear anything.

Li Shi stretched her neck to get a glimpse, just as Bing Si Lang was seeing the doctor out, startling Li Shi, who quickly ducked back and scurried along the wall.

In the bedroom of the Bing family, Liang Shi sat on Bing Dalang's crude bed, shedding tears. "My son, why were you so narrow-minded? Even if you couldn't marry anyone else but Li Erniang in this lifetime, your life is still more important!"

Bing Wengu thought Liang Shi's sobbing was as annoying as a swarm of flies, making it impossible for him to sleep.

At this moment, Bing Wengu was no longer the original Bing Dalang. After Bing Dalang threw himself into the river, he ultimately couldn't be saved and died.

The current Bing Wengu was a soul from a distant future, coming from the interstellar era a thousand years later.

In the interstellar era, humans were divided into Sentinels, Guides, and ordinary people.

Sentinels had highly developed senses, were strong in combat, bloodthirsty, and had a fiery temper.

Guides had powerful mental strength and a gentle temperament.

Sentinels required regular mental cleansing from Guides; otherwise, they would suffer mental disorders and explode to death.

Bing Wengu was a Sentinel.

But Bing Wengu happened to have a mental cleanliness obsession; he couldn't accept any Guide other than his partner performing mental cleansing for him.

Imagine the mental instability of a bachelor who hadn't had a mental cleanse in two hundred and fifty years.

When fighting against the Swarm Mother, Bing Wengu suddenly felt that life was meaningless, and it would be better to perish together with the Swarm Mother, bringing a hundred years of peace to humanity. Thus, Bing Wengu self-destructed, earning the title of a human hero.

Thanks to these deeds, Bing Wengu traversed a millennium to arrive here, possessing the body of the recently deceased Bing Dalang, becoming Bing Wengu.

As Bing Wengu opened his eyes, ready to hush Liang Shi's clamor, a torrent of foreign memories surged into him.

Fortunately, Bing Wengu had strong mental strength, or he would have been overwhelmed by these memories.

Shangxing County was the poorest among the surrounding counties, and Xinghe Town, as one of the towns in Shangxing County, was the poorest among them. Shanghe Village, as one of the villages in Xinghe Town, was the poorest village.

Bing Dalang lived in Shanghe Village, and it happened to be the poorest household in the poorest village.

The Bing family was quite large; the parents had eight children, three girls and five boys.

Two girls were married off, and two boys were married, each having several children.

While other village families struggled with hunger, the Bing family's poverty was so severe that the next meal was never guaranteed.

The reason Bing Dalang threw himself into the river was that he was rejected by Li Erniang from the same village this morning.

In earlier years, Bing Dalang's father had saved Li Erniang's father, Li Dashuan.

Unable to repay, Li Dashuan betrothed his unborn daughter.

At that time, Bing Dalang was seven years old, and now Bing Dalang was twenty-three.

The seven-year difference left Li Erniang scarcely acquainted with her betrothed.

When Li Erniang reached the age of youthful infatuation, she had no desire to wed Bing Dalang, an aging man of meager means, to suffer and toil in the Bing family, working like an ox or a horse.

Li Erniang's way of not marrying was to find herself a marriage, becoming a concubine in the wealthy Zhao family in town.

That very morning, the Li family called off the engagement.

Bing Dalang felt humiliated and enraged that Li Erniang preferred being an old man's concubine over his wife. Overcome with despair, he leapt into the river.

Bing Dalang jumped into the river and, without timely rescue, met his end.

Bing Wengu had just transmigrated.

Bing Wengu could swim, so he didn’t need help to save himself. However, the issue was that Bing Wengu had just self-destructed. Despite traveling a thousand years to possess Bing Dalang's body, his mind was in complete chaos. He had no idea what was happening; his consciousness was muddled, leaving him unable to save himself. At any moment, he could die due to the disorder in his psyche.

In the confusion, it seemed as though someone had formed a spiritual connection with him, soothing his chaotic mind after the self-destruction, which ultimately saved him.

When Bing Wengu regained some awareness, his consciousness was still unclear. In his haze, he sensed someone running away, followed by the arrival of another person.

Indeed, someone had come—it was the mother of this body, Mrs. Liang.

Mrs. Liang took Bing Wengu home, summoned a traditional healer, and administered a dose of medicine. The healer felt his pulse and sighed, "Whether he can pull through is up to fate. If he develops a high fever by midnight, he probably won't make it."

Mrs. Liang noticed Bing Wengu had woken up and hugged him tightly. "My son, why are you so foolish! Have you thought about your mother? If anything happens to you, what will I do?"