Chapter 1: Transmigrating into a Book World

Chapter One: Transmigrated into a Novel’s World

"Li Xiuye, I beg you, please stop beating my brother. I'll return to the palace with you at once."

Amidst the woman's mournful and desperate plea, Zhao An opened his tear-blurred eyes. Snowflakes drifted down, his limbs were stiff, yet the whip marks on his body burned with searing pain.

He lifted his head to see a man in black, dragon-embroidered ancient robes gripping the chin of a woman in white. "Finally learned to beg for mercy, have you? All you ever think about is sneaking out of the palace to flirt. How can I not teach you a lesson?"

The strikingly beautiful woman in white gritted her teeth. "I merely wished to return for my mother's death anniversary." Though she shed no audible tears, stubborn drops still fell, landing on the dark-robed man's hand.

What a classic scene of coercion and domination. Zhao An leaned his full weight on the soldier restraining him, biting the tip of his tongue hard as he sifted through the original body's memories. Only then did he grasp his current predicament.

He had transmigrated—into a romance novel he'd unearthed from the ruins of the old city just last night.

While searching for supernatural plants in the wilderness, unable to receive a signal from the new city base, he had idly picked up this tragic romance novel titled *Tears of a Beauty*. He discovered a minor character, a cannon fodder, also named Zhao An, and had genuinely cursed both the male and female leads in his heart, calling them lunatics.

The female lead's parents and brother were all killed by the male lead, yet she remained deeply in love with him, grieving and weeping for him. Not only did she leverage various male supporting characters' resources to engage in life-and-death struggles with the male lead's harem, but she also bore him three children. In the end, the female lead, now empress, abdicated and retired with the male lead.

The male lead was no good either. As an emperor, he spent all his time revolving around the female lead—it was a mystery how his country continued to function normally.

Even as a lover, the male lead was hard to like. Initially, while still a provincial prince’s heir, he concealed his marital status and seduced the naive female lead into eloping. This not only subjected the female lead's father to public ridicule but also cost him his position as prime minister, leading to his depression and eventual death. Then, because his own mother was displeased, the male lead couldn't even grant the female lead the status of a concubine, forcing her to marry her betrothed cousin while pregnant.

Five years later, the male lead became emperor, killed the female lead's husband, kept her in a gilded cage in the palace, and indirectly caused the death of the female lead's mother out of anger. To appease her, he eventually made her a consort. However, the female lead, observing mourning rites for her mother, neglected the male lead for a year. To retaliate, the male lead intentionally favored other women. Enraged, the female lead escaped the palace with the help of the guard captain to offer incense to her parents and vent her grievances, only to implicate her brother Zhao An, who received twenty lashes.

Having just read the book, Zhao An knew exactly what would happen next. Sure enough, he heard the male lead—described in the book as having a gloomy, long-faced demeanor—say to the female lead, "Zhao An took these twenty lashes for you, but his crime of withholding information cannot be forgiven. I sentence him to escort your parents' coffins back to their hometown and forbid him from ever leaving Changxi County." Li Xiuye wanted Zhao Qingcheng to belong to him alone.

The original Zhao An had actually died from those twenty lashes. Though he could absorb a bit of Wood Element Power to sustain his vitality, it was ultimately a losing battle. After watching Li Xiuye and Zhao Qingcheng leave without looking back, he finally succumbed and lost consciousness once more.

Due to inflamed whip wounds and the long, bumpy journey, even with his supernatural power protecting him, Zhao An remained in and out of consciousness for most of the trip. Hazily, he remembered being escorted by a hundred robust soldiers back to Changxi County, located at the border of Shu Province and Jiao Province. The soldiers buried the two coffins and immediately returned to the capital to report, leaving only a young servant named Qintong and an old steward, Uncle Hai, to care for him.

Once settled, Uncle Hai went to fetch a doctor that very day. After acupuncture and medication, Zhao An spent another ten-plus days in bed, recuperating while absorbing Wood Element Power. He also discreetly observed Qintong and Uncle Hai, finding them both loyal and hardworking. They had followed him all the way from the capital to Changxi County, spent all their savings on his treatment, and returned to this drafty house, starting repairs the very next day.

From the perspective of someone from the era of spiritual energy resurgence, Qintong and Uncle Hai were undoubtedly bound by old-fashioned loyalty. Yet, it was precisely because of this that he could recuperate peacefully until his body gradually recovered.

By March, he was already able to get out of bed and move around, but Uncle Hai and Qintong still insisted he rest. After a month of medication, his body was indeed weakened. He only wandered around the house twice before returning to rest.

Lying in bed, his frail body quickly lulled him into a deep sleep. Just as he dreamed once again of being pierced through the heart by that ninth-rank Green Lotus, he suddenly heard the young voice of Qintong outside: "Cousin, we can’t give you this bag of grain anymore. Our young master has used up all his travel money. If you take this grain, our young master will go hungry."

Zhao An got out of bed, wiping cold sweat from his forehead, and heard a carefree, laughing voice say, "How could he go hungry? Your young master is the son of a prime minister, Consort Li's own brother. He wouldn’t care about a little grain."

Zhao An put on his shoes, opened the door, and saw a tall, stout man wearing a lake-green silk merchant-style robe standing in the yard, trying to snatch a bag of grain from Qintong’s hands.

Uncle Hai stood nearby, seemingly wanting to pull the man away but not daring to. Qintong, though clutching the grain bag tightly, could only look at the man with a pleading expression.

Seeing this, Zhao An remembered that in the book, Zhao An had actually starved to death, not died from the whipping. Blaming his muddled mind during this period, he hadn’t considered these issues at all.

While reading the book from Zhao Qingcheng’s perspective, he only saw her faint upon hearing the news of her brother’s starvation. When she woke up, she learned she was pregnant, followed by various consorts and empresses scheming to harm her child. To protect her baby, she engaged in all sorts of struggles, and Zhao An’s death was never mentioned again.

It wasn’t until he inherited the original body’s memories that he understood: Zhao An’s family had long-standing grudges with their relatives in their hometown. Sent back and forbidden to leave, he was inevitably subjected to overt and covert bullying and oppression. With no practical skills, he ultimately met a starving end.

Zhao Tongming, seeing Zhao An’s sunken cheeks and sickly appearance yet still carrying the air of a frail young master, felt anger surge within him. With a forceful shake, he threw Qintong aside. Once the grain was in his hands, he feigned clumsiness and spilled it all over the ground.

Then, with an insincere smile, he looked up at Zhao An and said, "Cousin, you’re awake. So sorry—our family is short on rice to make porridge for your little nephew. When I saw your Qintong buying grain, I asked to borrow some, but he refused. Look, the grain’s spilled now. This boy is a sly, difficult servant. Let me teach him a lesson on your behalf." With that, he raised his leg to kick Qintong, who was crouched on the ground gathering the grain.

How could Zhao An let him harm anyone in his presence? Putting force into his feet, he delivered a tackle that knocked Zhao Tongming to the ground. Even though he himself collapsed weakly from exhaustion, his expression remained fiercely menacing.

Zhao Tongming, a large man, fell hard and felt a sharp pain in his tailbone. "Ow!" he cried out, unable to maintain even a superficial smile. Glaring angrily, he pointed a finger at Zhao An and scolded, "You disrespectful brat! Just like your father, unfeeling and disrespectful—you’ll die a miserable death!"

"Your father is the one who’ll die miserably!" Overexertion made Zhao An feel as though his heart would leap out of his chest, but he still fiercely turned on the ground and kicked out at Zhao Tongming.

This time, he wasn’t fast enough, and his opponent was prepared. Zhao Tongming turned, scrambled up, and ran toward the gate.

After running out of Zhao An’s house, Zhao Tongming brushed the dust off the seat of his new silk outfit, heart aching, and limped toward home. He never expected this bookish young master to fight so wildly and fiercely. After walking a dozen steps, he turned back and spat, his mood lifting again. He had spilled the last of Zhao An’s grain and even stepped on it as he left. Let’s see how his dear cousin and his two servants would manage—by turning to robbery or by crying for help.

By then, Zhao An had been helped up from the ground by Uncle Hai and brought inside to sit down. Qintong was still outside gathering the grain. Uncle Hai served Zhao An a drink of water, hesitating before cautiously saying, "Young Master, Cousin’s family has many people and influence. It’s better not to fight him in the future, or we’ll suffer."

Zhao An set down the coarse ceramic cup and said solemnly to Uncle Hai, "We’re few in number and isolated. Weakness will only invite more bullying. From now on, I’ll beat him every time I see him. Let’s see if he dares to come near me again."

Zhao Tongming’s father had originally used Zhao An’s father’s status as prime minister to accept bribes, eventually becoming entangled in a major corruption case that led to his execution. By the time Zhao An’s father discovered it, the investigation was already underway. To protect himself, he chose to sacrifice his relative. However, Zhao An’s father spared Zhao Tongming and his mother, even giving them all the family’s land in their hometown.

Thus, Zhao Tongming was the son of a criminal, barred from imperial examinations as a direct descendant. Though he had some money, officials in Changxi County likely wanted nothing to do with him.

Other relatives from the same clan were more distant. Zhao An felt that as long as he could subdue Zhao Tongming through force, others wouldn’t dare to intrude into his home.

Zhao An’s limbs were still weak, and he needed to lie down again to rest when Qintong entered, carrying a bag of grain with a mournful face. "The last bag of grain is ruined. What will you eat tonight, Young Master?"

Uncle Hai glared disapprovingly at the tactless Qintong before turning to Zhao An apologetically. "Though the grain is dirty, it can still be washed and eaten. Young Master, since you’re better now, tomorrow I’ll take Qintong out to find work and earn some grain."

Apart from this dilapidated ancestral house, all other assets were in Zhao Tongming’s hands. Uncle Hai could only think of working to earn money. In his youth, he had lived in Changxi City with the master and knew where to find short-term labor.

Zhao An looked at Qintong, not yet thirteen, and Uncle Hai, only fifty but already white-haired, and couldn’t bear to exploit child or older worker labor.

He said to Uncle Hai, "There’s no rush about finding work. Once I’ve fully recovered, I can earn more by writing letters for others or teaching than you could through physical labor. I’ve been watching outside these past few days—spring is when edible wild plants sprout. Why don’t we go to the back mountain tomorrow to gather some and get through this immediate shortage?"

He didn’t actually know how to write letters or teach, but it served as a pretext to reassure Uncle Hai. He wanted to go up the mountain not just for edible wild plants but also to use his Wood Element Power to find medicinal herbs. During his illness, most of their money had been spent on medicine.

Author’s Note:

Auspicious beginning for this book. Hope you little angels enjoy this novel—remember to bookmark it~