Xiao Jingting regained consciousness and looked at the unfamiliar house, uneasily rubbing his brow.
Xiao Jingting vaguely remembered that he had been researching genetically modified potatoes in the laboratory. On his way back to the dormitory, he was pushed into the river by a great force. The suffocating pain lingered in his mind, refusing to fade for a long time.
Xiao Jingting surveyed the room before him. In his sleep, Xiao Jingting had received the memories of another fallen second-generation young master who shared the same name. Looking at the room that was identical to the one in that person’s memories, Xiao Jingting realized he might have transmigrated.
Before Xiao Jingting could sort through his memories, his stomach began growling.
Xiao Jingting rubbed his stomach, climbed out of bed, and prepared to cook something to eat.
While lighting the fire and cooking rice, Xiao Jingting recalled the memories he had absorbed. The original owner had been a young master of the Xiao family. The original owner’s parents had been very capable, but they were rarely home. The original owner had been spoiled rotten at home, spending his days cockfighting, horse racing, frequenting pleasure quarters, and accomplishing nothing productive.
If the original owner’s parents had remained safe and sound, perhaps the original owner could have continued being pampered as a young master. The problem was that the original owner’s parents had an accident while out on a mission, and so the original owner was sent away to this desolate place.
As Xiao Jingting cooked, he heard rustling sounds.
Xiao Jingting saw the door across from him crack open slightly, and a little head was observing him through the gap.
Xiao Jingting lowered his head, remaining calm.
The original owner had a wife. After getting drunk, the original owner had accidentally forced himself on a servant, causing quite a scandal. Under pressure, the original owner was forced to marry that person, but the original owner didn’t like this wife at all, and their relationship was terrible.
The original owner and this male wife didn’t have relations very often, but somehow the two of them had two sons.
In this world, male pregnancy wasn’t easy, but the original owner’s wife seemed to conceive successfully almost every time. The original owner had many female and male close friends who would whisper in his ear, saying that the sons his wife bore weren’t his, that his wife was cuckolding him and making him raise another man’s children.
The original owner was simple-minded. Already disliking this male wife, and with these seeds of doubt planted in his heart, the original owner found his male wife even more disagreeable, and his attitude toward his own sons was also terrible.
Previously, when they were still in the great family, the original owner had always treated his wife and children like air, and things had been relatively peaceful. But after being banished to this desolate village, the original owner felt the family had been unfair to him. Unable to confront the family directly, the original owner vented all his rage on his wife and sons.
Xiao Jingting calculated that right now, the original owner’s male wife, Xu Mu’an, should be out looking for food.
Because the original owner liked to beat his wife, when Xu Mu’an went out, he would always instruct his two sons to lock the door properly and not let Xiao Jingting cause trouble.
Xiao Jingting was only seventeen years old, yet he had a four-year-old son, Xiao Xiaodong, and a three-year-old son, Xiao Xiaofan.
This made Xiao Jingting, who had been a twenty-seven-year-old bachelor in his previous life, feel deeply ashamed.
The original owner really disliked these two children. The eldest son was born in winter, so he casually gave him the name Xiaodong. As for Xiao Xiaofan, because the original owner thought this child was completely ordinary, he gave him the name Xiaofan.
Although the original owner’s eldest son was young, he was quite clever.
The younger son was different. Shortly after Xiao Xiaofan was born, he fell seriously ill. The original owner didn’t take it seriously, and by the time a doctor was brought in, it was too late. The fever had damaged his brain, leaving him slow and simple-minded.
Xiao Jingting looked toward the doorway, where a small head was cautiously watching him from behind the door. When the child saw Xiao Jingting’s gaze, he shrank back, but when Xiao Jingting looked away, the little head peeked out again.
Although Xiao Jingting and Xu Mu’an were husband and wife, Xiao Jingting never treated Xu Mu’an like a proper wife. He forbade Xu Mu’an from touching the household food supplies. The original owner often went out to live it up, but when Xu Mu’an and his sons wanted to eat, Xu Mu’an had to figure things out on his own.
Xiao Jingting lowered his head. When the original owner left home, he still had eight hundred taels of silver on him, while Xu Mu’an didn’t have a single penny. Eight hundred taels of silver, if the original owner had been frugal, would have been enough to last for quite a while.
The problem was that the original owner had been accustomed to being a young master, used to casually rewarding people with dozens of taels of silver. He was accustomed to spending money lavishly and naturally found it hard to change. The original owner would run to town to enjoy himself whenever he felt like it, and the eight hundred taels were spent completely clean within just a few months.
The original owner’s death was caused by his addiction to Xiaoyao Powder. Eating this substance could make one feel euphoric and carefree.
Thinking about everything the original owner had done, Xiao Jingting couldn’t help but feel his future looked bleak.
