By the time the Lei family finished dinner, it wasn't yet completely dark. The last light of the sun reduced houses and trees to dim silhouettes. Farm families usually ate before nightfall to save lamp oil.
Under Madam Du's watchful, predatory gaze, Qin Mian, Madam Zhao, and Madam Qian washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen.
Coming out, Qin Mian saw Lei Tie fetch a dark-brown wooden basin and draw water from the well. Terrified that the man meant to wash their feet together, he hurried over, scooped up a dipper of cold water, and poured it straight over his feet. He rinsed them once and considered the job done, giving Lei Tie a pointed, cool look to make sure the man noticed his distance. Secretly, he shuddered. Fresh well water was no ordinary kind of cold—it chilled him to the bone.
Lei Tie paused, expression unchanged, then bent to draw water.
Qin Mian went back to the thatched hut with a spring in his step. His straw sandals were wet and terribly uncomfortable, so he simply took them off and let his feet air-dry. With no stool available, he sat on the bed's edge. The room was very dim. Faint light filtered through cracks of every size in the walls, lending the place a forlorn air. He did notice an oil lamp on the low bedside table, but he didn't know how to light it and left it alone.
Lei Tie came in shortly afterward.
“Is there anyone else outside?” Qin Mian asked softly.
Lei Tie didn't know what he meant. He shook his head, walked farther into the room, and sat on the bed.
After thinking it over, Qin Mian came straight to the point. “I don't know what happened, but I can't remember anything from before. Could you tell me who I am? And why did I marry you? We're both men.”
Lei Tie turned his head and looked at him in surprise.
Qin Mian met his gaze openly.
“You're my wife. I'm Lei Tie. Go to sleep.” Lei Tie climbed onto the bed first and lay down on the outer side.
“I'm a man!” Qin Mian grew anxious and pressed him. “How did we end up married? Why did my family marry me off to a man?”
Lei Tie didn't answer. The room was too dark for Qin Mian to make out his expression.
“You're my wife.” After saying that, Lei Tie refused to speak again no matter how Qin Mian questioned him. His breathing became long and even, as though he'd fallen asleep.
Anxiety wouldn't help. Qin Mian was good at keeping his composure. After sitting motionless for a long while, he shivered when a cool breeze blew through. He felt his way to the inside of the bed and lay down. At least one thing was worth celebrating: Lei Tie hadn't tried to force him to perform any marital “rights and duties.” Ugh! What a thought!
Qin Mian shook his head to drive away that alarming idea. After some hesitation, he tugged a portion of the only quilt, which was covering Lei Tie, over himself. The warmth coming from the person beside him was like a blazing stove—impossible to ignore. He resolved not to think about it and get some sleep instead. Tomorrow, he absolutely had to find a way to learn more. He fell asleep without much worry. By his estimate, this body was at most twelve years old, still a child. Surely Lei Tie couldn't be beastly enough to do anything to him.
…
After two days, Qin Mian finally understood his situation. He had transmigrated to another world, to the Great Summer Dynasty, and was now in Green Mountain Village of Flowing Water Town.
He'd also learned the Lei family's circumstances thoroughly. Lei Tie and Lei Xiangren and the others were actually half brothers. Lei Tie's birth mother had died giving birth to him. Six months later, Lei Daqiang took a second wife: Madam Du. There was another Lei son, born just a cup of tea's time before Lei Chuntao. He studied at a private school in town and returned only once every few days. Qin Mian hadn't yet met him.
By an extraordinary coincidence, the original owner of this body had also been named Qin Mian. And there was indeed a story behind his marriage to Lei Tie. To explain that, one first had to acknowledge just how unfortunate Lei Tie's childhood had been. When Madam Du first entered the household, she treated him reasonably well. But once she had children of her own, the mere sight of him irritated her. If she was even slightly displeased, she would beat or scold him. As the saying went, when you had a stepmother, you soon had a stepfather too. Madam Du constantly spoke ill of Lei Tie, gradually influencing Lei Daqiang until he no longer cared much about his eldest son. When Lei Tie turned twelve, Madam Du urged Lei Daqiang to sell him to a wealthy family as a servant boy. Unable to endure any more, Lei Tie quietly left home. He stayed away for almost ten years and returned less than a month ago, with an ugly scar on his face. No one knew what had happened to him outside. Family members asked, and villagers asked, but nobody could get a word out of him.
In the end, he was Lei Daqiang's son. He was no longer young, and two of his younger brothers had already married. It didn't seem right for the eldest to remain unmarried, so Lei Daqiang started looking for a match. But although Lei Tie was handsome, his face now bore a scar. What family would want to marry their daughter to him? The matter dragged on.
Then one day, an old fortune-teller came to the village. He insisted that Lei Tie's destined partner was a fourteen-year-old boy who would appear in a little grove west of the village at a particular hour on a particular day, month, and year! If the two joined together, they would enjoy boundless wealth and honor, bringing blessings even to the entire village. But if Lei Tie married someone else, terrible calamity would befall the Lei family, perhaps even bringing disaster upon future generations.
On hearing this, Qin Mian's first thought was that someone who disliked Lei Tie must have hired the fortune-teller to make a fool of him.
In any case, the moment the fortune-teller made his proclamation, everyone in the Lei family turned pale. Better to believe such a thing than risk dismissing it! When the appointed day arrived, Lei Daqiang took Lei Xiangren and Lei Xiangyi to the little grove mentioned by the fortune-teller. To their astonishment, the three really did find a boy there.
He was dressed in rags and lay facedown on the ground, unconscious.
After hesitating briefly, the three took him home.
When the boy woke, he said only that his name was Qin Mian and that he'd fled disaster in a remote town. Beyond that, he could answer no questions.
Because Lei Tie had been away for years, Lei Daqiang felt somewhat guilty toward him and didn't truly intend to make him marry the boy. Perhaps simply taking the child in would ward off the disaster?
But Madam Du would not stop crying and making a scene. She said it didn't matter if the two old people suffered because of Lei Tie, or even lost their lives, but they couldn't sacrifice the other children for his sake! Lei Xiangyi still had no son, Lei Xiangli hadn't married, Lei Xiangzhi still had examinations to take and might one day become an official and bring glory to the family, and their only daughter hadn't even been betrothed.
That was how Lei Daqiang finally yielded and allowed Lei Tie to marry Qin Mian.
Qin Mian had been ill and homeless. If he refused to marry Lei Tie, he'd be driven away. Helpless, he had no choice but to agree.
