The second year of Dalu, Panling Village, Ji'an County.
The north wind of the tenth lunar month, carrying Crushed snow, scraped like a knife across the dilapidated window frame.
Zhang Dajian was curled up naked in his quilt, the rumbling of his hungry stomach alternating with the howling wind outside the window.
He would rather starve than get up; there was no other reason, the broken house was drafty on all sides, and getting up would only make his purple-frozen skin suffer more.
In a daze, a soft, Glutinous female voice penetrated the door: "Dajian, are you up?"
Before she finished speaking, a graceful figure had already lifted the tattered cloth door curtain and walked in.
The person wore a patched red Bellyband, wrapped in half a faded bedsheet, her rounded shoulders faintly visible in the cold wind.
She sat down gently by the wooden bed, the bedsheet slipping half an inch, revealing a section of snow-white neck:
"Dajian, Dajian, wake up quickly!"
Zhang Dajian reluctantly opened his eyes, meeting a face with peach-blossom cheeks: almond eyes were moist under willow-leaf eyebrows, a cherry mouth was slightly pouted, and her nose tip was red from the cold, making her skin appear as smooth and lustrous as mutton-fat jade.
It was a pity that the owner of this delicate and alluring appearance was Lin Wanru, his elder brother's wife, from a different father and mother.
"Wanru? Why aren't you looking after Zhang Da Shan in the room? Why did you come to me?" Zhang Dajian turned over, his spine under the thin cotton quilt so bony it was It hurts.
"Dajian, don't sleep anymore, I have something important to tell you!"
Lin Wanru was so anxious she reached out to push him, but the bedsheet she was wrapped in accidentally slipped, revealing her curves beneath the red Bellyband. She gasped in surprise, hastily covering herself, her earlobes so red they could drip blood: "You've seen everything!"
Zhang Dajian stared speechlessly at the roof beam, how could it be his fault?
Lin Wanru, however, seemed to have made up her mind, biting her lip and leaning closer: "Dajian, do you want to marry a wife?"
"What?"
Zhang Dajian turned his head sharply, almost spraining his neck.
Seven days ago, he transmigrated to this ancient Qingluan Country, where wars were frequent and natural disasters constant. The common people couldn't even eat their fill, and even the clothes they wore for warmth had been exchanged for food.
Because of this, Zhang Dajian and Lin Wanru were dressed like this.
Their family only ate one meal of wild vegetable soup a day; with such conditions, how could they support a wife?
He couldn't help but wail inwardly: other people who transmigrated were either princes or imperial sons, and each of them came with heaven-defying golden fingers.
How come when it came to him, not only did he transmigrate as an ordinary commoner, but he didn't even see a hint of a system, and was even on the verge of starving to death.
Thinking of this, he decisively shook his head, "Wanru, with our family's conditions, wouldn't marrying a wife be harming her? Besides, I'm so hungry I have no strength, I can't even consumate the marriage, what's the use of marrying?"
Lin Wanru heard this and anxiously rubbed her hands.
"Dajian, I beg you, just marry them. They are my two twin sisters, just eighteen this year, and even prettier than me."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Dajian's eyes almost popped out.
"Twins? Your sisters? Is that true or false? Wanru, you can't lie to me."
"It's true, how could I dare to lie to you about something like this? Oh, let me tell you the truth, my maternal family can't even make ends meet now, and they plan to sell them to the brothel. Of course, I can't just watch my sisters be humiliated."
Lin Wanru looked at Zhang Dajian, her eyes earnest: "As long as you are willing to marry them, I can promise you anything within my power, how about it?"
Zhang Dajian's eyes lit up, "Wanru, Zhang Da Shan is still here, aren't you making things difficult for me?"
Lin Wanru's face turned crimson, but her voice lowered: "Da Shan probably won't make it through today. Once he's gone, it'll just be the two of us left in the house, and it'll be good to look after each other."
Before Zhang Dajian could speak, he heard Zhang Da Shan's weak cry from the next room: "Wanru, you and Dajian come here, I have something to tell you."
Lin Wanru hastily wrapped herself tightly in the bedsheet and got up, going to the neighboring thatched hut.
Zhang Dajian slowly wrapped himself in the thin, tattered quilt and walked out of the room.
As soon as he stepped out of the door, the biting wind and snow poured into his collar. He shivered and rushed into the thatched hut next door.
Lin Wanru was standing to the side at this moment, her eyes red and shedding tears.
Zhang Da Shan, on the other hand, was lying in the thin quilt on the broken wooden bed, his eye sockets sunken and his cheekbones protruding.
Seeing Zhang Dajian approach, he forced a smile and tremblingly extended his withered, bony hand.
Zhang Dajian quickly walked over, grabbed his hand, and said emotionally: "Da Shan, do you have any last words to tell me? I'm listening."
Zhang Da Shan gasped like a broken bellows: "Dajian... I only have one request. After I'm gone, everything in the house is yours.
However, you cannot touch Wanru, let her starve to death quickly too, and come find me below..."
Zhang Dajian leaned down, listening with his ear tilted: "What? What did you say? How come I didn't hear it? Speak louder!"
Zhang Da Shan used all his strength: "I said... you can't touch Wanru..."
Zhang Dajian responded loudly: "Don't worry, Da Shan, leave Wanru to me, I guarantee I'll keep her plump and healthy, and ensure our Old Zhang family prospers and expands!"
Zhang Da Shan's eyes widened. He used his last ounce of strength to raise a middle finger, then his head slumped, and he died.
Lin Wanru covered her mouth and squatted down, her shoulders trembling violently.
Although Da Shan hadn't been too good to her, he was her reliance after all. Now that this reliance was gone, how was she to survive in this chaotic world?
Zhang Dajian sighed: "Wanru, the dead cannot be brought back to life, please restrain your grief!"
After speaking, he tied the thin quilt to himself and laboriously carried the naked Da Shan onto the broken door panel that had been prepared earlier, dragging him out of the house.
There was no other way, the quilt at home still needed to be used for cover, so Da Shan could only be wronged.
Zhang Dajian dragged the door panel towards the outskirts of the village, occasionally hearing cries from other homes. In this world, people starving to death was no longer a rare occurrence.
Half an hour later, he panted heavily, finally arriving at the edge of a cliff. He simply threw the body down, then let out a sigh of relief:
"Da Shan, don't blame me. Although I wasn't close to you, I did my best. Otherwise, you would definitely have been torn apart by wild beasts."
After saying this, he wrapped the thin quilt around himself tightly and dragged the old door panel back home.
Lin Wanru had already composed herself by this time, and was cooking in the kitchen, draped in a bedsheet.
Zhang Da Shan was gone, but she still had to live, even for the sake of her two younger sisters, she absolutely could not give up like this.
She placed the iron pot with a chipped rim on the stove, poured in clear water to boil, added a few wild vegetables and a few pieces of tree bark dug up that morning, and after they softened, that was their meal for the day.
As soon as the meal was ready, Zhang Dajian returned, panting. Upon seeing him, Lin Wanru finally had some smile on her face.
She had seen Zhang Dajian's performance in the room earlier, and at this moment, her heart was naturally filled with gratitude towards Dajian.
"Damn it, I'm almost frozen to death."
Zhang Dajian rubbed his hands and blew on them, when suddenly a clear electronic sound exploded in his mind:
"Ding!"
He stiffened: "Who?!"
"Heart System activated successfully! Detected intimate person Lin Wanru, bind now?"
Zhang Dajian's pupils brightened instantly, and a smile spread across his lips.
Finally, his golden finger had arrived.