Chapter 1: Time-Travel (1/2)

Chapter 1: Time-Travel

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

It was natural to be a time-space traveler. In this world, the ones who traveled far outnumbered those who did not. The question was where to go.

Sitting on a small stool and wearing open-crotch pants, Wang Bo raised his head and with his eyes blinking, looked vacantly at the old Chinese scholar tree in his yard.

”Oh my god. Who can tell me what dynasty that I've traveled to?”

”Jin!”

It was the only information that he received after his time-traveling. In fact, it was already marvelous to know the name of the country as it was a small isolated village.

Among the over 100 villagers, the blind fortune-teller was the only one who could read. There were rumors that after 30 unsuccessful years of trying to be a scholar, the old man cried all day long and finally became blind. After that, he made a living as a fortune teller.

Although the villagers did not really believe him, there were some odd customs in this very ancient place. People preferred to comfort themselves at weddings and funerals. Thanks to that, he was able to barely make ends meet, and now and then he might even have a taste of meat when he got it right and received extra rewards from his guests. His life was not so bad.

He was the only one in this village who could actually write. Wang Bo could tell that the writings on the long white flag in the fortune-teller's hands were traditional Chinese characters. While the spoken language was hard to understand at first, he grew to understand it. It was Chinese with a strong accent. That was the reason why he thought he had traveled back to ancient China from the very beginning.

Gradually, however, as he learned from a few words spoken by the villagers, he doubted his judgment. The country they lived was Jin, Great Jin!

There was no such a dynasty in ancient China, except for the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), which this obviously was not because there was no chance that he could read the writings from that time.

So, this was not ancient China. He just traveled to a world that was quite similar to it.

In this small village, the old blind man was the only one who could answer his questions, but he could not ask the old blind man for help. He was still far too young. How could a three-year-old boy wearing open-crotch pants ask something like that?

Of course, he did not want to be seen as a freak.

This was not like a fantasy in which it was okay if you were a prodigy and talked like an adult at birth. Just three days ago, some guy in the neighboring village was beaten to death because he was talking crazily and was assumed to be a monster by his villagers. So it was wise to keep a low profile.

In his previous life, Wang Bo had a Ph.D. degree in Chinese literature and he was well versed in traditional Chinese, too. Furthermore, he had done some research on ancient Chinese history in his free time. So, besides traditional Chinese characters, he was not good at anything.

Technically, it was a transmigration of the soul rather than time-travel. All he had done was skip the Five-Flavored Tea of Forgetfulness from hell.

In his previous life, Wang Bo never had a strong body and worked in an office. At the age of 36, he choked on a mouthful of cold water and died. And when he was sober again, he found himself reborn into this world.

Maybe God was ashamed that Wang Bo lived for nothing and died for nothing in his previous life, so he was given another chance to live.

After years of adapting, he could finally fit in.

It was not really a problem of fitting in, as he was merely a newborn baby who could not even take care of himself.

He was born as one of the Zhou's and his given name was not Bo. As a matter of fact, he still did not have a name. He was called Little Shiba.

When you were born in the mountains like this, you would not really mind it. It was perfectly normal for a man reaching his adulthood to be without a name.

Having a family name was good enough.

The Zhou's were native mountain villagers and he was the fourth son in the family. His oldest brother, 18 years old, was an honest hunter and farmer who got married last year. His second oldest brother, 13 years old, who horsed around every day, was a little jerk and a real headache for the family. His third oldest brother was nine years old. And Wang Bo was three years old. The Zhou's also had a girl, 17 years old, who got engaged at the age of 10, and it was about time for her wedding.

The Zhou's oldest son was called Spikey; the second son Houndie; the third son Boxer; and the fourth son, Wang Bo, who should have been called Fourth Doggie. As for the daughter of the Zhou's, she was automatically overlooked, just as every other disadvantaged girl was back in the old days.

As the family already had too many little boys to feed, Wang Bo was called Little Shiba, meaning that they were not planning to have another little son.

The Zhou's were nothing but a normal family in this village, struggling on the barren fields and hunting. Though they did hunt, old Zhou was barely a skilled enough hunter to bring home much prey, and additionally, even if old Zhou got something, it was always traded for daily necessities. That explained why there was no meat on their table all year round, which nearly killed Wang Bo, who was used to lavish meals in his previous life. Fortunately, he was only suffering minor malnutrition for a three-year-old boy. The corn gruel they had every day kept him from starving and with a little luck, he could even have a taste of meat. That would be like the Spring Festival!