Drought: I Have A Spirit Spring And A Farm In My Personal Space - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Transmigrate to the Year of Drought and Famine

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Taoyuan Village.

Legend has it that in the early years of the war, a militia could not bear the hardships of forced labor, so they fled to this poor rural area with their families to live. They were not discovered for several years, and they named it Taoyuan.

Nearly a hundred years had passed, and the new dynasty had long replaced the old dynasty. Taoyuan Village gradually became a small village of dozens of families.

It was a pity.

Before the new year, a great drought had broken the peace of Taoyuan Village!

Nine months had passed without rain, and the earth had long cracked. The crops planted in early spring had not been harvested, and the streams had dried up. Only the muddy and stinky bottom of the river was left, which was full of corpses that had been dead for a long time.

In the village, in a shabby thatched cottage.

“Cough, water, give me water!”

As a cool sensation entered his throat, Chen Zhiyuan slowly opened his eyes.

What greeted his eyes was a woman. Even though she was dressed in coarse clothes, it could not hide her beautiful face and exquisite figure. She used a relatively clean black porcelain bowl to pour water into his mouth.

Unfortunately, the obvious fear in her eyes and the bruise on the corner of her mouth made Chen Zhiyuan momentarily at a loss.

“Hubby, are you feeling better…”

Without waiting for Chen Zhiyuan to speak, the woman spoke first. She slowly climbed out of the bed, carefully placed the porcelain bowl that was not even half full of water on the shabby table by the bedside, and pursed her chapped lips.

Hubby?

Did he transmigrate?

Chen Zhiyuan’s head buzzed as a strange memory barged into his mind.

The petite and beautiful woman in front of him was called Li Zhu’er, and she was his wife in this life. But in this life, he was an ignorant hooligan who only knew how to ask his wife for money to drink and gamble.

Last night, he went to town to drink and gamble with a group of friends. On the way back, he fell by the side of the road. When there was no way out, it was Li Zhu’er who dragged him back.

He was the cause of the wound at the corner of Li Zhu’er’s mouth. Yesterday, he took the family’s last five cents to get a drink, and when his wife tried hard to persuade him, she ended up getting beaten by him.

F*ck!

He’s a f*cking beast! No, he was worse than a beast!

He couldn’t even find such a good wife in the future. How could he f*cking humiliate her like this?

Chen Zhiyuan cursed his original body ten thousand times in his heart. He no longer felt guilty about occupying this body.

“Zhu’er, it was my fault in the past. I promise…”

As Chen Zhiyuan spoke, he was about to get off the bed. However, he had not eaten any food yesterday, and that made his legs go weak and he almost fell to the ground. His stomach started to growl uncontrollably.

“Hubby, be careful! You must be famished. I will go and get food for you now.”

Li Zhu’er quickly helped Chen Zhiyuan to sit on the bed and ran to the shabby kitchen at the side.

Chen Zhiyuan looked at his wife’s thin figure, and his heart ached. He looked around the house that had only four bare walls. Other than a simple loom, there were only a few shabby cabinets left.

There was still cotton yarn half-woven on the loom. Clearly, Li Zhu’er relied on this loom to maintain the family’s livelihood.

“Hubby, there’s only half a bowl of porridge left. You’ll have to make do with it. I will weave some yarn today. It should be enough to buy some millet…”

Li Zhu’er came out with half a bowl of porridge and handed it to Chen Zhiyuan. The voice in her mouth became softer and softer, but the worry on her face became stronger and stronger.

Chen Zhiyuan took the bowl and chopsticks. He looked at the porridge that looked like condensed rice soup in the bowl and the small bite of pickled vegetables made of unknown ingredients on it. He opened his mouth and took a bite. He could not help but frown.

The porridge was a little sour. The pickled vegetables that didn’t have a drop of oil were dry and difficult to swallow. To put it bluntly, the pigs of the later generations ate better than this.

“Hubby, don’t drink and gamble with Pockmark Zhang and the others tomorrow. We are running out of food at home…”

Li Zhu’er, who had already returned to the loom, kept weaving the cloth with her hands and feet. She started to persuade her husband in a low voice again.

However, when she didn’t hear her husband drinking the porridge for a long time, she quickly shut her mouth and looked up. What she saw were Chen Zhiyuan’s tightly furrowed brows. Her expression changed drastically, and the fear that she had in the past returned to her heart.

Her husband would always apologize to her after he had finished drinking and sobered up. Once his addiction kicked in, he would immediately change to another person and beat and scold her.

“H-Hubby, our house… doesn’t have a single cent left… If I can’t continue to weave… Sob sob sob…”

“Hubby, I really didn’t lie to you. Yesterday, I planned to use the money to exchange for some rations, but you used it to buy wine. I could only save the porridge from the day before yesterday until today, and we barely have something to eat today… If you’re still angry, you can slap me a few more times. Don’t hit my hands and feet. If my limbs are injured, I won’t be able to weave anymore…”

Li Zhu’er shivered, and the sound of the loom stopped abruptly. She was afraid her husband would rush over and break the last remaining loom in the house. Instead, she sobbed and walked to the bed, curled up on the ground.

“Zhu’er, what are you doing?”

Looking at the bruises on Zhu’er’s legs as she curled up, Chen Zhiyuan felt even more guilty. He hurriedly put down the bowl and chopsticks, wanting to pick up his wife.

Zhu’er subconsciously shrank into the corner. After a moment, she remembered that she wanted to let her husband vent his anger. She mustered up her courage and quickly crawled two more steps forward. Gritting her teeth, she closed her eyes and extended the left side of her face in front of Chen Zhiyuan.

“What I said is true. This time, I really know my mistake. From now on, I will sever all ties with Pockmark Zhang and the others. I will keep my word and never go back on my words!”

Chen Zhiyuan picked up the trembling body in front of him and gently placed her on the bed.

“Hubby, you are not lying to me this time, are you…”

Li Zhu’er opened her eyes in surprise, and she looked at her husband, who had a sincere expression on his face. Her eyes were filled with tears, and she hesitated for a moment before saying in a daze.

“Don’t worry, Zhu’er. I will never go back on my words. The drought has been severe for many days. It shouldn’t be easy to fetch water now, right? Where did you usually fetch water from? Today, I will fetch water.”

Chen Zhiyuan had a sincere look on his face. He knew that this body had lied to this woman too many times. It had broken her heart a long time ago. It was just that the ethics of this feudal society had numbed her, and she had to live her life with the thought of following her husband as an example.

However, the husband in her eyes was no longer the hooligan he used to be, and he had to be someone worthy of his good wife.

“The old well 15 miles away hasn’t dried up yet. I always fetch water before noon. If I go early, I won’t be able to squeeze in. If I go late, I’m afraid there will be wolves…”

Li Zhu’er blinked her teary eyes and said obediently. Her husband seemed to have really changed…

“I’ll go now. If I’m lucky, I might be able to bring some food back.”

Chen Zhiyuan wiped the tears from the corner of Li Zhu’er’s eyes as if he was comforting her, but it also felt like he was encouraging himself.

With that, he walked into the kitchen and found a wooden bucket that still had some water stains on it. He walked out of the door and headed in the direction of the old well.

…

Li Zhu’er sat on the bed for a long time before she slowly got up. She held onto the broken door frame and watched her husband’s back as he left.

Her husband…

Did he really change?

What was she thinking? He should have gone to look for his so-called friends to gamble again.

Li Zhu’er turned around and looked at the porridge and pickled vegetables that she had eaten half a mouthful of. She swallowed her saliva and brought the bowl to the kitchen.

That is her husband, and he is her God. She has to keep it for him until he comes back…