Chapter 1: Death in Seven Days, Awakening of a Skill, and a Wife as the Opening Gift

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“The price for the new medicine has gone up by fifty coins—it’s two hundred coins a pill now. Take it or leave it.”

“Why has it gone up again? Wasn’t it just one hundred and fifty coins a couple of days ago?”

“Heh, you know how deadly this blood sickness is. If you don’t take the pill, you’ll be dead within seven days! If you’re not buying, I’m leaving. What rotten luck, tsk!”

“Wait… we’ll take it, I’ll buy one.”

…

In a daze, Xia He seemed to see a man and a woman talking at the door.

The man looked cold and impatient, while the woman’s face was full of sorrow.

“It hurts so much…”

His throat felt like it had been scorched by fire, and everything he saw was utterly unfamiliar.

“Where is this…? Didn’t I just win a million on the lottery?”

“What the…”

Suddenly, a flood of memories that were not his own surged into his mind, splitting his head with pain.

It was several minutes before Xia He finally came to his senses.

“I’ve transmigrated!?”

He was now in a remote frontier town of the Great Qin Dynasty, in the southern region known as Lingnan.

Most of the people living here were refugees who had been displaced by war.

Life on the border was harsh, and people struggled to find enough to eat.

But a few months ago, a highly contagious blood sickness had broken out in the county. His predecessor’s entire family had been infected, and his parents had both died in quick succession.

The town’s medical hall had developed a pill to ease the illness, but each pill cost several hundred coins and was no cure.

The last of the family’s food stores had been used up, yet the disease only worsened.

Li Huilan had taken out her dowry money to secure him an apprenticeship at the medical hall, but he’d been thrown out for brawling.

Instead of appreciating Li Huilan’s care, he blamed her for the family’s misfortunes.

So he spent his days loafing around the east side of town with a group of ruffians, and as his illness worsened, he finally collapsed and lost consciousness.

And so Xia He arrived in this world.

“Brother He, you’re awake?”

The woman who’d just bought the medicine returned with a bowl of water and, seeing him awake, her face lit up with joy.

She brought the water to him in a chipped bowl, intending to help him drink.

This woman was his uncle’s only daughter, eighteen years old, named Li Huilan.

She would have been considered extremely beautiful, if not for a red birthmark the size of an egg on her right cheek.

Otherwise, someone like her would never have been matched to his predecessor.

But in this superstitious era, such a birthmark was seen as a bad omen.

So his predecessor had always resented her as a wife.

He had not only beaten and berated Li Huilan, but had repeatedly threatened to divorce her.

Yet Li Huilan only wished to stay by Xia He’s side, never uttering a word of complaint.

“Brother He, this is the new medicine. Your illness is getting worse, please take it.”

With that, she personally brought the pitch-black pill to his lips.

Xia He glanced at it and shook his head, feeling a wave of weakness sweep through him.

“Blood sickness?”

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This illness left sufferers terribly weak and sensitive to cold, and in the end they’d cough up blood and rot away, dying in misery.

A single pill cost two hundred coins and could only ease the illness for about seven days before it flared up again, and it was only available at the official medical hall in town.

Seeing Xia He refuse, Li Huilan thought he was afraid of the bitterness and gently coaxed him,

“Brother He, please take the medicine. I’ll bring you some brown sugar candy tonight.”

Her way of coddling him made Xia He want to laugh and cry, but he’d never encountered such a gentle woman in his previous life.

“If I take it, what about you?”

“I—I took one a couple of days ago.”

As she spoke, Li Huilan tried to stand, but she was so weak that her vision went black and she toppled into Xia He’s arms with a startled cry.

Softness pressed against him, and Xia He was momentarily stunned, taking a while to process the situation.

“I didn’t even spend a cent of my million, and now I’m here—must be fate.”

He sighed for a while but didn’t dwell on it.

Back in his previous life, getting married required tens of thousands just for the bride price. Without a house or a car, it was impossible to hope for a beautiful, good-natured wife—even five million might not be enough.

But now, here was a ready wife, with a lovely figure and so gentle and obedient.

The woman in his arms blushed deeply and scrambled away, unable to utter a word.

Xia He didn’t mind, finishing off the water in one gulp.

He picked up the black pill, no bigger than a fingernail, and examined it closely.

It felt soft and he could see bits of herb residue—very crudely made.

Could a single pill like this really stave off certain death from blood sickness for seven days? Nonsense!

“Is there any money left at home?”

Li Huilan looked up, a bit anxious.

“Brother He, there’s no money left… just a few dozen coins for buying rice.”

“Please, Brother He, don’t gamble again. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Her voice was choked with tears, and Xia He realized that his predecessor was also a gambler!

After his parents’ deaths, the family had lost its only source of income. His predecessor gambled away the rest, and with the cost of medicine so high, they’d reached a dead end.

“Don’t worry, I’ll never gamble again. I just wanted to ask if we had enough for another pill.”

“We don’t…”

“In that case, you take this pill. I’ll think of something for the rest.”

Li Huilan froze.

Since she’d married into this family, Xia He had never shown her any concern.

She’d resigned herself to her fate, but now her husband truly seemed to have changed. She almost thought she’d misheard, and was overcome with disbelief, bursting into tears.

Xia He sighed and patted her shoulder, comforting her.

But when Li Huilan resisted, he became stern.

“If you don’t take it, I’ll be angry.”

The Great Qin Dynasty paid little heed to refugees like them, and in Lingnan, with its rugged mountains and humid, malarial climate, life was even harsher.

Many could barely afford to eat.

Now, with the blood sickness rampant, families who were already destitute were plunged into deeper misery.

“It started at one hundred coins a pill, now it’s two hundred, and it will surely go up again.”

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“Beyond medicine, we still have to eat. The rice jar at home is empty—one jin of millet costs twenty coins.”

A hardworking adult man needed at least half a jin of rice a day.

A single pill cost as much as twenty days’ worth of food for a grown man.

Xia He silently cursed the medical hall and its greedy ancestors, then took a deep breath.

“Brother He, don’t worry. I just found work doing odd jobs at Master Wang’s place in the north of town—laundry, sweeping the courtyard. Things will get better.”

Li Huilan wiped her tears. Her husband’s change gave her hope.

Though she still worried, as long as Xia He didn’t gamble anymore, she was happy.

“To let a wife like this suffer so much… truly…”

In his predecessor’s memory, there hadn’t been an ounce of pity—he’d assumed it was only right for her to serve him until death.

No wonder he died young.

Xia He shook his head, helpless.

But a sense of urgency welled up within him.

If he wanted to survive, he needed to cure his illness and avoid starving.

Otherwise, if the price of medicine rose again, there would come a day when he simply couldn’t afford it.

And when the blood sickness struck, it would be an agonizing death.

The thought sent a shudder through Xia He.

But the symptoms of this blood sickness—at first just headaches and fever, more like the flu—how could it lead to coughing blood and the body rotting away?

In his previous life, Xia He had been interested in traditional medicine and knew a little about herbs, so he found it odd.

Just then, he noticed a yellowed book by the bed, the twisted characters on the cover reading “Materia Medica.”

“Why would there be such a book at home?”

Xia He picked it up and leafed through it.

“Brother He, did you forget? My father was a doctor. It was part of my dowry—when I have time, I read a little.”

Xia He patted his forehead, a bit embarrassed, but suddenly had an idea.

“There are lots of herbs in the mountains outside town. I could go gather some to sell in town.”

Li Huilan naturally didn’t object, but said shyly,

“I’m not very bright—I’ve looked at it for ages and can only recognize a few dozen herbs.”

“Brother He, if you’re interested, take your time reading. But don’t go into the mountains—there’s poison miasma there, and wild boars and panthers. Only the best hunters dare go inside.”

“You’ve been unconscious for a long time. You must be hungry—I’ll cook for you.”

Watching Li Huilan’s graceful figure disappear into the kitchen, Xia He turned his attention to the medical text.

Suddenly, a few lines of small characters appeared before his eyes.

[Skill: Herb Identification (Not Initiated)]
[Progress: 1/100]
[Effect: None]