Traveling to another world and becoming a local owner

The distant mountains are dark blue, and smoke rises from the poor houses.

Zhang Ling was lying on the haystack in the threshing floor, in a daze.

"Traveled through time? Parallel universe? The prodigal son of a wealthy landlord family? I am a graduate of Peking University of Science and Technology. I have an annual salary of one million yuan just after I started working. I have a bright future. Luxury cars and villas are not a dream. But I traveled through time to this remote mountain village... Forget it, I am here now, and I can't go back anyway..."

Zhang Ling slapped his forehead, sat up suddenly, spat out the grass branch in his mouth with a "puff", turned around and walked towards home.

It has been several days since he woke up from a coma. Although he is still not quite clear about the overall structure of this world, Zhang Ling is basically certain that he has really traveled through time.

This is a different world, just like the parallel universe he knows. It is a bit like the ancient China, but it is not the historical space where he exists. At least he has never heard of a dynasty called "Yi Dynasty" in history. Since there is no map, Zhang Ling does not know where he is now.

However, judging from the undulating mountains and flat farmlands around him, he should be in the central China region, which is similar to the Hubei or Henan provinces before he traveled through time.

Apart from this, Zhang Ling only knew that the place where he was was called Yingyang County, Anyang County, which belonged to Jingzhou.

In his previous life, Zhang Ling's family was not wealthy. His parents were small traders. They saved money and worked hard for half their lives to send him to college. Fortunately, Zhang Ling himself was also very hardworking. From elementary school to high school, his academic performance was always among the best. In the end, he was admitted to the Beijing Institute of Technology, which countless Chinese students dream of.

During his four years in college, Zhang Ling worked as hard as ever, spending every day either in the classroom or in the library.

Before graduation, his tutor had hoped that he would continue to take the postgraduate entrance examination, but Zhang Ling, who was eager to improve his family's living conditions, resolutely chose to find a job.

Excellent graduates from institutions of higher learning are naturally welcomed by major companies. With the excitement and enthusiasm of their mentors, they finally ended their probation period. However, who would have thought that the particle collider in the laboratory malfunctioned not long after they started working.

Because of too many uncertainties and technical reasons, ordinary workers are unable to repair the particle collider. Zhang Ling volunteered to go under the collider pipeline with two assistants to investigate the cause of the failure.

The underground pipeline was 27 kilometers long. Zhang Ling and his assistant spent several hours and finally found a dark crack somewhere in the middle of the pipeline.

Since the collider had already stopped running, Zhang Ling couldn't help but feel the crack with his fingertips out of curiosity. As a result, he instantly fell into a coma, and his mind was completely dark...

Then the soul somehow crossed the time and space dimensions and entered the current body.

"Oh! Let's just make the best of it. Anyway, I died in the line of duty. I guess the company will compensate my parents with a large sum of money, not to mention the insurance..." Zhang Ling shook his head and comforted himself.

"Ling'er, where have you been again? The weather is getting colder and colder. The bandits in the mountains will definitely come down. Have you forgotten how your father died? Stay at home and don't wander around." As soon as I got home, a woman in her fifties walked out of the yard with a cane, nagging with a look of pity on her face.

"I know, mother. I just took a walk around the village and didn't run around." Zhang Ling replied softly and hurriedly supported the woman.

"Well, that's good. Xiao Cui, quickly ask Aunt Wang to heat up the rice and get a basin of hot water for the young master to wash his face." The woman turned her head and instructed the maid beside her.

The maid named Xiao Cui nodded "yes" and walked hurriedly towards the kitchen.

Zhang Ling's family used to be a well-known wealthy family in the surrounding area. They owned thousands of acres of fertile land and hundreds of maids and servants. His ancestors had passed the imperial examination and had several scholars, so they were considered a family of scholars.

More than a decade ago, Jingzhou was hit by a severe drought, leaving the people homeless and starving. The government was corrupt, leading to rampant banditry.

Zhang Ling's father, Zhang Qian'an, used up half of his family property to buy food for disaster relief, but he was unexpectedly targeted by the bandits in Yuntaishan.

Except for a few people from the main family, the remaining 130 people in the Zhang family's old house were killed overnight. Fortunately, Zhang Qi'an was afraid that the refugees would cause chaos, so he sent Zhang Ling and his mother to his brother-in-law's house in the next county in advance, so they were able to escape.

Perhaps because they did not find much money in the Zhang family's old house, the bandits abducted Zhang Qian'an and several concubines and brought them back to the mountain stronghold, intending to torture them to extract confessions.

Upon hearing the news, Zhang Liu was heartbroken and asked her brother to send someone to Yuntaishan to negotiate overnight in order to rescue Zhang Qian'an.

When the bandits saw that he was there to ransom someone, they immediately asked for a huge sum of 10,000 taels of silver.

Zhang Liu was a woman of her own making and had no independent opinion. Seeing that her husband's life was in danger, she sold all the family's land and houses, despite the dissuasion of her brother Liu Huaiyuan, and barely raised 10,000 taels.

But the bandits went back on their word, not only taking the money, but also killing the people. Zhang Liu was filled with grief and anger, and was ready to hang herself at home, but was seen by Zhang Ling who woke up in the middle of the night, and burst into tears.

Zhang Liushi could not bear to abandon her young son, so she gave up the idea of ​​committing suicide. After Liu Huaiyuan learned about this, he took out half of his family's savings, despite his wife's opposition, and bought a small courtyard and dozens of acres of land for his sister, so that the orphan and widow had a place to live.

"Ling'er, your uncle came to our house this morning, and it was about the marriage we talked about before. I've seen that girl before. She is your aunt's distant niece, named Ye Qingmei. This girl was very pretty when she was a child, and I think she won't be bad now. Besides, her family are all honest and clean people. She is definitely a beautiful girl from a good family, and she is suitable for marriage." Mrs. Zhang Liu patted Zhang Ling's hand and said hopefully.

"Mom, you've told me several times. You can't just say this. I don't want to get married now. Can I wait two years before talking about it?" Zhang Ling was speechless. What was going on? He didn't even understand himself, but he was already arranging for marriage.

"Child, why are you always disobedient? Didn't we agree on this last month? I have arranged a matchmaker for you, and the old man from the Ye family has also agreed. If you don't agree, how can the girl from other families face others in the future?" Mrs. Zhang Liu looked unhappy, with a worried look on her face.

"Mom, it's not that I don't want to get married, I just can't wait for another two years. You see, I'm not ready yet. How can you get married without even meeting each other and without any feelings at all?"

"It's the parents' orders and the matchmaker's words. Your father and I were the same way, otherwise you wouldn't have come into being. When a couple lives together, they will naturally develop feelings for each other over time. You're not young anymore. Young men your age in the village can help out in the fields as well as their sons. You should save your mother some worries and quickly get married."

"You can get married if you want. I won't get married anyway." After Zhang Ling said this, he retracted his hand and strode towards the hall.

"My child's father, if you hadn't died early, Ling'er would not have been left unattended. There are three unfilial acts, and the worst is to have no descendants. Ancestors of the Zhang family, we are incompetent and feel so ashamed of you..." Zhang Liu threw away her crutches, collapsed on the ground, and burst into tears.

"Mom, please get up quickly. The ground is cold. Please get up quickly and stop crying. I will tie the knot. Can't I tie the knot?" Hearing the voice, Zhang Ling quickly turned around and ran to Zhang Liu to help her up.