Transmigration begins with archery training

Where is your husband?

"Replying to your question, sir, he is still bedridden."

When are you planning to pay your taxes?

"Don't worry, we will definitely not miss the deadline."

……

In the darkness, Chen Sanshi heard a conversation between a man and a woman.

The man was aggressive, while the woman yielded.

"hiss……"

He struggled to open his eyelids, and what came into view was a completely unfamiliar environment.

‘Where is this? ’

'Am I not working overtime?'

"hiss……"

Chen Sanshi suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head as a flood of memories, not his own, rushed into his mind, forcing him to accept a fact.

'I've time-traveled?'

This place is called Poyang County, a small border county of the Dasheng Dynasty.

The original owner lived in Yanbian Village outside the county town. He was a poor, uneducated scholar who had taken a break from his job. His family made a living by his father hunting, and they were doing alright.

Until six months ago, my father went up the mountain overnight and never came back.

The family lost its breadwinner, and the original owner also failed the imperial examination. Under the double blow, he finally fell seriously ill.

That's when Chen Sanshi traveled through time.

"Oh, Brother Shi, you're awake!"

A woman brought in some medicine and was overjoyed to see the boy awake.

She hurriedly ran to the bedside, her already ill-fitting clothes shaking violently as she ran, as if two rabbits were rolling around inside.

The woman's name is Gu Xinlan.

She was the original owner's father, who bought her as a child bride when she was very young.

The other person always took care of the original owner like an older sister, and even after the father passed away and the original owner fell ill, she never abandoned him.

only……

The original owner seemed to look down on this older sister quite a bit.

Because the other party was a criminal who was exiled to the frontier and almost sold into a brothel, he was of the lowest social class.

The original owner of this body had a very high opinion of himself and believed that one day he would be able to pass the imperial examinations and marry a daughter of a wealthy family. He thought that the other party was not good enough for him and treated her like a servant.

"Brother Shi, how are you?"

Gu Xinlan sat down by the bed, placed her hand on the boy's forehead, and exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? The fever's gone?"

Chen Sanshi sat up and tried to move his body. Apart from being a little weak, he was fine. His symptoms had completely disappeared since he came from the world.

"It's truly a blessing from the Bodhisattva."

Gu Xinlan was visibly pleased: "Brother Shi, drink your medicine first, and I'll go get you something to eat."

Looking at the millstone that seemed to be emerging as the other person walked, Chen Sanshi spent ten minutes processing the situation.

"They come, the security."

He has always been able to adapt to his environment quickly, and now that he has come to this world, he must find a way to live well.

After drinking the bitter medicine in one gulp, Chen Sanshi went to the next room.

He saw that Gu Xinlan had almost completely crawled into the rice jar, with only the millstone sticking out, as she laboriously dug out the grain.

After struggling for a long time, they only managed to scoop out a small handful of millet.

Since the original owner's father died, the family has lost its source of income. In addition, the original owner recently fell ill, which completely depleted the family's savings. Now they are completely out of money.

"Was that the tax collector who came to collect the autumn tax just now?"

Chen Sanshi stood behind Lan Jie'er: "How much?"

"Three taels of silver," Gu Xinlan replied.

"Three taels?"

Chen Sanshi gasped: "Are they including my father in this?"

"Ah."

Gu Xinlan nodded gently: "The tax collector said that since my father's body hasn't been found, he's not considered dead, so his household registration can't be cancelled, and he still has to pay taxes as usual, including the hunting tax."

Chen Sanshi cursed inwardly.

The Great Sheng Dynasty also imposed heavy taxes and levies, and with the frequent wars in various places in recent years, tax revenue has continued to increase.

"Brother Shi, don't worry."

Gu Xinlan looked worried, but comforted him, saying, "I recently found a job at a tailor shop, and I also do laundry for others, so I can scrape together some money."

Clearly, the original owner of this body was completely off work during the day.

Even after his father died, he was unwilling to find another way to make a living, and preferred to make Lan Jie'er work as hard as possible.

"Don't you even know if you're cut out for this..."

Chen Sanshi was speechless. He couldn't even pass the county-level exam, yet he dreamed of passing the provincial-level exam. Wasn't that just wishful thinking?

He can't continue like this; he needs to find a way to make a living.

Otherwise, if they couldn't pay their taxes, the men would be sent to perform corvée labor, and the women would be sold into prostitution, ending up in a life worse than death.

"I'm going to cook."

Gu Xinlan got busy.

The meal was ready in no time.

The staple food consisted of two bowls of millet mixed with bran, without even any pickled vegetables.

This is probably the last meal the family will have.

Chen Sanshi noticed that his bowl contained more millet, while Gu Xinlan's bowl was mostly filled with chaff.

Rice husks are the outer husks of grains such as rice, wheat, and soybeans. They are rough, dry, and difficult to swallow.

In my previous life, it was basically used as feed for livestock.

"Eat up, Brother Shi."

Gu Xinlan picked up her chopsticks and ate slowly and forcefully. Her fingers were visibly red, and there were small ulcers at her joints.

That's because I washed too many clothes for people.

She was a woman who did everything to support her family, except for the manual labor that only men could do.

Chen Sanshi saw it all and kept it in mind, burying his head in eating the hard-to-swallow chaff.

"Brother Shi".

Halfway through the meal, Gu Xinlan put down her chopsticks and hesitantly said, "Actually, besides the tax, we also owe Aunt Li two qian for medical treatment."

"Otherwise... I'm just suggesting that you rest for a few more days and then find some work. I heard that if you don't collect the tax payment by the end of the month, they're going to arrest you..."

She glanced at the other person's face as she spoke, her fingers nervously fidgeting with the hem of her clothes.

Every time this matter was brought up before, Brother Shi would fly into a rage, saying things like how a scholar should do manual labor.

"Let's eat."

Chen Sanshi shoveled rice into his mouth, silently calculating the accounts in his mind.

Gu Xinlan dared not mention it again. She quietly finished her meal, quickly washed the pots and dishes, and hurriedly went to do her housework.

Chen Sanshi remained seated, deep in thought.

Unlike modern society, in ancient times, if you had some physical strength, you could find work.

His family owned no land, and he had no academic achievements; the only thing he could do was hunt.

The original owner learned a few skills from her father when she was young, but most of them have been neglected over the years. However, she still has the basic skills, so it shouldn't be difficult to pick them up.

Besides, since we have to pay hunting taxes anyway, we might as well hunt them.

There happened to be an old bow left at home.

Chen Sanshi went into the inner room and took down the longbow that was covered in dust from the wall.

"It should still work."

"We have a bow but no arrows, so we need to find a way to get some money to buy arrows."

To survive, the family sold almost all their books, and now only the Four Treasures of the Study, which the original owner regarded as her lifeline, are still worth a little money.

Without any hesitation, Chen Sanshi packed up all the writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones and took them with him.

Even though they were all low-quality goods, they still sold for a full two hundred copper coins, which is about two qian of silver.

This proves that the saying "poor scholars, rich warriors" is not absolute; studying can also be an expensive endeavor.

Chen Sanshi took the money and went to the market stall that catered to hunters.

"Little Stone, have you come to buy arrows?"

The stall owner, Old Xu, came from a military family and was an old acquaintance of the original owner's father: "Are you planning to go hunting in the mountains instead of studying?"

"Hmm, I'm planning to buy a few old arrows."

Chen Sanshi picked out five secondhand willow-leaf arrows from the stall: "How much?"

"Seventy coins."

Chen Sanshi bargained: "Uncle Xu, old arrows aren't worth this price. Fifty coins is the most you can offer."

"Alright, here's fifty coins for you."

Old Yu was quite straightforward: "If you ask me, you should have gone up the mountain long ago and learned most of your father's skills. At least you wouldn't have trouble making a living. Why did you have to study that damn book? Is being an official something a poor kid can do?"

"The old man is right."

Chen Sanshi did not refute. After confirming that there was no quality problem with the arrow, he nocked it on the bowstring and aimed it at the ground.

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

Skill: Archery (Beginner)

Progress: (20/100)