Newborn 1927

Yang Jiefang slowly opened his eyes, staring at the thatched roof and mud-brick house in front of him, his face full of disbelief. Had he really transmigrated?

He was originally a model young man born in the 1990s in the People's Republic of China, and also considered a "rich second generation" by many Chinese. He graduated from the Department of Finance at New York University. A top student since childhood, he used his knowledge to make a fortune in the New York Stock Exchange during his studies. With plenty of money, he didn't need to rush to find a job and traveled the world for two years after graduation. Then, under his mother's repeated urging, he went to New York to handle his assets there before returning to China to settle down and start a family. Everything was going well until, while surfing in the legendary Bermuda Triangle of the Atlantic Ocean, he inexplicably encountered a tornado, his entire body was swept up thousands of meters into the air, and he lost consciousness. When he woke up, this was the scene before him. Yang Jiefang tried to sit up, but felt a sharp pain all over his body and couldn't help but cry out in pain.

"Huh, you're awake?" A startled exclamation followed, and a face appeared before him. The man had large eyes, a pointed chin, a wide grin, messy short hair, and prominent ears—he was practically the prototype for Momo, King Gigi's henchman. Yang Jiefang couldn't help but ask, "Who are you? Where am I?" The man chuckled, "This is Qinglong Village. My name is Hou Fei, nicknamed 'Skyrocket,' have you heard of him?" Yang Jiefang shook his head blankly. Hou Fei smiled awkwardly, scratched his head, and asked, "And what's your name?" Yang Jiefang answered frankly, "My name is Yang Jiefang..." Yang Jiefang retained some fragmented memories of the original owner of this body and asked again, "What day is it today?" Hou Fei replied, "The ninth day of the twelfth lunar month. You've been unconscious for two days."

Yang Jiefang nodded slightly. The current time was the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month of the fifteenth year of the Republic of China (which was January 1927 in the Gregorian calendar, though the exact date was unknown, as China at that time did not yet use the Gregorian calendar), and the location was Shandong. The original owner of this body was also named Yang Jiefang. His mother had asked an old scholar to give him the name using an old hen. That day, the old scholar, seeing the news of the Wuchang Uprising in the newspaper, exclaimed, "Expel the Tartars, restore China! Good! Good! Good! Our China has finally been liberated!" Thus, he named the newborn Yang Jiefang. He was only fifteen years old this year, sixteen in the traditional Chinese age reckoning, and still a student. Due to a family tragedy, he and his sister were to be sold to Yantai by human traffickers. On the way, the siblings tried to escape, but his sister couldn't walk fast enough and was caught; he slipped and fell down a hillside while escaping, then lost consciousness. When he awoke, Yang Jiefang had possessed his body.

Yang Jiefang asked again, "Did you save me? Thank you so much. But I wonder what kind of place this Qinglong Village is?" Since it's called Qinglong Village, it probably can't be a good place. Hou Fei said smugly, "Our Qinglong Village is the largest mountain stronghold in Qixia, Haiyang, and Laiyang counties. We have a lot of people, lots of guns, and a lot of territory..." He was about to launch into a long explanation of Qinglong Village when he heard Yang Jiefang's stomach rumble. So he changed the subject, "You've been lying here for two days, you must be hungry. Wait a moment, I'll go get you some food." With that, he turned and walked out.

Yang Jiefang braced himself against the bed with both hands and sat up, enduring the pain. The room was sparsely furnished; he was actually lying on a large communal bed, which could probably fit more than ten people at once. Several old quilts were scattered haphazardly on it, and the air reeked of a man's distinctive foot odor, which was quite unpleasant. After a brief check of his body, although he was in pain all over, he didn't have any serious injuries such as fractures or dislocations, except for a large bump on his forehead, which he guessed was the main cause of the previous owner's unconsciousness.

Now that he'd arrived in this era, he had to consider his future plans. Any Chinese person with a modicum of common sense knew what major events had occurred in China in 1927. As a time traveler, he should naturally try to change the course of history. "Hmm, I should head south to find my instructor," Yang Jiefang thought. His grandfather had fought in the Korean War and lost a leg; his father had fought in the Sino-Vietnamese War and lost an arm. As a model citizen, Yang Jiefang originally intended to apply to a military academy; however, due to his mother's strong opposition, he had to give up and enroll in the finance department of a university in Shanghai, later studying in the United States. As a die-hard military enthusiast, he always harbored a restless spirit; now that he had traveled back to this war-torn era, it was only natural that he wanted to follow his instructor into the revolution.

A short while later, Hou Fei entered, carrying a large bowl and a pair of chopsticks in one hand. He placed them on a table in front of the bed and said, "It's cold, eat while it's hot!" Yang Jiefang moved to the bedside and saw a bowl of millet porridge with a few pickled radishes floating on top, and another bowl containing two cornbread buns. Yang Jiefang was starving, so he first picked up the bowl and drank a couple of mouthfuls of millet porridge, then grabbed a cornbread bun and started gnawing on it. To be honest, the cornbread was really awful; even when he was starving, he found it hard to swallow. Yang Jiefang couldn't help but ask, "Is this what you Qinglong Village usually eat?" Hou Fei replied, "Yes, two meals a day, all you can eat!" Judging from his tone, this seemed like a very good treatment.

Yang Jiefang retained fragments of the original owner's memories. Although he knew that life was difficult for people in this era, he still found it hard to accept such a life. He said, "You just said that your Qinglong Village seems very powerful. I thought you ate large chunks of meat and drank heavily every day." Hou Fei was taken aback, then laughed, "How could that be? There are over five hundred people in Qinglong Village. If we ate like that, how much meat and wine would we need? In these times, with war and chaos outside, people would starve and freeze to death every day. We're lucky if we can eat our fill and stay warm. As for meat and wine, we have a special treat during festivals... well, even those landlords and rich people don't live like that!"

Yang Jiefang's heart skipped a beat, and he exclaimed, "Over five hundred men with guns! Impressive! Our Laiyang County garrison isn't even that big." Hou Fei shook his head, "That's incomparable. They have guns for everyone, and plenty of ammunition. Although we have over five hundred men, we have less than three hundred rifles and pistols combined; and our ammunition is pitifully scarce." Unwittingly, he'd revealed his weakness in a single sentence. Yang Jiefang continued to probe, saying, "That's the biggest mountain stronghold in our three counties, which shows your leader is a capable hero!" Hou Fei laughed heartily, "You're mistaken. Our leader isn't a hero. She's a woman, known as the Black Widow. Have you heard of her?" Yang Jiefang shook his head, "I'm a scholar, I don't know much about the ways of the underworld. Can you tell me about it?" In this era, scholars were few, a natural advantage that made it easier to lower one's guard. Hou Fei replied, "Even if you didn't ask, I would have told you. But before that, shouldn't you explain your background first?"

Yang Jiefang was slightly startled and couldn't help but scrutinize the man again. He stood there with his arms crossed, looking down at Yang Jiefang with an imposing aura. Actually, Hou Fei wasn't very tall, about 1.6 meters, while Yang Jiefang was about 1.7 meters, but Yang Jiefang was sitting. Clearly, although Hou Fei was young, he was quite shrewd and not easily fooled. This was a bandit's den, and there were likely many ruthless killers here. Yang Jiefang didn't dare to be careless and carefully replied, "As I just said, I'm actually a student. Because the school is far from home, I usually live at school. I don't really know what happened at home. As for how I ended up in your stronghold? I'm completely clueless now." Hou Fei said, "It's alright, just tell us everything. We'll judge the truth ourselves. But… I have to remind you: you can say less, or not say anything, but don't lie. Our leader can't stand being deceived. The Black Widow's reputation is earned through bloodshed!"

Yang Jiefang knew he had to get through this hurdle, or the consequences would be unpredictable. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "My name is Yang Jiefang, and I'm from Zhao Jiazhuang in Laiyang County. My family used to be quite well-off; we had parents, an older sister, several dozen acres of fertile land, and oxen. I studied in Jiangshan from a young age and only came home once a month..."

"This spring, when I came home from school as usual, I found my dad bedridden. My family told me he'd fallen while working in the fields and would be fine in a few days. But my friends in the village secretly told me that my dad had been beaten by the henchmen of Zhao Jinbao, the village head, because our cow had eaten Zhao Jinbao's wheat seedlings, and they wanted to take the cow as payment. Oxen are generally very intelligent and wouldn't steal crops. My dad went to argue with them and ended up being severely beaten. Zhao Jinbao is..." The big landlord in our village, who was also the village head, kept several henchmen and bullied everyone in the village. My father was brought to Zhao Family Village by my grandmother, who had no connections there. He could only swallow his anger when he was bullied. I was still young, and I thought I would endure it for now and settle scores with the Zhao family when I grew up. Who knew things wouldn't be as simple as I thought..." Yang Jiefang opened up his thoughts, slowly chewing on his cornbread as he recounted his family's ordeal. Hou Fei listened attentively, without saying a word.

Yang Jiefang continued, "My mother hired a well-known local doctor to treat my father, which cost a lot of money; but my father's health not only didn't improve, it got worse. My mother was anxious and couldn't help but complain about the doctor. The doctor then flew into a rage and said a lot of nasty things. I wasn't home, so I don't know exactly what he said, and it's not convenient for me to say it directly. The gist of it was that my father's health hadn't improved because my parents didn't know how to control themselves and were partying every night. These words quickly spread throughout the village, and those gossipy women were talking behind my mother's back."

"Because we ran out of money, my father wanted to give up treatment, but my mother disagreed. So they borrowed money to find another doctor. But in the end, they couldn't cure my father, and he died vomiting blood. Right after my father died, Zhao Jinbao came to our door with an IOU, demanding payment. He said the money my mother borrowed was actually a loan Zhao Jinbao had arranged, and the repayment period and interest were different from what was agreed upon when the loan was made. My mother was illiterate and knew she had fallen into a trap. In despair, she hanged herself. But even though she was dead, the debt wasn't over. So, Zhao Jinbao took our land and house, but it still wasn't enough to pay off the debt. Then he used my sister and me as collateral, selling us to human traffickers. On the way, my sister and I managed to escape; my sister couldn't get away, but I fell and fainted during my escape. When I woke up, I was here." As she spoke, a surge of grief and indignation rushed to her head; there was truly no justice in this world!

Hou Fei listened quietly, then asked calmly, "So what are your plans now?" Yang Jiefang said with a bitter face, "I'm penniless, my family is ruined, what plans could I possibly have?" Hou Fei nodded and said, "After you finish eating, lie down and rest. If you need to use the restroom, there's an outhouse in the backyard. This mountain stronghold has its rules; you're unfamiliar with the area, so don't wander around unnecessarily! We'll talk about anything when I get back." With that, he turned and left.