NFBE Chapter 1 Crossing
Chapter 1 Crossing
Shihua Village.
In a low-lying area near the end of the village, there was a row of three low, earthen houses. In the cold, dark room, a person suddenly sat up abruptly from the bed.
The man was extremely thin. He had just sat up and hadn't even had a chance to grin when a wave of dizziness hit him, causing him to fall back down.
"Uncle Three!"
The four-year-old child who had been watching over the bed stared wide-eyed as the person on the bed sat up as if from the dead, then fell straight down again. The words "a final burst of energy before death" were imprinted in his mind.
"Third Uncle, are you dead?"
The person on the bed didn't answer. A wave of terror washed over the child, who instinctively screamed and ran towards the door, "Fourth Uncle, Aunt, Third Uncle is dead, Third Uncle is dead..."
Lu Yuanqing finally came to his senses and, not caring about the child who had run out, lay on the bed, looking through the mosquito net at the dark beams, a wide grin on his face.
He's happy!
He was incredibly lucky to be able to come back to life even after he died.
Lu Yuanqing is an ordinary male college graduate in the 21st century. The only extraordinary thing about his short life is that he is a second-generation beneficiary of land expropriation and has never experienced the hardship of being poor.
He himself is a person who is content with the ordinary, has no great ambitions, and is very Buddhist.
During his graduation trip, he went hiking and accidentally fell off a cliff. Just when he thought he was doomed, a person appeared in front of him who looked about 70-80% like him. This person had no flesh on his cheeks, and the outline of his bones was particularly clear. He was wearing tattered clothes covered with patches.
She said, "I'll give you my body, please help me raise the children in my family," and then disappeared.
Then, without feeling any pain, Lu Yuanqing woke up in another body. Having been reading online novels for over a decade, he understood within three seconds that he had transmigrated.
Although I don't like children, and even hate bratty kids, I've traded my life for raising a son for the original owner of this body!
Such a wonderful thing, so he must be God's favorite son!
Lu Yuanqing chuckled foolishly, but after a couple of seconds, a sharp pain shot through his head as the original owner's memories flashed through his mind.
"Third Brother!"
"Uncle Three!"
A large group of children burst in at that moment.
Lu Yuanbo threw himself by the bedside, tears streaming down his face. Just as he was about to wail, he met Lu Yuanqing's lifeless eyes.
The four people were crying their hearts out, some sobbing quietly, but Lu Yuanbo turned around and shouted at them, "Stop crying, he's not dead yet!"
"Then why aren't you saying anything?"
"Fourth Uncle, I saw with my own eyes that Third Uncle collapsed and stopped moving."
Lu Yuanbo wiped away his tears and said irritably, "I saw him blink."
The anxiety and sadness from before were gone from her face; instead, she angrily yelled at the person on the bed, "How much longer are you going to lie here?"
Knowing he wouldn't get a response, he stormed out of the room and plopped down on the doorstep, refusing to say another word.
As the eldest in the family, he lies in bed all day and doesn't get up or go to work to earn work points. Is this how an older brother should act?
"Is Third Uncle not dead?" Lu Mingnan, who had given the false report, climbed onto the bed, put his finger under Lu Yuanqing's nose, and then touched his heart. "He's not dead, Third Uncle isn't dead!"
Lu Yuanhuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Third brother, Mom and Dad are gone. Don't scare me. If anything else happens to you, our family will be..."
As she spoke, the tears that had stopped started falling again.
But now, no matter what they say, Lu Yuanqing doesn't want to care.
He didn't even think that being able to come back to life was a lucky thing.
Lu Yuanqing, who has received the memories, wants to ask God if God initially thought he was his biological son and saved his life when he was about to die, but after saving him, he found out that he was from the neighbor's family, so that God gave him such a disastrous start.
Trading a life for the responsibility of raising a child is not a bad deal.
One life for raising five, oh no, there's also a pair of twins in another room who can't get out of bed and sleep all day, seven of them, a whole seven.
The original owner gave him a body and asked him to help raise seven children. What was he to her? A babysitter?
Ignoring the constant voices and sobs around him, Lu Yuanqing rolled over, closed his eyes, and thought, "Whatever, I can't handle this job. I might as well die!"
"Third Brother, I'll go cook you some wild vegetable porridge, so you won't be sad anymore, okay?" Lu Yuanhuan said cautiously.
Since the passing of their parents, eldest brother and sister-in-law, and second sister-in-law, and two days ago, when they received the news that their second brother, who was serving in the army, had died in battle, the Lu family had been in a deep slump for a long time.
Lu Yuanqing also fainted two days ago.
Lu Yuanhuan was very worried that he would die. His parents had also died; they first fainted from hunger and then passed away.
Lu Yuanqing pretended not to hear and didn't want to pay any attention to her.
Wild vegetable porridge? There are only wild vegetables and no porridge, what's so delicious about that?
Having arrived in a time of famine, Lu Yuanqing felt he should calmly face his death.
……
In March, the season for spring plowing, the fields should be bustling with activity, but now everyone is pale, thin, weak, and listless.
No matter how loudly Zhao Zhongcai, the production brigade leader, shouted, the team members with their flat bellies just pursed their lips and didn't change their hand movements at all, remaining slow and sluggish.
Annoyed by the noise, someone muttered under their breath, "They can't even get enough to eat, how can they have the energy to work!"
As soon as he said this, people responded one after another.
"Exactly! I'm so hungry I can barely walk, and I still have to come to work. The canteen is closed, and the two bags of grain we were given are barely enough to fill us up. Even if we eat mostly wild vegetables every day, it's still incredibly watery. Do they want us to starve and die from exhaustion like everyone else?!"
Zhao Zhongcai's face darkened whenever the topic of people who starved to death in the village came up.
As everyone knows, many people work in the fields, are hungry and exhausted, and then collapse and die after being sent home.
This really can't be defined simply as starvation.
But as the team leader, he couldn't neglect production. "We're not getting enough to eat right now, isn't it because we don't have enough grain? But where will the grain come from? We have to work!"
Everyone complained a bit, but they also understood that the captain was right.
If you don't work, you won't get food and you'll starve to death. If you're not full, you won't have the strength to work. It's a vicious cycle.
The team members muttered a few words and then continued to dawdle.
Zhao Zhongcai finally shut his mouth, his heart filled with worry, especially since the Lu family boy had run over earlier shouting that "Third Uncle is dead," which had kept his brows furrowed.
Among the people who starved to death in the village, the Lu family had the most; they all seemed to be lining up to meet the King of Hell.
Originally, the second son of the Lu family was a martyr, and the village should have taken care of him no matter what.
But two years ago, they suffered a disaster, and food became incredibly precious. The village simply couldn't spare any extra food to help them.
Now, it seems the third son of the Lu family is also failing, and his younger brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces will likely have to join the queue for the next generation.
Just as he was worrying, Zhao Zhongcai saw Lu Guobin and said, "Just now, Lu Lao's son came looking for Yuanbo. I'm afraid Yuanqing is not going to make it!"
"What?" Lu Guobin was surprised but not surprised. Lu Yuanqing hadn't come out for several days, so he naturally thought of the worst possible outcome.
Zhao Zhongcai sighed, "Let's still go! They're just a bunch of kids, they don't know what to do!"
If someone dies, you should at least help bury them!
Lu Guobin's eyes were filled with sadness. His father and Lu Yuanqing's grandfather were cousins. According to seniority, Lu Yuanqing and his siblings had to call him their eldest cousin.
Now, only he can leave with dignity for Lu Yuanqing. Otherwise, given the current situation of the Lu family's lack of successors, Lu Yuanqing would probably only be buried wrapped in a tattered mat.
This is also why Zhao Zhongcai called him on.
The two arrived at the Lu family home quickly, expecting to see the Lu family members crying their hearts out, but they only saw Lu Yuanhuan cooking.
Lu Guobin glanced at the clear water and wild vegetables in the earthenware jar and asked, "Huanhuan, where's your third brother?"
Lu Yuanbo is not here. Could it be that he carried Lu Yuanqing's body up the mountain to bury it?
Lu Yuanhuan smiled and said, "Uncle, my third brother is inside." He glanced at the brigade leader as he spoke, "He wasn't slacking off, he just fainted from hunger and can't get out of bed right now. He'll have the strength to get up after he eats."
What does this mean?
Zhao Zhongcai met Lu Guobin's questioning gaze and quickly asked, "Didn't Mingnan just shout..."
"Oh!" Lu Yuanhuan said, "It's a misunderstanding. My third brother is fine. Captain, do you need to see him? I'll take you in..."
"No need, you go ahead with your work, we'll go in and find it ourselves," Lu Guobin said.
No matter what, it's good that you're still alive.
Upon entering the house, the first thing that catches the eye is Lu Yuanqing staring blankly at the thatched roof with his big, round eyes, seemingly unfocused.