A startled Ling Su quickly withdrew from her position in front of the door. She squinted as she saw Ling Ye, still in his inner robe, come dashing out the house and leap into the tub stationed underneath the little piece of wood jutting out from the side of the house.

Huo Ye took no notice of this. He would be mad to strip naked before a girl regardless of blood relation.

That’s not to say that he was a virgin. He had had his encounters once or twice out of curiosity and quite a bit of peer pressure but that didn’t mean he had no shame.

To top it off, Ling Ye’s feelings towards his sister were overwhelming him making it had for him to distinguish his own. Ling Su had been kind to him so far, but that’s only because she believes him to be her brother.

Ling Su, who was puzzled, approached him silently and dealt a knock right on his delicate head.

“Xiao Ye, much common sense isn’t needed to know that one doesn’t take a bath with clothes on.”

She knew he was injured and yet was being so rough.

No wonder the real Xiao Ye abandoned ship.

Huo Ye knew that it was a long trek to get a bucket of water from the creek down the hill. Usually the siblings shared the same bathwater with Ling Ye going in after Ling Su.

It didn’t make sense for the icky Xiao Ye to bathe first, but Ling Su was a very caring big sister. She thought that Xiao Ye had been bullied by the thugs in town so did her best to make him feel better.

Calmly walking up behind him, Ling Su began to scrub his scalp, furiously attacking it at she pulled out knot after knot. Huo Ye almost jumped out his skin, but was scared to pull away as her firm grip on his hair would most likely leave him bald.

It took two hours to get off all the gunk. Surprisingly, Ling Su didn't even question where it all came from. Xiao Ye looked rather civilised after a haircut with a rusted knife.

He offered to go fill up the tub again but was hastily turned down. Ling Su would go without a bath because it was rather costly to draw water.

The village they lived in was rather small. Few clans had made it their home and all was well as they were a fairly self-sufficient community. That was until six years ago.

A group of well-known bandits, Shaluyu, had decided to make the village, Shengu, their base.

Many protested but were instantly crushed. Their defeat had a long lasting effect on their families. Taxes to use the roads, taxes to draw water from any source, taxes to sell, taxes to buy, taxes to own property, taxes to have children, taxes make changes to your home, anything to make normal life miserable was applicable. These taxes would make a bit of sense if they were being used to better the village, however, every last bit of it went to line the pockets of the bandits.

The Ling siblings chose to live secluded up the hill to avoid any unnecessary charges, only coming out when they need to shop or bathe.

Their father had been one of the ‘dissidents’. They and every other family who had rebelled were charged five times as much as the other families.

The situation was bleak. They had been able to survive so far as Ling Su was skilled in identifying medicinal herbs.

Their mother was long gone, having disappeared shortly after Ling Ye’s birth.

Their days were lived out in peace, that is, the days Ling Ye didn’t go into town to stir up trouble. He was public enemy number one for the bandits, antagonising them time and time again. He never did much damage, but compared to the villagers who were rather obedient as they couldn’t escape the gaze of their abusers, Ling Ye was a devil.

More often than not, he was able to escape a beating by dashing back to his humble abode through a forest the bandits could not navigate. Ling Su was then forced to cover up for him the next time she went down to sell her herbs.

Huo Ye shook his head at the watery gruel in front of him. The Lings were relatively financially stable and still had to eat this. He sobbed silently for the less fortunate villagers.

Ling Su carried on, chattering mindlessly about her day. She could tell that Xiao Ye was lost in thought. Thinking that he’d had a rough day, she tried her best to get him to smile, talking about the runaway pig that the overweight butcher had to chase around town today.

Her momentum slowed as she realised that his attention was somewhere else. Huo Ye noticed the lull in the conversation and started to focus. Feeling bad for making her worry, he grabbed his spoon and shovelled a huge bite into his mouth. His face immediately turned green as he choked it down. Huo Ye grimaced as he realised he was letting Ling Ye’s lingering feelings override his thought process.

Ling Su, who was sitting across from him, visibly relaxed and continued her stories.

The dishes were cleared and put away after Huo Ye insisted he had little appetite and that he’d be better after a couple of days rest.

Ling Su took her position on the floor after convincing Xiao Ye take the bed. Huo Ye lay down and looked up at the ceiling tile which looked like it would drop on him at any moment.

He started to sort through all the information he had gathered. He, Huo Ye, had transmigrated from Earth to the TongShan continent. This all happened because Ling Ye was dissatisfied with his life. He was a troublemaker and disobedient, had turned public opinion against him as he continuously implicated others in his silly schemes, was reliant on his sister, and had absolutely no talent for cultivation.

Huo Ye could resign himself to this life but there was no way he was ever going to eat that detestable excuse for a meal. He quickly began to make plans on how to better his life.

After having soaked in the tub, he felt refreshed and thought he would be able to fall asleep in minutes. His attempts to figure out how to introduce modern concepts into this life were overshadowed as he kept on trying to recall a time when he'd told his parents he loved them. He'd always done as a child should, calling them regularly and sending them little gifts when he could afford.

However, he was currently swamped with guilt as he realised he did not feel any remorse at having lost his old life. He would definitely miss the technology but he felt no attachment to his achievements. Any good child should have been concerned about their family instead he was more worried about his new bed. He'd worked hard to finally make something of his life and somebody else was going to enjoy it.

His only wish was that Ling Ye take care of his family. Luckily, he didn't have too much responsibility and so his life should be easy to manage. He wondered if Ling Ye had received his memories so that he had a clue on how modern society works.

Please don't let him be thrown in a mental institution.

Huo Ye listened to the breaths of Ling Su who was resting on the floor. He then turned away to the corner, trying to keep warm with the blanket and slowly drifted off to sleep.