Chapter 1

Yang Wan's stomach was growling with hunger, but she only dared to keep her eyes closed and pretend to be unconscious. Soon, the aroma of food drifted into the room, and someone approached her bedside. "Sigh! How did I end up giving birth to such a troublesome daughter..." The woman's voice was filled with disappointment and helplessness, along with an overwhelming sense of worry. Then, a spoon pried open Yang Wan's lips, and half a bowl of watery porridge was poured into her mouth. Only after the woman had left the room did Yang Wan open her eyes. She stared at the wooden ceiling beams and gave a bitter smile. "You sure died easily, leaving me with this huge mess to clean up!" It turned out that Yang Wan had originally been an overworked office employee. During the National Day holiday, she had gone out to relax, only to fall down a mountain. When she woke up, she had become a young village girl in this unfamiliar ancient world. After learning about everything her predecessor had done, Yang Wan almost felt like ending her own life on the spot. The girl had been a hopeless romantic of the highest degree. She had stolen money from her family and given it to her sweetheart so he could travel to take the imperial examinations. Meanwhile, a conscription notice was about to arrive. One of the two Yang family brothers would have to serve in the military. Normally, they could have paid eight taels of silver to avoid military service. However, the girl had given away all the more than fifty taels of silver the Yang family had painstakingly saved. Her sweetheart took the money and immediately turned his back on her. He even went so far as to get engaged to a young woman from town. When both matters came to light, the original Yang Wan threw herself into a well. It was an abandoned well that nobody ever visited. She should have been completely dead, but unfortunately, Yang Wan had transmigrated into her body. The Yang family loved their daughter dearly. Even after losing all their money, they had continued searching everywhere for her. In the end, her two older brothers took turns climbing down the well and managed to pull her out. Yang Wan's mother was both angry and worried. The family had already sold most of their grain to exchange for silver, yet they had still kept some white rice to cook porridge for her. Originally, the Yang family's circumstances were considered quite good in the village. Her father, Yang Datian, had been conscripted into military service when he was younger. Fortunately, he had been lucky enough to survive the battlefield, losing only one eye before being discharged. Along the way, he had also met Yang Wan's mother, Zhou Chunxiu, whose family had been scattered during a bandit uprising. Both of them were hardworking and practical people. With the military pay Yang Datian brought home, they raised two sons and a daughter and gradually acquired several plots of farmland. The original Yang Wanya was much younger than her two older brothers and was the only daughter in the family. Naturally, everyone spoiled her. Because Yang Wanya was rather proud and high-minded, she didn't like playing with the village girls. The only person she considered worthy of her attention was Chen Guansheng, the son of a scholar's widow. Scholar Chen had died young. His widow devoted herself entirely to helping her son study for the imperial examinations. However, the family's wealth had been nearly exhausted, and he hadn't even managed to pass the preliminary examination to become a Tongsheng. Yang Wan's parents and brothers knew about her feelings for Chen Guansheng. Thinking of their daughter's (younger sister's) happiness, they were willing to provide some financial assistance. There was just one condition: the Chen family had to formally propose the marriage first. Unfortunately, Yang Wanya had completely lost her senses. She assumed that since her family had agreed to give Chen Guansheng money for the examinations, she could simply steal the money and hand it over to him. In the end, she had practically thrown meat buns at a dog, never to get them back. By now, Yang Wan had regained some strength. She thought she should first apologize to the original owner's family. Since she had already transmigrated into this body, she couldn't keep pretending to be unconscious forever. Just as she reached the doorway, she heard an intense argument coming from the front courtyard. "Father, let me go instead! Hutou is only six years old. Big Brother can't leave!" This was the excited voice of her second older brother, Yang Li. Her eldest brother, Yang Yong, spoke in a deep but firm voice. "No! Second Brother has only been married for six months. I'm the eldest son, so I should go!" BANG! Someone slammed a hand heavily against the table. A somewhat weathered voice rang out. "Stop arguing! Your father has already served in the military once. This time, I'll go again!" "Father!" "Father!" The sons and daughters-in-law in the front courtyard cried out in alarm. Yang Wan knew they were discussing who would be chosen for military service. Even though the situation wasn't entirely her fault, her feet seemed rooted to the ground, unable to move. After a long silence, Zhou Chunxiu finally spoke slowly. "Old man, why don't we sell the farmland?" "No!" This time, the one who firmly objected was Yang Daye. It had taken them decades of hard work to acquire these ten mu of farmland. No matter what happened, they couldn't sell it. The entire courtyard was filled with gloom and despair. Yang Wan felt miserable as well. In an era with such low productivity, losing farmland or even just one family member's labor could deal a devastating blow to an entire household. Whether she accepted it or not, she was already part of this family. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door and declared: "I'm going to the Chen family and get our money back!" Everyone in the family turned to look at Yang Wan. She raised her voice again. "Get me a knife! I'm going to the Chen family to demand our money back!" Upon hearing this, Yang Yong immediately turned excitedly toward Yang Daye. "Father, little sister has finally come to her senses! I'll take her to the Chen family to demand the money!" "I'm going too!" Yang Li quickly added. It seemed that the two brothers were ready to grab their chopping knives and storm over to the Chen family's house at any moment. Both daughters-in-law looked at Yang Wan with hopeful eyes. As long as their younger sister-in-law was willing to testify against the Chen family, there was no way that widow and her son could deny what they had done. However, Yang Daye silently shook his head. "It's too late. The Chen mother and son already left yesterday. This morning, the Qiu family from town, who had gotten engaged to him, even came to the village looking for them." "Not only was Wanya deceived, but the Qiu family also lost money and valuables to them." This unexpected turn of events left Yang Wan stunned. Was this really the same supposedly refined and well-mannered scholar from the original owner's memories? Yang Wan could only grit her teeth and kneel before Yang Datian and Zhou Chunxiu. She had to apologize on behalf of the original owner, after all. "Father, Mother, Eldest Brother, Second Brother, Eldest Sister-in-law, Second Sister-in-law, I was wrong!" She hoped that no matter how angry they were, they would at least give her a place to stay. She was completely unfamiliar with this strange world and didn't even dare wander around on her own. Zhou Chunxiu sighed but said nothing. Yang Wan's heart tightened. All she could do was lower her head obediently. After a long silence in the courtyard, her eldest sister-in-law, Wu Fen, and second sister-in-law, Liu Xiuxiu, each took one of her arms and helped her stand. "Father, Mother, little sister knows she was wrong. We can also try borrowing some money from our own families." "That's right. I'll ask my family, too. My parents are in a slightly better financial position." Only then did Zhou Chunxiu pull Yang Wan toward her and give her two hard thumps, scolding angrily: "You good-for-nothing girl! Hurry up and thank your two sisters-in-law!" Yang Wan understood what was happening. Zhou Chunxiu knew that her two daughters-in-law were also upset, so she deliberately left the decision to them. For the sake of their own husbands, the two women could only swallow their resentment and forgive Yang Wan, their troublesome younger sister-in-law who had nearly ruined the entire family. Everyone in this family was genuinely kind. Yang Wan truly wanted to do something to help them. She silently wondered where she could possibly find some silver... Just then, a sudden mechanical voice sounded inside Yang Wan's mind. "Welcome to Rotten Navigation! Please select your route." At that moment, three directional arrows of different colors appeared before her eyes. They were unmistakably from the same ridiculously unreliable navigation system Yang Wan had used before she fell off the mountain. Had her turn to receive a golden finger finally arrived? Yang Wan's heart began pounding wildly. The three arrows before her were green, yellow, and red. The green arrow showed a distance of 5 meters to the destination. The yellow arrow showed 900 meters. The red arrow showed 5 kilometers. She had just been thinking about silver. Could these be routes leading to money? The nearest destination was only five meters away. She had already squandered all the family's savings. Could someone have buried silver here before the house was built? With a trembling hand, Yang Wan tapped the green route. Following the navigation, she unexpectedly arrived at the doorway of her second older brother Yang Li's room. Just then, the voices of Yang Li and his wife came from inside. "These two qian of silver are what I've secretly saved up. I originally planned to have a hairpin made for you, Xiuxiu..." "Brother Li, it's okay. I understand." Just then, the door suddenly opened. Seeing Yang Wan standing outside, Yang Li immediately placed that piece of silver into her hand. "Wanya, it's alright. We can slowly think of a way to get the money. You don't need to come all this way just to apologize to us. Take this and give it to Mother." The moment the silver landed in her hand, the familiar mechanical voice sounded again. "You have safely arrived at your destination. Navigation complete." Yang Wan barely managed to keep her expression under control while standing in front of Yang Li. But the moment she turned around, her face twisted with rage. She silently cursed at the navigation system above her head. "You damn piece of sh\*t! You rotten, motherf\*\*\*ing navigation system! What the hell is wrong with you?!"