CH 1

C1 – My Boyfriend Was Reborn!

The sun was setting in the west, casting its last rays of light over the distant hills.

A cart slowly made its way down the main road, driven by an old man in his fifties. His hair and beard were salt-and-pepper, and he wore a gray coat patched with different materials. He hummed an unfamiliar tune as he drove.

A young man on the cart rested his head on his hands and chewed on a piece of grass. His gaze was fixed on a spider trying to spin a web on the roof of the cart.

The roof was made of straw, barely providing any shelter from the sun and wind. Rain would be a different story. The cart was not very big, but it was enough for the young man to stretch out and lie down.

The cart jolted suddenly as one of the wheels rolled over a protruding rock, snapping the young man out of his trance as he let out a sigh.

For the past month, he had been pondering over how he had traveled from the prosperous and peaceful 21st century to this place called South Jin, and how he had gone from being a thirty-nine-year-old chief surgeon to a sixteen-year-old homeless wanderer.

Tang Yue was a medical doctor with a PhD. He served as the chief surgeon of a top-tier hospital in a major city, despite being under forty years old. He had achieved impressive results.

The Tang family was renowned for its contributions to the medical field, but Tang Yue had left the family at the age of twenty due to conflicts over his sexual orientation.

From then on, he had relied on his own hard work to climb the ranks until he had earned enough to buy a small villa in the suburbs. He owned an average Audi and had a young and attractive boyfriend.

His boyfriend had just graduated from university and was interning at the hospital. It only took three months for him to fall for Tang Yue’s charm and money, but it didn’t matter to him. In this day and age, what was wrong with being with someone who wanted something from you?

It was unfortunate that his young and tender boyfriend had been stabbed to death before they could take things further.

He still remembered the day when a patient’s family member had come to the hospital, claiming that the hospital had prescribed the wrong medicine and caused the death of their mother. They demanded compensation.

Such things happened frequently, and Tang Yue didn’t pay much attention to it. However, when he saw the patient’s family member attack a colleague, he stepped in to help. Little did he know that the attacker would pull out a knife and stab him.

Tang Yue let out another sigh. It was absurd that he had tried to do good and ended up sacrificing himself. He didn’t even know who had benefited from his house, car, and his young boyfriend.

What was even more unexpected was that he had opened his eyes again. But he wasn’t in the Underworld. Instead, he found himself in a completely unfamiliar world, as a sixteen-year-old boy.

The boy lay in a thatched hut wearing tattered clothes, with no shelter from the wind and rain. He was also running a high fever, and his delirium caused him to speak incoherently.

The only person beside him was the old man driving the cart. From him, Tang Yue learned that he was in a country called South Jin, and that the old man was sent to retrieve him and bring him home.

Speaking of which, he couldn’t help but mention the young boy’s tragic background. His father was a noble in South Jin, possibly even a duke. Seventeen years ago, he was injured in a border conflict and saved by a peasant woman. They fell in love in a dramatic fashion and even had a son.

As far as the plot went, there were only two endings for this kind of story. The first was that the general abandoned his status and stayed with his beloved until they grew old together. The second was that the man felt responsible and made a promise to return, but instead, he left alone and never came back, only to marry and have children with someone else.

The young boy’s father seemed to be the second type. However, it was unclear whether he had a change of heart or not, as he had sent someone to bring the mother and son back after sixteen years.

It was unfortunate that the young man’s mother had passed away five years ago, leaving the young man alone to follow him back.

The young man had suffered from malnutrition since he was young, with a weak constitution. He had developed a high fever during their long journey. In this era with limited access to medical treatment, even a fever could be fatal, but Tang Yue ended up benefiting from it.

Tang Yue secretly thought to himself that it was fortunate that there was no amnesia plotline, otherwise the story would become even more melodramatic.

“Young master, it’s getting dark. There is a temple ahead. Would you like to rest there for the night?” The cart stopped and the old man turned back to ask Tang Yue with caution in his tone.

Tang Yue sat up and spat out the grass in his mouth. He nodded in agreement and said, “Okay.”

A whole month had passed since he had woken up, but they had still not reached their destination. It was said that they had been on the road for three months, highlighting just how slow the cart was.

Tang Yue jumped off the cart and stretched his body. He felt that even with a good constitution, he could not endure such hardships. Three months was enough time for him to travel around the world several times by plane.

The old man’s back was already hunched, but he worked quickly. He moved everything they needed for eating and sleeping from the cart to the temple, swept the floor clean, laid down a straw mat, and built a simple stove using stones.

They rarely spent the night in towns, often having to sleep wherever they could find. Having a temple or a rundown thatched cottage to rest was already considered a luxury. Sleeping under the stars had become the norm.

As Tang Yue continued his journey, he realized that South Jin was an underdeveloped country with vast and sparsely populated areas. Despite his limited knowledge of history, he could still recognize that this period was similar to the Wei-Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, far from the prosperity of the Tang and Song dynasties.

The old man suggested to Tang Yue that there was a clear river behind the temple and asked if he wanted to wash up. He carried a bundle of dried firewood with him.

Hearing this, Tang Yue’s eyes lit up and he ran towards the river. He had been in a daze for the past month, and his poor health, combined with his high fever, had prevented him from bathing regularly. As a result, his body had developed an unpleasant odor.

As soon as he arrived at the river, he kicked off his tattered straw shoes and removed his discolored sackcloth clothes before plunging into the water.

The water was warm and comforting, having been exposed to the sun all day. It wrapped around Tang Yue’s body and caused him to involuntarily moan in pleasure.

After scrubbing all the dirt off his body, Tang Yue washed his rag-like clothes in the water. Unfortunately, the stubborn stains on the clothes from years of wear couldn’t be removed with clean water alone, which frustrated Tang Yue, who was a cleanliness freak.

Tang Yue had not seen any soap horns or similar cleaning products during his month-long journey. The old man only used a stick to beat the clothes while washing them. It was fortunate that the clothes of this era were sturdy and thick enough to withstand such harsh treatment.

After wringing out his clothes, Tang Yue sat naked on the shore, using a large rock to dry them in the remaining light. He carefully studied the reflection of his own image in the water.

In Tang Yue’s opinion, the young man’s appearance was just average. If he were placed on a modern street, he would not attract much attention. However, he had a good height of at least 1.75 meters and, given his age, might still grow to break the 1.8-meter mark.

The young man’s skin was a wheat-like color and still quite smooth, with the exception of his hands, which had become rough from years of hard labor, leaving calluses on his palms.

Since Tang Yue began studying medicine in university, he had been paying close attention to taking care of his hands. Whether he was holding a scalpel or feeling the bones, he wanted to maintain their sensitivity.

The nurse at the hospital jokingly said that Tang Director’s hands could be used as hand models and he should get insurance.

Tang Yue soaked his hands in water to soften the cuticle layer of the skin, and with time, the calluses on his palms would gradually fall off.

Upon arriving at his so-called home, he could use some medicine to soak his hands, or he could create conditions to do so.

A fish swam past his hand, and its tail swept across his palm, causing a slight itch. Tang Yue had been in a daze for a month and only now remembered that he hadn’t eaten fish for a month. The meals that the grandpa had prepared for him were tasteless.

Since he couldn’t go back, he couldn’t mistreat his stomach. Besides being a germaphobe, being a picky eater was also a well-known problem for Director Tang.

It took Tang Yue a lot of effort to catch a fish. He tied the fish with straw, put on his clothes, and headed back.

At the temple, the grandpa had started a fire and was roasting a rabbit. Tang Yue hadn’t paid attention to it before, but now he focused and realized that the grandpa’s cooking skills were probably at a beginner’s level. The meat was either overcooked or undercooked, and it was a pity that he had to eat it for a month.

Tang Yue sat next to the grandpa and wanted to take the roasted meat from him, saying, “I’ll do it.”

The grandpa avoided Tang Yue’s hand and exclaimed, “You can’t do that! … young master has a noble status. How can he do such a lowly job?” He looked at Tang Yue with a panicked expression and almost knelt down to beg for forgiveness.

Tang Yue’s hand paused for a moment, and he said with a hint of sadness, “I used to do this kind of work.”

He remembered the most difficult days of his life. His internship salary was low, and he struggled to pay rent and eat. He couldn’t afford to eat at fancy restaurants, but his stomach was too delicate for street food. Therefore, he had to get creative and make his own meals.

The grandpa knew Tang Yue’s background and the hardships he had faced, and he comforted him by saying, “Young master will be rich and prosperous in the future. Those are all in the past.”

Tang Yue didn’t say anything. He didn’t understand why his original father had taken him back. Normally, an illegitimate child who had been neglected for more than ten years would not be recognized. If his father had intended to do so, he would have done it earlier.

However, given his current situation, having a wealthy family to rely on was better than being alone and helpless.