Chapter 2

The Qinhuai River flows into the inner city from the Dongshui Pass near the Tongji Gate in the southern part of the city, then meanders westward. After flowing for more than a mile, it reaches the Wende Bridge. To the east of the Wende Bridge lies a stone alley, where the Qin family resides.

Just a hundred steps west of the stone alley is the famous Wuyi Alley.

The Qin family's house is not large, with two courtyards and a small garden of less than half an acre at the back. Among the gilded buildings and densely packed houses along the Qinhuai River, it can only be considered a middle-to-lower class home.

Qin Mu lay alone in the study, looking through the half-open, ancient window at the willows in the back garden gently swaying in the spring breeze. A young girl, about thirteen or fourteen years old, was hanging clothes to dry in the garden.

She first wrung out the water, then shook the clothes twice, making a "slap, slap!" sound. She had to tiptoe to hang the clothes on the line.

Qin Mu couldn't remember how many times he had seen this girl hanging clothes in the garden. He couldn't understand why, if she always had to tiptoe to reach the line, she didn't lower it. Was it better for her development?

Qin Mu's injury to the back of his head was severe, but it healed quickly. After ten days, the wound had started to scab over, and he could walk without any problems. However, he still didn't want to move, and he even thought about hitting himself again to return to the 21st century. In that world, he was also named Qin Mu, the only son of the Qin family, whose business spanned pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and real estate, with a total asset value of over 3 billion.

In college, his father had him study business administration, hoping he would take over the family business. After three years of university, however, Qin Mu, ignoring his family's objections, joined the military. He had never forgotten the promise he made to a beautiful teacher in kindergarten: to become a general when he grew up.

After two years of hard training in the military, he entered the Army Academy and graduated top of his class. As he got closer to his childhood dream, on the day of his graduation, his friends took him to a bar to celebrate. He drank so much that he passed out, and when he woke up, he found himself in this strange place.

It was one thing to have forgotten his childhood promise, but the 3 billion in assets were still waiting for him to inherit!

The most tragic thing in the world is to die without spending all your money. But even more tragic is to be alive with no money left.

In this family, everything except a few line-bound books belonged to the Qian family. The house was bought by Qian Shun, Qian's father and the current Left Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, a few years ago. The family's twenty to thirty acres of land were also provided by Qian Shun. Even the two servants and two maids in the house were part of Qian's dowry.

By 21st-century standards, Qin Mu had been living off his wife for years.

Qian's maiden name was Qian Wan. From the beginning, she had been forced to marry Qin Mu due to her parents' wishes and the matchmaker's words. She was not at all willing, and especially after Qin Mu failed the second imperial examination, she became even more aggressive, turning into "Qian the Tyrant"!

She found everything annoying and would start cursing at the slightest provocation, throwing things around. Qin Mu had been called a good-for-nothing countless times; she didn't act like his wife but more like the landlady from "Kung Fu."

After failing the second imperial examination, they began living separately. Qin Mu moved to the study and spent his days reading, enduring Qian the Tyrant's taunts, hoping to pass the imperial examination and bring glory to his ancestors.

But he failed the third imperial examination as well. Perhaps because he had been living off the Qian family for years, the pressure was too much, and after failing this time, he gave up on further studies.

One day at Meixiang Tower, a servant delivered a letter from Qian Wan. The letter contained only twenty-eight characters: "My husband has great talent, why is he always rejected? Now I am ashamed to face him, if you come, come at night."

Clearly, Qian Wan only knew that Qin Mu had gone to Meixiang Tower and not that he was injured. Regardless of whether she wrote the poem herself, the words were so harsh that if the original Qin Mu had read it, he would have either been beaten to death or died of a heart attack.

Even the Qin Mu from the 21st century, under the pitying gazes of Li Xiangjun and others, felt a sharp pain in his head and fainted again.

In his unconscious state, Qin Mu was carried back home. Upon learning that Qin Mu had been injured at Meixiang Tower, Qian Wan didn't even look at him and immediately led the servants and maids to cause a commotion at Meixiang Tower.

Meixiang Tower probably paid a lot of money, but Qian Wan was clearly not satisfied and continued to cause trouble every day, even taking the matter to court.

Qin Mu ignored all of this; he only wanted to return to the 21st century. He even started to believe in Buddhism, hoping that the Buddha would send him back.

But praying to the Buddha at the last minute didn't work. After ten days, which felt like ten years, he still hadn't returned. Sigh! It seemed he had to face reality.

And reality came quickly!

Qian Wan, accompanied by a maid and two servants, burst into the house. She was wearing a lotus-green, water-patterned, gold-embroidered dress, with her hair in a high bun. Her long, oval face, with eyebrows as delicate as willow leaves, gave her a seven-tenths beautiful appearance, but her thin lips made her look stubborn.

"These corrupt officials!" From her curses, it was clear she was more than just stubborn.

"Miss, why don't you go talk to your father and have him deal with these corrupt officials?" The maid, Xiao Lian, who had come with her dowry, always called Qian Wan "Miss."

"Do you think I haven't thought of that? My father has gone to the capital... Hmph!"

"Clang!" The study door was pushed open forcefully, and Qian Wan, with a fierce look, walked in, giving Qin Mu a cold glance and immediately started cursing: "Stop pretending to be dead! You're such a wimp; it would be cleaner if you were dead. Failing the third imperial examination is one thing, but you eat and use my family's money, and you even go to brothels behind my back, fighting over women. You have the nerve to come back? Why don't you let that fox spirit take care of you? What are you doing back here..."

Qian Wan, probably frustrated by her legal defeat, was full of anger, pointing at Qin Mu and cursing him, her words so harsh they could make a dead man rise from his grave.

Qin Mu didn't know what to feel. Although the experiences of the original Qin Mu were not his, as a man, being cursed by a woman in such a way was not comfortable, especially since the Qian family had initiated the marriage.

He gently pushed Qian Wan's fingers away and struggled to stand up.

Qian Wan was stunned. In the past, Qin Mu had always been submissive in front of her, lowering his head and not speaking when she cursed him. He had never dared to push her hand away.

Qian Wan couldn't accept this challenge to her authority and immediately started cursing even more fiercely: "Go ahead, let that fox spirit take care of you! Be her pimp! You ungrateful wretch. Being able to recite the Analects is nothing special; I can recite it too, and probably better than you. What kind of talent is that? My father must have been blind to choose someone like you. If it weren't for my dowry, you would have starved to death long ago. Going to brothels behind my back, I'd rather raise a dog than you..."

No matter what Qian Wan said, Qin Mu remained silent, quickly writing something on the table. As he wrote, he couldn't help but think that the original Qin Mu had lived a very wretched life, being dominated by Qian Wan in an era of strict Confucian morals. It was embarrassing!

After finishing, Qin Mu threw the brush aside, straightened his clothes, and walked out.

Qian Wan blocked his way and shouted, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to talk to them."

"Who are you going to talk to?"

Qin Mu smiled faintly, confidently answering, "This world."

Qian Wan was stunned. She had never seen Qin Mu smile so confidently. She glanced at the words he had written on the table and jumped up as if pricked by a needle, screaming hysterically, "You... You dare to divorce me! You dare to divorce me! You wretch, what right do you have to divorce me?"

Qin Mu, holding his aching head, said, "Don't worry, the house and property are all yours. I've written it in the divorce letter. Everything will be yours, and I won't take a single penny."

"You dare to divorce me? You dare!" Qian Wan still couldn't believe it, shouting.

"This is no longer a question."

"If you have the nerve, don't come back to beg me. Get out!"

"Rest assured, I'd rather starve to death on the street than let a woman ride on my neck and urinate. Oh, one last piece of advice: don't keep a dog, because a cornered dog will jump over a wall."

Qin Mu said this and left the "Qian the Tyrant" house.

The neighbors had all heard Qian Wan's angry shouts and started discussing as Qin Mu walked out. From the eighty-year-old grandmother to the three-year-old child, no one believed that the Qin Mu who had always been submissive would dare to divorce his wife. After all, Qian Wan's family was not an ordinary one!

The Left Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, though not a powerful official, was a big deal to the common people. Although everyone sympathized with Qin Mu, they also thought that if they were in his position, they might not have dared to do anything to Qian Wan. Today, Qin Mu's bold move to divorce his wife left the neighbors amazed.

Qin Mu, now "liberated," looked up at the sky. The sky in the liberated area was so blue! So blue!

Without the "landlady's" angry shouts, even the clouds seemed gentler, as gentle as the white body of a model he had met before joining the military.

The street was bustling with people. A large sedan chair carried a fat, important official, with two guides leading the way. Any commoner who didn't move out of the way quickly was rudely pushed aside by the servants.

A "Wan Yuan Trading Silver Shop" sign hung high and prominently, like a top girl in "Heaven and Earth," swaying in the spring breeze.

On both sides of the river, shops lined up, and the streets were crisscrossed with pedestrians and carriages. The colorful signs of the shops told Qin Mu that he was truly a citizen of the Ming Empire. Should he shout "Long live Zhu Chongba" to show he was a good citizen?

Forget it, the Zhu family wouldn't last much longer, so what's the point of shouting?

Qin Mu, with a bruised head, wandered aimlessly along the Qinhuai River, finding everything new and interesting.

For example, a woman in a coarse cloth dress was selling pancakes on the street. She had two pans in front of her, handling one with each hand, flipping the pancakes skillfully, as if she had mastered the art of using both hands from Zhou Bajie. Qin Mu was amazed.

It wasn't that Qin Mu was slow to adapt to his new role, but... "Gurgle!" Hearing his stomach growl, you can understand why he was so fascinated by the pancake-making.

The Qin Mu who had never had less than eight digits in his credit card now faced the most pressing issue: being alive with no money.

What to do?

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PS: From today, I will maintain at least two updates per day, one in the morning before 10:00 AM and one in the evening before 10:00 PM. If there are additional updates, they will be at irregular times.

New book clicks, collections, and recommendations are crucial. I hope everyone can support me and help me get to the top of the new book list. This will put me in a good mood, and I will write more efficiently, providing more chapters for everyone. Thank you, I bow deeply!

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