"Well… "
Jiang Miao covered his head, feeling extremely uncomfortable. He didn't know why, but when he woke up, his head hurt so much and his body felt sore and weak, as if he had suffered a serious illness.
He tried hard to open his eyes, but he could only see the dark beams above his head and the tail that flashed by on the beams.
Jiang Miao immediately became nervous. He recognized the string-like tail at a glance. He didn't expect there was a mouse in the house!
As if mocking his ignorance, the mouse squeaked, crawled out from a broken tile along the beam, and disappeared silently.
Jiang Miao breathed a sigh of relief and became more conscious. He thought, fortunately the mouse didn't jump down, otherwise he would have to run out of the door with his sick body.
But where exactly is this place? He only remembered that he was sleeping at home. Suddenly, some sound fragments flashed through Jiang Miao's mind, and he seemed to smell a burnt smell again... He remembered!
Yesterday he went out drinking with a few buddies. He was a little annoyed about the store rent, so he accidentally drank too much and stumbled back home. When he was lying on the bed, he seemed to hear someone outside shouting "fire" or something. Their neighborhood was full of good and bad people, and there were people making trouble all day long. Jiang Miao was not clear-headed at the moment, so he turned over and continued to sleep. After a while, he smelled a choking odor, so he fumbled out of bed to ventilate, but it was too late. The fire in the house next door was too big, and the gas tank exploded under the high temperature. After a sharp roar, he lost consciousness...
It seems that he has traveled through time. Looking at the furnishings in this room, it must be from ancient times. He didn't expect that more than 20 years of ordinary life would end in this way. It seems that God has treated him well! Jiang Miao thought with a smile.
The term "time travel" is not new now. There are many time travelers in online novels and online dramas, and each one is more powerful than the other. However, he is not a science and engineering master who can make a fortune by selling glass soap, nor is he a liberal arts master who can rise to prominence by passing the imperial examination. What is an ordinary person doing after traveling to this ancient time? Is he going to farm? The premise is that he has to have a field.
Just as Jiang Miao frowned and adaptively thought about the days ahead, a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.
In an instant, Jiang Miao realized a terrible thing: he had no memory of his original body!
It's fine that he didn't have fancy clothes when he traveled through time, and he wasn't a prince or noble, but at least he gave him his memories. Isn't that too unreliable? Jiang Miao was very angry. This was completely different from what was said in the book!
It's over. I'm about to be exposed as soon as I get here! I don't know who is knocking on the door. What if I make the wrong person? Jiang Miao wanted to pretend that he didn't hear it and not open the door, but the knocking continued.
“Here it comes…” Jiang Miao called out weakly, then struggled to get up, unbolted the door, and came face to face with an old man outside.
The old man looked to be in his sixties. He was not tall, with a hunched back and a worried look on his face. After seeing the confusion on Jiang Miao's face, he spoke awkwardly.
"Young man, I noticed that you haven't been out for the past two or three days, so I came to see you... Are you okay?"
Jiang Miao was delighted. It was great that he didn’t know him!
"I'm fine, I just felt a little uncomfortable these few days, so I didn't go out. Thank you for worrying about me, uncle." Jiang Miao looked like he had just recovered from a serious illness. His cheeks were sunken when he smiled. Although it didn't look good, it made the old man feel that there seemed to be something different about this young man.
They all lived in the same courtyard. When the young man moved in, he felt that he was not a warm person. He kept his head down all day and didn't talk to anyone in the courtyard. He was alone every day and no one came to see him. To be honest, if he hadn't been so strange that he didn't go out for the past few days, Old Man Mo wouldn't have knocked on his door.
"I'm glad you're okay, but I think you look like you've caught a cold. You'd better go get some medicine. Turn right when you go out and walk to the entrance of the alley. There is a medicine shop there." Old Man Mo said kindly.
After he finished speaking, someone in the yard laughed: "Lao Mo, he sells steamed buns and sets up a stall at the entrance of the alley every day. Do you need him to show the way?"
Jiang Miao looked in the direction of her voice and found an old lady squatting by the well washing vegetables. In her basin were a few large, cleaned white radishes. The green leaves on the radish stems were covered with water droplets, and looked quite tempting under the sunlight.
Old Man Mo was interrupted by her words, and his face instantly showed some embarrassment. Jiang Miao quickly said, "Auntie, Uncle Mo is also kind-hearted. My brain has become a lot more confused due to my illness. If there is anything I don't understand tomorrow, I will have to ask you to tell me."
When Old Man Mo heard what he said, he told him to go see a doctor immediately, lest he really became confused due to illness. The old lady saw his appearance and also advised him to see a doctor. Jiang Miao thanked the two of them, and after they left, he quickly returned to his room and closed the door, fearing that he would run into someone again.
He sat on the bed and carefully summarized the information he had just obtained. First of all, judging from the outside environment, the original owner lived in a large courtyard. The courtyard was quite large, but all the people living there were strangers. This showed that this should be a place rented by the original owner rather than his own home. Furthermore, the people here should not be rich. Whether it was the original owner or others, they were all dressed in cloth with traces of patches on them.
Third, from what the old lady said, the original owner was a peddler selling steamed buns. He used to set up a stall at the entrance of the alley every day to sell steamed buns. He had not gone out in the past few days, and his health was so poor. He must have died of an acute illness without anyone to take care of him.
Jiang Miao sighed a little. From this point of view, the original owner was also a pitiful person. He believed that he had no fate with his parents, but after all, he still had his grandparents who loved him. Although after their death, he would be no different from a lonely person.
Now that the original owner was dead, leaving him this sick body, he had to live well. He didn't know what the original owner had any unfulfilled wishes, and since he had occupied someone else's body, he had to help him fulfill his wishes.
However, he was still in the dark and didn't know anything. He could only take things one step at a time. The best thing to do now was to cure his illness first.
There was not a single grain of silver in the jar, only black and yellow copper coins. These copper coins were about the size of a modern one-yuan coin, with a round outer surface and a square inner surface, and the words "Liang Yuan Tong Bao" were engraved on them. Liang Dynasty? Jiang Miao thought about it, and it seemed that there was a Liang Dynasty in Chinese history. Could it be that he had traveled to this dynasty
After thinking for a while without any idea, Jiang Miao gave up. He was a poor student in modern times. He told the teacher everything that was taught in history class. The main reason was that he didn't know that he would travel through time. If he had known earlier, he would have copied history books and ancient events by hand. With the title of prophet, he probably wouldn't have to worry about food and drink.
Jiang Miao sighed. This is probably what it means when one regrets not having read enough books until they are of great use to him.
After holding the coin and looking at it for a while, Jiang Miao began to take out money. He didn't know how the purchasing power was calculated in ancient times, or whether the medicine was expensive. He took out a hundred copper coins for the time being.
With a bag of money in his pocket, Jiang Miao went out, and then he turned around and locked the door. After locking the door, he had the leisure to look around the yard.
This is a typical courtyard house. Roughly speaking, there are about a dozen houses. Most of the doors are closed, but judging by the clothes drying at the door, someone should live there. The original owner lived in the north of the courtyard. There was a side door next to it, which was convenient for entering and exiting. Unfortunately, the padlock on it was rusty, and it must have not been opened for a long time.
The yard was quite large, with a well to the east and a small vegetable patch next to the well, where some garlic and radish were grown. It was probably winter now, and the leaves of the jujube trees in the yard had all fallen, making it look bare. A yellow-and-white fur cat was lying on the tree, looking chubby, squinting its eyes and taking a nap. After noticing Jiang Miao's sight, the cat meowed softly, then jumped onto the wall and disappeared.
The warm sunshine shone down, the yard was quiet, and Jiang Miao felt a sense of relaxation for the first time in a long time. Maybe this place was more suitable for him to live in
He came back with two prescriptions that day. The old doctor held his hand and recited a few words, like "the tongue coating is thin white, and the pulse is floating and tight." Then, with a stroke of his pen, only twelve copper coins were left of Jiang Miao's pocket.
But the money was well spent. After taking the two doses of medicine, he felt much better immediately, and his head, which had been tight, became much more relaxed.
During the few days of recuperation at home, Jiang Miao also got to know the surrounding situation.
In addition to him, there were six families living in the yard. The main house and the three rooms to the east were occupied by the owner, whose surname was Bai. He had a small business and earned a decent income. But because he had to support his two children to go to school, he rented out the yard to help share the expenses.
The two rooms in the south were rented to two brothers, who were fishmongers. They had a large pond at home, and would go out to kill and sell fish before dawn every day, and then return to the village in the afternoon to transport the fish. They earned their money through hard work. The women of the two families were also very skillful. After returning from selling fish in the morning, they would go to the nearby area to pick up vegetable leaves and chop them, which they said were for the fish and geese raised at home.
The other two rooms were rented to an old woman with a grandson and a waiter from a nearby restaurant. The old woman was Aunt Liu, who was squatting there washing radishes when he came on the first day. She was quite gossipy, and Jiang Miao got most of his information from her. He didn't know much about the waiter, who also went out early and came back late every day, and Jiang Miao never touched him once.
There were only two rooms on the west side, which were rented to a storyteller. A family of seven or eight people lived in these two rooms. His women would occasionally do some sewing work, but they stayed at home most of the time.
Jiang Miao and Old Man Mo's family lived in the north. Old Man Mo was a night incense seller, which didn't sound very glorious, but his salary was actually quite high. But the atmosphere in his home was not very good. His wife quarreled and scolded his daughter-in-law all day long, disturbing Jiang Miao's sleep several times. Old Man Mo's son seemed to be a second-rate person, not at home all day, and occasionally came home to ask for money.
As for the original owner's background, Jiang Miao still couldn't find out clearly. Everyone only knew that he moved here two months ago, and it was not clear whether he had any family or anything.
In addition, although the original owner sold buns, his craftsmanship did not seem to be very good. Jiang Miao discovered this himself. He was a little hungry when he came that day, and found a few buns made by the original owner in the steamer. It was cold in winter, so the buns were not rotten, but when he took a bite, he found that his flour did not seem to be well fermented, and the bun skin was hard and not soft. The radish stuffing was not well seasoned, and it tasted only salty, without any freshness.
Jiang Miao also sold steamed buns, but the rent was too high and he could only make back his investment after selling steamed buns for a few months, so he switched to other businesses. In his opinion as a semi-professional, a shop with such skills would have to close down in two days in modern times, and he didn't know how the original owner saved up this pot of copper coins.
In addition, Jiang Miao also found out that this dynasty was indeed called the Liang Dynasty, and it had been founded for more than a hundred years. The royal family's surname was Dong, so it was also called the Dong Liang Dynasty.
Even though Jiang Miao had little education, he knew that there was no emperor with the surname Dong who had established a country for more than a hundred years in history. It seemed that he had not traveled to ancient China at all.
However, the purchasing power here is similar to that of ancient China. One copper coin is equivalent to about 50 cents in modern times. One tael of silver can be exchanged for about 1,000 copper coins, so one tael of silver is equivalent to about 500 yuan in modern times.
Jiang Miao counted the money in the jar the night he arrived. There were a total of 920 copper coins, plus the 88 copper coins he spent on medical treatment, it was only about 500 yuan.
No wonder the original owner would rather die than see a doctor, he is really poor!
(End of this chapter)