Insufficient balance

  It's so cold, Zheng Shaopeng slowly woke up. This time, the memories of his past life became even more shallow after reversing through space and time. The eight times he had transmigrated in a year mixed with his previous experiences, making it impossible for him to distinguish which ones were from his past life and which ones were from after transmigration. All his memories floated like clouds in the sky, vague and elusive, as if they were just an absurd dream.

  The ox-headed and horse-faced men hurriedly brought me here, like escorting a plague god. I don't know what era this is, but since they said they want to attach me to the body of a king or noble, then the person who attaches himself should be a king or noble.

  But where is this? It's so dark and cold, Zheng Shaopeng weakly stretched out his hand to touch, there was a thin layer of quilt on his body, it should be winter, the air was filled with a chill.

  Zheng Shaopeng was just trying to figure out where he was when he suddenly heard the clear and crisp sound of three bamboo clappers, followed by someone shouting loudly: "Guests have arrived...... Ah, Old Master Yang, how did you also come? Yang Xiuren is your junior, it's not worthy."

  Zheng Shaopeng composed himself: "Yang Old Master? What kind of title is this? With all the commotion going on beside me, I'm completely in the dark... Heavens... I... I... I won't be reborn into some blind prince's body, will I?"

  All I heard was an old voice coughing a few times, saying: "Hey, Sixth Brother's house is finished, can't I come and take a look? Ling'er is a rare talent in our Yang family. My brother was 54 years old when he had this precious son, and now at just 17 years old, he has become the youngest scholar in the Xuanfu area. Originally, we were counting on him to bring glory to our Yang family... Alas!"

  Faintly, there was also the sound of a woman sobbing, and Zheng Shaopeng was somewhat stunned. What on earth was going on? Although he had never been to ancient times before, judging from the tone, it didn't seem like a royal family either.

  In front of him was a mass of darkness, he anxiously wanted to get up, but the body that had just been attached was still recovering, his frozen hands and feet were just starting to circulate blood, and for a while, he didn't have the strength to prop himself up. Fortunately, he had experienced this many times before, every time he transmigrated into a new body and took control of it, it was like this, so he patiently lay there accumulating his energy.

  The loudmouth shouted again: "Old master, please sit down this way, and all relatives and friends pay their respects!"

  In an instant, the house that was quiet just a moment before erupted into chaos, scaring Zheng Shaopeng half to death. Just a moment ago, there were only two or three people in the room, but now a cacophony of wails and screams burst forth, revealing that the house was packed with people. In his past lives, he had occasionally stumbled upon families in mourning, but never in such darkness that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Zheng Shaopeng moved his eyes around, and although he couldn't see anything, he instinctively felt that there was nothing wrong with them, which slightly reassured him.

  All I could hear were those people crying and shouting something like "Big brother, you left too early" "Ling brother, why did you die?" I don't know which distant relatives they were.

  Zheng Shaopeng couldn't help but want to laugh, seeing that the fake and real crying were not even in the same league. However, back then they were still somewhat restrained, but now when they say cry, they just cry, it's like singing an opera, really quite ridiculous.

  "Guests, pay your respects! Relatives, return them!" With this shout, the chaotic wailing stopped abruptly, becoming so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. It's really puzzling how they were trained to be so uniform.

  Then only a faint female voice softly said: "The widow Yang Han's wife thanks the old master, thanks all relatives and friends".

  Isn't this a funeral? Zheng Shaopeng's forehead tightened, thinking that these people were crying for themselves. This was good, even his wife had already been married to him. But... why was it pitch black? There was no reason for mourning to be shrouded in darkness. He suddenly thought of something and hastily stretched out his hands to feel around.

  His limbs, which had just regained some mobility, were still soft and weak, unable to exert any strength. However, as soon as his fingers touched the objects around him, he somewhat understood what was happening - he had been placed in a coffin. Good heavens, wasn't he going to be buried alive? Zheng Shaopeng only became anxious now, but with no strength in his body, he could do nothing about it.

  Right behind, only the loud voice said: "All relatives and friends offer condolences in front of the spirit, send one more trip!" As soon as the words fell, the ghostly wailing sound echoed again, this time the sound was closer, presumably those people had all surrounded the spirit to mourn.

  Zheng Shaopeng took the opportunity to raise his hand with difficulty and knocked on the coffin, but unfortunately, his hands and feet were still a bit stiff. He lightly knocked twice and felt pain, that weak voice couldn't drown out those who were crying loudly, he had no choice but to stop his hand.

  At this time, the loudspeaker shouted again: "Benjia thanks you all again for your condolences and changes. The words are sincere, the ceremony is over!" It was like a conductor, as soon as his voice fell, the crying sound stopped abruptly.

  Only to hear another commotion outside, then that hoarse voice said: "Yang Han's wife, your husband and wife went early, now Ling'er also went to the spring to accompany them, leaving you alone, what do you plan to do?"

  Only a soft female voice said: "Uncle, once I enter the Yang family's gate, I'll be their daughter-in-law. Although my husband is ill and our family has become very poor, we still have four acres of land. I will guard the household carefully, even if it's hard, we can get by."

  Old Master Yang coughed twice and said, "Young lady, you are still young, it's not easy to support this family independently. Now that you are a member of the Yang family, we can't let you struggle alone and be laughed at by others.

  I discussed with several elderly people in the clan, and we thought of giving these four acres of mountain fields to your son Quan to cultivate. The Quan family will be responsible for your three meals a day. As a woman, you are considered his sister-in-law, so it's reasonable to let him cultivate the land, and you can also ask for food and clothing, which is acceptable, what do you think?

  Another scene of fighting for inheritance, Zheng Shaopeng thought gloomily: "Everyone says it's a grand and magnificent thing, how can this kind of thing exist in ancient and modern times? Just coming to mourn and tearing his face, this uncle is also too impatient."

  After a while, the young woman said: "Uncle's kindness, I appreciate it. Although my life is short and my husband left early without leaving any descendants, as an ordinary family girl who has read 'Women's Precepts', I know the principle of being a wife and following one husband to the end."

  "I am a member of the Yang family in life, and a ghost of the Yang family in death. Although there is only one person left in our household now, this lineage will not be considered extinct. Yang Quan and my husband are not born of the same mother, and even if we count you, uncle, you have all been separated from the family and living on your own for a long time. Would it be proper to hand over the property passed down by our ancestors to him?"

  The woman's words were soft but firm, pointing out that he shouldn't think that just because he was young, he couldn't keep his widowhood and would sell off the family property, while also hinting that he was planning for his own son to take over the inheritance of his elder brother's family.

  Mr. Yang was heartbroken by her words, his old face turned red, and he suddenly felt a bit unbearable. He had four sons under his knees, but only this third son, Yang Quan, was not doing well, eating and drinking, whoring and gambling, and squandering the property that should have been divided to him.

  The old man, although resentful of his son's incompetence, couldn't bear to see his own flesh and blood struggling in poverty. So he swallowed his pride and made this unreasonable request, hoping that if his son got the land, he could turn over a new leaf and start anew. But unexpectedly, this young girl, despite her tender years, had a mind of her own and flatly refused him.

  He didn't know that his son had asked him to make this request to Yang's family, but actually there was another unmentionable purpose. Yang Quan was notorious for his debauchery and extravagance, which was known throughout the countryside, and he had squandered all his family property. Since the bandits came to the village two years ago and killed his daughter-in-law, he hadn't been able to find a new one, and now at over 40 years old, he was still a bachelor.

  His cousin Yang Ling, also known as the scholar possessed by Zheng Shaopeng, had just married this year a woman named Yang Han, whose original name was Han Youniang. She was a renowned beauty, and people said that deep mountains breed outstanding birds and humble cottages produce beautiful women, which was indeed true.

  Yang Ling was ill and managed the wedding, wanting to use the joy of marriage to dispel the bad luck. As a result, he didn't even have time to lift his daughter-in-law's veil before his condition worsened and he took to bed. Yang Quan made excuses to visit his brother, coming to the door several times to try to get in, but was chased away by Han Youniang each time.

  If it weren't for this brother's wife being the daughter of Hunter King, with a body full of good martial arts, he would have been taken down by his strong heart.

  In his mind, he took her land, controlled her life, and with time, it wouldn't be difficult to get the body and soul of this fifteen-year-old poor widow.

  Yang Quan stood by, greedily staring at his brother's wife, who was wearing mourning clothes and looked charming. When he heard her words, he suddenly choked back his father and couldn't help but jump out and say: "Han Youniang, you're so young, what can you rely on to support this family? My dad is also good intentioned, don't make it difficult for yourself in the future and do something that will shame the Yang family."

  Han Youniang was young in years, but extremely strong-willed. Upon hearing this, she stood up with a flick of her sleeve, her eyebrows raised in anger, and said coldly: "I know the classics and answer questions politely, I keep my will for life. Since entering the Yang family gate, every day I serve my husband without taking off my clothes or untying my belt, where is there even half a point of losing my virtue as a wife? The Yang family is large, even if there are three or two unworthy sons and grandsons, they will never come from my house!"

  Yang Quan heard her sarcasm and couldn't help but feel annoyed, angrily scolding: "You this little cheap woman, Lingdi is the only one in my Yang family who passed the imperial examination as a scholar, the glory of the Yang family depends on Lingdi! If it weren't for your eight characters being hard to kill him, he was young and strong, how could he have died?"

  It's truly an unforgivable and unbearable crime to accuse a woman of killing her husband. Han Youniang was a strong-willed person, and being provoked by this scoundrel's insidious and bloodless soft knife, she became furious and her whole body trembled. As she looked around, she saw that her husband's family was originally small in number, and the people present were all direct relatives of her uncle's family. These people had expressions that were both hypocritical and sinister, with cold and detestable eyes that pierced her heart like needles.

  Regret, sorrow and anger surged to her mind: she married a husband who had been bedridden since the day they met, although there was no emotional attachment between them. However, adhering to the traditional notion of "till death do us part", she took care of him without taking off her wedding dress, busying herself with inviting doctors, fetching medicine and selling family property for his treatment.

  So unfortunate, at a young age I have to spend the rest of my life in widowhood. Unexpectedly, before my husband's body is even cold, his relatives come to seize our family property and frame me with such a shameful reputation. Alone and powerless, how can I survive in this large family from now on?

  Suddenly, grief welled up within her, and Han Yuniang couldn't help but say with tears in her eyes: "Fine! Fine! Fine! Qian Yulian threw herself into the river to preserve her chastity, leaving behind a name that will last for eternity. What's the point of me, Han Yuniang, preserving this body? I'll just follow my husband and be done with it, and avoid suffering at the hands of you, a petty person."

  The young woman finished speaking and turned around, about to dash her head against her husband's coffin. Old Master Yang was startled, for this Han Younian's father was a skilled martial artist, famous throughout the land, and today he had come to the door of his son-in-law's home, just after his death, to forcibly take away the family property - an unjust act in itself; if he were to force her to dash her head against the coffin and die, this affair would spread far and wide, and not only would the neighbors criticize him, but also her father would never forgive him.

  He hastily stood up from his chair and shouted: "Quickly, quickly stop her!"

  But Han Youniang's movements were swift and decisive, and she was already in motion before anyone could stop her. She rushed to the coffin, aimed at one corner of it, and was about to crash into it head-on.

  Just then, she suddenly stopped in her tracks, staring at the coffin with wide eyes. The thin coffin had not yet been nailed shut to allow people to pay their respects, and now the lid moved slightly to one side, and four pale fingers reached out to grasp the edge of the coffin board.

  Han Youniang was also shocked by this strange and bizarre event, and she involuntarily took a step back. Everyone saw her movement and looked at the coffin, and suddenly two old women cried out in alarm: "The corpse is exploding!", turned around and ran away immediately.

  Those men, although they didn't run away, were all trembling with fear and huddled together. Han Youniang was a bit bolder, thinking that after all, it was her own husband inside, even if he had become a ghost, he shouldn't harm her; perhaps he had come back from the underworld because he saw her being bullied by others?

  She suppressed the fear in her heart, carefully moved forward, and pushed open the coffin lid. To her surprise, she saw her husband kneeling inside the coffin, panting heavily. Due to the cold weather, his breath was visible as white mist. Han Younang's heart leapt with joy: "How can a dead person breathe out warm air? Heaven has taken pity on him... he's actually alive!"

  Zheng Shaopeng finally managed to push open a corner of the coffin lid, and as he knelt there panting, suddenly his eyes were met with a bright light that made him squint. It took him a while to get used to it, but when he looked up at this poor widow who had been bullied into coming here, he really couldn't associate her with a married woman - she was clearly just an immature little girl!