A ladle of hot oil hit the cold wok with a hiss, and He Daqing's mind exploded along with it.
In the spring of 1937, he opened his eyes to find himself He Daqing, a widower living in a courtyard house. The twins who should have brought double joy had become a single baby girl of unknown origin. His gentle, virtuous wife had died in childbirth, and the midwife had vanished overnight. Eight-year-old Silly Zhu tugged at his sleeve, crying until his voice went hoarse.
His neighbor, Jia Zhangshi, dabbed at her eyes and said hypocritically, "Childbirth is a brush with death for a woman." Yi Zhonghai, the First Master, patted his shoulder and urged him, "Bury her quickly. Don't make a fuss."
He Daqing gripped his wok spatula tightly.
He could smell the stench of human blood buns.
[Ding! Random System activated!]
[Beginner quest: Find your eldest son, He Ming, within one month. Failure penalty: Permanently lose 2 centimeters in height!]
He Daqing's eyes turned bloodshot.
Lose 2 centimeters? They might as well be asking him to die without an heir!
He flung aside the "assistance agreement" Yi Zhonghai had offered and kicked out the "distant cousin" Jia Zhangshi had tried to foist on him.
The eyes enhanced by the System spotted the jade hairpin Jia Zhangshi had pawned at the shop. It was his late wife's dowry!
Following the clues, he stormed a bandit's den. The night he rescued Bai Cuilan, daughter of an imperial physician, he clutched a silver locket he had found there, engraved with the name of his third son, He Liang.
"Brother He," Bai Cuilan said, handing him a bloodstained defense map. "At Li Mazi's residence in Baoding, in the courtyard at the southeast corner."
As he slipped into the Li household's kitchen, he heard the wet nurse curse, "Why are you crying? Cry again and you'll end up sold to the South Seas like your brother!"
Outside the wall, the assassins Yi Zhonghai had bribed had sealed off the alley.
Inside the wall, the guards swung their clubs at his head.
In his arms, there were only twelve hours left to pay the three thousand silver dollars demanded by Scar Liu...
