After Transmigrating, I Married a Young Wife to Continue the Family Line - Chapter 1:

Chapter 1: My Lord, Please Don’t

“My lord, please don’t…”

A tearful voice drifted into his ears. His consciousness shifted from hazy confusion to sudden clarity, and Li Chen slowly opened his eyes.

A girl as beautiful as a blossoming flower knelt before him. Her eyes were filled with tears as she shook her head and sobbed. Her collar was in complete disarray, as though it had just been violently tugged apart.

“My lord, I beg you, please don’t sell me to the pleasure house…”

The girl wept like pear blossoms bathed in rain.

Li Chen stared at her blankly, his gaze unfocused.

Had he transmigrated?

In his previous life, he had been the legendary king of international mercenaries. After washing his hands of blood and stepping ashore, he had entered the business world and built a vast commercial empire.

But fate was unpredictable.

A sudden traffic accident had sent him into this ancient feudal dynasty, the Great Yan Empire.

With a bitter smile, he finally accepted the undeniable truth. He had indeed crossed through time.

Sorting through the memories of the original body, he began to understand the world before him.

This body also belonged to someone named Li Chen. He had good looks, but beneath that fine exterior was rot and emptiness. At seventeen, his parents had died, leaving him without discipline. By nineteen, he had grown into a street thug who drank, gambled, and committed petty misdeeds without end.

The girl before him was a famine refugee he had picked up two months ago after she fainted from hunger. Her name was Yu Qingwan, and she had just turned eighteen.

When he first brought her home, the former Li Chen had harbored ill intentions. He had planned to keep her for a short while and then sell her to a pleasure house for money.

Yet after Yu Qingwan washed away the soot from her face and removed the fake scabs she had used to disguise herself, she revealed herself to be a delicate and stunning beauty. Overcome by lust, the former Li Chen had immediately registered her under a hardship household status and taken her as his maid-wife.

But unexpectedly, after marrying her, he suddenly found himself unable to perform. He had not even touched Yu Qingwan.

The county physician had diagnosed him with overindulgence in alcohol and women, compounded by recent exhaustion and malnutrition, which left him unable to rise. He could only prescribe medicine and recommend slow recovery and rest.

Two months had passed, yet he had not recovered. His temper had grown increasingly violent.

Just moments ago, frustrated by his impotence, he had flown into a rage and decided to sell Yu Qingwan to the pleasure house in exchange for wine and meat.

While dragging the struggling Yu Qingwan toward the door, he had suddenly missed his footing, slammed into the doorframe, and felt a brief wave of dizziness.

And so, Li Chen from the future had arrived in this body.

Standing there and recalling everything, Li Chen’s expression grew distant.

Yu Qingwan saw him standing motionless and assumed he still intended to sell her.

Wiping her tears, she hurried to the stove and brought over a bowl of medicine.

“My lord, I’ve saved a little money from washing clothes these past few days. I went into the city and bought the herbs according to the physician’s prescription. I’ve just finished boiling it. My lord, please drink it.”

The county physician had said that after drinking the medicine, he would temporarily improve, and they could consummate the marriage.

Yu Qingwan sniffled softly.

Naive and pitiful, she believed Li Chen wanted to sell her because he could not consummate their marriage. If he could share a bed with her, and if she could bear him a child to carry on the family line, perhaps he would not sell her.

Better to be trampled by one person than crushed by thousands.

“Drink medicine?”

Li Chen froze for a moment, suddenly recalling a modern joke about drinking medicine. The absurdity almost made him laugh.

But he understood the thoughts of his little maid-wife. She would never harm him.

Still, the thought of his condition returned, and he frowned. Could he truly be ill?

This concerned a man’s lifelong happiness. It had to be treated.

After thinking briefly, he took the bowl and drank it in one gulp.

Not long after finishing, a warm heat surged through his body. Something like wildfire spread through his chest, and something within him began to stir. He blinked in surprise. It actually seemed to be working.

Still, he suspected his earlier failure had been caused by hunger, exhaustion, and psychological pressure rather than a serious illness. With proper rest and nourishment, it should resolve itself.

“My lord, do you feel any better now?” Yu Qingwan asked softly, her voice nervous.

“It’s better,” Li Chen nodded.

“Then… tonight… my lord, perhaps we could try…” Yu Qingwan bit her lip. A faint blush spread across her fair and beautiful face.

“Alright,” Li Chen agreed without hesitation.

He had already transmigrated, and she was his legitimate wife. There was no reason for needless restraint.

He almost felt grateful to his predecessor for leaving him such a pure and lovely maid-wife.

At that moment, his stomach growled loudly. Weakness surged over him like a tide.

Hungry.

So hungry.

“Is there anything to eat?” he asked, forcing down the weakness in his voice.

“There’s no grain left at home…” Yu Qingwan lowered her head, trembling as if she had committed a crime, afraid of being beaten again.

“No grain?” Li Chen was stunned.

“My lord, please wait. I’ll go to Aunt Xu’s house and exchange for some coarse flour…” Yu Qingwan quickly stood up, clutching the few copper coins she had earned from washing clothes, and hurried out in panic.

Watching her retreating figure, Li Chen finally remembered what kind of world he was in.

The Great Yan Empire had endured two hundred years and was now impoverished and weakened, plagued by internal strife and external threats.

To the north and west, barbarian tribes ravaged the land. War flames burned across the skies.

From the western frontier to the northern territories, corpses stretched for 500 kilometers, and cries of despair echoed across thousands of kilometers. It was a living hell on earth.

Within the imperial court, factional struggles never ceased. Officials feared death and avoided battle.

The imperial family, noble clans, and powerful families had shamefully abandoned vast lands and people in the north and west, fleeing south while allowing the two barbarian tribes to massacre and plunder freely.

Refugees filled the land. Half the territory suffered famine.

For ordinary families, even one meal a day had become a distant dream. They survived by digging wild vegetables and stripping bark from trees to fill their stomachs.

In such chaotic times, merely staying alive was already an unbearable burden.

As he organized these memories, Li Chen’s eyes grew deep and sharp.

Suddenly, a cry rang out from outside the courtyard gate, interrupting his thoughts.

“What are you doing? Ah… don’t…”

“Heh, little beauty, still holding on? Can’t bear to let your brother leave? Then come back with me. Your so-called lord is nothing but a useless pretty face. Why not come with me instead? I’ll teach you what true pleasure feels like.”

Another voice rang out, coarse and filthy.

Li Chen frowned and abruptly stood up. His legs trembled with weakness; his strength was clearly insufficient.

Taking a deep breath and forcing himself steady, he grabbed a short homemade dagger from beneath the heated brick bed and rushed outside.

At the courtyard gate, he saw a young man grappling with his maid-wife over a cloth bundle.

Li Chen recognized him. The man was Zhang Hu, a notorious thug in the village.

Though Li Chen had been a petty delinquent himself, Zhang Hu was a true scoundrel. Together with his elder brother Zhang Guang, he bullied men and women, stole and robbed, and committed every evil imaginable.

Rumor had it that Zhang Guang was a “silver-tongue” of the nearby Black Wind Stronghold. Because of that, no one dared provoke him despite his tyranny.

Li Chen had been beaten by him multiple times in the past and would always detour to avoid him.

This time, Zhang Hu had likely spotted Yu Qingwan when she went to buy grain and followed her, intending to rob her at their own doorstep.

“Zhang Hu, how dare you?!” Li Chen shouted as he rushed forward.

Zhang Hu merely glanced at him with disdain. Seeing that Yu Qingwan still refused to let go, he lifted his leg and kicked at her.

“Ah…” Yu Qingwan squeezed her eyes shut, thinking she would be kicked half to death.

In the next instant, a tall, lean figure stepped in front of her.

Though not powerfully built, he stood firm as a mountain, shielding her from the storm.