Chapter Two: The Overlord Awakens

Before she could catch her breath, coughing sounded from the bed—her newly acquired husband was awake. Half Summer locked eyes with him for nearly half a minute. “Hey, ugly, what are you staring at?” She patted herself down. “Where’s my phone?”

She lunged to the bedside. “Did you transmigrate too? Where are you from?”

The man clearly startled, replied, “City A.”

“What a coincidence, I’m from City A too. Where were you just now?”

“South Avenue.”

In a flash, Half Summer pieced it all together.

This morning had begun like any other. She’d bought steamed buns as usual and, spotting a blind old beggar woman at the roadside, had taken pity and handed her the buns. As soon as she set them down, the old woman said, “Miss, you have a broad forehead and a generous face—signs of great fortune. With features like yours, you’re destined to become the emperor’s mother-in-law.”

Half Summer nearly choked on her soybean milk. “Ma’am, it’s just two buns. No need to flatter me so much. The emperor’s mother-in-law? The dynasty’s long gone.”

Just then, shouts rang out ahead: “Robbery! Catch the thief! Thief!”

Years of working as a neighborhood cop kicked in, and Half Summer instantly sprang into action.

The thief, hearing the commotion, sped up. Half Summer gave chase. In his desperation, the thief, seeing he couldn’t outrun her, flung the bag into the street. Half Summer instinctively dashed after it, only to realize too late she was at an intersection. A large truck barreled toward her, swerved to avoid her, and crashed heavily into a white Cayenne. The truck was overloaded; its cargo tumbled down, striking Half Summer on the head.

“Um…” Half Summer blinked nervously. “Were you just in a car accident too?”

While she was lost in thought, the man had already sensed something was wrong. “What the hell is this place?”

“Brother, have you read novels before? Let me tell you something that doesn’t quite align with socialist core values—I think we’ve both transmigrated.”

“Are you kidding me? Is this Palace Plaza Hundred letting you act? You’re pretty convincing, and the costume’s not bad either. I’ll introduce you to a director tomorrow. Now hand over my phone and take me to change out of this.”

“I’m not joking. If you don’t believe me, go outside and see for yourself.”

Skeptical, the man stepped outside.

“Oh, the scholar’s finally awake,” Second Aunt Gan called from her yard, having kept an eye on their house. Seeing Gan Sui come out, she greeted him.

Gan Sui’s face darkened as he turned and went back inside.

“Pah, what’s so great about that? If it weren’t for me, you two would be dead already. Just a penniless scholar, nothing special,” she muttered.

Gan Sui entered the house.

“Tell me again, what’s going on?”

“In my many years of reading novels, I’d say we’ve both transmigrated.”

“Be more specific.”

“Transmigration means we accidentally ended up in another era, in someone else’s body.”

“I recall that’s called body-snatching.”

“Male- and female-oriented novels use different terms. Doesn’t matter. What matters is: what do we do now?”

“You’re asking me?”

“Considering how bad the accident was, I doubt we can return. We’re probably stuck here. Oh, and one more thing—the original owners of these bodies got married just yesterday.”

“Heh. Whatever, we’ll muddle through. It’s not like we can get divorced. Come to think of it, at the accident scene yesterday, there was a woman jaywalking…” He glared at her. “That was you, wasn’t it?”

“Boss, I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t mean it.”

“Forget it. Can you cook? Go make something. We’ll talk after we’ve eaten.”

“All right.” Half Summer meekly went to the kitchen.