With money, he wanted to buy buns—ten of them!

He also wanted to give that little beggar a bun. No, ten buns—a hundred!

Chaotic footsteps sounded nearby; those people were trying to snatch the evidence from his arms.

Grace Carter curled up, clutching the item tightly to his chest, gritting his teeth, refusing to let go even if it killed him.

A bunch of bastards—even when he was already like this, they still wanted to steal the murder weapon and destroy the evidence. Were they even human?

Fists began to rain down on him, then kicks.

When he was a child in the orphanage, he’d suffered this kind of bullying plenty of times, but he still clung desperately to the murder weapon.

This wasn’t a murder weapon—it was evidence. It was a bun. A hundred buns...

“Stop! Stop right now...”

A sharp voice rang out. Grace Carter opened his eyes and saw several people dressed like constables from a period drama hurrying over.

This was the last thing he saw...

Chapter Two: The Soul-Lost Son-in-Law

“It’s been hours already—why hasn’t the young master woken up yet?”

“Sigh, so pitiful. Miss Carter originally meant to hit that Dong fellow, but accidentally hit the young master who was just passing by...”

“Passing by? I saw it clearly from upstairs. The young master was already lying on the ground, still clutching the embroidered ball tightly, letting those people punch and kick him, refusing to let go even if it killed him...”

“The young master must really like the young lady. He didn’t want her to marry that Dong fellow, didn’t want her to jump into the fire pit, so he did what he did...”

“Of course! In Lingzhou City, the line of people who like the young lady could stretch from here to the city gate!”

...

At the Zhong residence, several maids and servants gathered in the courtyard, whispering to each other and occasionally glancing at a certain door.

A little farther away, a middle-aged man with a dignified face stood under the eaves, looking at the elegant young woman beside him, and said angrily, “Throwing the embroidered ball to choose a husband is such a big matter—how could you make such a decision on your own!”

The elegant young woman smiled and said, “Who I marry is who I marry. It’s better than being pestered all the time.”

“But you can’t just...” The middle-aged man opened his mouth, but didn’t finish, finally letting out a long sigh. “It’s your father who’s let you down...”

The young woman lifted her face and smiled again. “Father, it’s fine. Your daughter is now a married woman. Governor Dong won’t trouble you about this anymore.”

“This marriage... I don’t agree!” A trace of determination appeared on the man’s face. He gritted his teeth and said, “Your father may not be as powerful as that Dong fellow, but I’m still a county magistrate, paid by the court. He wouldn’t dare go too far...”

He hadn’t finished speaking when a maid came running over in a panic. “Master, Miss, the young master is awake! The young master is awake!”

...

When Grace Carter opened his eyes, his head was still throbbing and his mind was a bit hazy.

“Oh no, I missed my stop!” He suddenly sat up in bed.

Bang!

A sharp pain shot through his forehead. He clutched his head and stared blankly at the girl in the green dress across from him, who was also holding her forehead and glaring at him.

An antique-style room, filled with people dressed in ancient costumes...

This wasn’t a dream. That little beggar he saved, that cabbage-filled bun, this strange ancient world—all of it wasn’t a dream!

“Where’s my stuff!” Suddenly remembering something, he looked around. When he saw that the “murder weapon” was still clutched tightly in his arms, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness, the evidence wasn’t lost.

Only now did he have time to carefully examine the thing that hit him. It was a ball-shaped object, wrapped in red silk on the outside. Inside—it was solid. He squeezed it. Very hard, and heavy. It was probably a stone.

Luckily there was a layer of silk on the outside, or else he wouldn’t have just been knocked out so simply.

Hugging the “murder weapon,” he was about to demand who had hit him when a young girl ran over happily and said, “Young master, you’re awake!”

“Don’t try to get close to me—I don’t know any of you...” Grace Carter waved his hand. “I’m telling you, there’s both witness and physical evidence... Wait, what did you just call me?”

“Young master!” The girl looked at him, grinning. “You caught the young lady’s embroidered ball, so you’re now the Zhong family’s young master. We all saw it. You held onto the ball so tightly, refusing to let go, just so the young lady wouldn’t have to marry that Dong fellow...”

“Hold on a second...”

Grace Carter’s mind was a bit of a mess. He needed to sort things out.

Young lady, throwing the embroidered ball—young master?

He caught the embroidered ball thrown by the Zhong family’s young lady and became the Zhong family’s young master?

But—Grace Carter looked down at the thing in his hand. This thing, was it an embroidered ball?

Who stuffs stones inside an embroidered ball?

And was that throwing? That was smashing!

Besides, who knew what the Zhong family’s young lady looked like? What if she was some unusual woman weighing over two hundred pounds, not exactly beautiful, and couldn’t get married, so she played this embroidered ball trick to fool honest people? With his build, he couldn’t handle that!

Grace Carter still thought it would be better to just have them pay him some money.

While he was dazed, another commotion broke out in the room.

A young woman walked in from outside, came to the bedside, and said gently, “You should focus on recovering for now. As for the wedding ceremony, we’ll talk about it later.”