Eric Carter was woken up by a bout of shoving—no, to be precise, he was “disturbed.” He opened his eyes and found himself sitting behind the bookstore counter, his hands previously pillowed beneath his head.

“Hey, wake up!”

The woman’s voice was sharp and shrill, carrying an air of command.

Lifting his head, Eric Carter looked at the woman in front of him—no, to be exact, it should be a girl, probably high school age. Although she was already a big girl, there was still a hint of childishness about her.

“Hey, Ryan Cooper, what’s your deal? You think you’re something now, huh? Trying to show attitude to my parents and my sister? You actually dared not come home all night last night!

Who gave you the guts?”

Ryan Cooper?

Who’s that?

Eric Carter spread his hands in confusion and noticed that his hands were very smooth. His own hands, after years of practicing with surgical instruments, had developed some calluses, but these hands had none.

“Hey, I’m talking to you!”

The girl slapped the counter, full of aggression.

Eric Carter frowned slightly, stood up, and walked to the glass mirror by the shop door. He saw his reflection—a strange face. No, he had seen this face before; it was the face he saw last night.

This body,

Is it mine now?

“Hey, what’s your problem? My parents are both mad, my mom is throwing a fit at home. I’m telling you, everything you eat, drink, and use now is from my family. What right do you, a live-in son-in-law, have to put on airs in my house?

Who are you trying to impress?

If you dare not come home again tonight, believe it or not, I’ll come over and slap you myself!”

The girl raised her hand as if to slap him, but suddenly realized that the man in front of her—her “brother-in-law”—wasn’t dodging or begging for mercy as usual. Instead, the look in his eyes made her feel a little scared.

At this moment, she glanced at the time and saw it was already 7:30.

“Hmph, I’m off to school. I’ll deal with you tonight!”

The girl stormed out in a huff.

Eric Carter slowly sat back down in the chair behind the counter. There was an old laptop here, and a phone next to it.

Even now, he still hadn’t adapted to the process of switching identities.

He was Eric Carter, a well-known young surgeon in Tongcheng. Also, he was an orphan.

And now,

He had become this person.

What did that girl just say?

I’m... a live-in son-in-law?

With a wife?

And a mother-in-law and father-in-law?

And judging by the way his sister-in-law just spoke to her “brother-in-law,” this “live-in son-in-law” really fit the old traditional mold.

A live-in son-in-law, commonly called a “door-inserted son,” was not only looked down upon by his wife’s family, but in ancient times, was despised by everyone around him—his status was almost like that of a criminal. In the Han and Tang dynasties, those forced to guard the frontiers often included such sons-in-law.

He picked up the phone. There was no password set—who knows if the guy was lazy or just didn’t dare set one. At least for now, it made it easy for Eric Carter to open his WeChat and QQ.

There were few people in the QQ contacts—just a handful of middle school, high school, and college classmates, and then a family list with only one person, marked as “Wife.”

He opened the QQ chat with her—empty.

Fine.

Eric Carter opened WeChat and searched for the woman marked as “Wife.” There were replies here, mostly Ryan Cooper asking about things like what to eat tonight, what to prepare, how much money was needed for restocking, how much the bookstore had made recently, how her health was, and so on.

The replies from the other side were always perfunctory and cold,

Like:

“Oh.”

“Mm.”

“Okay.”

Eric Carter tossed the phone aside. These relationships were a bit complicated. He suddenly looked at his palm—his fingernails were no different from ordinary people’s.

But when he saved that old man before his car accident, when he escaped from the faceless woman, and when he entered this guy’s body, his fingernails had played a crucial role.

With a thought,

At that moment,

Eric Carter found his fingernails slowly growing longer, turning pitch black and translucent, with wisps of black mist swirling around them.

“Whew...”

He let out a long breath,

Closed his eyes,

And when he opened them again,

His nails were back to normal.

From morning until noon, Eric Carter sat there, trying to adapt to his new identity and calm the discomfort brought by the transition. He didn’t even eat lunch—he wasn’t sure if he’d forgotten or just wasn’t hungry.

This was still Tongcheng. Eric Carter’s old home was in Chongchuan District, now he was in Gangzha District—not far away.

By afternoon, Eric Carter finally sighed, stood up quietly, and thought, “Since I’m here, I might as well settle in.”

He started trying to tidy up the bookshelves—at least, he needed to find something to do.