Wish Upon a Beer

It really seems that she has transmigrated. She is aware of the popularity of transmigration in modern web novels and webcomics. She didn't think she'd actually experience such a thing! She did not panic though. As a woman of science, she isn't conceited enough to think that everything can be explained by human knowledge. There are many strange and unexplainable things in the world.

She took a deep breath and took a look at Mr. Handsome. "Are you Jin Mingyu?" Forgive her for not knowing. The previous Mei Li never tried to converse with any of her husbands on the way to their village.

"No, I'm the fourth brother, Jin Shufen."

Shufen smiled at her again without showing teeth, his dark eyes hint of deep and alluring promises. "Are you feeling better?"

Was she?

She was a woman in her 30s and her soul (she guessed it was her soul or maybe brain waves?) is now inhabiting a 17-year-old body.

Fu Mei Li sighed internally. "Yes, I'm fine. Thanks." She told Jin Shufen who walked out of the room to fetch her medicine.

She stared at the ancient furnishings and was lost in her thoughts once more.

It looks like she got her wish. It's just that most people would wish upon a star. She, however, got her wish upon a...beer!

The night before she transmigrated, she was unwinding with a few of her colleagues, chugging can after can of beer. She was still angry and frustrated at what happened to her and that jerk and so she felt like drinking a lot. It wasn't long until she was ranting about scumbags, thieves, liars, and emotional manipulators.

And then she made that wish...

Recalling further back, before today's events, she was volunteering at an excavation site. She joined a local dig in Southwest China where there are many ethnic tribes. The leading archaeological team found the yet-unidentified remains of a village.

It was said that the village is very similar to the Musuo ethnic group that is known to inhabit parts of Yunnan Province in China. The Musuo tribe is dubbed as the Kingdom of Women and is a matrilineal society that values romance and sexuality separate from parenting and domestic duties.

Men and women in the group are free to have multiple partners. But mainly, they practice what is known as a "walking marriage". In fact, the monogamous marriage that most modern people believe in does not exist. The Mosuo woman is considered as the head of the family and can take one or more lovers in her lifetime, and these men visit her bedroom at night but return to their matriarchal home the next morning.

The men live in their matriarchal home all their lives but often go out and help their chosen partners with heavy household chores. The children of the tribe often don't know who their fathers are and they are raised by their mothers. All these are considered normal and not strange or licentious at all.

It wasn't sure yet if the newly excavated village used to be part of the Musuo tribe or a different ethnic group entirely. Mei Li didn't care either. She just wanted to take a break from the city a bit and get away from yet another failed relationship.

That's right, she was running off to a remote place to do fieldwork and dig old and mysterious village remains because of her low EQ. At 30-ish years old, she remained unmarried not only because of her work that required her to spend long hours in laboratories, research centers, or out in the field. Another reason was her poor ability to grasp the intricacies of the heart.

She wasn't entirely unfeeling. In fact, her previous classmates and colleagues would describe her as an aloof softie with an obsession with fluffy animals. When her grandparents, who took care of her after her parents died at a young age, were alive - they considered her as a thoughtful, caring, and considerate granddaughter.

However, her default mode is being pragmatic, logical, and analytical. It takes a long while for her 'emotional' side to get out and, who knows how her brain is wired, but she can't easily discern others' complex emotions either. After all, she spent most of her years in her studies and then in her career. After she was done reading all the course books, she was stuck reviewing and analyzing research data and field discoveries.

All these make her a dumb dumb in the dating field. When those past partners of hers wanted emotional support or just someone to listen to them vent, she instead tries to analyze their problems or issues and doggedly come up with a solution. In the end, she comes off as abrasive or insensitive most of the time.

She has slowly understood these issues of hers and has even bought plenty of self-help books about understanding and properly reacting to other people's emotional signals, especially the romantic kind. But it takes conscious effort and lots of time to master these things. In the meantime, another boyfriend bit the dust in just a few months.

What made her even more upset was the fact that that guy was a scumbag. He started out as super understanding and considerate towards her despite her repeated warnings about her character and tendencies.

Turns out that guy just targeted her for the huge amounts of salary she earned per month. She was excellent at her work and getting paid extremely well was a pleasant byproduct. At first, she was totally okay with treating the guy to expensive dates and giving valuable gifts. She was a modern woman after all and she truly believes that women can be lavish on their men as well if they have the capability.

Unfortunately, that guy was a big fat leech and became more and more demanding until he was using emotional blackmail to get what he wanted. When she started firmly imposing some boundaries, the jerk figured out one of her bank accounts' passwords, stole thousands of her savings, and ran away with another woman.

She was naturally furious. The guy eventually got caught and jailed for fraud through the help of her connections with the local police and a few of her university professors. While she was able to recover most of her money, the guy shouting obscenities at her while being dragged to jail upset her very much.

"You're just an unfeeling robot, an old maid left on the shelf! You're only good for your money. You can't make a man happy!" He shouted at her.

She didn't feel the pressure of having to get married, yet she was still upset because deep down she really thought that she didn't have the ability to make her partner happy. She is used to being excellent at most of the things she does in life, but only in the romance department does she feel inadequate and defeated. This does not sit well with her at all!

Sure she can happily live a single life, but she also longs for a family. Her parents died when she was still very young so she didn't experience the joys of parental love. The only people who cared for her back then, her grandparents, have died 10 years ago and she misses them terribly to this day.

She has amazing friends but they mostly come from the same circles and are as busy as her, and she didn't want to impose on them. She has her own hobbies and interests to occupy her, but she also would like to have a family who truly loves her and people she can fully trust and love in return.

It's all very confusing for Fu Mei Li and so she decided to get away for a bit by volunteering to join the dig.

Fast forward to the days before she transmigrated. She and her colleagues uncovered a gravesite near the village site. In the grave were human remains grouped together. One of the sets of bones was confirmed to be a woman and the rest were men. The research team has concluded that the woman was the head of the family and buried with her (at different time intervals) were her husbands.

The gravesite was filled with treasures of that era as well, including intricate pottery, ceramics, some weapons, jars that must have contained precious things, and a bunch of valuable jewelry. This family is believed to be one of the richer ones in the village and may even be considered nobles in the tribe or at least people with significant positions in the village.

As she was soaking her intestines with the numbing elixir that is beer and ranting about her life issues, she also lamented her lack of skills in the heart department.

She drunkenly complained to her drinking buddies: Why can't relationships be easy?! Look at this woman we excavated. She was able to find several partners to love her and she was obviously cherished judging from their desire to be buried next to her and the treasures buried with her. I'm so tired of scumbags. I wish I could be married to many men, too!

And then the drunk Fu Mei Li blacked out…

...only to be dazed silly the moment she regained consciousness…

It seems she got her wish? Should she thank her lucky stars, er, her lucky beer?!

Urgent, waiting for answers!