[Ding-] [Wang Er next door bought a rooster yesterday. His whole flock of hens finally had something to look forward to. In just one night, the rooster conquered every hen in Wang Er's yard.] [Now this rooster rules Wang Er's flock. Even when he takes a drink, the hens let him go first.]
Jian Ruonan lay in bed, staring at the drafty roof.
A torrential rain had fallen last night, and the bed she slept in was still wet.
She looked down at her coarse hemp clothes and counted at least twenty-eight holes.
Her head spun with hunger as she chatted listlessly with the system. [So, could I catch one of Wang Er's chickens and make some soup to build up my strength?]
System: [No. Aside from the fact that you don't have the strength to catch one, even if you did, you don't have the silver to pay for it.]
[...Then could you tell me something useful?] Jian Ruonan asked.
System: [Widow Li at the head of the village has hooked up with Wang Dage at the other end. Wang Dasao is rounding up her family to go demand an explanation from Widow Li.]
Widow Li was pretty. Ever since her husband died, men had come by every few days to help repair her furniture. For some mysterious reason, the widow's furniture was always breaking.
Wang Dage was the village carpenter, so repairing furniture at the widow's house was perfectly normal. But Wang Dasao couldn't understand why her husband was bringing home less and less money despite having more work.
After staking out Widow Li's house for half a day, Wang Dasao understood everything.
Furniture repairs, her foot! He was clearly going there to do some strenuous labor-and paying for the privilege!
In the past, even with a broken leg, Jian Ruonan would have hobbled over on crutches to see what this amorous Widow Li looked like. On the way, she would have checked out Wang Er's rooster too, to see just what kind of fighting cock he was.
Only after transmigrating into this skeletal little girl who hadn't eaten for three days and nights did she understand: gossip tasted better on a full stomach.
Jian Ruonan had originally been a single office worker with a car and a home, living an ordinary, unremarkable nine-to-nine, six-days-a-week life.
She had finally endured long enough for the previous director to resign and go home to have her third child, earning herself a promotion. Who would have thought that just one week into her new post, she'd develop an irregular heartbeat from staying up night after night revising designs-and kick the bucket?
Her freaking million-plus year-end bonus!
She'd already agreed with her best friend that once the bonus arrived, they'd go to a club and celebrate with two bottles of Ace of Spades. Instead, she'd closed her eyes, opened them, and transmigrated.
That skinflint boss got off cheap!
"Nan Nan, get up. Come eat." The door curtain lifted, and a middle-aged woman with phoenix eyes swayed her hips as she walked in.
She carried a tray holding a bowl of rice porridge. It was watery, with two bright green leaves floating on top.
Beside it sat a little dish of pickles, green celtuce and orange carrots diced into appetizing morsels.
The middle-aged woman set the tray beside the bed, then shot Jian Ruonan a look of disgust.
Jian Ruonan glanced at the plain porridge and pickles and couldn't help swallowing.
She had been planning to wait for death.
After all, she'd opened her eyes to find herself a destitute girl at the bottom of ancient society, in a bare house with a roof that let in both wind and rain. Her so-called mother had spent a whole hour berating her right after she arrived. No phone, no air conditioning, no money, endless chores every day, and pregnancy that meant nine chances of death for one of survival-every last thing made life worse than death.
What if dying let her transmigrate back?
If she got back, she'd quit immediately, sell her home, and travel the world.
"Nan Nan, I only scold you for your own good. Refusing to eat or drink like this only hurts you!" The phoenix-eyed woman pulled a red silk handkerchief from under her arm, sat beside the bed, and began wiping away tears, sobbing about how hard raising a daughter had been all these years.
Jian Ruonan sat up and reached for the bowl of rice porridge.
It wasn't because this so-called mother had moved her.
She just figured that since she'd gone to all the trouble of transmigrating, she might as well die with a full stomach.
System: [Actually, you're just craving food.]
*[...]* Jian Ruonan thought. Did you have to tell the truth?!
After finishing the porridge and pickles, Jian Ruonan felt her soul settle back into place. Her plan to wait for death would probably have to be postponed another couple of days.
System: [Even if you kick the bucket, you can't go back. Your body has already been cremated.]
*[...]*
System: [As long as you complete missions and save enough points, you can choose a world to retire in.]
Useless system.
System: [Host, our hearts are connected. I can hear you cursing me in your head too.]
*...*
This useless system did nothing worth a damn except report gossip about the neighbors. Every day, it dangled empty promises in front of her to make her complete missions.
Supposedly, once she earned more points, she could unlock a storage space, exchange points for items, enjoy wealth and glory, and reach the pinnacle of life...
But her mission was to win over the current Fourth Prince and raise his affection for her.
How was a country girl like her supposed to meet the Fourth Prince? Did it really think she was the heroine of some Mary Sue novel, where any random man she picked up on the road turned out to be an emperor or prince?
The book she'd transmigrated into was called "Love Me Gently, Tyrant Emperor-Your Delicate Darling Can't Take It." Her role in it was cannon fodder meant to make the heroine shine.
After finishing the porridge, Jian Ruonan lay back down.
One bowl of watery porridge wouldn't usually do much, but for a frail ten-year-old girl who hadn't eaten for three days and nights, it was quite filling.
With her stomach full, Jian Ruonan began studying her biological mother-Madam Zhou.
Madam Zhou wore a vermilion skirt embroidered with tiny pale-purple flowers along the hem. A jade hairpin held up her bun, lip rouge colored her lips, and blush tinted her cheeks. She looked completely out of place in this dilapidated, leaky house.
Though thin herself, Madam Zhou had a rosy complexion and clearly looked like someone who had never done hard labor.
Jian Ruonan could even smell roast chicken on her.
She hadn't even wiped her mouth clean after eating roast chicken before coming here. Was that bowl of porridge a freebie that came with the chicken?!
[System, is she really my mother?]
System: [Yes.]
[Then why did she beat and scold the original girl three times a day, make her do all the dirty, exhausting work, and never let her eat her fill?!]
System: [I don't know either.]
Loser.
[Ding-]
The familiar mechanical chime rang out. Jian Ruonan knew this useless system was about to serve up more gossip.
This time, she'd eaten and had the strength to enjoy it.
[This gossip is about you, Host. Want to hear it?]
[...Yes.]
To think the first time she actively asked for gossip, she'd be its subject herself.
System: [Madam Zhou is going to sell you to Landowner Zhang in the county town as a concubine. She bought that roast chicken with the silver from selling you.]
*[...]*
Presumably, Madam Zhou had brought her some porridge to keep her alive because she was afraid she would die.
Now she wanted to die even more.
[One piece of good news and one piece of bad news. Which would you like first?]
[The good news, I guess.]
System: [Landowner Zhang's family is very rich. Once you're sold there, you'll get to eat your fill every day!]
*[...]* That's freaking good news?
The system really was utterly useless.
[What about the bad news?]
System: [Landowner Zhang is sixty-five this year and weighs ninety kilograms. He has three sons and a daughter. His eldest granddaughter is your age-ten!]
*[...]* Now that was genuine bad news, guaranteed.
Could she just die painlessly on the spot?
[This body is only ten, and they're selling her off as someone's concubine? Is that legal?]
System: [Yes. That's how things were in ancient times.]
Jian Ruonan sat up, wanting to stick her fingers down her throat and throw up the porridge she'd just drunk-preferably right in Madam Zhou's face.
"Nan Nan, you've been lying there for three days. Let me help you up and get you changed." Madam Zhou helped Jian Ruonan to her feet, fetched a basin of water to wash her face, combed her hair, and finally dressed her in a pale-green cotton skirt.
Once she'd finished tidying her up, Madam Zhou stared at Jian Ruonan's face and froze for a moment.
She twisted the handkerchief in her hands and gritted her teeth.
System: [The matchmaker is coming to look you over. Get ready, Host.]
[Get ready for what? To puke all over Madam Zhou? System, you're finally being useful!]
If she vomited all over Madam Zhou, she could pretend to be ill and scare the matchmaker away.
The only worry was that Madam Zhou might abuse her even worse afterward.
The original girl had probably been abused to death by her. Her body was covered in injuries.
"Doesn't Nannan love the chrysanthemum pastries from the Orchid and Cassia Workshop? Your great-aunt will take you into town to buy some in a little while."
Just as Madam Zhou finished speaking, a plump woman walked in. A large black mole sat at the corner of her mouth, with several hairs sprouting from it.
"Oh my, Nannan, do you still remember your great-aunt? I held you when you were little!"
Jian Ruonan said, "..."
[Ding-] [Host, some new gossip has been detected. It's about you again.]
[...Spill it!]
System: [You really aren't Madam Zhou's biological daughter. Madam Zhou is a concubine from the Jinyang Marquis's Residence who was banished to an estate after committing an offense. You were originally the residence's legitimate daughter, but Madam Zhou switched you.] [In three years, your biological parents will bring you back to the marquis's residence.]
[Three years?]
In three years, she'd already have two babies in her arms-a son and a daughter!
Jian Ruonan sprang out of bed.
System: [Host, what are you going to do?]
[Find my real parents at the marquis's residence, of course!]
A mind-reading and gossip novel. I hope everyone enjoys it.
Princess, please enjoy the gossip.
Before you continue