[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 coop.] [Now, that rooster rules the roost at Wang Er's house. Even when it takes a drink of water, the hens let it drink first.]
Jian Ruonan lay in bed, staring at the drafty roof.
A torrential rain had fallen last night, and the bed she was sleeping 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 weakly with the system. [So, can I catch one of Wang Er's chickens and stew it to build up my strength?]
System: [No. Putting aside the fact that you're too weak to catch one, even if you did, you wouldn't have the money to pay for it.]
Jian Ruonan: [...Then could you tell me something useful?]
System: [Widow Li at the entrance to the village has hooked up with Wang Dage at the other end. Wang Dasao is rounding up her birth family to go demand an explanation from Widow Li.]
Widow Li at the village entrance was pretty. Ever since her husband had 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 getting more work yet bringing home less money.
After staking out Widow Li's house for half a day, Wang Dasao understood everything.
He wasn't repairing furniture at all. He was doing strenuous work and paying for the privilege!
In her old life, even with a broken leg, Jian Ruonan would have hobbled over on crutches to see just what this amorous Widow Li looked like. On the way, she would have checked out Wang Er's rooster to see what kind of combat chicken it was.
Only after transmigrating into this skeletal little girl who had starved for three days and nights did she understand: gossip tasted best on a full stomach.
Jian Ruonan had originally been a single white-collar woman with her own car and home, living an ordinary, unremarkable life of working nine to nine, six days a week.
She had finally endured long enough for the previous director to resign and go home to have a third child, earning herself a promotion. But just one week into her new position, consecutive late nights revising designs had given her an irregular heartbeat, and she had croaked.
Her freaking million-plus year-end bonus!
She had already promised her best friend that once she got her bonus, they would go to a club and pop two bottles of Ace of Spades to celebrate. Instead, she closed her eyes, opened them again, and found herself in another world.
That bloodsucking boss had gotten off cheap!
"Nan Nan, get up. Come eat." The door curtain lifted, and a middle-aged woman with phoenix eyes walked in, swaying her hips.
She carried a tray with a bowl of rice porridge. The porridge was watery, with two bright green vegetable leaves floating on top.
Beside it sat a small dish of pickles, diced green bamboo shoots and orange-yellow carrots that looked extremely appetizing.
After placing the tray beside the bed, the middle-aged woman shot Jian Ruonan a disgusted sidelong glance.
Jian Ruonan looked at the plain porridge and side dish and couldn't help swallowing.
She had been planning to wait for death.
After all, she had opened her eyes to find herself an impoverished girl at the very bottom of ancient society, with nothing to her name but four bare walls and a roof that let in both wind and rain. Upon arrival, her so-called mother had berated her nonstop for two hours. No phone, no air-conditioning, no money, endless daily housework, and pregnancy that would mean a brush with death-every last thing made life worse than dying.
What if dying let her transmigrate back?
If she got back, she would 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 it had been to raise a daughter 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 merely figured that since she had gone to all the trouble of transmigrating, she might as well die a well-fed ghost.
System: [Actually, you're just craving food.]
Jian Ruonan: [...] Did it have to tell such an unwelcome truth?!
After a bowl of rice porridge and a dish of pickles, Jian Ruonan felt her soul settle back into her body. Her plan to wait for death would probably have to be postponed another couple of days.
System: [Even if you croak, you can't go back. Your remains have already been cremated.]
Jian Ruonan: [...]
System: [As long as you complete missions and save up enough points, you can choose a world to retire in.]
Jian Ruonan: Useless System.
System: [Host, our hearts are connected. I can hear you cursing me in your head.]
Jian Ruonan: ...
This Useless System did absolutely nothing except report gossip about the neighbors. Every day, it dangled empty promises in front of her to get her to complete missions.
Supposedly, accumulating points would unlock storage space, let her exchange items, and then enjoy wealth and splendor as she climbed to the pinnacle of life...
But the mission was to win over the current Fourth Prince and raise his affection for her.
How was a country girl like her supposed to get a chance 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 off the street turned out to be an emperor or prince?
The book she had transmigrated into was called "Tyrant Emperor, Love Me Gently-Your Delicate Darling Can't Take It," and her assigned role was cannon fodder who made the heroine look good.
After finishing the porridge, Jian Ruonan lay down again.
One bowl of thin porridge wouldn't normally do much, but for a frail ten-year-old girl who had starved for three days and nights, it was quite filling.
With her stomach full, Jian Ruonan began examining 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 color adorned her lips, and rouge tinted her cheeks. She looked utterly out of place in this dilapidated, rain-leaking house.
Although Madam Zhou was also thin, her complexion was rosy. One glance was enough to tell she had never done hard labor.
Jian Ruonan could even smell roast chicken on her.
She had come over without even wiping her mouth after eating roast chicken. Had that bowl of rice porridge been a freebie with her purchase?!
[System, is she really my mother?]
System: [Yes.]
Jian Ruonan: [Then why did she beat and scold the original owner three times a day, make her do all the filthy, exhausting work, and never give her enough to eat?!]
System: [I don't know either.]
Jian Ruonan: Useless.
[Ding-]
The familiar mechanical sound rang out. Jian Ruonan knew this Useless System was about to serve up more gossip.
This time, she was full and had the energy to feast on it.
[This time, the gossip is about you, Host. Want a taste?]
Jian Ruonan: [...Yes.]
She hadn't expected the first gossip she actively requested to be about 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 money from selling you.]
Jian Ruonan: [...]
Presumably, Madam Zhou had been afraid she would die and brought her a bowl of porridge to keep her barely alive.
Now she wanted to die even more.
[There's good news and bad news. Which would you like first?]
Jian Ruonan: [The good news.]
System: [Landowner Zhang's family is very rich. Once you're sold to them, you'll get enough to eat every day!]
Jian Ruonan: [...] How the hell was that good news?
The system really was useless as hell.
[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 the same age as you-ten!]
Jian Ruonan: [...] The bad news was certainly the genuine article.
Could she just die painlessly on the spot?
[This body is only ten, and she's selling me off as someone's concubine? Is that legal?]
System: [Yes. That's how things work in ancient times.]
Jian Ruonan sat up, wanting to stick her fingers down her throat and throw up the bowl of porridge she had just eaten. Preferably all over Madam Zhou's face.
"Nan Nan, you've been lying here for three days. Let me help you up and change your clothes." Madam Zhou helped Jian Ruonan to her feet, then fetched a basin of water to wash her face, combed her hair, and finally dressed her in a pale-green cotton skirt.
Once she finished tidying her up, Madam Zhou looked at Jian Ruonan's face and froze briefly.
She twisted the handkerchief in her hands and gritted her teeth.
System: [The matchmaker is coming to look you over. Get ready, Host.]
Jian Ruonan: [Ready for what? To puke all over Madam Zhou? You're finally useful for something, System!]
If she threw up all over Madam Zhou, she could pretend to be sick and scare the matchmaker away.
The only worry was that Madam Zhou would abuse her even more afterward.
The original owner had probably died from her abuse. There were so many injuries on her body.
"Doesn't Nan Nan 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."
As soon as Madam Zhou finished speaking, a plump woman walked in with a large black mole at the corner of her mouth and several hairs sprouting from it.
"Oh my, Nan Nan, do you still remember your great-aunt? I even held you when you were little!"
Jian Ruonan: "..."
[Ding-] [Host, new gossip detected. It's about you again.]
Jian Ruonan: [...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 the Farm Estate after committing an offense. You were originally the legitimate daughter of the household, but Madam Zhou swapped you for her own child.]
[Three years from now, your biological parents will bring you back to the Marquis's Estate.]
Jian Ruonan: [Three years?]
In three years, she would 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?]
Jian Ruonan: [Find my actual marquis parents, of course!]
A mind-reading and gossip novel. I hope everyone enjoys it.
Princess, please enjoy the gossip.
Before you continue