The Transmigrated Woman

Qi Yuanzuo searched for the source of the voice. The night breeze was cool, and the clothes of the people on the street divided them into distinct social ranks.

The shopkeepers were neatly dressed, while the stallholders wore short outfits of coarse hemp, often covered in patches.

Among the shoppers were women in gold hairpins and gauzy skirts and women with cloth-wrapped hair carrying baskets, men in padded coats and scholars' robes and men in patterned silk.

At a glance, every walk of life was on display.

"Strawberries-strawberries for sale!"

Qi Yuanzuo caught the shrill female voice precisely. His gaze swept past the crowd and pinpointed its source.

He pointed toward the corner ahead. "Daddy, strawberries!"

The Qi Emperor showed a little interest. "Strawberries? I've never heard of those. Since Zuo'er is interested, let's take a look."

Jiang Erya had shouted herself hoarse. Before her sat a tiny basket containing just over a dozen large, fresh strawberries. Her clothes were patched over patches, her hair was a tangled mess, and only her face was pale as tender tofu.

When Jiang Erya first transmigrated, she had still dreamed of becoming a powerful heroine, imagining she could lead her whole family into prosperity.

But seven years of experience had taught her that this was not the law-governed society she had lived in before.

Her parents in this life valued sons over daughters. She had an older sister, whom her grandparents had sold as a concubine to pay their younger brother's school fees.

After studying for a while, her brother needed paper and brushes. The family had no money, so they wanted to sell her for a good price too.

A spineless mother, an abusive father, a rigidly feudal grandfather, a grandmother who cared only about profit, and a cheat that wasn't worth a damn-forget leading the family into prosperity; she could barely save herself.

Trembling, she had drawn a pot of strawberries from the system. She had fooled her bastard father into believing they could fetch a sky-high price, and only then had he agreed to bring her thirty kilometers to Chang'an.

Now the father who wanted to sell her stood behind her, watching. A sale marker stuck out of her hair: she was selling strawberries and herself.

If the strawberries sold, she still had a chance to survive. If they didn't, she would become someone's slave.

A slave.

She had never found that word so terrifying.

She had been shouting for ages. People stopped before her, but few wanted to buy her strawberries. Most were inspecting her figure and face.

Their scrutiny and blatantly purposeful appraisal made her hair stand on end.

Her cheat was a lucky draw system, which required affection points from other people to draw prizes.

Each draw cost forty affection points. In seven years, she had drawn five times.

The prizes had been "Skin Like Jade," "Pumpkin Seeds," "Wait by the Stump for a Rabbit," "One Roasted Sweet Potato," and today's pot of strawberries.

At first, she had delighted in the beauty "Skin Like Jade" gave her. Now it only frightened her. She lowered her head, desperately trying to hide her face, but her father grabbed her hair from behind and yanked her face into view.

"I'm counting on that face of yours to draw customers! If you still don't sell, I'll sell you to a brothel!"

Jiang Erya felt as though she had plunged into an ice cellar. This world was too terrifying!

She had considered running away, but after years without enough food or clothing, and with her father watching so closely behind her, how could she escape?

She strained her voice to keep calling.

"Strawberries-! The only strawberries in the world!"

Despair filled her eyes. Why wouldn't anyone buy them?

She had already advertised them as the first of their kind under heaven. Shouldn't crowds be asking the price?

Why wasn't anyone even asking?

These didn't exist in ancient times!

She screamed inwardly.

She was desperate, yet beneath that despair lay an extraordinary calm.

If the strawberries didn't sell, her bastard father would sell her.

If it truly came to that, rather than being sold to some potbellied man, she might as well find someone handsome and rich.

If she had to be a slave or servant, serving someone handsome was better than serving an ugly brute, wasn't it?

Tears in her eyes, she numbly called out her strawberries for sale.

Her eyes, however, were already searching for a buyer for herself.

In the distance, she spotted a group.

The noble gentleman in the middle held a child in his arms.

On his right stood someone who looked like a steward, and on his left followed a guard. The guard was young, with sword-like brows and star-bright eyes; one look told her he was no ordinary man.

Anyone who could employ such a guard had to be wealthy or noble.

Their clothing and bearing confirmed it.

Most importantly, there was a child among them.

If she threw herself at them and begged through tears, how likely were they to buy her?

Children were the easiest to soften up...

Jiang Erya's heart pounded. She clenched her fists, an inward voice clamoring for her to take the gamble.

Then she saw that the group was heading straight toward her.

Her scalp tightened, and Jiang Erya was forced to raise her head.

Her bastard father beamed as he addressed the newcomers.

"Master, are you choosing a maid for the young master? Take a look at my girl-such tender skin! She'll certainly grow into a beauty! She eats little and knows how to serve. Have her warm the young master's bed someday, and you won't lose out!"

Qi Yuanzuo was bewildered. What was going on? Why was the heroine being sold?

Didn't the book say her early story was a cozy farming tale?

Had he transmigrated into the genuine edition?

With any other customer, Jiang Erya would have protested that she wasn't selling herself. But these people had such distinguished bearing. If she really had to be sold, surely she couldn't find anyone better?

Her lips trembled, but she said nothing. Her eyes rested on the young master among them, filled with pleading.

Seeing the displeasure on His Majesty's face, the Fat Eunuch immediately pushed aside the burly man selling his daughter.

"Shoo, shoo! Our young master doesn't need a maid. Aren't you selling some sort of berry? Where is it? Don't spoil our master and young master's mood."

Jiang Erya thought the steward's voice sounded strange, but she had no time to dwell on it. She lifted the strawberries and said:

"Strawberries! Yes! We're selling strawberries!"

"These are absolutely the first under heaven! One of a kind! They're edible, and they taste wonderful! I guarantee even the emperor has never eaten them!"

The Qi Emperor raised a brow. He indeed had never heard of them or eaten them. If they were anything good, someone would have presented them to him long ago. Since his palace had none, they certainly couldn't be anything good.

"An obscure wild fruit, yet you dare call it the first under heaven."

"Only the name has any novelty."

The Qi Emperor examined the fruit's shape without much interest.

Qi Yuanzuo kicked his legs to get down. From his first glimpse of the strawberries, he had felt they were no ordinary fruit.

He feigned curiosity. "Can you eat them?"

Jiang Erya nodded repeatedly and volunteered to taste one to prove they were safe.

Qi Yuanzuo stopped pretending and chomped into one.

That bite gave both the Fat Eunuch and the Qi Emperor a terrible fright.

"Zuo'er! Spit it out!"

"Oh, my little master! How could you eat something of unknown origin? What if it's poisonous?"

Qi Yuanzuo stubbornly refused to spit it out. "Imperial Father, it's sweet! Delicious!"

Unable to dig it out of his mouth, the Qi Emperor angrily smacked his bottom.

"Have I... really left you starving?!"

Jiang Erya stared blankly at their reactions as a thought surfaced in her mind.

That thought made her swallow nervously.

No way. Had she really run into him?

"The strawberries aren't poisonous, and they're good for your health. I guarantee it!"

"If the young gentleman likes them, I can give them to him!"

Jiang Erya's father hurriedly objected. "No! Absolutely not! Your child ate my goods. You have to pay!"

The Qi Emperor had no desire to get entangled with them and signaled for the Fat Eunuch to give her father a piece of silver.

Jiang Erya lunged forward and knocked her father aside.

"Master! I don't want silver! Please buy me! I'll give you the strawberries too! You won't have to pay a single coin!"

Her father stumbled back several steps. Recovering, he launched into a torrent of curses, punching and kicking Jiang Erya.

"You little slut! Whore! Throwing yourself at a man the moment you see one! Just like that filthy, wanton sister of yours! Women are all shameless bitches!"

The Qi Emperor's face darkened. He covered the little Crown Prince's ears and turned to leave.

Qi Yuanzuo refused to go. He pointed at Jiang Erya's father. "He's cursing! Beat him for me!"

Seeing that His Majesty did not object, the Fat Eunuch waved a hand. The guard behind him pulled her father away and slapped him back and forth until his head spun.

Qi Yuanzuo pried away the hands covering his ears, walked up to the utterly wretched Transmigrated Woman, and remarked to the system:

"88, she's really had it rough."

88 thought, You had it even worse last time.

Qi Yuanzuo picked up the strawberries from the ground. The fall had dirtied them, but luckily they hadn't been crushed.

"How much? I'll buy them."

Jiang Erya looked up pitifully, her voice strained with pain.

"They're free, but they come as a package. If you want the strawberries, you have to buy me."

Qi Yuanzuo said, "But if I buy you, I'll have to feed you too. Keeping you costs much more than buying fruit."

"I'll never let you lose money. I can work for you, wash clothes, cook, toil like an ox or a horse. I can do anything!"

Qi Yuanzuo asked, "How can I trust you?"

Jiang Erya raised her head, held up three fingers, and hastily swore:

"If I'm lying, then I'm not from Ch... the Central Plains."

In this time and place, only Qi Yuanzuo understood that brief hesitation.

He reached out and hooked his little finger around hers. "Whoever lies is a puppy."

Jiang Erya looked at the child right before her, with his rosy lips, white teeth, and beauty that could charm men and women, young and old. Suddenly, she understood why the female supporting characters in so many novels fell for the male lead as children.

No one could refuse a hand reaching in from beyond the abyss.

Qi Yuanzuo tilted his head back and wheedled, "Daddy, I want to buy her."

The Qi Emperor stroked his head. "Then buy her."

And so, in her seventh year after transmigrating, Jiang Erya became a slave beneath the weight of the times, with a master to serve.