How can a little white lotus agricultural student start a fashion wave in the conservative capital city?
They can't.
But that doesn't mean someone else couldn't.
Jia Hyson immediately understood. 'The bug is someone else with a background in fashion and design transmigrated instead of Pan Shuchun?'
'You're not wrong host,' Bebe answers with approval in it's voice. Say what you want about Jia Hyson, he's definitely on the higher end of comprehension on the spectrum of all the past hosts it has had the pleasure and displeasure of working with. 'To be precise, they transmigrated a person with a background in fashion and design that happened to also have the name Pan Shuchun.'
Jia Hyson: '...'
Oh humiliation.
Not even shitty comedy movies make these sort of mistaken identity plots anymore ah.
Jia Hyson isn't sure if the world's consciousnesses are like lone wolves or they're social animals like the systems but if this gets out, he can only imagine how much face would be lost. After all if it was merely having someone being reborn when they weren't supposed to, it can still be considered a fairly common mistake and people can still pat you on the back and sympathize. However this is the sort of mistake where if you tell someone, the other person may be too busy laughing at you to even give you the most superficial comfort.
So, to summarize, Pan Shuchun the original original transmigrated protagonist who Tang Muxin had read about in her own world, was still happily attending the top university of agriculture. Meanwhile another student of the same agriculture course was very worried and confused because his fashion designer girlfriend Pan Shuchun who was meant to visit him had never shown up.
This meant, just like the original Pan Shuchun, this one also didn't have an idea this was all a story and had no golden finger plot to muddle through.
However the world's consciousness also knew it had made a very incredibly embarrassing mistake. In order to try cover it up, it had used a lot of savings to buy a basic system package for this new Pan Shuchun.
That's right, not only did this new transmigrator get pulled in, she also got premium treatment and was gifted a free Cute Homely Agricultural Goddess system.
It was a system to try encourage this new Pan Shuchun to be similar to the original white lotus character who knew a lot about cooking, gardening and being sweet.
...Jia Hyson didn't know the details but it was clear from the current situation this didn't work out that well ah. _(:3」∠)_
According to the information given to Bebe, this Pan Shuchun actually went against the protagonist template and human temptations as a whole and only used the fucking system seven times!
Seven times!
You can still count that with your fingers ah!
If this wasn't impressive then Jia Hyson didn't know what was.
Think about it. You're suddenly whisked into an unfamiliar world with an ancient setting which not only discriminated against women, the poor and the weak, but your new body happens to tick all three boxes. Then you get a golden finger system that tells you that as long as you complete these tasks, you can get x, y and z rewards that will help you bring you to the pinnacle of life.
As a result? As a result? Pan Shuchun didn't grab onto this golden thigh and even treated it with faint disdain!
After so many months, only seven side tasks and two main tasks was completed out of possible hundreds of side tasks and Ninety-seven main tasks. It could only be imagined how frustrated and anxious the world's consciousness was.
Jia Hyson felt a bit of admiration for this transmigrator which only grew when he saw the rewards chosen for tasks completed.
For the first main reward it was the most typical gold finger in these sort of ancient system stories- a space with a magic spring. More accurately it was called... the Cutie Flower Spring Space. It even came with a bonus makeup kit called the Starter Sparkle Miao Miao Kitty Paw Beauty Bag. This bag didn't have much, just some small things like lovely lavender lotions, fickle feline face creams, and cutie colour contacts.
Jia Hyson: '...' Wow. (￢_￢;)
Bebe: '...Don't judge ah. The world's consciousness also have their own shops to help them do their job better. It just happened this system and their special items are usually cheaper with a packaged theme.'
Despite the... cringey name, from the description given it was clearly a good space, one with empty fields, various seasonal flowers and a healing medicinal spring. Honestly if anyone ignored this reward they would pass the point of stubborn independence and straight into the realm of brain dead.
Jia Hyson was a bit surprised that it would be the first mission reward. Aren't they usually a bit less extravagant and superficial, like some marrow cleansing beauty pills?
Bebe, reading his thoughts, coughed awkwardly, 'Apparently this Pan Shuchun negotiated with the system. The system is just a basic game system so the world's consciousness is the one truly controlling the system and any decision making. However...' Bebe coughed again.
Jia Hyson's mouth twitched.
Yeah. This silly, white and sweet world's consciousness who managed to even fuck up pulling their own protagonist into the main world plot probably broke down under negotiations and gave Pan Shuchun such a good first mission reward.
While Jia Hyson didn't have a good grasp of this new transmigrator's personality yet he was fairly sure she was definitely quite shrewd and very self-reliant or she would have used the system more. Showing weakness in the first negotiation was the wrong move as it indicates the power balance is more weighted to the new Pan Shuchun's side. Maybe the original white lotus protagonist might not have caught on to it but he felt like this transmigrator would have.
The second main task reward was the Dreamy Darling Sleepy Sheep Shop.
Jia Hyson: '...'
Bebe: 'Just get over it. It doesn't really get better okay ah.'
The shop required real money in exchange for sheep but also offered to exchange bonus sheep for number of task completions as well. It was clearly desperate to make Pan Shuchun do the tasks. Unfortunately Pan Shuchun didn't take the offer and only exchanged with money.
Then there are the side task rewards;
Starlight silkworm starter pack which is fairly self explanatory. The starlight silkworms were spiritual beasts but they were still just worms so in the grand scheme of things it wasn't surprising it was only a side task reward, albeit still a generous one given the starter pack came with related silkworm rearing items.
The Lovely Flower Goddess's Guide to Plants UwU 🌸 , containing an encyclopedia of horticultural and botanical knowledge suitable for this world... it was also filled with cutesy emojis but that's fairly redundant.
The Angel's most Adorable Agricultural Textiles Textbook. Also fairly self explanatory, giving the history and basic mechanics on how various agricultural related textiles like ground cover fabrics that protect crops from damages like soil drying out, too much sun radiation, introduction of weeds, or even anti-insect mesh.
Beautiful Goddess's Manual Sparkling Sewing Machine.... it was just a very durable and rather gaudy manual sewing machine. It did come with a blueprint though so it's possible to remake it. Unfortunately the blueprint was covered in glitter...
And finally, the Princess Rose Gold Gardening Scissors. It was dainty and beautifully carved out, but the blade of the scissors was made to be able to easily cut through even the most stubborn of stems and branches easily.
By themselves it really looks like items befitting an agricultural system but when you look at it altogether you notice that... they're all very design related items.
The side tasks weren't much, it was merely like weekly side quests in a video game where you get a list of things you can do and a corresponding reward. In this case it was things like brush up X's favourability to a certain amount, or learn how to identify these root vegetables in the wild or make a delicious dish over 90 points using these ingredients. They were all quite difficult tasks to be honest that required both time and effort to accomplish but it was all in order to help the new Pan Shuchun gain the same amount of knowledge as the original.
The main tasks were considerably more important as they were tasks to make the new Pan Shuchun follow the plot properly. The first task was to get out of the country side village, and run off with the original body's childhood friend. However by the time the world's conciouseness realised something was wrong and issued the agricultural system to the new Pan Shuchun, she had already fulfilled the marriage agreement with the Wu family.
Jia Hyson recalls that when he first met Da Gong and Ye Cheng, there was a lot of gossip about this scandal. It turns out the truth of the matter was actually like this ah.
He couldn't exactly judge and condemn her for leaving a marriage to someone she didn't know or care for in order to get a golden finger space. But at the same time he personally valued the concept of marriage very highly and without enough context he wouldn't praise her actions either. Jia Hyson felt that marriage should be a truly devoted act that shouldn't be taken lightly for both parties involved. However these were of course unusual circumstances as well. He supposes only Pan Shuchun would know what she was really thinking when she left the marriage like this at that time, and only she herself can decide whether her actions were worth it.
The second main task was to help revitalise a certain noodle shop which was on the verge of closing due to various reasons.
In the original story the original Pan Shuchun did this by using her amazing cooking skills and conveniently finding herbs and other delicious things around the nearby forest area which had been more or less ignored.
She also picked up a supporting male lead who was a silent hunter that relied on the forest and was also coincidentally filial to the old couple of the noodle shop that took care of him when he was an orphan child. With her sweet and kind temperament and hard working personality, she quickly conquered not only the handsome hunter but the entire village save for a few cannonfodder. When the scum family found her later on, the entire village practically bound together to scold the scum family for her.
However in this version...
Jia Hyson uses his tail to scroll down the holographic screen in front of him and then wiggled it in excitement. Even though it was only a summary in dot points, he can't help but feel this new protagonist was a little bit cool ah.
Disregarding the controversial ditching a marriage thing, this new Pan Shuchun was very domineering. Instead of starting with changing the family recipe, she did what she was best at- being trendy. Revamping the interior of the shop, decorating it with artistic paintings and giving the old couple some advice on presentation and strategic marketing tips.
Even though she didn't know how to cook, she knew beautifying tips and tricks as well as how to sell things. Proposing cheap flowery and fruity teas to detoxify and refresh customers, then giving expensive options like adding milk and honey, and unique seasonal flavors... even though she couldn't improve the recipe of noodles herself, the noodles were still homely and filled with simple nostalgia. Isn't it fine to keep it as it is? Just add new things, give some good words, spruce it up a bit to be be more attractive and people will inevitably come back.
The handsome hunter never became her supporting male lead but was directly beaten into being her licking dog*!
* 舔狗 tiǎngǒu- pretty much a yes man follower. A lapdog/bootlicker lol.
She taught him the little tricks that she used to gain popularity for the shop, explaining clearly the ins and outs of her actions and impressing him with intelligence. Before the hunter was very quiet and only had a so-so standing in the village due to his lack of family and his stand offish temperament that was a bit unlikeable to the older generation. However in order to improve the noodle shop, of course one needed a handsome man with good service ability so the new Pan Shuchun drilled into the handsome hunter the benefits of a good attitude and communication.
Finally she pulled in one of the early cannonfodders- a relatively rich young miss who had a crush on the handsome hunter- to act as her taste tester with flattering words. Because she was also teaching the hunter supporting male lead about these things and how to experiment with making various drinks from flowers and fruit and herbs, the pair of supporting leads actually became more familiar with each other.
With the rich miss' support, a unique looking shop design and new assortments of delicious and healthy drinks and small snacks to accompany a hearty bowl of noodles, the noodle shop business once again boomed.
Satisfied, Pan Shuchun left with the grateful old couple seeing her off and the huntsman and rich miss supporting leads holding hands as they made her promise to come back for their wedding ceremony.
With the money from this venture and the second reward of a magical sheep shop, Pan Shuchun immediately set off to the capital and completely disregarded the rest of the tedious main missions.
Unknowingly skipping a majority of the plot and only focusing to go straight to the capital, of course she arrived much faster than Tang Muxin's group who meandered and treated the journey like a holiday road trip.
The new Pan Shuchun was also very practical and had a hardhearted temperament. Unlike the original white lotus bleeding heart Pan Shuchun who would go rush in to trouble due to seeing various wrongs and offending and attracting people left and right, this new Pan Shuchun at most merely yelled and got nearby help before leaving quickly in order to avoid being tangled into anything big. It wasn't her problem after all ah. ╮(╯∀╰)╭
In this manner she heartlessly missed out on many plot points which made the poor world's consciousness want to shed bloody tears.
Entering the capital city she was like a fish to water. With the special spring she had cleansed herself multiple times and her appearance was very clean and pure. Not to mention she had taken the time during her travel to slowly complete the few side tasks she deemed interesting to her. She had the raw materials to produce the highest quality cloth, good looks, a sweet mouth and a head full of designs and business ideas. After a few months and some lucky breaks her clothes were the new 'it' thing and naturally gained a lot of attention. At this current point the trend has really started to explode and will probably start attracting royalty if it hasn't already.
After reading everything Jia Hyson couldn't help but feel a little strange.
Should he say this world's consciousness was too bad or too good? Obviously they made such a stupid mistake in mixing up who to transmigrate. However in the end...
In the end the new transmigrator was a much better protagonist than the original!
As an author Jia Hyson had to say this sort of character was fresh and interesting! For one thing, it was rare for a fashionista to transmigrate, especially for ancient times. Another thing was this fashionista was also very stubborn, strong willed and a little heartless, unwilling to stray from her dreams of being the most trendy and famous fashion designer there was.
Even though he stayed with Tang Muxin for so long and has cultivated a strong friendship with her, Jia Hyson admits between the typical overpowered super doctor assassin transmigrator and the super fashionista transmigrator he would probably pick the latter over the former to read a story about. It was almost a pity that this Pan Shuchun wasn't the main character ah.
Tang Muxin who was still staring bafflingly at the extreme changes of clothing tastes in the capital suddenly shuddered: '???' Eh? Suddenly I feel like I'm in danger? Σ('◉⌓◉')
Of course even though Jia Hyson liked this sort of unique protagonist character, he was also more worried after rereading it again. The main reason is because neither protagonists now have a solid foundation in agriculture.
The setting revolves around the story and the original story is written to revolve around Pan Shuchun before Tang Muxin transmigrated into it. Even then, Tang Muxin's main storyline was how she could live happily away from the plot so the overall actions and achievements of Pan Shuchun for the most part of the story that was already written, did not change much. Because Pan Shuchun was an agricultural student, a lot of the problems involved this sort of theme, such as starvation, famine, and crop and livestock problems.
Therefore there were many unsolved problems now that the new Pan Shuchun had ignored and also didn't have the necessary ability to solve.
Fashion can influence culture. But what good was culture when people are starving?
For a story, Jia Hyson liked her a lot. He would definitely want to read a protagonist like her over the current main protagonist Tang Muxin much less the original protagonist. But even though she was good for this plot, that doesn't necessarily mean he believes this Pan Shuchun as a protagonist is good for this world.
Even though the world's conciseness only has one plot running right now, it is because of this that it relies desperately on this half-baked shitty plot to produce a stable and happy ending in order to be able to serve as a healthy foundation for the next stories. Unfortunately things like the overall setting can't be changed, and this country was doomed to be hit with various problems like drought and floods and locusts.
Without the original Pan Shuchun, they could only rely on what modern knowledge the three transmigrators assassin-spy-doctor Tang Muxin, lucky meng-selling rooster-flirting Jin Bao, and fashionista Pan Shuchun can squeeze out of their brains.
Jia Hyson: …fuck, this country is ruined.
If he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have cemented his character setting as a transmigrator with no special skills except for being super handsome and intuitive. At the very least his previous university education based in the biological sciences would help a bit ah.
Bebe: 'Bebe thought your character's special skills was rooster fucking.'
Jia Hyson: 'Hey, I haven't fucked anyone, so fuck you.'
Bebe: 'You-! You-! You, fuck you!'
Jia Hyson: …
Bebe: …
Jia Hyson: 'Are you ashamed?'
Bebe: '...'
Jia Hyson: 'We have such high quality banter and yet you gave me this. What am I supposed to do with that? What did you expect me to do with that?'
Bebe: '…Yes. Bebe's sorry.' ( ;-;)
Jia Hyson: 'You should be. Now go reflect and come back with better comebacks or this story will never be popular.'
Bebe: 'Wait, but Bebe's conversation wouldn't be written into Tang Muxin's story.'
Jia Hyson: 'Not that fucking story. Now shut up and reflect.'
Little Theatre:
Pan Shuchun: *steps in fashionably late*
Jia Hyson, double takes: Da~mn girl, wanna be my protagonist?
Tang Muxin who is right next to Jia Hyson: ...