Chapter 1: Time Travel
After the rain, a cool autumn breeze blew through Qingquan Village.
Gu Jiaoniang chased after someone to the village entrance, her head dripping with sweat. "Xiao Qinxiang, Xiao Qinxiang!" she called out.
Smack!
She slipped and fell on the ground, her face covered in mud, as the carriage in front of her drove off and disappeared into the distance.
The people around her burst out laughing.
Gu Jiaoniang was the village fool, and her husband was a crippled man. Despite having a decent husband, she always chased after Xiao Qinxiang, the son of a wealthy businessman and a scholar, who was known for his good looks. How could he ever be interested in someone like her?
"Who does she think she is, trying to catch the prince charming?" one person mocked.
"Exactly! Look at her, she's just a raggedy old shoe," another chimed in.
"Ugly duckling!"
"Village idiot!"
Gu Jiaoniang was furious. She stood up straight and said fiercely, "You...you can't insult me!"
A child jumped out from the crowd and started teasing her, "Nyah nyah nyah! Little idiot, little idiot, little idiot! Ugly duckling, ugly duckling, ugly duckling!"
Gu Jiaoniang, now filled with anger and shame, lunged at the child, only to trip and fall into the water.
As she sank to the bottom of the lake, losing consciousness, she suddenly opened her eyes.
What was going on? Wasn't she on a mission when the plane crashed into an iceberg, killing everyone on board? How did she end up in the water?
With all her might, Gu Jiaoniang swam to the shore. But, perhaps due to her injuries, she found it difficult to move her body.
Finally, when she managed to get to the shore, she felt completely drained of energy.
The villagers, who had seen her fall into the water, were just about to use a fishing rod to pull her out. But when they saw her emerge on her own, they all scattered.
Gu Jiao niang was confused and disoriented. She lay on the cold grass, wiping the water droplets from her face. Suddenly, she froze as she looked down at her hands, questioning the reality.
These were small hands of a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl, but she was already twenty-eight. How could she have such delicate hands?
As a queen of the special agent industry, she was an expert in maintaining her appearance, yet her hands were covered in frostbite, and some parts even cracked.
Soon, Gu Jiaoniang realized that not only had her hands changed, but even her clothing and figure were different.
A bold guess flashed through her mind.
She leaned over the water surface, trying to see what she looked like now but almost fell in.
What was with all these colorful things?
Gu Jiao washed the cheap rouge off her face with water, but unexpectedly, she became even uglier. She was thin and yellow-faced, and there was a large red rash on the left side of her face that extended to the corner of her eye.
Gu Jiao, who in her previous life would be irritated for three days over a small pimple, suddenly had such an ugly face. She wished she could die again on the spot!
"By the way, where is this? And what dynasty is it?"
As soon as she spoke, her brain throbbed with pain, and a memory that didn't belong to her rushed in like a torrent.
It turns out that she had traveled to a dynasty that did not exist in history, and this village was called Qingquan Village, located at the foot of Qingquan Mountain.
The original owner was also named Gu Jiao and was the only child of the third branch of the Gu family.
Gu Lao Ye (Grandpa Gu) was a scholar when he was young and had passed the exam to become a child scholar. After that, he became the village magistrate of Qingquan Village, and he had been doing this for many years. Qingquan Village was poor, and being the village magistrate didn't pay well, but he was still able to make a living.
Gu Lao Ye had three sons and one daughter, the eldest son Gu Changhai had a son and a daughter with Zhou Shi, the second son Gu Changlu had two sons with Liu Shi.
The first two branches had a prosperous population, but in the third branch, there was no offspring for some reason.
It wasn't until Gu Jiao was born that the third branch finally had an heir, but it was a girl, and she was ugly and mentally retarded since birth.
Using the words of the village, this was a losing proposition. No, even if you give it away for free, you can't sell it!
Since Gu Jiao was born, there were no more children in the third branch.
The village gradually spread rumors that Gu Jiao is a badluck, and that's why all the sons of the third branch were killed.
At first, the Gu family just listened and didn't take it too seriously. It wasn't until Gu Jiao's parents passed away one after another that the Gu family finally felt that this child was indeed cursed.
Gu's family is using their connections everywhere to try and marry off Gu Jiao, but the question is, who dares to marry her?
As luck would have it, one day Gu Jiao was strolling at the village entrance and came across a man who had fainted from hunger, so she picked him up.
She lay on the cold grass and wiped the water droplets off her face, and then she was stunned.
Halfway there, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, and when she touched it, her hand was full of blood. She must have hit a stone underwater earlier and cut herself badly, and she needed to stop the bleeding as soon as possible.
While thinking about this, she entered her own yard. It was more like a small open space surrounded by a fence than a yard. Apart from the hall, the thatched cottage had two rooms, and the larger one on the east side was Gu Jiao's.
What a miserable crossing!
As Gu Jiao walked towards a dilapidated thatched cottage in the western part of the village, she was digesting the memories in her mind.
As Gu Jiao sighed, she pushed open the door with her hand. However, as soon as she crossed the threshold, she sensed someone inside the house.
From the breathing, it was a man.
The man was hiding behind the door, trying to hold his breath.
A cold smile appeared at the corner of Gu Jiao's mouth. She pretended to walk into the room casually, slammed the door shut with a bang, and at almost the same moment, she grabbed the man who was hiding behind the door and threw him to the ground!
The man was taller and stronger than she had imagined.
If it were in her past life, even if she were taller, Gu Jiao wouldn't be afraid. However, with her current small and weak body, she used all her strength to press down on the man, barely locking him in place.
She grabbed his wrist with one hand and choked his neck with the other, her expression cold as she asked, "Who are you? What are you doing in my room?"
The man was initially stunned, but then a wave of embarrassment rushed over him. "Gu Jiao, have you gone crazy? It's me!"
Someone she knew?
A familiar person committing a crime?
That was even more despicable.
Instead of letting go of him, Gu Jiao sat down even harder, pressing the man's waist and abdomen even tighter.
"You...get off me!" The man gritted his teeth, his tone icy.
"Hmph." Gu Jiao sneered.
She was used to ordering people around, not the other way around. Besides, this was her room. She hadn't even asked him what he was doing sneaking around in there!
Gu Jiao raised her fist, intending to teach him a lesson, but her elbow accidentally hit the window frame behind her.
Bright light shone in, illuminating the man's clear and handsome face. Gu Jiao's eyes widened in surprise.