Chapter 001: I Really Don’t Want to Be Reborn

Chapter 001: I Really Don't Want to Be Reborn

July's fleeting heat, the cicadas chirping softly.

In the courtyard, under the flower trellis of tea roses, a six or seven-year-old girl lay sprawled on the stone table, utterly lacking in grace as she stared blankly.

The maid beside her looked worried, her mouth opening and closing a few times, but she ultimately said nothing.

Their Third Miss, despite her young age, had always been steady and resilient. Even the princess and the prince consort held her in higher regard and never treated her as an ignorant child.

“...Zhuang Gong's dream of a butterfly?”

Gu Qingcheng muttered silently.

She stretched out her right hand, flipping it back and forth in the air.

The skin on the back of her hand was dark, while her palm was still relatively soft, except for a thin callus on the index and middle fingers, a mark left from long hours of writing.

The bright sunlight danced on her palm, stinging her eyes painfully.

Pain?

Gu Qingcheng squinted. So, she wasn't dreaming.

Then, had she really gone back to her childhood?

A soul returning to a new body?

No, she was very familiar with this body.

Even without looking in the mirror, without seeing her face, just by looking at her hands and feet, and the bamboo slips laid out on the stone table, she could be certain—

This was her!

Gu Qing.

Yes, Qing. Her original name was Gu Qing, the 'qing' in 'generations of dukes and ministers,' given by her princess mother.

Her parents' expectations were simple and direct, hoping she would enjoy a life of honor and wealth.

Subsequent events proved that her mother hadn't given her the wrong name; she indeed became the most honored woman under heaven. Her husband respected her, her children and grandchildren were filial, she lived in prosperity, and was honored after death.

The name Gu Qingcheng was one she took for herself after her coming-of-age ceremony.

Not because she lived up to the name, but as a self-deprecating remark about her “broad-mindedness”—

“There is a beauty in the north, peerless and independent; a glance from her can overthrow a city, a second glance can overthrow a nation.”

Qingcheng, or overthrowing a city and nation, described an unparalleled beauty, but she, Gu Qing, was a talentless and ugly woman.

After her death, the history books would likely write: Saintly Empress, a woman of the Wu Prefecture Gu family, naturally intelligent, talented in many arts, but with yellow hair and a dark face…

Ugly!

Comparable to Queen Huan of Qi.

The Gu family was a clan from Wu Prefecture, not nouveau riche. From her grandfather to her father, they were erudite scholars famous throughout the land.

They wouldn't shallowly despise their granddaughter (or daughter) for her ugliness.

They had taught Gu Qingcheng from a young age to read, filling herself with knowledge.

So, Gu Qingcheng wasn't self-conscious. She could even calmly accept the ridicule directed at her.

To demonstrate her psychological strength, she had even taken the name “Qingcheng” as her courtesy name.

The world admired her broad-mindedness, and Gu Qingcheng herself believed she truly didn't care about her appearance or the strange looks from others.

Because her excellence didn't need beauty to prove it.

With her talent and extraordinary vision, she had chosen the neglected royal of the Northern Dynasty, Yuh Wenhang, and assisted him all the way to the throne.

Unifying the north and south, reforming the bureaucracy, expelling the Turks, establishing the imperial examinations... she helped Yuh Wenhang create a prosperous era, and she became a virtuous empress and empress dowager remembered by history.

Looking back on Gu Qingcheng's life, she had been loved by her parents, supported by her siblings, respected by her husband, and filial by her children and grandchildren.

She had almost no regrets!

And someone with no regrets like hers probably had no need to be reborn.

Gu Qingcheng had already confirmed she wasn't dreaming, so her situation was most likely a rebirth after death.

“But I don't want to be reborn!”

Gu Qingcheng withdrew her hand and lay back on the stone table, completely without the excitement of getting a second chance at life.

“Third Miss! Third Miss!”

At that moment, a maid came running from afar.

She was probably very flustered, forgetting etiquette for a moment, and actually shouted in the courtyard: “Third Miss! The Long Princess requests your presence!”

Gu Qingcheng didn't react at all.

Because even without going, she knew why her mother called her.

Having confirmed her rebirth and glanced at her reading notes, she realized she had returned to the year she was six.

That year, especially in the summer, what major events had happened?

The powerful minister Chen Jing was in control, and my grandfather, unable to bear to be complicit with him, was framed by Chen Jing.

My mother was originally Jiangling Princess of this dynasty, but the royal family has become weak. The emperor is a puppet in Chen Jing's hands, so what chance did a princess who had long been married off have?

Chen Jing forced the emperor to issue an edict, not only dismissing my grandfather Gu Yi from his position as Zhongshu Ling, but also exiling the entire Gu family to Lingnan.

The Gu family was an old and established clan of the Southern Dynasty, with marital ties spread throughout the entire aristocratic class.

Before the imperial decree could even be delivered, the Gu family had already received the news.

Gu Qingcheng's father, Gu Yong, after an urgent consultation with his wife, Jiangling Princess, decided to flee with his family to the Northern Dynasty.

Although the Southern and Northern Dynasties have been in opposition for hundreds of years, they were not truly hostile to each other.

Especially for the clans on both sides, when persecuted in their own dynasty, they would escape to the other side.

Last year, when the Wang family, relatives of the Gu family, fell into trouble, the head of the family fled to the Northern Dynasty with several legitimate sons.

Gu Qingcheng's elder sister, Gu Youning, was the newlywed wife of the Wang family's eldest legitimate son, and she left with her husband as well.

Not long after fleeing to the Northern Dynasty, Gu Youning sent a letter back home.

Their family was doing well in the Northern Dynasty, and the Northern Dynasty emperor had granted Gu Youning's eldest brother from the Wang family a position as the head of the Guozijian.

The rank was not high, but it was esteemed for its prestige and suited the status of the Wang family's son from Langya.

With the Wang family as an example, Gu Qing's parents began planning to move to the Northern Dynasty as well.

However, Gu Yi found it hard to part with his homeland.

The Gu family was different from the Wang family.

The Wang family were northern aristocrats who had migrated south, so returning to the Northern Dynasty was considered a "return to their roots."

The Gu family, on the other hand, were a genuine southern aristocratic family, having lived in the south for generations, with ancestral graves and family shrines all located there.

Of course, Gu Yi was not a rigid or conservative person. He decided on a two-pronged approach:

His eldest son, Gu Yong, would lead the family to flee to the Northern Dynasty, while he and a few old servants would remain in the Southern Dynasty.

As for the exile to Lingnan, so be it!

Gu Yi traveled extensively in his youth and had even been to the south of the Five Ridges.

He did not fear Lingnan like the rest of the world did, as if it were a tiger.

This exile would be treated as another journey. He might even get to taste the sweetness of lychee again.

Gu Qingcheng remembered it clearly. In her previous life, she had fled north to the Northern Dynasty with her brother, cousins, and other family members under the protection of the family's private army, leaving Jiankang overnight.

After arriving in the Northern Dynasty, Gu Qingcheng began her rapid ascent.

...The same thing has happened again in this lifetime, but Gu Qingcheng is completely uninterested.

"I really don’t want to be reborn!"

No regrets, no resentment, is it just about following the pattern of your previous life and walking the same path again?

What’s the point in that?

"In your heart, is there truly no obsession?"

Suddenly, a strangely toned voice echoed in Gu Qingcheng's ears.

If Gu Qingcheng had gone to the future and listened to audiobooks, she would have recognized it as a mechanical voice.

Who?

Who is speaking?

A sudden shock rippled through Gu Qingcheng’s heart. However, her years of experience in the former dynasty and the imperial palace had made her incredibly composed and cautious.

She didn’t shout or look around.

She subtly moved her eyes, discreetly observing her surroundings.

Apart from her two maids and the careless maid who was running and shouting, there was no one else.

"No need to look! You won’t be able to see me." The mechanical voice sounded again.

Gu Qingcheng grew even more vigilant.

She didn’t speak but silently asked in her mind, “Who are you? A ghost or a monster?”

As a scholar, Gu Qingcheng firmly believed in "Confucius not speaking of strange powers and chaos gods."

Yet, the sudden voice in her mind caused her beliefs to waver.

"I am neither a ghost nor a monster. I am a system. You can give me a name or simply call me 'System.'"

System?

Which two characters?

Why does it feel odd?

"Oh, never mind what I am. Let me ask you, did you truly have no regrets in your previous life?"

"Given a chance to relive your life, don’t you want to take a different path?"

The system continued with its mechanical voice, but there was a hint of seduction in its tone.

Was there really no regret in her previous life?

Gu Qingcheng reached out to touch her thin and yellowish hair, then looked at her dark and grimy hands.

"I want to become beautiful! The kind of stunning beauty that can captivate the world! Can you help me achieve that?"

"Yes! As long as you bind with me and complete the tasks as required, you can fulfill your wish!"

"…Alright! I’m willing!"

Although the unknown carried risks, having been reborn, she was determined to live freely and gracefully.