Chapter 1: Reborn in Ancient Times

  In the spring of 2013, Xi Yuan Cemetery.

  Tang Ruohong, holding an umbrella, glanced at the crowd standing around the tomb, these people of all shapes and sizes were her foster mother's students, and today was the day her foster mother was laid to rest.

  After the funeral, people gradually dispersed. Ni Pu Zhen, the biological daughter of her adoptive mother, was led away by her husband Wang Xun, sobbing.

  Only she was left in front of the tomb.

  The rain continued to fall without stopping, the raindrops monotonously splashing against the ground, always the same, never-ending.

  A vagrant with a dirty woven bag was watching her from five meters away, his whole body drenched by the rain. Qing Sang knew he had set his sights on the fresh flowers and fruits in front of the grave, and once she left, they would become his spoils.

  The beggar beckoned him over with a wave of his hand.

  As the vagrant approached, Yifeng handed him a plate of fruit and said, "Take these, but don't take those flowers, they won't sell for much money!"

  The vagrant nodded, took over the plate, poured all the fruit into a woven bag, and returned the plate to Ruohua.

  He looked at him, his long hair to the neck was wet by the rain, and stuck to his scalp and face. Even the flushing of the rain could not wash away the dirt on his face, it can be seen that he had not taken good care of himself for several days.

  The vagrant walked away, taking out an apple from his woven bag and savoring it. Suddenly, he turned around and gave Rong a meaningful smile, revealing his surprisingly white teeth, which left her stunned. How could such a dirty vagrant have such clean and good teeth?

  "Sister, what's wrong? Why are you holding a plate?" The silvery voice rang out, pulling back Yilian's thoughts.

  "Nothing much, I just gave a plate of fruit to that vagrant. Rongrong, how did you get here?" asked Ruohua.

  "I was worried about you, so I took a leave to come and see you. Little Ning's teacher has passed away, don't be too sad, at least she can reunite with Big Ning's teacher down there," said Rongrong.

  Yifeng smiled, yes, they reunited in another world. Yifeng's adoptive parents were both surnamed Ning and were university professors. So everyone was used to calling her adoptive father Da Ning Laoshi (Teacher) and her adoptive mother Xiao Ning Laoshi (Teacher). They were a enviable loving couple when they were alive. In the few years since her adoptive father's death, her adoptive mother had also become depressed and unhappy.

  Rong Rong is her younger sister who grew up with her in the orphanage.

  "Sister, you're just too kind-hearted. Why did you give the fruit to that vagrant?" Rongrong complained.

  "Mother loved flowers before she passed away. Using these fruits to exchange for these flowers and having them stay in front of her tomb a few more days is fine too. Besides, that person is indeed pitiful." said Ruo Ling.

  "Alas... how do you know he won't come back and take these flowers to sell again? Here, sis, I bought this milk on the way, look at how tired you've been these past few days. Don't even know how to take care of yourself." Rongrong said as she tore open the straw packaging, wanting to insert the straw into the milk.

  Liang smiled and said, "Thank you. Our orphanage director always says that treating others with sincerity will get them to treat us sincerely in return, right? I believe he won't come back again."

  Rong Rong's face became uneasy after hearing this, and her hand holding the straw trembled slightly.

  Ruo Ling put down the plate in her hand and took over the milk to drink.

  Drinking the milk Rongrong had prepared for her, Yufeng felt warm all over. No matter how she was deceived and hurt, at least she still had Rongrong who was like a sister to her and her best friend Ye'er.

  "You..." The milk splashed to the ground, Ruo Ling covered her stomach, looking at Rong Rong in shock, the severe pain made her faint and fall to the ground, the umbrella fell aside.

  "Sister, don't blame me, I had no choice but to do this, or Wang Xun would have exposed me..." Rongrong knelt before her, wailing in anguish.

  Wang Xun... you can't even tolerate me! A crystal tear dropped from Ruo Ling's face, mixed with the rainwater and fell into the plate she had just placed on the ground.

  His consciousness grew increasingly blurred, and everything in front of him disappeared.

  In the spring of the 23rd year of Hongjing, the Minister of Revenue, Fu Jiayearn, was in his mansion.

  Thirteen-year-old Pu Qing Sang, the third young lady of the Pu Manor, was gazing at the wisteria vines on the artificial hill that had already sprouted tender buds and sighing. Even though it had been five years since she transmigrated and was reborn, everything before her eyes still seemed like a dream.

  Yes, Tang Ruoling has been reborn for five years.

  She is now the third daughter of Pu Jinye, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue in the Xuan Dynasty, Pu Qing Sang.

  Pu Ji inherited the title of Grand Master in his youth, married Liu Shi, the daughter of the current Prime Minister. Then he stepped into the clouds and rose to prominence, and at the age of 30, he was already serving as the Minister of Revenue, in charge of the household registration, economy, finance and other affairs of the Xuan Dynasty, with a rank of Grade 3 official.

  The road to success was smooth for Pu Jiayuan, but his descendants were not prosperous. His wife, Liu, gave birth to two daughters in a row: the eldest daughter, Qingyu, is now 17 years old; the second daughter, Qingbi, is now 16 years old, and she did not give birth again after that.

  Liu's virtuous and gentle, upholding the teachings of "no offspring means no filial piety", she took charge and gave Xiangyun, a maid from her dowry, to Pu Jiannian as his wife. Unfortunately, Xiangyun didn't live up to expectations, and after more than a year, there was still no news of her bearing children. In desperation, Liu's family then took in Zhengshi, the youngest daughter of a wealthy merchant family in Beijing, as a concubine. Little did they know that Zhengshi was frail and fell ill every other day after arriving, becoming a constant medicine jar, let alone the matter of carrying on the family line.

  Liu's wife did not want to bring in other women one by one to cause trouble for herself, but they were all disappointing. In the end, after listening to her mother-in-law Pu Mo's advice, she also felt that it was good to raise a rough and simple child, which added a fourth house to her husband, Wang Shi, the daughter of the owner of Wangjiazhuang in the countryside, who is also the mother of Qing Sang.

  Wang's family finally had a son after having two daughters, Qing Sang and Qing He. The son, Jia Bao, is now three years old.

  The whole family was overjoyed, and Grandma took charge and gave him a small name, Bao, with the big name to be chosen later when he started school.

  When Ruo Ling arrived in this world, the body she was in was only eight years old. It is said that the original owner of this body and Er Jie Qing Bi fought over a black ebony hairpin and fell into the Lotus Pond, sleeping for three days before waking up. After waking up, Ruo Ling became Qing Sang, or more accurately, Qing Sang became Ruo Ling.

  I had thought that I was already past the age of 30 and considered an old leftover woman. Originally, I was preparing to get married on National Day, but it was ruined by Rongrong, who is like a younger sister to me. Not only did she change my plans, but also changed the trajectory of my fate.

  Qingsang thought of past life affairs, his heart was like a knife cut, and he felt more depressed and hard to calm down.

  "Has Sanmei's body been feeling a bit better lately?" Just as she was lost in thought, she heard a gentle female voice behind her, and turned around to see it was her elder sister, Pu Qingyu.

  Qingyu wore a lotus-red skirt today, with a light gray brocade jacket outside, her black hair coiled into two buns on top of her head, adorned with two peach-shaped hairpins, and the bright colors matched perfectly with the beautiful spring day.

  Qing Sang got up and replied, "I asked the doctor to take a look yesterday, and there's nothing serious." In the past few days, the spring chill had been alternating, Qing Sang had accidentally caught a cold and lay in bed for a few days, eating bitter medicine that made her feel miserable. If it were in the 21st century, with just this little cold, drinking a few packets of Ban Lan Gen would have solved the problem.

  "On a spring day, the weather is unpredictable, so you must take care of yourself, little sister." Qing Yu took Qing Sang's hand and felt that it was icy cold. Seeing that Qing Sang only wore a thin dress with half sleeves, she frowned and asked: "Where is Xue Pen? She's not taking good care of you. You've just recovered from illness, and now you're catching a chill again."

  Qing Sang's eyes flashed with emotion. In this family, the eldest sister was the most gentle and considerate, so when she traveled through to this place, the first person she got along well with was Qing Yu.

  "My mother has just bought some fabric for me and He Er, I told Xue Pan to bring it over." Qing Sang pulled Qing Yu down to sit with her on the small stone bench in the garden.

  "You, why don't you go pick some that suit your taste? In two more years, you'll be wearing a hairpin, and you should learn to dress yourself up." Qingyu said as she took off a hair ornament from her own head and put it on Qingsang's undecorated bun. "Look, with this, you look even prettier."

  Qing Sang smiled sweetly and said, "Thank you, elder sister, for the hairpin. This is the pink crystal peach blossom hairpin that mother bought from Zhen Bao Zhai two days ago, isn't it?"

  "It's true, Mother went to her father's house two days ago and on the way back saw this pair of peach blossom hairpins at Zhen Bao shop. She thought they were just right for the occasion, so she bought them for me." Qing Yu smiled as she gazed at Qing Sang, this younger sister had become more and more gentle and pleasant since she was eight years old, no longer as wild and mischievous as before.

  Qingsang, the original owner of this body, was indeed not a thrifty lamp. He liked to be competitive and often clashed with his second sister Qingshi. Although Qingshi's temper wasn't good either, she was still the legitimate daughter, and her maternal grandfather was the current prime minister. The old lady and father couldn't help but indulge her, while Qingsang was a concubine-born child, and his mother's family background wasn't impressive. With an unpleasant temperament to boot, he became someone everyone disliked.

  At that time, Qingbi was also at fault for falling into the water. As the old saying goes, "One palm can't make a sound." Unexpectedly, before Qingbi could utter a word of blame, Qing Sang woke up from her daze and hadn't even figured out what was happening when she was summoned by Old Lady to receive a scolding, being told that "Girls from small families are just not well-mannered, they're raised like country bumpkins." Qing Sang, who had just crossed over into this world in a daze, thought the old lady sitting on the kang wasn't even her own grandmother.

  However, she soon figured out the situation from her personal maid Xue Pan. The identity of being a concubine-born was a problem, but the personality of this original body's owner was also a big problem.

  Qing Sang's past life loved to study classical literature, and her foster parents were from a family of scholars, teaching her Go and painting, so in this life, she was not afraid of being inferior to others in terms of talent.

  As for getting along with people, Qing Sang's past life experiences helped her a lot. As an orphan, she had to make a living too early, so she developed a gentle and quiet temperament, which was added to her exceptional intelligence and the experience of thirty years in her previous life, making her even more able to observe people's words and expressions, and guess their thoughts.

  So, after a good scolding from Old Lady Qing, the newly awakened Qing Sang made up her mind to change her poor situation in this household.

  After careful consideration, comprehensive analysis and the use of tailored measures, soon everyone else was taken down except for Pu Jinyan and Pu Qingbi.

  Just as Qing Sang was worried about how to change Pu Ji's impression of her, a game of Go unexpectedly helped her.

  I still remember that day, Qingbi was eager to play chess with Qingsang. This Qingbi's other skills were average, but his chess skills were excellent, every time he would use this to provoke Qingsang, every time he had to win, and every time he would get praised by the elders at home. Now Qingsang is deeply loved by everyone, Qingbi felt uncomfortable in his heart, so he used his old trick again.

  Qing Sang sneered inwardly, she had started learning Go at the age of five and although not a master, was an amateur sixth dan, more than enough to deal with a child. Sure enough, Qing Bi was defeated by Qing Sang without leaving any room for comeback.

  At that time, the two were busy playing chess and didn't notice that Pu Jinyan had been standing beside them watching for a long time.

  Qingbi lost, couldn't believe it, and only said that Qing Sang was lucky, shouting to come again. As a result, the next five games were all defeated, and Qingbi, who had always been proud and arrogant, suddenly felt ashamed and angry, pushed the chessboard away, and stormed off. If it were the old Qing Sang, they would have fought long ago, but now Qing Sang stood aside and said calmly: "Victory and defeat are common in war, Second Sister, why be so upset?"

  "Spoken well!" Pu Jiannian finally believed that Qing Sang had indeed changed his nature, not only being polite and courteous in words and deeds, but also making great progress in his studies. It seems that the old lady's and Madame's words were not in vain.

  Pu Jiannian is actually not as serious as he appears on the surface, but rather has a kind fatherly air, rarely scolding his children and loving talent extremely, even if it's his daughter, hoping she will be talented. As an official and the head of a large household, his words and actions must set an example, so he doesn't speak or laugh casually normally.

  Qingbi saw that it was her father, twisted her body and coquettishly said that Qing Sang was unlearned and relied on cleverness to win. Qing Sang lowered her head without refuting, she wanted to see how Pu Jinye would judge after all.

  Only then did Pu Jiannian angrily shout: "Your father has been watching you play chess for a long time, and it's clear that your skills are not refined. Your technique is far inferior to your sister's, and the quality of your chess is even more lacking. As punishment, you will be confined to copying out 'The Female Classic' fifty times, and you won't be allowed to eat until you're done." Having said this, he took Qing Sang with him and left.

  Qing Sang didn't think Pu Jiayuan would help her, and even scolded Qing Bi. She was so moved that she shed tears. Pu Jiayuan saw Qing Sang's tear-stained face and thought she had been wronged, so he gently wiped away her tears. From then on, the relationship between father and daughter greatly improved.

  Qing Sang, not being a person of this world, was not bound by the teachings of father-daughter relationships. She saw that Pu Jiayuan was actually not as serious as he seemed, often calling out "dad" and asking questions while holding books. Pu Jiayuan, seeing that Qing Sang did not treat him with reserve, and her sweet words and eagerness to learn, naturally grew more fond of her. Qing Sang had a liking for classical literature from her past life, and with the foundation she had built over the years, she was able to recite poetry and compose verses on par with Pu Jiayuan, which made him even more enamored with her. When Pu Jiayuan punished Qing Bi, the news reached Old Lady's ears, but she only said lightly: "Although it was a heavy punishment, Bi'er should also reflect on herself." And as for Liu Shi, she had no objections to this. From then on, Qing Sang truly established herself in the Pu household and settled down.

  These five years, except for being occasionally cold-shouldered and ridiculed by Second Sister Qingbi, Qing Sang's days in the Pu manor have been getting better and better. Therefore, regarding everything now, Qing Sang is extremely satisfied.

  At this time, Qing Sang was chatting with her elder sister Qing Yu very happily.

  Suddenly, a book boy named Xi Mo who was serving beside Pu Ji Nian came running over, panting and saying that the master had summoned the two young ladies to the front hall for an important matter.

  The two of them heard this and looked at each other, then stood up together and went to the front hall.