Chapter 1 I Really Don’t Want to Be Reborn

The sun is scorching in July and the cicadas are chirping.

In the courtyard, under the camellia flower stand, a girl of six or seven years old was lying on the stone table in a daze without any manners.

The maid beside her was a little worried. She opened and closed her mouth several times, but in the end she didn't say anything.

Although Sanniang in their family is young, she has always been calm and strong-willed. Even the princess and the prince consort in the family value her very much and do not treat her as an ignorant child at all.

"…Duke Zhuang dreamed of a butterfly?"

Gu Qingcheng muttered silently.

She stretched out her right hand and flipped it over and over in mid-air.

The skin on the back of the hand is very dark, while the palm is relatively soft, except for a thin layer of calluses on the index and middle fingers, which are left from holding a pen and writing for a long time.

The bright sunlight danced in the palm of my hand, stinging my eyes.

Pain? Gu Qingcheng narrowed her eyes, so she was not dreaming.

So, she really went back to her childhood? Resurrection?

No, she was very familiar with this body.

Even without looking in the mirror and unable to see her face, she could be sure by just looking at her hands and feet, as well as the bamboo slips spread out on the stone table.

This is her!

Aqing of the Gu family.

Yes, Aqing, her real name was Gu Qing. The "Qing" in "hereditary nobles" was obtained by her princess A'niang herself.

Her parents' expectations were simple and direct; they hoped that she would live a life of wealth and glory.

Subsequent facts proved that A'niang did not give her a wrong name. She indeed became the most noble woman in the world, respected by her husband, filial to her children and grandchildren, rich in life, and honored after death.

The name Gu Qingcheng was given to herself after she came of age.

It's not that the name is as good as her, but her self-deprecation of being "open-minded" -

"There is a beauty in the north, peerless and independent; one look from her could conquer a city, another look could conquer a country."

The phrase "captivating beauty" is used to describe a peerless beauty, but Gu Qing is an ugly woman with talent but no looks.

After her death, the history books would probably write: Empress Shengde, daughter of the Gu family of Wujun, intelligent and talented, but with yellow hair and black face...

So ugly!

Comparable to Queen Xuan of Qi.

The Gu family is a Wujun clan, not a nouveau riche family. From grandfather to father, they are all well-educated and famous people.

They would not be so superficial as to dislike their granddaughter (daughter) for being ugly.

They taught Gu Qingcheng since she was young, letting her read and enrich herself with knowledge.

Therefore, Gu Qingcheng does not feel inferior. Instead, she can calmly accept other people's ridicule towards her.

In order to show that she was mentally strong enough, she even gave herself a nickname "Qingcheng".

Everyone admired her broad-mindedness, and Gu Qingcheng also felt that she really didn't care about her appearance or the strange looks from others.

Because of her excellence, she doesn't need her looks to prove it.

Relying on her talent and extraordinary vision, she chose Yuwen Heng, an unappreciated member of the Northern Dynasty royal family, and assisted him all the way to the throne.

She unified the north and the south, reformed the civil service, expelled the Turks, and opened up the imperial examination system... She helped Yuwen Heng create a prosperous era, and she also became a virtuous queen and queen mother whose name went down in history.

Looking back on Gu Qingcheng's life, she was loved by her parents, cared for by her brothers and sisters, respected by her husband, and filial to her children and grandchildren.

She has almost no regrets! And for someone like her who has no regrets in her heart, there should be no need to be reborn.

Gu Qingcheng was certain that she was not dreaming, so her situation must be rebirth after death.

"But I don't want to be reborn!"

Gu Qingcheng withdrew her hand and laid back on the stone table. She had no surprise at all that her life could be lived over again.

"Sanniang! Sanniang!"

Just at this moment, a maid came running from a distance.

She must have been very flustered and forgot the rules for a moment, and actually shouted in the yard: "Sanniang! The princess invites you to come over!"

Gu Qingcheng didn't react at all.

Because she didn't have to go, she knew what her mother asked her to do.

After she was sure that she was reborn, she looked at her reading notes and realized that she had returned to the age of six.

What major events happened this year, especially in the summer?

The powerful official Chen Jing was in power, and my grandfather could not bear to be associated with him, so he was framed by Chen Jing.

My mother was the Princess Jiangling of this dynasty, but the royal family declined and the emperor was a puppet in the hands of Chen Jing, let alone a princess who had already married off?

Chen Jing forced the emperor to issue an edict, not only dismissing his grandfather Gu Heng from his position as Minister of the Central Secretariat, but also exiling the entire Gu family to Lingnan.

The Gu family is an old aristocratic family in the Southern Dynasty, with relatives throughout the entire powerful class.

The Gu family knew the news before the imperial edict was delivered.

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

Although the Southern and Northern Dynasties had been in opposition for hundreds of years, the two sides were not really as hostile as water and fire.

Especially the aristocratic families on both sides, once they encountered persecution in their own dynasty, they would flee to the other side.

Last year, the Wang family, a relative of the Gu family, fell into trouble, and the head of the family fled to the Northern Dynasty with several legitimate male descendants.

Gu Qingcheng's biological sister, Gu Youning, is the new wife of the eldest son of the Wang family, and she left with her husband.

Not long after fleeing to the Northern Dynasty, Gu Youning sent someone to deliver a letter to his family.

Everything was going well for the family in the Northern Dynasty, and the emperor even gave the eldest son of the Wang family an official position as the chief priest of the Imperial College Temple.

The rank is not high, but it is noble and elegant, which is in line with the identity of the son of Wang family of Langya.

With the example of the Wang family, Gu Qing's parents planned to go to the Northern Dynasty as well.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

However, Gu Heng was reluctant to leave his hometown.

The Gu family is different from the Wang family.

The Wang family was a northern aristocratic family that migrated south to the Northern Dynasties, which was a return to their homeland.

However, the Gu family is a genuine southern family. Generations of them have grown up here, and their ancestral tombs, ancestral halls, etc. are also here.

Of course, Gu Heng was not a rigid and pedantic person. He decided to split his troops into two groups: his eldest son Gu Yi led his family to escape to the Northern Dynasty, while he and several old servants stayed in the Southern Dynasty.

As for exile to Lingnan, then exile! When Gu Heng was young, he traveled around to study and once went to the south of the Five Ridges.

He was not like other people who feared Lingnan like a tiger.

During this exile, I can take it as a chance to travel again and taste the sweetness of lychees again.

Gu Qingcheng remembered it very clearly. In her previous life, she, her brother, cousins ​​and others followed her father. Under the protection of the family's troops, they escaped from Jiankang overnight and headed straight for the Northern Dynasty.

Only after going to the Northern Dynasty did Gu Qingcheng have the subsequent road to success.

…The same thing happened again in this life, but Gu Qingcheng had no interest at all.

"I really don't want to be reborn!"

There are no regrets, no unwillingness. Am I just going to walk the same path again according to the pattern of the previous life?

What's the point? "You really don't have any obsession in your heart?"

A voice with a strange tone suddenly sounded in Gu Qingcheng's ears.

If Gu Qingcheng had been to the future and listened to e-books, she would have known that this was a mechanical sound.

Who? Who's talking?

Gu Qingcheng was suddenly startled, but her many years of experience in the former court and the harem made her extremely calm and cautious.

She didn't scream or even look around.

She rolled her eyes slightly and looked around inconspicuously.

There was no one else except her two maids and the reckless maid who was running and shouting.

"Don't look for it! You can't see me." The mechanical voice sounded again.

Gu Qingcheng became more alert.

She didn't speak, but asked silently with her brain: "Who are you? A ghost or a goblin?"

As a scholar, Gu Qingcheng firmly believes that "a gentleman should not talk about strange things, supernatural powers, or gods."

But the voice that suddenly sounded in her mind made her understanding collapse.

"I'm not a ghost or a demon, I'm a system. You can name me or just call me system!"

Xitong?

Which two words?

Why is it so weird?

"Oh, don't worry about what I am. I just want to ask you, do you really have no regrets in your past life?"

"If you could live your life all over again, wouldn't you really want to have a different life?"

The system continued to speak in a mechanical voice, but there was a hint of temptation in its tone.

Is there really no regret in the previous life? Gu Qingcheng reached out and touched her sparse yellow hair, then looked at her dark hands.

"I want to be beautiful! The kind of beauty that can captivate the whole country and seduce everyone! Can you help me do that?"

"Yes! As long as you bind yourself to me and complete the tasks as required, you can achieve your wish!"

"...Okay! I do!"

Although the unknown is full of risks, now that she has been reborn, she will live freely and unrestrainedly.

(End of this chapter)