Chapter 1: Apricot Blossoms Are Here

Jiangning City, a small bluestone courtyard in Huaihua Alley.

A little girl was acting sneakily, circling around her elder sister who was scooping rice in the courtyard, and slipped into the shed where miscellaneous items were kept; she skillfully rummaged through a pile of useless clutter, pulled out a small cloth bag, a flash of joy crossed her eyes, and she silently grinned.

Her name was Ruan Xing, and half a month ago, she had transmigrated after dying suddenly from staying up late to read a novel, becoming this six-year-old yellow-haired girl named Ruan Xing; fortunately, the Transmigration God was quite kind to her, equipping her with a golden finger—a simulator that could simulate a life.

Opening the small cloth bag, there were nine coins inside; Ruan Xing reached into the inner side of her clothes with her small hand and took out another one.

Hehe, adding the copper coin she stole from her cheap father last night, she had finally scraped together ten coins.

"System, activate for me!"

Ruan Xing couldn't wait to recite this in her heart, and immediately, another voice sounded in her mind.

【Ding, the simulator has been activated! The first activation grants one free simulation! Subsequent simulations require one point! Do you wish to proceed with the simulation?】

Yo, an unexpected bonus; anyway, her father and mother weren't home, and her sister was busy cooking lunch in the kitchen, so they wouldn't be able to look after her for a while; she had plenty of time, and Ruan Xing didn't hesitate:

"Start simulation!"

【Simulation in progress】

Six years old, your father is an alcoholic and a gambler, and the family cannot make ends meet; he decides to sell you and your sister to save on household expenses; your mother begs bitterly to no avail, and you and your sister are sold for a total of ten taels of Silver.

Seven years old, the human trafficker sells your sister to a wealthy family as a maid, and because your appearance is passable, you are sold into Nuanxiang Pavilion; the madam of Nuanxiang Pavilion thinks you are a talent worth molding and teaches you to Dance.

Eight years old, you practice your dance skills diligently.

Nine years old, you practice your dance skills diligently.

……

Fifteen years old, your dance skills are recognized by the madam, and you begin to follow other dancers to perform at various banquets for high-ranking officials and nobles.

Sixteen years old, during a performance, you are noticed by an official; he ransoms you and gifts you to a colleague he wants to win over.

Seventeen years old, you become the concubine of an official; you are quite favored and gradually become arrogant, repeatedly framing the mistress and poisoning her to cause a miscarriage; the official not only does not blame you but encourages your arrogance, and you become increasingly spoiled.

Eighteen years old, you are quite favored and repeatedly bully the mistress.

Nineteen years old, you are quite favored and repeatedly bully the mistress.

Twenty years old, the official is noticed by an Immortal, kills his wife to prove his Dao, and follows the Immortal to pursue Cultivation; you beg him bitterly to take you with him, and he agrees, but your aptitude is poor and you cannot enter the Immortal sect, so you have to go to the cultivation world with him as an Immortal's servant.

Twenty-one years old, the official takes good care of you at first, but he has exceptional talent and reaches Foundation Establishment in just one year; subsequently, he becomes obsessed with cultivation and gradually becomes perfunctory toward you.

Twenty-two years old, you practice bitterly but are never able to get started; the official no longer treats you specially, and you can only work hard every day like other servants; unable to bear the hardship, you use your beauty to maneuver among the many servants.

Twenty-three years old, you go down the mountain to purchase supplies with other servants and encounter an attack by an Evil Cultivator; you die.

【Simulation ended】

Please choose a reward for this simulation:

1, Memories at age twenty-three.

2, A random item on your person at age twenty-three.

3, A random skill mastered at age twenty-three.

Ruan Xing didn't rush to make a choice, but instead fell into deep thought.

The simulator wasn't intelligent, or rather, it didn't understand her; many of the choices in this simulation didn't seem like her personality, but rather more like the life the original owner Ruan Xing would have experienced.

Furthermore, it seemed she had transmigrated into a book……

The experiences shown in the latter half of the simulator were very similar to the "chasing wife to the crematorium" novel she had stayed up late to read before transmigrating; in it, the female lead was initially a dignified and proper young lady from a good family, married by her parents' orders and a matchmaker's words to a scholar heading to the capital for the imperial examinations; the scholar was talented and had high literary grace, so the female lead's parents thought he would surely achieve success in the future and married their daughter to him early as an investment.

The scholar did indeed live up to expectations, returning as a top scholar in the palace examination and even gaining the favor of the current Prime Minister, who took him as a disciple; however, before the female lead's family could even rejoice, the scholar brought back a concubine, and from then on, the female lead suffered cold treatment and grievances; yet, the scholar rose steadily in the imperial court, his official rank growing higher and higher, and since the female lead's maiden family was only ordinary minor officials, she had to endure it; she thought that as long as she kept enduring, her maiden family could prosper by relying on her husband's family, but she didn't expect her husband to be noticed by a traveling Immortal, who told him to sever his worldly ties, so the husband killed her and their daughter without hesitation; therefore, after the female lead died, her resentment was monstrous, and she became a vengeful ghost, her heart filled with obsession only for revenge; the first thing she did after finding a method of cultivation and achieving some success was to find the concubine who had once lorded over her, burning her soul with Nether Yin Fire for forty-nine days until her soul scattered, and this was only the beginning of her revenge.

Originally, when she was identifying with the female lead's revenge, she found this novel quite satisfying; in the first chapter, the husband killed his wife to prove his Dao, the female lead and daughter died miserably, and by the second chapter, she had become a vengeful ghost, starting to cultivate and plot her revenge; but now that she had transmigrated into the vicious female supporting character in the book, it wasn't so good; Ruan Xing couldn't help but shiver, as she didn't want to become a part of the male and female leads' "play" and be tortured to death.

Fortunately, she was only six years old now, and many things could still be changed; she believed that with her own efforts and the slight help of the simulator, she could definitely walk a broad and smooth path! After making some ambitious resolutions in her heart, Ruan Xing looked at the three options provided by the simulator.

Choosing 1 might yield basic cultivation techniques, but her aptitude was extremely poor, and she hadn't been able to get started even after several years of cultivation in the Immortal sect; even with a technique, starting from age six didn't guarantee any results; choosing 2, as a servant, she probably wouldn't have anything good on her.

Ruan Xing said decisively: "I choose three."

【Congratulations, you have obtained the dance foundation from age twenty-three.】

The text in her mind instantly dissipated, turning into a gentle white light that merged into Ruan Xing's body; her small frame had originally been somewhat malnourished and weak, but after the white light's transformation, her limbs and waist became more supple and strong, and her control over her body increased significantly.

Ruan Xing felt the wonderful changes happening in her body and couldn't help but do a split on the spot.

Whoa! Although a child's body flexibility was indeed higher than an adult's, being able to perform various backbends and splits so skillfully and effortlessly still gave Ruan Xing a sense of wonder.

She wanted to continue the simulation in her heart, but she had no more copper coins to recharge; sighing "what a pity" to herself, Ruan Xing walked out of the shed to help the original owner's sister prepare today's lunch.

Ruan Xing's family situation was very simple; a family of four lived in the west of Jiangning City, where commoners gathered; the alleys and streets were densely packed like a spider web, and every small path was named after seasonal flowers; her name and her sister Ruan Tao's name were derived from this, after all, two little girls weren't worth the effort of putting much thought into naming.

Ruan Tao was already ten years old, and despite her young age, she was already the main labor force for housework in this home; Ruan Mu was a textile worker at the Weaving Workshop, going to work at the crowing of the rooster and returning only when the sun set; Ruan Fu was an alcoholic and a degenerate gambler who often hung out with the dregs of society and didn't come home for days at a time, so Ruan Tao took on the responsibility of washing, cooking, and taking care of her younger sister.

At this time, she had already scooped the rice and piled it on the steamer, and in the pot below was vegetable soup made of water mixed with wild greens.

Ruan Xing had been eating this for several days, and both the appearance and taste were not very good, but for a ten-year-old girl to be able to cook the rice until it was done was already quite good, unlike her, who didn't even know how to use the stove.

The adult office worker who relied on food delivery looked at the little girl busy back and forth, and a trace of guilt couldn't help but arise in her heart; she picked up a handful of firewood with both hands and threw it into the flames under the stove.

Ruan Tao turned back to see this scene and let out a sharp shriek: "What are you doing!! You blocked the air vent!!"

Ruan Xing: Goose, sorry about that, sister.

……

Ruan Tao picked out the excess firewood and fanned it with a small cattail-leaf fan until the flames slowly burned brightly again; she wiped the black ash she had just gotten on her face with her sleeve and, feeling somewhat exhausted, pressed Ruan Xing onto a small stool in the courtyard.

"If you just sit here quietly, that is the best reward for your sister."

Ruan Xing nodded like a chick pecking at rice upon hearing this.

These past few days, because she had to scrape together ten coins, she had truly done many chaotic things, and it was always her sister Ruan Tao who was responsible for cleaning up the mess; she really had wanted to help just now!

Sighing, Ruan Xing rested her chin in her hands and thought that this sister was actually quite good, it was just a pity she was saddled with such a scumbag father.

She wouldn't stay in this home for long; once she found a path to Cultivation, she would find a way to leave; before leaving, she had to solve this problem to prevent this good sister from being sold into a fiery pit by the scumbag father.

And their mother had a skill for weaving; she believed that without the scumbag father drinking and gambling away the family property, the two of them would live very well.

Soon, the meal, which lacked both color and fragrance, was ready; Ruan Tao took out several large bowls, served them separately, and put them into a basket, "Xing'er, you eat first, I'm going to deliver food to Father and Mother."

In this world, there is no such thing as not eating after noon; on the contrary, because most of the lower-class commoners perform manual labor, they will not skip a meal if they have the means to eat their fill at home, as they need the strength to work and earn more money.

Delivering food to Ruan Mu is because she is truly hardworking, but delivering food to the scumbag father is a rather unlucky affair; at this time of day, he is usually at the Gambling Den, and if his luck is good, he might reward his daughter with a copper coin or two as pocket money, but if his luck is bad, she will receive a sound scolding and a beating.

Ruan Xing has also gone to deliver food a few times, and two of those ten coins were obtained that way, but most of the time it was the latter situation; she would not stand there and obediently take a beating, so if the situation looked wrong, she would slip away immediately, not even bothering to collect the bowl.

The scumbag father naturally would not bring the bowl back either, and seeing the number of bowls in the house dwindling day by day, Ruan Tao silently took away Ruan Xing's food delivery chore.

However, Ruan Xing knows from the Simulator that the scumbag father intends to sell the two sisters off in the near future, perhaps because he has incurred a huge debt from gambling this time; she must hurry, not only to gather intelligence but also to accumulate the points needed for the next Simulation.

Thinking of this, Ruan Xing reached out her small hand and grabbed the other end of the basket, "Sister, I'll go deliver it."

A newbie starting a story, please add to your favorites! (End of chapter)