Chapter 1

After the rain, the village of Qingquan was permeated with a hint of the coolness of late autumn.

Gu Jiaoniang, drenched in sweat, chased to the village entrance: "Xiao Qin Xianggong—Xiao Qin Xianggong—"

Slap!

She slipped and fell flat on her face.

The carriage in front of her sped away, splashing mud all over her face!

"Ha ha ha ha!"

The people around her burst into laughter!

Gu Jiaoniang was the village fool. Her husband at home was a cripple, but she ignored the honest man at home and always chased after Xiao Qin Xianggong in town.

Who was Xiao Qin Xianggong? His father was a wealthy man, and he himself was a scholar, with a handsome appearance. Would he ever fall for a woman of loose morals?

"A toad dreaming of eating a swan!"

"Exactly! Why don't you take a look in the mirror? Xiao Qin Xianggong would never fall for her!"

"Whore!"

"Ugly monster!"

"Little fool!"

Gu Jiaoniang was furious. She put her hands on her hips and said fiercely, "You... you can't call me names..."

A child jumped out: "Haha! So what if we do? Little fool, little fool, little fool! Ugly monster, ugly monster, ugly monster!"

Gu Jiaoniang, enraged and embarrassed, lunged at the child, but unexpectedly tripped and fell into the water...

At the bottom of the icy lake, the woman who had lost consciousness suddenly opened her eyes.

What was going on? She had been on a mission when her plane hit an iceberg and crashed, killing everyone on board. How did she end up in the water?

Gu Jiaoniang struggled to swim to the shore.

However, perhaps due to the severity of her fall, she found it difficult to muster the strength.

By the time she finally made it to the shore, she felt almost faint.

The villagers, who had seen Gu Jiaoniang sink, were about to use a pole to fish her out, but when she floated up on her own, they all looked at each other and scattered!

Gu Jiaoniang didn't understand what was happening. She saw a group of people with strange clothing run away.

She lay on the cold, wet grass, wiped the water from her face, and then she froze.

She looked at her hands in shock.

These were the hands of a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old girl. She was already twenty-eight, so how could she have such small hands?

Moreover, as a queen of the espionage world, she knew how to take care of herself. These hands were covered in chilblains, and some areas were even cracked.

Soon, Gu Jiaoniang realized that not only had her hands changed, but her clothing and figure were also very different.

A bold guess flashed through Gu Jiaoniang's mind.

She leaned over the water to see her current appearance, almost falling in again.

What was all this colorful mess?

Gu Jiaoniang scooped up water to wash off the cheap rouge on her face, only to find that she looked even uglier. Her face was yellow and thin, and there was a large red mark extending from her left cheek to the corner of her eye.

Gu Jiaoniang, who would have been upset for three days over a single pimple in her previous life, now wished she could die again with such a hideous face!

"By the way, where am I? And what dynasty is this?"

As soon as she spoke, a sharp pain shot through her head, and a flood of memories that were not hers surged up.

It turned out that she had been transported to a dynasty that did not exist in history. This village was called Qingquan Village, located at the foot of Qingquan Mountain.

The original owner was also named Gu Jiaoniang, the only child of the third branch of the Gu family.

When the old master of the Gu family was young, he was a scholar who had passed the child examination. He later became the village head of Qingquan Village and held the position for many years. Qingquan Village was poor, and being the village head didn't bring much profit, but it was enough to avoid starvation.

The old master of the Gu family had three sons and an unmarried daughter. The eldest son, Gu Changhai, and his wife Zhou had a son and a daughter; the second son, Gu Changlu, and his wife Liu had two sons.

The first two branches of the family were relatively prosperous, but the third branch seemed to be cursed, unable to have children.

Finally, they had Gu Jiaoniang, but she was a girl, ugly, and born with a mental disability.

As the villagers put it—she was a liability, no, not even a liability, but someone who couldn't be sold even if you paid!

Since Gu Jiaoniang's birth, the third branch had no more children.

Rumors began to spread in the village, saying that Gu Jiaoniang was unlucky and had cursed the third branch, causing them to lose their fortune.

At first, the Gu family didn't take it to heart, but after Gu Jiaoniang's parents died, they realized that this child was indeed a curse.

The Gu family tried to find a husband for Gu Jiaoniang, but who would dare to marry her?

By chance, one day Gu Jiaoniang was wandering around the village entrance and found a man who had fainted from hunger. She brought him home.

As she processed the memories in her head, she walked toward a dilapidated thatched cottage in the western part of the village.

This was her current home.

Thud—

Halfway there, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head. She raised her hand and found it covered in blood.

She must have hit a rock underwater and cut herself. The bleeding was quite heavy, and she needed to stop it as soon as possible.

As she thought, she entered her yard.

The yard was nothing more than a small enclosed space surrounded by a fence. The thatched cottage had a main room and two bedrooms, with the larger one on the east side belonging to Gu Jiaoniang.

This room was even smaller than her walk-in closet in her previous life.

What a miserable reincarnation...

As she sighed, she pushed open the door. But as she crossed the threshold, she敏锐地察觉到屋内有人.

从呼吸声判断，是个男人。

男人躲在门后，努力屏住呼吸。

Gu Jiaoniang的嘴角勾起一抹冷笑，装作若无其事地走进屋，砰的一声关上门，几乎在同一时刻，她素手一抓，将躲在门后的男人狠狠地摔在了地上！

男人的身材比她想象中的高大。

如果在前世，再高大的男人她也不怕，但眼下这副瘦弱的小身板，她只能用巧劲，再加上整个人压上去，才勉强将对方锁住。

她一手扯下发带绑住对方的手腕，另一手扼住对方的脖子，神色冰冷道：“说！你是谁？在我屋里做什么？”

男人先是一怔，随即一阵羞恼涌上头顶：“Gu Jiaoniang你疯了！是我！”

认识？

熟人作案？

那就更可恶了。

Gu Jiaoniang不仅没有放开他，反而又往下坐了坐，将男人的腰腹压得更死了。

“你……你给我下来！”男人咬牙，语气冰冷。

“嗤~”Gu Jiaoniang冷笑。

向来只有她使唤别人的份儿，可没别人对她呼来喝去的。何况这是她的屋子，她还没质问他在里头鬼鬼祟祟做什么呢！

Gu Jiaoniang抡起拳头，打算给他一点教训，手肘却不小心撞开了身后的窗棂。

明亮的光线照了进来，落在男人清隽俊美的容颜上，Gu Jiaoniang的眸子一下子瞪圆了。