In the 23rd year of the Qiyuan era of the Great Liang Dynasty, in the dead of winter, in the capital city.
Just as the curfew signal of the third watch sounded, fine snowflakes like catkins fluttered across the sky. Before long, a thin layer of frost had formed on the ground.
The bustling Chang'an Street, which was full of activity during the day, was now deserted. Only a wedding procession was slowly emerging from the depths of a narrow alley. There were no firecrackers or musical instruments; they carried the bridal sedan chair through the side gate of the imposing Qi Xian Prince's Mansion as quietly as thieves.
"Stop the sedan chair!"
Li Zhichen was startled awake by this shout. She opened her eyes in a daze and found herself sitting in the bridal sedan chair in a bright red wedding dress.
The smell of blood in the air was thick. A blood - stained dagger lay at her feet. Only then did Li Zhichen notice a terrifying wound on her left wrist. Blood was still oozing out, and a dull pain spread from her wrist like a surging tide, overwhelming her whole body.
Li Zhichen's eyes darkened. She tore off the red veil and used it to bandage the wound, then warily observed her surroundings.
Wasn't she stabbed through by a traitor and died on the battlefield in the last days? Why was she here?
The next moment, the curtain of the sedan chair was roughly lifted. The howling cold wind interrupted Li Zhichen's train of thought.
A group of old maids and servant girls dragged her out of the sedan chair in a hurry.
Li Zhichen had just regained consciousness, and her limbs were a bit unresponsive. She staggered a couple of steps before finally steadying herself.
The matchmaker stood in front of Li Zhichen. Seeing that she had removed the veil, the matchmaker frowned unpleasantly and said in a sarcastic tone, "It's a blessing for Miss Li to marry the Second Young Master Qi. A sparrow has turned into a phoenix! You should learn proper etiquette in the future and don't offend the noble people!"
Li Zhichen was stunned. Second Young Master Qi? Qi Lixiao?!
Wasn't this a character from a novel she had read before?
It was as if a crack had been forcefully opened in Li Zhichen's head. A flood of memories that didn't belong to her suddenly rushed in.
It turned out that she had transmigrated into a book and become the tragic supporting female character with the same name as her in the book!
The book said that Li Zhengchu, a sixth - rank official in the capital, had two daughters. The eldest legitimate daughter was Li Nanchun, born to Li Zhengchu and his wife. She was intelligent and beautiful since childhood and was a well - known beauty in the capital.
The younger daughter, Li Zhichen, was the child of Li Zhengchu and a singing girl he had accidentally conceived with when he was drunk. The singing girl had deliberately concealed her pregnancy, hoping to marry into the Li family after giving birth. However, she died in childbirth while giving birth to Li Zhichen. Li Zhengchu, who already disliked this illegitimate daughter, threw her into a farm outside the capital to fend for herself. Fortunately, an old nanny picked up the original owner and took care of her, so the original owner managed to grow up safely until the age of sixteen.
Originally, it was Li Nanchun, the eldest legitimate daughter of the Li family, who was engaged to Qi Lixiao, the second son of the Qi Xian Prince. But a year ago, a sudden fire broke out in the Qi Xian Prince's Mansion. Qi Lixiao had already escaped but then returned to save someone. As a result, he was hit on the spine by a collapsing beam and could never stand up again. He became a complete paralytic.
Li Zhengchu didn't want to marry his precious daughter, Li Nanchun, into the Qi family to suffer. After much thought, he remembered his illegitimate daughter, Li Zhichen, whom he had abandoned in the countryside.
He first coaxed Li Zhichen into coming to the capital. When the wedding date arrived, he threatened her with the life of the old nanny and forced Li Zhichen into the bridal sedan chair.
The original owner had no choice but to marry in place of another and cut her own wrist to commit suicide in the sedan chair on the wedding day.
In the end, the original owner's body was wrapped in a straw mat by the Qi family and thrown into a dark alley to be eaten by stray dogs...
Li Zhichen frowned tightly. She thought, it was okay to transmigrate into a book, but why did she have to become a supporting character who couldn't even survive three chapters!
The moment the memories ended, a mechanical and rigid voice suddenly sounded in Li Zhichen's mind.
[Ding! Identity binding successful! The system has been activated!]
[Hello, host. It's an honor to serve you!]
Li Zhichen frowned and asked, "Who are you?"
The mechanical voice replied word by word, [I am your exclusive task system. Your body has died in the original world, so the main system extracted your soul and put it into the most suitable body. However, due to an abnormal fluctuation in the Time - Space Administration during the transfer of the host, the main system automatically deducted 100,000 points from the host. Your current points are: - 100,000. Please pay off your debt as soon as possible!]
[In addition, a reminder: The host's remaining health value is 1 hour. You need to complete the random tasks issued by the system and dote on your husband, Qi Lixiao, to obtain the corresponding health value!]
Li Zhichen's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot. So, not only did she have a huge debt right after being reborn, but she also had to dote on a strange man she had never even met?
Although Li Zhichen had sympathized with Qi Lixiao and liked this character when reading the book, why should she be manipulated by a system?
Li Zhichen said in an unfriendly and vigilant tone, "What if I don't want to?"
The system replied without any emotion, [Once the host's health value reaches zero, the host will die a miserable death on the street according to the original plot and completely disappear from the world!]
Li Zhichen fell silent. She had already died in the last days, and her body might have been devoured by zombies. And at this moment, her current body was too weak, and the remaining supernatural powers were not enough to get rid of this damned system...
It seemed that she had to follow its arrangements for now. When her supernatural powers recovered to a certain extent, she would surely destroy this unlucky system with her own hands!
Li Zhichen calmed her mood and asked, "How can I pay off the points?"
[There are two ways to write off points. One is to increase the host's influence in this world, that is, to do good deeds and accumulate merits. The system will reward points according to different levels of difficulty. The other is to exchange the currency of this world for points. One tael of silver is equivalent to one point. In this ancient world, one copper coin is equal to one modern yuan, and one thousand copper coins are equal to one tael of silver. After conversion, one tael of silver is equivalent to one thousand modern yuan.]
Li Zhichen quickly calculated. She owed the system 100,000 points. If she wanted to pay off the debt by earning silver, she would have to earn 100,000 taels of silver in this world, which was equivalent to... 100 million yuan in modern currency?!
Li Zhichen gasped in shock and stood there completely stunned!
Seeing Li Zhichen frowning and silent, the matchmaker reached out and pinched her arm hard, feeling extremely disdainful in her heart.
This skinny and sallow - faced girl didn't look like a young lady from an official family at all. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that she was a country girl the Li family had found from the countryside to marry in place of another!
But then she thought, the Second Young Master Qi was a paralytic who couldn't move below his neck. He was now relying on medicine to hang on to his last breath. It would be difficult for him to survive this winter. Which good family would be willing to send their daughter to be a widow?
"What are you daydreaming about? I advise you not to have any ideas of running away. Even if the Second Young Master Qi is a paralytic, he is still more than good enough for you, a country girl..."
Before the matchmaker could finish her words, she saw the skinny girl in front of her, who was as weak as a kitten, suddenly glare. The girl then suddenly lifted her foot and kicked the matchmaker hard in the knee!
Li Zhichen's movement was so swift and fierce that the matchmaker had no time to dodge. With a scream, she fell to the ground on her back, landing with a thud!
The maids and servant girls around, who had been smiling playfully just now, were all stunned. Their smiles froze on their lips as they stared at what was happening in disbelief.