Chapter 1: Transmigration into a Novel

The rain outside was getting heavier, the sound on the window gradually changing from a soft patter to a loud drumming, endless.

“Heavens, can you give me a chance to catch up on some sleep?”

Wen Ru sat up grumpily, full of irritation from being woken up.

Just as she was about to carefully calculate her grievances against this dream-disturbing ghostly weather, what met her eyes instantly silenced her.

In disbelief, she raised her hand to rub her eyes, looking around at her surroundings in confusion.

What greeted her eyes was not the bright and soft tones of the 21st century she was familiar with, but an ancient room that seemed particularly gloomy in the sound of rain.

Beneath her was a traditional canopy bed, the bedsheets and quilts soft and fine to the touch, embroidered with intricate patterns that looked expensive.

In front of the bed stood a folding screen painted with layered mountains, to the left of which she could see a corner of a dark brown curio shelf, vaguely holding some thread-bound books and antiques of unknown material and shape.

Through this screen, she faintly saw a figure standing with hands lowered, head drooping, seemingly dozing off.

“Am I dreaming?”

Wen Ru reached out and pinched her arm hard, wincing in pain, but when she looked up, she still saw that ancient room with the canopy bed, screen, and curio shelf.

She clearly remembered staying up all night, finally finishing the last revision of the script, only to have the novel’s author privately message her with many new opinions and requirements when she submitted it. Her head had instantly buzzed, and unable to stay awake any longer, she had fallen asleep.

How did she end up in a different place when she opened her eyes?

Should she still revise that script?

—

“Knock— Knock knock.”

The knocking sound suddenly rang out in the quiet, gloomy room. Wen Ru’s body trembled slightly, and she quickly lay back down, pulling the covers over her face.

On the other side, the person dozing off outside the screen was awakened and walked towards the door on tiptoes, softly asking, “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Zhu Sheng. Is the young miss awake? There are guests.” The servant Zhu Sheng outside the room lowered his voice and added, “The madam said if it’s not urgent, the young miss can stay in bed if she hasn’t woken up.”

“Ah, I see.”

The person inside responded and turned towards the bed, kneeling beside it and gently probing, “Young miss, young miss…”

Wen Ru, hidden under the covers, bit her lip, feeling conflicted.

She could certainly pretend to be in deep sleep, but she really couldn’t adapt to this state of complete ignorance. She thought it would be better to get up and try to get some information from people rather than lying in bed pretending to be asleep.

With this in mind, she slowly poked her head out from under the covers, pretending to have just woken up, and mumbled drowsily, “Hmm… what is it so early in the morning?”

“Young miss, it’s all Hua Ting’s fault for disturbing you.” Hearing the young miss’s sleepy awakening, Hua Ting’s eyes curved slightly, revealing joy as he said with a smile, “The madam sent word that guests have arrived. Would you like to go to the front to see them?”

In the dim, hazy light, Wen Ru carefully observed his appearance.

He looked like a young man of about twenty, thin and fair-skinned, wearing a long cyan robe. His hair was very long, simply tied back with a ribbon of the same color.

Wen Ru instinctively pulled the covers higher, covering herself completely, a faint wariness appearing in her almond-shaped eyes.

Even though this young man looked somewhat frail, suddenly entering her bedroom was still quite alarming.

He had been speaking so softly earlier that she hadn’t realized the person guarding outside was a man, and one about her age at that.

Wen Ru reached up to touch her collar, relieved to find that the white undershirt’s crossed neckline almost covered her collarbone.

Even so, facing a strange man in her nightclothes created an odd atmosphere. Her ears gradually turned red, and she didn’t know whether to dive back under the covers to hide.

“Young miss, are you still groggy from sleep?” Hua Ting chuckled lightly, standing up straight and lifting the thin layer of gauze by the bed, hanging it on the golden hooks at the bedside.

Wen Ru pulled the covers up to just below her nose, her eyes fixed on Hua Ting, following his every move.

Bound by etiquette, Hua Ting never directly looked into Wen Ru’s eyes, so he didn’t notice her strange behavior. He turned sideways, picked up the clothes beside the bed, shook them out gently, and coaxed in a kind voice, “Young miss, the rain is getting heavier, who knows when it will stop. It’s rare to have guests on such a terrible day, let’s go take a look.”

“Alright…” Wen Ru responded vaguely, her body silently shrinking back.

Unexpectedly, Hua Ting sat directly on the edge of the bed, reached out to lift her from the bed, forcibly holding her in his arms, and raised one of her arms to put the clothes on her.

“Uh…” Wen Ru put her hand against Hua Ting’s chest, her face growing even redder. It was only then that she was amazed to discover that she was just a tiny figure in Hua Ting’s arms, unable to resist at all.

She lowered her head to see her flat chest and much-reduced limbs. For a moment, she didn’t know how young she had become in this return to childhood.

“All done.” Hua Ting put shoes on Wen Ru’s feet before setting her on the ground, looking her up and down to check, “Our young miss is growing so fast. In a few years, I’m afraid you’ll be taller than Hua Ting.”

He then stood up and walked out, saying, “Hua Ting will call the servants to help with washing up.”

Wen Ru turned to watch his retreating figure, her face blank. This world was too strange.

In no time, three servants for washing up entered one after another, respectfully calling out from behind the screen, “We humbly request the young miss to wash up.”

The washing servants were clearly much younger. She hadn’t seen many children and couldn’t tell their exact age, but she felt these three boys were at most elementary school age.

Wen Ru awkwardly moved over, seeing Hua Ting step forward to take a towel and wet it. She quickly rushed forward to grab it, stammering, “I… I’ll do it myself.”

“Alright, alright, Hua Ting was being presumptuous.” Hua Ting responded with a smile, standing aside with hands lowered, sighing, “It’s wonderful that the young miss has grown up.”

“Ha, yes…” Wen Ru laughed dryly along with him, lowering her head to wash up. However, there were many washing items she didn’t recognize, so when she was unsure, she would secretly glance up at Hua Ting. Seeing this, Hua Ting would give a gentle hint with a slight smile.

After struggling through the washing up, Wen Ru felt so moved she could almost cry. Thankfully, her body was still young, otherwise how could she have muddle through?

“Young miss, shall we go? The madam and the guests are in the main hall of the front courtyard,” Hua Ting led the way, preparing to take his young miss to meet the guests.

Although the madam said it wasn’t necessary to go, the young miss was the legitimate daughter of the Wen family, the future head of the household. She should make more appearances to establish her authority and quash any small thoughts others might have.

“Who are the visitors?” Wen Ru looked up at him, wanting to inquire a bit to avoid exposing herself later.

“Oh my, Hua Ting is at fault, I forgot to ask Zhu Sheng. Young miss, please walk slowly along this path, Hua Ting will go inquire first.” Hua Ting was distressed that he had forgotten to ask and hurried to make amends.

“No need to rush, we’ll know when we get there.” Wen Ru kindly reassured, but Hua Ting walked away too quickly to hear.

Wen Ru sighed, having no choice but to slowly walk along the intricate corridor by herself. Passing servants would bow to her in greeting, but she didn’t notice, too busy muttering to herself, Hua Ting, Zhu Sheng, such nice-sounding names, where had she ended up, was she still called Wen Ru?

Hua Ting returned quickly, his breathing more rapid than before, but his appearance was still neat, clearly paying extra attention to these details.

“Young miss, the visitor is the eldest son of the Prefect of Qianzhou. I don’t know what happened, but a lone man has come to the capital and found our house.”

“Mm, he’s quite capable.” Wen Ru responded perfunctorily, but in her heart, she repeated ‘Prefect of Qianzhou’ several times, afraid of forgetting and being embarrassed if asked later.

Seeing that Wen Ru hadn’t grasped the key point, Hua Ting added, “The eldest son of the Prefect of Qianzhou was born to the departed primary husband, named Fu Jizhou, and he has a marriage arrangement with you.”

“Fu Jizhou?” Wen Ru stopped in her tracks, looking up at Hua Ting in disbelief.

Was it the Fu Jizhou she knew? After all, she had pulled at least a dozen all-nighters for his scenes.

Initially, a friend had approached her, saying the company wanted to test the waters by filming a web drama adapted from a female-dominant novel, and asked if she could be the screenwriter. She thought it was interesting and accepted. Who knew that after finishing the first draft of the script, an investor for this drama would suddenly appear, insisting on inserting an inexperienced young actor, asking her to rewrite Fu Jizhou into a likable character that didn’t require much acting skill.

Wen Ru wanted to flip the table when she heard this, but considering she had already completed the first draft of the script and put in a lot of effort, it would be too much of a loss to give up now. She had no choice but to grit her teeth and persevere, reading and re-reading Fu Jizhou’s scenes in the original book, revising them over and over.

“Yes, has the young miss heard about him from the primary husband?” Hua Ting looked up at the sky, his eyes revealing a trace of sorrow, “When our primary husband was alive, he often said he wanted to take the young miss to play in his hometown in Qianzhou. Who knew that with that one illness, he would be gone.”

After speaking, Hua Ting raised his hand to roll up his sleeve, gently wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes.

Seeing him suddenly cry, Wen Ru was surprised, but still stepped forward to comfort him, “It’s all in the past, he wouldn’t want us to be too sad.”

Hua Ting nodded with red eyes, then composed himself, “Hua Ting lost his composure, the young miss shouldn’t grieve either. The primary husband is in heaven, always blessing the young miss.”

Wen Ru sighed deeply, lowering her eyes in deep thought.

The son of the Prefect of Qianzhou, Fu Jizhou. Although only two clues matched so far, it was likely that she had transmigrated into that female-dominant novel.

Come to think of it, this book was just an old-fashioned story wrapped in the shell of a female-dominant novel.

The female lead was the current emperor’s younger sister, with a fief in Cheng, but she long resided in Weiking. Of noble birth, wealthy and powerful, and extremely beautiful, she attracted countless men who would die for her, but in the end, she chose only one from the thousands, ending up with the Prime Minister’s eldest son.

In the grand finale, the current emperor even voluntarily abdicated to her. In an instant, the female lead had both the empire and the man, truly the winner of life in the female-dominant version.

To highlight the female lead’s charm, the novel also featured several men who admired her deeply, with considerable screen time, but none could surpass the villain Fu Jizhou.

Fu Jizhou was the eldest son of the Prefect of Qianzhou, with looks like pearls and jade, and a personality like orchids and bamboo. He had been betrothed to the imperial merchant Wen family since childhood.

At the age of eleven, Fu Jizhou actually stole the marriage contract and traveled alone to Weiking to cancel the engagement. Because of this, he was driven out of the family by the Prefect of Qianzhou, and thereafter faced ostracism everywhere, having nowhere to go.

Over time, he developed the skill of playing dumb while harboring ulterior motives, always able to sweet-talk people into compliance, exhausting everything to pave his way.

Even the female lead was fooled by him, awarding him a private estate.

When everyone in Weiking thought Fu Jizhou was the female lead’s lover and that she had already enjoyed the beautiful man’s favors, the female lead hadn’t taken any advantage at all.

Originally, the female lead herself would have been displeased about this for a while and then let it go, after all, in the rumors, she had already taken advantage, and Fu Jizhou was the one at a disadvantage.

But who knew that these rumors would circulate for several years, eventually reaching the ears of her true love, causing an irreconcilable dispute. To prove her innocence, the female lead took back that private estate, declaring that she had never had any relationship with Fu Jizhou from beginning to end.

Fu Jizhou had managed that estate for many years, and not only was it suddenly taken back, but he was also branded with the title of “abandoned husband” by the common people.

Fu Jizhou was unwilling to accept this and sought her out, wanting the female lead to clear the rumors and return his management earnings, but the female lead consistently avoided seeing him.

Left with no choice, Fu Jizhou had to change tactics, repeatedly stirring up trouble in front of the Prime Minister’s eldest son, with many implicit suggestions in his words. The Prime Minister’s eldest son, both heartbroken and indignant, began to arrange for the female lead to take Fu Jizhou as a husband.

At this point, the female lead’s heart was entirely on the Prime Minister’s eldest son, with not a shred of feeling for Fu Jizhou. Pushed to the limit and disregarding the royal family’s reputation, she simply had Fu Jizhou beaten half to death and thrown out of the palace.

Covered in wounds and homeless, Fu Jizhou lingered in Weiking for three months, trampled upon by anyone who saw him. In the early spring of the following year, as the river ice thawed, Fu Jizhou, who had barely survived the bitter winter, resolutely threw himself into the river.