Chapter 1  

During the coronation ceremony, Gu Xiao, wearing the robes of an emperor, sat on the golden emperor’s throne in the imperial court. She announced that she would be crowned as a female emperor. However, when tens of thousands of people knelt down to welcome the new emperor, Gu Xiao felt a pain in her heart. She looked down and saw a sharp knife stabbing straight into her heart.

Gu Xiao’s vision gradually blurred. She could vaguely hear the commotion in the crowd around her, as well as feel her gradually cooling corpse.

“I’m dead again?”

Gu Xiao’s final sliver of consciousness sank into darkness. When she woke up again, the pungent smell of leather surged. She subconsciously lowered the car window for some ventilation.

Wait… car window?

She was surprised to find that she was sitting in a modern-day car. The car sped past the small roads in the countryside and gradually arrived at the big city. The lights and sights of the big city were everywhere, and it was bustling. In the car, she was stunned for a long time before she came back to her senses and pinched herself hard.

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“It hurts!” she could not help but exclaim. At the same time, she was secretly shocked. This was not a dream.

She was back in her first life.

Gu Xiao was originally a modern-day person. Her parents lived in the countryside farming for a living and were very poor. Gu Xiao knew that her family’s conditions were not good, so she had been very obedient since she was young. She helped her parents do what she could, but her parents still did not love her.

When Gu Xiao was 16 years old, her parents heard that their neighbor’s daughter had gone to a big city to work. Her monthly income was two to three thousand yuan, which was about the same as their half-year income. Therefore, without consent from Gu Xiao, they decided that she should go to the city as well. Gu Xiao did not resist. She even thought that this could help her parents relieve some of their burden.

However, the night before they left, a luxury car suddenly barged into this small village and stopped in front of the Gu family’s straw hut. Some people in suits walked out and chatted with her parents.

Gu Xiao watched from afar and did not hear what they said, but she saw a rare happy smile on her parents’ faces.

Later on, she found out that it was a production team that was filming a large-scale variety show called “Rural and Urban”. The production team promised to give Gu Xiao’s parents 5,000 yuan in cash for Gu Xiao to participate in this show.

“Gu Xiao is going to be rich from now on!” After Gu Xiao left, her father took out a jar of wine that he had kept for more than ten years and drank it until his face was flushed. “I think the production team wants Gu Xiao to be a big star because she’s good-looking!”

“That’s right, that’s right!” her mother echoed. “I heard that those celebrities can earn thousands a day. When Gu Xiao becomes famous, we must make her give us all the money she earns and buy a big house in the city. Otherwise, she will be unfilial!”

The two of them had good ideas, but reality was always cruel. The production team had a script. Although it was said to be a variety show, it was actually similar to acting.

They wanted to bring children with backgrounds from the cities into the entertainment industry, and those children from the countryside were just stepping stones for them.

The production team arranged for three children from the countryside and three children from the city to stay in the same villa. They gave everyone a script that mainly reflected the elegance and dignity of the children from the city and the vulgarity of the children from the countryside. However, the audience loved this.

After a few episodes, the children in the city were loved by everyone, while the children from the countryside were infamous. Even after a long time after the program had ended, the curses did not dissipate. It even affected their village and their families.

As a result, Gu Xiao did not become famous. Instead, she became a rat that was hated by everyone. When she returned home, she was even despised and insulted by her parents.

All of this only came to an end three years later when Gu Xiao’s biological parents came knocking on her door.

Only at that time did she realize that she and Ji Yao, whom she had set off in the show, had long been swapped. Her parents were human traffickers. In order to let their daughter live a good life, they had swapped Ji Yao with her. That was what had led to Gu Xiao, who was despised by everyone today, and Ji Yao, who was surrounded by stars!

All of Ji Yao’s achievements should have belonged to Gu Xiao!

She originally thought that her biological parents would feel a trace of guilt towards her and take her away to clear her name, but they did not. Firstly, they did not have any feelings for Gu Xiao. Secondly, Ji Yao had already become famous and they did not want her future to be implicated.

The hope in Gu Xiao’s heart instantly crumbled. She rushed out, but no one stopped her.

She ran further and further until she was out of the village. Her tears froze in the air, reflecting the tall buildings in the distance. She smiled self-deprecatingly.

Sometime later, she reached the rooftop of a building and looking at the traffic below, she leaped down.

Perhaps the heavens had opened their eyes and saw that she was too pitiful, so she was given a chance to live again. She had come to the ancient times.

Here, she was no longer obsequious. Instead, she was diligent and eager to learn. She had a long-term goal and was decisive. In the end, from a commoner, she became an empress. However, she was still careless on the day she ascended the throne and was assassinated by an assassin, and that was when she had died.

But she was back.

They were on their way to the villa now. Gu Xiao lowered her gaze, but there was a faint mix of excitement and anger in her heart.

She would take back the reputation and honor that had been taken away from her, one by one. She would not let go of the evil people who had caused her to lose hope in life!

The car finally stopped in front of a luxurious villa. There were five children around her age standing in front of the villa, each holding a pile of papers.

The show was about to begin.

The production team had Gu Xiao and the children stand together. They also gave her a script and told her to follow it.

Gu Xiao glanced at it. As expected, it was exactly the same as in her previous life: She would not take off her shoes when she entered the villa. She would stare around and touch everything, showing that she had never seen the world. She would eat dinner with her hands, and not shower before going to bed, to show that she was ill-bred, had an unhygienic life, and so on.

Actually, the children from the countryside were not stupid. They also knew what it meant to make a fool of themselves. However, some of the actions in the script were indeed done by children in the countryside, so they were not particularly suspicious. In addition, most of them were participating in this show for money to help their families to lessen some of the burdens of life.

The production team told them that if they did not do as they were told, the money given to their families would be taken back and they would be chased out of the show.

Of course, Gu Xiao only found out later that this was all coercion and bribery from the production team. It was to make them listen and increase the viewership ratings of the show to scare these country bumpkins who had never seen the world.