But Su Su was in too much pain to say a single word, so she could only think it in her heart. The next second, she heard a cold, artificial voice.
〚Di...di...di...system turning...on...〛
〚Di...di...system starting...binding...〛
〚Di...system binding has been successful...welcome to the world of novels...〛
As soon as the last line had been spoken, Su Su miraculously discovered that her head didn’t hurt. She immediately got off the ground and was shocked!
Oh God.
Where was she?
Su Su stood up and examined the surroundings. Above were antique-looking beams, and below were old-fashioned wooden planks. To both the right and left was furniture with a historical charm.
Her computer?
And her soft mattress, which had cost tens of thousands?
Suddenly a voice came from her sea of consciousness: 〚Hello, host. I am the system bound to you. Currently, you are not in the real world. This is the world of a novel. You are a daughter of an aristocratic family.〛
Su Su: ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?
The system continued: 〚Your mission in this world is to change the miserable destiny of the male lead and eliminate the grievances of the readers by ‘practicing the core values of socialism1Socialism is an economic and political system that states that the workers should own the means of producing wealth.’.〛
Su Su immediately thought of the hideous face. Mama Mia, she had actually been cursed to cross over by the novel’s author!!!
Su Su burst into tears: “System, quickly tell the author for me, I know I was wrong, I want to go home.”
The system didn't reply, but there was a knocking sound from outside.
“Miss, have you gotten up yet? The lord is waiting for you already.”
Su Su ignored the person talking outside and continued to cry to the system. But the system wouldn’t take it and said: 〚You have already died in the real world. If you complete the mission well, when you go back you can reverse time and live. But be careful, don’t be OOC2OOC = Out Of Character, or else you will be rejected by the people in this world. If the mission fails, you will be destroyed.〛
Su Su felt unsettled. Having heard the anxious question from outside, she didn’t dare to ignore it and hurriedly said, “I’ve gotten up.”
“This maid will come inside to help you get up,” the person outside continued.
Su Su didn’t know how to answer, She wasn’t clear about her current situation, yet she couldn’t rashly refuse, so she could only respond with a vague “En.”
After speaking, Su Su quickly returned to the bed and covered herself with a blanket, pretending to have just woken up.
The door was pushed open, and three maids came in. The first one was the one who had just been talking to Su Su, while the other two were carrying washbasins.
Su Su got up with the help of the head maid. The ice-cold air outside made her shiver. The maid who was dressing her quickly picked up a hand stove and stuffed it into Su Su’s hands.
Having warm hands quickly warmed Su Su up, and she couldn’t help but sigh. This immoral capitalism really was too good.
But it wasn’t as good as real-world heating.
After getting dressed, she was washed by the servant, then led to the dressing table. The yellow and orange bronze mirror didn’t let Su Su see the face of this body.
But after seeing the world’s information given to her by the system, she immediately knew who she was.
In the novel, she was the perverted daughter who had brought the male lead back from the celebration banquet.
She thought of the novel’s first description of Gu Jingyao: snow-white skin, face like a peach blossom, exquisite and gorgeous features, smile and frown both carrying amorous feelings.
After getting dressed and having makeup put on, Su Su left under the maids’ guidance.
As soon as she walked out of the room, the freezing wind outside made Su Su shiver, even though she had already been covered with a thick cloak. It was as if she had Parkinson’s3Parkinson's disease is a disorder that causes tremors, slow movement, stiffness, and loss of balance..
She didn’t want to go outside, she only wanted to stay in her warm bed, Su Su thought sadly while inhaling a lungful of the cold air.
Even if there was no warm bed, having a mask would still be great!!
The maskless Su Su held the hand stove and shrank into the flame-red fox fur cape. Sitting on the soft sedan chair, she let her sturdy and powerful servants carry her to the entrance of the mansion.
What Su Su was going to go to this time was the part in the novel where the original owner took away the male lead. It was also the beginning of the male lead's suffering.
The Zhou Mansion where the original owner was at belonged to the number one aristocratic family of the Great Kingdom of Yao, in control of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses. It would not be too much to say that it was the one who was really in power in the Great Kingdom of Yao, with even the emperor having to pay respect to the patriarch of the Gu family.
Anyone familiar with history would know that the Gu family wouldn’t be able to stay there comfortably. The Gu family was so powerful, how could the one above feel secure?
Since ancient times, in this kind of tug-of-war, most of the time the emperor would win against the subject.
Fortunately, at the end of the novel, the Gu family was still intact, to which Su Su couldn’t help but sigh in relief.
By the time Su Su had almost frozen into a block of ice, the sedan had finally arrived at the entrance of the mansion, where the carriage had already been prepared.
The father of the original owner, Gu Jingxi, was already sitting on a horse and waiting for her. Seeing that she had finally arrived, he dismounted and said in an indulgent voice, “A few days ago, you clamored to go to the celebration banquet with me, but today you slept in. If you had been even later, the celebration banquet would have been over already.”
Su Su didn’t have the memory of the original owner asking Gu Jingxi to go to the banquet. Under the pretext of being cold, she only said a few sentences and got into the carriage, for fear of revealing herself.
Gu Jingxi, who had been waiting for Su Su for half a stick of incense4Half a stick of incense can be anywhere from 2.5 minutes to an hour. in this chilly weather, wasn’t angry with her. Instead, he blamed himself for letting his daughter feel cold.
Su Su sighed at Gu Jingxi’s kindness towards the original owner. She got out of the sedan chair with the help of the maids and walked to the carriage.
In fact, Su Su wasn’t used to being served by others. Anyone who didn’t know what was going on would think that she was about to die and couldn't walk.
But this was the original owner’s routine, she didn’t dare to change it carelessly.
But right before reaching the side of the carriage and stepping inside, Su Su saw a muscular man in thin clothes stepping forward. He knelt down in front of her with his back facing her and head stuck to the ground.
Su Su froze for a moment, unable to understand its meaning.
The system prompted her: 〚Step onto him to get into the carriage.〛
Step onto?
Su Su, who had only ever lived in a peaceful democracy, had some difficulty doing that.
On horseback, Gu Jingxi saw Su Su’s lack of movement and said: “Darling, if you don’t like this slave, let father switch it out for you.”
At first, Su Su didn’t understand the meaning of switching out, but then she saw the kneeling man begin to shiver, losing control over his body’s waste removal functions.
The smell of excrement and urine came from under him, instantly filling the air with a foul smell.
The maid supporting Su Su revealed a disgusted expression on her face. Gu Jingxi also frowned, waved his hand, and said lightly: “Drag him away.”
Before Su Su could react, two bodyguards holding knives appeared and quickly dragged him away by the arms.
The man let out a cry for mercy and struggled. The next second, under Gu Jingxi’s impatient order, his tongue was cut off. Even after the pain had passed, blood continued to flow from the man’s mouth.
When Su Su had previously read the novel, she had known that this society didn’t treat people like human beings, especially slaves. Killing them was like killing chickens.
But seeing all of that firsthand, Su Su’s face looked terrible. Her stomach turned and she almost vomited.
The system desperately reminded: 〚Don’t throw up. Hold it in, or else you will be OOC and rejected by this world.〛
Su Su could only desperately endure the desire to vomit.
Gu Jingxi misunderstood Su Su’s change of expression, smiled earnestly, and apologized: “Haha, darling, blame Dad for being too impulsive. Dad forgot to leave him for you to play with, but don’t be mad. Wait until the celebration party, Dad will let you pick the strongest slave to play with!“
Hearing that Gu Jingxi didn’t care about human life at all and even treating them as toys, Su Su’s good impression of him disappeared.
She even forgot that Gu Jingxi loved the original owner because the original owner was his daughter, but was always merciless and cruel to the outside world.
Actually, it was not only Gu Jingxi but also most of the people with a higher status in this world who treated those with a lower status like that.
In fact, it was not only the people with higher statuses who did that, but even amongst the civilians and slaves, there were more powerful people who would bully and kill the weaker ones.
In this era, the strong would eat the weak.
Su Su was afraid of revealing herself, so she showed Gu Jingxi a smile and said softly, “Dad, this something you said, so when the time comes, you can’t reject it.”
Gu Jingxi laughed and said lovingly, “Of course not. Dad always keeps to his words.”
Su Su didn’t dare to continue speaking and found an excuse.
“It’s too cold, I’m going to get into the carriage.”
Gu Jingxi waved his hand, and another slave knelt down in front of her because the previous slave had died due to Su Su. Although the slave did his best to remain calm, his body trembled weakly.
Su Su was afraid that this slave would lose his life because of her hesitation. Regardless of whether he could bear it or not, she swiftly stepped on his back to get into the carriage.
The carriage was spacious and decorated luxuriously. Where the feet would rest was soft white fur, and the same colored fur hung on the walls, transforming the carriage into a snowy white world.
In the corner, a faint fragrance radiated from a simple incense burner carved with intricate patterns.
But Su Su, who had just had a horrible experience, did not feel comfortable at all.
She hugged a soft pillow in the corner, her face as white as a sheet of paper, her body swaying as the carriage moved.
Su Su shakily asked the system, “How is that slave doing?”
The ice-cold voice of the system sounded.
〚Dead.〛
Dead!!
Su Su’s pupils shrank suddenly, her hands clasped the soft pillow tightly, and she almost poked a hole in the smooth silk.
It was all because of her that the slave had died.
Su Su’s eyes reddened and she felt like crying but didn’t dare to actually do it in fear of being discovered upon leaving the carriage.
By the time they reached the military barracks where the celebration banquet was located, Su Su had already cleared away her emotions.
She followed at Gu Jingxi’s side and watched Gu Jingxi and the other family heads greeting each other. Their eyes fell on Su Su from time to time, which felt sticky and disgusting.
But after knowing that Su Su was Gu Jingxi’s daughter, they immediately removed their gazes, which made her feel slightly better.
After exchanging greetings for a while, everyone went to their seats and sat down. The table had been prepared with food and wine, but Su Su had no appetite at all.
Beautiful dancers performed in the center, wearing thin gauze that could be seen through with a single glance.
After a painful wait, Su Su’s long-awaited male lead finally went up.
Other slaves came with the male lead to receive the reward, in total fifteen people.
These people had washed before coming, so their bodies were clean with their wet hair dripping.
They were wearing brand-new black clothes, with some places slightly darker in color. Su Su, who was sitting by the side, could smell the scent of blood. She guessed that these people had injuries and did not apply any medicine after washing, staining the clothes with blood.
As soon as they came in from the door, they immediately knelt. Their palms were pressed against the ground on either side of their heads, and their foreheads on the ground, which was the kneeling custom of the slaves in this era.
Ever since these people had come in, Su Su stared at them unblinkingly, trying to locate the male lead of this world who was also her mission target.
It wasn’t too hard, because although all fifteen slaves were wearing the same clothes, Chu Mo was too dazzling.
He was tall, with a heroic spirit, and had a high nose with inky black eyes. The other slaves displayed flattering expressions when they entered, but he didn’t.
The other slaves’ backs’ bent when they kneeled, just like lowly dogs, but his back was so straight that he seemed like an upright and unyielding pine tree.
"This is the slave with the greatest military achievements under me. What's your name?" The middle-aged man sitting across from Su Su laughed.
“Chu Mo.” Chu Mo lowered his eyes, his voice deep.
Su Su heard the deep hoarse magnetic voice of the other party, and her heart trembled slightly, like a string that had been vibrated.
Not only was he good-looking, but his voice also sounded nice. If it was in modern times, with a less tragic background, he would have been a winner at life.
But looking at the bruise on his face, Su Su had mixed feelings.
She thought of the novel’s description of Chu Mo.
After the battle had ended, when the badly injured Chu Mo had been dragging his body back to his residence, he had been stopped by several people.
That group of people was the barrack’s non-slave soldiers who usually acted arrogant and domineering, bullying others. They laughed and trampled Chu Mo under their feet, sneering and mocking him.
Normally, the one with the greatest military accomplishments should be respected, but he was a slave, so all that had been denied to him.
And the patriarch who had introduced Chu Mo didn't care at all that his face had clearly been wounded by someone.
It wasn’t so much showing off his achievements as it was showing off how strong he was.
One of the family heads was unconvinced and said, “You said that he did the best, is there any evidence?”
Another one laughed and said, “In this case, comparing them to each other is alright, too.”
The confused patriarch's face was dark.
“But compare them against what?”
"How about the combat beasts? Whoever survives at the end is the strongest slave."
***
TL Note:
The translation schedule for this novel will be 4 chapters per month but could be more.
Edit (1/7/21): Clan → family
