Chapter 1: Transmigrated into a Substitute Bride

  Liu Qingqing lay on the bed, still basking in the happy moment. She had just participated in Star Avenue, China's most famous entertainment program, hosted by Bi Lao Ye. And she, Liu Qingqing, became the monthly champion because in this episode of the show, she achieved several unprecedented firsts: whatever had eyes, she could blow; whatever had strings, she could pluck; whatever made sounds, she could imitate; and whatever movements you could make, she could do too. The guests on Star Avenue said that she was the most promising new star, and she would definitely be the annual overall champion. She would be tomorrow's Feng Huang Chuan Qi, A Bao, Li Yu Gang...

  No one has ever achieved such a feat, no guest has ever given such an evaluation. It can be said that Liu Qingqing has achieved a decisive victory and absolute success in her career. She remembered her grandmother's prophecy: Qingqing, when your career is successful, you will gain love, and it will come from different time and space.

  Mom also told Liu Qingqing: Qingqing, you have to believe Grandma's words. Your grandma once told me that I would have a child, so I drank a little more wine and accidentally went to different times and spaces. As long as you hold this Biyu Buddha, on every full moon night when you look at it and see its belly turn into a door, you can go in and find your love. When Mom recalls the past, she always drinks some wine, but I don't know if what she says is drunken nonsense or true words.

  Tonight is the night of the full moon, the moonlight is like water, and the soft moonlight shines on the Green Jade Buddha. It flashes with a soft light, will it really turn into a door? Is there really one's own dreamy love inside? Liu Qingqing stroked the Green Jade Buddha, her eyes gradually becoming confused, suddenly she was surprised to find that the belly of the Green Jade Buddha had turned into a door, and after a dizziness, she arrived in a different time and space. It seems that Liu Qingqing is really going to experience a love that transcends time and space again.

  Crossing into the modern era as a new bride

  Liu Qingqing opened her eyes to find herself in an ancient courtyard, with no visible signs of the passing years. Just as she was about to take a stroll around, the sound of rustling silk caught her attention, and a beautiful woman from ancient times walked towards her. The woman's elegant steps seemed like a dance, and it was clear that she was a beauty. She quietly climbed up a peach blossom tree, peeking out from among the flowers. This young woman, who looked to be around twenty years old, caught Liu Qingqing's attention not because of her own beauty, but because of the tray in her hand - more precisely, the fragrant roasted duck on the plate. Liu Qingqing had gone hungry for a whole night, so what she wanted to solve most was the problem of getting something warm and filling to eat.

  The moonlight was like water, making the beautiful woman's figure even more slender, stretching her shadow very long. She stood in front of the house, lightly knocking on the door, "Miss, are you asleep? I've come to deliver dinner, may I come in?" The beauty's voice was crisp and clear, like a string of jade beads striking a jade plate. Liu Qingqing felt that this woman's voice was very similar to her own, but she had no time to think about it carefully. What Liu Qingqing longed for was the miss's response, something like "I don't want to eat, I'm asleep".

  However, there was no response. The beauty went in for a while and came out again, then walked away with the same elegant gait as before. Liu Qingqing slid down the tree trunk, she didn't even have the mood to smell the sweet fragrance of the flowers, nor did she have time to distinguish what kind of flowers they were. She tried her best to hold back her pounding heartbeat, forcing herself to calm down and listen to the sounds inside, but there was no sound. What's more annoying is that the aroma of roasted duck is tempting herself. She remembered the words of Marx, "People can only think about higher-level problems after solving the basic problems of food, clothing, shelter, and use." Liu Qingqing is a faithful practitioner of this sentence, her saliva flowed directly, she only knew that lunch was not eaten, dinner was not eaten, and she was so hungry that her front heart stuck to her back. So, decided to make a military campaign on the roasted duck. Liu Qingqing tentatively pushed open the door, a woman's voice rang out, "Qingqing, how did you come back again?"

  Liu Qing was taken aback, "How did you find out so easily? I don't even know where I am or what era this is." This person already knew her name, it was terrifying. Could ancient people really predict the future? She held her breath and waited for the lady on the bed to speak.

  The woman on the bed didn't move, and Liu Qingqing was in a dilemma. In the end, she couldn't resist the temptation of the roasted duck and said, "Miss, why don't I take away the roasted duck?"

  The girl's voice was low and seemed to carry a sob, "You eat the roast duck, I don't want to eat at all. Thinking of marrying that Hu Zhongren tomorrow, I can swallow nothing."

  Liu Qing was overjoyed, ancient people were really considerate and had X-ray vision or something, how did they know she was starving? Never mind, Liu Qing immediately took the tray and teapot, carefully backing out of the room.

  She saw a pavilion under the tree in front, and she took three steps and two steps to sit on the stone chair. She attacked the roasted duck above, eating with big mouthfuls. Fragrant! Really fragrant! In no time, she ate the whole duck until it was nothing but bones, feeling thirsty, seeing the teapot on the table, hastily gulped a few mouthfuls, only to discover it was wine, thinking that ancient rice wine wouldn't be stronger than modern baijiu, might as well take a small sip to quench her thirst. After drinking, she felt dizzy, her eyes were a bit blurry, and her head was a bit heavy, so she put her head on the table, thinking that she would just rest for a moment, but before she knew it, she fell over.

  Liu Qingqing let out a soft snore, and two figures emerged, coming to the pavilion where Liu Qingqing was lying. The older one was an old woman, who clapped three times outside the door, and the young lady inside heard it, knowing she had arrived, got up from bed, opened the door, and also came forward. Under the bright moonlight, it could be seen that the two people outside were a 13- or 14-year-old little maid and an old woman in her 40s.

  "Spring Peach, come quickly and help Qingqing into Miss's room." The old woman instructed the little maid.

  The old woman and the maid quickly helped Liu Qingqing into the house, put her on the bed, and began to change her into a new bride's outfit. The young lady followed behind, looking flustered, "Mother, is this okay? Won't it harm Qingqing?"

  "How could that be? She's just a servant girl, and she's lucky to marry into such a good family!" The old woman snorted.

  "People say that Hu Zhongren is cruel and violent, the eight wives before were all killed by him. If we let her marry him, he will harm her to death." Miss was still worried.

  "It's Si Ke who died." said Xiaoyu Chun Tao, "I heard his life was very hard, and he even killed his own wife and child."

  "Then your mother can't marry you off to her even more. Don't worry, I've even sent the engagement letter to the Hu family in green ink, so there won't be any mistakes. You and Cui'er should hurry up and leave tonight for Beijing to find Qingyang. Didn't you like Qingyang a long time ago?"

  The young lady was about to say something else, when suddenly there were footsteps outside. The old woman put her finger to her lips, signaling everyone to be quiet.

  A beautiful figure outside heard this and quickly hid in the shadows, leaving hastily.

  After a while, the voice of the servant came from outside the door: "Madam, the master is calling you to urge Miss to get dressed, the Hu family's wedding procession is almost here."

  "Alright, I need to have a word with Miss. Tell her to wait patiently and don't disturb me."

  The servant answered with a yes and the footsteps gradually went further away.

  The old woman handed the bundle to the young lady, "Hurry up, dear, your mother's second half of life depends on you. Your father is infatuated with building flying ships and our family business will be ruined soon. Once you marry Qing Yang, I'll leave him. Now, Bai Fu is waiting for you outside, hurry up! If your father finds out, all our efforts will be in vain."

  The old woman looked at Liu Qingqing, who was sleeping soundly. She pulled Miss's hand and turned to tell Chun Tao, "I'll take Miss out from the back door, you keep an eye on Qingqing, don't let her run away, otherwise, you'll be the one to marry in her place." Chun Tao nodded in agreement.

  The old woman watched as the young lady and Cui'er got into the carriage, and repeatedly instructed Bai Fu to take good care of the young lady. Bai Fu nodded in agreement. Silently, he drove the carriage away from Liu's village.

  The old woman saw her daughter off, cried for a while, and then slowly returned to the main house. Seeing that Mr. Liu had already fallen asleep, she sat on the chair, tears streaming down her face, her heart filled with longing for her daughter. She thought about how her daughter had never left home before, and now she was leaving in the middle of the night, and she couldn't put her mind at ease. She also thought about her own Buddhist fasting and chanting...

  Never hurt anyone before, now being forced to use poison to harm Qingqing, feeling even more guilty and tears fell harder.

  Outside the window, it gradually became clear that people outside had already gotten up. Mr. Liu also woke up from his sleep, washed his face and rinsed his mouth, preparing to welcome the arrival of the Hu family's carriage. The old woman coughed and walked out of the house, coming again to Miss's embroidery room. Seeing Chun Tao attentively watching Liu Qingqing without any difference, she waved her hand and called Chun Tao out.

  Qing Qing was in a daze, half asleep and half awake, when she heard someone speaking beside her ear, "Qing Qing, don't blame me, Qing Luan already has someone she likes, it's your brother Qing Yang. You should do a good deed and take my daughter Qing Luan's place to marry that Hu Zhong Ren instead. The Hu family is wealthy and influential, you won't suffer."

  Liu Qingqing wanted to lift her eyelids to see who was speaking, but unfortunately, her whole body was soft and weak, without a single ounce of strength. She could only judge in her heart that it should be the young lady's mother. It was all because she had been greedy, and probably got caught up in their scheme. She didn't know what kind of person this Hu Zhongren was, but her mother said that if she crossed over to this world, she would be able to find love. Thinking about it, helping the young lady out wasn't so scary after all, maybe this Hu Zhongren was her other half? But their selfish and self-serving behavior, disregarding others for their own sake, was really not right. Therefore, she felt extremely displeased.

  Liu Qingqing struggled to wake herself up, biting her lip hard with her teeth, and finally came to. She found herself in a luxurious room, wearing a wedding dress, but was horrified to discover that she couldn't make a sound. Her heart racing, tears flowed out, and the old woman saw her crying, her mouth full of blood, and shouted loudly, "Qing Tong, you have such a fierce temper! As the adopted daughter of the Liu family, we treated you well, even if it was to let you take Qing Luan's place in marriage, there's no need for you to bite your tongue to death!" Unconsciously, tears flowed out, and she said repeatedly, "Qingqing, I'm sorry, Qing Luan has already left last night, the Hu family's carriage will arrive soon, the arrow is on the string, it can't be helped, just bear with it for now."

  Liu Qingqing anxiously wanted to speak up and explain, wanting to tell her that she was mistaken. She wasn't that beautiful woman with the enchanting figure. But when she opened her mouth, no sound came out, as if something big had happened. It seemed that whether she was willing or not, she would have to help, but helping shouldn't be like this, should it?

  "I've given you medicine, so you can't speak for now."

  The old woman's mouth opened and closed, making Liu Qingqi's lungs explode with anger, but hearing her say, "I know you don't want to either, you changed into night-traveling clothes just to escape, right?" made him cry and laugh at the same time.

  Liu Qingqing said, "You idiot, this is modern people's clothing, okay? Besides, my appearance and your green are not the same. This green is not that green. What kind of misunderstanding are you making?"

  The old woman wanted to say something, but a male voice came from outside: "Sir asks if you're ready, the Hu family's carriage has arrived, they've eaten and are urging us to depart." The old woman sobbed: "Go tell that old man to bring the carriage here, Miss will leave then. Child, be good and go, I beg of you." The old woman sobbed again, kneeling before her: "I beg of you."

  Liu Qingqing's heart was the softest, she had never been able to bear seeing people cry, and even more so for this poor old mother, so she nodded her head in agreement. And just like that, Liu Qingqing was muddled and confused as she was loaded into a horse carriage, heading towards an unknown place - the Hu family estate.