After graduating from college, Liu Yangyang landed herself a horticulture job at a park. She was now three years into her post, having won the favor of her supervisors by keeping her head down and diligently doing her part. Now already twenty—six years old, it was feared that she was quickly joining the ranks of leftover women destined for spinsterhood. Her family was anxious, often arranging blind dates for her to go on. As a matter of fact, she had one scheduled after work today. The mere thought of it was incredibly irritating.

She'd just finished lunch and was whiling away the rest of her break to sip water and read on her phone. She'd been reading a particular web novel, The Lord's Escaped Consort, for three days now. In the novel, the female lead often found herself in all sorts of inexplicable trouble. The story was generally trite and melodramatic, but overall the pacing and writing were good, and it had fully captured her attention.

The plot was approaching its climax. The male lead had finally recaptured his runaway fiancee, but she'd delivered an ultimatum, saying that she had no intention of sharing him with an entire harem. He'd responded with a grand, sweeping gesture and dismissed all his other concubines. But these women had been living lives of carefree luxury, and were deeply shocked by their unexpected misfortune. Some wept bitterly after receiving the dismal tidings. In the end, they were allowed to stay after their mother—in—law, the old madame, had made an appearance. This didn't stop them from bitterly hating the female lead, however, and thus the road to revenge began.

All sorts of poisons and schemes abounded. Although the female lead was a relatively naive girl, she'd nevertheless managed to blaze a pathway through all obstacles by relying on her shield—the male lead, who seemed to be protected by a very typical case of impenetrable plot armor. Today, one of the minor characters, a concubine who'd never so much as held hands with him, had been exposed for scheming against the female lead. He'd ordered her beaten to death as an example to the rest. The scene was exceedingly gory, utterly brutal, and the highlight of the entire book.

Liu Yangyang was intently immersed in the story as she absentmindedly reached for a cup of water. Her hand bumped into a decorative cactus on the table instead, its unforgiving spikes leaving a trail of bloody holes in her skin. She frowned as she watched beads of blood trickle down her finger. Strangely, a drop of blood seemed to be falling from her hand at a glacial pace. She could actually trace its entire trajectory before it landed on the table. This isn't how science works... She wanted to blink, but in that moment found that she couldn't move at all.

When the blood drop finally landed, the table had completely changed. What had once been a well—worn, faux wood office desk had now apparently turned to solid rosewood. And from the elaborate styling, she imagined it might be worth thousands of yuan. Liu Yangyang blinked. When did she ever have a habit of becoming lightheaded? The surroundings seemed to blur as her head spun. She was hallucinating, wasn't she?

"Ah, Mistress Xiu, how did you prick your hand?" a nearby voice suddenly sounded. It frightened her back to her senses, and she jerked, opening her eyes wide with astonishment. This wasn't the break room that she'd spent three years in! This was a room decorated in an antique style—hold it, just who decorates their house like this? How much must this have cost?

But that was just the room—why was the young girl walking over also dressed in what looked like ancient clothing? What was going on here? Had her soul travelled to another realm, another time? Had she transmigrated?

"Mistress Xiu, Mistress Xiu, what's happened to you?" The oddly—garbed girl seemed very anxious. She lightly prodded Liu Yangyang twice before finally receiving a response.

Liu Yangyang's eyes twitched as she stammered, "W—Where, where am I?"

The young girl burst out into frightened sobs, kneeling on the floor as she responded, "Mistress Xiu, please don't scare this servant! What's happened to you?"

Mistress Xiu? Servant? Am I in olden times? Liu Yangyang surged to her feet. She needed to confirm her theory. She hastily ran outside, running into a small yard. It was brimming with an antique presence with a classical flair to its layout. In the middle of the yard stood a pavilion, aptly furnished with stone tables and seats. No matter where she looked, she couldn't find any telephone cables, fluorescent paint, electric lights, or any other modern things at all! My gosh, I really transmigrated?! She was supposed to go on a blind date later this afternoon. This was simply too sudden! Had she landed in ancient times after being pricked by a cactus? What kind of bizarre transmigration method is this?? [1. ‘Usual' methods involve being struck by lightning or a horrific accident.]

Deep breaths, stay calm, stay calm. Since I could come here, there must be a way to go back. I wasn't in an accident or fall down a flight of stairs. My old body is just peachy, I'm sure I can go back.

"Mistress Xiu, do you feel unwell? Do you want this servant to go find a doctor?" The girl in ancient dress ran over again, her expression still frantic.

"Mistress Xiu?" She seemed to have heard this name before. She said subconsciously, "Bai Xiangxiu?"

"What is the matter, Mistress Xiu? Is something wrong with your honored name?" the young girl asked, tears still fresh on her face.

"Xiaoshi?" Liu Yangyang was about to start sobbing. She stared at the young girl, hoping she'd deny the name. Instead, the girl nodded, her face ashen with fright.

Damn my luck! Of all the people to transmigrate into, she'd transmigrated into the body of that minor character who'd been beaten to death, Mistress Xiu! She wanted to weep, but lacking the energy even to cry, she merely collapsed to a pile on the ground. To her annoyance, Xiaoshi merely continued wailing. Her head drooped in resignation. "Eh, Xiaoshi, can you stop crying?"

"But this servant is afraid of how Mistress Xiu is acting!" Xiaoshi was only thirteen or fourteen years old. Her shock at her mistress' strange behavior came as no surprise.

"Alright, alright. I'm fine… but help me up first." Liu Yangyang lifted her hand. She wanted to join the maid in a good cry, but she couldn't even find the ability to. Xiaoshi hastily pulled her mistress up and led her to a seat on the bed. It was quite hard. Although there were quite a few blankets piled on top of it, it still couldn't compare to a modern mattress.

"Have some water, Mistress." Xiaoshi offered her a cup of water, taking out a handkerchief to dab away her own tears after her mistress accepted it. Liu Yangyang found that the water helped calm her, and she directed her thoughts to restructuring the plot so that she wouldn't be beaten to death. She might be able to accept dying, but the method described in the novel had been a distressingly tragic affair.

"Has anything interesting happened in the estate today?" Her first priority was to identify her place within the novel's course of events as time was tracked a bit loosely.

"In response to Mistress Xiu, everyone is busy organizing the new estate and readying it for the old madame's birthday. We have been very busy, so nothing new has happened." Xiaoshi had had quite a scare, but could finally breathe a sigh of relief now that her mistress was back to normal.

The old madame's birthday had yet to arrive. This meant that less than a month had passed since the male lead had been awarded the title of a common—born prince, and he'd only just returned from the battlefield. The female lead had yet to make her debut, which meant that Liu Yangyang was far from death. Thank goodness. So long as she kept her head down and didn't cause any trouble, she might be able to avoid her fate from the novel. Any chance of making it back home depended first on her remaining alive.

She waved her hand and spoke with decorum appropriate to her newfound status. "You are dismissed."

Liu Yangyang had learned take care of herself since she was young. She really didn't like having someone waiting on her hand and foot, handing her water and arranging her clothes. She wasn't a child!