Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Bargaining with the King of the Underworld for a Cheat, Damn Time Travel

Even Horse-Face rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

Gu Qinghuan was utterly confused. Other than saving someone’s life right before she died, she hadn’t really done anything that good. How could she suddenly have racked up so much merit?

The staff inside started to panic as well. They quickly dialed the Underworld King’s direct line to report Gu Qinghuan’s case.

Gu Qinghuan was then politely invited into a luxurious VIP room.

The staff immediately brought out fruit, snacks, and tea, treating her with the utmost kindness.

The King of the Underworld hadn’t handled such a big case in ages, so he was in a pretty good mood.

“After you saved that child, his family wanted to thank you for your kindness. In your name, they donated 900 million yuan to impoverished mountain areas.

They built bridges and roads, established schools, improved conditions in the mountains, and helped countless children walk out of poverty.

They even invited eminent monks to perform rituals for you, enshrined your spirit tablet at home, and offered incense every day.

That’s why your merit increased out of nowhere,” the King of the Underworld explained.

Gu Qinghuan felt a little moved. At least her sacrifice hadn’t been in vain.

Although she’d been a somewhat well-known food streamer in her previous life, she’d only made a few million yuan since starting her career. After buying herself a big villa, she had about 300,000 left in savings.

But these people had donated 900 million in one go—enough to last several lifetimes. If only she could spend it herself! But alas, she didn’t have that kind of luck, so she could only fantasize about it.

Thinking of the villa she’d just bought, Gu Qinghuan felt a pang of regret—she hadn’t even lived there for a month.

Still, she comforted herself: at least she’d done something good for the world.

The King of the Underworld rubbed his hands together, looking a bit awkward as he spoke again: “There’s just one problem. With your merit, you should be assigned an extraordinary next life.

But that spot only opens once every fifty years. Unfortunately, last year a saintly person with a hundred thousand merit points came through, so I gave the spot to him.

Now you’re left with two options: either wait another fifty years, or be reborn into an ordinary wealthy family. Which do you choose?”

Gu Qinghuan thought it over and felt neither option was great. If the King hadn’t mentioned the extraordinary life, she would’ve just picked the ordinary wealthy one.

But now that he’d brought it up, she didn’t want to settle for second best.

It was like the fruit on this table—if there were no strawberries, she might pick an apple or a pear. But if there were delicious strawberries, of course she’d want those.

Waiting fifty years in the lonely underworld didn’t sound appealing either.

Gu Qinghuan gathered her courage and asked, “Is there any other option?”

The King of the Underworld shook his head. The quotas were fixed, and even he had to follow the rules.

“With your merit, the next spot will definitely be yours.”

He thought for a moment and added, “How about this: if you don’t want to wait decades, I have the latest time-travel package from the underworld. I’ll give you one for free.

By the time you come back from your trip, the extraordinary spot will be available.

Other souls have to spend a thousand merit points for this package.”

The King had just remembered this offer. Even though he was the highest official in the underworld, he was still bound by the rules.

Ever since the time-travel package launched, not a single ghost had signed up. The pressure was getting to him.

Honestly, the package was a bit pricey. Ordinary souls didn’t have a thousand merit points, and even if they did, they wouldn’t want to spend it on an unknown journey. Merit points determined your next life, after all.

The King hadn’t expected much, but to his surprise, Gu Qinghuan seemed interested.

“What exactly is time-travel?” she asked. If it costs a thousand merit points, it must be something good, right?

“Time-travel is simple. You’ll enter a small world and live as someone else, finishing the life they left incomplete.

To put it plainly, it’s like soul transmigration—you get to live another life.”

Not bad at all, Gu Qinghuan thought. Isn’t this just like the transmigration novels she loved?

She still wanted to be human, not a ghost. Waiting fifty years in the underworld would drive her crazy.

But the King seemed pretty easygoing—maybe she could bargain for more benefits.

“Does this time-travel come with any cheats? Like a spiritual spring space, a sign-in system, a lucky aura, mind-reading, hypnosis, that kind of thing?”

She was a huge fan of transmigration novels—she had to get herself a cheat or two!

The King of the Underworld was momentarily speechless, his face visibly darkening.

“No!”

Gu Qinghuan looked disappointed. “Then I’ll have to think about it.”

Going on a quest with no guarantees sounded risky. What if it was a hell-level difficulty?

The King’s heart skipped a beat. No, no, please, just take the deal!

Fine, she wants a cheat? She can have one!

He gritted his teeth. “I can give you a spiritual spring space, and at most, an automatic vending machine. Don’t even think about anything else.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!” Gu Qinghuan flashed a sycophantic smile.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll have someone send you to the space station,” the King said, face dark.

This was a total loss—he’d given away a cheat, which would cost merit points, and let this girl get away with it.

Gu Qinghuan rubbed her hands together and smiled. “Um, Your Majesty, I had 300,000 yuan in savings and a brand-new villa I barely got to live in… Could I keep those?”

The King glared at her.

“Fine, take them! All yours! Happy now?”

With a wave of his hand, he had her escorted away—out of sight, out of mind.

And so, Gu Qinghuan was sent to this new world. Officially, it was time-travel, but it felt more like she was on some reality show for troubled teens.

The body she now inhabited was also named Gu Qinghuan—same name as her.

The original Gu Qinghuan had been a pampered young lady, born into wealth.

Then came the Cultural Revolution. Her ungrateful father betrayed his wife and her family, severed ties with his wife, and rose through the ranks.

At least he had a shred of conscience and didn’t throw his two children under the bus.

Later, he remarried. The stepmother brought a daughter of her own, and together they bullied Gu Qinghuan and her brother in secret.

The siblings thought if they endured, things would get better. But the stepmother only got worse, coming up with new ways to torment them.

She even secretly signed Gu Qinghuan up to be sent down to the countryside—specifically, the remote northwest.

Coincidentally, the stepmother got pregnant, so Gu Qinghuan’s heartless father just went along with sending his daughter away. Every family had to send a child, after all.

Desperate, the original Gu Qinghuan sought help from her grandfather’s former student.

That uncle was a good man. Though he couldn’t exempt her from being sent down, he at least managed to get her transferred from the northwest to the northeast.

Her mother and grandfather had also been sent there, thanks to this uncle’s help. At least if you worked hard, you wouldn’t starve.

The original Gu Qinghuan had been in Xujiatun for over a year. Life was tough, but she could secretly visit her grandparents and mother, so she still had hope.

But misfortune always strikes the unfortunate.

Just two days ago, her mother was pushed while working, fell down a slope, and broke her left arm.

A penny can trip up a hero. With no money for treatment, her arm was as good as ruined. Worse, if the wound got infected, it could be fatal.

When Gu Qinghuan heard the news, she cursed the heavens and her own helplessness, crying on the spot.

Someone in the educated youth compound casually mentioned that the village secretary wanted to find a wife for his mentally ill son, so someone could take care of him.

Of course, it was nearly impossible to find a normal girl willing to marry a “madman.”

Unless the secretary was willing to pay a hefty bride price, maybe some greedy family would consider it.

But clearly, the secretary wasn’t about to spend that kind of money, so the matter was shelved.

The original Gu Qinghuan struggled for a while, then made up her mind. She went to the secretary and “sold” herself for a hundred yuan to marry his second son.

She immediately used the money to get her mother treated at the county hospital. Luckily, there was an old doctor skilled in orthopedics who set the bone.

Gu Qinghuan’s mother was tough. Even as sweat poured down her face during the procedure, she didn’t make a sound. She ran a high fever that night, but by morning, she’d pulled through the worst of it.

Leaving her grandmother to care for her mother, Gu Qinghuan hurried back to the cowshed to tell her grandfather the good news and help finish the chores.

Her grandfather was old, and years in the cowshed had worn him down. The heavy work was hard for him.

The family’s chores had piled up for two days. The two of them worked until sunset, and Gu Qinghuan, exhausted and weak, staggered back toward Xujiatun.

She hadn’t had a drop of water in two days, was physically and emotionally drained, hadn’t slept all night, and after a day of hard labor, she collapsed on the road and died suddenly.

That was when Gu Qinghuan arrived.

Fortunately, someone passing by found her and carried her back to Xujiatun.

The old woman who’d just spoken was the secretary’s wife, Liu Guifang. The younger voice belonged to her daughter, Xu Meiling.

Liu Guifang was ruthless. Seeing Gu Qinghuan still breathing, she wouldn’t even call a barefoot doctor. She figured, “No time like the present,” and just threw Gu Qinghuan and the madman into the old house to fend for themselves.

After sorting through the memories in her mind, Gu Qinghuan thought: The King of the Underworld really screwed me. I just got here and I’m already married to a madman, with two little kids thrown in. How am I supposed to survive this hell-level start?

Rumor had it the madman had been tied up for years, and when he went berserk, he’d taken down a dozen grown men—a real human killing machine.

Thinking of this, Gu Qinghuan let out a deep sigh."

"Chapter 3: White Rice Porridge, Little Radishes