“Ahhh—damn you, heavens!
If you’re going to make such a mess, why can’t you just blow every last tree down and be done with it?!” Twelve-year-old Yuchi Mengxing threw her head back and shouted at the sky.
Her voice was unmistakably childish, yet there was a strange fierceness to it, as though she were genuinely prepared to pick a fight with the heavens themselves.
She wore a coarse, plain robe that had long since been whipped into disarray by the wind.
Her face was smeared with so much dirt that her features were barely visible.
Clutching an old, battered broom, she pointed it furiously at the clear blue sky.
She had already swept this courtyard twice.
Twice!
Yet every time she finally managed to gather the dried leaves into a neat pile, a gust of wind would come along and scatter them everywhere again.
Was the heavens deliberately messing with her?
Apparently, even the sky had decided to bully her today.
“Come on, then!” she shouted indignantly.
“If you’re so capable, blow them all down at once!” BOOM—!
A bolt of thunder suddenly cracked across the perfectly clear sky.
Yuchi Mengxing jumped so violently that the broom nearly slipped from her hands.
Her arrogance vanished instantly.
She stared up at the sky.
The sky remained blue.
The sun was still shining.
Yet somehow, that only made the thunderclap even more terrifying.
After a long silence, she quietly shrank her neck.
Fine.
She got the message.
Picking up her broom again, Yuchi Mengxing obediently returned to sweeping the dried leaves scattered across the ground.
Her lips, however, remained pursed in resentment.
She refused to accept this.
Absolutely refused.
Once upon a time, she had been a famous feng shui master—a respected figure whose name carried considerable weight.
People had once gone out of their way to seek her help.
Some asked her to examine houses.
Others begged her to choose auspicious dates, inspect ancestral graves, or resolve strange problems that ordinary people couldn’t explain.
There had even been people willing to wait weeks just for a chance to meet her.
And now?
She was standing in a shabby courtyard, covered in dirt, sweeping leaves with a broom that looked as though it might fall apart before she did.
What a spectacular fall from grace.
The more she thought about it, the more miserable she became.
Dying would have been bad enough.
But when she arrived in the underworld, she had been informed of something even more outrageous— Her soul had been taken by mistake.
Yes.
A mistake.
The ghost messenger had originally been sent to collect the soul of the customer sitting across from her, who had been leisurely drinking tea.
Unfortunately, the messenger happened to be a complete rookie.
Somehow, in his muddled confusion, he had grabbed her soul instead.
Yuchi Mengxing could still remember the expression on the little ghost’s face when the truth came out.
Pale.
Terrified.
And very clearly wishing he could disappear on the spot.
She had stared at him for a long time.
“So…
you’re telling me I wasn’t supposed to die?” The little ghost had lowered his head.
“…No.” “My lifespan wasn’t over?” “…No.” “And you took me anyway?” “…Yes.” Yuchi Mengxing had nearly exploded.
Unfortunately, by the time anyone discovered the mistake, it was already too late.
Her lifespan hadn’t ended, but her body had already been cremated.
By the time the underworld figured everything out, even her ashes had probably gone cold.
The ghost messengers could only stare helplessly at one another.
There was no body left to send her back to.
After a lengthy discussion, they came up with the only solution available.
She would have to reincarnate by taking over someone else’s body.
Perhaps because they knew they had made a colossal mistake, the ghosts were unusually accommodating.
They even let her choose.
A girl from a good family?
Someone beautiful?
Someone clever and quick-witted?
Someone born with exceptional luck?
Yuchi Mengxing’s answer had been immediate.
Why choose?
She wanted all of them.
A good family background was a must.
She had to be beautiful.
She had to be intelligent.
And if there were any other good qualities available, they might as well throw those in too.
After all, whose fault was this entire disaster?
Certainly not hers.
“Hmph!” Yuchi Mengxing declared confidently.
“In this life, I’m going to become the kind of ‘perfect child’ everyone talks about over dinner—the one other parents praise until their own children turn green with envy!” The little ghosts around her twitched at the corners of their mouths.
Her demands were outrageous.
Still…
they weren’t entirely impossible.
And so Yuchi Mengxing stayed in the underworld and waited.
One day.
Two days.
Three days…
By the fifth day, she had practically made herself at home.
She knew which little ghost was responsible for records, which one delivered messages, and even where they kept the tea.
Whenever the ghost messenger who had taken the wrong soul saw her coming, he immediately found an excuse to walk in the opposite direction.
Finally, on the fifth day, good news arrived.
They had found one!
A body that actually met her ridiculous list of requirements!
Yuchi Mengxing was ecstatic.
The ghosts were even more ecstatic.
At last!
This troublesome ancestor was finally leaving!
Everyone happily prepared to send her back to the mortal world, treating the occasion with such enthusiasm that Yuchi Mengxing almost suspected they wanted to light firecrackers after she left.
And then— she arrived.
Only to discover one tiny problem.
No.
Actually, it was a very big problem.
Were those idiots in the underworld sure this was supposed to be taking over a dead person’s body?
Because from what she could tell— she had been reborn from infancy with all her memories intact!
Fine.
Even that, she could tolerate.
After all, she, Yuchi Mengxing, had once been a formidable feng shui master.
If the heavens were giving her another life, surely her starting point should at least be respectable, right?
She wasn’t asking for much.
A member of the imperial family would do.
A princess, a commandery princess, a county princess…
She wasn’t picky.
Any one of those titles would have been perfectly acceptable.
If that was asking too much, fine.
She could lower her standards.
The legitimate daughter of a marquis household?
The cherished young lady of some prestigious clan?
She could work with that too.
Still too much?
Fine!
She would even accept being born into an ordinary farming family.
At least then she could study hard, rise above her humble beginnings, and make a name for herself.
Or forget studying altogether.
She could start from nothing, build a fortune with her own hands, and become filthy rich.
There were plenty of possibilities!
But— after lowering her standards again and again…
What did she actually get?!