Hua Yuanshi woke up a second time that day and started crying. What could she possibly have done to deserve this? She had just gotten a promotion after years of trying, and now she was in some random world. She didn't even know if it would be possible to go back to Earth someday.
She had transmigrated to a planet called the Gudan Planet, in the Mo Kingdom of the Sita continent. She had taken over the body of a girl who was also called Hua Yuanshi. Her parents were poor farmers who had unfortunately died in a landslide while working on their farm. She had two siblings: Hua Yuexi and Hua Ergu. Life was incredibly hard for her, as she was now responsible for taking care of both of them.
Their mother's younger sister, Shi Yue, cared for them sometimes but she was also poor. However, since Hua Yuanshi had turned seventeen, Shi Yue had been hinting at her to move out and take full responsibility for her siblings but she still allowed them to stay in that rickety shack.
The original Hua Yuanshi had fallen in love with a man called Li Ming. She was deceived by the man as he took advantage of her desperation to get out of her unfortunate situation. He had even promised to marry her as his second wife if she could lend him some money for his failing business. Desperate, she tried to sell her siblings at the slave market, but Aunt Yue caught her. She ran to Li Ming's house because her aunt chased her away, only to be beaten nearly to death by Li Ming's wife while Li Ming watched in silence, denying ever knowing her.
Hua Yuanshi sighed. The original owner had lived such a terrible life. And now, that was her life too. She broke into tears. In all the novels she had read, transmigrators always discovered some sort of golden goose or gained a system but she had nothing. Worst of all, she was destitute in this new world.
This new world was a world where cultivators ruled supreme and the rest without cultivation could only surrender to their whims. Hua Yuanshi had zero talent for cultivation, besides, she wasn't some genius doctor or assassin and she's past the age to start cultivating so that's not an option for her.
She decided to walk around the four corners of the room and then knelt in the middle, clasping her hands, muttering a prayer she remembered from Buddhist temples. Maybe this is all a bad dream and I'll wake up back on Earth.
Her arms flailed as she chanted Amitabha… or maybe it was Amita… something. She wasn't sure anymore. "Please send me back to Earth, king of… pizza? Enlightenment?" she added desperately, spinning in a slow circle. Her tears streaked her face as she shuffled like a dizzy chicken.
Hua Yuexi peeked into the room, scrunching her face. "Sister… what are you doing?"
"I'm trying to go back home!" Hua Yuanshi wailed, waving her arms so wildly that she almost toppled the clay pot. "Oh no, the… the… water mirror! No, wait, that's not how it works! Maybe I need a broom! Or incense! Or…"
"Sister, have you been possessed by ghosts?" Hua Yuexi questioned
Hua Yuanshi spun again, muttering random syllables, "Return me to Earth, oh mighty… uh… whoever runs this world… I'll… I'll pay in dumplings!" She tripped over her own sleeve and nearly face-planted into the straw bed.
Her tears ran freely as she stopped mid-circle, panting, arms flopped to her sides. "Please… anyone… send me back… please, please, any god or deity up there, send me home, I promise to gain good karma"
Just then, Hua Yuexi stepped closer, curiosity plain on her face. "But… you're already home."
Hua Yuanshi collapsed into a heap on the floor and sighed. "Call Hua Ergu. I have something to say to both of you."
The shy boy walked in, holding Hua Yuexi's hand. Hua Yuanshi had planned to tell them that she was not their sister, she was just a stranger who came from another world, and that their actual sister was dead. But upon seeing their doe-eyed faces and the love they still had for her despite what she had done, the words simply wouldn't come. Hua Yuanshi herself had grown up in an orphanage, never having felt familial love, and seeing this warmth made her chest ache.
Instead of what she had planned, she looked at them, still on her knees with her head bowed, and said, "I'm sorry I tried to sell you off. I'm really, truly sorry. From today onwards, I promise I'll be good to you and I'll take care of you two, I swear."
The kids looked at her with trepidation, but five-year-old Hua Ergu, who was quite small for his age, ran forward and hugged her. "I know Sister would never attempt to harm us," he said. She reluctantly wrapped her arms around him in return.
Hua Yuexi said, "Aunt Yue said you should have this when you wake up," handing her a bowl of what looked like mush.
Hua Yuanshi eyed it with fear, but when her stomach rumbled, she swallowed the tasteless porridge without leaving any behind. She looked at her malnourished siblings and the state of the shack, and began ruminating on how she could make money.