The silk curtains were like smoke, the embroidered couch fragrant.
The smoke-like and mist-like hibiscus curtains swayed, surging like a tide.
A long time passed…
The woman, with features like a painting, shed a single tear on her pillow, then turned her face toward Chen Ran.
A sorrowful smile appeared on her face:
“Today, I give you my maidenhood. With this, I have no regrets in this life!”
She spoke, then struggled to rise.
After dressing neatly, she walked to the foot of the embroidered couch, but then looked back at Chen Ran with a hint of reluctance.
“Tomorrow, the madam will force me to serve guests. From tomorrow onward, I, Zhou Miao Tong, will be an impure woman!”
As she said this, her expression was sorrowful, her eyes shimmering with tears.
But she suddenly turned her head away, not wanting Chen Ran to see her tears.
At this moment, Chen Ran held her delicate hand:
“I will redeem you.”
“You are just a small flag officer in the Imperial Guard, your monthly salary is only ten taels. How can you redeem me?”
Zhou Miao Tong pushed his hand away:
“Forget me, don’t come again!”
After speaking, Zhou Miao Tong turned and walked toward the door.
Chen Ran rose to stop her, but her words were like shackles, barring his path.
She was right!
A woman from the pleasure house, if she wanted to be redeemed, would need at least a thousand taels of silver!
And Chen Ran was merely a flag officer in the Imperial Guard, his monthly salary was only ten taels!
Although he had no family to support, with this salary, if he wanted to redeem her, it would be more difficult than reaching the heavens!
Soon, Zhou Miao Tong left the room, leaving Chen Ran alone in the room.
He turned to look at the bed.
A crimson stain, bright as a peach blossom.
It was a memento she left him!
Born in this world of tigers and wolves, this was the last bit of beauty she could leave him!
Then, she would be thrown into the forest of tigers and wolves,
In the end,
She would gradually sink, until she vanished and her beauty faded away…
Thinking of this, Chen Ran’s heart felt a pang of pain.
Just then, a clear voice suddenly rang out in his ear.
“Ding!”
Like the clear sound of a bell in a Buddhist temple, it shook his soul.
“Congratulations, Host, for obtaining Zhou Miao Tong’s maidenhood. The Wife and Concubine System, with Multiple Sons and Blessings, is now activating!”
“Past life memories have awakened!”
As this prompt echoed in his mind, Chen Ran felt a sudden jolt of electricity.
In an instant, his memories from his previous life flooded back into his mind like a tide.
Feeling the memories that originally belonged to him, he felt a mix of grief and joy.
That’s right, Chen Ran wasn’t from this world.
Twenty years ago, he suddenly transmigrated from the modern world to this world, which was still in the late Ming Dynasty, becoming a newborn baby.
But in these twenty years, he had not awakened the memories of his past life. Instead, like the common people of this era, he drifted in the darkness and decay of the late Ming Dynasty.
Two years ago, Chen Ran’s parents in this world died one after another.
Under the patronage of his deceased father, he inherited the position of an Imperial Guard officer.
Half a year ago, he presented most of his wealth to his superiors and was promoted to flag officer.
Although it was the lowest-ranking position in the Imperial Guard, it was still better than most people in this world.
It was at the celebration banquet for his promotion and salary increase that he met Zhou Miao Tong, who was still a geisha, selling her art but not her body, in the pleasure house.
These two,
One, though a newly promoted flag officer in the Imperial Guard, was born with sword eyebrows and starry eyes, gentle and jade-like.
The other, though a geisha in the pleasure house, was beautiful and serene, excelling in both beauty and art.
The two fell in love at first sight at the banquet!
The pleasure house was a place where money was spent like water!
One meal and drink cost dozens of taels of silver, and if you wanted to stay overnight, it would cost at least hundreds of taels!
Zhou Miao Tong knew that Chen Ran’s family fortune was about to be depleted, and she didn’t want him to linger in places like the pleasure house anymore.
Moreover, the madam had been pressuring her to take on guests.
Therefore, today she gave her maidenhood to Chen Ran, and then said goodbye!
But Chen Ran, after their tender embrace, unexpectedly activated the system and awakened his past life memories!
After awakening his past life memories, Chen Ran felt a mixture of both awe and joy.
The awe was that he had actually been born in the chaotic end times of the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Emperor Chongzhen had just ascended the throne, the court was rife with undercurrents.
Wei Zhongxian and other eunuchs had fallen from power, and a bloody cloud hung over the Ming Dynasty’s sky.
The Imperial Guard was also rife with undercurrents!
Zhao Jingzhong, the new director, was originally Wei Zhongxian’s adopted son, but now he had become a leading figure in the opposition to the eunuchs.
The former loyal dog had transformed, leading a group of Imperial Guard officers to search for the remnants of Wei Zhongxian, but he acted more ferocious than anyone else.
The entire capital was filled with the sight of severed heads rolling, families separated, and good people reduced to slaves!
Living in such a time, and being an Imperial Guard officer himself, Chen Ran could feel the constant danger of walking on a tightrope!
The joy was that he finally had a system.
With the system, he was no longer a small pawn who could only drift and disappear in the tides and undercurrents of the late Ming Dynasty!
But what kind of system was this Wife and Concubine System, with Multiple Sons and Blessings?
As Chen Ran was full of questions, a clear voice echoed in his mind again:
“Wife and Concubine System, with Multiple Sons and Blessings, activated!”
“After binding this system, Host, taking wives and concubines, increasing family size, and having more children, can all earn various rewards!”
“Congratulations, Host, for successfully obtaining Zhou Miao Tong’s maidenhood, and achieving hundreds of critical hits!”
“Rewarding Host with three Beginner Gift Packs!”
“Congratulations, Host, for obtaining ten thousand taels of silver!”
“Congratulations, Host, for obtaining one Body Tempering Pill!”
“Congratulations, Host, for obtaining the Five Tiger Dismemberment Swordsmanship!”
As the prompts fell, the items rewarded in the Beginner Gift Pack appeared in Chen Ran’s system space.
A pile of silver, as white as snow, with water wave patterns left from its casting!
A pill that was crimson red as blood, emitting a mysterious glow.
In addition, there was a bound book with an ancient and rustic appearance.
Chen Ran saw the silver and the pill, and couldn’t help but feel a surge of joy.
He was just a flag officer in the Imperial Guard, with only ten taels of monthly salary. This money wasn’t enough to even have a drink in the pleasure house!
But after obtaining the system, he had already received ten thousand taels of snowflake silver as seed capital!
The system did not deceive me!
“Beginner Gift Pack has been delivered, please have Host quickly take a wife and concubines to officially bind the system!”
“After officially binding the system, Host can also receive the initial system reward!”
So the system was only activated, not officially bound!
Chen Ran cast his gaze once again toward the crimson stain on the bed.
It seems I really need to redeem Zhou Miao Tong as soon as possible, then marry her!
…
This book will not start with overwhelming cheats, nor will it have the protagonist suddenly expanding their army to 100,000 and conquering the world. Instead, it will be a gradual development and a reasonable struggle for dominance.
Dear readers, if you think this book is okay, please take a moment to click the "Collect" button with your precious little hands!
The author is eternally grateful!!!