Reawakening as a Pauper

There was once a royal princess who lived in a world where martial arts and reputation matter above all.

She was ridiculed and scorned by nearly everyone, because she was a useless waste who cannot cultivate her power nor learn martial arts. As a result, she was timid, meek, and a coward. And she had a weak body prone to illness.

Even Servants had a higher status than her they say, that when her mother died, her status fell down a thousand zhang. Quickly abandoned by all.

Only two people truly cared for her. Her mother who died when she was eight and her personal maid.

Useless she may be in Martial Arts, but her mother made sure she can survive somehow. She had an unusual education for her own good. Literacy, Math, Manners and Etiquette, How to Weave, Sew, and Embroider. How to make Medicine and necessities. How to Cook. How to gather ki but use it quickly instead of taking it in, in her useless dantian that made her suffer.

She wasn't like most princesses who learned painting, calligraphy, chess and playing the zither.

For her mother who knew the cruelties she faced, survival skills are more important, than skills that will not help her at all.

But one day, she died in the Ancestral Hall after being made to kneel there for a whole day and night without food and water, and in the cold of winter after a flogging, all because after being bullied by her younger sister, she screamed out her rights as a trueborn while she was a mere Concubine's daughter. As a result, Concubine Qin had a servant drag her out for punishment.

Her last thoughts were, "I wish I was born in a better world, not this heartless world...!"

Then she heard words of a girl whimpering.

Hot...it hurts...

This wasn't her.

I've had enough of this...

Hot...help...it hurts...

It's certainly hot and painful, that the princess wasn't sure which was worse. Her illness, or this thing she feels that this girl feels!

Wait...

She felt what this girl feels?

She opened her eyes to a wooden ceiling, and saw small, dirty hands. She felt herself sweaty and grimy.

The bed she was on may be soft, but the sheets are filthy, smelly and rough against the skin!

She quickly got up to look around.

It was a small filthy room made out of wood. Two large beds were put together. She's never seen a bed so big, and felt so soft, but why is everything filthy?

Her hands are small and she wore rags.

Her hair...is blue!

"Blue hair?!"

She was then assaulted by memories of the body she was in.

This girl's name was Maine. Youngest daughter of the soldier Gunther and Fabric Dyer Eifa. She has an older sister named Turi.

Maine enjoyed a happy life because her family was kind and close-knit even if they were poor. They were fine with their lot in life as long as they had each other.

This made Huang Beiyue jealous.

Sure she had a loving mother but due to her position, she was hardly ever home, leaving her alone to cruel sisters, Concubines and an uncaring father.

She sobbed.

Maine died of illness, and she was reborn as her when she died in that hall.

"I never had anything to begin with...I only truly had what little I know, and Dongling...oh my god, Dongling...what will happen to her now that I'm dead? She'll be kicked out of Xiao Estate with nothing now that I'm dead! She'll live horribly! I'm so sorry Dongling!" the new Maine choked in sorrow and grief, thinking of her kind, strong maid who was the only one by her side.

But she cannot do anything.

As usual.

It left her bitter and grieving.

But Dongling is strong...she will live for sure. Unlike her.

And perhaps without the shackle named Huang Beiyue the useless princess...Dongling would be free of the Xiao Estate and free to live a life of freedom.

It may be for the best. Beiyue knows Dongling will do well.

Her next problem is her body.

It's overflowing with power! This was why her body hurts so bad! She's dying from too much power more than this immature body can handle...!

"I have to use some of this!' gathering her power that caused her eyes to glow in a rainbow-prism effect, she gathered all dust and grime in the room, on the bed and herself as well as all the filth, but let dirt stains stay. Good grief when she gathered it all into a ball, it's big enough to fit a barrel of rice! Ewww...her new family may be poor, but have they heard of cleaning?!

Even the poor have EVERY RIGHT to clean their home!

She tossed the ball of filth out the window, including the sweat and grime of her body and hair, making her feel clean even without a bath, but kept the dirt on herself as it'll be weird and something hard to explain to her family.

Using up power to clean this room made her feel better.

Now, to use the rest to heal her damaged body!

My goodness. Horrible.

She was the equivalent of something that suffered being cooked alive while overly-stressed.

She had to use up her powers to heal herself. Heal the damages her power caused her.

She felt better now.

As far as the memories know, the previous Maine was ill all her life, while Huang Beiyue began illness at age six.

Maine is currently five years old.

The house is dusty, filthy and unkempt.

Well, she thought wryly, anyone would get sick if things are always like this.

"I don't know what's going on...but the ki here seems different and builds up over time instead of cultivation by absorbing and condensing ki in the world into one's dantian." Beiyue frowned. "I better learn about this world more." Ki is limited in use while this different ki can be used for anything, even heal her destroyed new body when the ki she knew can't even do this!

She must learn more.

But first, she needs to learn pauper culture.

As far as she knows, her older sister forages for firewood and wild edibles she can get outside the city, in the forest.

Suddenly, the door opened.

'Maine.' her new mother Eifa came in. 'Maine, you cried again...it hurt again?' she asked worriedly because her daughter clearly cried, having puffy red eyes, fussing over her while wiping her sweat with damp cloth.

'Y-yeah.' said Maine. Her illness borne out of too much ki hurts! Being cooked alive is horrible, new mother! 'But I'm getting better, mom.'

'That's good to know...try eating dear, you haven't eaten in two days...you couldn't eat because you hurt too much you can't even swallow water. I'll go get food, OK?'

'Thank you mom.' and Eifa left to get her some food, not even noticing that their bedroom is cleaner than she was used to.

Soon, her mother was back with a wooden bowl of soup and a wooden spoon.

She ate it but she also used her power to study every ingredient that enters her mouth.

They each have different tastes and benefits to the body, and the ideal way to prepare them for max flavor and benefits.

However, all of that was lost in the way it was cooked.

This soup is tasteless and what stands out is salty and sourness of condiments!

Yuck.

Who taught the poor how to cook?! May they be struck by lightning!

After forcing herself to eat it, she gave the bowl to her mother.

'You managed to eat it all! I'll get another bowl, you haven't eaten in two days!' Mom quickly ran out of the room to get more!

Maine sighed.

'Maybe using ki aside, I should get some nutrition in here...'

Nutrition.

Even as a royal princess, she was malnourished. On purpose. Due to the cruel treatment she and Dongling gets.

She sighed.

Now that she is fully healed, building a stronger body is next.

After her mother tried her best to stuff useless food down her belly, she got off her bed to use a Chamber Pot before exploring her new house.

Maine's world was only the bedroom after all.

Her sleepwear is a filthy dress that used to be white. Its a rough material too.

She walked around to see that there's only a dual kitchen/living room, a storeroom and a kitchen.

But where's the bathroom?

Oh yeah, these people never knew what a bath is or even being wiped clean is like. Sigh...

Toilet is just a chamber pot in their bedroom and it stinks that with her power, she caused the smell and contents to disappear.

In the kitchen were vegetables she's never seen before.

'Mom, what are these?'

'Oh, those are fruits and vegetables Turi brought home this morning.' said Eifa.

'Teach me?'

'Here we go...'

xxx

After learning vegetables from Eifa and how to cook when she asked...

Maine grinned.

Mom left for work again. She comes back occasionally to check on her.

'Too bad there's no rice, but I'll make do with this.'

The food of the poor consists of just vegetables. Mom Eifa said meat is a rare treat if they have spare money to spend on.

'Money?'

'Yes. I'll show you.' Eifa took out her purse.

'Our money is called Rion.' said Eifa, taking out a variety of coins to put on the table. 'This is one rion.' a gray iron coin was put before her. 'Then these next few coins have bigger value to them.'

A coin with a symbol that looks like a stick bird was worth 10 rions called small copper.

A copper coin that looked like a button is called medium copper worth 100.

A copper with a wave symbol is called large copper worth 1000.

A smooth silver coin is worth 10000 rions.

'Well, this is all I have on me.' said Eifa. 'You'll have to ask daddy to know what a large silver looks like. His salary a month is 500.000 rions, equivalent to five large silver coins. We've only seen gold coins during apprenticeship education but its unlikely we'll ever even touch one anyway, we're too poor for that.'

'Mom, how much are stuff if you still say we're poor?'

'Well...'

Eifa taught her prices of goods in the market which is why Turi supplements with foraging so they'll always have full stomachs.

Maine was stumped.

Back in her world, a silver coin is enough to buy you a sack of rice enough to feed your family for three months! Or twenty Chickens! And a crate of vegetables assortments!

Yet here prices are ridiculous?! Haaaah?!

To classify as a 'well-off commoner', you have to earn at least, two small gold coins a month and afford a modestly-comfortable livelihood.

She was horrified.

'That's why Maine, when you're better, help Turi out, OK?'

'O-OK...'

'For now, rest in bed. I'll be back later to cook dinner or Turi does it, whichever among us comes first!'

'K~'

And Eifa helped her too short daughter back onto bed.

Maine felt exhausted from too much shocks.

xxx

Late afternoon when she woke up again, Turi was back.

'Maine, you're awake!' Turi beamed upon returning home.

How different Turi was from the likes of Xiao Ling, Xiao Yun and Xiao Rou!

'Turi, can I try cooking out even though you'll be doing the work?' Maine asked her. 'I'm not sure I can lift a pot right now.'

'You wanna try cooking with my help? Mom taught you?'

'This morning when I asked what everything was for.' said Maine. 'My world was just this room and today was the first day I even saw our kitchen...' Turi knew full well how true that was, by how she looked on her face.

'Yeah, no kidding there...you're only five Maine, you're not expected to work until at least, your sixth birthday.' Turi giggled. 'Let's go along with what you have in mind!'

'K!'

So Maine guided Turi into a vegetable soup she wanted done though Maine's methods baffled her.

'Why can't we just put them all in at once?'

'Well, hard ingredients cook the slowest while soft ones and leafy vegetables cook the fastest by how they look alone.' said Maine. 'Overcooking might be bad, so let's leave the easy ones last to put in hot water for soup. That way, they'll all feel the same in our mouth at just the right texture.'

'Heee...well, time to scald...'

'NO! No scalding! Let's try a soup without scalding, pleeeease?!' Maine squeaked pleadingly.

'But it's how it's usually done?' Turi said, baffled.

'I know mom says so, but the cook is a sick frail little girl who can't even scald.' Maine pouted and Turi sweatdropped. 'I can't scald so no-no, don't do it!'

'OK but I'm not sure how it'd taste...' Turi said nervously while trying some out by ladling it into a tasting saucer.

With a sip...she was astonished. 'W-wow! It's so good and we didn't even scald...' then she paused. 'Scald...' she realized it. Soup that didn't go through scalding was nearly tasteless and usually flavored with salt and vinegar. 'A-ah! By not scalding soup, it's actually delicious?!'

'It is?'

'Your idea of 'sick cooking' actually tastes better!' Turi exclaimed as Maine put the logic in her sister that sick and weak people cannot scald their cooking out of inability to so she didn't want to.

Maine tricked Turi into liking it.

'It's yummy! Let's get rid of the bubbles on top and it should be ready soon when we put some stuff last! This is incredible!' Turi gushed out.

With that, Turi was won over by Maine's method and the last ingredient being half-a-spoon of salt.

'I'm back!' Eifa and Gunther returned home and smelled something good.

'Oh wow! What on earth is for dinner? Did we have money to spend for that?' Gunther wondered, liking the smell but baffled.

'Maine wanted to cook today but I did the physical work cuz' she just got better from bed.' said Turi. 'Mom, dad, scalding actually makes food taste bad! Unscalded soup is delicious! Try it out!'

'Eh? Unscalded soup is tasty?' the parents, baffled, tasted the soup and is astonished.

'Oh my!'

'This is delicious!' they can taste the sweet-savory flavor of vegetables so clearly!

'Well, scalding is too bothersome for me so I didn't bother through Turi, how should I know it's gonna taste good?' Maine beamed innocently. 'Oh well!'

'Let's eat!'

They gathered four bowls and spoons before sitting together as a family.

"Dongling," Maine thought as she decided to move on with her life. "Do your best to reach this happiness."