Chapter Two: The Red Envelope Group-Reborn with a Red Envelope Chat Group(Granted.)

“This is giving me a headache,” Yu Qian muttered under her breath, tossing aside the notebook filled with plans. She pulled out her Chinese homework and flipped through it—identifying synonyms, antonyms, and correcting mistakes caused by false cognates. “At least I haven’t forgotten these yet. Easy!” She grabbed her English workbook next; it was full of simple vocabulary and short sentences to copy. “Even easier!” Then came the math homework, which covered the multiplication table up to nine and, at its most challenging, required only multiplication and division for word problems. “Emmm, I was overthinking it—I thought they’d be like those Olympiad-level problems from later years. Thank goodness!”

Thinking as she worked, she picked up her pen and began wrestling with the math exercises in front of her. But after writing only a few words, the pencil grew dull and hard to use. Frustrated, she erased what she’d written, pulled out a fountain pen, and started over. With an adult’s mind tackling elementary math, she finished half the workbook by noon. She marveled at how simple the math from a decade ago seemed—nothing like the problems that later made even high schoolers frown.

“Qianqian, come eat,” her grandfather called, knocking at the door.

“Okay, I’ll be right there after this problem,” Yu Qian replied.

When she came out, her grandfather had already set the food on the living room table, and the meat her mother had cooked that morning had been reheated. Yu Qian helped her grandmother move her chair over and settle down. Her grandfather’s dishes were still as salty as ever, and her mother’s meat still not spicy—just as she remembered.

After the meal, her grandfather shooed her off to nap, not letting her clear the table. Returning to her room, she recalled how, in her previous life, her grandfather had always treated her this way. Back then, she’d thought he was too stern and didn’t like her. Only now, with a mature mind, did she realize that wasn’t the case.

She pulled up the quilt, reflecting on her thoughts and actions from her past life, feeling more foolish the longer she thought. Eventually, she drifted off to sleep.

Buzz, buzz, buzz… She hadn’t slept long before being jolted awake by the noise. She fumbled under her pillow and found a phone. Still half-asleep, she stared at it in confusion as it continued to vibrate. What really caught her attention was that it was a fully touchscreen phone—a globally renowned Fruit-brand model 7, which she’d bought with a month’s salary in her previous life. She’d only afforded the older model because a new one was already out.

With an expression of utter disbelief, Yu Qian unlocked the phone. Most of the apps were grayed out; only Settings, Browser, Camera, Photo Album, and Penguin remained active. The constant vibration was coming from Penguin, with a 99+ unread message notification glaring in the corner. Yu Qian felt an even greater sense of unreality.

She had thought being reborn was already a stroke of luck, but never imagined she’d actually receive a “golden finger” like in all those rebirth novels. Even without opening Penguin, the phone itself was a massive cheat—battery at 100%, WiFi signal strong and steady.

Instead of opening the noisy Penguin app right away, she tapped on the browser and searched for events she remembered—like the 2008 Wenshi earthquake and the 2008 Yunjing Olympics. All the major events from her past life were there.

“Oh my god!” Yu Qian exclaimed, stunned when she finally opened Penguin.

All her previous conversations had vanished from the message list. Only one unfamiliar group chat remained, still buzzing with new messages—the Six Realms group. Her friends list and social feed were blank, even her avatar and username had changed.

The Six Realms group was still a flurry of messages. Yu Qian composed herself and scrolled to the top to catch up.

“Welcome, Little Fish, to the Six Realms group!”

“Hey, we have a newcomer! @Fuxi @Nuwa, send a red packet!” [Fox Daji, Universal in Six Realms]

“Big Sis is right! @Fuxi @Nuwa, red packet!” [Cutest Chick]

“Well, well, the dumb fox and I actually agree for once. @Fuxi @Nuwa @Heavenly Emperor, red packet!” [Brat Number One, Nezha]

...

She couldn’t figure out what kind of group this was. Each member’s nickname was stranger than the last; it reminded her of an old gaming guild chat she used to be in, where everyone chose names from mythology. Scrolling down, she found the chat flooded with demands for red packets. Her fingers were sore before she finally spotted one.

“Congratulations, Little Fish, you have received Pangu’s Body-Purifying Pill!” The notification made Yu Qian freeze in place. Something was definitely off here! She sucked in a breath, quickly closed the red packet, and opened the group member list.

Owner: Heaven’s Will. Admins: Pangu, Nuwa, Fuxi, Heavenly Emperor, Yama, Asura. Members: Queen Mother of the West, Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden, Houtu… The entire list was filled with gods, immortals, and demons. Little Fish stood out like a sore thumb.

She went back and tapped her avatar. Of all the features, only the Penguin Wallet remained active; the rest were grayed out. When she opened the wallet, she saw a grid inventory—fifty slots, just like a game’s backpack. Her old account balance was still there: 1,275,080.79. That was her savings from her previous life: her father’s compensation, her mother’s deposits, and a year and a half of her own salary. She wondered if she could even withdraw it now.

The first inventory slot contained the Body-Purifying Pill she’d just received. Though she’d never read about anything like this in novels, as a seasoned gamer, Yu Qian guessed she could both take items out and put them in.

To test her theory, she got up, sat at her dressing table, and pressed the unfinished math workbook against the phone.

The workbook vanished, and a booklet appeared in the second slot of the phone’s inventory.

“This is insane! This golden finger is seriously overpowered.” Yu Qian couldn’t help but gasp again as she retrieved the workbook.

Just then, the phone started vibrating again—more messages in the group.

“Newcomer, introduce yourself @Little Fish.” [Fox Daji, Universal in Six Realms]

“Newcomer, introduce yourself @Little Fish.”

...

Admin [Heavenly Emperor] has muted [Fox Daji, Universal in Six Realms] for 24 hours.

Admin [Nuwa] has renamed [Fox Daji, Universal in Six Realms] to [The Dumbest Fox Spirit in the Six Realms].

Message after message, all from the same person tagging her for an introduction. When she finally saw the last two notifications, Yu Qian couldn’t help but laugh.

Admin [Nuwa] has enabled group-wide mute.

[Nuwa]: “Just one rule: No spamming or personal attacks. I hope everyone can get along, study hard, make progress every day, and build a harmonious Six Realms together!”

[Nuwa]: “No spamming or personal attacks!”

[Nuwa]: “Important things bear repeating three times. Anyone who breaks the rule again will be struck by my divine lightning!”

Admin [Nuwa] has disabled group-wide mute.

[Heavenly Emperor]: “@Little Fish, since everyone’s so eager, why don’t you introduce yourself?”

Nuwa had just spoken when the Heavenly Emperor echoed her words, tagging Yu Qian as well. Even though the mute had been lifted, the group was deathly silent after Nuwa’s stern warning. Only the Heavenly Emperor’s message hung there. A minute passed, and still, no one dared speak.

[Little Fish]: “…”

Yu Qian awkwardly replied with an ellipsis.