A treasure artifact was already something Lady Xuan Yuan wouldn’t even dare to dream of, let alone an immortal artifact!
She forced a smile onto her face, exchanged a few words, and then hurried away with unsteady steps. But everyone could tell just how stiff that smile of hers had been.
Most of the noblewomen around knew about the history between the Xuan Yuan family and the Ye family. Seeing this, they couldn’t help but let out mocking chuckles, clearly enjoying the spectacle.
Liu Mu stood where she was, watching Lady Xuan Yuan’s retreating figure, and let out a cold snort before dismissing her from her mind.
Meanwhile, outside the main gate stood Ye Yuan—once considered a prodigy in this world.
She had failed in her last attempt to break through to the Golden Core stage and was still stuck at the Foundation Establishment stage.
Upon hearing about the Ye family’s rise to power, she had rushed back in a panic. When she saw that even the guards at the Ye family’s entrance were equipped with top-grade spiritual artifacts—the very kind that everyone in the cultivation world coveted—her eyes turned red with envy.
“Shoo, shoo, shoo! You call yourself a daughter of the Ye family?” The guard at the gate waved her away like she was nothing more than an annoying fly. “You’re not even as good as me, a mere gatekeeper! I’ve already reached the Golden Core stage now. The weakest young lady of the Ye family’s current generation reached the Nascent Soul stage just yesterday. And you? You haven’t even reached Golden Core yet, and you have the nerve to impersonate a Ye family miss?”
Ye Yuan spotted the Second Elder from a distance and raised her hand, about to call out to him.
The Second Elder paused for a moment, gave her a long, quiet look, and then motioned for a guard to come over.
Ye Yuan’s heart leaped with joy, thinking the Second Elder had softened.
But instead of the Second Elder coming to her aid, she was met by the city patrol. Using the excuse that she didn’t have a Willow City identity card, they chased her out of the city.
After being driven out, Ye Yuan secretly resented the Ye family for not recognizing her worth. She vowed to go out and make a name for herself, to accomplish great things.
But to her dismay, every spiritual herb, every immortal residence, and every treasure she remembered from her past life had already been taken by someone else ahead of her.
From that point on, her cultivation never improved again.
——-
[Ding! Main quest completed. System rewards 900 points. Congratulations, host, on completing the hidden quest—restoring the Ye family to its former glory. System rewards 5,000 points!]
[Ding! System 008 is at your service. 5,900 points have been credited. Now exiting the world!]
This time, Ye Shaohua had spent nearly a hundred years in this world, including the time dilation from the spatial realm.
So when it came time to leave, it wasn’t as rushed as in previous worlds. She had made sure to arrange everything for the Ye family in an orderly manner before her departure.
After another bout of chaos and blurriness—
Ye Shaohua’s consciousness barely managed to regain clarity.
In her previous life, her spiritual power had been far too strong for this body to handle. It took her a while to gradually adjust.
Slowly opening her eyes, she saw a room that looked somewhat worn but carried an old-world charm. She frowned slightly.
Ancient times?
No, not quite. Ancient times wouldn’t have such a large glass mirror.
The surroundings were quiet, with no one around.
Ye Shaohua didn’t rush to go outside. Instead, she had System 008 transmit the storyline to her.
The plot came flooding in all at once, along with the original host’s memories—a messy jumble. Fortunately, Ye Shaohua’s spiritual power was now considerable, so sorting through it wasn’t too difficult.
This was a Republic of China era world.
Also an era of war.
But for now, it was relatively peaceful.
The original host’s family background was certainly nothing to scoff at. Her father was the top general under Tang Feng—the man who had dominated Shen City for twenty years as the region’s foremost warlord.
With such a background, in this day and age, she was practically Shen City’s socialite.
However, the original host hadn’t been so fortunate. She was her mother’s second child. Her mother’s firstborn had been a daughter, and the Ye couple had doted on their newborn baby girl endlessly.
Even though she was a girl, it didn’t matter.
But then came the second child—the original host—and she was also a daughter.
In those days, remnants of feudal thinking still lingered, and preference for sons over daughters was common.
Ye Mu, feeling she had failed to give her husband a son, harbored some resentment toward Ye Shaohua.
Then war broke out. Ye Fu had to follow Tang Feng into battle, and Ye Mu wanted to go with him. But the original host was too young to bring along, so she took her eldest daughter and left the younger one with a servant.
Sixteen years passed.
During those sixteen years, Tang Feng successfully reclaimed Shen City and several other major cities, becoming the top warlord in the south. Ye Fu’s status rose along with him.
In the second year after they left, Ye Mu gave birth to a pair of twins—a boy and a girl. Overjoyed to have a son and another daughter, she completely forgot about the original host.
You could tell just from the names the original host’s parents had given their children.
The eldest daughter: Ye Junjin.
The third son: Ye Junqing.
The fourth daughter: Ye Junwan.
And the original host? Ye Shaohua.
Compared to the other three, her name sounded like she was adopted, as if they’d picked it casually.
Few people in Shen City even knew that the Ye family had a second daughter.
And since the Ye household was a favorite under Tang Feng, the Ye family’s young masters and ladies were naturally the most sought-after figures in Shen City.
Everyone knew that the eldest daughter was gentle as jade, well-mannered, and well-read—she had married the son of the country’s largest bank’s chairman, which had raised the Ye family’s standing even further.
Ye Junqing had joined the army before he was even fifteen. His father placed great importance on him, and he had now become an army major.
With all the attention on the eldest daughter and the third son, all eyes turned to the only remaining daughter—Ye Junwan.
Legend had it that Ye Junwan was as beautiful as a celestial being, had studied abroad, and was a brilliant scholar fluent in Western learning.
Because of this, countless suitors came knocking.
Ye Fu and Ye Mu were reluctant to part with their youngest daughter, but she was approaching the age for marriage, and no matter how unwilling they were, they couldn’t avoid it.
However, it was at this moment that Tang Feng suddenly mentioned to the Ye family that he had an eighteen-year-old son back in his hometown. The family was anxious about his marriage and wished to form an alliance through marriage with the Ye family.
If it had been Tang Feng’s eldest son—a young major general—Ye Fu would have been overjoyed.
After all, Tang Feng was the top warlord.
But that country bumpkin second son of the Tang family?
How could Ye Fu bear to marry off his precious youngest daughter to someone like that?
And it wasn’t just Ye Fu—Ye Mu felt the same. To be fair, her youngest daughter was even more outstanding than her eldest. She had a brother-in-law who was the future head of a bank, a brother who was a major, and a father who served under the top warlord.
Who couldn’t her youngest daughter marry? Why should she marry some rustic brute from the countryside?
As for Ye Junwan—having spent so long abroad—her thinking was far more liberal than that of most women in China at the time.
She looked down on the way Shen City women revolved around their husbands. She didn’t like wearing cheongsams either, preferring instead to don fluffy Western-style dresses, becoming a striking sight in Shen City.
With her free-spirited thinking and untouchable family background, people in the city called her the “Number One Eccentric Talent of the Literary World.”
She absolutely refused to marry that second young master of the Tang family. She even threatened to run away from home and went on a hunger strike to pressure her parents.
This broke Ye Fu and Ye Mu’s hearts.
Just as they were caught between a rock and a hard place, a thought struck Ye Mu: if her youngest daughter couldn’t marry, why not her second daughter?
By the time Ye Shaohua arrived, this was exactly where the story was just beginning.
At the Ye residence in Shen City—
“Mother, I have a second sister?” Ye Junwan stopped crying and broke into a joyful smile. She looked at Ye Mu. “What does my second sister look like? Is she pretty?”
