Chapter 3: First Check-in

At the opening ceremony, Song Ze saw the original host delivering a speech as the freshman representative. She was beautiful and excelled academically. Thinking she came from an ordinary family, Song Ze believed that dating her would make him look good when he brought her around, while her modest background would also make her easy to control. So he began pursuing her relentlessly.

Of course, the main reason was that the original host was the most suitable girl he could reach at the time.

He brought her breakfast every day, busied himself with everything for her, and showed her endless care and concern. After half a month of persistence, the original host—who had never been in love before—softened and agreed to date him.

The two spent a peaceful year together, until a girl named Tang Tang transferred into their class during their second year.

Tang Tang had the standard delicate, innocent appearance of a white lotus. Her mother had raised her by selling breakfast from a street stall, and Tang Tang, with her excellent grades, had been specially admitted to Tengyuan University. She looked weak and pitiful, but was actually very calculating.

She was the illegitimate daughter of Tang Limin, general manager of the Tang Group. Although the Tang Group belonged to a third-rate family in Rongcheng, it was still hundreds of times wealthier than an ordinary household.

Tang Tang had always concealed her identity, waiting for the chance to be acknowledged by her biological family.

After an unexpected incident revealed Tang Tang’s true identity to Song Ze, he immediately began plotting.

He felt that the original host’s ordinary family could offer him no help, whereas the Tang family behind Tang Tang could save him decades of hard work.

Thus, he began distancing himself from the original host while maintaining an ambiguous relationship with Tang Tang.

One day, the original host went shopping with her roommates. Song Ze and Tang Tang happened to be eating at the same restaurant. Their intimate behavior was witnessed by the original host.

Unable to contain her anger, she went over to confront Tang Tang. Song Ze, however, shielded Tang Tang and turned the accusation back on the original host, claiming that she was petty and suspicious, and that she was slandering him and Tang Tang by questioning their innocence. He then proposed breaking up with her on the spot.

The original host had never possessed very deep feelings for Song Ze. She simply could not stand the way he and Tang Tang acted shamelessly while pretending to be innocent. He had cheated on her and was now shifting the blame, and she could not swallow her resentment. Thus, she refused to accept the breakup and began opposing the two of them at every turn.

The entanglement among the three caused a huge uproar, and before long, half of Tengyuan University knew about it.

Not long afterward, Tang Tang deliberately sent the original host a message to provoke her, saying that she and Song Ze were on a date on the rooftop and that the original host should know her place and get lost.

Burning with rage, the original host rushed to the rooftop, where she caught Song Ze and Tang Tang confessing their feelings to each other and embracing. She immediately charged forward and began fighting Tang Tang.

Song Ze desperately protected Tang Tang. During the struggle, the original host was pushed off the rooftop and died on the spot.

Song Ze and Tang Tang were scared out of their wits. Taking advantage of the chaos, they fled the scene.

When the original host’s parents learned of their daughter’s death, they were devastated. They immediately flew back to the country and swore to make the culprit who had killed their daughter pay.

There had been no surveillance cameras on the rooftop, however, so there was no way to verify what had happened. Moreover, both Song Ze and Tang Tang insisted that it had merely been an accident.

In the end, the judicial authorities could only base their ruling on the circumstances at the scene. Song Ze and Tang Tang were each convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to several years in prison.

The elderly couple had lost their only daughter in such a tragic way, while the murderer had received only a few years in prison. Naturally, they were unwilling to accept it. Unfortunately, the other members of the Zhang family had also begun fighting fiercely over control of the family business, and by then, the couple’s health was already failing.

Before long, the two of them passed away one after the other.

Before their deaths, the couple could not bear to see the Zhang Group—which they had spent their entire lives building—fall into the hands of the Zhang clan, where the various relatives would scheme against one another and carve it up. After careful consideration, they entrusted all their property and the company’s shares to the daughter of their younger male cousin, a girl whose appearance closely resembled that of the original host.

The members of the Zhang clan had long coveted the family fortune. When they saw that the inheritance had already been settled and a successor chosen, they were deeply dissatisfied and often went looking for trouble.

Fortunately, none of them succeeded.

After serving their sentences, Song Ze and Tang Tang were released from prison one after another.

Their lives were not affected much after their release. With the Tang family’s resources supporting them, they continued to live carefree, prosperous lives.

According to the original plot, Tang Tang’s half-sister later developed kidney disease and needed a transplant. Tang Tang happened to be a suitable donor, so she used the opportunity as leverage, demanding to be acknowledged by the Tang family and claiming half of the shares under Tang Limin’s name.

Tang Limin’s wife was in poor health and had given birth to only one daughter. In order to save her child, she agreed to all of Tang Tang’s demands.

After donating a kidney, Tang Tang’s health deteriorated, but she successfully became a member of the Tang family.

After receiving the transplant, Tang Tang’s half-sister survived only a few more years before passing away.

After her daughter’s death, Tang Limin’s wife lost the will to go on. Her health had already been poor, and she soon died as well.

After Tang Limin passed away, Tang Tang and Song Ze inherited his shares. They collected enormous dividends every year, lived extraordinarily comfortable lives, and eventually enjoyed a peaceful old age.

After the original host died, her soul drifted through the world. Only then did she learn that she had been living inside a novel. She was the villainess, a character whose role was to advance the romance between the male and female leads—a stepping stone to their happy life.

She was filled with hatred.

She had never truly loved Song Ze. She had only accepted his pursuit out of momentary curiosity, yet she had been manipulated by the plot into entangling herself with the male and female leads like a fool. In the end, she had died tragically, bringing grief to her parents and leaving them to die with their family destroyed.

She was unwilling to accept such a fate, but she could not break free from the control of the plot. All she could do was give up her chance at reincarnation and pray that someone would enter her body, change this tragic destiny, prevent herself from being controlled by the plot, protect her parents, and stay far away from the scumbag and the scheming woman.

And Jiang Yanyan was the person who had been mistakenly bound by the system and brought into this world.

After receiving all the memories, Jiang Yanyan rubbed her aching temples. A chill flashed through her eyes.

Song Ze, Tang Tang, and the Tang family behind them—what a fine bunch they were.

The original host had been kind and innocent, yet she had been harmed by a scumbag and a scheming woman and died tragically on a rooftop. Her parents had lost their only daughter and died with resentment in their hearts, while the male and female leads had safely endured their prison sentences, continued to possess wealth, and lived out their lives in comfort.

But now, Jiang Yanyan had arrived.

She was not the original host. She would not be deceived by a scumbag’s honeyed words, nor would she pretend to get along with some innocent-looking schemer.

As for the love between Song Ze and Tang Tang, they could play out their romance by themselves. They had better not come anywhere near her. They could forget about dragging her into the role of a cannon fodder again just to highlight their so-called love and devotion.

Her goal was simple: protect the original host’s parents, safeguard the Zhang family’s fortune, stay away from every character connected to the plot, and devote herself to her Cloudflower Space—growing crops, stockpiling supplies, and living a good life.

That was all she wanted.

As for that scumbag and that scheming woman, she would leave them alone as long as they did not provoke her. But if they dared come looking for trouble, she would not mind letting them taste the consequences a little earlier.

After sorting through all her thoughts, Jiang Yanyan moved her mind, and in an instant, she vanished from the luxurious bedroom and entered the Cloudflower Space.

The next moment, a familiar scene appeared before her eyes.

A sturdy, self-built house with five bays and two and a half stories stood in the center of the space. The Cloudflower Supermarket on the first floor was brightly lit, and all the goods on its shelves were arranged neatly, exactly as they had been when she left.

The bluestone paving in the courtyard, the east and west side rooms, and the storage shed in the rear had all appeared here intact.

Beyond the back door lay three acres of farmland. The soil was fertile and gave off the fresh fragrance of earth.

Beside it was a fishpond, its surface shimmering in the light and its water so clear that the bottom could be seen. Behind the pond stood a small mountain covered in lush greenery, its rolling slopes stretching into the distance.

The only difference was that a small spirit spring had appeared in one corner of the courtyard. Its water was crystal clear, with a faint white mist rising from it and a refreshing fragrance filling the air.

A pile of jade lay at the bottom of the spring. Among it were the jade bangle and jade pendants she recognized, along with many pieces of naturally formed jade in warm, lustrous colors. At a glance, they were clearly worth a fortune.

At the edge of the space, a thick layer of white mist shrouded everything. It seemed to stretch endlessly; she couldn’t reach its boundaries, nor could she enter it. The system explained that this was an area that had yet to be unlocked and that enough jade energy was required to open it.

Standing inside her own home, Jiang Yanyan felt instantly at ease.

No matter where she was, as long as she had the Yunhua Space, she had confidence and something to rely on.

She walked over to the spiritual spring, bent down, and scooped up a handful of spring water. It tasted sweet as it entered her mouth, and as it slid down her throat, a warm current instantly spread throughout her body. The slight pressure in her head caused by receiving the original host’s memories vanished in an instant, leaving her refreshed. Her body also felt incredibly light and comfortable.

As expected of spiritual spring water—the effects really were immediate.

Jiang Yanyan took another look around the supermarket, then inspected the fields and fish pond before finally feeling satisfied.

It was the middle of the night. The original host’s parents were away on a business trip overseas, and only she, the butler Uncle Chen, the housekeeper Auntie Chen, the driver, and a few others were in the villa. No one would disturb her.

She left the space and returned to the large bed in her bedroom. Although she wasn’t sleepy at all, she closed her eyes to rest and began organizing her plans for the days ahead.

There was still a week before school started. She intended to use these few days to get the Yunhua Space in order: buy enough seeds, farming tools, young livestock and poultry, and fish fry; fill the three acres of farmland with crops; stock the fish pond; and make full use of the back mountain. She would completely embark on her farming-and-hoarding lifestyle.

As for giving a speech as the student representative at the freshmen welcome ceremony after school began, that was nothing important. She wouldn’t take it to heart, much less give Song Ze any chance to approach her.

She spent the entire night awake. Just as dawn began to break, Jiang Yanyan woke up.

The moment she opened her eyes, the voice of System 0018 rang out in her mind:

[Ding—the host’s first sign-in is now available! Would you like to sign in?]

[Yes/No]

“Sign in.”

[The first sign-in bonus has been doubled. Rewards are being drawn...]

[Congratulations, Host! You have obtained an orange-tier reward: Stasis Space!]

[Congratulations, Host! You have obtained an orange-tier reward: the soul cultivation technique, Refining the Spirit!]

Two consecutive notification sounds instantly jolted Jiang Yanyan awake.