Chapter 083
Chapter 83: Damn You, System—You’ve Left Me No Choice
[If things go on like this, Su Qian Xue’s storyline will restart. And if she really ends up choosing two new poems, wouldn’t all of Xie Xuan Yong’s careful planning go to waste?]
[Sure, Su Qian Xue can change her poems anytime she wants—but those two wooden board paintings? They’re not something that can just be replaced on the spot. They took a long time to prepare.]
[Worse still, no one even realizes that the plot has restarted.]
[From the looks on everyone’s faces, it’s clear. I’m the only one who can hear the conversation between the female lead and the system. What am I supposed to do now?]
[No, I can’t let Su Qian Xue switch her poems. Even if I can’t stop the plot reset, I absolutely cannot let her complete her mission.]
[Who knows what kind of power the system will gain once she pulls the plot back on track. It might grow even stronger… and harder to fight.]
[I need to think. Think, think, think—come on, give me an idea…]
What???
Time reversal? Plot restart? The female lead can change poems?
She can do that?
Doesn’t that basically make her invincible?
Yun Wan Ye’s heart skipped a heavy beat as his brows furrowed tightly. If Su Qian Xue could reset the plot whenever she failed… how was anyone else supposed to keep playing this game? They might as well just surrender. What was the point of trying?
And another thing—if time had reversed and the plot restarted, would he still remember what happened in the last half hour?
[Got it.]
[Good. Time reversal now activating. Host, please prepare.]
[Initiating countdown: 3, 2, 1—]
[Time reversal complete. Plot restart successful!!!]
Shuaa!
Just as the system’s voice fell silent, Su Qian Xue saw a flash of white light sweep across her vision. In the next moment, the sound of a bustling crowd filled her ears. She opened her eyes to find herself once again seated at the spot reserved for presenting poems.
She looked down quickly. Her chest was unharmed, and there was no pain anywhere in her body.
It was unbelievable—she really had been resurrected.
Lifting her gaze, she saw several young masters and noble ladies reciting poems on the main platform.
[Ding! Mission issued. Host must complete the objectives.]
There was a mission?
Su Qian Xue’s brows twitched as she sank her consciousness into the system’s interface. Several lines of text appeared across the panel.
Mission One: Shine brilliantly at the Winter Banquet, earn the title of First Talented Lady, and capture the fervent admiration of Mo Yuan Hao, Lu Huai Jin, Gu Heng, and Lin Xing Xuan.
Mission Two: Slap the faces of everyone who ever looked down on you and cast off the label of sack-brained simpleton.
Note: Completing these missions will earn the host generous rewards.
[Unbelievable. That damn system not only restarted Su Qian Xue’s story but also issued a mission with rewards. She’s practically got a cheat code. No wonder she’s the Heavenly Dao’s chosen darling.]
[How is my elder sister supposed to compete with that? No way—I have to help her. Damn system, you’ve pushed me too far.]
[…]
After a few grumbling thoughts, Yun Wan Ning quickly settled on a plan.
She didn’t know if it would actually work, but at this point, she had no choice. It was do or die. Time to gamble everything on one last try.
Hearing her whispered thoughts, Yun Wan Ye’s gaze shifted. He instantly realized she remembered everything from the half-hour before.
So what about the others?
He quickly lifted his head and looked around.
Within the banquet hall…
When the time reversal occurred, everyone experienced a brief moment of mental blankness, like countless flickers of light flashing through their minds in a single breath.
But when they tried to recall anything specific, nothing came.
The Grand Scholar and the wine master stood frozen for a moment, visibly confused. They were aging, after all. Why did their minds suddenly feel… off?
As for the young masters and noble daughters, although they too had a fleeting sense of dizziness, none of them paid it any mind. Their attention soon shifted back to the poems being recited by the gathered scholars.
The most unsettled ones were Mo Yuan Lin and Mo Yuan Hao, the imperial brothers. But beyond them, there were others outside the venue who also experienced the odd sensation.
Men like Yun Wan Chen, Yun Zheng, and Yun Zhan.
Mo Yuan Lin and Mo Yuan Hao frowned slightly as they stared toward the empty space just ahead, unsure why they felt as if something important had happened there.
But what exactly had happened?
Could it be that they were simply overtired, and their minds were playing tricks on them?
Yun Wan Ye slowly withdrew his gaze, though his heart was already stirring with waves of turmoil.
As he suspected, aside from himself, Su Qian Xue, and his little sister, no one else remembered what happened in that half-hour.
The time reversal had gone completely unnoticed. Everyone’s memories had vanished without a trace.
This system—it was too terrifying, too dangerous. To them, it was practically divine, a being of immense power, majestic and untouchable.
But if everyone else had lost their memories, why could he still remember?
A glimmer of suspicion flickered in Yun Wan Ye’s eyes.
He suddenly lowered his gaze and looked at the little milk bun cradled in his arms.
Could it be… because of her?
On the stage, the poets and beauties were still enthusiastically offering up verses.
Far off in the distance, Su Qian Xue’s eyes landed on the red cloth draped over the stone table—where the two wooden paintings lay hidden. She silently communicated with the system.
[System, is there any way to destroy those two wooden paintings?]
Just looking at them made her feel uneasy. This world was far too strange. What if the moment she recited her poem again, those cursed boards updated themselves?
She couldn’t handle being mocked, humiliated, and disgraced in front of everyone a second time.
[……]
[Why destroy them? Just don’t choose those poems. Problem solved. If I mess with the props now and the new female lead senses something’s wrong, it’ll be a huge problem.]
Su Qian Xue fell silent.
[Are you saying… you’re actually afraid of the new female lead?]
[Of course I am! She’s hiding in the shadows, and I don’t even know who she is. What if she turns out to be some super expert from a higher realm?]
[I may be a system, but I’m not at full strength. I don’t have the power to suppress all threats. Who knows where this new female lead came from?]
[Until we figure out who she is, we have to be cautious.]
[Fine…]
Su Qian Xue cursed the system silently. She had thought it was some unbeatable, all-powerful entity—turns out, it wasn’t as impressive as she believed.
[Hmph. So the system knows fear, huh?]
[I was ready to risk everything to protect those wooden paintings. And now this system’s backing off? Fine. I’ll deal with it later.]
[Let’s see just how powerful the legendary system really is.]
Yun Wan Ye: “???”
Was this for real?
His little sister was actually planning to go up against the system?
She… really was that formidable?
The banquet hall once again fell into silence. No one stepped forward to present a poem, and the wine master was just about to declare the end of the banquet.
With a system by her side, Su Qian Xue swiftly suppressed the lingering fear from her previous death. She rose from her seat and strode boldly toward the main stage.
Just like before, the moment she moved, the atmosphere in the hall shifted.
Su Qian Xue ignored the change and earnestly repeated the same words she had spoken earlier to the wine master.
As soon as her voice faded, the hall erupted into laughter. Everyone looked at her with contempt and disdain. Even the mocking remarks were exactly the same as last time, not a single word out of place.
Heh.
Su Qian Xue let out a cold laugh and reached for a bamboo brush from the pen rack the wine master had pushed toward her. Slowly, she dipped it into the inkstone while considering which two poems could replicate the effect of her last performance.
“Riding the wind on the same day as the roc, soaring ninety thousand miles into the sky; Passing through the sea of flowers, I glance not back, half for cultivation, half for you.”
These two lines surfaced in her mind. Su Qian Xue’s lips curled faintly as she poised herself to write.
[Finally, after all this waiting, it’s about to begin. But trying to switch poems in front of me? Not a chance.]
[Now then, it’s my turn to perform.]
Hm???
What performance?
Yun Wan Ye lowered his eyelids, watching as the little one gently closed her eyes. In that instant, the same profound and mysterious force began to stir again, surging toward Su Qian Xue and enveloping her completely.
Buzz—
A faint ringing suddenly echoed inside Su Qian Xue’s mind. The lines of poetry that had just been hovering in her thoughts dissipated like mist. She frowned, trying hard to remember them, but couldn’t recall a single word.
Her gaze turned blank. Holding the brush in hand, she moved like a marionette, her strokes flowing rapidly across the white silk paper as she wrote line after line.
Yun Wan Ye craned his neck, trying to get a glimpse of what she was writing, but couldn’t see clearly. He had no choice but to suppress his curiosity and wait patiently.
[Heh heh heh, mission accomplished.]
[You want to bully my elder sister alongside the system? Forget it. Not even a window will open for you.]
[Since the system protects you, then I’ll protect my elder sister too. Don’t say we’re ganging up on you—one cheat each, that’s as fair as it gets.]
Yun Wan Ye: [No no no, little sister, you’ve misunderstood. This has nothing to do with Yun Wan Yao. This is you, facing two opponents all by yourself.]
[You’re not some side cheat either—you’re the real new female lead.]
[Well… if we’re calling you a cheat, then I suppose you’re the Yun family’s ultimate cheat.]
Onstage, Su Qian Xue’s lashes trembled slightly as she regained consciousness. A haze lingered in her eyes.
What just happened?
Why did it feel like she had fallen asleep? Her mind had gone completely blank.
Oh right, the poem! She hadn’t written her poems yet!
Panicked, Su Qian Xue looked down and saw two completed poems inked on the pristine white paper. The moment she read them, her pupils constricted sharply.
[Ahhhhh! System, what is this?!]
[What’s wrong, host?]
[What do you mean what’s wrong? You’re the system! How do you not know what happened, and even ask me?!]
[My mind blanked out just now, and when I came to, the poems were already written. They’re exactly the same as last time! I’m certain I didn’t write them! System, is this world haunted or something?!]
Su Qian Xue was on the verge of a breakdown, screaming in her mind.
Why had she restarted the plot, only for something this bizarre to happen again?
Who—or what—is this new female lead? What kind of freak is she?
How was a simple traditional-style livestreamer like her supposed to fight for fate against this kind of monster?
[What?!]
The system’s voice was also filled with disbelief. If it had a face, it would have looked completely stunned.
[I didn’t detect any abnormal energy fluctuations—nothing that doesn’t belong to this world.]
[Could it be that the new female lead is so powerful, she’s already beyond my detection range?]
[Wow, the system really can’t sense my spiritual power? I was actually worried earlier it might catch me.]
[Tsk, what a useless system. I remember even Second Brother and the others could sense it back then.]
[Oh right, maybe it’s because I’m not originally from this world, so to the system I’m invisible or non-existent, which makes it unable to track my actions at all.]
[Even better. My spiritual power’s getting stronger—soon, I’ll be able to wreak havoc openly.]
Listening to Su Qian Xue’s conversation with the system, Yun Wan Ning was elated. She could hear everything, yet they had no idea she was there. The satisfaction was beyond words.
She had even been considering taking the risk of unsealing her powers—seems like that wasn’t necessary at all.
Yun Wan Ye’s lips curved ever so slightly. The tension in his chest finally eased.
Tsk. In critical moments, it was still Little Sister who pulled through.
[Enough with the nonsense, think of something! What do we do now? Can’t you restart the plot again?]
[What?! Restart again? You think this is a game? Just reset it whenever you feel like it?]
[It takes an enormous amount of energy to activate the time reversal function. Right now, I’m drained. There’s not nearly enough to use it again.]
[Originally, if you’d completed your task, I could’ve gathered some energy from it, which would’ve unlocked more functions for you—maybe even life-saving ones.]
[But since you failed the task, I didn’t gain any energy at all. I can’t do anything now.]
Su Qian Xue: “……”
[Then what am I supposed to do?!]
[You’ll have to figure it out yourself. If it gets too dangerous, just focus on staying alive.]
Su Qian Xue: “……”
[Tsk tsk tsk, so the system really only gets one chance at a reset. Fine, I admit—I gave it too much credit.]
[If it’s useless without energy, then all I have to do is stop Su Qian Xue from completing her tasks, and the system will stay a useless wreck forever.]
[Ugh, but the problem is, after today’s banquet, I’ll be taken back to Duke Ning’s residence and won’t be able to get close to Su Qian Xue anymore. How am I supposed to stop her then?]
[Forget it, one step at a time.]
“Such poems! Such majestic, blood-stirring poetry!” The wine master’s voice rang out, full of excitement. “This old fellow has lived many years, but this is the first time I’ve seen verses so fierce and commanding. It’s hard to believe they came from a young lady.”
“Miss Su, may I ask—did you truly compose these two poems yourself?”
Su Qian Xue had yet to come up with a plan when the wine master’s voice reached her ears. His tone was thrilled, but his words sent a chill crawling down her spine.
The last time she’d heard that question, it had marked the peak of her glory. But this time, the same words struck her like a death knell.
Now that the system was useless, Su Qian Xue’s conscious mind recoiled in panic. Her entire body tensed as she looked toward the wine master with growing dread, her complexion turning as pale as snow.