Chapter 2 The Top Scholar Who Murdered His Wife and Daughter (Part Two): The Farmer's Son's Counterattack Against the Emperor...

It turns out that in a plane unknown to Song Ce, there exists a fantastical space. In this space, besides the existence of the Creator God, there are also various unique systems created by the God.

There are three thousand smaller worlds within this space, all continuously revolving around the main god's space. Maintaining the space, repairing the system, and upgrading the system all require "energy." Favor, love, hatred, kindness, loathing, compassion, and the will to live—these are the innate emotions of these people, and they are all sources of the "energy" needed by the space. In short, "energy" is the foundation of the space's existence.

When a person's emotions become so intense at a certain time that they exceed the emotional limits set by the Creator God, the person's soul can be perceived by the system, and the system can then enter into a contract with the soul's owner.

Of course, not just anyone can be chosen by the system. Those who can successfully sign a contract with the system are people who have subjective will and have not caused any karma in their original world. They perform tasks for the system in the three thousand minor worlds. For each task completed, they can obtain corresponding soul energy. Once they have accumulated a certain amount of soul energy, the task performer has two choices:

One option is to leave the system space and exchange all of one's soul energy for a wish. As long as the wish is reasonable and does not violate the laws of the main god, it can be fulfilled. The other option is to continue earning soul energy to obtain divine status, which is equivalent to a household registration in the main god space. Its function is to obtain a permanent residence in the main city and achieve immortality. Because there are not many souls that have accumulated enough soul energy, and because humans have a strong sense of autonomy over their souls, some mission takers, after accepting a few missions, will experience too much stimulation or impact in the world, causing their souls to dissipate or even go insane.

Song Ce didn't really understand why he was chosen by System 702. He lost his father when he was young, and his mother passed away in an accident two years ago. He had been ill for many years, and his health had deteriorated since his mother's death. Living these three more years was a blessing from heaven.

However, he didn't think too much about it. After all, being alive was the best thing, even for Song Ce, who had been bedridden for many years. Without much hesitation, he accepted the conditions of the 702 system and became a mission taker under 702.

The mission taker's goal is to fulfill the wish of the person making the wish. In exchange, the person making the wish voluntarily offers their soul energy, including all the emotions generated in their short or long life, to become a part of maintaining the space's operation.

There are many types of people who make wishes. The most common type is someone who has reached their emotional limit but is still bound by karma from their previous life, and makes wishes for themselves for various reasons. Another type makes wishes for others, whether out of pity, dissatisfaction, anger, or regret.

As darkness fell, Song Ce returned to the small courtyard he had rented in the county town in less than a quarter of an hour.

He glanced around the room: a simple wooden bed with a low cabinet about the same width as the bed behind the pillow. Besides that, there was only a wooden square table and a chair.

There were many books on the square table, presumably the ones the original owner of this body was currently reading. To the left was a simple tea set, which Song Ce picked up but found to be empty.

With a sigh, Song Ce stepped forward and opened the cabinet beside the bed. Inside were a few neatly folded clothes, and nothing else.

The next day, Song Ce got up very early. He had just finished dressing when there was a knock on the door.

Song Ce got up and opened the door. Standing outside was the landlady, Granny Zhao, who was also the original owner's aunt. However, the original owner didn't think much of her. Granny Zhao was carrying a breakfast: a bowl of thick white porridge, two steamed buns, an egg, and a dish of pickles. Before Song Ce could speak, Granny Zhao smiled and said, "Brother Ce, you're up so early! Here, this is today's breakfast. Eat it while it's hot." After saying that, she placed the breakfast on the square table in the room and quickly left without waiting for Song Ce to speak.

After Song Ce finished his breakfast, before he even reached the kitchen with his bowl and chopsticks, Granny Zhao, who was washing clothes by the well, rushed over, snatched the tray from Song Ce's hands, and said, "Young man, you are a scholar, how can you go into the kitchen to do such rough work? Let this old woman do it."

Song Ce was not the original owner of this body who was oblivious to the world and only focused on studying the classics. Faced with the old woman's kind heart, Song Ce bowed with some emotion and said gently, "Then I will trouble you, Aunt."

It turned out that the landlady, Granny Zhao, and the original owner's mother were from the same village before she got married. The two families were barely related; the original owner's mother and Granny Zhao were cousins. After the original owner came to Qingzhou County School to study, his mother brought him to visit Granny Zhao, who lived in the county town. Granny Zhao saw that the original owner was handsome and educated, and naturally wanted to help him. Originally, Granny Zhao didn't charge rent, but she couldn't resist the original owner's insistence, so she rented him a room at a very low price, only one hundred copper coins a month. Moreover, during the half year that the original owner lived in the county town, Granny Zhao took good care of him.

Song Ce told Granny Zhao something and then went out. Granny Zhao assumed he was going to the county school and told him to be careful on the way.

Song Ce did the math and realized he had less than three taels of silver left in his pocket. The original owner of this body studied diligently and received a first-class subsidy from the county school every month. Two taels a month was enough for him to live comfortably in the county town.

The Zhou family was considered well-off in the village, but it was far from enough to live in the county town. Although the original owner of this body looked down on the two taels of silver that Zhou the carpenter sent every month, he always accepted the money, and aside from his daily expenses for writing materials, he spent it all lavishly. After all, maintaining good relationships and a refined appearance naturally required spending money on various things.

Song Ce went straight to the Qingzhou County School. Although he could access the original owner's memories and knowledge at any time, it wasn't his own knowledge, so it always felt a bit awkward to use. Adhering to the principle that learning is endless and he should learn as much as he could, Song Ce opened the books the original owner was currently studying and began to slowly study them.

"Hey, Brother Song, we drank so much together yesterday, and you still managed to come to the county school early this morning to teach. I really admire you!"

The newcomer was dressed in a purple robe, very elegantly, and looked much more imposing than Song Ce. However, he was also very strong and looked like a martial artist.

This was none other than Chen Haoren, a classmate of the original owner at the county school and one of the students the original owner intended to befriend.

The Chen family was one of the wealthiest families in Qingzhou County. Moreover, Chen Haoren's father, Chen Wangde, came from a branch of the Chen family in the capital. The main branch of the Chen family was a scholarly family, and the head of the Chen family was a fourth-rank deputy commissioner of the Court of State Affairs in the capital. His own daughter was also a noble lady in the palace. Therefore, even the branch of the Chen family was respected in Qingzhou County. After all, on a grand scale, they were related to the imperial family.

The original owner of this body saw this point; he wanted to climb higher, so no matter what, he had to seize every opportunity to secure his future. Even if Chen Haoren looked down on him and treated him that way, he would greet him with a smile and would never be defeated by temporary difficulties.

Chen Haoren was a typical cannon fodder character. He was in love with Du Ningwan, the daughter of the county magistrate, but unfortunately, his feelings were unrequited. He pursued her relentlessly, but to no avail, and could only keep his feelings to himself.

The original owner's relationship with him was initially quite harmonious. However, just after the original owner passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, he was received by the county magistrate. The magistrate greatly encouraged him, expressing much praise and admiration, as if he were looking at a potential son-in-law… Chen Haoren happened to witness this scene. From then on, Chen Haoren targeted the original owner in various ways, though most of it was minor and caused no real harm. On the surface, the original owner always politely declined to argue with him, but in his heart, he remembered every single one of Chen Haoren's actions.

Being targeted by the original owner of this body—a seemingly virtuous but actually cunning and vengeful person—Chen Haoren's fate was naturally not good.

Later, after learning of Du Ningwan's death, Chen Haoren rushed to the capital to confront the original owner of the body. However, at that time, the original owner was at the height of her power, and even the main Chen family could not afford to offend her. As a result, such a distant and unrelated merchant was naturally abandoned.

Ultimately, Chen Haoren was stripped of his degree as a Juren (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations) and exiled to the frontier. The day after the charges were handed down, on a stormy night, Chen Haoren "accidentally" fell into the moat and drowned.

Chen Wangde only had one son, Chen Haoren, who died tragically in his old age. He was filled with resentment and took out all his family property to avenge his son. Unfortunately, before he could carry out his plan, the Chen family was burned to the ground that very night, and Chen Wangde was burned to death in the fire.

Song Ce sighed softly, stood up, cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Chen Haoren, and said with a slight smile, "Brother Chen."

Chen Haoren pursed his lips and said righteously, "Yesterday, Brother Song hosted a dinner party. I should have stayed until we were both drunk, but unfortunately, I had important business at home, so I had to leave early. I hope Brother Song won't take offense."

The students behind Chen Haoren also gave their reasons for having to leave early.

"Brother Song, please don't be offended. There was a slight error in my family's accounts, so my father sent the steward to call me back. I didn't have time to tell you."

"Hey, Brother Song, we had guests at my house yesterday, it was my aunt's younger sister from the capital..."

"Brother Song, you have no idea, my family is..."

Looking at the students earnestly explaining themselves, Song Ce was momentarily speechless. Chen Haoren, standing beside him, didn't give him a chance to speak, and said loudly, "Gentlemen, we simply left early, didn't we? Brother Song is very understanding; I'm sure he won't blame us, right, Brother Song?"

Song Ce: "…………" You've already said everything, what else do you want me to say? Although there were many things to complain about but he didn't know where to start, Song Ce smiled slightly and said in a gentle and refined manner: "Brother Chen is absolutely right."

Students: That's true, but why do I feel so choked up when I see his expression?

Chen Haoren utterly disliked Song Ce's refined and proper demeanor, finding him to be hypocritical at heart. In particular, when County Magistrate Du Zhiyuan visited the county school a few days ago, his words were full of admiration and affection for Song Ce, which only fueled Chen Haoren's resentment.

He's just a poor scholar from the countryside; why should the county magistrate think so highly of him?

A note from the author:

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