Chapter 66 [Major plot revisions + 2000 additional words...]
Pei Ci was dreaming again.
In her dream, she returned to that snowy night, enveloped by hunger and cold, but soon, her fate was changed. And all because of a lottery ticket.
"Ahhh, young student, congratulations! You've won our store's grand prize! You've won 52 million in cash!!"
"My God, after all these years of running this business, this is the first time you've ever won such a large cash prize!!"
"You're so lucky!!"
"So, little student, what do you want to do with this money?"
do what?
The shop owner's enthusiastic voice still echoed in her ears. Holding the lottery ticket, Pei Ci still felt it was all too real. It was so strange; she had won the grand prize so inexplicably, changing her life completely. It felt like she was being propelled forward.
However, she was always being pushed along...
Suppressing the strange feeling in her heart, Pei Ci accepted the situation. As for dealing with this huge sum of money, she only did two things.
The first thing she did was pay off her debts. She transferred a large sum of money to an account—ten times the amount she had withdrawn. In truth, once this was completely transformed into a debt-for-debt relationship, everything became simple. The effort, the time lost, and the tangled emotions involved were no longer necessary.
As for the second thing.
Pei Cidong pressed her bluish-purple and pale fingers against her heart and chose to walk into that unattainable hospital.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Pei Ci, all the VIP rooms are currently occupied. Would you be willing to share a room with someone else?"
"Will it take long, maybe just a day or two, before we can free up other wards?"
"Miss Pei, what are your thoughts...?"
“Okay.” Pei Ci agreed. She followed the nurse to the ward, which was the largest hospital in the city, with the best facilities and environment. The door was gently pushed open, and the girl sitting on the bed inside waved to the door.
Good morning, Dr. Li.
Her voice was like a flowing stream, dynamic and joyful, full of vitality.
"Huh? Is this my roommate?" The girl turned her head slightly, her hair falling onto the notebook on her lap. She smiled again, the only vibrant thing in the snow-white ward.
"Pei Ci, it's great to finally meet you." The girl said with a smile, "Hello, I am..."
"Knock knock—"
Pei Ci was awakened by a knock on the door. The dream she had was still lingering in her mind, but she couldn't recall the face of the girl she lived with, or even her name. However, this seemed unrelated to her current anxieties. Pei Ci could only put the matter aside.
"Come in." As she said this, Pei Ci slowly opened her eyes.
She was still a little dazed when she heard a gasp. It was Shao Ying, who had rushed in, her face full of shock. "Miss, what are you doing here?"
Pei Ci slowly regained consciousness and found herself lying on the table, her arm bearing a large red mark from where her head had been pressed. She blinked and whispered, "I accidentally fell asleep."
Last night she kept thinking about the mastermind behind it all, and because she was thinking too much, she actually fell asleep.
However, after thinking about it all night, she had a general idea.
Since this person's goal is to disrupt the timeline, he will do everything in his power to prevent the male and female protagonists from falling in love. Because, as a romance novel, the core of the timeline is the romantic relationship. This is also why the system tasked her with bringing the male and female protagonists together.
What we know now is that, on the female lead's side, this person directly chose to find someone to replace her and then take control of the real female lead.
This was indeed an extremely ingenious move, rendering the world's consciousness powerless to change it. Just like in her previous playthrough, no amount of effort was of any use.
Therefore, she must investigate the truth behind Ye Qingyu's substitution. Only by figuring out when, where, and how Ye Qingyu was substituted without anyone noticing can she find the person's trail and completely tear off the veil of mystery surrounding this person.
In order to find the truth, Pei Ci specifically asked the system to search for Ye Qingyu's background and life story in all the previous worlds and to integrate and analyze the data.
This world has collapsed dozens of times, with each world spanning eighteen years. Even the system cannot analyze it in a short time.
Pei Ci also accidentally fell asleep while waiting for the results.
"System, have the results come out yet?" Pei Ci asked the system in her mind.
[It will take a little more time...]
This seemed to be a task not to be underestimated, Pei Ci pulled herself out of her thoughts.
Once the system gets the data, it will definitely be able to find some anomalies, and then we can investigate based on these anomalies.
But there's a problem here.
The person who could come up with such a scheme as having a real and a fake female lead must be very meticulous.
Someone is investigating him, and it's such a sensitive matter. Doesn't he realize it?
But will his pervasive influence really allow her investigation to proceed smoothly?
Therefore, she cannot let this person realize that she is investigating him.
She wanted to deceive his eyes and ears.
Just as she was pondering this, a voice woke her up.
"Miss, are you feeling unwell anywhere?"
It's Shao Ying.
Pei Ci looked over and met Shao Ying's gaze. Sensing Shao Ying's worry, Pei Ci shook her head, "I'm fine."
"Miss, you must take good care of yourself." Lost in thought, Shao Ying bit her lip. She hesitated several times, her face almost flushed. But thinking of her mistress's health, she couldn't help but say, "Miss, you don't need to worry about that kind of person."
"He is not good enough for you at all."
Pei Ci was taken aback, not understanding what Shao Ying was talking about. She repeated Shao Ying's words and asked in confusion, "...that kind of person?"
"Yes," Shao Ying said, still a little angry. She had been angry all morning, but she still couldn't let it go. She had originally wanted to keep it to herself, after all, what did this have to do with a servant like her? But seeing her mistress's haggard appearance, her heart couldn't help but bleed. So, after holding it in for a while, she couldn't help but speak up.
Now that it's all been said, it doesn't matter how much or how little is said.
At this moment, Shao Ying made up her mind. She stopped being tense, stared straight at Pei Ci, took a deep breath and said, "Excuse me for being blunt, but apart from his face and family background, Lu Ran has nothing to offer."
“I know that arranged marriages are something that young ladies from prominent families must go through. And this young master Lu, when the engagement was just around the corner, took advantage of your illness to spread rumors with other commoners and make you angry.”
"A man with such questionable morals doesn't deserve you at all!!"
Next, Shao Ying compiled all the known and online information about Lu Ran's shortcomings and talked about them at length, almost belittling this young master Lu to nothing.
Pei Ci watched quietly, slowly realizing why Shao Ying was so agitated. She probably took to her supposed reason for the rumors about Lu Ran having an affair with another girl, and was now standing up for her.
Pei Ci hadn't expected the news to spread so quickly, but Shao Ying's words were quite interesting; she hadn't realized one person could have so many flaws. However, as she listened to Shao Ying's words, Pei Ci slowly began to form an idea of how to deceive that person…
In fact, when this person and the world's consciousness are at odds, changes in the plot are inevitable; the plot may be brought forward or delayed. She could use the motives of the female supporting character in the plot to do these things, thus avoiding suspicion.
Shao Ying, whose throat was dry from talking, saw that Pei Ci remained silent and hurriedly added, "Of course, I'm not saying that Miss did anything wrong, I just... I just feel..."
She could barely continue speaking.
Shao Ying felt that her career was over.
However, at that moment, Pei Ci grabbed her hand. Shao Ying was startled, and when she looked over, she saw only a pair of bright, pale-colored eyes, which were now filled with a rare smile—
"You're right."
The warm touch and the fragrant aroma almost made Shao Ying dizzy. She suddenly opened her eyes wide and was about to say something when she heard Pei Ci say calmly, "But I just like her."
!!
Damn it!!!
Shao Ying really couldn't understand how Lu Ran, this pretentious number one sycophant, had managed to win her over.
Just as she was recuperating, Pei Ci said, "Speaking of which, I might need you and Anderson to do something for me later..."
"Oh, right," Pei Ci noticed something odd, "Where's Anderson?"
Later, Pei Ci learned from Shao Ying that Anderson had resigned.
To be honest, the news surprised her. At the same time, Anderson's departure was a major blow to her support.
"Why did he resign?" Pei Ci asked.
"It seems like I've made some mistake..." Shao Ying said hesitantly. Actually, she found it very strange. Having worked with Anderson for so long, she knew all too well how obsessed he was with the young lady. Make a mistake? How could Anderson possibly do that? He wouldn't give anyone a chance to get rid of him. His brilliant mind always handled things impeccably.
However, this morning, Butler Zhao said he had made a mistake.
"Excuse me, what did he do wrong...?" Because it was so unbelievable, she rarely took the initiative to ask.
“Miss Shao Ying, this is not something you should know.” The gloved housekeeper, Zhao, had somewhat aged eyes that never fell on her.
Shao Ying knows she's not very bright, but her intuition is very accurate, so she follows her intuition and that's how she got to where she is now.
She let the matter go in one ear and out the other; in any case, it was beneficial to her. She would no longer have to force herself to take care of Miss Anderson, and then sulk because she couldn't take care of her properly.
Thinking of this, Shao Ying added, "I'm sorry, Miss. I'm not entirely clear on the specifics either."
Upon hearing Shao Ying's words, Pei Ci had a general idea of what was going on.
This must have been done by her brother.
Well, Pei Ci wasn't particularly surprised. Her brother had done this many times before. When she was very young, her brother started weeding out people who shouldn't exist in her world. Boys who offered her candy, teachers who were overly concerned, maids who took care of her... Sometimes, people she met that day would be gone the next day.
Pei Ci didn't discover this on her own; in fact, it was during a trip that her brother casually mentioned it.
"This is a screening process."
Pei Chi opened the treasure chest he had given to Pei Ci. Inside were gems he had amassed from all over the world, each one priceless and the result of countless hours of painstaking work. They shone brilliantly, dazzling the eye. The young man dipped his gloved fingers into the diamonds, tracing the edges of each gem. Finally, he took out the most perfect gem and handed it to her, a smile playing on his pale eyes as he spoke: "This is for you."
Pei Chi was keen on screening the people around Pei Ci, discarding those who didn't meet the standards and only allowing those who passed to get close.
Of course, Pei Chi's mental illness had already shown signs by this point. But unfortunately, Pei Ci calmly accepted him, allowing his madness to grow into a forest.
*
After tidying up briefly, Pei Ci went to her brother's study.
The Pei family was unusually busy today. Early in the morning, Pei Ci saw most of the servants cleaning. They were mopping the floor, wiping the walls, and even using a perfume-type air freshener to clean the air. This resulted in Pei Ci's nose being filled with that smell.
Although it doesn't smell terrible, it still feels uncomfortable after smelling it for a while.
Pei Ci quickened her pace.
Soon, Pei Ci arrived at the door of her brother's study.
The study door was only slightly ajar, but Pei Ci pushed it open and went inside.
On the way here, she had already thought of what to say to her brother.
To be honest, she wasn't against her brother's behavior. It's just that she needed Anderson at that moment.
However, upon seeing Pei Chi in the study, Pei Ci suddenly became speechless.
She had spent so much time with her brother, yet she had never seen Pei Chi like this before.
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