Zhenniang: The Three of Us (Part Two)
Ye Xiqing originally thought that the system was going against the grain, where other protagonists had to fight monsters to level up, but this system directly gave her a max-level account.
The system then told her that it was in the era when women still had to bind their feet, and that she was watching two equally matched women go back and forth.
Human excrement tastes bad, but if you replace it with dog excrement, it's considered subversive. Instead of targeting traditional women, targeting modern women is called innovation. The system is quite adept at subverting expectations.
Ye Xiqing was so angry she almost laughed. Her friendly attitude towards the system vanished, leaving the system dumbfounded.
The previous period of respite had triggered the system's forgetful nature, and it immediately retorted, "Host, you can't bring up gender issues in everything. The one who hurt Zhao Zhenniang the most was Lan Shuyan."
"Can't women be bad people? Can't we say a woman is bad? Can't we retaliate if we're hurt by a woman? Do women have some kind of get-out-of-jail-free card?"
Ye Xiqing replied without hesitation: "Yes, women have a get-out-of-jail-free card."
"In a world where male characters are born with an immunity token, if women aren't given immunity tokens, wouldn't all women be wiped out?"
"I'm burdened by a colossal worldview that says 'Women and dogs are not allowed,' forcing someone like me, who isn't naturally considered human, to fight against another of my kind who may not even be human, while the beneficiaries of this distorted worldview watch the show from the sidelines?"
"No matter how tragically the female supporting character dies, I won't gain anything. Even if all those men who are watching the show line up and fire in unison, they won't accidentally hurt a single one."
"If you don't shoot the old men watching the show, I don't want to waste my bullets shooting at others."
"First, show your sincerity by ganging up all the beneficiaries of the Song family and shooting them all at once, then I'll talk to you about the female supporting character."
system:……
"But in this story, it was Lan Shuyan, not a member of the Song family, who hurt Zhao Zhenniang. It was fine for her to marry Song San; everyone in the Song family treated her very well. It was Lan Shuyan who interfered in her fate and caused her tragedy."
"What caused the tragedy that Zhao Zhenniang's fate was so easily ruined by just one woman's interference? What caused the tragedy that she could only tie her fate to a man with cerebral palsy? Was it Lan Shuyan?"
“Host, you can’t always talk about grand topics. You also need to focus on the present. Zhao Zhenniang and Lan Shuyan are just women, not allies.”
"By marrying the male lead, she can become the wife of a warlord. In this era, you should know how valuable the wife of a warlord is."
"It would be foolish to give up immediate benefits for the sake of a grand narrative."
Ye Xiqing couldn't help but laugh: "Then you have to give me evidence that your narrow narrative can indeed bring you benefits."
"A little-known fact: even in the dynasties that oppressed women the most, every man had a mother."
"Becoming a man's mother doesn't change the fact that women are oppressed as a whole, so what can a wife gain?"
"The highest benefit a defeated nation can obtain from its enemy is that of being a second-class citizen."
"Tell me, where did the profits come from?"
Unable to argue with Ye Xiqing, the system resorted to reckless remarks: "But in this era, if you don't become a second-class citizen, you'll soon become the lowest-class citizen!"
Ye Xiqing sneered: "In a context where a single spark can start a prairie fire, is it appropriate for you to say such things to me?"
system:……
Ye Xiqing then raised the issue to a higher level, leaving it speechless.
No matter what kind of plot was given to Ye Xiqing out of kindness, Ye Xiqing was not satisfied, and the system got angry and stopped serving her!
Ye Xiqing completely lost interest in the system's good intentions. How could the system possibly be kind in order to clean up the mess it had left her with?
Everything around has a sense of history; the term "warlord" pulls the time back to the era of warlord conflicts.
Ye Xiqing loves reading all kinds of books, but she has never heard of a warlord as the male protagonist. It's probably an alternate history, a typical warlord male protagonist.
In this era of uncertainty, the system generously buffed the male protagonist's family, allowing them to have endless descendants and beautiful wives and concubines amidst the tides of time. Ye Xiqing, however, had to worry first about whether she had bound feet.
In the era of foot binding, girls had to bind their feet at a very young age, and the harmful effects were far-reaching. Even when it was abolished, it wasn't done immediately. If it were during the warlord era, Zhao Zhenniang might not have been able to escape it.
Fortunately, Zhao Zhenniang was born into the hands of a female writer. Whether it's a typical plot or a plot twist, it's always a female writer. Even if a female writer's thoughts are restricted and she's afraid of affecting the heroine's beauty, she'll still give the heroine a cheat code that allows her to not have her feet bound.
Looking at her normal-sized feet, Ye Xiqing felt truly grateful. If it were a male author, he would probably describe her bound feet with great admiration.
This world has no fantasy elements. Foot binding usually involves breaking the foot bones, and once bound, the feet can never grow back.
Losing an arm is nothing, but losing a leg is really inconvenient. She is so grateful!
He got up and looked around the Zhao family's workshop.
The Zhao family owned a private oil mill, so their conditions were definitely quite good. Zhao Zhenniang had also worked with her father since she was a child, managing both the household and the outside world. Under normal circumstances, running an oil mill on her own wouldn't be a difficult task.
But in this era, a woman's assets can be legally taken away by anyone, and she can't even protect a small workshop.
It would be simple for Ye Xiqing to handle this: kill anyone who tries to seize his family property, send them to the mountains to become bandits, and once they have gathered enough strength, they can join the regular army.
In this era, people laughed at the poor but not at bandits. Having a gun gave you leverage to seek amnesty later on, saving you ten years of detours.
But the system gave her an unconventional world, which was too formulaic and lacked originality; the audience could easily guess what it was all about.
To come up with something new, Ye Xiqing opened the system space and selected a special item from the dazzling array of goods in the shop.
The system looked at her choice and slowly widened its eyes: "Host, what do you want to do?"
...
Jian Yu'an slowly opened her eyes, looked at the unfamiliar surroundings, and suddenly stood up. Had she transmigrated?
These days, it seems like you can time travel anywhere, even if you get so angry watching a TV series that you're tempted to time travel.
When he had nothing to do, Jian Yu'an dug up an old TV series and was so angry at the female lead that he almost died.
She cried all the time, yet everyone revolved around her. Every man loved her. She could recite a few poems and be called a talented woman. She could declare, "Life is precious, but love is more precious," and be seen as a brave woman who broke through feudal shackles, shocking countless men.
In the TV series, everyone is infatuated with her, but she hates this kind of soulless, pretentious, Mary Sue-like character.
She felt more sorry for the supporting female character than the female lead. The supporting female character was the kindest and most innocent character in the story, but she was badly harmed by the crazy couple, the male and female leads.
Jian Yu'an grew angrier and angrier as he read on, and he really hoped that the female supporting character could be reborn and give the male and female leads a good slap in the face!
Then her wish came true; she transmigrated into the body of a supporting female character in the drama.
When Jian Yu'an first realized he had transmigrated, he was still a little dazed. In any case, transmigrating was still a very serious matter.
But there was no way to go back. Since she was already here, she might as well make the best of it. She had really transmigrated, so she would face the upcoming plot head-on. This time, she was determined to change the fate of the female supporting character!
Jian Yu'an looked at his face in the mirror.
Before she transmigrated, she loved traditional culture and was very skilled at ancient-style clothing and makeup. She immediately realized that the original owner was not ugly, but just didn't know how to dress up.
The drama portrays the love between the male and female leads as very beautiful, with things like love at first sight and unwavering devotion. But isn't it just lust at first sight?
Because the female supporting character is a rustic, ignorant, and old-fashioned woman, coupled with the obstruction from her family, the relationship between the two becomes increasingly intense in its confrontation.
If the female supporting character were also a well-educated, gentle, and beautiful woman, would the love between the male and female leads still be so steadfast?
Jian Yu'an lowered his eyes and gave a dignified smile to himself in the mirror, but when he looked up, his eyes were full of the cunning of a little fox.
Zhao Zhenniang has a personality that makes her easy to manipulate, but she's not someone to be trifled with!
Without further ado, Jian Yu'an rummaged through the original owner's belongings. Beauty also requires investment, and she needed to find some start-up capital.
The original owner's family was practically destitute; they didn't even have a single piece of cloth suitable for making clothes.
After rummaging through drawers and cabinets for a long time, I finally found a piece of earthenware pot on the ground that looked a bit off. I dug it up and found a dark, rough earthenware pot.
In the old days, money was a physical thing, and there were many thieves. People used all sorts of tricks to hide their money, and this must be where the Zhao family hid their money.
Upon opening the jar, a dazzling array of various currencies came into view.
During the warlord era, various forces took turns in power, resulting in a chaotic monetary system. Jian Yu'an, not being a person living in that era, couldn't understand it at all.
However, she still knew the most basic "dollar" – a silver dollar, which, as a metal coin, was relatively good at preserving value.
The whole silver coins were wrapped in cloth. Jian Yu'an counted them and there were exactly twenty. Fortunately, the Zhao family was not completely poor!
He took out five coins to carry with him, and also took some loose change with him. In this era, silver coins had a strong purchasing power, so five coins should be enough. If he took more, he would have to worry about thieves.
Zhao Zhenniang's family lived in the countryside. Jian Yu'an didn't know the way to the county town, but she had read the original plot and knew who the original owner was closely related to. Her neighbor was a rickshaw puller.
When her neighbor heard that she was going to the city on business, he immediately offered to give her a ride. Jian Yu'an didn't know how much a rickshaw would cost, and she didn't want to appear too ignorant in front of her neighbor, so she simply handed him a silver dollar.
Sure enough, the neighbor's face lit up with joy, and he repeatedly refused, saying, "We're like family, how could I ask you for money? I'll just take you to the city!"
Jian Yu'an had already prepared his answer. Seemingly a little nervous, he clutched the hem of his clothes and said, "I have a lot of things to do today, so I may have to take up some of your time."
The neighbor beamed with delight: "Alright, I'll give you a ride this morning, no one else will!"
Seeing his attitude, Jian Yu felt relieved and understood that one silver dollar could cover half a day's travel.
The original Zhao Zhenniang wouldn't have been willing to spend so much money, but Jian Yu'an from the future didn't think so much and got into the car directly.
Along the way, thanks to his talkative neighbors, Jian Yu'an not only didn't have to worry about finding a place to handle matters, but also quietly learned a lot about Zhao Zhenniang.
Judging from what the neighbors said, Zhao Zhenniang's father has been buried, and the story of Zhao Zhenniang entering the Song family mansion is about to begin.
Then she needs to prepare properly.
Despite calling it a stunning appearance, Jian Yu'an didn't actually plan to go too far. He simply chose a clean and tidy ordinary outfit, knowing there was no need to compare his extravagance with the Song family.
Most importantly, she should take a shower. First impressions are crucial. She could almost smell the stench of sweat on her body. No wonder the servants of the Song family looked down on her if she went there like this.
Stepping into the tailor shop, where school uniforms were all the rage in the city, Jian Yu'an had a unique idea and chose a traditional jacket and skirt.
After taking a shower and letting his hair dry, Jian Yu'an skillfully styled a simple yet elegant hairstyle.
He walked out and smiled at the neighbor who was waiting there, saying, "Let's go to the Song family's house."
The neighbors probably knew her purpose, so they quickly agreed and took the car to the Song family's house.
Upon arrival, Jian Yu'an stepped forward and had someone announce his arrival, revealing his identity with composure and humility.
She was indeed welcomed inside, but it was the Song family's steward who greeted her.
The butler looked at her in confusion: "Isn't Third Young Mistress supposed to observe three years of mourning for her father? What are you doing here?"
Jian Yu'an's prepared explanation suddenly choked in his mouth: Huh?
...
All plans were disrupted, and Jian Yu'an's heart was in turmoil: Mourning? When did a mourning plot appear? It's different from the TV drama plot!
Jian Yu'an was extremely shocked, but fortunately she reacted quickly and immediately tested the waters with the news of her father's unremarkable death, expressing her desire to thank her in-laws for burying her father. As expected, she received a courteous reply from the housekeeper.
"Third Young Mistress, what's the big deal about burying Master Yue? You don't need to worry about it. You are so filial, and you are bringing honor to the Song family by observing three years of mourning for your father-in-law."
"It just so happens that the Third Young Master has also gone abroad to study and won't be back for a while. You should stay at home and not come here too often. It will ruin the feng shui, won't it?"
Jian Yu'an extracted the important information from a few short sentences: the plot of the original owner's father's burial had already passed, but the original owner did not enter the Song family. Instead, he had to observe mourning for his father, and there were also some feng shui matters involved.
Jian Yu'an's ambition to make a name for himself after transmigrating came to an abrupt halt, as he was completely bewildered by this unexpected plot twist.
She went out through the small gate, where her neighbors were still waiting for her. The entire surrounding area depended on the Song family for their livelihood, and the Zhao family was naturally highly respected because of their relationship with the Song family.
The neighbor watched Zhao Zhenniang cautiously as she walked out of the Song family's house: "Is everything settled?"
When asked the question, Zhao Zhenniang was about to force a smile, but she suddenly stopped.
He looked down at his neighbor, then turned to look at the gate of the Song family mansion, a look of terror on his face.
The ghost... the ghost is here again!
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