Chapter 3: CH 3

3. First Arc: Great Prodigy VS Campus Violence (2)

First and foremost, she had to be beautiful.

A beautiful appearance could add a great amount of points. She was all too aware of humankind’s nature of judging a person according to their appearance.1

In the past, she had been tormented so badly in prison that when the live broadcast started for the first time, she was all dark and dusty with scars on her face. Even if she wore beautiful brand name clothes, she was still poor and musty, like an ugly duckling dressed in a layer of swan feathers; she was just a joke.

She would give them whatever they liked.

She didn’t know what had happened, nor why it had happened, but the result was that she had been reborn and returned to the time of her first trial, and this time, her memory had not been suppressed.

Although her heart was filled with anger and resentment, with the desire to destroy the world, she knew that all of it was useless. If she wished to survive and change her fate, she had to play by the rules of the game.

Her fate was in the hands of the audience. She had to make them like her, and make them think she was lovable. No, she wanted them to worship her and regard her as a spiritual pillar, only then would they protect her and fight against the world for her!

To this end, she could live as a beautiful lie!

Although the flow of time in the virtual world was adjusted to be very fast, Song Juyao, who was living in this world, could not feel this speed. After sleeping for a while, the soft cries of Liu Yan woke her up the next day.

Song Juyao looked at the time; it was 06:49 in the morning.

Liu Yan was waiting for Song Juyao outside in the dining room. Her eyes were red and swollen, brimming with tears as she looked at Song Juyao and said, “Yaoyao, what shall we eat this morning?”

After Song Juyao left last night, the hungry Liu Yan looked at the greasy kitchen and finally chose to go to bed hungry. She lay in bed thinking about everything that had happened that evening and the way that her daughter had abandoned her indifferently and gone to bed. She wept bitterly. She missed her late husband who had always pampered her and fell asleep crying.

When she woke up in the morning, she felt even more hungry.

Song Juyao ignored her and walked into the bathroom.

Her room had no bathroom. There was a lot of junk like lumber and machinery piled in there; her little bed was crammed into the middle of the mess.

She was like a child labourer who had been bought by them from a human trafficker for a couple thousand dollars.

All of this was very unreasonable in reality, without any semblance of logic. The program team must have taken great pains to find an NPC with such a character in order to torment her.

Song Juyao earnestly brushed her teeth and washed her face before carefully applying Liu Yan’s skincare products, layer by layer. She didn’t forget to put on her hand lotion either.

Finally, she combed her hair and pulled it into a neat ponytail before opening the bathroom door and walking back out.

Liu Yan was still waiting for her to make breakfast.

Song Juyao was also hungry. For her own sake, she wanted to eat healthy and grow up well, but she couldn’t surround herself with fire and smoke again.2

Song Juyao glanced at her and said, “Let’s go out to eat.”

For a moment, Liu Yan was dumbfounded. She rose to her feet and said, “Bu.. but we don’t have much money…”

“If there’s no money, then go earn it. You are an adult, I’m only ten years old. It’s your responsibility to raise me.” Song Juyao replied and turned around to leave. Although most of their family’s savings had been lost, it wasn’t to the point where they didn’t have a single cent left; Liu Yan had some private savings hidden away.

Liu Yan looked at Song Juyao’s retreating figure and felt extremely wronged.

Song Juyao glanced back at her, Fuck! She was mentally challenged! Liu Yan seemed to have already forgotten the fright she had received last night; she didn’t even have a hint of any psychological shadows.

The two of them went to have breakfast at a breakfast shop in the village that had been running for over ten years. The business in the shop was quite good; all of the tables were full and they could only share a table with others. All kinds of gazes surrounding them fell on the mother-daughter duo. They were mainly looking at Liu Yan, all of them wanting to talk to the pretty woman in mourning clothes.3  She was wearing a white dress with a white paper flower in her hair, perfectly interpreting the meaning of this sentence.

Liu Yan leaned against Song Juyao uneasily. Song Juyao lowered her head and ate the steamed buns and drank her soy milk, as if she was completely unaware of the attention; no longer glaring at Liu Yan like a vicious little wolf.

“Mei’er,4 you’re here. Let me go to your house.” A square-faced middle-aged man dressed in a suit walked into the breakfast shop and spoke with a broad smile on his face. Dressed in his neat suit and shoes, he appeared somewhat out of tune with the plai, rustic country-folk in the breakfast shop. The envious and respectful glances around him made him raise his head and puff out his chest, making him look more and more proud.

He was a white-collar elite. Although he was just a rural credit cooperative,5 he was still better than these hardworking rural folk who were scorched and drenched by sun and rain.6c

“Dage.”7 Liu Yan looked at Liu Guoqing with a trusting smile on her face.

“Let’s go, I’ve got something to tell you.” Liu Guoqing pulled Liu Yan out, disregarding the fact that Liu Yan hadn’t finished her breakfast.

Song Juyao ignored them and continued to eat, she even took the steamed buns that Liu Yan hadn’t had time to bite.

Liu Gouqing pulled Liu Yan away for a while before realizing that Song Juyao hadn’t followed them. He walked back to the breakfast shop and saw that Song Juyao was languidly sipping at her soy milk.

“This kid, you didn’t even notice that your mom left, so slow, you wouldn’t even know if you got sold.” Liu Guoqing said and went to pull Song Juyao’s arm.

The soy milk had just come out of the pot. It was very fragrant, but it was scorching hot. Getting pulled in such a manner, some of the milk spilled onto Song Juyao’s hand, scalding the back of her hand.

Song Juyao’s eyes darkened instantly. She continued to hold onto the bowl of soy milk, appearing as though she didn’t feel any pain from the burn. Going along with his tugging, she spilled the milk towards him.

“Aahhh!” The trousers were instantly soaked with soy milk and clung to his flesh. Liu Guoqing immediately let go of Song Juyao’s arm and started hopping in pain, He quickly tore the cloth away from his skin and trembled.

The people in the breakfast shop laughed when they saw the embarrassed appearance of the “white collar elite.”

Liu Guoqing held some prestige. As one of the few people from the village who went to college ten years ago, he enjoyed how the other middle-aged men his age admired him. At this moment, he lost his temper due to his embarrassment and glared fiercely at Song Juyao before turning around and running away.

“Boss, another bowl of soy milk.” Song Juyao turned back and spoke to the boss.

When Song Juyao returned home after having her fill of food and drink, Liu Guoqing was calmly sitting in the living room. Liu Yan stood in front of him, tears streaming down her face as her thin shoulders quivered, showing an appearance which was typically very well-received by men.

“Why are you crying? Aren’t I thinking for your sake? Take a look at yourself, what can you do? It isn’t everyday that someone from a rich family wants to marry you, and they don’t even mind you bringing your daughter with you. What are you dissatisfied with?”

“My husband has only been dead for two months and you want me to get remarried. What will other people say, how can I still go out and meet people?”8 Liu Yan sobbed and sniffled as she spoke softly.

“Think clearly. Most of the people in our village are young girls who want to get married. It’s your good fortune that they’ve taken a fancy to a widow like you. You would be a fool to miss a golden opportunity like this.9 Liu Guoqing retracted his raised thumbs. There was a bit of threat in his eyes as he added, “I didn’t mention this before, but I lent 20,000 yuan to Chengcai before he died, and he said that he would pay me back in two months. Right now, I’m in urgent need of money, you can figure out a way to pay me back.”

Liu Yan looked at him in disbelief. “Dage, you obviously know, where can I get the money to pay you…”

“You don’t have money now, how will you have money in the future?” Liu Guoqing hit Liu Yan with a fatal blow.

Instantly, Liu Yan was rendered speechless. Yes, where would the money come from?

Would Liu Guoqing be unaware of what kind of person his sister was? There was basically no problem with this matter, so he had accepted a big red envelope from the Chen family with confidence before coming over to play matchmaker for his sister and Chen Lao’er.10

He was not in a hurry to get an answer at this time, he was already sure of the result. He got up to leave and saw Song Juyao who was standing by the doorway and staring at him.

“Don’t you know how to greet someone when you see them?”

The corners of Song Juyao’s mouth twitched as she walked past him with a sneer.

Liu Guoqing was so angry that he scolded Song Juyao for having no upbringing, but Song Juyao remained unmoved as though she wasn’t the one being scolded.

He was so angry that he cursed and grumbled in his heart. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that Song Juyao had a somewhat abnormal character. But then, he wondered whether he was just overthinking. She was just a ten year old kid.

Song Juyao glanced at the weeping Liu Yan and poured herself a glass of cold water. Drinking more water was good for the body.

According to the program team’s plan, Song Juyao’s suffering had to escalate step by step. It was necessary to make her feel that nothing could be more painful, only to give her more pain and defeat her psyche.

When her father was still alive, at most she was just malnourished and fatigued. After her father’s death, Liu Yan—that incompetent woman who was destined to attract bees and butterflies—turned into her shackles and became the cause of her suffering, trapping her in the first level of hell designed for her by the program team.

Liu Yan would eventually get remarried to Chen Lao’er. The Chen family had opened up their own factory and made some money, building a four-storey villa and becoming the wealthiest family in the village.

Chen Lao’er had already been interested in Liu Yan for a long time, and now, he finally had a chance. Afraid that someone else would take the lead, he went to Liu Guoqing to ask him to be their matchmaker. Liu Guoqing only had his own self-interest in mind. In spite of the fact that Chen Lao’er’s deceased wife had been killed due to domestic violence, he used both intimidation and bribery on Liu Yan for the sake of money, until he finally succeeded.

When the mother remarried, the daughter naturally followed.

Then, the second level of hell began.

For a period of time after the marriage, Chen Lao’er was really good to Liu Yan. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for his old habits to resurface and he started to beat Liu Yan. In order to protect Liu Yan, Song Juyao had been dragged into the fray numerous times; it was uncertain how many times she had her bones broken.

Chen Lao’er and his deceased wife had a son who was two years older than Song Juyao. He had inherited Chen Lao’er’s temper; he often got into fights and had an ugly appearance. With their family’s reputation, although they were wealthy, it would probably be difficult for him to find a wife. Furthermore, if the bride happened to have an accident, her family members would definitely make a lot of noise.

Hence, the Old Lady of the Chen family looked at Song Juyao and thought of saving her up11 for Chen Lao’er’ son. From then on, she regarded her as a child bride12 and detained her for fear that she would run away, not even allowing her to go out of the village.

This hell would not end until Song Juyao turned 16 when Liu Yan was finally beaten to the point that she couldn’t endure it and ran away from home. She collided with/ the car of a rich man from the city in the heavy rain and the man took a fancy to her.

Song Juyao lowered her gaze. Now, she naturally wouldn’t follow the fate that the program team had designed for her. She wanted to get out of this cage.

“Yaoyao, what should we do?” Liu Yan walked over slowly as she asked in a soft voice. She had wailed for half the day, yet she hadn’t received any comfort from Song Juyao.