Chapter 2 Reboot & The Ding
Gasp!
I shot up in bed, my hands frantically clutching my throat, desperately trying to suck air into my crushed lungs. My entire body was drenched in cold sweat, violently trembling.
I'm alive? How am I alive?
I looked wildly around the room. I wasn't at the bottom of the blood-soaked staircase. I was sitting in the center of a massive, opulent king-sized bed. The silk sheets were cold. The room was decorated in austere shades of gray and black—Lu Chen's master bedroom.
I scrambled out of bed, my bare feet hitting the plush carpet, and ran to the floor-to-ceiling mirror.
Staring back at me was a pale, terrified girl. But my face was flawless. There were no cuts. No bruises on my jaw. No blood matting my long black hair.
I lunged for my phone on the nightstand. The screen lit up: October 15th.
My breath hitched. The phone slipped from my trembling fingers, bouncing onto the carpet.
October 15th. Exactly one year ago.
This was the day of the Lu Family's Centennial Gala.
The exact day my descent into hell truly began.
In my past life, this was the night Lin Wan returned from abroad.
This was the night she framed me for stealing the Lu family heirloom, turning me into a pariah in Jingcheng's high society, entirely isolating me from anyone who could have helped me.
I had been reborn. The heavens had actually heard my dying vow.
I pressed my hands against my face, a manic, breathless laugh escaping my lips. I wasn't going to be the pathetic, crying doormat anymore. I didn't care about Lu Chen's love. I didn't care about the Lu family prestige. This time, I was going to tear down their entire kingdom.
Suddenly, a sharp, mechanical sound violently echoed inside my skull.
[DING!]
[System Reboot Complete. Detecting extreme levels of resentment. Host soul compatibility: 100%.]
I froze, looking around the empty room. "Who's there?"
[Hello, Host Su Yan. I am the Billionaire Gossip System. My primary function is to scan the darkest, most heavily guarded secrets of the elite and deliver them to you. Knowledge is power, and in this world, gossip is the deadliest weapon of all.]
A translucent blue screen materialized in the air directly in front of my face.
[Host Status:]
Name: Su Yan
Title: Despised Wife
Wealth: 0.00 Yuan (Pathetic)
Schadenfreude Points: 0
[System Rules: Use the secrets provided by the System to expose hypocrites, ruin your enemies, and slap faces. Doing so will earn you Schadenfreude Points, which can be exchanged for immense wealth, physical enhancements, and lethal corporate data. Would you like to activate your first scan?]
I stared at the floating blue screen, my heart pounding a furious rhythm against my ribs. A feral grin slowly stretched across my face. A Gossip System? I had spent three years suffocating under the rumors and lies of the Jingcheng elite. Now, I held the master key to their closets.
"Activate," I whispered.
At that exact moment, the heavy oak door to the bedroom swung open without a knock.
It was Chen Ma, the head maid of the Lu household.
She had a face like a dried prune and a heart full of malice.
In my previous life, she constantly fed me cold leftovers, "accidentally" shrank my designer clothes in the wash, and whispered vicious insults behind my back, knowing Lu Chen would never punish her for bullying me.
"Madam," Chen Ma said, though her tone dripped with blatant disrespect. She didn't even look at me, casually tossing a garment bag onto the armchair. "Young Master Lu said you are to wear this to the Centennial Gala tonight. Be ready by six. He won't wait for you."
I looked at the garment bag. I knew exactly what was inside. A gaudy, violently pink ruffled dress that looked like a cheap flamingo costume. Lin Wan had picked it out to ensure I looked like an uncultured clown next to her elegant, custom-made white gown.
In the past, I wore it with my head bowed, enduring the mocking laughter of the entire ballroom.
I focused my eyes on Chen Ma. Instantly, the blue screen flickered above her head.
[Target Scanned: Chen Ma (Head Maid)] [Current Secret: Embezzling household funds.
Has stolen three bottles of Lu Chen's vintage 1982 Lafite wine, refilling the empty bottles with cheap grape juice and rubbing alcohol.
Currently wearing a pair of Host's diamond earrings in her pockets to pawn later. ]
My smile widened. It was beautiful. The system was utterly beautiful.
"Chen Ma," I said, my voice eerily calm as I walked toward her.
She rolled her eyes. "What? Hurry up and get dressed. You're already an embarrassment to the Lu family, don't make them late—"
SLAP!
The sound cracked like a whip through the quiet bedroom. I put my entire body weight into the swing. Chen Ma shrieked, stumbling backward and crashing into the doorframe. A bright red handprint instantly bloomed across her wrinkled cheek.
"You... you hit me?!" She gasped, clutching her face in absolute shock. "You useless village girl! I'm going to tell Young Master Lu! I'm going to—"
"Tell him," I interrupted, stepping into her personal space. My eyes were as dead and cold as the grave I had just crawled out of. "Go tell him. And while you're at it, why don't you explain to him why his 1982 Lafite tastes like cheap grape juice and rubbing alcohol?"
Chen Ma's face instantly drained of all color. She looked like she had seen a ghost. "I... I don't know what you're talking about..."
"Oh, I think you do," I whispered, reaching into the pocket of her pristine white apron. I pulled out a small velvet pouch. I opened it and tipped it over my palm. My two carat diamond earrings clattered into my hand.
"Stealing from the master of the house, and pawning off my jewelry?" I sneered. "If I call the police right now, how many years do you think a judge will give you? Ten? Fifteen?"
Chen Ma's knees gave out. She collapsed onto the floor, her previous arrogance shattering into a million pieces. "Madam! Madam, please! I was wrong! I was greedy! Please don't call the police!"
[DING! Face-Slapping successful! Minor antagonist humiliated. Reward: +100 Schadenfreude Points. 100,000 Yuan directly deposited into Host's personal bank account.]
My phone on the floor buzzed. I glanced at the lock screen. Bank of Jingcheng: Deposit of 100,000.00 CNY successful.
The rush of adrenaline was intoxicating. I looked down at the trembling maid.
"Take this hideous pink rag," I kicked the garment bag, "and burn it. If I ever see you look at me with disrespect again, I will have you locked in a cell so deep you'll forget what the sun looks like. Get out."
Chen Ma scrambled to her feet, grabbed the bag, and fled the room like a terrified rat.
I turned back to my closet. Tonight was the Centennial Gala. It was time to introduce the Jingcheng elite to the new Su Yan.
Chapter 1:The Taste of Safflower
The searing agony in my abdomen was a thousand rusted blades twisting all at once.
"Hold her down!" a sharp, melodic voice ordered. "If our esteemed sister won't drink the Emperor's gift willingly, we must help her. We wouldn't want to be accused of neglecting the Deposed Empress, would we?"
My hair was violently yanked backward, tearing from the scalp as two burly palace maids forced my jaw open. My fingers, once praised throughout the capital for their unmatched skill on the guqin, scraped desperately against the freezing marble tiles of the execution chamber, leaving bloody streaks.
"Su Yan!" I screamed, choking on my own blood. "I am your legitimate older sister! I pulled you from the mud! I gave you everything!"
Su Yan, dressed in the dazzling crimson and gold robes of the Imperial Noble Consort—robes that should have belonged to me—knelt gracefully before me.
Her exquisitely painted face twisted into a mask of pure malice.
She leaned in, her fragrant breath a sickening contrast to the coppery stench of my impending death.
"And I thank you for it, Sister," she whispered, her voice dripping with venom.
"Your reputation as the capital's Top Talented Lady paved the way for our family.
Your political acumen secured His Majesty's throne.
But now? Now you are just a barren, hideous obstacle.
The Emperor doesn't want a brilliant wife.
He wants an obedient pet. And a pet who cannot bear him a son is worse than useless. "
"I... I am with child!" I sobbed, the revelation tearing from my throat. I had kept it secret, waiting for the Emperor's birthday to surprise him. "The imperial physician confirmed it yesterday!"
A cold, cruel laugh echoed through the chamber. The heavy, rhythmic thud of dragon-embroidered boots approached. It was him. Emperor Xiao Chen. The man I had bled for, the man I had schemed to crown. He stood over me, his handsome face utterly devoid of warmth.
"We know, Su Wan," Xiao Chen said, his voice flat. "But a child born from the womb of a traitorous, deposed woman would only be a stain on the imperial lineage. Yan-er is already carrying my heir. We have no need for yours."
My eyes widened in sheer horror. Traitorous? They had fabricated the treason charges. They had planned this all along. The man I loved, the sister I protected—they had conspired to slaughter me and my unborn baby so she could ascend the phoenix throne without opposition.
"Pour it," Xiao Chen commanded, turning his back on me as if I were nothing more than a slaughtered dog.
"No! Please! Xiao Chen, I beg of you!"
Su Yan smiled, a terrifying stretch of red lips, and tilted the porcelain bowl.
The thick, steaming decoction of concentrated safflower and arsenic poured down my throat.
It tasted of ash and bitter iron. It burned a hole through my esophagus, a scalding river of death rushing straight toward my womb.
The pain that followed was not of this world. I felt the tiny, fragile life inside me spasm and die. A warm, horrifying gush of blood soaked through my ruined white skirts, pooling on the cold marble.
"Look at her," Su Yan giggled, stepping over my convulsing body. "The great Top Talented Lady. Dying in a puddle of her own filth."
My vision faded to black, but my mind burned with a hatred so potent it felt like it could tear the heavens apart. If there is a next life... I will strip the flesh from your bones! I will make you both kneel in the blood of everything you hold dear!
Then, the darkness swallowed me whole.
Crack!
My eyes snapped open. I gasped, sucking in a lungful of freezing, dusty air. I violently clawed at my throat, expecting to cough up chunks of poisoned blood, but my hands met only dry, intact skin.
I was shivering. The biting chill of winter seeped through my thin, coarse garments.
"Where...?" I rasped.
I wasn't in the execution chamber. I was lying on a moldy straw mat in a dilapidated room. The windows were mere holes covered with rotting paper, letting in the howling northern wind. The distinct, oppressive smell of mildew and cheap incense filled my nostrils.
This wasn't death. This was the Cold Palace.
I stared at my trembling hands. They were pale, thin, but unblemished. There was no dried blood under my fingernails. Frantically, I touched my abdomen. It was flat, but there was a faint, familiar fluttering warmth deep within.
Memories slammed into my brain like a war hammer. The third year of Xiao Chen's reign. The twelfth lunar month. This was the exact night I was framed for attempting to poison Su Yan, stripped of my title as Empress, and thrown into the Cold Palace!
In my past life, I had wept for days, writing pathetic letters in blood to the Emperor, begging for his trust. I had starved, withered, and eventually discovered my pregnancy too late, only to be executed when Su Yan consolidated her power three months later.
I am reborn. The realization washed over me, cold and absolute. Heaven had heard my dying curse.
Suddenly, a strange, mechanical chime echoed directly inside my skull.
[Ding! Host's extreme malice and will to survive detected. The Heir-Fostering System is now binding... 10%... 50%... 100%. Binding complete!]