"System, are you really asking an eight-year-old child like me to do such a task?"
Yue Fuguang puffed out her still baby-chubby cheeks, wearing an expression that clearly said, "You're bullying a kid again."
[Host, with two lifetimes combined, you're almost thirty years old—already a mature adult!]
A snow-white fluffball inside the system space couldn't help rolling its tiny eyes. Modern humans loved pretending to be children—even forty-somethings would call themselves "babies under five hundred months old."
The moment age was mentioned, Yue Fuguang couldn’t resist arguing with the system.
"I only lived to twenty in my past life, okay? Sure, this body is eight years old, but the first five years weren’t even mine!"
She stretched out her plump little hand. "I’ve only actually lived here for three years—I’m still a baby!"
With her barely-over-a-meter height, who could deny it?
The body’s early years had been too harsh, damaging its foundation. If not for the medicine from the system’s store, she might have died shortly after taking over.
Even now at eight, she hadn’t reached the average height. Because of her frailty, she couldn’t use strong medications or over-supplement.
Yue Fuguang rubbed her soft little arm. Had it been easy? Three years of careful nurturing just to gain a bit of baby fat.
[Host, I’m a Virtue System. If we don’t do good deeds, how can we earn points? No points, no upgrades. No upgrades or tasks, how will you save up for your custom-made body?]
For every word Yue Fuguang spoke, System 07 had a dozen in retort. She could argue back on anything else—but when it came to her dream body, she faltered.
The system, sensing her silence, pressed on: [You demanded jade-like bones, a spirit clear as autumn water, eyes like stardust, a face fairer than blossoms, top-tier cultivation talent, and—]
"Alright, alright! I’ll do it! I’ll take the task, okay?"
Heaven knew she wasn’t slacking—just that the mission seemed tough. Wasn’t she allowed a tiny complaint?
Thinking of her extravagant "body redesign" request… Okay, maybe it was a bit much.
But given a second chance, who wouldn’t want the best?
Earning points for herself? Worth it!
Yet the task details made her wilt again.
Though lacking conviction, she muttered, "But I’m no saint. Asking me to do good deeds nonstop? Impossible!"
She plucked at a flower petal. "System, you know me. I’m not some naive do-gooder."
Her past life of solitude had made her self-reliant, even a bit solitary.
"Host, you are good. Remember how you died?"
System 07 firmly believed its host was kind—villains couldn’t sync with a Virtue System.
The memory made Yue Fuguang’s heart ache.
Yue Fuguang had parents in name only. By twenty, she’d inherited enough wealth to last a lifetime—only to lose it all rescuing a drowning child, landing her here.
Dying young with fortunes unspent—who could accept that?
But ever the optimist, Yue Fuguang quickly adapted.
As the saying goes, a living dog is better than a dead lion—and besides, she had a cheat, with the carrot of reshaping a perfect body dangling before her. She couldn’t just lie down and rot like a salted fish.
She quickly accepted reality and consoled herself, determined to live well in this strange new world. But little did she expect that someone would want her dead!
When she arrived, the original owner of this body had already faded away. A child of five years old looked no older than three. Her so-called "parents" forced such a small child to work without food and beat her at the slightest provocation.
The original owner’s body was covered in fresh wounds layered over old ones—this tiny child had been starved and tortured to death!
If not for her quick thinking, running away and finding her way into a Taoist temple where she managed to become a disciple and secure herself a meal ticket, she might have ended up just like the original—killed by those heartless parents.
No, wait—not parents. Foster parents.
That’s right. The couple who abused the original owner to death weren’t her real parents.
She had another identity: the true daughter in a case of swapped heirs.
The story was simple. The original owner’s father, Yu Qinchun, was an official whose term had ended, leading to his recall to the capital. The original owner’s mother, Sun Shuya, was seven months pregnant with her when they traveled back.
While passing through Liuping County under Qingning Prefecture, Sun Shuya went into premature labor due to distress and was rushed to the local Jimin Clinic.
Coincidentally, a peasant woman from a nearby village, Madame Zhou, was also nine months pregnant but had suffered a fall due to her mother-in-law’s mistreatment, causing severe bleeding. Her husband, Zhou Dazhuang, brought her to the same clinic.
Sun Shuya gave birth prematurely due to distress, while Madame Zhou also delivered early because of her hemorrhage. Both women bore frail baby girls at the same time.
Madame Zhou, fearing her daughter wouldn’t survive due to premature birth and knowing her mother-in-law despised girls, conspired with Zhou Dazhuang to switch the two infants while the Yu Family was distracted.
Why the Yu Family? The reason was simple—they were the only other family in the clinic at the time. There were no other options.
Another reason was that the Yu Family clearly belonged to the wealthy class, surrounded by servants and attendants. Later, they overheard the maids gossiping about how their master was an official.
The Zhou couple, initially hesitant, suddenly felt emboldened.
Switching their daughter into the Yu Family meant she’d grow up in luxury as an official’s daughter. Once she was grown, they could seek her out, and she could pull the family up. Their two sons would also have a noble sister to rely on.
The Yu Family, after all, was an influential official household in the capital, with countless servants—they shouldn’t have been so careless as to lose track of a child.
And yet, they did. The Zhou couple barely had to lift a finger to switch the two newborns just a day old.
If someone claimed this wasn’t due to the negligence of the Yu Family’s servants—their indifference toward the newborn that invited such malice—Yue Fuguang wouldn’t believe it.
She had stayed in the Taoist temple for nearly three years before being retrieved a month ago.
Yue Fuguang gazed at the bright sunlight outside and sighed helplessly.
While at the temple, things had been manageable. She could earn small amounts of credit by helping others—especially the devotees who came to pray and offer incense.
Though these tasks were assigned by the system as a concession to her, unrelated to the main quest, at least they provided some income.
Even if each task only gave one or two credits, little by little, she had saved nearly three hundred credits in less than three years.
But ever since being brought back to the Yu Family as a cousin, she had no more opportunities to complete tasks. What servant would dare ask a young lady to do chores?
Not even an overlooked cousin was exempt!
Yes, the fact that she was the true heiress in a case of mistaken identities was already dramatic enough, but to make matters even more convoluted, her status as the legitimate daughter of the Yu Family's third branch was never publicly acknowledged.
Her birth parents, to spare the feelings of the imposter they had raised, bestowed upon their own flesh and blood the title of an adopted daughter.
Now, Yue Fuguang is introduced to the world as a distant cousin from the Yu Family's third branch, formally registered as their adopted child and recognized as the seventh young miss of the Yu Family's current generation.
