Everyone in the household was accustomed to calling her the "cousin miss," because the original seventh young miss was the legitimate eldest daughter of the fourth branch, and the title had stuck.
As an orphan of unknown origins who had taken the place of a true young miss, it was easy to imagine the treatment she received.
Only the third branch of the Yu family knew Yue Fuguang's true identity. Even the head of the household, Old Master Yu, and Old Madam Yu believed she was merely a distant relative's child brought in by their third daughter-in-law.
Thus, to outsiders, she appeared as nothing more than an unloved adopted daughter.
A newly returned young miss with no roots or favor—how many would truly regard such a little girl with respect?
So, the servants privately referred to her as the "cousin miss," and her so-called "parents," along with the two brothers of the original owner, tacitly allowed it.
Yue Fuguang sometimes couldn't help but think that it was just as well the original owner had died young. Otherwise, seeing her birth parents shower all their affection on the impostor while her own brothers only acknowledged that fake as their sister—how heartbreaking would that have been?
But Yue Fuguang herself didn’t care about such things. She had long since stopped yearning for familial love.
In her past life, her parents had been united through a marriage of convenience, with no real affection between them. After she was born, they each went their own way.
Later, they divorced and quickly formed new families. Soon enough, she had half-siblings from both sides, leaving her as the superfluous one.
Looking back now, she didn’t hate them. Before the age of ten, she had still clung to the fantasy of having loving parents. But as she grew older, that longing faded.
Especially when she saw people being pressured into marriages or toiling from dawn to dusk for meager wages—she realized her life wasn’t so bad after all.
Her parents in her past life might not have given her love, but they had certainly given her money.
By the time she turned twenty, she had over fifty million in savings and three properties, including the one she lived in.
She also owned plenty of jewelry and accessories. And when those two eventually passed, she stood to inherit even more.
So apart from lacking parental affection, she truly lacked nothing.
Naturally, she had no expectations of receiving love from this life’s "parents."
Yue Fuguang seemed to have made up her mind. "System, I’ve decided—we have to outsource our tasks. Otherwise, we’ll never complete them."
[Outsource?!]
The System had spent some time in modern society and was a cultured, knowledgeable entity. Of course, it understood what she meant.
But the tasks were theirs—who would willingly help them complete them, especially tasks of that nature?
"Yes, outsource." Yue Fuguang clenched her little chubby fist and continued, "We’re still young. Such heavy responsibilities should be shouldered by mature adults."
The System didn’t want to discourage her, but it couldn’t help saying, [Host, have you forgotten your current standing in this household? Even Nanny Zhou’s little maidservant has more influence than you.]
"System, if you don’t tell the truth, we can still be good partners!" Yue Fuguang rolled her delicate eyes.
The System was referring to Nanny Zhou, the wet nurse of her "birth mother," Madame Zhou. Though she was kept on due to her age, she had been assigned a young maid to attend to her.
In the third branch, Nanny Zhou’s authority was second only to the masters.
Even the illegitimate young misses and young masters of the third branch had to treat her with respect, so naturally, her little maid also held some status.
Yes, far more status than Yue Fuguang, the newly arrived adopted daughter and "cousin miss."
If she remembered correctly, this Nanny Zhou had been responsible for caring for the original owner and her mother at birth.
Yet, somehow, the young miss had been swapped, and Nanny Zhou was still swaggering around the third branch, her position and trust completely unaffected.
[Then who do you expect to help you? Your so-called birth father, mother, or brothers?]
Speaking of them, the System was equally exasperated. It was as if that impostor, Yu Ningrou, had cast some spell on them—they all doted on her, even neglecting their own flesh and blood!
At first, Yue Fuguang had wondered if Yu Ningrou had some protagonist halo that unconsciously warped the intelligence of those around her.
Fortunately, the System clarified that Yu Ningrou merely had strong luck—nothing more extraordinary than that.
Yue Fuguang had to agree about the luck.
Otherwise, how could a village girl who should have been struggling to feed herself become the pampered young miss of an official’s household?
"Who said anything about asking them for help? Yu Qinchun is only a fourth-rank official—in the imperial capital, you could hit a dozen of those with a single brick. His capabilities are limited."
Yue Fuguang had nothing but disdain for the third master of the Yu family, who bore the title of her birth father.
[Then who else can you turn to? Right now, you can’t even leave the third branch’s courtyard.]
Perhaps fearing that Yue Fuguang, untrained in etiquette, would embarrass them, the third branch couple had only introduced her to the Yu family once upon her arrival.
After that, she had been kept under semi-house arrest. As for whether skipping regular visits to the family’s matriarch would harm her reputation—the couple couldn’t care less.
If Yue Fuguang had truly been an eight-year-old native child, she might have worried about her reputation. But she wasn’t. Still, the third branch’s actions were nothing short of disgusting.
They treated their own daughter with less regard than their favored servants.
"Didn’t they say that in five days, all fourth-rank officials and above must bring their children to the Empress Dowager’s birthday banquet? The old lady loves liveliness, so this time, families are required to bring all children over eight. Doesn’t that include me?"
[Ah, right! Yesterday, they came to take your measurements—was that for the banquet?]
Yue Fuguang nodded. "I overheard the maids chatting. Apparently, the main branch’s madame had five new outfits made for that impostor just for this occasion."
[And here I thought she’d had a change of heart, remembering to get you new clothes. Turns out it was just for appearances!]
Since returning to the Yu household, Yue Fuguang had received the standard allowances given to all young misses, courtesy of the stewardess, Madame Sun.
But the third branch’s Madame Sun hadn’t bothered to have a single new outfit made for her own daughter.
Instead, she had sent over a few slightly used sets—allegedly hand-me-downs from the sixth young miss, that impostor, from when she was six.
Yue Fuguang couldn’t fathom what kind of mother would do something so spiteful.
"It wasn’t her idea, you know. Yesterday, when she went to pay respects to the old madame, she was asked about it and only then remembered she’d forgotten me."
Yue Fuguang’s tone was flat, revealing neither sorrow nor anger.
[Even if you can leave, who in the capital can we turn to for help? We don’t know anyone here.] The System wasn’t worried about exposing its existence—in this era of cold weapons, it was confident in its ability to protect Yue Fuguang.
"System, aren’t our later tasks all tied to court politics and high-ranking officials?" Yue Fuguang steered the conversation.
[Yes, those tasks offer high points and are necessary for completing the main storyline.] The System stated this as though it were obvious.
"Then even if I were favored in the Yu household, what difference would it make? Unless I become emperor—even as empress, the rule against imperial consorts interfering in politics would limit my actions. And besides, the Great Yan won’t last long enough for me to grow up and become empress."
