The gatekeeper took one look at the baby in the attendant’s arms, and his expression instantly became a masterpiece.
He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, then swallowed the words back down. With an expression that seemed to say, “Brother, you’ve had a rough time,” he patted the attendant on the shoulder.
The attendant carried Shi Huai through one courtyard after another without changing expression. Along the way, every maidservant and page they passed cast sidelong glances their way. Some covered their mouths, some gasped, and others simply took a detour to avoid them.
Shi Huai had already gone numb to it all. He was even beginning to understand why his own mother had tried to strangle him.
Looking like this, staying alive really was hard work.
The attendant finally stopped in front of a secluded little courtyard. He pushed open the door. Inside, there was only a wooden plank bed, a thin quilt, and a few spiderwebs in the corners.
“The Marquis said you’re to live here. Your monthly allowance will be the same as the lowest-ranking servants in the household. You’ll get two meals a day. There’ll be enough coarse grain to fill your stomach. Whether you get meat or vegetables depends on the kitchen’s mood.”
The attendant set Shi Huai down on the bed and repeated the instructions without a trace of emotion.
“The Marquis also said that you’d better not roll around everywhere, and especially not crawl outside.”
With that, the attendant turned and left without even bothering to close the door.
Shi Huai lay on the hard wooden bed, staring at the cracked roof beam overhead. His mind kept replaying the phrases “the same allowance as the lowest-ranking servants” and “whether you get meat or vegetables depends on the kitchen’s mood.”
How old was he this year? He had only been born a few days ago.
What use was a monthly allowance to a newborn abandoned on a wooden bed in a side courtyard?
Could he go buy vegetables himself, or cook his own meals?
Ding! System notification: The Appearance Point System accumulates progress automatically each day. Current progress: 3/30 (one point per month, calculated as thirty days). Please wait patiently, Host.
Wait patiently?
Shi Huai let out a cold laugh inwardly. He was a baby who couldn’t even roll over yet. He needed someone else to feed him, everyone in the household avoided him on sight, and whether the kitchen gave him meat or vegetables depended on its mood...
At this rate, the kitchen’s mood was probably set on starving him to death.
But as it turned out, Shi Huai had underestimated his own ability to survive—and underestimated how effective his ugly face could be in certain situations.
On the first day, a little maid responsible for delivering meals pushed open the door and placed a bowl of thin gruel on the stool beside the bed. When she turned to leave, Shi Huai summoned all his strength and let out a faint cry.
The sound was not loud, but in the silence of the side courtyard, it was particularly piercing.
The little maid’s footsteps halted. After hesitating for two seconds, she turned around.
Her gaze fell on Shi Huai’s face. She was visibly startled, but then she noticed his cracked lips and sunken eyes caused by dehydration.
The girl bit her lip and asked softly, “A-Are you thirsty?”
Shi Huai couldn’t answer. He could only express his needs with an even louder wail.
The little maid hesitated for a long time. In the end, she picked up the bowl, scooped up a little gruel with a spoon, and cautiously brought it to Shi Huai’s mouth.
“Don’t cry. I’ll feed you, but I have to leave as soon as you’re done. If Matron finds out I’ve been here too long, she’ll dock my wages.”
Shi Huai obediently opened his mouth and swallowed the first mouthful of gruel he had tasted since crossing into this world. It was so watery that it was practically all liquid, but it was still better than nothing.
After feeding him, the little maid wiped the residue from the corner of his mouth with her sleeve. She was about to leave when she suddenly stopped.
She lowered her head and studied Shi Huai’s face, her brows knitting tightly together. After a long while, she muttered under her breath,
“Actually, if you look closely, you’re not that frightening... It’s just that the birthmark is too large. It almost covers your entire face. If you didn’t have that blue patch, you’d probably be quite handsome.”
She laughed at herself after saying it, shook her head, and decided she must have lost her mind to think this ugly baby was good-looking. Then she turned and hurried away.
Shi Huai lay there, but a spark suddenly lit up in his heart.
The little maid’s words had reminded him of something.
His ugliness wasn’t because his features were misshapen. It was because his face was covered by a huge blue birthmark?
If that was the case, then did the Appearance Point System gradually fade the birthmark—and perhaps even reshape his features?
One point a month meant twelve points a year. If he lived for three or five years, and his appearance rose from zero to fifty, would he at least become normal-looking enough that people wouldn’t run away screaming when they saw him?
Ding! The Host’s powers of observation are excellent. The Appearance Point System will comprehensively improve the Host’s physical appearance, including but not limited to fading birthmarks, optimizing facial features, and improving skin condition. Current appearance: 0. Estimated time required to reach 50 points (average appearance): 50 months.
Fifty years?
No, fifty months—just over four years.
Shi Huai rapidly calculated it in his mind.
It would take him more than four years to grow into an ordinary-looking person. Before then, he would have to survive in this predatory marquis’s residence while wearing this hideous face.
And the only things he could rely on were the occasional scraps of sympathy his ugly appearance inspired, along with the pitiful one appearance point he would receive each month.
The days passed one after another. Shi Huai managed to cling to life with the help of the little maid who fed him gruel.
The little maid was named Qinghe. She was a junior servant girl responsible for cleaning the area around the side courtyard.
She was only eight or nine years old, small and thin, and timid by nature, but she had a kind heart.
She brought Shi Huai food twice a day. After feeding him, she would leave immediately. Occasionally, she stayed a little longer to talk to him, even though she knew perfectly well that the baby couldn’t understand a word.
“Did you know? Everyone in the household is saying that the Marquis brought back an ugly bastard son from outside. He doesn’t even have a name, and they’ve thrown him into the side courtyard to wait for death.”
As she wiped Shi Huai’s face, Qinghe sighed.
“You poor thing. To end up with a father like that...”
Shi Huai naturally understood every word, but all he could do was stare at her with wide eyes and pretend to be innocent.
With a face like his, the words “innocent and adorable” probably had nothing to do with him.
Qinghe was still wiping his face when she suddenly let out a surprised “Huh?”
She leaned closer and examined Shi Huai’s face carefully.
“That’s strange. Has the blue patch on your face gotten smaller? I remember it covering your entire face a few days ago. How does it seem a little smaller today?”
Shi Huai’s heart gave a powerful thump.
The Appearance Point System was working!
Ding! Current appearance: 1. Facial birthmark area reduced by 2%. Skin evenness improved by 1%. Please continue, Host.
One point a month was pitifully little, but it was definitely having an effect.
Qinghe looked a few more times, then shook her head, deciding she had probably remembered wrong. She placed Shi Huai back on the bed, picked up the empty bowl, and left.
Shi Huai lay on the bed, and for the first time, a sliver of hope welled up inside him.
At this rate, by the time he turned one, he might be able to transform from “unspeakably hideous” into merely “ugly.”
At the very least, people might look him in the eye instead of fleeing as if they had seen a ghost.
However, in the Yongning Marquis’s residence, hope was the most worthless thing of all.
