【Brain Storage Area~】
In the humble kitchen, Yao Yunzhen was casually washing cabbage leaves.
To call it washing vegetables would be more accurately described as playing with water.
The cabbage leaves had been over-washed, their tattered fragments floating scattered across the water’s surface, while her delicate, slender fingers continued idly stirring the water.
Suddenly, noisy commotion erupted outside. With the door closed and some distance between them, Yao Yunzhen couldn’t make out the specific details, only vaguely discerning that someone seemed to have fallen into the water.
Yao Yunzhen instantly perked up, tossed the cabbage leaves in her hand, and rushed toward the door.
Just as she reached the doorway, the door was pushed open from outside.
The door nearly hit Yao Yunzhen in the face, forcing her to quickly step back to narrowly avoid it.
Miao Cuilan gasped in alarm, hurried forward, and pulled Yao Yunzhen aside to look her over.
“Oh, you silly girl, what’s the rush? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, Mom. What’s all the noise outside about?”
Yao Yunzhen waved her hand dismissively, still preoccupied with the commotion outside.
Miao Cuilan found it somewhat amusing. Seeing her daughter’s beautiful face as fair and tender as ever, without a single mark, she finally relaxed.
“Your second uncle’s third daughter fell into the water. An Educated Youth saved her, and now your second aunt is dragging him along, demanding he take responsibility.”
Miao Cuilan spoke indifferently, heading into the kitchen as she talked.
Clearly, in her view, the affairs of the second branch were less important than preparing dinner.
With Miao Cuilan here, Yao Yunzhen wasn’t in a hurry to go watch the excitement anymore and followed her mother back into the kitchen.
As soon as Miao Cuilan entered the kitchen, she saw the shredded cabbage leaves in the water basin. Instead of scolding, she praised her daughter.
“Oh, my good girl, you actually helped Mom wash the vegetables! You’re so capable.”
Yao Yunzhen immediately straightened her back, her face full of pride.
“I didn’t do much, just washed the vegetables. If you hadn’t come back now, I would have even cooked the meal.”
“Oh, my daughter is so capable! But you’re still a young lady—you should avoid cold water as much as possible. Leave these chores to me from now on; you don’t need to do them.”
Miao Cuilan grinned from ear to ear.
“You must be tired, right? Go back to your room and rest. I’ll call you when dinner is ready.”
Her daughter had been extraordinarily beautiful since birth, growing even more stunning as she matured.
Her features were exquisite, her skin as fair as snow, and her rosy lips like blooming rose petals, tender and alluring.
Her lively, sparkling eyes, framed by thick, curly lashes, slanted slightly upward at the corners like butterflies ready to take flight.
Her beauty was breathtaking, as if she embodied all the finest elements in the world. Simply standing there, she could captivate everyone’s gaze, making it impossible to look away.
Even her own mother often found herself mesmerized.
To this day, Miao Cuilan still occasionally found it hard to believe.
Such a beautiful daughter was actually born to her, Miao Cuilan!
Moreover, her eldest daughter had such a sweet and charming personality that Miao Cuilan could never love her enough and naturally couldn’t bear to see her tired.
It was then that Yao Yunzhen revealed her true intentions, extending her soft, delicate hand and looking pitifully at Miao Cuilan.
“Mom, I want to go to the county town to stroll around in a couple of days.”
Fortunately, after eighteen years of seeing this face, Miao Cuilan had finally grown somewhat accustomed to it.
Even so, Miao Cuilan didn’t dare look at her daughter any longer, afraid she might impulsively take out all the family savings for Yao Yunzhen to squander.
Turning her attention to the cooking pot, Miao Cuilan reached into her pocket and pulled out the only twenty cents she had, handing it over.
“Take this. Later, have your brother take you to the county town to have some fun.”
As soon as the money left her hand, Miao Cuilan hurriedly urged:
“Alright, hurry back to your room and rest now. I need to cook, or your grandfather and the others will go hungry soon.”
This was too painful—better quickly send this little ancestor away.
The Yao family wasn’t particularly well-off, but then again, most rural households weren’t prosperous in those days.
Fortunately, the Yao family had relatively few burdens. Aside from Yao Yunzhen, everyone else was hardworking, so they managed to save a little each year and could occasionally give Yao Yunzhen some pocket money.
Yao Yunzhen was pleased to get twenty cents—it made her brief kitchen work washing vegetables worthwhile.
She carefully tucked the money away, patted her pocket contentedly, and finally turned her attention to some gossip.
“Mom, which Educated Youth saved little sister?”
With the large-scale urban youth sent down to the countryside, their village was no exception, hosting many Educated Youth.
These people came and went, but currently there were five men and four women—nine in total—who had settled there more permanently.
“That one—the one with the palest face.”
Villagers generally looked down on these Educated Youth who couldn’t do heavy labor, rarely interacting with them.
Miao Cuilan was no exception, so she didn’t even remember their names well.
Yao Yunzhen, however, had some impression of these people.
Mentioning the palest face immediately helped Yao Yunzhen identify the person.
“Li Yunqi?”
Miao Cuilan nodded while washing rice: “Yes, that’s him.”
If it was him, then it wasn’t surprising.
Li Yunqi was the most handsome among this batch of Educated Youth. His skin never tanned, and he often wore a white shirt, looking refined and scholarly—quite attractive to many young women and married girls in the village.
From his daily attire, one could tell his family was relatively well-off. No wonder Second Aunt insisted he must marry her daughter, despite him being an Educated Youth.
“So how did little sister end up in the water?”
“Da Bao was clamoring for fish, so your Second Aunt sent little sister to catch some in the river. That’s how she nearly drowned.”
Miao Cuilan answered while busy with her chores.
The Yao family didn’t have many children. Yao Sheng and Miao Cuilan took several years after marriage to conceive, first having Yao Yunzhen, then two years later giving birth to their son Yao Yunchuan, after which they had no more children.
The siblings, only two years apart, had always been close, and their parents didn’t favor sons over daughters.
On the contrary, between the two children, the older sister Yao Yunzhen was more doted on.
Of course, Yao Yunchuan had no complaints about this—he was also part of the “pamper older sister” club.
The situation was different with the second branch of the Yao family. They got pregnant right after marriage.
However, their first child was a girl, which dissatisfied the couple. They kept trying, and after having Three Golden Flowers, they finally had a Son after several years.
The couple went all out with this precious boy, treating him as if he might melt in their mouths or break if dropped.
As for their daughters, they seemed determined to squeeze every last drop of blood from them to support this treasured son.
Since their precious son wanted fish, of course they had to satisfy him.
Yao Sanmei’s two older sisters were already married, so this task naturally fell to her.
Yao Yunzhen let out an “Oh” and didn’t elaborate further.
She had always been the favored one and shared no common ground or emotional connection with the bullied children from the second branch of the family.
“Alright, hurry back to your room. All this smoke and fire might ruin your delicate complexion.”
As Miao Cuilan prepared to light the fire, she began shooing people away.
Yao Yunzhen disliked the smell of cooking fumes too. With a flick of her braid, she turned and walked out of the kitchen.
The Yao family home was built from a mix of clay bricks and stones. Since rural land wasn’t valuable, the rooms were quite spacious. As one of only two children in the main branch, and with parents willing to invest effort, both Yao Yunzhen and her brother had their own separate rooms.
Yao Yunzhen cheerfully returned to her room, pulled out the money she had just warmed in her pocket, and retrieved another stack from beneath her pillow.
There were coins and bills of various denominations, totaling over one yuan.
This was all the pocket money she had managed to collect from her parents and grandparents over time.
She added the twenty cents from her hand to the pile and happily counted it all over again.
The total came to one yuan and sixty-two cents—enough to buy quite a few tasty treats.
Just thinking about the various pastries and candies at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative made Yao Yunzhen’s mouth water.
The more she thought about it, the more her cravings grew. She wished she could sprout wings and fly straight to the county town.
Unfortunately, aside from moving around the village, the Yao family didn’t allow her to go out alone. If she wanted to visit the county town, someone had to accompany her.
Previously, her parents would take her. But now that Yao Yunchuan had turned sixteen this year, it became his responsibility to escort Yao Yunzhen.
Yao Yunchuan was still in school and usually boarded there, so he could only take her to the county town during his breaks.
Yao Yunzhen tucked the money back into its hiding place, lay down contentedly, and proceeded with her daily ritual of pestering the system in her mind.
Truth be told, Yao Yunzhen wasn’t originally from this world—or rather, she wasn’t even human.
She was born from the convergence of all the love and desire in the world. Perhaps she could be called… a demon?
A Desire Demon? How strange.
Well, never mind. At least she was human now.
When she first came into being, before she could even leave her place of origin, she saw a streak of light descending from the sky, heading straight for her.
In her still-dazed state, Yun Zhen instinctively reached out to catch it, and the light vanished directly into her palm.
Before Yun Zhen could even react in surprise, a sharp pain shot through her head, and she passed out.
When she woke again, she had become a newborn baby.
And her mind now housed something called a “system.”
But it seemed to be broken. Whenever Yun Zhen’s consciousness touched it, it would only emit a “Bzzzt… system… bzzzt… connecting… bzzzt…” noise.
Not a single coherent word in response.
Out of curiosity and boredom, Yao Yunzhen would occasionally poke at the system in her mind with her consciousness.
Having listened to this “bzzzt” sound for so many years since childhood, Yao Yunzhen no longer found it grating.