【Ding! System fully activated!】
【Congratulations, host, you have bound the system!】
【Congratulations, host, you have received the novice starter pack!】
A bright light suddenly flashed before Shen Qingran’s eyes.
Instinctively, she raised her hand to shield her eyes.
When she opened them again, she found herself in a picturesque landscape.
Beneath a verdant mountain stood a row of houses. Beside them, a stream flowed from the mountain top, gurgling down naturally.
The air carried faint floral scents.
Shen Qingran cupped some of the clear stream water in her hands and drank. It was sweet and refreshing.
She glanced at the plots of land beside her. With a twist of her fingers, the rich black soil felt incredibly fertile!
Looking around, it seemed to cover about a hundred acres—likely for growing food.
What to plant? That was up to the host to decide.
On the other side lay a hundred-acre medicinal herb field.
This herb field was a rare treasure.
Even a master of traditional Chinese medicine would be amazed here.
It wasn’t just ginseng, coptis, southern lotus leaves, and lingzhi mushrooms—it contained hundreds of thousands of other herbs.
Even more remarkable: each herb pulsed faintly with spiritual energy.
The entire field radiated vitality.
Shen Qingran stepped inside to inspect the buildings—they were as large as ten football fields.
Nearby was a small house, decorated in an antique, luxurious style. A golden nanmu wood bed and a mirror radiating golden light dominated the room.
On the dressing table lay an iron box.
Shen Qingran reached out to touch it. The moment her hand made contact, the contents dissolved into sparkling particles, rushing directly into her mind.
The Divine Herbalist’s Manual!
It contained everything—medicine, martial arts like Bajiquan, disguise techniques, and all kinds of knowledge!
Shen Qingran sat cross-legged on the bed. In a short while, tiny blue stars gathered in the air.
Suddenly, she felt strength surging through her body. Her physique had improved greatly—she even felt she could spar with others!
Opening her eyes, everything seemed clearer.
She realized this was the Shen family pooling the best of everyone’s expertise—this was how the Shen family had remained influential in the capital.
Her second uncle, Shen Yuxing, had clearly never seen these books!
If this inheritance wasn’t preserved in her generation, it might have been lost forever.
Shen Qingran recalled her grandmother’s hesitant expression when she had handed her the necklace in her previous life.
Back then, she had dismissed it entirely—a waste of a precious legacy.
Thinking of this, Shen Qingran couldn’t help wanting to slap herself a few times!
Looking over the space farm, a plan formed in her mind.
With a thought, she returned to her bedroom.
The clock on the wall showed barely five minutes had passed in the outside world.
“Knock! Knock! Knock!”
“Miss, dinner is ready!”
Shen Qingran opened the door. It was Zhang Ma.
“Miss, madam, lady, and the young masters are all back!”
“Today, there’s your favorite dish! Come downstairs quickly!”
Zhang Ma feared Miss would be too slow and miss the good food.
Those monsters upstairs never treated her as family.
Shen Qingran leaned close and whispered a few words to Zhang Ma, who nodded firmly in response.
On the first floor—the dining room.
Shen Tang and Zheng Xiuyu had been busy all day.
This was the critical moment to smooth over relationships.
Once Shen Qingran was persuaded to go to the countryside, and other matters settled, they could go abroad and live an easy life.
Now, if only they could convince Shen Qingran to go to the countryside… remembering the promise of the Wan family, a smile appeared on Shen Tang’s lips.
Zheng Xiuyu went into the kitchen.
Today, she was cooking—an unusual occurrence.
Shen Qingran stepped outside to see the bloodsucking family seated at the table.
“Qingran! Come down quickly and see what your mom cooked today!”
Seeing his daughter growing more poised and beautiful, Shen Tang may have felt guilty. He hurriedly called her downstairs.
Her sister, Shen Yulian, shouted: “Sister, come! Try mom’s cooking!”
“Mom’s actually cooking for once!”
Yulian purposely made it loud, fearing someone might not hear.
Brother Shen Ci frowned. Younger brother Shen Wei shouted: “Don’t give her any! She’s not the same mom as us!”
Shen Qingran smiled, pulled out a chair, and said to Shen Wei: “Exactly, we don’t have the same mom!”
“My mom was Dad’s lawful wife back then!”
“Your mom? She didn’t even know what Dad was up to when he married! Otherwise, my brother couldn’t be older than me!”
Shen Qingran was stating facts. She had known from the start that her stepmother had tricked her mother.
She had always resented what happened to her mother.
She even suspected her mother might have been wronged deliberately… but she dared not think further.
Seeing Shen Tang in his formal attire, she felt disgust from the bottom of her heart for the first time.
Zheng Xiuyu came out with plates and overheard the conversation.
Her previously smiling face now showed a dark, sinister edge.
“Hmph! If you follow our arrangements, your life will be full of suffering. Dream on if you think you can find us!”
She placed the braised pork in front of Shen Qingran.
“Ranran, don’t listen to them. This is specially made for you by Mom!”
“Over all these years, I’ve treated you as my own!”
“You’re my child, just like them!”
Zheng Xiuyu looked at Shen Qingran kindly.
If Shen Qingran hadn’t known what they were like in her previous life, she might have been moved.
Family love? It was nothing but a transaction.
But this time, she might not be the one losing.
Seeing Shen Qingran not touch her chopsticks, Shen Yulian quickly put a piece of braised pork into her bowl.
“Sister, try it! It’s really delicious!”
Shen Qingran saw Yulian’s face, so similar to her stepmother’s, and felt nauseated.
“No, you eat it. I have no appetite.”
Everyone froze.
Shen Ci snapped rudely: “Don’t be shameless!”
Shen Wei: “Yeah, you think you’re the young miss? You’re just a motherless child!”
Shen Tang frowned.
Smack!
A red handprint landed on Shen Wei’s face.
He fell to the floor.
The slap echoed loudly.
Everyone in the room was stunned!
Perhaps it was from cultivating in the space farm?
Shen Qingran hadn’t realized she had gained so much strength!
Shen Wei was dumbfounded. When did this seemingly fragile sister become so strong?
Shen Yulian was the first to react: “Sister, why are you being so unreasonable!”
A classic villain complaining first!