The notice read:
Notice: On the x day of the x month, every household must report to the designated location to register their Household Registration. No one may be omitted!
That was all it said.
There wasn’t a single unnecessary word.
The notice was posted on the public bulletin board, and the large characters made it impossible to miss. It was meant to remind everyone that they had to register their Household Registration.
The moment it was posted, a crowd quickly gathered around the bulletin board.
Everyone was curious about what it said.
“What does it say?” an older woman who couldn’t read asked the young man standing beside her.
Most of the people around her were illiterate as well. After all, it wasn’t easy for an ordinary family to afford to educate someone.
They all turned to look at the young man, their eyes full of expectation.
The young man happened to be a scholar. Seeing everyone looking at him, he immediately lifted his chin proudly.
See? Reading really is useful. Everyone has to rely on me now.
The others nearby who could also read rolled their eyes when they saw his smug expression.
What’s there to be so proud of?
Still, none of them said anything. Like everyone else, they quietly waited for him to read the notice aloud.
The young man cleared his throat and slowly read each word.
“Notice: On the x day of the x month, every household must report to the designated location to register their Household Registration. No one may be omitted!”
“What?”
“Why do we suddenly have to register our Household Registration again?”
The townspeople looked at one another in confusion.
Why had this happened so suddenly?
Had something major occurred?
Once again, everyone looked at the young scholar, hoping he knew more.
Feeling all those eager eyes on him, the young man became a little embarrassed.
After all…
He didn’t know anything either.
All his earlier pride instantly disappeared.
He hurriedly waved his hands.
“Don’t look at me. I don’t know what’s going on either. The notice doesn’t explain.”
“Oh…”
The people around him looked disappointed, but no one insisted that he give them an answer.
They weren’t unreasonable people.
If the notice didn’t say anything, there was no point making things difficult for the scholar.
Still…
They were all extremely curious.
Why did everyone suddenly have to register their Household Registration again?
“Alright, everyone. Since we all know what the notice says, let’s go home, bring our household registers, and head over to register,” the young scholar reminded them.
“You’re right. We’d better just do as we’re told.”
“What else can we do? We can’t exactly become people without a Household Registration.”
“Exactly. Let’s go home.”
…
After saying that, everyone headed home.
At the same time, they spread the news to their neighbors so everyone would know about the government’s order.
The news spread from one person to another.
Within a short time, the entire city of Yunjing had heard about it.
People all over the city took out their household registers and headed to the Ministry of Revenue to register.
After all, they were citizens of Yunjing.
No one wanted to end up without a legal Household Registration.
…
Shen Qingyao wore an ordinary cross-collared ruqun tied at the waist with a simple sash.
There were almost no decorations on it.
When she arrived, five separate lines had already formed for registering Household Registrations.
Each line stretched a very long way.
Seeing so many people, Shen Qingyao felt a headache coming on.
Although her clothes looked completely ordinary—the sort anyone could wear—
her face was simply too eye-catching.
Many people couldn’t help but glance at her.
That young lady is unbelievably beautiful.
Which family’s daughter is she? I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before.
But her appearance was far too striking.
Wasn’t she afraid of attracting the attention of those spoiled young nobles?
Yunjing was prosperous and served as the capital of the Yunyang Kingdom.
At the same time, it was also where countless nobles and powerful officials lived.
Most sons of influential families were fairly decent people.
But there were always a few rotten ones among them.
Those scoundrels committed every kind of evil imaginable, yet no one could do anything about them.
Many people instinctively shook their heads.
Still, none of them stepped forward to warn her.
After all, they were complete strangers.
There was no need to invite trouble upon themselves.
However, one kind-looking older woman couldn’t help herself.
She walked over to Shen Qingyao and sighed helplessly.
“Young lady, you’d better go home as soon as possible,” she whispered earnestly. “Have someone from your family come and register instead. You’re far too beautiful. You stand out too much. There are many spoiled young masters in Yunjing. If any of them take a liking to you, you’ll end up in a terrible situation.”
At first, she hadn’t intended to meddle in someone else’s affairs.
She was only an ordinary commoner and didn’t want to get herself into trouble.
But seeing Shen Qingyao reminded her of her own niece.
Her niece had been forcibly taken home by the youngest young master of the Duke’s Residence.
Less than two months later, the girl had died a miserable death.
The Duke’s Residence had simply paid ten taels of silver as compensation, and the matter had been quietly settled.
It wasn’t that her elder brother and sister-in-law hadn’t wanted justice.
It was because ordinary commoners like them simply couldn’t fight against powerful nobles.
The gap between them was too great.
Seeing the sorrow that flashed through the older woman’s eyes, Shen Qingyao wanted to ask a few more questions.
But they were strangers.
She needed to chat a little first and let the woman lower her guard.
She couldn’t just start asking about someone else’s family right away.
That would be far too rude.
“Auntie, there’s no one else left in my family,” Shen Qingyao said deliberately, lowering her voice to sound dejected. “My parents passed away, and my grandparents died long ago as well. I don’t have any brothers or sisters. I’m completely alone, so I had no choice but to come myself.”
Strictly speaking, she wasn’t lying.
In Shen Qingyao’s heart, the original owner’s parents and siblings were already dead.
Having them was no different from not having them at all.
After all…
None of them were good people.
The older woman looked at Shen Qingyao’s downcast expression and felt a pang of sympathy.
The girl looked only sixteen or seventeen years old.
She had never expected her background to be so tragic.
The woman’s heart immediately softened toward her.
The people nearby had also overheard Shen Qingyao’s words.
Many looked at her sympathetically.
Others remained expressionless.
To them, Shen Qingyao was simply a stranger.
Whether she was an orphan or not had nothing to do with them.
“What a pitiful girl,” the older woman said softly. “But let me give you a piece of advice. Whenever you go out in the future, find a way to cover your face.”
She truly didn’t want such a beautiful young woman to meet the same fate as her niece.
“Thank you, Auntie. Did something happen to your family…” Shen Qingyao deliberately left the sentence unfinished.
The older woman understood what she meant.
She opened up without trying to hide anything, treating it as a warning for this beautiful young woman.
Nodding, she lowered her voice and said quietly, “My niece was snatched off the street by the young master of the Duke’s Residence. She died only a few months later.”
A bitter smile appeared on the older woman’s lips, and her eyes gradually reddened.
The pain on her face was obvious.
How could she not be heartbroken?
As her aunt, she couldn’t even avenge her niece.
They were only an ordinary family.
No matter how much they suffered, all they could do was endure it.
The Duke’s Residence…
Wasn’t that the maternal family of the Empress Dowager?
From the original owner’s memories, Shen Qingyao had long known that the entire family was rotten to the core.
With the Empress Dowager backing them, they acted however they pleased and never cared about the lives of ordinary people.
Not only did they abduct innocent women, they also seized people’s land by force.
In short, there was no evil they wouldn’t commit.
It seemed that merely stealing everything from the Duke’s Residence hadn’t been enough.
Since this auntie was such a kind person…
She might as well avenge her.
Besides, Shen Qingyao hated spoiled young tyrants who bullied innocent people more than anything else.
Scum like that didn’t deserve to continue living in this world.
They should be kneeling before their victims, begging for forgiveness in the underworld.
But simply letting that young master die would be too merciful.
Making him suffer a fate worse than death—
that would be the greatest punishment.
“Auntie, thank you for your concern,” Shen Qingyao said with a smile.
“There’s no need to thank me. Just be careful. Whatever you do, don’t let those people set their sights on you.”
They had only met by chance.
The older woman said nothing more and returned to the line for Household Registration.
Shen Qingyao looked at the endless queue and felt a headache coming on.
Although this would finally solve her Household Registration problem…
The line was simply too long.
If only she had come earlier.
She had clearly been the first person to know that the Household Registration Archive had been burned.
Yet now she was standing so far back in line.
No.
I can’t waste time here.
The main reason was…
She hadn’t stood in line for a very long time.
During the three years of the apocalypse, everything inside her Space was hers to use whenever she wanted.
She could eat whatever she wanted and take whatever she wanted.
There had never been any need to queue.
As the saying went—
Money makes the world go round.
Shen Qingyao stepped out of the line and confidently walked straight to the front.
The people who had been patiently waiting saw the young woman walking forward.
They immediately assumed she was trying to cut in line.
Their expressions turned unfriendly.
It didn’t matter how beautiful she was.
Even if she looked like a fairy descended from heaven, she couldn’t cut the line.
It was a matter of principle.
Someone couldn’t help speaking up.
“Miss, you can’t cut in line. Please go back and wait your turn.”
“That’s right. Cutting in line is bad manners. You’re making all of us who waited honestly look like fools.”
“Exactly!”
“That’s right!”
…
Shen Qingyao ignored them.
Under everyone’s hostile stares, she calmly walked to the very front of the queue as though she hadn’t heard a thing.
There wasn’t just one registration desk.
The officials had divided the work into five separate lines.
After all, with so many people to register, one person alone would never finish.
Standing at the front, she glanced at the people in both lines beside her.
After a brief look, she stopped hesitating.
Taking out a one-hundred-tael silver note, she smiled at the man who was second in line in her queue.
“Uncle, I’ll pay you one hundred taels for your place in line. Deal?”
She waved the banknote in her hand with a cheerful smile.
The middle-aged man instantly lit up.
One hundred taels!
He couldn’t earn that much money in an entire year.
He wasn’t stupid.
Of course he agreed.
It was only a little more waiting.
What was the big deal?
At worst, he’d just have to stand a little longer.
His face immediately broke into a wide grin as he nodded enthusiastically.
“Deal! Of course I’ll trade!”
Smiling, Shen Qingyao walked over and took his place.
The man happily tucked away the silver note, skipped out of the line, and went to join the back of the queue.
Of course, it wasn’t quite the very front.
There was still one person ahead of her who was currently registering.
She would be next.
Everyone who witnessed the exchange couldn’t help feeling jealous.
It was like they had swallowed an entire lemon.
That man was unbelievably lucky.
He had earned one hundred taels just by giving up his place in line.
If only they had arrived earlier.
Then perhaps that one hundred taels would have been theirs instead.
At the same time, many people thought Shen Qingyao was simply a fool with too much money.
She had actually spent one hundred taels just to move ahead in line.
She looked plainly dressed, yet she was unexpectedly wealthy.
Some people began looking at her with ill intentions.
Shen Qingyao couldn’t care less what others thought or planned.
Right now, she only wanted to finish registering her Household Registration as quickly as possible and find an inn to stay in.
She couldn’t keep living inside her Space forever.
Now that she had left the zombie-infested apocalypse and arrived in this world…
She naturally couldn’t hide inside the Space all the time.
She still needed to spend time living in the outside world.
Soon, the person ahead of her finished registering.
It was finally her turn.
She took out her household register and handed it to the registration clerk.
The clerk accepted it and glanced at the register.
Then he suddenly looked up at Shen Qingyao in astonishment.
His eyes lit up.
This young lady is truly beautiful.
She was far more beautiful than Shen Shuyan, the so-called number one beauty in the capital.
After staring at Shen Qingyao for a moment, he lowered his head again to examine the registration record.
Then…
He saw the young woman’s name.
He froze for a moment before abruptly looking up at her again.