By this point, Zhao Shiyu had already sorted through the memories in her mind.
After all, an eight-year-old child’s memories weren’t exactly extensive, and everything before the age of two was basically blank. That made sense—she probably hadn’t even formed proper memories back then.
Although she had no idea how the plot would unfold from here, judging from the thoughts she had just overheard from her cheap little sister, she was apparently the female lead of this world.
And only after she had taken over this body could she truly become the female lead and trigger the corresponding storyline.
The female lead…
Wasn’t that basically the child of destiny?
No, wait.
The daughter of destiny.
Honestly, that was kind of exciting.
As for Zhao Shiying—
Heh.
Now that she could hear the girl’s inner thoughts, was she really supposed to worry about Zhao Shiying secretly stealing her opportunities behind her back?
And if the skills from her previous life had come with her…
Then maybe she could even steal her opportunities instead.
She slowly got dressed.
Very slowly.
Even though she had Little Shiyu’s memories, there was such a thing as “your eyes understand, but your hands don’t.”
With only those bits of memory to guide her, dealing with ancient clothing—with all its complicated layers and endless ties—was an absolute headache.
So she could only take it one step at a time.
Anyway, there was nothing important happening today.
As for Zhao Shiying waiting outside—
Since the girl clearly didn’t have good intentions, if she wanted to wait, she could wait.
Zhao Shiyu wasn’t in any hurry.
Thankfully, this body was still young. Otherwise, the process of getting dressed would’ve been even more troublesome.
After finally putting everything on, she stomped hard on her embroidered shoes.
The soles were ridiculously thin.
If she had to climb a mountain to dig wild vegetables in these, wouldn’t her feet hurt like hell?
Then came the hair.
And she was stumped again.
In ancient times, there were no rubber bands or hair clips. With only silk ribbons, cloth ties, and hairpins—none of which had any elasticity—she had absolutely no idea how to style long hair.
Especially not those elaborate, twisty coiled buns.
She fiddled with it in front of the blurry bronze mirror for ages, only to fail miserably.
In the end, she simply split her hair into two sections and braided them into pigtails.
Since she couldn’t find two ribbons of exactly the same color, she gave up trying to match them.
One braid was tied with a yellow ribbon.
The other with a turquoise-blue one.
As for makeup, there was no need.
She was only eight.
She simply washed her face, dug out a tiny bit of her mother Madam Jiang’s fragrant cream, rubbed it between her fingers, and smeared it onto her face.
When she finally stepped out wearing a lake-green and pale-pink layered dress, with two braids tied in mismatched ribbons, Zhao Shiying—who had been watching the whole time—couldn’t help twitching at the corner of her eye.
[What on earth is the female lead wearing? With colors this chaotic, is she trying to turn herself into a walking rainbow?]
Zhao Shiyu lowered her head to glance at herself, then looked up and met Zhao Shiying’s gaze.
She rolled her eyes at her.
I like dressing like this, damn it.
Got a problem with that?
Though Zhao Shiying was inwardly mocking her appearance, she still wore a sweet smile.
“Seventh Sister, are you done getting ready? If you are, let’s go dig wild vegetables.”
“If you want to go, then go by yourself. What, can’t you even dig vegetables without me?”
“Seventh Sister, how can you say that? Aren’t we sisters? If we go up the mountain together, we can look out for each other.”
“No need. If you’re in such a hurry, then leave first. I haven’t even eaten yet, so I’m not rushing.”
Zhao Shiying froze.
[Damn, I forgot about that.]
“Then I’ll wait for you, Seventh Sister.”
Zhao Shiyu rolled her eyes and ignored her.
If she wanted to wait, then let her wait.
There was still some food left in the cupboard, clearly saved for her.
She added water to the pot, placed a steaming rack inside, then set the bowl of thin porridge and a flatbread from the cupboard onto it before covering the lid and lighting the fire.
There wasn’t much firewood left in the kitchen, but it was enough to heat up breakfast.
The porridge lacked the fragrance of real rice, though it carried a faint sweetness and wasn’t too hard to drink.
The flatbread, however—
She had no idea what it was made of.
It was rougher than coarse cornmeal bread and scraped horribly against her throat.
After forcing down two bites, she couldn’t continue.
She stuffed it back into the cupboard.
Outside, Zhao Shiying kept peeking in.
When she saw Zhao Shiyu put the bread away, her mouth drooped in disdain.
Sure enough, the female lead was ridiculously delicate.
She’d only taken two bites before refusing to eat.
Clearly she hadn’t been hungry enough.
The two of them were a little too far apart, so Zhao Shiyu could only hear Zhao Shiying muttering vaguely in her heart, though not clearly enough to make out the exact words.
Still, she doubted they were anything nice.
The moment Zhao Shiyu stepped out, Zhao Shiying hurried over with a smile.
“Seventh Sister, are you done eating? If so, let’s hurry up and go.”
“Not going. I’m sleepy after eating, so I’m heading back to bed.”
As Zhao Shiyu brushed past her and started walking back toward her room, Zhao Shiying panicked.
[Does this female lead have some kind of problem?! After eating, shouldn’t she hurry up and work? Why is she going back to sleep?!
This is the female lead? Seriously?
No! She absolutely has to go out today! Otherwise, how will she find the Space Stone?
The book clearly said that on the very first day after transmigrating, the female lead found the Space Stone while digging wild vegetables.
If today is missed, what if the opportunity is lost? What if someone else picks it up first?!]
Zhao Shiyu’s steps halted.
Space Stone?
Could it be exactly what she was thinking?
And the phrase “the book said”—
Didn’t that prove Zhao Shiying was actually a girl who had transmigrated into a novel?
Not a regular transmigrator who had received the plotline, and not a reborn person who knew the future from a past life.
But if she was a book transmigrator, hadn’t the novel explained how the female lead obtained the Space Stone?
If it had, then why hadn’t she gone to find it herself and claimed it in advance?
Why wait for Zhao Shiyu to transmigrate, wait for her to discover it, and only then steal it?
Could it be that this was a cheat granted by the Heavenly Dao specifically for the female lead—
something no one else could locate?
And if that were true, how could Zhao Shiying be so certain that stealing it from her would make it her opportunity?
For example, what if that so-called Space Stone could only be activated with the female lead’s blood?
That was usually how these things worked, right?
A blood drop to claim ownership?
Before she could think it through, Zhao Shiying spoke again.
“Seventh Sister, Grandma specifically ordered us to dig wild vegetables. If you don’t go, Grandma will be angry.”
Whether Grandma would actually be angry, Zhao Shiyu had no idea.
But this novel-transmigrator sure was good at borrowing authority to pressure people.
Zhao Shiyu’s eyes shifted as an idea formed.
Actually, making the trip might not be a bad idea.
After all, she could hear Zhao Shiying’s thoughts.
That made it far less likely for the girl to steal anything from her.
And since they were going out together, this was also the perfect chance to test whether the skills from her previous life had come with her.
Decision made, she deliberately put on a hesitant expression.
“If that’s the case… then let’s go together.”
Inside, Zhao Shiying secretly rolled her eyes.