Chapter 153: 153 None of you systems are any good_1
Mentioning the past still brought too much pain.
After much thought, Hua Zhuo sighed, "It’s a long story, and it’s not convenient to discuss these things over the phone. You should come back to the Jimo Family, and I’ll tell you all about it."
Wen Jiang hung up the phone. Going home to listen to gossip.
Zero Egg: ...You always show great enthusiasm for things I don’t understand.
When leaving the house, she bumped into Tang Qian. Seeing Wen Jiang ready to go out, although Tang Qian didn’t intend to intervene, she still asked with concern, "Where to?"
"Going back home for a bit. Lady Hua needs me for something."
Tang Qian was silent, watching Wen Jiang leave with a serious expression.
Perhaps it was because Wen Jiang had never lived among the nobility, but she truly was the first person Tang Qian had ever seen whose demeanor was completely different from those nobles.
In fact, Tang Qian had also met people from the Xie Family. At that time, she represented Jimo Xiao while supervising Mount Flower. To this day, Tang Qian couldn’t forget Xie Lingyan’s haughty demeanor or the obsequiousness of the association leaders who accompanied him.
They were merely ordinary families who had married into the nobility.
In everyday life, she also encountered other nobles, like the twins living upstairs who were from the Song Family.
Though they didn’t exude an overwhelming presence, that distinct aura of theirs always seemed to block everything else out.
During training at the association, they couldn’t behave as extravagantly as they would among the nobility, where they were surrounded by servants. Still, those two young masters never spoke a word to anyone they deemed irrelevant.
Tang Qian would occasionally encounter them and would know with just one glance that they were definitely not from her world.
Therefore, she found a unique individual like Wen Jiang quite extraordinary.
Although Wen Jiang often appeared reticent, she was actually quite extroverted and would even make jokes.
Shaking her head, Tang Qian pulled herself out of her thoughts and continued to work on the next strategic arrangement.
Wen Jiang soon returned to the Jimo Family and sat across from Hua Zhuo, looking prepared. "You speak, I’m listening."
Hua Zhuo gave a wry smile. "What do you want to know?"
"Everything. That woman’s appearance, her history with... us. I’m someone who enjoys hearing gossip," Wen Jiang admitted her guilty pleasure without hesitation.
Zero Egg chimed in, I also like to watch the drama unfold.
Sometimes, faced with Wen Jiang’s overly direct manner, Hua Zhuo didn’t quite know what to say. After a moment of thought, she started with a key figure. "You should know Song Ji, right? Song..."
Wen Jiang indifferently replied, "I know. That idiot Song Yingchen’s father."
"..."
Hua Zhuo lowered her eyes, her gaze fixed on the ground. After a long silence, she began to recount a story from the past in a calm tone. "Song Ji and I were childhood sweethearts. Although my family couldn’t compare to his, I was hailed as one of the most talented Spirit Card Masters of the last century. I even had hopes of advancing to UR. So, to outsiders, Song Ji and I seemed like a match made in heaven."
Wen Jiang raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
It seemed the older generation also had its own web of grievances and resentments. She could almost guess what kind of stumbling block the Destined Host had been in their story.
"That woman’s appearance was an accident. Her name was Yu Jian." When she said this, the shadows of the past seemed to linger, and a hint of pain laced Hua Zhuo’s voice as she continued, "Initially, Yu Jian was just an ordinary person—someone who, by all logic, would never have crossed paths with us in her lifetime."
What she said was the truth.
If Yu Jian hadn’t received the System, forget about knowing someone like Hua Zhuo; she wouldn’t have even gotten near their doorstep.
"Later, she joined the Guiqing Association and became a somewhat famous R-Rank Card Maker. The strength of her cards also ranked highly among her peers, and with her versatile style, it wasn’t difficult for her to stand out in the Guiqing Association. At first, no one saw a problem with this."
"There was another bizarre thing," Hua Zhuo continued, a trace of puzzlement in her eyes. "To this day, I still don’t know if it was her immense charm or some strange Spirit Card that allowed her to so easily win people’s favor, especially from the majority of men. It wasn’t long before they were crazy about her. At its peak, nearly half the men in the Guiqing Association were fawning over her."
"Relying on these men, she easily obtained better resources and connections. She quickly rose to B-Level, and her power grew stronger..."
Hua Zhuo pursed her lips. "She was immensely talented. I must admit, her talent even exceeded mine."
The rest of the story was predictable.
Wen Jiang made a wild guess. "So, by leveraging those connections, she later met Song Ji and won his heart?"
"..." Hua Zhuo smiled wryly. "If you want to put it that way, fine. At that time, Song Ji and I were very close. We had no troubles between us. I don’t know if the monotony of our life made Song Ji feel unfulfilled, so I wasn’t surprised when he later fell for Yu Jian. However, Song Ji later told me something shocking. He said that when he was around Yu Jian, he couldn’t control himself. His rationale told him he shouldn’t like such a woman, yet he found himself completely unable to resist."
"I don’t believe she could have tempted him if he hadn’t truly been interested," Hua Zhuo stated.
However, the extent of his infatuation was baffling. He went so far as to do something irreversible to me, creating an irreparable rift between us. This incident also made a sobered Song Ji and me realize later on that there was indeed something profoundly wrong with that woman.
In Wen Jiang’s mind: TSK, TSK, TSK, TSK, TSK. See? I told you! None of you systems are any good. Look at this so-called Heaven’s Mandate System. What can its host do besides seducing men?
Zero Egg coughed. Maybe its host can seduce women too.
Wen Jiang: ...Your perspective is quite unique.
Zero Egg continued its internal monologue: But its rosy view of the Heaven’s Mandate System was quickly shattering—PAH! It was the Masochistic Card Drawing System, specializing in women’s jealousy. This Heaven’s Mandate System assigned tasks to its host that relied on seducing men—so déclassé! All systems were fundamentally the same; that one merely had the advantage of an earlier release. It wasn’t that Zero Egg was lucky; it had simply found a good host to mooch off. In that aspect alone, it far surpassed the Heaven’s Mandate System!
Hua Zhuo was unaware of Wen Jiang and Zero Egg’s discussion as she continued, "During the time Song Ji and I broke up, I was in a lot of pain. He was the only man I had loved in all those years. I couldn’t accept that he had left me through betrayal; it felt like a desecration of my love. To make matters worse, during that time, I discovered I was pregnant."
Wen Jiang was speechless. What kind of damn melodramatic, heart-wrenching soap opera is this?
However, Hua Zhuo was, after all, a gifted Spirit Card Master. She quickly recovered from the brief agony of her lost love, deciding to terminate the pregnancy and prepare for the upcoming World Championship.