DDT - Chapter 93
Chapter 93: Tycoon's Daughter (1)
She didn't know how much time had passed. Chi Junluo kept her eyes closed, her vision a field of black, her mind still reeling with a slight dizziness from the temporal-spatial jump.
The sound of footsteps, "da da da," echoed from not far away, and a somewhat aged voice resonated by her ear.
After another moment, Chi Junluo gradually regained control of her body. She could clearly feel that she was slumped over a desk.
Before she could even open her eyes, the familiar and cheeky voice of the Heavenly Dao rang out in her sea of consciousness. "Chi Chi, you're finally awake. If you hadn't woken up soon, I would've started to suspect something was wrong with your soul."
Chi Junluo keenly sensed that there was something slightly different about the Heavenly Dao compared to before, but her mind was still a bit fuzzy, leaving her no room to think about it carefully.
"Heavenly Dao, I feel like I've been asleep for a very long time?" Chi Junluo asked, puzzled.
In the last world, she had been a ghost, unburdened by a physical body, so she naturally never felt tired and didn't need to sleep—or rather, didn't want to. However, in her final moments in that world, as she gradually dissipated under the sun, she felt her consciousness begin to blur. She didn't even know when she had left.
"You have been asleep for a long time." The Heavenly Dao stood up straight in her sea of consciousness, its slightly unnatural state going unnoticed by Chi Junluo. "You've been in this world for over an hour. You were unconscious before class started, and I couldn't wake you no matter what I did. Now class is almost over, and you've only just woken up on your own."
"Class? Am I a student again this time?" Chi Junluo asked in confusion. "Heavenly Dao, why do I feel like you're acting a little strange?"
Seeing Chi Junluo's suspicion, the Heavenly Dao felt a little uncertain itself. It still needed time to verify what had happened while Chi Junluo was unconscious. Therefore, it quickly changed the subject, silencing Chi Junluo by initiating the memory transfer. "Chi Chi, there are still about ten minutes left of class. Hurry, I'll transmit this world's background and the character's memories to you."
Chi Junluo was successfully distracted. She remained in her position, slumped over the desk, bracing for the impact of the massive influx of memories.
A large volume of information and memory fragments were stuffed into her head. However, unlike the previous few times, this world's memory transfer didn't cause any damage to Chi Junluo's brain. Compared to the times she had blacked out from receiving memories before, this time Chi Junluo only felt a slight, dull pain. Without time to dwell on this subtle change, she began to seriously digest the information after the transfer was complete.
In this world, Chi Junluo was still a student, a sophomore in university. But the current time period in this world was quite different. This was a world embroiled in the chaos of war.
Over a hundred countries across the world were caught in the flames of conflict. Several major powers had joined forces to wage war, annexing many smaller nations. However, disagreements arose when it came time to "divide the spoils," and the great power alliance crumbled. The major military powers began fighting amongst themselves, and the fires of war gradually spread from the West to the East.
The overall world background was very similar to modern-era Earth. The country Chi Junluo was currently in was an ancient Eastern nation with a history spanning thousands of years, a country that used the dragon as its totem—the Dragon Kingdom. Decades ago, the Dragon Kingdom had just experienced the fall of a dynasty. The new leader, having learned new ideologies in the West, abolished the old monarchical system. At first glance, the current Dragon Kingdom resembled the Republic of China era on Earth. After a brief few decades of development, the Dragon Kingdom was once again plunged into war. This time, the invading country was also an eastern island nation, the Japanese.
It had now been six years since the Japanese invasion began. The Dragon Kingdom's new government's repeated policy of appeasement only fueled the invaders' arrogance. In six years, the Japanese had already conquered seven of the Dragon Kingdom's provinces, occupying half of the country's territory.
The government's inaction aroused the dissatisfaction of many patriots. The Secret Party, which had been founded at the same time as the Dragon Kingdom's current ruling party during the final years of the old dynasty, could no longer stand by. After the Japanese invaded, the Secret Party's forces began to actively resist. The Secret Party's stance, a stark contrast to the government's, attracted a large number of patriots and university students to its cause.
Naturally, the Dragon Kingdom's ruling power would not allow such a scene-stealing act to occur on its own turf. Thus, while the external threat remained, the government had spent the last few years concentrating its efforts on dealing with the Secret Party. The Secret Party had to fight the Japanese while also guarding against purges from the government, and its recent years had been spent in dire straits. Fortunately, the university students of this era had all been exposed to new ideas and studied diligently with the goal of the Dragon Kingdom's rise. Voices of discontent with the government rose and fell across the various universities.
Huaping City, where Chi Junluo and the heroine were, was one of the Dragon Kingdom's major cities. In the past six years, four major cities had already fallen. Now, as a major city on the front lines, Huaping City's situation was also grim. The territory occupied by the Japanese was separated from Huaping City by only a river, and their army could attack at any moment.
Huaping Academy in Huaping City was one of the Dragon Kingdom's top universities. Many of the nation's new generation of talented youths were studying here; they were the hope of the Dragon Kingdom.
Chi Junluo was not a native of Huaping City. Six years ago, the Japanese had invaded her hometown. The Chi family, being the largest local plutocrats, became a prize catch in the eyes of the invaders. The invasion came suddenly, and the Japanese advance was swift. Father Chi only had time to entrust Chi Junluo and her younger sister to the old butler, who drove them away in a horse-drawn carriage from the south gate of Yan City. Perhaps anticipating that this would be a perilous journey, Father Chi had packed almost all of the family's checks and notes and gave them to the butler to take with them.
Mother Chi was unwilling to leave Father Chi to face the danger alone at the Chi residence, so she stayed behind, as did the Chi family's second son.
Afterward, once Chi Junluo and her sister fled with the butler, they lost all contact with their family.
The situation was turbulent. On the road, her sister contracted a serious illness and unfortunately passed away. The butler and Chi Junluo had no choice but to bury her on a mountain they were passing through, hoping only to find her again after the war ended.
The Japanese advance was relentless. In just a few short months, they had captured dozens of towns and cities. As the Japanese army drew closer, it was the anti-Japanese Secret Party that rescued the butler and Chi Junluo during those chaotic days. With the Secret Party's protection, Chi Junluo and the butler followed a large group of rescued people along back roads to Huaping City. At that time, the war was still far from Huaping City, so the butler and Chi Junluo settled down there. By then, it had been ten months since Chi Junluo had fled Yan City. Just after she and the butler had bought an ordinary house and settled in, Chi Junluo read in an old Huaping City newspaper about the massacre of the entire population of Yan City.
Her father, mother, and brother had undoubtedly fallen to Japanese guns. After several months of depression, Chi Junluo resolutely joined the Secret Party, vowing to avenge her family who had died at the hands of the Japanese.
In the following years, to avoid suspicion, Chi Junluo and the butler acquired a storefront in front of their house and started selling steamed buns. The bun shop was managed by the butler. As it slowly grew, they expanded the storefront and opened a small restaurant, hiring a few assistants. Chi Junluo rarely showed her face at their shop. Whenever she had time, she would secretly study with the Secret Party, learning everything from literature to martial arts. The Secret Party also held her in high regard, and Chi Junluo gradually became a key candidate for cultivation among the new generation of the Secret Party.
Later, as the Dragon Kingdom's government intensified its suppression of the Secret Party, the party had no choice but to move its operations underground.
Meanwhile, Chi Junluo had achieved good results in the entrance exam for Huaping Academy and had begun her university studies.
Over the past few years, she had learned almost everything she needed to. To protect her, the Secret Party had reduced its meetings and contact with her as much as possible. Thus, on the surface, Chi Junluo was a diligent sophomore, but secretly, she was one of the successors carefully cultivated by the Secret Party.
After sorting through the memories of this body, Chi Junluo suppressed the flames of anger ignited by the memory of her family's annihilation and began to learn about this world's heroine.
This world's heroine was still named Yi Shuhan. Unlike the difficult upbringings in the previous worlds, this world's Yi Shuhan was born into the Yi Family, a plutocratic family with a history of several hundred years. The Yi Family was large and powerful, their wealth far exceeding that of the newly rich Chi family from Yan City.
The Yi Family was an old clan that had weathered the changes of several dynasties. The head of the Yi Family had summarized a set of experiences for surviving the turmoil of dynastic changes: never get easily involved in the struggles between warlords and political powers, and if necessary, sacrifice a large part of the family fortune to secure a path to survival. Therefore, both before and after the Dragon Kingdom's new party came to power, the Yi Family had remained extremely low-key, never participating in any conflicts. As a result, despite the dynastic changes over the past century, the Yi Family had survived peacefully to this day.
Yi Shuhan was the eldest young lady of the Yi Family, their first daughter. By the generation of Yi Shuhan's father, Yi Ming, the Yi Family had academically surpassed all other major families. Yi Ming was among the first batch of students from the Dragon Kingdom to study abroad. In the West, with its more progressive ideas, Yi Ming was exposed to many new thoughts. Upon returning to the country, he rejected the marriage arranged by his family to a young lady from a prestigious family and instead married his childhood sweetheart, Shu Qing.
The old-fashioned and feudal matriarch of the Yi Family was naturally displeased. Shu Qing's family was poor and not a good match for the Yi Family. From the moment Shu Qing entered the Yi household, she never gave her daughter-in-law a kind look. This displeasure intensified a year later when the first child of the new generation was a daughter. The Yi matriarch threw tantrums, threatening everything from tears to suicide, and finally forced Yi Ming to take two more concubines and consummate the marriages with them. Only with the birth of the family's first grandson did the old Mrs. Yi finally calm down.
Yi Shuhan was the eldest young lady of the Yi Family, with a younger brother and a younger sister below her. The two concubines knew well that they would never win the favor of the family head, Yi Ming, so they didn't cause any trouble. They just dutifully fulfilled their roles as concubines and took care of their respective children. Although the old Mrs. Yi wasn't very fond of Yi Shuhan, she was, after all, the face of the Yi Family. Under her son Yi Ming's guidance, the friction gradually lessened. As the old Mrs. Yi grew older, she became less willing to fuss over such matters and agreed to let Yi Shuhan attend school.
Yi Ming knew well the importance of shedding old ideas and learning new knowledge for his children's generation. Even though his second and third children were not born of the woman he loved, he did not neglect their education.
Yi Shuhan loved to read newspapers and had been well-versed in literature since childhood, possessing a high level of ideological awareness. After entering university a year ago, she was further influenced by her peers and became determined to study hard and serve her country.
A few months ago, the students of Huaping Academy, dissatisfied with the Dragon Kingdom government's policy of not resisting the Japanese invasion, collectively took to the streets to protest.
Because nearly all the students at Huaping Academy were children of wealthy middle-to-upper-class families or major clans, the Dragon Kingdom government, out of consideration for these families, released the detained students.
The radical university students were taken home by their parents and disciplined. For the past few months, they had been much more subdued. This was especially true for Yi Shuhan's father, Yi Ming. On the day of the protest, he happened to be out on business and spotted his daughter in the protesting crowd. However, the crowd of protesters and onlookers was so dense that Yi Ming had no chance to take Yi Shuhan home directly.
The government didn't want the protest to escalate, so after a cursory lecture, they released the students.
When Yi Shuhan returned home later that evening, she was pulled into the study by Yi Ming for a two-hour talk.
The conversation did not go smoothly. Yi Shuhan felt the government was too timid, which would only embolden the Japanese. Yi Ming, on the other hand, believed that Yi Shuhan was still young, a student, and had no need to get involved in the turbulent wartime situation.
In the end, Yi Shuhan verbally agreed not to participate in dangerous activities like protests anymore, but in her heart, she was still thinking about how she could contribute to the rise of the Dragon Kingdom as soon as possible.
Up to now, Yi Shuhan had grown up in a comfortable and safe environment. She never had to worry about food or clothing, lacked neither paternal nor maternal love, and received the best education available to her peers. She was a good, upright child. Perhaps her only flaw was being too naive, having never seen the true darkness of society. Even the flames of war seemed distant and unreal, despite the fact that the Japanese had advanced to a position not far from Huaping City in the last two years.
After reviewing these scenes, Chi Junluo, still slumped over her desk, fell into deep thought. Then, she suddenly remembered two rather important things. "Heavenly Dao, Heavenly Dao, where is the heroine's Power of the Heavenly Dao this time? Also, why were there no details about this body's fate in the memories?"
The Heavenly Dao was silent for a moment. Just as Chi Junluo began to wonder if it was still there, it finally spoke up. "The current situation in this world is unique. Everyone has infinite possibilities and futures. Due to the influence of the war, the lines of fate in this world are incomplete, so I cannot ascertain the original body's ending. As for the Power of the Heavenly Dao…" The Heavenly Dao paused, then continued, "This time, I am also unable to detect which part of Yi Shuhan's body it is in…"
Chi Junluo was a little shocked by the last part. If the Heavenly Dao couldn't detect the Power of the Heavenly Dao, how was she supposed to collect it?
As if sensing Chi Junluo's question, the Heavenly Dao thought for a moment and added, "Chi Chi, perhaps if you interact with the heroine more, I might be able to detect the location of the Power of the Heavenly Dao at close range."
A flock of crows flew through Chi Junluo's sea of consciousness, expressing her dissatisfaction. Why did it feel like in these last two worlds, the Heavenly Dao was becoming more and more useless?
Drenched in bird droppings from the crows, the Heavenly Dao felt guilty and said no more. After shaking off the droppings, it silently erected a small dark room in a corner of her sea of consciousness, shut itself inside, and began to reflect on its mistakes.
Chi Junluo gradually returned to her senses from the various memory fragments. Perhaps because she had been lying on the desk for too long, her hands felt a little numb. The lecturing voice had stopped at some point, and the sounds of people packing up books and papers, as well as conversations, filled the air around her.
The clatter of footsteps echoed. From the sound of it, class was over.
There was only one afternoon class at Huaping Academy, so school was now out for the day.
Chi Junluo slowly opened her eyes. After adjusting to the light, she gradually lifted her head.
It was a classroom with a sense of age. At the front was a not-so-large blackboard, with chalk neatly arranged in the tray by the teacher. In front of the blackboard was a wooden lectern. Below the lectern were dozens of wooden desks and chairs. The desk Chi Junluo had been sleeping on was in a corner of the classroom, right by the window. The sunlight from outside the building slanted in, but it wasn't too glaring.
Chi Junluo stared blankly at the textbook she had been pressing down on for a long time, New Edition of Dragon Kingdom Literature.
The chattering students in the classroom began to walk out the door. Chi Junluo remained in a daze for a moment before slowly packing up her textbook and notes.
Once she finished, Chi Junluo stood up and suddenly felt a scorching gaze on her side. She turned her head and saw a pretty girl with shoulder-length hair staring at her from a few steps away.
Chi Junluo: ???
When Chi Junluo turned around, the pretty girl quickly lowered her head. Chi Junluo, however, found the girl somewhat familiar. She picked up her small cloth bag and prepared to leave. After taking a few steps, she heard footsteps behind her. Chi Junluo stopped and turned around, and the pretty girl almost failed to brake in time, nearly crashing into her.
Chi Junluo looked at the girl, who was half a head shorter than her. Just a moment ago, she had remembered why this face was so familiar. This was the heroine, Yi Shuhan, whom she had seen in the memory fragments.
In her memory, the two had never met, so Chi Junluo showed a hint of confusion on her face. "Classmate, can I help you with something?"
Yi Shuhan stopped in her tracks and looked up nervously at Chi Junluo, the senior who was a year ahead of her. She felt a little guilty. She was nervous because this was the first time she and the senior were formally face-to-face. She was guilty because she had been secretly following this senior for several months. The senior clearly didn't know her, and for her to approach so brazenly today seemed a bit impolite and suspicious.
Yi Shuhan's hands twisted together nervously. Seeing that the classroom was now empty and the air was growing quiet, she realized she had already delayed her senior for quite some time. Looking at the senior's questioning eyes, Yi Shuhan finally asked, "Um… Hello, Senior. My name is Yi Shuhan. 'Yi' as in 'easy,' and 'Shuhan' from the line of poetry, 'The sparse, cold mist of dusk clings to the tower.'"
Chi Junluo looked at the heroine, Yi Shuhan, who had suddenly started a very literary self-introduction, and was completely baffled, wondering what she was up to. But since such a good opportunity to get closer had presented itself, Chi Junluo obviously wasn't going to pass it up. Following Yi Shuhan's lead, Chi Junluo smiled and nodded, replying politely, "Hello, Classmate Yi. My name is Chi Junluo. 'Chi' as in 'to be late,' 'Jun' as in 'gentleman,' and 'Luo' as in 'to fall.'"
Mimicking Yi Shuhan's style, Chi Junluo also gave a simple self-introduction.
"I—I know," a sentence almost slipped out, but Yi Shuhan managed to stop the words just in time. That would make her senior think she was impolite. Who goes around secretly gathering information about others? That wasn't good; it could easily offend people. "Senior Chi, I'm a first-year student. I came to audit this class because I'm very interested in Professor Li's literature course." The subtext was, I, Yi Shuhan, am not some kind of shady person. Feeling that her explanation made her seem less suspicious, Yi Shuhan finally asked the question that she had wanted to ask and had been worried about for the entire class. "Senior, I saw you lying on your desk for a long time. Are you not feeling well?"
Looking into Yi Shuhan's sparkling eyes, Chi Junluo hadn't expected that after such a long preamble, the heroine just wanted to ask if she was okay. Chi Junluo found it a little amusing, but she didn't let it show on her face. Maintaining her calm demeanor, she smiled slightly and replied, "Don't worry, Classmate Yi. I'm fine. I was just a bit tired from last night and didn't rest well. It's nothing serious. A good night's sleep tonight will fix it."
Hearing the answer, Yi Shuhan's anxious heart finally settled.
"Classmate Yi, it's getting late. I have some things to attend to at home, so I must be going." Chi Junluo suddenly recalled from fragmented memories that this afternoon was the monthly meeting for the Huaping City branch of the Secret Party. It was set to start in just over an hour. The original body hadn't seen the leader of the Huaping City branch for a month and needed to report on recent developments.
"I have to go home too. Senior, let me walk you to the gate." Yi Shuhan nodded, indicating that she was also leaving campus, and began walking with Chi Junluo toward the school gate.
Chi Junluo was still a bit surprised. The heroine of this world seemed a little too enthusiastic toward her, as if she had some ulterior motive.
But thinking about it carefully, after the original body entered the academy, she had always been very low-key, not even participating in the last protest. She always sat in the corner of the classroom and rarely interacted with classmates or teachers. It seemed the original body was really just here to study.
Under these circumstances, how did Yi Shuhan notice her?
As they walked, Chi Junluo secretly glanced at Yi Shuhan, who was walking briskly beside her. The heroine looked completely harmless; she probably didn't have any bad intentions. Coincidentally, Chi Junluo needed to find a way to interact with the heroine to collect the Power of the Heavenly Dao and the contract fragments. Now that the heroine had delivered herself to her doorstep, how perfect was that?
Having figured things out, Chi Junluo decided to find a way to sit with Yi Shuhan in the literature class the day after tomorrow to cultivate their relationship.
Yi Shuhan appeared to be walking cheerfully beside her senior, but she was actually quite anxious. Had she been too abrupt in striking up a conversation with her senior like this?
On the surface, her senior seemed gentle, but she still gave off a sense of distance, a "do not disturb" aura. Yi Shuhan stole a glance at her senior and found that the smile from before had vanished. She had reverted to the expressionless look Yi Shuhan had seen when she peeked at her during class.
The walk from the academic building to the school gate took about ten minutes, yet the two of them didn't say a single word. Fortunately, neither of them felt awkward; they were both lost in their own thoughts.
At the school gate, Yi Shuhan stopped. Seeing this, Chi Junluo also halted. "Goodbye, Senior. My home is this way. I'll be going now."
A faint smile touched Chi Junluo's lips again as she nodded. "Goodbye. Get home early."
Watching her "junior," Yi Shuhan, disappear around the street corner to the left, Chi Junluo let her smile fade and, maintaining this body's persona, walked straight ahead down the street.
After Chi Junluo turned away, a small head peeked out from the corner where Yi Shuhan had disappeared. Seeing Chi Junluo walking down that street again, Yi Shuhan crossed the road, blended into the crowd, and secretly followed her.
Clearly, this was not the first time she had done something like this.
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