Chapter 3

The original owner of this body was also named Xue Miaoyun—a pitiful girl who had once enjoyed a few good years in childhood. Unfortunately, when she was five, her father died in battle. Her mother, a young lady from a wealthy capitalist family, was left behind. During the start of the political movements, although she had the protection of being a martyr’s widow, she donated all of the family’s property in order to safeguard her daughter.

For safety, they moved back to her late husband’s hometown. But her mother, having grown up pampered and unaccustomed to hardship, found it difficult to even take care of herself—let alone raise a young daughter. Their life was, needless to say, extremely tough.

Despite this, the original Xue Miaoyun was a sensible child. From a young age, she helped out in the fields and around the house. Unfortunately, three years ago, her mother fell seriously ill. Hoping to secure her daughter’s future, she arranged an engagement between her and the second son of the neighboring Song family—Song Zhuanguo.

To improve her future son-in-law’s prospects, she even leveraged her late husband’s military connections to help Song Zhuanguo enlist in the army.

Xue Miaoyun understood her mother’s hopes clearly: she wanted her daughter to have a stable and better life through a good marriage. But unfortunately, the man they placed their hopes in proved unworthy. Though Song Zhuanguo was competent—managing not only to remain in the army but also to rise in rank—he ultimately betrayed their trust.

In that sense, her mother’s judgment hadn’t been entirely wrong. But as the old saying goes, “Suddenly seeing green willows and fragrant grass, she regrets sending her husband in search of title and rank.”^[1]T/N: This line is a metaphor from a classical Chinese saying: “忽见绿杨芳草地，悔教夫婿觅封侯。” It describes a woman who regrets encouraging her husband to seek fame and rank, … Continue reading

While in the army, Song Zhuanguo caught the attention of a high-ranking officer, who wished to introduce his niece to him.

And so, the original Xue Miaoyun became a casualty of an arranged marriage.

According to the memories, this incident—where Li Dacui “caught” her in bed with another man—led to the cancellation of the engagement. Her reputation was ruined, and she was forced to marry Xu Ermao, the thug who had supposedly violated her.

Xu Ermao was a domestic abuser who had previously beaten a wife to death. No woman in the village was willing to marry him. This time, he had taken a bribe from Li Dacui to deliberately ruin Xue Miaoyun’s name. That way, the Song family could call off the engagement under the pretense of her indecency, saving face and escaping the reputation of being ungrateful. As for Xu Ermao, he would gain a pretty wife for nothing.

Everyone got what they wanted—except for the poor original Xue Miaoyun.

After marrying Xu Ermao, she was beaten to death within a few years. Even in death, her name was smeared, accused of being unfaithful.

She had originally had the chance to be reincarnated. But she didn’t want to endure such a miserable life again. There was no one left in the world for her to care about. So at the very moment of her rebirth, she willingly scattered her soul.

Therefore, this was not possession, nor was there any karma linking them. But perhaps because they shared the same name and the same fate as orphans, Xue Miaoyun—who inherited her memories—felt an intense sense of connection.

She couldn’t help but wish she could destroy everyone who had ever wronged the original owner.

Closing her eyes to steady her emotions, Xue Miaoyun waved her hand, and a man appeared before her. It was Xu Ermao—the one who had just attempted to assault the original owner. He was already dead. The Jiao Pearl Spacecould not store living beings, but Xue Miaoyun herself could remain inside for a short while.

It was her first time killing someone, but she didn’t feel much fear or guilt. Perhaps it was the effect of her golden finger—the Jiao Spirit Essence—or maybe the original owner’s memories had influenced her. That girl must have wished countless times in her life to kill the man who had destroyed her.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Xue Miaoyun returned the corpse to her space. She would deal with it when the opportunity arose.

She stretched out her hands and clenched her fists, recalling how she had lifted Li Dacui so effortlessly earlier. The original owner had possessed no such superhuman strength.

That too must be one of the abilities granted by the Jiao Spirit Essence.

And it was a good one. As an orphan, if she didn’t have a bit of power, she’d be bullied to death in no time.

It looked like she would need to start showcasing this ability properly from now on.

As for the Jiao Spirit Essence golden finger, she had already discovered two abilities—Jiao Pearl Space and immense strength. Were there any others?

Judging from the literal meaning of “Jiao Spirit Essence,” could it also grant her some characteristics of a merfolk? Since merfolk lived in the sea, should she perhaps try testing it in the water? As it happened, Shuize Village wasn’t far from the coast.

[Ding. Dear, are you there?]

Huh?

…Yes, I’m here.

[Dear, so sorry! We’ve found that your randomly assigned golden finger was damaged due to the time-space transfer. To make up for it, we’re offering you another chance to randomly draw a third-tier golden finger!]

A third-tier golden finger? You have levels for these things?

[Yes, dear!]

Then what level is the “Jiao Spirit Essence”?

[It’s a special-tier golden finger—our latest product! But because it’s so new, it’s a bit unstable.]

What do you mean by “damaged”?

[Dear, here’s what happened: your golden finger was supposed to activate after your transmigration. However, due to a customer service error on our end, it activated in the previous world. During the transmigration process, a portion of the Jiao Pearl Space’s energy was stripped away by the forces of time and space, and it turned into a key. If someone else, by chance, bonds with that key, they’ll be able to share your Jiao Pearl Space.]

Absolutely not!

The Jiao Pearl Space was her private domain. Forget the supplies inside—even if it were empty, she would never want to share it with anyone.

[Dear, you can still retrieve the key. Although it can’t be reintegrated, as long as it’s stored inside your space, no one else will be able to get it.]

Where is the key?

[We don’t know, dear. Because of the space-time interference, all we can confirm is that it appeared somewhere in Plane 098.]

Xue Miaoyun had a bad feeling.

Are you saying it might not have arrived in this plane yet?

[Yes indeed, dear!]

Screw you and your ‘dear’! Can you people be a little more reliable?

[So sorry, dear. We’re willing to offer you a third-tier golden finger as compensation.]

Although Xue Miaoyun really wanted to curse at this unreliable customer service, she thought better of it. The other party was far too mysterious and unpredictable—it was best not to offend them.

When under someone else’s roof, one had no choice but to bow their head.

Fine, we’re all just workers. I accept the compensation. But you also need to tell me what that key looks like.

[No problem, dear. Thank you for your understanding. The random golden finger has been sent. Wishing you a pleasant life. Goodbye.]

Beep beep—Third-tier golden finger ‘Divine Healing Hands’ detected. Accept?

Xue Miaoyun raised her eyebrows. Sure enough, not making a fuss had been the right call.

“Accept.”

A vast sea of medical knowledge poured into her like an epiphany. By the time she opened her eyes again, it was already morning.

It was truly amazing—she felt as if she had spent hundreds of years immersed in the medical arts, learning bit by bit, rather than having it all dumped on her at once. If this kind of learning method were ever made available to the public… it would be a little terrifying.

Growl…

Her stomach rumbled.

Xue Miaoyun rubbed her belly. She really didn’t feel like cooking, so she grabbed a large meat bun and started munching on it.

She then “looked at” the appearance of the key again. Hmm… why did it seem kind of familiar?

Xue Miaoyun tried hard to recall, but unfortunately, she couldn’t remember where she had seen it before. She had no choice but to put it aside for now.

After breakfast, she freshened up and took out the original owner’s best set of clothes to change into. Then she pulled out a dressing mirror.

Tsk. Who was this sallow-skinned, scrawny, dark, and dull-haired woman?

Ever since graduating from university and earning her own money, Xue Miaoyun had paid great attention to her appearance and demeanor. Not to please anyone else, but simply to make herself happy. Now, looking at this image, she couldn’t even bear to look straight at it.