Chapter 8: A Mother Who Plays Favorites (1/2)

User “Weiwei Qingcheng” joined the group chat.

[Weiwei Qingcheng]: Please, great seniors, spare me a bite to eat @everyone sparkly eyes emoji
“Ding”—I Slept with a Handsome Man in Ancient Times sent: 1x Peking Roast Duck (Express Delivery from the Capital)
“Ding”—The Overlord at the End Keeps Staring at My Hook gifted: 1x Wealth-Attracting Stone
“Ding”—My Deskmate Bullies Me When the Lights Go Out gifted: 1x Invisibility Pill

[I Slept with a Handsome Man in Ancient Times]: Girl, the roast duck from Yiman Tower is amazing—try it @Weiwei Qingcheng

Roast duck without feed additives really hits different.

Jiang Wei replied while gnawing on a duck leg.

[Weiwei Qingcheng]: Thanks for the food, Handsome Bro. Rice Gobbler salute
[The Overlord at the End Keeps Staring at My Hook]: Sorry sis, I’m a little zombie and don’t eat human food, only people. Here’s a disposable wealth-attracting stone—it’ll help you find hidden gold bars nearby.

“Hehehe…” Jiang Wei nearly laughed herself breathless. With that stone, she didn’t have to worry about finding where her scummy dad hid the money.

[My Deskmate Bullies Me When the Lights Go Out]: Crap, my deskmate saw I sent you a gift and got jealous. He turned off the lights again and—

Didn’t even finish “saw”—Deskmate Bro was forcibly logged out.

User “I’m the Poorest in All the Transmigrations” sent a Lucky Red Packet ×1.

Jiang Wei snatched it up instantly.

[I Slept with a Handsome Man in Ancient Times]: What the heck just happened? Did I miss out on hundreds of billions?
[The Overlord at the End Keeps Staring at My Hook]: The Poorest Boss actually sent out a Lucky Packet?! Sis, tell me what you got!
[Weiwei Qingcheng]: X-Ray Vision ×1
[I Slept with a Handsome Man in Ancient Times]: X-ray vision! Actual x-ray vision! Weiwei Sis, with that you’ll make all the hot guys strip before you without even trying!

The thought of a bunch of naked people running around in front of her made her slightly repulsed.

She had a better idea for using the x-ray vision.

[Weiwei Qingcheng]: Thank you ‘Poorest in All Transmigrations’ for the Lucky Packet. Muah, love you~
‘Poorest in All the Transmigrations’ exited the group chat.

User “Weiwei Qingcheng” retracted a message.

[I Slept with a Handsome Man in Ancient Times]: This is once in a century—the Poorest Bro actually sent a Lucky Packet. He must’ve fallen in love with Weiwei Sis. But alas, you’re galaxies apart. So tragic…

It was that helpless feeling of not being able to reach through the screen to slap someone. Jiang Wei quickly changed the subject:

[Weiwei Qingcheng]: Handsome Bro, please send me today’s mission~ Greedy puppy eyes
[I Slept with a Handsome Man in Ancient Times]: Today’s mission: write a love letter. The cheesier, the better. Double male leads. Reward: Gossip Pill ×1

A love letter? She’d never written one in her life, though she’d received plenty.

Like that overbearing CEO in the novel “The Cold Tyrant Fell for the Moonlight, Then Went Crazy After the Breakup”—he wrote her a ten-thousand-word love confession essay.

Jiang Wei asked the system to retrieve that long-winded love letter and sent it straight to I Slept with a Handsome Man in Ancient Times.

“Ding”—Host received reward: 1x Gossip Pill

[I Slept with a Handsome Man in Ancient Times]: Thanks for the love letter, Weiwei Sis. By the way, the Ugly Pill lets you make someone instantly ugly. Also, you should level up quickly. The higher your level, the better the tasks and rewards you can access—and you’ll be able to issue your own tasks too.

The alliance group had level restrictions. Low-level newcomers like Jiang Wei could only accept low-tier missions, and the rewards were all disposable items.

Meanwhile, higher-level members like Handsome Man, Overlord, and Deskmate could assign tasks, take on more difficult missions, and obtain rarer plug-ins.

Tip: If you can’t find this book by title, try searching by author—it may have been renamed!

Handsome Man, Overlord, and Deskmate were part of the fifth tier.

Above them were tiers four, three, two, and one.

Jiang Wei was in the sixth tier—commonly known as “Old Six.”

As an Old Six, she could only accept tasks from the fifth tier.

To get access to higher-tier missions and rewards, she’d have to level up.

Jiang Wei went offline and asked the system, “Old Six, how can I level up in the alliance group?”

The system flickered in slowly. [Host, I’m not Old Six—you are.]

Jiang Wei: “Fine, I’m Old Six then. Who isn’t? Now, sweetie, can you please just tell me how to level up?”

The disposable plug-ins were a hassle—they expired constantly and never felt reliable.

The system, well aware of what she meant by calling it “sweetie,” knew she was about to go off the rails.

Unlike most hosts, Jiang Wei didn’t care about plotlines, character collapse, or story logic. If she was unhappy, she’d simply burn it all down.

Terrified, the system quickly explained: [Sign in daily to claim Lucky Packets and tasks. Also, see those five gray avatars at the top of the group?]

Jiang Wei checked. “Yep.”

The system elaborated: [They’re the top-tier bosses of the alliance group. They have over a thousand plug-ins you’ve never heard of. They rarely post tasks, but when they do, there are no level restrictions—anyone can grab them, and the rewards are things beyond your wildest dreams. Like that x-ray vision just now—other transmigrators would kill to get it.]

Jiang Wei: “Got it. Time to train my reflexes!” She had to be fast enough next time to grab one of those red packets.

“You got nothing,” the system muttered. “It’s not about reflexes—it’s about being active in the chat and acting cute to get noticed by the bosses, okay?”

Just like that Poorest in All Transmigrations guy—if she’d just learned how to flirt properly, she wouldn’t be lacking for plug-ins.

Satisfied with her gains, Jiang Wei went back to the kennel that Shen Peirong had arranged for her and took a nap.

She was the kind to roam at night, so she’d forage when the time came.

Just as she was sleeping soundly, she heard clattering and banging in the courtyard.

It was Shen Peirong, instructing the servants to move all her purchases into Jiang Yan’s room.

In the courtyard, Jiang Yan deliberately raised her voice. “Mother, you really spent so much today. But we didn’t find any clothes for Little Sister. Do you think she’ll think we’re excluding her on purpose?”

“It’s fine. Your sister’s used to wearing rough fabrics. New clothes wouldn’t be comfortable for her. I’ll go find a couple of skirts I don’t wear anymore and give those to her.” Shen Peirong had no idea how blatantly biased she was being.

“I’ll also ask Second and Third Aunties to find some decent clothes to give Little Sister.”
Jiang Yan couldn’t hide the schadenfreude in her tone.

Inside, Jiang Wei peeked her head out from the window, trembling like a fragile bird.

“Mother, I’ve already informed my future in-laws that you’ll be giving me five gold bars for my dowry. They were so touched—they said you’re like a living Bodhisattva, saving people from suffering.”

“You child…” Shen Peirong hadn’t expected just five gold bars would make her daughter and future in-laws so grateful.

Meanwhile, she’d set aside three full chests of gold for her eldest daughter.

She looked at her frail younger daughter curled on the window sill, wearing patched-up clothes, then at the courtyard full of chests—all filled with clothes for her eldest daughter.

A strange feeling welled up in her chest.

It was like—whenever she was with her eldest daughter, she’d forget about her youngest. But the moment she saw her youngest again, she’d start recalling all those little moments between the eldest and the second concubine.

Almost like… she was being possessed.

“Cough, cough, cough.” Jiang Wei coughed weakly, mimicking Jiang Yan spitting blood. She looked at Shen Peirong with tired eyes. “Mother, I know the kitchen didn’t prepare any dinner for me, but I still wanted to say goodnight. Sigh, I don’t know if I’m just unaccustomed to the climate or starving, but I’m so drowsy I don’t even know if I’ll live to marry into the Gu family.

But saying too much will just worry you and Sister… Cough, cough, cough. I’ll head to bed now. Goodnight, Mother. Goodnight, Sister.”