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“The Top Scholar’s Little Sweetheart is Both Beautiful and Bold” is a novel that Ye Caiping read a few days before she died.
The female lead, Sun Jiaojiao, was born into a moderately wealthy family that owned a rice shop in town and over a dozen mu of farmland.
But as the protagonist, her life was destined to be fraught with hardships.
At the age of one, her father became addicted to gambling and squandered the family fortune.
At the age of three, her father fell into a river and drowned.
At the age of four, her mean grandmother lost a tooth… Yes, somehow, that was also blamed on her.
In any case, whenever something unfortunate happened in the family, Sun Jiaojiao’s mean grandmother would pin the blame on her, claiming that the family’s downfall was all her fault. With every word, she called Sun Jiaojiao a “jinx.”
Sun Jiaojiao, her brother Sun Zimo, and her mother Zhang Shuiniang lived lives worse than pigs and dogs, enduring endless suffering.
Their only ray of hope was a certain “Uncle Li” figure who would secretly help them from time to time.
But in the end, her brother and mother were still tormented to death by the cruel grandmother, and Sun Jiaojiao was sold to a brothel, where she met her demise beneath a man.
And then, Sun Jiaojiao was reborn!
Upon her rebirth, Sun Jiaojiao had a complete change of mindset, transforming into a cunning “black lotus.”
First, Sun Jiaojiao settled accounts with her wicked grandmother, uncle, and cousin, delivering them the consequences they deserved. Not only did she sever ties with the Sun family, but she also schemed to sell off their house and the remaining bits of farmland.
With Sun Jiaojiao’s matchmaking efforts, Zhang Shuiniang and Uncle Li finally became a couple, reuniting as lovers.
After joining the Li family, Sun Jiaojiao changed her surname, officially becoming Li Jiaojiao.
This marked the beginning of her unstoppable rise to glory.
First, she went up the mountain and dug up a ginseng root, selling it for twenty taels of silver. Then she stumbled upon a spatial artifact. Using the trade platform within it, she started arbitraging goods, earning a small fortune.
And then she continued collecting treasures, one after another!
First, she picked up a man, who turned out to be the future regent.
Then she picked up a beautiful lady, who turned out to be the wife of a noble, and the lady insisted on adopting her as a goddaughter.
Next, she picked up an old beggar, who turned out to be a divine healer, and he stubbornly wanted her to be his apprentice…
Anyway, with her spirit of collecting “treasures,” she eventually became a consort.
Later, her space ability upgraded, and she gained the “Visible Eye,” a power she could use once every three days to see through things.
With her ability, she precisely saw the exam questions in advance.
With her help, Li Zhiyuan and Li Zimo passed each stage, eventually achieving top scores in the imperial exams.
The female lead instantly became the most cherished “little treasure” in the top scholar’s family.
After a period of intense and intellectually degrading political maneuvering, the male lead became the regent, and the female lead became his consort.
The female lead lived a life filled with affection, as the regent constantly pampered her, with one child and triplets in her first pregnancy, followed by eight children in her second.
After recalling all the plot details, Ye Caiping rubbed her temples.
The reason she only realized she had transmigrated into a book now was because the original owner was nothing more than cannon fodder.
Moreover, in the book, the narrator often referred to Li Zhiyuan as “Uncle Li” or “Scholar Li,” with the name “Li Zhiyuan” rarely appearing.
The name was too ordinary, and as a reader, it was impossible to remember the names of side characters who rarely appeared.
In the book, she was referred to as “Ye Shi,” a nameless cannon fodder who made a brief appearance and died within a chapter.
Fortunately, she had transmigrated here…
Wait, no! Something’s off!
Ye Caiping furrowed her brows. She felt like she had grasped something… but her mind was a bit foggy, and she needed to sort things out.
In the book, the description of her initially was just a passing mention.
At that time, it seemed like the Li family had finally freed themselves from the Ye family, and Li Zhiyuan expressed his feelings to Zhang Shuiniang.
Zhang Shuiniang told him that he already had a wife, so she wouldn’t become a concubine.
Li Zhiyuan then said that after passing the imperial exams, Ye Shi became arrogant, constantly flaunting her status as the wife of a scholar, causing trouble everywhere, and even bullying his mother. Therefore, he would divorce that troublesome woman.
This was the first appearance of Ye Shi, and she only appeared in the dialogue.
Her second appearance was after Zhang Shuiniang married Li Zhiyuan.
The day after the wedding, Li Jiaojiao and her siblings went up the mountain and discovered some ginseng.
Ye Shi, with her daughter Li Zhaodi, suddenly appeared and claimed that they had discovered the ginseng first.
In the struggle, Ye Shi and her daughter rolled down the steep slope.
Li Jiaojiao went down to check and found that both of them were already dead.
With a cold laugh, Li Jiaojiao thought they got what they deserved and was about to leave when she suddenly noticed a small safety jade token on the ground.
She picked it up, and the blood on her hand accidentally touched the jade, activating the space.
Thinking about this, Ye Caiping’s breath quickened.
She finally realized what was off.
In the book, this Ye Shi was the one who fought Li Jiaojiao and her siblings for the ginseng.
The book also mentions that Uncle Li’s two daughters were ungrateful and followed the Ye family.
However, if it were the original character, even if she had been divorced and was still alive, she wouldn’t have taken the two daughters back from the Ye family.
It was even more impossible for her to stand by and watch Li Zhiyuan marry a new wife without causing trouble.
So… the Ye family in the book was not the original character, but Ye Caiping herself!
As she thought about this, Ye Caiping felt a chill. It turned out that she wasn’t transmigrated into the book; she had originally been a character in the story.
She had crossed over and was just starting to change, but when she went up the mountain and fought Li Jiaojiao for ginseng, she lost her footing, fell down a steep slope, and died.
So, she wasn’t transmigrated; instead… she became awakened- aware of the plot!
Thinking about this, Ye Caiping was filled with fear.
If she hadn’t remembered the plot, the transmigrated version of herself would have been played to death by Li Jiaojiao!!!
Ye Caiping then remembered the ginseng she and Ye Jin’er had discovered together yesterday.
It turned out that the ginseng had been waiting here! It existed to create the conflict between her and Li Jiaojiao.
After her death, whether it was the ginseng or the space, it would all be taken by the female protagonist! Everything was prepared for Li Jiaojiao.
Ye Caiping felt a chill run down her spine, almost laughing out loud three times.
If she hadn’t transmigrated, where would the space have come from?
So, the reason Ye Caiping transmigrated was to deliver her life, the space, and the equipment to Li Jiaojiao!
“That’s right, the jade pendant! The jade pendant!” Ye Caiping suddenly thought of the key point.
She quickly pulled out a jade pendant from the collar of her clothes.
When the original character was born, Old Man Ye and his wife had taken her to a fortune teller to have her name chosen, and it was the fortune teller who had given her this jade pendant.
The jade quality was poor, and it was engraved with the words “Endless.” It wasn’t worth much—only about twenty or thirty coins.
In fact, because the jade quality was so low, the original character hadn’t sold it.
Ye Caiping opened the panel and casually clicked on an item:
[The customer has selected one jin of winter bamboo shoots, priced at 20 wen. Sorry, the customer does not have permission to continue the transaction. To obtain permission, please upgrade the space.]
[Sorry, the customer does not have upgrade permissions.]
Listening to the familiar mechanical voice, Ye Caiping smiled. She had no permissions!
Because she was just a customer! A passerby!
But Li Jiaojiao, she was the host!
Thinking about this, Ye Caiping’s eyes sharpened. She took out the scissors from the drawer and gently made a cut on her palm. Fresh red blood poured out, and then she grabbed the jade pendant, pressing it into her palm to dye it red with her blood.
[Ding, the customer is activating the system. 1%, 5%…]
The book clearly stated that when Li Jiaojiao’s hand bled, the blood seeped into the jade pendant, and the activation sound that followed echoed in her mind.
Shān Yuán Wú Jìn Xì Tǒng
It turned out that blood was the key to obtaining permission!
[Activation complete, Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have become the master of the (Shanyuan Wu Jin System) Mountain Source Endless System, and have obtained the right to continue upgrading.]
As the voice finished, the system panel even displayed two fireworks for her.
“Shanyuan” was the name of the trading platform she had created in her previous life.
“Endless” (Wu Jin) was the word engraved on the jade pendant.
It seemed like she was starting to piece together the origins of this space system.
In the 21st century, she had developed a trading platform focused on agricultural products. As she transmigrated, the trading platform came along with her, ultimately attaching itself to the jade pendant and gaining sentience from it.
With this realization, Ye Caiping’s previously restless mood finally settled down, and she even felt a little joy.
The book had mentioned that once the space was activated, it could not be transferred—it would live and die with her.
Today’s harvest was not bad; at least her space was alive again!
Meanwhile, in Li Family Village, at the Zhang Fuhu’s household—
In the hall, a young girl suddenly lifted her head, clutching her chest tightly, her face pale.
“Jiaojiao, what’s wrong?” Zimo noticed her strange expression and asked with concern.
“It’s… nothing… it’s just… I don’t know why, but my chest feels tight…”
Li Jiaojiao gasped heavily. It wasn’t just tightness; it felt like her heart had suddenly jerked, as if something was being torn away from her.
But within less than a second, it returned to normal, almost as if it had been just her imagination.
This feeling was strange, yet it made her inexplicably anxious.
“Don’t worry, Uncle Li will take care of us,” Li Zimo thought she was worried about their life after the marriage.
Li Jiaojiao pouted, “I’m not nervous. I know better than you how good Uncle Li is to us.”
In her past life, after her mother was tortured to death by her cruel stepmother, Uncle Li was devastated, and he nearly lost his life too.
Later, she was sold into a brothel, and Uncle Li, in an attempt to save her, was beaten to death by the people from the brothel.
In this life, she would protect everyone who loved her—protect her mother, her brother, and Uncle Li!
Note:
Characters
Other Characters:
Heigou – Ate poisonous roots
Heigou’s mother
Doctor Zhao
Zhao Facai – Neighbor
Village Head Ye- Sometime Ye Lizheng (Lizheng is a title that refers to Village Head/Chief)
Ye Bajin – Village Head’s Son
Fubao – Village Head’s Grandson
Tie Niu and Zhuzi – two women who helped Caiping
Ye Bajin – Son of Ye Lijeng
Liu Decai
Places:
Qinghe Village: FL’s Village
Li Family Village
Great Zhou Dynasty