Qiao Xin lightly touched her wrist, where a faint fiery-red pattern appeared.

She had no intention of paying any attention to the sudden, ridiculous system.

These days, it seemed like no one could survive a transmigration without some kind of system guiding them.

But that didn’t include Qiao Xin.

She may have been born in a peaceful country, but she had spent most of her time traveling through chaotic regions—primitive, undeveloped tribes, war-torn battlefields, desolate deserts, and deep, uncharted forests.

Where hadn’t she left her footprints?

Sometimes, she had to survive alone in the mountains and forests for ten days or half a month.

Compared to those experiences, how much worse could things get now?

The world she found herself in had been in turmoil for forty to fifty years, with wars raging for over a decade.

It was only recently that a formidable ruler had unified the land and established a new dynasty.

While some border regions still suffered from occasional raids, most of the country had finally begun a period of recovery.

Countless people longed for peace, hoping to settle down and lead stable lives.

And now, this ridiculous system had suddenly appeared, trying to push her into some absurd “rise to power” plot, dragging her three sons into a story of conquest and ambition.

Spit! Wasn’t this system just trying to stir up trouble?!

Qiao Xin was finally beginning to understand why she had merged with the original body.

Wasn’t this the same cliché novel she had been reading—a story about using a system to achieve world domination?

She distinctly remembered that the original host hadn’t fainted from fear but from excitement.

The original host had also received this so-called system at this very moment.

With her limited perspective, she had naively believed it to be a divine blessing. Egged on by the ill-intentioned system, she was convinced that her adopted sons had extraordinary origins and were chosen by fate.

For over a decade, no one had come looking for the children.

But suddenly, someone did.

To the original host, that could only mean one thing—those people must have been deeply concerned for the children all these years!

So, following the system’s guidance, she had taken her sons and directly sought out their biological families.

But the reality was harsh.

More than twenty years had passed.

Blood ties, already thin, were no match for the deep bonds formed with the children who had grown up among their own kin.

Add in the complexities of stepmothers, half-siblings, and all sorts of tangled relationships, and none of her three sons ended up with a good outcome.

Her eldest son died on the battlefield. With his wife’s simple and kind-hearted nature, how could she possibly compete with the scheming women of the inner courtyard? Even their three grandsons met tragic ends.

Her second son was brilliant and eventually became the Assistant Minister of Revenue, but when a flood disaster struck, he was made the scapegoat. His so-called “family” sacrificed him without hesitation to protect their own interests. Outnumbered and outmaneuvered, he met a grim fate.

As for her youngest son’s biological family? Not even worth mentioning. They were cunning foxes, each one sharper than the last, their minds filled with endless schemes.

Meanwhile, from the moment the original host arrived in the capital, she had been completely manipulated by the system, becoming her sons’ biggest weakness.

She acted recklessly, making herself a laughingstock, convinced she had divine protection and could do no wrong.

In the end, her family was utterly destroyed before she finally realized her mistake.

And now, this wretched system wanted to push Qiao Xin down the same doomed path?!

Ridiculous.

She was strong, capable, and had three obedient sons.

Why would she abandon a peaceful life to become some power-hungry traitor?

Why throw herself into the dark, treacherous scheming of the capital?

Ha! What kind of fool would do that?

From the moment she had taken over this body, the system had been incessantly chattering in her mind, but she ignored it completely.

She went about her business as if it didn’t exist.

The original host had planned to hide the truth from her sons and reveal their identities only after arriving in the capital.

Qiao Xin deliberately did the opposite.

She decided to be honest with them from the start.

She would no longer make choices on their behalf.

And just like that, the system’s grand plan to sow chaos was already crumbling at its foundation.

Qiao Xin openly secured food, boldly revealed their resources, and refused to hold back any of her sons. In doing so, she was waging her own battle against the system.

By preparing for the possibility of disbanding the family at any time, she ensured that the system had no way to force her into some absurd conquest storyline.

And then, as she once again used rush grass to instruct Xu Shi and Zhang Shi on how to weave straw sandals for the family, something unexpected happened—the fiery-red mark on her wrist transformed into a tiny green sprout.

“Dear, do you want to go home? Then go complete the mission!”

【Get lost!】

【……】

【Dear host, I’m just a little cutie. No power struggles, no scheming—just take the Qiao family to become the new aristocracy.】

【No power struggles? And you think nobility just falls from the sky?】

【They are already descendants of nobility.】

Heh. This damn system was just trying to push them into the fire in a roundabout way!

Qiao Xin planned to ignore it again, but she had underestimated the system’s shamelessness.

When she woke up in the morning, she nearly tripped in the dark while getting off the brick bed.

There was suddenly a package on the floor.

Annoyed, she opened it, only to find seeds inside—about a dozen cotton seeds and a small handful of chili seeds.

【Congratulations to the host for making the first change from the original owner’s path. You’ve earned 10 points of virtue, and the system has automatically exchanged them for redeemable seeds to ensure you can live a life of luxury in this world.】

This was forcing her onto the path!

Even without this damn thing’s reminders, if she wanted to survive, she couldn’t follow the same road as the original owner.

Don’t think a few petty rewards will make her change her mind.

She would rather die than become a scourge upon the world, and she absolutely would not let her three sons bear such infamy.

Peace was hard-won.

Having been a soldier all her life and carrying out missions in war zones, Qiao Xin understood this better than anyone.

(If you want virtue points, we need to set some ground rules. I will not engage in power struggles. You are not allowed to randomly show up just to feel relevant. If I don’t call you, stay quiet. And you may not push me into doing anything beyond my knowledge and morals!)

【Uh… Don’t you want to go back? There’s not even toilet paper here!】

Qiao Xin felt a sharp pain in her chest.

Her face twisted in frustration as she snapped, (Then I’ll become the richest and most prestigious Grandma in this world! If there’s no toilet paper, I’ll use silk and throw it away after one wipe!)

No matter what, she would never walk the so-called path of conquest.

Nor would she allow her three sons to repeat the tragedies of their past lives.

Wouldn’t it be better to be a respected elder, enjoying a life of comfort with children and grandchildren gathered around?

Guiding her grandchildren, basking in their filial piety—wasn’t that a good life?

No exhausting marriages, no painful childbirth, no struggling to raise children—life was already complete.

How many people in her past life had longed for such an easy and comfortable path?

And here she was, achieving it at just 36 years old!

After several rounds of battles with the system, it finally understood that they were an incompatible match.

In the end, a peaceful, green-colored “little cutie” version of the system appeared.

If Qiao Xin still wanted to return, she would need to earn moral contribution points.

But now, the system was optional—it would only activate after she completed certain tasks that aligned with the mission goals, and those would be counted toward contribution points, earning her a selection of green (eco-friendly) seeds.

From being forced into it to gaining complete autonomy, Qiao Xin finally accepted the system’s existence.

After all, in the Kingdom of Jingtai, farmland yielded only about 200 jin (around 100 kg) per mu (1/6 acre), and everything depended entirely on the weather.

Harvests were completely at the mercy of nature.

With good seeds and some improvements in farming techniques, securing enough food wouldn’t be far off.

She was truly done eating coarse, bran-filled wheat porridge and rough grains.