CH 1

Chapter 1: Wen Yantong

In the middle of the night, just after Chaoge City's night's last watch bell (3-5 am) rang, Wen Yantong suddenly opened her eyes.

In the distance was the faint sound of bells, while nearby were the snoring of her roommates.

Wen Yantong cautiously sat up, and did not make any sound when her foot touched the floor. Using the faint moonlight, she found and put on her clothes before she tiptoed out the room.

The moonlight was bright and there was no one around. Wen Yantong couldn't help shivering when the cold wind blew.

She took out a thin knife that was stolen from the cafeteria. After unwrapping it out of the silk cloth, the blade shone coldly in the moonlight.

It was only when she looked closer, did she realize that the blade was blunt; there were even some fine cracks on it.

Wen Yantong cussed at her bad luck. When she sneaked to the kitchen during the day, she was scared of being caught and didn’t take her time to choose. She just chose this knife because she had thought it was small and easy to hide.

Unexpectedly, it was a dull knife.

She reached out and felt the blade. The blade was a bit dull, but it shouldn't matter.translate(d) by pure tl. com / do not steal / re po/st

Wen Yantong wanted to use this knife to do a big thing.

She wanted to kill a chicken.

This chicken also had a name: Wu-duo (Not lazy).

Wen Yantong never expected that one day a big rooster would become her biggest rival.

This rooster was personally picked up by the dean of Songhai Academy from his hometown on a carriage. Currently four years of age and this rooster was extremely ferocious. It’s said that it will peck every passiby, so no one dared to approach it.

Wen Yantong had never been pecked by it. But this rooster's nest was built right behind her dormitory, and every six quarters of mǎo-shí (5-7 am), the rooster would croak up to the sky and spin by her window.

His crows pierced straight into her ear, resulting in a massive headache.

Every time she was awakened from her sleep by this rooster’s loud, intimate calls, Wen Yantong wanted to break the window and twist the rooster's neck.

The rooster ‘alarm clock’ was highly valued by the academy. So when Yantong suggested to her teacher to relocate the chicken coop, she was given a harsh scolding.

After four tortuous days, Wen Yantong could no longer bear it anymore. She decided to go to the pantry to steal a knife, reluctantly sacrificing half a night's time to completely solve this deadly-plague-of-a-rooster.

She carefully looked around and sneakily made her way to the chicken coop.

The rooster was very alert and had already sensed someone approaching. Its eyes were open, it was vigilant, but didn't move. Firstly, because chickens were no different from a blind man at night. And secondly, the rooster was fierce and did not fear humans at all.

Wen Yantong felt full of hatred when she saw it. She spat and thought: it’s useless for you to be vigilant! Tonight I will turn you from Wu-dou to Wu-tou (No head)!

She gestured back and forth with the thin knife, trying to find a suitable position to chop off the chicken's neck. She wanted it to make it a clean cut, so as not to wake others up with its cries.

Everything was ready, she was just one knife cut away. Wen Yantong's posture was all set, and just as she was about to use the knife, a loud sound suddenly came from the side.

"Who are you?! What are you doing there!"

Wen Yantong was frightened by this lous call. She turned around and saw a person holding a lamp, standing not far away.

She quickly recognised the person as the infamous Teacher Wu from the academy. Without a second thought or sound, she quickly turned around and ran.

Teacher Wu caught up to her in three steps and kicked her right leg.

“Ow!” Wen Yantong felt a pain in her leg, fell to the ground, and was pinned down by Teacher Wu. She immediately threw the thin knife away, raised her hands, and shouted, "Don't hit, don't hit me! I'm a student of the academy!"

Her chicken assassination plan was unsuccessful.

The next day, Wen Yantong stood outside the academy. Her eyelids were so heavy that she could not wait to lie down on the ground and sleep. translate(d) by pure tl. com / do not steal / re po/st

There was a lot of noise last night, and a morning’s gossip, everyone in the academy knew that Wen Yantong wanted to kill a chicken in the middle of the night. Some students walked up to her and laughed at her.

Wen Yantong didn't have the energy to care. She wasted half the night trying to kill the chicken. She wanted to sleep for a while after returning to her dorm, but the pain in her right leg made it hard for her to sleep. After finally getting some rest, the chicken, who should have been stuck with a thousand knives, croaked by her window again.

The morning class started before the break of dawn.

Wen Yantong was taken aside by the teacher and asked for her reason for wanting to kill the rooster. Wen Yantong quickly admitted her mistake, and even wanted to squeeze out two tears, "I was too hungry..."

The teacher hated that iron could not become steel*, and bitterly lectured her for an hour. The teacher was only done after the morning class was over. Before leaving, he asked her to stand by the gate of the academy and reflect on her actions.

(Pure: To feel resentful for failing to meet expectations and impatient to see improvement)

As soon as the teacher left, Wen Yantong became drowsy under the warm midwinter sun, and started to doze off while leaning on the wall.

It had been four days since she entered this book called <Unmatched Legitimate Daughter>. When Wen Yantong first opened this book, she never expected to become the character who shared the same name as her.

A cannon fodder who only appeared in twice, spent two years in prison, and finally died tragically.

In the original book, Wen Yantong's biological father, Wen Qin, was an extremely famous wealthy businessman in Chang'an City. He had one wife and no other concubines. Wen Yantong was the only child in the family, and had been loved and doted on by her parents since childhood.

A rich family, a virtuous wife, and a filial child; everything was well. It was only just that Madam Wen had fallen ill when she was in confinement, and could no longer bear children. He was without a son; that was Wen Qin's only regret.

Wen Yantong knew about this since she was a child. And in order to make up for her father's regret, she decided to participate in the imperial examination and honor her ancestors.

So the little cannon fodder packed her bags and ran away from home. After traveling thousands of miles to the capital city, Chaoge, she spent a lot of gold to buy a seat in Songhai Academy.

However, at that time, Songhai Academy only recruited men, and the little cannon fodder was forced to disguise herself as a man to enter into the academy. But it was this decision that caused her to be convicted and imprisoned.

The little cannon fodder had learned to write with her father, and thought it wouldn’t be difficult to study in the academy. However, there were many young aristocrats in Songhai Academy; the young masters of extravagant lifestyle. The education they received from childhood was very different from that of ordinary people.translate(d) by pure tl. com / do not steal / re po/st

Her lack of knowledge caused her to be ridiculed and bullied a lot. The pampering she was accustomed to could not be revealed, it was insignificant compared to the temperament of those young masters. She became more and more cautious, and her temper gradually became more and more cowardly.

The little cannon fodder has been favored since she was a child, and had never suffered such grievances. She also thought about running away from Songhai Academy, but she fell in love with the male protagonist in the original book. And for this hazy love, she became reluctant to leave.

In the end, she was used by the original book's scheming female supporting character. She was exposed as a woman disguised as a man, and was imprisoned on the charge of deceiving the monarch.

The crime of deceiving the monarch has implicated the nine clans. Wen Yantong's family only had three members and they were all sent to jail. None of the Wen Residence's servants were pardoned, and all their property was confiscated.

This truly embodied the word ‘tragic’.

Disguising as a man to enter school was the source of the disaster, and going against the heroine was the reason for her tragic end. The way to change the ending was very simple: she had to leave Songhai Academy and go back to Chang'an.

However, after transmigrating, Wen Yantong was exhausted physically and mentally by the big rooster, and didn't have the energy to make a plan. In addition, Songhai Academy only released students on holidays, so there was no chance to leave now.

But now, Wen Yantong just wanted to have a good sleep. And then, she’ll think about how to return to Chang'an.

"Look at this kid. Caught a fever and fried his brain a few days ago. He was so hungry that he wanted to kill our dutiful rooster in the middle of the night. He’s really just a commoner from a small household. How could he even attempt to kill the chicken that aided scholars in learning? If this rumor spreads out, others may think that this academy purposely treated him harshly..."

Just as she almost fell asleep while leaning against the wall, suddenly a string of bitter words entered Wen Yantong's ears.

Although they didn't mention her name, it was obvious that they were talking about her.

Wen Yantong immediately became angry. She opened her bloodshot eyes and glared towards the direction of the voice, wanting to see which dog was gossiping in front of her!

However, when she turned her head over, she didn't see the gossiping scumbag, but her eyes landed on a handsome young man standing in the middle of several young masters. translate(d) by pure tl. com / do not steal / re po/st

The youth was wrapped in brocade fur. He had ink-colored eyebrows and his eyes were quite delicate. About eighteen or nineteen years old, his stature is the tallest among several people. The ginger red cloak was embroidered with auspicious cloud patterns with silver thread. She didn’t know what it was embedded with, but under the sunlight, the cloak actually glistened like tiny stars fragments.

His long hair was tied up with a jade hairpin, and the snow-white fox fur pressed against the collar made his dark eyes more intense. At a glance, she could see that this person's identity was extraordinary.

Wen Yantong's angry eyes didn't have time to retract, and just a short distance away, she completely crashed into the young man’s lazy eyes.

Immediately afterwards, she heard the gossiping scum’s voice cry out, "Chi San Shao*, this kid dares to stare at you! It must be because no one has taught him a lesson recently, and now his nose has reached up into the skys!"

(Pure: Chi is the family name. San Shao means third young master.)

As soon as Wen Yantong heard the title of "Chi San Shao", she quickly turned her head away. No matter how handsome this youth was, she didn't dare to take another look.

Whether it was Songhai Academy or Chaoge City, there was only one Chi San Shao.

And he's someone who should never be provoked.

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Author’s Note: Chaoge: Originally called Muxiang. It was the imperial capital of four generations of the late Shang Dynasty, and it has been the capital for nearly 500 years.

Chang'an: The ancient name for a district in Xi'an. It was the first capital city of a country in history.

The two names that appear in the texts have nothing to do with the places above. I just used them because I thought the names sounded good.

This book is fictional, and everything that appears is purely based on Feng Meili's (my) imagination.

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Thank you Susu(苏苏) for giving me this inspiration