Rebirth with a System

Liu Chang'an returned without having breakfast. He bought some noodles at the market on his way back, because no matter what, breakfast is always a must.

In primitive society, there was no concept of "three meals a day." People would eat when they were hungry and discard the leftovers when they were full. After the advent of agricultural civilization, rice and porridge have always been people's staple food. During the Qin and Han dynasties, there was a two-meal system, and it was not until the Sui and Tang dynasties that three meals a day began.

Liu Chang'an was also someone who once ate "four meals a day." During the Han Dynasty, it was stipulated that "four meals a day" was the standard for the emperor's meals.

This morning at Gao Dewei's house, Liu Chang'an had planned to make "Eight Treasures Noodles" using the abundant ingredients, but now that he's home, he can only make "Five-Spice Noodles".

When he got home, Zhu Juntang was having breakfast at his doorstep. Unlike Liu Chang'an, she didn't have to do it herself. She only needed to say "I'm hungry" and someone would bring her food and even a table and chairs.

Zhou Dongdong also became a guest of honor at Zhu Juntang's place.

"Do you know how the child was abducted?" Liu Chang'an asked Zhou Dongdong.

"The bad guys tricked me with food!" Zhou Dongdong immediately put on an expression that showed she had been on guard all along, then took a bite of something that, although she didn't know what it was, tasted delicious.

"I'm not a bad person," Zhu Juntang immediately retorted, dissatisfied.

"That's right, bad people only give a little bit of good food, while good people give a lot of good food." Zhou Dongdong, being such a smart child, could certainly tell the difference between good and bad people. For example, that bad person who always came to see Brother Chang'an didn't want to give Zhou Dongdong any good food and even tried to kidnap her.

"You called me over so early in the morning just so I could watch you eat breakfast?" Liu Chang'an said to Zhu Juntang.

"No, I'm just hungry."

"Heh, what a fake sisterhood. You sounded pretty anxious on the phone."

"Didn't you go buy something first...? What did you buy?"

Liu Chang'an went to boil water on his own, actually wondering what Qin Yanan had done to frighten Zhu Juntang.

Many things are scary when they first happen, but after a while, once you come to your senses, or in a different time and environment, that fear disappears.

Judging from Zhu Juntang's reaction, she was only frightened, not that Qin Yanan had encountered anything terrible. In other words, Qin Yanan was probably fine, so Liu Chang'an naturally wasn't worried.

Zhu Juntang had almost finished eating. When she left Qin Yanan's apartment, it was just getting light. She stayed in her car for a while before coming to Liu Chang'an's place. She felt hungry and ate breakfast, but of course, her mood was different from before.

"Qin Yanan and I went to bed very late last night. We talked for a while about things related to you," Zhu Juntang said, standing in front of Liu Chang'an.

Today, Zhu Juntang wore black high heels, bare legs, and a dark purple skirt. The skirt was extremely short, and she wore pumpkin pants underneath. She wasn't worried about showing too much skin, but it made a girl who wasn't very tall appear to have longer and more slender legs.

Standing in front of Liu Chang'an dressed like this, he almost mistook her for An Nuan... Of course, upon closer inspection, the difference was quite significant; An Nuan usually wore sneakers, canvas shoes, or casual shoes and didn't need high heels at all.

Even if Liu Chang'an is quietly growing taller, if An Nuan wears high heels of this height and has to stand on her tiptoes, Liu Chang'an will have to grow even taller.

"I didn't tell her the truth that you have superpowers and that you're an old man." Zhu Juntang lowered her voice and carefully glanced at Zhou Dongdong.

"Why are you looking at Zhou Dongdong?" Liu Chang'an continued boiling water. "When she's eating, her mind goes completely blank."

"Qin Yanan still believes that you and your great-grandfather are two different people," Zhu Juntang continued.

That's all nonsense. After cooking the noodles until they were about 80% done, Liu Chang'an rinsed them with cold water and took them out. Then he took two slices of ham and made soup.

"She also mentioned that when you went to the tailor shop to buy fabric, you took her favorite pattern." Zhu Juntang pointed to the breakfast she had brought. "Don't make anything, eat the breakfast I brought, and listen to me carefully."

"It's not hot anymore, I don't want to eat." Liu Chang'an wasn't interested; he didn't have the same appetite as Zhou Dongdong... more or less, just that he was a bit more picky.

"She also wants to see what the cheongsam you made looks like on your little girlfriend." Zhu Juntang couldn't help but scoff. "Qin Yanan actually called An Nuan a little girl, when they're both clearly like girls from Baolong Center. It's hilarious."

"It's strange that a short person laughs at a tall person." Liu Chang'an couldn't understand Zhu Juntang's inexplicable sense of humor.

"I'm 1.65 meters tall when I wake up in the morning!" Zhu Juntang said indignantly, "And at night... I'm 1.63 meters tall."

"Get to the point." Liu Chang'an was certainly not interested in Zhu Juntang's height.

"Qin Yanan also made a cheongsam herself, which she just brought back from the shop. I asked her to try it on for me, but she was reluctant, saying she would wear it when she was in the mood." Zhu Juntang's expression turned solemn as she said this.

Liu Chang'an cooked the noodle soup, then poured in the noodles, sauce, vinegar, minced pepper, and crushed sesame seeds. After mixing it well, he began to eat the noodles.

Zhu Juntang sniffed, smelling the delicious aroma. However, as an elegant lady, controlling her food intake was a sign of strong willpower. No matter how delicious the food was, she couldn't eat anything more after she was only 70% full.

But Zhou Dongdong wasn't an elegant lady; she walked over and looked at Liu Chang'an's bowl.

Liu Chang'an shook his head and pointed to the bowl on the table.

Zhou Dongdong quickly brought over a bowl, and Liu Chang'an shared some with her.

"I'm already full. I'll look at what I want to eat next and then eat again later." Zhou Dongdong set out her bowl and sat motionless on her small stool. Being able to see what she wanted to eat next after she was full was what made her a child full of anticipation.

"Listen to me..." Zhu Juntang thought it was something terrifying, and after Zhou Dongdong left, she continued, "And you know what happened... I woke up in the middle of the night and found Qin Yanan had gotten up. I called her, but she ignored me!"

"Just sleepwalking."

"I know about sleepwalking! But... but sleepwalkers don't look lucid, but she's different, like she's possessed by a ghost, like she's been taken over!" Zhu Juntang's mood returned to last night, and her expression became tense.

"I think you should read more books, but not more fantasy novels, like those about possession or body stealing? Why don't you say something like being reborn with a system?" Liu Chang'an reads all sorts of books because he's already read enough, but he hasn't read many serious educational books like those by Zhu Juntang, and only picks out entertainment novels. What's the point?

"Let me finish! If it were just sleepwalking, would I be this scared?" Zhu Juntang recalled the events of last night. "I've already asked my doctor, and she said that sleepwalkers usually have their eyes half-open or fully open, and Qin Yanan is indeed like that. But usually, when sleepwalkers have their eyes open, they don't seem to be looking at anything. Qin Yanan's eyes were moving, just like a normal person's!"

"Then how do you know she wasn't awake?"

"I tried talking to her, but she completely ignored me, acting like I didn't exist. Is that normal? Then she got out of bed, took off her pajamas, put on her underwear, and then went to get the cheongsam and changed into it."

"This isn't scary at all?"

Zhu Juntang slowly shook her head. "What's frightening is that she then stood in front of the mirror, looked at herself, reached out and touched the mirror, and then seemed to come to her senses, as if she realized that she wasn't just a phantom in the mirror, but a real person, and showed a... a very relaxed smile, like someone who had finally recovered from a serious illness. But do you know how eerie it looked to me at the time?"

"It is a bit strange." Liu Chang'an nodded and continued eating his noodles.

"And then something even stranger happened! She looked at herself in the mirror and started singing, singing 'Rose, Rose, I Love You'!"

"This song is a classic. It was even adapted into English and charted back then." Liu Chang'an finished his noodles and looked at Zhu Juntang thoughtfully. "This is indeed... this is indeed very unusual."

"The key point is... she doesn't look like Qin Yanan at all. Her expression, her temperament, her smile, even the little gestures of her eyebrows, eyes, and mouth... not a single thing is exactly the same as the Qin Yanan I know." Zhu Juntang squatted down in front of Liu Chang'an, pressing her hands on Liu Chang'an's knees, her eyes wide open. "She looks... like Ye Sijin."

Liu Chang'an's gaze was sharp, but he quickly lowered it.

"I've seen the photos in Old Master Qin's study, and they left a deep impression on me. Anyway, Qin Yanan last night looked like Ye Sijin from that era before she sacrificed herself, as if she had traveled through time, or perhaps I traveled back in time and saw her appearance with my own eyes." Zhu Juntang patted his chest. "I'm here perfectly fine, so... so could it be that Qin Yanan has already been possessed by Ye Sijin from another time?"

"Where is Qin Yanan now?" Liu Chang'an wouldn't accept Zhu Juntang's guess; he had to analyze and prove it himself.

"After she finished singing, she looked at herself in the mirror for a while, then took off her cheongsam, changed into her pajamas, and went to sleep quietly. How could I possibly sleep? I stayed with her for a while, and then left just before dawn. I just sent her a text message to test her, and she seems to know nothing about what happened last night. She should be in her apartment now."

"Let's go take a look."

Sorry, only one update today. I ate too much and my stomach is upset.