In a serene forest, enveloped by tall and majestic trees, Shu Wa'er gazed blankly at the clear blue sky above her, wondering how she had ended up in this unfamiliar place instead of a luxurious mansion like the ones inhabited by the female protagonists in countless novels.
"I must be dreaming," she muttered to herself.
"Yeah, any moment now, I'll wake up and find myself in a lavish room with maids attending to my king-size bed!" She clapped her hands and laughed with excitement, perplexing the little animals that were observing her with curious eyes.
"This human is strange," they thought.
Filled with anticipation, Shu Wa'er closed her eyes tightly, urging herself to wake up from this dream and escape the eerie forest.
After a few minutes, she opened her eyes with expectation, only to find herself standing in the same spot, surrounded by countless trees and plants.
"No, no, no! Why am I still here?" she began to feel anxious. She repeated her previous action, attempting to wake herself up repeatedly, but no matter how many times she tried, she remained trapped in the same place.
And to her horror, she could feel the cool wind caressing her skin in the forest, hear the cries of various animals, and even smell the earthy fragrance of the vegetation.
A sudden realization washed over her—she had really landed in a dangerous forest instead of the luxurious bed with maids she had imagined!
"Noooo-!" A hysterical scream tore through the forest, startling the small sparrows perched on tree branches, causing them to dart away, their wings flapping rapidly.
"System! Show yourself! I promise I won't beat you to death!" Shu Wa'er shouted in a mixture of anger and sadness.
Wasn't she told that she was a lucky winner among many humans? So why didn't she wake up in a lavish room with a king-size bed?!
After venting her frustration and screaming for a while, but receiving no response from the so-called system, she was tired. Weary, she collapsed beneath the shelter of an ancient willow tree, her thoughts consumed by her short life and descending into a deep state of depression.
After the untimely death of her parents when she was just three years old, she was taken in by her mother's older sister. Initially, she believed her aunt to be a good person, but she soon discovered she was gravely mistaken.
Unbeknownst to her, her aunt was the one responsible for her parents death, driven by greed for their property. She adopted her niece to divert suspicion from herself. Once her aunt had obtained all the properties through illicit means, she deemed Shu Wa'er useless.
In a heinous act, her aunt sold her off to an underground organization, seeking to make some extra money. Due to her tender age and tragic past, a compassionate senior lady within the organization took pity on her and adopted her as her own daughter.
However, even with a guardian, life within the immoral confines of the organization remained unchanged. Most of the women residing there were treated as mere objects by the men, subjected to unspeakable horrors.
Having witnessed countless distressing scenes within the organization, Shu Wa'er yearned to avenge her parents.
However, due to her status and gender, it was really hard for her to move around the organization, and it frustrated her.
If it weren't for accidentally falling down the staircase while chasing the Big Boss's right-hand man, she wouldn't have had the chance to encounter something as extraordinary as the system.
"But what did I get?! A harem system. Who the hell even created such a system like Harem Making?! Do they have a conscience?" Shu Wa'er grumbled inside her head.
"Shit, I totally forgot about the newbie package."
She abruptly sat up and cheesily rubbed her hands. "What was it again? System screen? Status?" she mumbled, feeling a little confused.
Just then, a transparent screen appeared in front of her eyes, surprising her. Unlike the screen she had seen before arriving here, her screen looked plain and mediocre.
The default screen displayed her current status, with two colored icons at the upper left corner: missions and mails. The system store icon and the lottery icon were grayed out at the bottom, and she couldn't access them no matter how much she tapped on them. She decided to check her status first.
[Status:
ID: 6,66,66,666
Name: Jiang Ying Yue (pseudo) Shu Wa'er (original)
Gender: Female
Age: 14 (pseudo) 25 (original)
Appearance: 3.5 (out of 5)
Intelligence: 0.2 (out of 5)
Strength: 1.8 (out of 5)
Charm: 2.7 (out of 5)
Body development: -1.8 (out of 5)
Skills: None
Items received: newbie package
Contracted system: Harem Maker]
Shu Wa'er: .....
She took a deep breath, suffocating the curse she was about to spill out. She noticed that there were a few comments below the status:
[Appearance is too mediocre, and I have never seen a person with such low IQ. Even a pig would be more intelligent than you. I beg you to work on your body growth. With your current score, not even a dog would be willing to mate with you. :')]
Shu Wa'er: ...
Peace is not an option.
Her lips twitched wildly, and blue veins popped on her forehead. If the system had a physical appearance, it would have been dead hundreds of times by now.
It took a while for her anger to calm down before she checked the newbie's package.
[You have obtained the following package (newbie): Points ×50, all attributes +0.5, natural body fragrance (permanent)]
[Ding! It has been detected that the host is a lucky contestant. An extra reward has been sent to your mail!]
Shu Wa'er was pleasantly surprised. She hurriedly tapped to check the reward.
[In regards to our lucky winner, You have been gifted the item, 'Jewel Eyes']
[Jewel Eyes: Don't be fooled by the weird name! This is a must-have item for all female hosts.
Effect: Eyes that sparkle like jewels and captivate the hearts of beholders.]
Although it sounded tasteless, Shu Wa'er was satisfied. She hesitated for a moment before pressing the mission icon.
"I hope it isn't too difficult."
[Main mission: Create a harem of 5 men with a grade of B or above.
Progress: 0%
Side mission (optional): Conquer the hearts of the infamous five young masters of the Ming Kingdom.
Progress: 0%
Hidden mission: Locked* Please explore for yourself.]
"Are you kidding me?!" Her eyes widened like a pair of saucers. '5 men?!' She hadn't even been intimate with two men in her previous world! How was she going to handle not 2, but 5?!
She looked at her current appearance. Even though the system identified her as a 14-year-old girl, she looked more like an 8-year-old. Short, skinny, plain, and yellow.
She felt like the system was playing a joke on her.
With this type of body, how was she going to find a man to sleep with? and she was still a child!!
Shu Wa'er wanted to cry but couldn't. She was a big fool! She shouldn't have run after a man! And now she is bound to a stupid system!!
Imagining five men with her on the bed, 'no, no, no, that's too horrifying to even imagine about'. She anxiously threw away the scary thoughts.
She glanced at the side mission and wondered if this was a clue. 5men > 5 young masters. She immediately understood that those were her harem targets!
Now all she had to do was find them and make them fall in love with her!
But... she didn't even know where she was in the first place!
Just as she stood there, racking her brain to solve her problem, a sudden rustle of leaves broke the tranquility.
Startled, she turned her head toward the sound, only to find herself face to face with a woman and a man.
"Ah! What is a child doing here?" The beautiful woman beside the man was confused.
Their presence was a pleasant surprise to Shu Wa'er, who was terribly anxious about her situation.
Just as she took a step forward to enquire about the forest, the man suddenly aimed his bow at her, causing her to freeze in fright.
"Who are you?" The man questioned, suspicion and confusion evident on his face.
The forest was filled with dangerous animals, and no one would venture into it without proper equipment or team. So it was really strange to find a weak child in the forest unless she had been abandoned by someone.
"N-no, I-I..." Shu Wa'er stuttered like a broken recorder. She was too frightened to even speak a proper syllable.
All she knew was that if the man released his arrow right now, she would be dead before even getting the chance to meet her harem targets.
Observing the little girl trembling in fear, the brown-haired woman let out a sigh and restrained the dangerous man. "What are you doing? She's just a child. There's no need to be so harsh with her."
She kneeled down beside Shu Wa'er, her eyes filled with compassion. "It's okay, my dear. You don't have to be afraid of us."
Shu Wa'er cautiously looked up at the woman, her frightened eyes meeting the warmth in the woman's gaze. She decided to play the role of an abandoned child.
"I... Mom," her eyes instantly filled with tears, and she began to sob. "Mom, I want my mom! Mom!" she suddenly wailed, ensuring that her act seemed believable to the woman.
Seeing her crying in sadness, the woman named Meng Li felt sorry for the little girl.
She believed that the child's parents had abandoned her in the forest for some reason. Even though she had witnessed several instances of parents abandoning their own children, she could never get used to it.
Perhaps it was because of her parents and husband, who had always protected her and created a safe environment for her to grow in.
Recalling the homeless children she had seen in the cities, Meng Li extended her arms, pulling the crying child into a gentle embrace.
Shu Wa'er leaned into her embrace, sobbing intermittently, "Mom, Mom." Meng Li held her tightly, but with care, offering protection and warmth to the frightened child.
Shu Wa'er: Protect me, beautiful sister!
"Shhh... It's okay, sweetheart. Don't cry."
Meng Li softly stroked the child's hair, trying to soothe her.
Her gentle touch and the rhythmic motion of her fingers through the child's locks created a soothing sensation. Shu Wa'er believed her acting had been convincing enough, so she relaxed herself.
Crying turned out to be more exhausting than she had anticipated. Since she had encountered people after landing in an unknown place, she felt a sense of relief. Before she could initiate her next act, her body forced itself to shut down.
Realizing that the child had fallen asleep out of exhaustion, Meng Li smiled helplessly. She gently lifted the child into her arms. 'So small.'
"What are you planning to do?" Song Xian, her husband, who had remained silent for a while, suddenly spoke up.
Meng Li disregarded her husband's stern expression and announced, "I'm going to take her back to our home."
"No!" Song Xiani objected.
He couldn't allow an unknown child from an unknown origin to stay with them! While he sympathized with the poor child, if he allowed his wife to bring in any child she pleased, their home would turn into an orphanage.
"I promise I'll take care of her. I'll protect her, just like you protect me," Meng Li insisted, determined to bring the child into their home.
She had grown tired of seeing children with hopeless eyes and tragic fates. She wanted to help at least one child, to provide her with a happy environment and witness her blossom into a beautiful young lady.
"Meng Li, I understand your desire to help the child, but you can't simply bring her home. What will our family think? Especially your mother," Song Xian hesitated before voicing his disapproval of his wife's decision.
Meng Li bit her bottom lip, realizing her husband was right. If her mother found out that she had taken in an unknown child, she would face severe consequences.
But... she glanced at the sleeping child in her arms. Tiny droplets of tears still clung to her eyelashes, and her small nose was red from crying. Even in deep sleep, the child tightly clung to Meng Li's clothes, as if pleading for her not to leave her alone.
Meng Li smiled tenderly and replied, "It's okay. I will take care of her." She looked at her husband, "And if we leave the child here, she will surely die by tomorrow. Do you have the heart to live knowing that we abandoned a child who could have been saved?"
Song Xian's smile turned melancholic. He knew he had lost the argument to his wife. If he had known that they would come across an abandoned child while searching for medicinal herbs, he wouldn't have come at all. "I only hope she won't bring any trouble upon you."
Meng Li beamed with joy. She knew her husband had finally agreed.
Since their search for medicinal herbs had been interrupted by the child, they hurried back to their village before the sun could set.