Chapter One: The Premature Arrival of the System

“Yu Tang, sign this divorce agreement.”
Inside the villa, Song Zhiyan leaned coldly against the sofa, pushing the divorce agreement across the coffee table toward Yu Tang.
At his words, Yu Tang’s head jerked up, her face contorted, her tone shrill, “You… you want to divorce me? Why?!”
Before the man before her could reply, Yu Tang seemed to change in an instant. She clutched his hand desperately, eyes pleading, her voice low and humble, “Don’t divorce me, please. I beg you. We’ve been through so much together all these years…”
Song Zhiyan frowned and shook off her hand, his tone icy, “You know as well as I do that I married you out of a sense of obligation. That debt was repaid long ago.”
“Don’t waste time. It’s Friday and the civil affairs bureau hasn’t closed yet.”
At his words, Yu Tang’s eyes grew even redder with rage.
“I’m telling you, Song Zhiyan! It’s impossible for me to divorce you! Unless I’m dead!”
“Don’t think I don’t know—you’ve got that little vixen outside! I’m telling you, as long as I don’t divorce you, she’ll never get in!”
Yu Tang’s extreme reaction made her seem almost deranged.
A flash of disgust crossed Song Zhiyan’s eyes. He put his legs down, flipped the divorce agreement to the page for signatures.
“Suit yourself. Dragging this out won’t help. There’s nothing I, Song Zhiyan, have ever wanted to do that I couldn’t accomplish.”
With that, he turned and left, unwilling to waste another moment with this madwoman.
Yu Tang stared after his retreating back with wild eyes, a cold resolve flickering in her gaze.
Song Zhiyan, since you can’t love me, I’ll make sure you never forget me!
A loud bang reverberated. Yu Tang slammed her head straight into the wall.
A sharp pain, a blink, and in that instant, the soul inside her body changed.
Yu Tang, a rising star actress from the twenty-first century, had just been about to accept her Golden Rooster Award when she crossed over. On her way to the stage, her high heels slipped, and she fell. When she awoke, she found herself here.
She opened her eyes to an unfamiliar room, her head pounding as she absorbed the memories that weren’t her own.
Yu Tang had shot to fame at eighteen with a single drama, destined to rise in the industry. But after one drama, she lost herself in love and married Song Zhiyan.
She became a dutiful housewife, tending to her husband and withdrawing from social circles, even as her family ties faded. Yet Song Zhiyan never cared for her, marrying her only out of gratitude after the Yu family helped him rise from ruin.
As Yu Tang sifted through these memories, darkness threatened her vision.
Lying helpless on the floor, she howled in despair, “What a waste of a winning hand…”

With advantages like these, if it were her, she’d be happy to idle her days away.
As she fumed and crawled gloomily along the floor, a cold mechanical voice sounded in her mind.
[Detected the host’s strong will to survive. The Villain Self-Rescue System has been automatically activated.]
[Yu Tang, a talentless fake heiress, once lived a pampered life. But in 2025, your true identity was exposed. Unwilling to accept the truth, you targeted the real heiress at every turn.]
[After repeated self-sabotage, your parents became deeply disappointed in you and, with heavy hearts, cast you out. Song Zhiyan, who married you out of obligation, fell for the real heiress’s kindness and abandoned you, leaving you without help.]
[It is now 2050. You are forty years old, wandering homeless, dying in the streets. Upon detecting your strong will to survive, the Villain Survival System has been activated. I will guide you to seek forgiveness, mend your ways, and live peacefully.]
Yu Tang, enduring a splitting headache, fumbled for her phone to check the time.
If she remembered correctly, this Yu Tang was only twenty-five this year. How did she suddenly become a woman in her forties?
Is this a joke from the heavens?
She turned on her phone. The screen’s light stung her eyes.
Goodness, what an elderly body—her waist ached, her legs hurt, her head throbbed, and now her eyes stung, too.
She forced her eyes open to see clearly.
[Date: May 23, 2035, Friday.]
But wasn’t it 2035? Was this system just here to scare her?
On impulse, Yu Tang opened the camera app—she was a stickler for appearances.
In her past life, Yu Tang was hailed as the entertainment industry’s most stunning beauty, not just for her natural looks but also her devotion to self-care.
She watched the camera load, anticipation high.
A sallow, emaciated face with poor skin and dark circles down to her cheeks stared back from the screen.
Yu Tang nearly flung her phone away in horror.
She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping it was an illusion.
She couldn’t look like this even if she went a month without rice. Looking down, she checked her plain white dress and flat, shapeless figure.

Terrible—bad body, bad taste, all hope lost!
Yu Tang was about to lose her mind. How could someone let themselves go like this?
In truth, her features were still good; her nose was high, her eyes large, somewhat resembling her past self. It was just her current state that ruined it.
She could only comfort herself with that thought.
Unable to bear the sight, she turned away, only to catch the divorce agreement on the table out of the corner of her eye.
[You once relied on your family’s power to help the bankrupt Song Zhiyan start anew. Out of gratitude, he married you, and you agreed to divorce amicably if either found someone else.]
[But when the time came, you refused, keeping the real heiress nameless. Song Zhiyan grew to hate you for it. When you were cast out by your family, he forbade anyone from helping you, leaving you completely alone and destitute.]
[Mission issued: Divorce Song Zhiyan and grant his wish.]
[Mission difficulty: Five stars.]
[Mission reward: Regain the physique of your twenty-year-old self.]
Yu Tang paused at the system’s cold mechanical voice and asked instinctively,
[What does that mean? My own twenty-year-old body, or Yu Tang’s twenty-year-old body?]
After all, she had been the campus beauty at Yun University—her physique and figure top-notch.
If she could return to her former self, she couldn’t even imagine how outgoing she’d become.
The system seemed not to understand her question, static crackling in her mind.
[It is now 2050 and you are forty. You will regain the physique of Yu Tang, the campus beauty at Yun University in 2030.]
At those words, Yu Tang was overjoyed, wishing she could sign the divorce papers right then and there.
But her past experiences made her read the agreement carefully instead.
Meanwhile, Song Zhiyan had reached the underground garage and was about to open his car door. For some reason, he kept thinking of the loud bang he’d heard when he closed the door earlier.
Annoyed, he hesitated, then turned back.
He wanted to see what that madwoman Yu Tang was up to this time!