Yu Wantang was woken up by the cold.

She gave a start and opened her eyes.

Coming into view were wooden roof beams, piled with half-a-person-high split firewood. Cobwebs were spun across the beams, and in the middle of the web hung a long-dried moth.

She lowered her head to look at herself.

Wearing a dusty coarse cloth ruqun, when she raised her hand, a faint red mark was exposed on her wrist, left by a rope, which had not yet faded.

Yu Wantang: "..."

Her identity this time didn't seem very high-status.

"System." She shouted inwardly, "What is going on? Why is it ancient times again?"

The system popped out, its voice carrying a hint of cautiousness.

"Host, don't be anxious first, this... isn't ancient times."

"Huh?"

"What do you mean?" Yu Wantang raised an eyebrow, "Could it be role-playing? The Original Host wouldn't be brain-damaged enough to play someone kidnapped by mountain bandits, right?"

【Ding! World No. 30 loaded successfully!】

【Plot synopsis: The Original Host, Yu Wantang, was jointly plotted against by her best friend Xu Huanhuan, fiancé Gu Yanshen, childhood friend Chen Yu, and biological younger brother Yu Wanzhou. After being drugged, she was locked into an ancient-style villa deep in the mountains. The four of them hired a group of actors to disguise themselves as servants, Matrons, and stewards. The Original Host mistakenly believed she had time-traveled into an ancient society and become a maid in a manor. In order to survive, she endured beatings, kneeling as punishment, being locked in the firewood room, and starving—bearing everything. She was abused for a full month, and finally died in the firewood room from a high fever with no one caring.】

【Current world mission: Change the Original Host's doomed fate.】

As the voice fell, the room fell silent for a few seconds.

This was no longer an ordinary female-abuse drama.

The screenwriter who could write such an against-the-heavens and crazy plot could no longer be considered human. They were probably popped out of a stone, had no mother to give birth to them nor a father to teach them, and had no sisters—a natural-born bad seed.

Wantang rubbed her fingertips against the red mark on her wrist.

"System, check this screenwriter. If they're still alive, I'll mail razor blades to them. If they're dead, I'll go disco-dancing on their grave."

System: "...Host, calm down."

Yu Wantang let out a scoff, "Not bad. People nowadays play so wildly."

"Four scumbags hired a group of drama queens, locked up a living person, and abused her like livestock for a month."

Standing up, she moved her wrist around, her joints making crisp cracking sounds.

"The Original Host was abused, why doesn't my body feel any discomfort?"

Looking at Yu Wantang's expressionless face, the system inexplicably felt a chill rise up, and it stammered an explanation: "The current time node is the first day the Original Host was tricked here, so... it hasn't started yet."

"Where are they now?" She interrupted.

"The few of them are celebrating in a hotel down the mountain. In the original plot, they went up the mountain to 'inspect' every few days, playing princes, generals, and young masters, coming every few days to humiliate the Original Host. They won't come today, but the actors in the villa are already in place."

She twitched the corners of her mouth, with little amusement in her eyes.

Didn't they like acting to humiliate people? Then she would properly humiliate them too.

She walked to the door and listened closely for a moment.

There was someone outside the door, along with the sound of a stick dragging against the ground.

Yu Wantang took half a step back, gathered momentum, and kicked the door open.

Standing outside the door was a "servant".

A man wearing grey cloth short-attire stood at the doorway, around twenty years old, with rugged flesh on his face, holding a black wooden stick in his hand.

Seeing her come out, the man held his stick horizontally.

"What are you doing! Go back!"

He lifted his chin and put on airs: "The Master said you made a mistake and are to be locked up for three days! Within three days, you are not allowed to step out of the firewood room a single step!"

Yu Wantang looked at him without speaking.

The servant felt his heart creeped out by her gaze, and he glared fiercely to hide his cowardice: "What are you looking at!"

Yu Wantang snorted coldly.

Then she took a step forward and swung her arm in a full circle to deliver a slap.

With a crisp "crack" sound, carrying a gust of wind.

The servant was slapped so hard he spun half a circle, and the stick in his hand dropped to the ground with a "clatter". He shook his head, rolled his eyes, and fell straight onto the threshold, his face rubbing against the blue bricks, knocking him out cold and solid.

Yu Wantang lowered her head to look at her palm; it was red.

She flicked her hand; slapping people still required tools to make it truly satisfying.

Stepping over the servant to walk outside, she had barely taken two steps when another person walked over from the other end of the Yard.

It was a woman wearing a dark blue cloth vest, tied with a blue cloth skirt underneath. Her hair was coiled into a round bun, pinned with a worn and shining silver hairpin. The flesh on her face sagged, with triangular eyes, and she was holding a chipped ceramic bowl in her hand, shuffling heavily toward this side.

Judging by her appearance, she was here to deliver food.

Seeing the fallen servant at the doorway, the woman was stunned for a moment, and then her face sank.

"You little hoof! How dare you hit people? I think you're tired of living!"

She walked over quickly and slammed the bowl down onto the steps. Half a bowl of thin porridge sloshed around, floating with a sour and spoiled smell.

"The Madam is simply kind-hearted, still sending you food. I think you should just be starved for a few days to see if you'll behave yourself!"

Yu Wantang lowered her head to look at that bowl of porridge.

The rice grains were sparse, with a few vegetable leaves floating on top.

"This porridge is spoiled."

"So what if it's spoiled?" The woman widened her triangular eyes, akimbo, with a very aggressive tone, "You coarse maid, it's already not bad that you have something to eat! Still being picky? I think you really don't know what your status is!"

While cursing with her mouth, her hand had already risen, fingers spread wide, swinging straight toward Yu Wantang's face to slap her.

Yu Wantang stepped back half a step and pulled something out from behind her.

Pink, oval-shaped, with a mesh surface.

The woman was stunned for a moment, not yet reacting to what that was.

The next second, Yu Wantang pressed the switch.

"Buzz—"

A blue-purple electric light flashed across the mesh surface.

She thrust it forward, pressing it solidly against the woman's arm.

"Ah!"

The woman let out a short scream, her entire body instantly trembling like she had epilepsy.

Yu Wantang kept holding down the switch, watching her tremble for three seconds before leisurely letting go of her hand.

The woman's legs went soft, and she sat down on the ground with a "thud". Her body was still twitching, a bit of saliva was flowing from the corners of her mouth, and her eyes were blank.

The porridge bowl had long since overturned, splashing all over her body and dripping down her lapels.

Yu Wantang said word by word, "Speak, how many people did Gu Yanshen and the others hire in total to act out this play?"

The expression on the woman's face instantly panicked, her eyes darting around.

But just for a fleeting second, she quickly forced herself to calm down, "You... what are you talking nonsense about!"

"What, do you really take yourself for a managing Matron?"

She weighed the electric mosquito swatter in her hand, gently patting it against the woman's cheek. "Got a drama queen possessing you?"

"Still acting up until now, truly dedicated."

As Yu Wantang spoke, she turned on the switch of the electric mosquito swatter again.

The buzzing sound lasted for a long time.

Yu Wantang squatted down, looked at the Matron foaming at the mouth on the ground, and smiled.

"Don't you like acting? I'll direct a new play. Act it well, and there will be a reward. Botch it, and trust me, you won't want to know the consequences."