Professor Wu Chen of the archaeology department had long since received word that a rich second-generation heir was going to be parachuted into their department.
To be honest, he utterly looked down upon anyone who used connections to enter his tutelage.
Wu Chen glanced at the clock on the wall and let out a cold hum.
"We agreed on ten o'clock, and there are still a few seconds left. Hmph, truly a spoiled good-for-nothing!"
Lowering his head to write his lesson plan, Wu Chen felt his contempt grow even stronger.
Right at the final five seconds, the office door pushed open abruptly.
"Professor Wu, I am Yun Yao, here to report today."
Wu Chen didn't even raise his head.
"You're late."
Yun Yao gave a light laugh.
"Professor Wu, in my dictionary, I only cut it close, never late. If you don't believe me, look."
Wu Chen raised his head and saw that the second hand had indeed just ticked past the 12, forcing down his rising anger.
"Hmph, though our archaeology department is lacking in talent, it's not a place just any stray cat or dog can come and defile."
"If you just want to coast through, you'd better go tell the president to change your major."
"In our department, the three of us professors are very strict."
Driven by the desire to curry favor with Su Yuchen, Yun Yao pulled out a chair and sat down directly across from Wu Chen.
"Professor Wu, how about we make a deal?"
Wu Chen was so angry he laughed.
"I've lived over sixty years, and this is the first time I've seen someone as brazen and ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth as you!"
"Do you think having money lets you do whatever you want?"
"Scholarship! That's something no amount of money can buy! You are desecrating this profession, and desecrating me!"
Wu Chen assumed that someone like Yun Yao intended to pay someone else for academic achievements and then use them to package herself into a high-society celebrity.
Seeing Wu Chen so agitated, Yun Yao knew he had misunderstood. Maintaining her habitual respect for the teaching profession, she patiently spoke up.
"Professor Wu, listen to me. I think you'll definitely be interested in this."
Pulling out two battered, tattered scrolls from somewhere, Yun Yao placed them right on the desk.
"I really have no interest in attending school." If it weren't for chasing her little wolf pup, she wouldn't have bothered coming to a place like this.
Wu Chen looked as though he wanted to write the word "get lost" across his face, his weather-beaten eyes blazing with fury.
Unfazed, Yun Yao continued at a leisurely pace, "In your archaeology department, I'll only hold a nominal position. I won't attend classes."
Unable to endure it a moment longer, Wu Chen slammed his hand onto the desk and stood up with a start.
"Yun Yao!"
Even with the office thick with anger, Yun Yao remained entirely calm and unruffled.
"Within a year, I will make Jingnan University's archaeology department—currently ranked at the bottom in Hua Guo—rise to the very top."
"Professor Wu, isn't the lifelong aspiration of you and the two other professors to carry forward and spread the glory of Jingnan University's archaeology?"
"That is why I am here."
Before coming, Yun Yao had already reviewed everyone's backgrounds, so she naturally knew exactly what to say to hit where it hurt most.
Wu Chen was so angry his face was trembling, and a torrent of curses teetered on the edge of his lips.
Yun Yao stood up and gave the tattered scrolls on the desk a light pat.
"Don't be in such a rush to refuse. This is a welcoming gift from me to the three of you professors."
"Call me when you've made up your mind."
Leaving a string of phone numbers recklessly scrawled across Wu Chen's lesson plan, Yun Yao turned and walked out.
Wu Chen stared at the closed door, so furious he picked up the tattered scrolls, ready to hurl them.
"I'm going to be driven to death by anger!"
"I'm going to be driven to death by anger!"
Before the objects in his hand could leave his grasp, the corner of his eye seemed to catch something.
Wait!
Is that right?
Let me look again!
Pulling back his hand, Wu Chen pushed the bridge of his glasses up his nose. The longer he looked, the more excited he became, until his hands began to tremble.
"This... This is the personal manuscript of Prime Minister Xinan!"
Wu Chen had dedicated himself to studying the Dongyun Dynasty. He had thoroughly researched every aspect of its culture, except for that mysterious first female prime minister, Xinan!
She had seemed to drop out of nowhere, single-handedly turning the tide and pulling the gradually declining Dongyun Dynasty out of the swamp. From the moment she came to power, the national fortune of the Dongyun Dynasty soared as if blessed by cheats, remaining unceasingly prosperous until every single member of the royal bloodline passed away.
Despite such a formidable figure, historical records contained very little about her.
There was only a single sentence left behind by the first emperor of the Dongyun Dynasty:
[To meet Prime Minister Xinan is Dongyun's greatest fortune! Wealth and official rank can never satisfy her desires; I am willing to tilt the power of the entire nation just to win a single smile from the beauty.]
Faced with such high praise, later generations had never been able to truly fathom her.
They wanted to research her further, but had no way to begin.
And now!
He had actually obtained the personal manuscript of Prime Minister Xinan!
What this meant for the archaeological community, and what it meant for him personally, went without saying!
Treating it like a supreme treasure, Wu Chen hurriedly dialed the other professors' phones.
Meanwhile, as Yun Yao stepped out of the office, she ran straight into Yun Xinru.
Yun Xinru glared at Yun Yao.
"Yun Yao, it really is you!"
Early this morning, the Jingnan University group chat had been flooded with a photo, everyone talking about how a goddess had transferred to their school.
At first, Yun Xinru hadn't taken it to heart—after all, her own looks and talent were plain for all to see, and she figured everyone was just chasing a novelty that would fade in three days.
That was until her little sidekick brought the photo over to show her.
It turned out to be that wretch Yun Yao!
Tian Tian, standing beside Yun Xinru, looked puzzled.
"Sister Xinru, do you know her?"
Yun Yao had been in a vegetative state for five years, and people had long since forgotten that the Yun Family even had such an eldest young miss, so it was no surprise that she didn't recognize her.
Looking at Yun Yao's completely expressionless face, Yun Xinru forced down her rising anger.
"Sister, Jingnan University isn't a place just anyone can enter!"
"Don't think that relying on that face of yours allows you to bewitch that fool from the Su Family!"
"He doesn't hold any real power whatsoever!"
The subtext was clear: Jingnan University would never listen to the whims of a fool!
Yun Yao had originally intended to settle scores with Yun Xinru anyway; she never expected the girl to be so blind as to hurl herself right into her line of sight.
Not put her in her place?
Heaven and earth would not allow it!
Watching Yun Yao walk toward her with a haughty expression, Yun Xinru sneered, "Yun Yao, even if you beg me, I won't help you with..."
"Slap!"
Before Yun Xinru could finish her sentence, she took a solid, resounding blow across the face!
"Who did you call a fool?" Yun Yao's cold face was brimming with murderous intent.
Clutching her cheek, Yun Xinru stared at Yun Yao in disbelief.
"Yun Yao! How dare you hit me?"
Massaging her wrist, Yun Yao wore a look of displeasure.
"I've already hit you, and you're asking if I dare?"
Forget hitting her; Yun Yao had the heart to kill Yun Xinru.
It wasn't that retribution wouldn't come; the time simply hadn't arrived yet.
Death was undoubtedly too easy an escape.
She wanted these people to stay alive and watch with their own eyes as everything they cherished slipped away bit by bit.
She would drag them from the clouds down into the mire, and then grind them beneath her feet.
With tears welling in the corners of her eyes, Yun Xinru threw herself straight into Tian Tian's arms.
"Sister, I know you've been in a vegetative state for five years and your mental health isn't well."
"But we're family!"
"How could you hit me without any regard for right or wrong?"
"Even so, I won't blame you."
"After all, you are my older sister."