Chapter 40

Yan Yiming left without a sound. With so many people in the estate, no one had noticed she had gone far away.
She left with such determination and resolve, leaving him not a shred of hope.
It was clear she had long anticipated this day and had planned exactly what to do when it finally arrived.
Yet, Jian Yuyan still couldn't believe it, nor did he want to.
Stumbling, he went to the lakeside, asked the guards at the city gate if they had seen a veiled young woman, and when he found no trace of her, he hurriedly mounted his horse and rode out of Jinling City, chasing a hundred miles along the main road.
The maids in the estate said they had seen her at noon, and it had only been an hour since then. How far could a woman with weak stamina, traveling alone, have gone?
But in the end, his horse grew tired, the sky darkened, and the road grew increasingly deserted. He still found no trace of her.
Jian Yuyan stood on the desolate, empty official road, holding the reins of his horse. His exceptionally handsome face was etched with exhaustion, and those captivating peach-blossom eyes, once the center of attention, now held nothing but unconcealed despair. His robes were stained with dust, but he no longer had the heart to care.
The night breeze swept past, tousling his robes and his long hair. Unable to bear it any longer, Jian Yuyan knelt in the swirling yellow dust of the wind-swept road, clutching tightly the jade carving Yan Yiming had once given him. Finally, he broke down in tears.
He had lost the one he loved most.
She truly did not want him anymore.
He truly could no longer find her.
It felt as though his heart had been torn out, raw and bleeding, the pain so intense it nearly suffocated him.
By the time dawn broke the next day, Jian Yuyan had returned to Jinling, devoid of any vitality, no longer bearing the aura of the capital's top young master. Back at the Jian residence, he fell ill without warning. In his delirium, he could not hear the anxious cries of Lady Jian and Chancellor Jian. Instead, he dreamed of Yan Yiming, the first time he saw her, the first time he kissed her, and that final morning when he last saw her. When he said, “Wait for me to return,” it was the one-time Yan Yiming did not reply.
She had already made up her mind to leave, but he, burdened by guilt over the engagement, had failed to notice.
He dreamed of her singing “Song of White Hair,” expressing her wish to win the heart of one person and never part till their hair turned white. Yet, in the end, all that remained was a stark white piece of paper with the words: “Hearing you have two minds, I have come to bid farewell.”
He had placated his ancestors but chilled her heart, and in doing so, he had killed his own.
This time, Jian Yuyan was ill for a long time. Despite countless doses of medicine, there was no sign of improvement. Chancellor Jian's hair turned gray with worry, Lady Jian cried until she was drenched in tears, and Jian Yu’er stood silently to the side, biting her pale lips, her eyes red from weeping.
She wept for Jian Yuyan and for Yan Yiming.
From the moment Jian Yuyan returned in such a wretched state after staying out all night, Jian Yu’er had guessed what had happened.
That woman, with her fierce temperament and her love that could not tolerate the slightest impurity, the one who had once ruined her own face without hesitation for her sake, how could she remain indifferent upon learning that Jian Yuyan was to marry another?
She must have chosen the most resolute path, perhaps death, perhaps departure. But for Jian Yuyan, it made no difference.
He had ultimately lost her.
Jian Yu’er walked out of the Jian residence in a daze. Jiang Yi asked her what had happened. Lifting her head in a trance, she suddenly remembered that Jiang Yi also knew Yan Yiming.
“I should have told him earlier,” Jian Yu’er said. She should have told Jian Yuyan sooner that she had long known about his impending marriage. If she had, perhaps Yan Yiming would not have left, and Jian Yuyan would not be as lifeless as he was now.
Jiang Yi finally understood everything. He recalled the day he heard Yan Yiming had left Plum Garden and had a premonition it would be the last time he saw her, now it had become reality.
This relationship, which he saw as having no future, ended just as he imagined, without any resolution.
Jian Yuyan’s severe illness even alarmed the palace. The Crown Prince ordered imperial physicians to save him, and when Jian Yuyan opened his eyes to his overjoyed mother, his heart ached faintly, yet he still announced his decision to break off the engagement.
Yan Yiming once told him that people always face dilemmas where they must make choices, as long as they don’t regret them later.
He chose the revival of the previous dynasty and gave up his lover.
And he was filled with endless regret.
Madam Jian was shocked, and Chancellor Jian was furious, but Jian Yuyan never wavered, declaring he would not marry.
He already had a wife he considered his lifelong partner and never wanted anyone else, even if she was no longer there.
The system gave Yan Yiming one month. With three days left, it finally notified her that she could exit Jian Yuyan’s scenario and start the next one.
Yan Yiming couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Has Jian Yuyan changed?”
“He has,” Little A nodded, indicating Yan Yiming should check Jian Yuyan’s SSR card again.
His intelligence and emotional intelligence had reached their peak, while his previously lagging action and decision-making abilities had surged into the mid-to-high range. Little A glanced at Yan Yiming and explained, “Decision-making and action aren’t innate advantages like intelligence or emotional intelligence, they can grow with the character’s development.”
Rather than growth, it was more like stimulation.
Through Jian Yu’er’s perspective, Yan Yiming saw Jian Yuyan after her departure. Jian Yu’er reflected that perhaps because he lost the most important thing, Jian Yuyan never cared about anything else again.
Because he no longer valued other things and finally understood what he truly wanted, Jian Yuyan shed the hesitation that once plagued him. Without the person who made him soft-hearted, there was no need for further deliberation.
Decision-making wasn’t about capability but willingness. And Yan Yiming had told him that in life, one must always hold onto what they truly desire.
Jian Yuyan finally carved a new path on the road he once thought was his only option, twisting the plot and achieving a perfect success in this conquest.
One SSR card, an extended time bonus, Yan Yiming hummed cheerfully the whole time while counting her diamonds.
The last diamond count was awkward, over 1,900, not enough for two 11-draws, so she saved the odd 900. Now, after this conquest, she successfully accumulated 5,000 diamonds.
5,000 diamonds! That meant 55 draws!
Yan Yiming’s mood couldn’t be better.
“I have a feeling, I’m going to have an explosive draw,” she said with inexplicable confidence, convinced she could pull multiple SSR cards.
Of course, preferably not Nan Gongxuan or Jian Yuyan’s.
Little A nodded enthusiastically beside her, “Go for it! May the Gacha gods bless you!”
Yan Yiming made an “OK” gesture, took a deep breath, and tapped the 11-draw button.
Tap.
No response.
Tap again.
Still nothing.
Yan Yiming: ???
“What's going on?”
“Huh?” Little A rolled over and tapped the screen again, but the system remained completely unresponsive.
“Wait, let me check!” With that, Little A vanished from sight. After quite a while, it reappeared, looking deeply apologetic. “The system is malfunctioning.”
Little A hadn't expected this either. Because the real-world game had added new features, it was supposed to update today. However, due to the programmers' issues, even though the scheduled time had passed, the update still wasn't ready. Players were already causing an uproar on Weibo, and the programmers were rushing to fix things, but the more they hurried, the more chaotic it became, and they accidentally caused another problem.
Although their system and the real-world programmers weren't exactly the same, they were ultimately connected. Now that the real-world servers had crashed, it unexpectedly affected their side as well.
Crashed.
So, whether it was drawing cards or customizing appearances, neither could be done for the time being.
Yan Yiming glared resentfully at Little A, utterly at a loss for words to express the frustration inside. All the hard-earned five thousand diamonds she had saved up were now useless, and she couldn't even customize her face.
Yan Yiming took a deep breath to suppress her anger and said to Little A, “If the system doesn't give me satisfactory compensation for this malfunction, the consequences will be severe.”
Little A quickly nodded and raised a hand to swear that there would be generous compensation. Then, it cautiously reminded Yan Yiming, “Host, we need to prepare. It's time to set off.”
“...”
“Well, because during the last card draw, aside from Jian Yuyan's SSR card, you also obtained Jiang Yi's SR card. To make the strategy easier, we will automatically select Jiang Yi's SR card.”
“Understood.”
“And about the appearance customization... Even though you can't do it yourself, the system has prepared several facial features that are still quite beautiful!”
What else could Yan Yiming say? She silently stared at Little A for a long time before finally stating, “I have a red mole at the corner of my eye.”
Little A immediately remembered that during both of the host's previous appearance customizations, she had insisted on adding a red mole at the corner of her eye to match her original look. Feeling that the host had already suffered enough, Little A didn't delay any further and quickly performed a frantic search through the database.
Then, to its near-tearful joy, it actually found a face with a red mole at the corner of the eye!
Little A let out a long sigh of relief and assured Yan Yiming that the host body would definitely be a beauty and would definitely have the red mole. Finally satisfied, Yan Yiming closed her eyes and said, “Alright, let's begin.”
In the thirty-fifth year of Chenxia, it was the heart of winter.
The winter in Luoyang was much colder than in Jinling. Yan Yiming sat by the brazier, bundled in clothes thicker than she was, carefully warming herself.
A maid lifted the heavy curtain and entered with a bowl of medicine, saying, “Miss, it's time for your medicine.”
Yan Yiming took the bowl, her face clearly showing reluctance. But under the maids' concerned gazes, she downed the bitter concoction in one gulp and asked, “What's all the commotion outside?”
The maid glanced outside and replied casually, “Fifth Master passed away some time ago and sent a letter to the master. The master sent someone to fetch that young master. He must have arrived today.”