Chapter Text
Honestly anyone who likes Mondays were either stupidly perplexing or just NOT human in Meng Yao’s humble opinion. It was the harshest day of the week, a slap in the face to wake up from the restful weekend to the weekdays where you had to do your job. While some lucky souls may actually like their jobs. Meng Yao definitely wasn’t one of them, considering his “job” pretty much was nodding and smiling politely while he fixed other people’s stupidity on their jobs. All while they demeaned him and practically spat on his..well everything too be honest.
His hair, face, clothing, etiquette, personality, and especially his origins and heritage. It all wasn’t good enough for anyone in Peony Inc, after all he didn’t even live in the “normal/wildly rich neighborhoods” that most of those nepotistic workers did. And god forbid that he “steps out of his place”, and that statement is usually followed by dozens of insults that either make him want to murder someone or murder himself.
Really, he got that working on the Koi Team for Peony Inc was probably seen as overstepping his station boundaries and blah blah. Still occasionally he wondered if tumbling off those flight of stairs was worth it. Eh, better not think too hard on it or else Meng Yao may just decide to air out all the dirty laundry of the company and he really doesn’t want the publicity of a scandal.
Meng Yao sighs as he slumps on a park’s bench that was near the new construction project which was funded by Peony Inc, before flicking open his phone and checking online for any updates on his favorite web novels. Which his current favorite was “The Grandmasters of Cultivation Society”, it had multiple viewpoints and perspectives with a diversity of personalities. The cultivation clans were so colorful in writing, from the wintery and strict natured Gusu Lan Clan to the warm splashing lotus lakes of of the Yunmeng Jiang Clan. However, the most interesting clan to Meng Yao was the Lanling Jin clan.
Now most fans would say that Golden Koi Tower was a viper’s den of ambitions with a wide range of goals. But Meng Yao found it’s political climate and hierarchy very well woven he respected the author’s skills. And for actually having a somewhat mature username, which was ArrowNingGuy with the Co-writer/beta of GentleFrostFlower. Not bad honestly considering he saw that on another web novel with about 6666 chapters, and there was a anti-fan that named themselves “Peerless Cucumber” who was apparently very famous in the fandom, it’s author was named “Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky.”
So he was somewhat sad when the novel ended on a rather grim note with the cultivators, especially his favorite trio of characters. You couldn’t blame him either, Nie Mingjue was dead and rotting for a while now, Lan Xichen was in seclusion for the foreseeable future, and his all time favorite character Jin Guangyao was also dead and rotting in a ditch before he could explain his plans and actions in the novel. But he wasn’t that angry with the author, as in the end notes it was written that personal life had gotten hard so they had wanted to end it here for mental health reasons.
Sure yeah, he was dissatisfied but thanked the author anyways in the comment section. However as he stood up, a construction accident with Peony Inc happened which ended in a large piece of rock smashing into him. So as Meng Yao died, he cursed his damn father’s company for being greedy and cutting budgets. He know he wasn’t going to make it out of this one considering he heard the sickening crack of bone and flesh breaking along with the large pool of blood spreading underneath his body.
Yeah, Meng Yao was definitely dying. Ah well, he supposes that for everything that went wrong in his life there wasn’t really anything he regretted too much. Well, other than not sabotaging his father’s company maybe or fulfilling his mother’s dreams for him to become successful in life.
”At least I managed to finish my favorite web novel,” Meng Yao thought as he felt his consciousness slipping away. He thought of his father before adding a fuck you to his final thoughts. “Ugh, I still wish that the novel could have had a better ending for the characters though,’’ Was his final thought as it all went black.
📚🌺📚
Meng Yao snapped his eyes open to a wooden roof, he groaned before realizing that he was supposed to be dead. So what kind of “life flashing in front of his eyes” was this? He was pretty sure that he had never seen this charming little room before that was reminiscent of ancient Chinese architecture, unless it was like on a documentary or when he worked for his school’s theater program as a manager. Before a loud Ding! and a flashing yellow screen popped out of nowhere in front of his face.
[Hello User, and welcome to System! Your Activation Code was: “Ugh, I still wish that the novel could have had a better ending for the characters though”, we hope to provide you with the best transmigration experience. This System operates with the design concept of “You'll never know until you try.” We hope to give User the chance to transform the story’s grim ending to a happily ever after!]
[The System has assigned User the role or “Meng Yao/Jin Guangyao!” Currently still named Meng Yao as the timeline is still between the Cloud Recesses Study Arc to the Sunshot Campaign. In this era, after his disgrace at Golden Koi Tower, Meng Yao worked as a bookkeeper before he found Lan Xichen and returned to the cultivation world. Currently User is in village named “Xuanjing”, would User like to see more of his status and information?]
Meng Yao gaps stupidly at the screen before taking a moment of processing that you know, he was dead and had been transmigrated into his favorite web novel as his favorite relatable character who dies in the future poetically. Really he couldn’t even have been a cool side character who got a good ending? Curse his terrible luck!
So…this was now his life. Huh, a bookkeeper wasn’t honestly too bad of a job and Meng Yao was pretty familiar with accounting and writing up transactions for reports. Maybe he can even just not join in the story when it starts up? After all he was a modern man with other skills that he had picked up with observations or pure boredom so if needed he could maybe get another job if he wanted to.
He wasn’t really a inhabitant here anyways, so it didn’t matter if a cultivator wasn’t suppose be happy with a life of a mortal. To Meng Yao, as much as it was fun to read about the dangerous but exciting nature of a cultivator, it really wasn’t fun to actually get involved and die just because of your job. Yeah, he’ll be fine even if he’s forced to get involved, he can adapt and land on his feet.
With those thoughts in mind, (Or else he may have a mental breakdown if he thinks about anything else), Meng Yao got off his new bed (it was actually very comfortable for a setting in ancient times!) and started to explore the layout of what was apparently his humble cottage in this little village. All in all, it wasn’t too bad! There was about 3 rooms, one was the bedroom that he woke up in, another that seem to be a parlor for guests with a kitchen connected to it, and the last one was an office that seem to be where the original worked.
So far Meng Yao was pretty satisfied with his current lodgings, next part of his plan was to ask the system on how daily life worked here. “Hey System right! How do things really work here? Like currency and politics or just stuff that I need to live?”
[Hello again valued User! For all information regarding daily life, please check out our “Master File” it contains all relevant content to fit into this world! Such as currency exchange, writing characters, normal etiquette, and even how to dress correctly! Along with more! Check it out here—>”Master File.”]
”Alright thanks!” Meng Yao said back to the floating screen that then disappeared from view. He checked and read the file as he made his way to the office, the file confirming that some basics that he know from actual historical facts from the modern world to somethings that were normal in works of fiction. Turns out the system also functioned like an RPG game, with some online stores and a mini map. Which was be very helpful especially if he was forced to perform his role as Jin Guangyao, which he definitely wasn’t really looking forward to.
It also had tabs that were like apps, such as a notebook tab plus a activities/quest tab along with others. So much to do really, so at least he wouldn’t be bored to death. Maybe he can even increase this body’s low power? So maybe if needed Meng Yao wouldn’t be helpless at least, as being a damsel in distress really wasn’t his style. He would prefer to be the mastermind behind the scenes pulling the strings, thank you very much.
So much opportunity available to him really, if you ignored the prejudices in the cultivation world of course. Ah well, not really his problem. Meng Yao decided to work on what the original was clearly doing before hand. With guidance from the System on how to grind ink and write correctly with a brush, he was rusty with it even if he was in the traditional calligraphy club beforehand.
”Yeah, I’ll do fine here,” Meng Yao thought as he hummed while doing the simple work that was familiar to him. Tomorrow he can figure out more about this world, yes it wasn’t so bad of a life. He had advantages and very intimate knowledge of the future and past here, Meng Yao refuses to bow down and die like the original character no way. He would find a way to keep his life intact.
Unknown to him, the Qishan Wen Clan was already plotting on how to make the Cloud Recesses into dusty ash.