Chapter 242: 242 Has the heart of desire gotten into trouble?_1
Let alone the birthday of this current body; even if her memory were excellent, her recollection of her own past birthdays had faded.
When one lives too long, the concept of time slowly becomes blurred.
Ever since all her relatives had passed away, she hadn’t celebrated a birthday.
This response surprised Hua Zhuo.
She pursed her lips and subconsciously asked, "You’ve never celebrated a birthday?"
It was only after asking that she realized if it were the former Wen Jiang, it was possible she had never celebrated one.
At this thought, a flicker of pity arose in Hua Zhuo’s heart, but she saw Wen Jiang indifferently answer, "No."
She remembered Song Yingchen celebrating her birthday with her. Those had been happy and fortunate times for the original owner. Neither of them knew their own birthdays, so they designated the first day they met as their birthday. Every year, they would buy something a little tastier to treat each other.
But these memories, like Wen Jiang’s previous ones, existed without stirring her emotions.
Occasionally, when she thought about them, she would sigh for the original owner.
Hua Zhuo’s gaze flickered; she felt as though she had asked a presumptuous question. Attempting to make amends, she immediately said, "I... I know your birthday. Let’s celebrate it this year. How about I give you a proper celebration? What do you think? If you don’t like inviting other people, then we can just celebrate simply."
Hua Zhuo was still around when Jimo Xiao’s child was born, so she naturally knew the child’s birthday.
She suddenly brought it up because the date was approaching.
Wen Jiang glanced at her, unconcerned. "Whatever you want."
The birthday arrangements were naturally left to Hua Zhuo; Wen Jiang didn’t even ask for the exact date.
At this time, the news of Xie Lingyan’s suicide had also caused a stir in the Xie Family.
Wen Jiang then received a tip-off from Zero Egg: the old lady of the Xie Family couldn’t accept this and was so shocked that she ended up in the hospital.
The shock must have been significant, as the doctor’s report indicated that if she couldn’t be treated, she might spend her last days in the hospital.
Hua Zhuo, out of humanitarian concern, went to take a look. Although she said nothing on her return, Zero Egg remarked, "She still had the strength to scold you while lying in her hospital bed."
She didn’t dare to scold too harshly. However, Wen Jiang hadn’t concealed her visit to the Xie Family from anyone. Xie Lingyan committed suicide right after she left, so the old lady was convinced Wen Jiang was responsible.
Not knowing what Xie Lingyan had done, the old lady only rebuked Wen Jiang, accusing her of having a wicked heart and claiming that upon returning to the Jimo Family, she was out for the lives of everyone in the Xie Family.
This was an exaggeration; Wen Jiang thought the old lady was purely delirious.
The old lady hadn’t done many good deeds in her life; otherwise, Hua Zhuo wouldn’t have remained silent.
In her youth, for the sake of wealth and status, the old lady had hoped her daughter would marry a profligate scion. If her daughter hadn’t been fortunate enough to meet Jimo Xiao, it would have been difficult for her to escape the Xie Family’s influence, even with Jimo Xiao’s military background. The proof was that she hadn’t fully broken free even after marriage.
Xie Lingyan had obtained a lot of money by relying on the Jimo Family. Even if the old lady claimed ignorance, she should have had some inkling. She had lived a life of wealth and luxury through her son and daughter, so enduring some suffering in old age was what she deserved. Besides, "Being served good food and drink daily in a VIP hospital room, and she calls that suffering? Even Immortals don’t live as well as she does."
Zero Egg pondered Wen Jiang’s words with its limited data capacity, then expressed agreement, "You’re right!"
With nothing better to do, Wen Jiang asked Zero Egg on a whim, "Zero Egg, if I had followed my previous path and stayed dutifully by Song Yingchen’s side, what do you think my fate would be now?"
Zero Egg: "..."
Wen Jiang had used the word "fate."
The use of "fate" in this context surely indicated something bad.
The Heart of the World’s calculations had long since changed, and Zero Egg had no idea. It hemmed and hawed, stuttering, "Maybe... maybe you’d still be in a lovey-dovey phase with the great-grandson?"
This was still an understated way of putting it.
Thinking down the melodramatic path, it was possible that right now, she would still be tormented by the not-yet-dead Wu Fanjia, and then by Song Yingchen.
Zero Egg hadn’t thought much of it before. But now, having so often witnessed Wen Jiang’s overwhelmingly powerful demeanor, it found the idea of her returning to that old path hard to accept. "Host," it said, "that was the Heart of the World’s projection, not my arrangement!"
"I’ve always wondered," Wen Jiang said. "Given your capabilities as a System, even if my past self had taken that path, it would’ve been incredibly difficult to earn enough Points to unlock an A-Rank Card Set for Song Yingchen."
The conditions for calculating emotional Points with this System were nothing short of demanding.
Not to mention, in the end, Song Yingchen had to be put on the path to becoming the strongest male lead.
How could that be possible with just the card sets that came with the System?
Wen Jiang chuckled lightly. "I actually think the Heart of the World might have had it all planned out."
Her being chosen wasn’t an accident.
After learning that the Heart of the World had saved her, this thought had faintly emerged in her mind.
Since it had saved her, among so many people in the world, her soul could have been placed into anyone.
She speculated that perhaps the Wen Jiang of this time-space was from her own parallel universe.
It was as if both worlds had experienced great cataclysms but had then diverged onto different paths.
Moreover, the conditions to achieve this must have been incredibly stringent. Otherwise, the Heart of the World wouldn’t have had to expend so much effort to give Wen Jiang this task she couldn’t refuse.
"What?!"
But her words made Zero Egg’s CPU practically smoke. "What do you mean by ’it was destined from the start’?"
Wen Jiang knew explaining further would be futile, so she stated it plainly, "My initial path wasn’t that of a tormented female protagonist. The Heart of the World had already changed your core mission."
Everything Zero Egg did was under the surveillance of the Heart of the World. Zero Egg’s role as a System wasn’t actually to accumulate Points; it was very likely just a vessel for the Heart of the World to communicate with her.
If not Zero Egg, it could have been another System.
Zero Egg was greatly shocked and puzzled. "Are you saying the Heart of the World always knew what we were up to?"
Wen Jiang: "Mhm."
Some of the Heart of the World’s communications were inaudible to Zero Egg, so it was unaware of any deals struck between the Heart of the World and Wen Jiang.
The God of Desire’s task had come out of the blue, which was another thing that baffled Zero Egg.
Zero Egg suddenly felt a pang of guilt. "...Then it... the Heart of the World knows about everything I’ve done?"
Then, its ambitions, like wanting to rise within the Heaven’s Mandate System hierarchy—wouldn’t the Heart of the World know about those too?
Wen Jiang laughed. "It was never hidden from the start."
She had initially wondered if the Heart of the World was malicious, but later she realized she had been overthinking it.
With such immense power, the Heart of the World could destroy a world as easily as flipping its hand; Its motives must be far more profound.
That was why it chose her; only she had the potential to accomplish this task.
She had even vaguely guessed a bit of the truth about awakening the God of Desire.
Perhaps the God of Desire was in trouble, and this world was somehow connected to the cause of Its predicament.