I’m An All Stars System - Chapter 27 2.12 Star Painter

When Tian He finally woke up, she realized that it was already way past midday and besides having an aching body, her stomach was madly growling.

“I’m so hungry.” She slept so much that her hunger pains were so bad that she even felt a bit light-headed from the lack of sugar in her body.

When she got up from the bed, she just realized her body was clothed in comfortable silk for sleeping and her body felt clean, it looks this half-brother of hers didn’t forget to wash her properly this time.

After she exited the bedroom, she didn’t find her half-brother inside the study room but since she was currently starving, she opted to call a servant to send her food instead. She was too hungry to think about anything else.

When the servant came and placed the plates of stemming food onto the table in the study room, she immediately dismissed them and wolf down the food.

“Hmm~, so good.” Nothing like eating all you want after being starved.

This time’s food consisted of her favorite crispy fried chicken, vegetable soup, three vegetable dishes and one sour vegetable side dish, all paired with the sweet white rice that was cooked until the rice was nice and soft. It was simply too good.

Before she started eating, she had called a servant to inquire about where her half-brother was, but even after finishing this large meal, that servant hasn’t returned, so she couldn’t help but wonder what was going on.

She addressed a servant girl to bring her outing clothes and help her get changed into them before she headed out of her half-brother’s study room to look for him.

What she saw outside was really different from her imagination, many guards, more than usual was patrolling the whole mansion with a tense expression, like they we’re preparing for some kind of battle. She grew curious about what was going on, so she pulled aside one of the guards to inquire about the situation.

“In replies to Young Miss, the young clan leader has ordered most of his forces to gather because the Shi family has declared war against us.” A young guard solemnly replied to his Young Miss.

She was taken aback; the Shi family actually has the courage to declare war on the powerful Wang clan?! Do they want to die that badly? Just what is going on?

After dismissing the guard back to his duties, she made her way towards the main meeting hall, since a war between clans was actually going to happen, she knew that her half-brother would want to gather the important figures of his clan and prepare for the war.

When she arrived in front of entrance, she was surprised to find out that she was barred from entering, it seems like they were in the midst of discussing important details and didn’t want to be disturbed. Respecting that, she left a message to the guard to inform his young clan leader that she wanted to see him after he was done with the meeting.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go in and help but right now, she was the Young Miss of the Wang clan, all she is supposed to know is to paint, although her brother has witnessed her fighting capabilities, it wasn’t enough to help out with this kind of situation that required more than just one person’s strength.

She eventually returned to her courtyard and decided to put her other plan to action.

“Shi clan, I knew that my instincts were correct.” Since she met them in the Wang clan’s dining hall and saw the way they’ve acted, she knew that they were people who were greedy but weren’t careful in their actions. This time’s war did catch her off guard, but it was a good thing that she placed that nanny Lan as a chess piece to figure out more and gather details for her in the Shi clan.

“Who knew that my plans would come in handy right now.” Originally, she only intended to send nanny Lan to the Shi clan to investigate about their young miss that she saw two weeks about the original owner’s circumstances and how she was being treated in the Arts college.

Whoever the original owner offended or anyone that didn’t like her were primary suspects for being the person who arrested and framed her and since she met that young miss from the Shi clan, she knew that she didn’t like the original owner, so she started her investigation with her.

“Alright, finished.” She rolled up the small letter she wrote to nanny Lan and placed it on a messenger pigeon to have it sent to the Shi clan.

“With this, I’ll at least know why the Shi clan was so brave to declare war on the exalted Wang clan.” It was obvious to everyone that the Shi clan is just a slightly more powerful clan in this major territory, not even powerful enough to defeat a minor territory owner, yet this ‘brave’ Shi clan had actually wanted to perform this suicidal attack against the Wang clan.

She wouldn’t believe it if there wasn’t some kind of motive behind this and that other forces from either the neighboring major territories or minor territories had joined together with the Shi clan to attack her elder brother.

“Whatever is the case, I can only help like this and wait for nanny Lan’s reply, maybe she’ll give me some helpful information.” In the meantime, she needed to concentrate on completing her painting.

She was almost done and only the last finishing touches were needed, then she could submit it to the Arts Contest’s judges. Once it was her turn to display and summon the life within it, she would finally complete her task in this world.

Although she wanted to stay longer, the original owner’s soul had to come back after her regrets were fulfilled or it would create too many discrepancies.

“At least, I’ll leave without that many regrets.” She realized that besides spending more time with her half-brother, she also wanted to give birth to his children and grow old together with him. Her heart was getting more and more selfish, she never knew she was such a greedy person until she experienced what it felt like to love someone and have them love you back.

“Sighs.” She put away these impossible wishes and focused on finishing her painting. After all, this was a memorable gift she had prepared for her half-brother to remember her by, perhaps he wouldn’t be too lonely with this besides him.

..

Finally, it was the morning of the annual Arts contest and the students that were on break to get ready for this all began to rush back and submit their paintings. Apparently, they had until before midday to turn it in to the judges before they were declared disqualified. Most of the residents of this major territory would travel towards this main city to witness this event held by the Arts College, because all the students participating in this will all be future graduates of it and the ones that perform well will mostly likely be an important figure in the future. So, before these students have a chance to mature, many different leaders from all the cities spread across this major and other territories will come here to try their chance at recruiting these talented painters.

It was supposed to be an event most talked about, but it looks like this year it was a bit different. Other than the topics of which student in the Arts college will mostly likely come out on top, there were also talks on how the Shi clan that resided in this main city had the courage to declare a clan war against the exalted Wang clan that ruled over this major territory.

Everyone knew that the Shi clan’s forces don’t even amount to that of a minor territory owner’s, to say nothing of the forces under the Wang clan that ruled over this major territory. Most of the people in the major territory would believe that the Shi clan is just sending themselves to their deaths, but the intellectual ones probably have other thoughts about this suicidal act by the Shi clan. Without a particular motive or support, they didn’t believe that the Shi clan leader was stupid enough to send their own clan into demise by making such a rash decision as declaring war on the Wang clan’s leader.

However, since this had nothing to do with them, they didn’t think about this further and put their attention on the Arts contest. After all, whether the Shi clan gets wiped out or something happens to the Wang clan, they as ordinary residents of this major territory wouldn’t be involved. Instead, it was more important for some of the small city owners under them to be wary because once something happens to the Wang clan leader, there might be a shift in power and forces, naturally they would be the first ones to be affected.

As the majority of the students have already gathered at the main plaza inside the Arts college to submit their paintings to the judges stationed there, the residents and travelers from other cities quickly took their seats and waited for the contest to begin. Once all the contestants have finished submitting their paintings, the judges would arrange them in stands and on other stages for the audience to take a look.

Each painter would get a chance to summon their paintings to life and have the judges look at it once it was their turn. The rest of time was allocated to the audience to look around each painting and see which student would stand out among the rest, hopefully they would be lucky and get to know that student. Whether people were here for admiring the art or for recruiting the students, they respected the Arts college’s rules and were patiently waiting until midday before the contest began.

Compared to the liveliness and anticipatory atmosphere at the Arts college, near the end of the main street where the exalted Wang clan’s mansion was located, a chilling, almost freezing atmosphere enveloped the whole place. Most of the guards stationed in and outside of the mansion had on tense expressions, but it was the servants in the mansion that suffered the most from this chilling atmosphere.

Their mouths were shut, and no one dared to make any loud noises for fear that they would attract the attention of their furious young clan leader. Ever since this morning when their Young Miss has visited their clan leader, shouts and angry voices were heard in the study room which resulted in the Young Miss being confined to her courtyard.

However, since the Young Miss was unresigned with her elder brother’s decision, she caused their clan leader even more trouble by declaring that she wouldn’t eat anything until she was let out, so now every servant in the mansion knew that their Young Miss who was always doted on by their young clan leader has angered him for some reason and is being punished by confinement in her courtyard.

Tian He was currently pacing in her bedroom with anxiety written all over her face. She needed to submit and display her painting for the Arts contest before midday, but her half-brother was worrying too much and confined her in her courtyard. The original owner’s dream and regret was exactly painting the most realistic painting and displaying it in the Arts contest, if her dream isn’t fulfilled, she didn’t want to try to feel the punishment the main system would put on her.

Although Little Stars never mentioned it, she knew that since this main system forcefully kidnapped her to do these tasks, there was bound to be someone that didn’t complete their tasks properly, who knows what happened to them. Someone that can have the power to technically ‘control’ these worlds, has to have implemented a system of rules for these ‘hosts’ to complete their tasks properly, or else wouldn’t everyone that became ‘hosts’ fail in their tasks.

Once she fails this task and leaves this world, she’ll be at the mercy of this main system, the worst-case scenario she imagined for herself would be getting forcefully placed in a dangerous world to complete her tasks, she did not want to go on a road that would lead to her suffering like that. Right now, all she knew is that this main system had the power to decide which world she went to, if she knew more of its powers, her imagination of her possible punishment might be even wilder.

This really couldn’t go on, either she escaped from here by bypassing the guards outside her courtyard or try to convince this half-brother of hers to let her go.

Since neither was possible right now, she needed to think of something else.

Tian He got tired of pacing and decided she needed to calm down. She sat down while pouring herself a cup of tea, since she was also on a hunger strike, she still didn’t eat anything since this morning and she was starting to get a bit hungry but since this half-brother of hers hasn’t released her, she wouldn’t dare lose the only bargaining chip she had.

After sipping the almost cold tea, she began going over her options.

“Obviously this hunger strike isn’t working since this half-brother of mine still hasn’t let me out.” She sipped more of the cold tea to try to relieve her growing hunger.

“Sighs, if I knew this would happen, I would have never informed him of what I found out.” She really regretted telling her half-brother about what Nanny Lan found out when she got close enough to have heard some secrets from that young miss of the Shi clan.

She guessed that since this nanny Lan had bullied the original owner in the past, this young miss had found out about it somehow and immediately took this nanny Lan in who she ‘kicked out’ from the Wang clan as one her personal servants.

The news that she found out astounded her, who knew that the Shi clan and Qi clan were collaborating to capture her and use her as leverage to coerce her half-brother to decrease his power and influence in his major territory.

At first, she was just going to mention this finding to her half-brother so that he’ll send more guards to protect her during the Arts contest, but he just didn’t listen to her reasoning and immediately locked her up. If she wasn’t so worried that after the Arts contest ended and she left, the original owner might face some danger with her almost non-existent battle skills, she wouldn’t have been so rash in telling her half-brother about this news.

“Now this is great, because I was being kind, I’m locked up and can’t attend the Arts college, good work Tian He.” She lamented herself for her lack of judgement at that time and didn’t take into consideration how her elder brother would feel if she was placed in danger.

Since this was the first time she ever liked anyone, she didn’t think about what the other person would feel if something did happen to their lover. She only had all her mind occupied with the pain of separating from him and leaving this world that this fact totally skipped her mind. It didn’t strike her as important until she saw his anger and scared expression after hearing her findings about the Shi clan, right then and there, she knew that she had made a mistake.

Since she was leaving anyways, her thoughts about what happened to him afterwards besides having him feel pained from their separation didn’t exist. She had wanted to think about his future, wondering if he would adopt a child to continue the Wang clan’s line or have other Wang clan members take over as leader while he retired. However, every time she thought of this, she would eventually conclude that his future didn’t have her in it, it was painful to think about, so she would always place it out of her mind and ignored it until right now.

She knows what her half-brother must have felt, because he probably still thinks that he’ll spend the future with her, that’s why he was so worried and angry that she would propose to still go to the Arts contest even though there was a chance she might get captured. Although he had enough forces under him, she guessed that he didn’t want to take any chances with her safety.

“Sighs, even if I have enough soul energy to purchase something else from the store, it still wouldn’t be enough to defeat those elite guards outside.” She had tried to get something useful from the store to relieve her of this predicament but to her dismay, Little Stars had informed her that she didn’t have enough soul energy.

She was really surprised then, who knew that just purchasing that one pill to prevent pregnancy would drain that must soul energy out of her, it was a world’s energy from successfully completing her previous mission for crying out loud.

She was a bit frustrated, why did she receive so little? She couldn’t help but think that the reason lied in the fact that it was one of the easy worlds, after all, she was still on easy mode.

“Oh wells, let’s think about getting out of here first.” Since hunger strike wasn’t working, she’ll have to take drastic measures. No way was she going to get forcefully placed in a dangerous world for her next mission.

Tian He went to her dresser’s table and searched in the compartments for something that she’ll need to complete her plan to get her elder brother to release her. After finding what she needed, she immediately hid it in her sleeves and walked out of her bedroom.

“I’m sorry elder brother, either I ‘die’ because of failing this mission world’s task, or you watch me ‘die’.” She tried not to think about the pained and hurtful expression her elder brother would make after she decides to do this.

Once her resolved is shaken, she won’t be able to control herself from relenting. After all, her elder brother only confined her in because he was worried about her safety, once she does this, it will be similar to betraying his trust and love. She just needs to complete her task and leave before her whole resolve is broken down, if that occurs, she probably wouldn’t be able to control herself from crying and wanting his gentleness to relieve her worries. By then, she’ll be even more reluctant to leave him, she wasn’t about to fail after steeling her emotions for these two days.

Tian He reached the front doors of her courtyard where she knew that there were multiple guards stationed to prevent her from leaving. If there were only guards out here then she would have escaped through the back door, but since finding out that her whole courtyard was surrounded, she immediately gave up that futile idea. Right now, this plan was the best she could come up with in order to make it to the Arts contest on time.

Bracing herself, she opened the doors and stepped out.

The lead guard on duty saw their Young Miss and immediately stood in front of her to bar her way.

“I apologize Young Miss, as you know, the clan leader has given orders that you can’t step out of your courtyard, please return.” He knew that their clan leader cares about this younger sister of his, so he didn’t dare to use force on her.

Tian He saw his respectful yet unyielding attitude and knew that he wouldn’t dare hurt her for risk of offending her half-brother. She had once admired her half-brother’s way of disciplining his guards and servants, but now, she just finds it annoying. If they weren’t so loyal to him, she could have at least paid one of them or persuaded them to let her leave, but since that can’t be done, she’s forced to do this desperate act.

She steeled her expression and looked at this lead guard in front of her.

“Hello Lead Guard, this Young Miss has to give you my admiration for being so loyal to my elder brother.” She was taunting him.

“I do not dare accept, it is naturally the duty of us guards to remain loyal and protect the Young Miss and clan leader.” He was puzzled by what their Young Miss was getting at.

“That’s really good to hear, but I have to say, sometimes being too loyal can get you into trouble.” Before the guard could respond, she immediately pulled out the scissor she had hidden in her sleeves and placed it across her neck.

She resolutely stared at the lead guard who now donned a scared expression on his face, “Lead Guard, I dare ask you, are you still going to remain loyal to your clan leader or help me leave this place.”

She knew that since her half-brother has assigned him as her lead guard to protect her, his soul strength had to be at least advanced to mastery level, so having him get her out of here to display her painting in the Arts contest was the best bet. If she were to use her life to threaten her half-brother, he would easily render her unable to move but doing this to her lead guard was different, he would be too scared to use force against her, so he wouldn’t have any choice but to help her.

“Young Miss, please think twice about what you’re doing.” His voice almost didn’t come out due to the fright he was receiving. Who was he kidding, once something happens to the young miss, his head would be the first one his cold clan leader would come after.

Tian He still had the sharp end of the scissor on her neck, one slash on that fragile artery was all she needed to end her life, she was determined to see this out. Suddenly, she spotted some of the guards wanting to leave to inform her half-brother of this situation and she immediately called out.

“Stop!” Not letting them continue, she resolutely pushed the sharp end of the scissor into her neck, blood started dripping out and seeing that, the guards immediately halted their steps. She knew that the guards around her courtyard wouldn’t dare move after seeing her actually injure herself.

She was lucky that the original owner was initially neglected so her courtyard was secluded and the hidden guards around the mansion were all located on the road to the center of the residence. With this, she didn’t have to worry that any guards would report to her half-brother before she left. As for the ones in the back of her courtyard, they wouldn’t dare move from their positions since that would cause a hole in their surveillance and she would have the chance to escape, but now, their loyalty to their young clan leader is backfiring on them since they would have no idea what was going on in the front courtyard without moving from their spots.

The guards were all standing still in their spots staring at her vigilantly, their tense expressions were telling her that if she were to drive the scissor any further, they wouldn’t hesitate to use force to stop her. She knew that if anything really happened to her, they would immediately forego their restraints and stop her since it would be better for them to get punished for using force on her than letting her get seriously injured, she was betting that they would choose the former.

“Nobody moves. Do you want test how far my scissor can go before you move even one step? If not, then for the of the rest time, you’ll stay out here and obey my orders.” She calmly stared at each and every one of them, making sure that they took her threat seriously.

After she was positive that none of them dared test her, she turned her attention back to her lead guard, “Lead Guard, I want you to send someone into my painting room and retrieve the painting on my table that’s wrapped up in a white cloth, please make sure they handle it with care. As for the rest of you, you guys are staying put and not going anywhere, if even one of you moves I swear that I’ll become a corpse before any of you can stop me.” Of course, she really wasn’t going to take it that far, but she knew that it wouldn’t convince these guards otherwise.

When Tian He received the painting from the person that the Lead guard sent, she looked at all the guards in her courtyard, “All of you now will follow me out of this mansion, you’ll help me take out the guards in the back of my courtyard so that we can scale over the walls. Once we’re outside, a group of you will remain behind to take care of the guards that are patrolling outside the mansion perimeters while the rest of you will take me to the Arts College where the Arts contest is held.” This was the best plan she could come up with to save time.

After the guards heard their Young Miss’s orders, they all showed an uneasy and doubtful expression. When Tian He saw that, she just calmly smiled, “I don’t care how you guys do it, but I don’t want any guards escaping and informing my elder brother of this situation. You guys should think about this very carefully, do you really want to risk bringing my dead body back to see your clan leader or help me get to the Arts contest in time.”

She stared at their expressions and seeing that they were wavering in their choice, she knew it was time for the final persuasion, “Once I’ve finished with entering the Arts contest and displaying my summons, I’ll immediately follow you guys back to my courtyard, no one else will know that we’ve exited since I’ll be wearing a disguise. Even if my elder brother eventually investigates this, this whole event would probably be long over, and your punishment wouldn’t be that harsh. Remember, this will be much better than informing him the news of my death under your watch.” She solemnly declared her position while waiting for them to acknowledge her orders.

Eventually, it was her Lead guard that spoke up, “Young Miss, we will follow your orders and bring you out of the mansion towards the Arts college. Please uphold your end of the promise and return immediately to your courtyard afterwards.” Whatever the case, now that their Young Miss was adamant in attending the Arts contest, even using her life as a gamble, they didn’t have a choice but to follow her even if it meant disobeying their clan leader’s orders. This decision was a much better alternative than sending her dead body back to their clan leader, at least with this, they’ll keep their lives.

Seeing everyone’s decision, she relaxed inside a bit, her gamble had finally won. Truthfully, when she drove the tip of the scissor inside her neck, her hands were already shaking from the pain, but she knew that if they saw her falter, they wouldn’t take her threat seriously and if that happens, it would really be the end for her because she didn’t have any other plans to help her get out of this mansion.

If she had enough strength, she could have scaled the walls herself, but since her half-brother has so nicely increase the security around it, she would have to fight awhile before leaving and she was sure that before she even defeated all them or ran away far enough, she would be immediately caught once the other guards in the mansion was informed of her escape.

By then, her half-brother would probably even lock her room doors and her hope of escaping would turn to zero. Although she felt sorry for what the original owner will have to deal with after she comes back, this was already the best plan she could come up with that would satisfy both parties.

She took a deep breath to calm herself and nodded towards her lead guard, “Please be at ease, Lead Guard. As long as everyone keeps their end of this deal, I promise you that you won’t have to worry about me further injuring myself.” This was the truth because just a few more inches and the original owner will probably not have a body to go back to.

After the lead guard confirmed his Young Miss’s promise, he quickly nodded towards the rest of the guards and they followed him to a certain place in the back of her courtyard where it was probably the best place to scale the walls and most likely the fastest route to get out of the mansion.

As soon as they started sneak attacking the guards in the back of her courtyard, Tian He immediately followed the ones responsible for helping her over the walls and taking her to the Arts college. Once they were outside, some of the guards stayed behind to distract the guards patrolling outside, while the rest escorted her towards the Arts college.

Since the stable was located on the other side of this place, they had to get their own carriage, which wasted some of her precious time. She swore that if it wasn’t because she needed to save her strength for her summons and had to carry this painting, she would have already run towards the Arts contest herself.

When she finally got on the borrowed carriage, she immediately ordered the driver to take her to the Arts Contest with the fastest speed he could go. Since the rest of the guards couldn’t possibly join her in the carriage, they followed her on horses.

Feeling the bumpiness of the carriage, she knew that the driver took her order seriously and was heading quickly in the direction of the Arts college. Finally, she relaxed the hold on the scissor and stretched her aching arm. Although her neck was still bleeding, it was just a superficial wound and could easily be patched up to stop the bleeding.

“Let’s hope that I can smoothly display my painting before I leave this world.” She was praying that with her unannounced escape and the disguise she’ll be wearing, both her half-brother’s forces and Shi clan’s forces wouldn’t recognize her, letting her safely complete her mission.

Touching the covered-up painting with her hands, she lamented, “It’s such a pity though, I at least wanted to see your reaction to the painting I made for you.” Too bad the circumstances didn’t allow for it.

For the umpteen time, she softly apologized inside towards her elder brother while waiting for the carriage to take her to her destination and final place she’ll visit before leaving this world.
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