Not knowing what came to mind, Lu Huan’s expression suddenly darkened. His face pale, he picked up the teapot and pushed open the wooden door to go out.

The rickety wooden door could barely block the cold wind to begin with; now, with it open, the snow-laden wind rushed inside, scattering the straw on the shabby bed all over the place.

But he couldn’t care about that. Forcing himself upright, he stepped outside, stopped by the courtyard wall, and held the teapot in his hand.

The cold wind whipped against his thin clothes, making them flutter and snap.

Su Xi watched the little game character’s reaction in puzzlement. What’s going on—why did he suddenly run out to the courtyard after drinking some water?

Isn’t it cold?

Can you go back already?! I worked so hard to get your stamina bar up, and now you’re about to waste it all again, hey!

Only to see the little game character reach down into the snow, rummaging around for something, and soon pull out a few small bugs that looked like stink bugs.

He poured the water from the teapot onto the ground and threw the bugs in.

Then he watched the bugs’ reaction.

The bugs struggled desperately in the water, but soon swam out, shook off the droplets, and burrowed into the ground—alive.

The game character didn’t move much, but Su Xi could clearly sense that he let out a breath of relief.

The white mist he exhaled froze in the air. He wearily wiped his face and turned back toward the woodshed.

Su Xi: …

Su Xi understood now. The little game character must’ve suspected that someone had tampered with the water in the teapot. His head had been foggy and swollen when he drank it earlier; after swallowing it, he suddenly sobered up and his face changed drastically. Throwing a few bugs into the water, he saw they didn’t die—and only then was he at ease.

——Holy crap, does he have to be this smart?!

A chill ran down Su Xi’s scalp. When she downloaded the game, she’d thought it was cheaply made, but she hadn’t expected the character’s reactions to be this vivid—it didn’t feel like just a paper doll at all!

After returning to the woodshed, the little game character tightly shut the door.

His face was completely bloodless, full of sickness. Standing by the window sill, he placed the teapot back where it was and studied it for a moment.

Lu Huan still felt dizzy, his head heavy as if burning with fever.

It was strange indeed—he hadn’t poured any water into the teapot. So why was there water in it? Could it be that he forgot to empty it yesterday?

Perhaps he’d simply burned himself out.

But those two—poisoning his water, putting in laxatives to torment him—that wasn’t something they hadn’t done before.

A faint, almost imperceptible chill flashed across Lu Huan’s dark eyes. He frowned, steadied himself against the wall, and returned to bed.

Seeing him finally lie back down, Su Xi let out a breath of relief. As long as he stayed in bed, his stamina bar wouldn’t drop and would even recover.

But watching the boy curled up under the thin blanket on the screen, Su Xi couldn’t help feeling curious and a little sore-hearted. What had he been through, to make him this wary?

Originally, she had opened the game just to kill time and had skipped the opening animation—the childhood story.

But now, curiosity stirred. She was idle anyway, so while the game character slept, Su Xi went back and opened the beginning animation.

The opening didn’t include the little game character’s background. It seemed his identity would be revealed later as part of the story’s mystery. But since the system had already stated that the game character’s true identity was that of a prince, then he must be a prince lost outside the palace. It was just unclear how he had become the illegitimate son of Prince Ning’s household.

The animation scenes changed quickly, but even from those few sparse shots, Su Xi could see that the frail boy had endured a childhood full of hardship.

The courtyards of Prince Ning’s manor were deep and cold. The main wife said nothing aloud, but through years of meager food and thin clothing, she had made it clear she meant to mistreat Lu Huan.

The half-grown youth was still in the midst of growing. He couldn’t eat his fill nor sleep warmly, living as if hiding in a dark gutter where no light reached. He could only secretly help the servants with menial, backbreaking labor in exchange for a few scraps of food.

The second young master of Prince Ning’s manor, Lu Wenxiu, was the most arrogant and vicious. He often ordered the servants to mock and humiliate Lu Huan. If Lu Huan so much as made a small misstep and offended him, he would receive more than a dozen lashes—so over the years, countless scars branded his body.

As for the eldest young master, Lu Yuan, he appeared upright and kind, but in truth was hypocritical and false. Just like Prince Ning himself, he turned a blind eye to it all.

In addition, there was a concubine in the household who had brought along a daughter. Both were weak and helpless, also bullied—and even they needed Lu Huan’s help from time to time.

Several scenes flashed by in the animation—Su Xi’s little game character was either covered in blood or gritting his teeth, enduring with all his might.

Su Xi felt a heaviness in her chest; she could hardly bear to keep watching. Perhaps the game was too realistic, so much so that it made her feel as though such a boy truly existed—lost in Prince Ning’s manor, tormented, waiting for the day his wings would fully spread, to rise as the ruler of all beneath the heavens.

But thankfully, it was only a game. Su Xi looked again at her little game character—outside the wooden door, the cold wind howled fiercely. Luckily it was just a game; otherwise, a real person in such a place would surely freeze to death.

Still… was there something she could do?

Su Xi glanced at the screen. Including her earlier reward, she had 13 gold coins left.

At once, the system popped up:

> “The protagonist is currently extremely lacking in material resources. We suggest you start by improving his living conditions~.”

Su Xi: “Alright, alright, let’s make things a little better for the poor thing.”

As soon as she said that, the shop interface opened.

On the first row were all kinds of fine robes—one made of fox fur, with gold-threaded dark patterns, gleaming with luxury. The price below it read 13,000 gold coins.

The system said cheerfully, “Converted to RMB, that’s only 130 yuan~.”

Su Xi: …

“Goodbye. Let’s pretend I never said that. Just let the poor thing keep freezing.”

“……” The system seemed speechless, then swiped the page further down to show her more options.

At the bottom was one called “Ordinary intact warm robe (no holes)”, priced at 30 gold coins.

“Only 30 gold coins! That’s just 0.3 yuan—cheaper than a cup of milk tea, which costs fifteen!”

The system hinted desperately, but Su Xi acted as though she saw none of it, ruthlessly scrolling further down the page.

What a joke—her pocket money didn’t fall from the sky! How could she just waste real money on a game? It was only a game, for goodness’ sake—she wasn’t about to lose her mind!

Finally, after scrolling all the way to the end, Su Xi picked two items from the shop:

“Repair the drafty wooden door with straw” and “Replace the thinnest, completely useless blanket with a slightly thicker one that can barely keep warm.”

The first cost 8 gold coins, the second 5—together, exactly 13. That emptied out both the coins she’d received for registering and the reward she’d just earned from pouring out the water.

The system seemed at a loss for words over Su Xi’s stinginess. Once she made her selections, it simply closed the shop interface.

Inside the game, the little character was still asleep, unaware of anything happening beyond his world.

Bored, Su Xi watched him sleep for a while, curious about how he’d react when he woke up. Since the game was this realistic, his reaction was sure to be interesting.

But as the boy didn’t wake anytime soon, Su Xi, feeling a bit restless, closed her phone and went off with the nurse to do her leg rehabilitation exercises.

After her rehabilitation session, Su Xi’s classmates—who had just finished school—came to visit her, bringing their homework along. The moment she saw the homework, Su Xi let out a long sigh, then sat with her friends to work through some of the assignments together. Soon they were snacking and chatting, gossiping and laughing, and for a while, the game slipped entirely from her mind.

───♡───

While Su Xi sat in air-conditioning, AirPods in her ears, chatting animatedly with her classmates, inside the dilapidated woodshed, it was darkness from dusk to dawn, the cold biting through the night.

Because of the chill, Lu Huan had slept deeply, but when he finally awoke, his back was drenched in cold, sticky sweat.

He kept his eyes closed and raised a hand to wipe his forehead. Feeling that his fever had finally broken, he let out a quiet sigh of relief. His constitution had always been a hardy one—no matter the pain, a night’s sleep usually made it better.

Even so, his mouth was dry.

Bracing himself, he sat up from the hard plank bed.

Outside, a few servants, noticing that Lu Huan still hadn’t appeared by the hour of chen [roughly 7–9 a.m.], began talking loudly and rudely by the door.

“Really thinks he’s a young master now, sun’s high in the sky and he’s still not up.”

Another snickered. “Pity he’s got a young master’s airs but not a young master’s life.”

Lu Huan’s eyes flashed with irritation and cold indifference. He didn’t respond. Lifting the blanket, he was about to get out of bed—but when his fingers brushed the fabric, he suddenly froze, a look of disbelief flashing across his eyes.

This blanket—was clearly thicker than before. It felt as though someone had come in during the night, while he slept, and stuffed it with something.

Was he imagining things?

Come to think of it, there was also that teapot from last night…

A faint unease rose within him. Today, the cold didn’t seem as biting; the wind no longer seeped in so harshly. Instinctively, he turned toward the door and windows—and saw that at some point, the shabby wooden door had been tightly patched with bundles of straw. With the gaps filled, the icy drafts had been greatly reduced.

Someone had entered his room last night?! Lu Huan’s guard went up instantly. He jumped down from the bed.

He certainly didn’t believe anyone in Prince Ning’s manor would show him kindness.

His head was still a little dizzy, his lips pale, but he forced himself to steady his footing. Snatching up the blanket, he gave it a hard shake.

His expression was sharp and cold, as if expecting needles or hidden traps to fall out.

But after shaking it for quite a while, nothing came loose. Instead, a few tufts of clean cotton padding drifted out from the newly stuffed blanket. It wasn’t soft or comfortable, but it was clean—and undeniably much warmer than before.

How could this be?

For a moment, Lu Huan stood there, stunned.