Before Su Xi could even feel pity for her game character, she saw Lu Jia reach in, grab a piece of vegetable, and chew it.
He almost gagged. “Tastes like crap.”
Seeing that, Lu Yi lost his appetite completely. He muttered resentfully, “I thought we could score something decent off that brat today. Who’d have guessed his food during the ancestral rites is just as miserable—he’s living worse than we are.”
Lu Jia snorted. “Let’s just take it to the kitchen and dump it out for the pigs. That kid ignored us this morning—clearly looking down on servants like us. Serves him right for a little lesson.”
Lu Yi immediately clapped his hands in agreement. “Deal!”
Su Xi’s eyes widened in fury—utterly indignant.
It already looked so miserable, and they still wouldn’t leave it for her game character? They were even going to dump it on purpose?
What kind of grudge was this supposed to be?!
These two idiots!
Seething, she wanted to slam the wooden door shut right in their faces. But she was a second too slow—before she could, the two paper-cut men had already disappeared from the hut.
Su Xi grew anxious and tried to drag the view to follow them.
But the screen wouldn’t budge!
Then the system popped up another notification:
>“Currently, only Lu Huan’s woodshed has been unlocked. To unlock the kitchen, a minimum of 3 Environment Improvement Points is required.”
Fuming, Su Xi snapped, “Three points, right? Fine—deduct, deduct, deduct!”
System: “…Wait, no. Points can’t be exchanged with RMB. You have to earn them by completing tasks.”
“For example,” the system said, pulling up the in-game shop to advertise a new task called ‘Repair the Roof.’
“Yesterday, the protagonist mended the roof, but there was still one small gap left unfinished. If you help him complete it, you’ll earn improvement points for upgrading the external environment.”
“Robbing me blind?” Su Xi glanced at the price.
20 gold coins!
That was about two mao—rounded up, enough to buy a piece of chewing gum.
Su Xi hesitated.
System: “……”
It had seen stingy players before, but never this stingy.
But after watching those two thieves steal her game character’s food right in front of her eyes—it was no different from getting robbed in broad daylight.
Fuming, she no longer cared about her proud oath to “never spend money on games.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, gritted her teeth, and snapped: “Fine, I’ll spend! Spend! Spend!”
The system immediately beamed with joy, snatching away her 20 coins, and quickly repaired the roof in the woodshed.
The counter in the upper-right corner now showed a total of 3 points.
With a sharp click, the kitchen was unlocked.
Su Xi wasted no time rushing into it.
There she found the two thieving servants leisurely wandering about.
At this hour, everyone from Prince Ning’s residence was probably attending the grand ancestral ceremony, so the kitchen was empty, silent—allowing these two to act without restraint.
Lu Yi rummaged through the corner, searching for food.
Meanwhile, Lu Jia stood at the counter, lifting the lid of Su Xi’s game character’s food box, then turned to fetch some pig feed, intending to mix it in.
The moment he turned away, Su Xi smirked coldly and swiped her finger across the screen—snatch!—the lid lifted and dropped neatly back over the food box.
Lu Jia froze at the sound and turned around, puzzled.
That lid—hadn’t he just opened it?
He shook his head in confusion, then walked back to open it again before reaching for the feed once more.
But when he staggered back, arms full of feed, what did he see?
The damn lid was closed again!
“Are you kidding me?!” Lu Jia nearly dropped the feed on his own foot.
Completely baffled, he crept closer and slammed a hand down to lift the lid once more.
On the hospital bed, Su Xi crossed her legs and glared at him, determined to win this fight—she jabbed her finger on the screen and snapped the lid shut again.
Clack!
Lu Yi jumped. “What—what’s going on?!”
Lu Jia’s face had gone pale as a sheet.
Trembling, he reached out once more and slowly pried the lid open.
But the next second—
Right before both of their eyes—the lid shot up into the air!
It spun a full circle midair, nearly slicing past their necks, performed what looked like an eight-beat dance, and then—
PA!
Landed perfectly, sealing the food box shut again—tight as ever.
The two of them: “???”
Open. Close.
Open. Close.
When they tried to move it again, the entire food box suddenly lifted into the air—picked up by an invisible hand—and snapped right back to its original spot.
The two servants: ……………………
The pig feed scattered all over the floor. Both men’s faces turned ashen; their heads bumped together with a dull thud, leaving them dizzy and dazed.
They scrambled up from the muddy ground and bolted out of the kitchen in terror, tripping over each other as they ran, screaming at the top of their lungs, “Mama! Ghosts! There are ghosts!!!”
Su Xi heard their shrill cries, followed by the furious roar of a steward outside: “What madness are you two shrieking about!”
Only then did she feel utterly satisfied.
Heheheh—serves you right for stealing from me!
The system popped up another notification:
> “Congratulations! You have successfully assisted the protagonist in managing interpersonal relations.
> Reward: +3 gold coins, +1 Relationship Point!”
Wait—she could earn gold from this too?
Su Xi’s eyes gleamed with sudden greed.
On the map, she spotted the two servants running aimlessly like headless flies, until they stumbled straight into Lu Huan’s courtyard. She immediately switched her view to follow them, grinning ear to ear.
The two men were gasping for breath, leaning on their knees, faces pale as paper.
Lu Jia’s voice trembled as he wailed, “What the hell was that thing in the kitchen?!”
Lu Yi panted heavily, his courage nearly gone. “H-how would I know?!”
Just then, both of them felt a sudden, ominous chill down their spines.
Su Xi curled her index finger against her thumb—then flicked—sending a powerful kick right to Lu Jia’s backside!
Wham!
He flew forward like a ragdoll, slammed into the courtyard wall, and left a person-shaped dent.
Lu Yi froze in shock, still processing what had just happened, when—smack!—a handprint bloomed across his face.
After delivering her virtual kicks and slaps, Su Xi heard the satisfying clink, clink of coins dropping into her pouch.
+2 gold, +2 gold.
Su Xi blinked. “Wait—seriously? I get gold for that?”
She rubbed her hands together, excitement sparkling in her eyes—then delivered two more sharp kicks.
On-screen, golden numbers exploded upward in a rapid chain reaction:
+2 +2 +2 +2 +2……
Su Xi’s eyes were filled with dollar signs. She was having the time of her life.
“This feature’s actually pretty fun!” she said to the system, grinning.
“It’s just like Mario—keep stomping mushrooms and the coins just keep popping out!”
System: “……”
A line flashed across the screen:
> “Please do not be greedy.”
Immediately after that, the gold stopped dropping.
Su Xi pouted, glancing at the upper-right corner—she now had 23 gold coins and 4 points in total.
Still unsatisfied, she curled her lip.
Meanwhile, the two servants lay sprawled on the ground, groaning weakly. After a while, a few other servants—thinking they’d lost their minds—dragged them away.
Prince Ning’s residence was enormous—beyond it, surely an even grander capital city awaited.
But for now, in the game, Su Xi could only access two small areas: her game character Lu Huan’s humble woodshed, and the kitchen.
When both places grew empty again, with no one left inside, she started to feel a bit bored.
She had no idea where her game character had gone, or when he would return.
Then Su Xi suddenly remembered—the food box was still sitting in the kitchen.
She quickly switched the screen over.
But when she saw the contents inside—the pale, shriveled vegetables and the bowl of rice bran—Su Xi nearly gagged.
She glanced at the steaming, fragrant chicken soup on her bedside table and thought with genuine disgust: How could anyone eat that stuff?
Sensing her thoughts, the system popped up immediately, sly as ever:
> “Would you like to purchase food from the shop for 5 gold coins?”
“No, no, no,” Su Xi said firmly, still clinging to her no-spending principle. “I’ll look around the kitchen first and see if there’s anything to eat.”
As soon as she said that, she found—inside one of the covered stoves—a plate of steaming, fragrant braised pork with preserved vegetables (meicai kourou).
Su Xi: “See? Saved money.”
System: “……”
Fine. You win.
Su Xi dumped the poor leftovers from the food box into the pigsty on the right side of the kitchen courtyard. Then she scooped up the delicious, aromatic meicai kourou—no idea who had hidden it there—and replaced the contents of the food box with it.
Satisfied, she carried it back and placed it neatly on top of the wardrobe inside her game character’s hut.
Brushing her hands, she looked very pleased with herself.
Time in the game moved quickly. While only a single day had passed in the real world, in the game it was already the third night.
Frost had fallen, the moon had risen—and her game character finally returned.
Su Xi’s first instinct was to glance at the upper-left corner—his health bar was still only 30%, and his stamina bar was at a pitiful 5%, nearly empty.
She frowned.
Where had he been again? His knees were covered in dirt, the hem of his robe soaked through, and his face looked pale with cold.
Of course, because Su Xi was too stingy to spend coins unlocking his real character model, her game avatar still appeared as a chibi paper-cut figure with short arms and legs.
Even so, despite his small and cute appearance, his gait was steady and composed, his expression icy and distant—a strange, almost dissonant kind of cool.
When he stepped into the room, he seemed to notice something off in the air. His nose twitched slightly; his brows drew together as he turned his gaze toward the wardrobe.
Su Xi watched intently, studying the faint shifts in his expression. For a moment, she almost forgot he was just a 2D paper doll.
This game’s animation is insane… she thought. It feels like he’s actually alive.
Lu Huan’s expression remained cold as he approached the wardrobe and lifted the food box.
It smelled different today and heavier than usual, but he didn’t think much of it.
He casually lifted the lid, intending to dump it somewhere outside as usual.
But the moment he saw the contents, his expression froze.
Inside the box was a dish of braised pork with preserved vegetables, glistening with a rich, oily sheen and exuding a mouthwatering aroma.
Beneath it was a bowl of white rice—soft and fragrant, steaming faintly.
Lu Huan’s pupils constricted.
Another impossible thing had happened.
The kitchen had never sent him anything but coarse buns and vegetable scraps.
How could it be that today—under that woman’s explicit orders—he had suddenly been given hot, fragrant food?
Had he finally burned his brain out from fever…or was he dreaming?
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