Page 43

"Besides, how much of your money did you actually earn yourself? Don't you want to see if you can earn your own keep, relying solely on yourself?"

Yu Qing listened in silence.

The dining room fell quiet. The remnants of the meal still sat on the table; neither of them had risen, and the servants didn't dare come in to clear them away.

After a long while, Yu Qing smiled, though the expression didn't reach her calm, ripple-less eyes. "Xiang Changge, what are you trying to do?"

As if she could see through everything, she met Xiang Changge's light, grey-brown eyes with a knowing look. "I know you want to find things for me to do, just so I won't be so bored."

"But I don't feel bored."

She simply felt that life was meaningless, that existence was utterly dull.

Boredom and dullness were two different things to her.

A dull life is the same no matter what one does; it is difficult to stir any ripples within her heart.

"Have you ever thought that I have no worries about food or clothing, yet I still find no joy in life? If I were destitute and struggling, do you really think I would have the perseverance to fight against my shackles?"

The dining room fell silent once more.

Yu Qing went upstairs. She might have returned to her room, or perhaps she went to the music room; Xiang Changge didn't know.

She remained at the dining table, staring at the bowls and plates in silence.

Only at this moment did she suddenly realize that she didn't actually understand Yu Qing at all.

She hadn't understood her after reading the original text hundreds of times, and she didn't understand her even after spending these days in reality interacting with her.

She didn't know what she wanted, nor did she know what was truly missing from her heart.

She could be obedient when Xiang Changge asked her to eat or sleep on time, and she could do as she was told when asked to find a hobby, like making incense or interacting with others.

But just when Xiang Changge thought she had found a way to pull her out of the world that trapped her, Yu Qing would smile and tell her that she had never stepped out of her cage—that everything Xiang Changge did was just like teasing a puppy.

"Regain confidence in life, live happily—"

Xiang Changge murmured the requirements of the mission.

"Regain? Has she ever had confidence in life?"

"Yes."

The mechanical voice of the system replied in Xiang Changge's mind with unwavering certainty.

"...When?"

"When her parents were still alive."

"..."

"'Melancholy is her talent'—that line was merely a character setting written by the author, but for Yu Qing, it is her personality, something she was born with."

"Even though she was frail and sickly as a child, she had her parents by her side. Though she was melancholy, she lived for them."

"What she needs is a pillar, a support she can feel attached to, not some specific activity."

Xiang Changge didn't quite understand.

In her mind, she was following the system's mission: first change Yu Qing's routine to improve her health, then find her something she liked to do. Wouldn't that make everyone happy?

But now, the system was telling her that Yu Qing didn't want a specific activity, but a "pillar of attachment."

"What does that mean?"

System: "...She needs love."

Yu Qing herself was an incredibly complex and contradictory person. She longed for someone to be by her side, yet she hated the proximity of others. She feared loneliness, yet she was annoyed by noise and bustle.

Moreover, she had no need for others to pity her, nor did she need them to force her to do things based on their own perspective of "what's best for her."

Xiang Changge's words just now had touched a nerve.

Perhaps deep down, she didn't want to push Xiang Changge away or treat her with cold words, but in that moment, that was exactly how she had acted.

After carefully pondering the system's words, Xiang Changge felt she had gained some insight: "Oh, she needs love—"

"Wait, love?"

If Yu Qing wanted love, that meant she had to love her.

"?"

Wait, wait, wait, was something wrong here?

Xiang Changge's eyes widened: "System, when you told me to do this mission, you didn't say anything about this."

Was she doing a mission?

This felt like she was being asked to sell herself!

"I'm not that kind of person."

Besides, the price for completing a mission and the price for selling herself—could those possibly be the same?

"No, no," Xiang Changge felt uncharacteristically flustered. "This is too sudden. I—I'm a pure, beautiful girl who hasn't even dated yet! Plus, I haven't known her for that long, so how can you ask me to love her?"

"This is too sudden. Why didn't you give me any warning?"

"Is it even allowed for a missioner to fall in love with their target? Is it normal? Does it even make sense?"

"...By the way, are you a legitimate system?"

Caught in her shock, Xiang Changge fired off three questions in a row.

Wasn't she supposed to be working hard and striving for a better life by completing missions? How did it suddenly turn into having to give the target "love"?

How was she supposed to love her?

By throwing herself into her bed?

System: "..."

You're thinking way too far ahead.

"When I said 'love,' I didn't necessarily mean 'romantic love.' Regardless, you need to either make yourself fall for her or make her fall for you. She needs a pillar of support; she is a person who 'lacks love' in both directions."

"Lacks love"—a person who lacks love, and also lacks people to love her. It's that simple.

"This kind of 'love' could be the 'love' of sisters, or the 'love' of friends. Anything works."

Xiang Changge: "...Would maternal love work? I could try to see if I can treat her like my own daughter."

System: "?"

The system went silent, but Xiang Changge's mind began to wander.

"If I try to negotiate and reason with Yu Qing to get her to do this or that, she might develop a rebellious streak, becoming annoyed or tired and refusing to do it."

"But if I'm more forceful and compel her to do it, leaving her powerless to resist, or rather, not giving her time to develop any unnecessary emotions, she'll just do it... In other words—she responds better to a firm hand than a soft one."

Xiang Changge felt like she had realized something.

System: "..."

What exactly did she realize?

After sitting at the dining table for another ten minutes, a revitalized Xiang Changge patted her backside and stood up. "Fine, from now on, Yu Qing is my baby too."

The kind who gets bossily ordered by the head steward to go to bed early, wake up early, and eat on time.

No wonder the system kept calling her "supporting character baby." So that's what it meant.

-Baby Yu Qing.

System: "...That's not quite what we meant... well, actually, it's kind of the same thing."

"What is she doing right now?"

Xiang Changge asked the system.

The system scanned the area: "Playing the piano in the music room."

Though she probably didn't even know what she was playing herself.

"Playing the piano."

Xiang Changge thought for a moment. "Then let's have Yao Ningran come over to keep her company today. Yao Ningran can also paint; if they get tired of playing the piano, the two of them can go paint for a while."

She felt that if there were too many people, Yu Qing wouldn't be able to adapt.

Besides, Yu Qing had only turned cold earlier because Ge Bufan's braised dishes were mentioned. She should probably avoid appearing in front of Yu Qing for the next two days.

The system asked: "What about Chu Keke? You asked Tongtong for the time when she and the male lead would have their conflict—wasn't that to stop them?"

If she just called Chu Keke to Xiushan today, there was a high chance she could prevent that plot point.

"Prevent it?" Xiang Changge rubbed her wrist and let out a scoff. "What's the point of preventing it? If I stop it this time, does that mean they won't have a next time?"

When doing things, one must be clean and decisive.

Xiang Changge narrowed her eyes, deep in thought.

The system felt a sense of foreboding: "!"

"I'll say it again, murder is illegal!"

Author's note: Twisted people need a lover who won't leave and knows how to pick locks to break in [Lop-eared rabbit head][Lop-eared rabbit head]

-

System: I don't know, at the time she just started shouting about love and coercion and then rushed in [Clown]

Chapter 24: Steward Xiang, Please Stop Hitting Her

Yao Ningran arrived over an hour later.

By then, Yu Qing, exhausted from playing the piano, was slumped on the sofa against the wall of the music room like a cat without bones, lazily flipping through a sheet of music.

Although her hands were moving to look at the score, the dull, unfocused look in her eyes made it easy to tell that she wasn't actually taking anything in.