Like nourishes like

Jiang Yourning caught sight of Jiang Huai'an out of the corner of her eye, and her little heart lurched.

Oh, crap. How did I alert Old Jiang? He really does dote on me behind closed doors, but he really cares about his reputation too. There's no escaping a good round of punishment now.

As she thought, she tugged at Jiang Wanrong's sleeve beside her, winking and making faces.

Sis, hurry up and think of a way to bluff our way through this, or we'll both be chatting with the ancestors tonight. You get what I mean, right?

Jiang Wanrong immediately understood. Her mind raced, and finally, she took a silver needle from her sleeve and pricked an acupoint on her body where no one else could see.

The next instant, her face turned pale, and cold sweat rapidly spread across her forehead.

She had only weakly called out to her parents before she toppled without warning toward Jiang Yourning beside her.

"Fifth Sister... what's wrong?! Fifth Sister, wake up!!!"

Jiang Yourning hurriedly caught her. Seeing how awful Jiang Wanrong looked, she couldn't help panicking a little.

No way, no way! Is my sister really this frail? Nothing's actually happened to her, has it?

Seeing Jiang Wanrong in such distress, Lin Xiangyin immediately lost her composure too.

"What are you all standing around for? Hurry and fetch a doctor!!!"

While chaos erupted around them, Jiang Yourning felt a light tug at her sleeve.

She instantly felt reassured.

*You're amazing, sis! I asked you to play the victim, but you went above and beyond.

That acting, that reaction speed-I bow to you!*

Although Jiang Wanrong couldn't understand what Jiang Yourning's last remark meant, she could still tell her younger sister was praising her. An almost imperceptible smile curved her lips.

One daughter had fainted, while the other was deathly pale and looked scarcely any better.

And so.

A whole crowd left with Jiang Wanrong.

Jiang Yourning successfully escaped disaster and returned to her courtyard without a word, under Jiang Li's watchful care.

At that very moment, a barrage of notifications about collapsing character personas crackled and exploded in her mind like fireworks again.

"Ningning, remember to know your limits when you're playing around."

Jiang Li gave Jiang Yourning a long, searching look, then strode away.

Watching Jiang Li's retreating back, Jiang Yourning instantly relaxed her tense body.

"That was close, so close. I should be in the clear for today."

"Chun Tao, brew your young lady a pot of tea. Use the most expensive one Second Brother brought back!!!"

"Yes!"

Once Chun Tao had left and there was no one around to witness her antics, Jiang Yourning opened the system panel again.

[Jiang Wanrong persona collapse progress: 58%]

[Lin Xiangyin persona collapse progress: 12%]

[Jiang Huai'an persona collapse progress: 5%]

[Jiang Heng persona collapse progress: 1%]

[Jiang Li persona collapse progress: 0.1%]

???

"What the heck is 0.1? Is this thing broken?"

Jiang Yourning frowned for all of one second. The next instant, she saw that her points had reached 1,122, and her spirits soared.

"But that's my sister for you! These points are so easy to earn! I'm rich, I'm rich!!!

Buy, buy, buy! I'm buying the most expensive snacks!"

And so, Jiang Yourning generously spent the odd points in the System Shop on a huge pile of snacks.

Potato chips, spicy gluten strips, Juewei duck necks...

Finally, Jiang Yourning reluctantly spent another ten points on a palm-sized Little Wooden Fish she could carry around.

She had spent twenty-two points and still had 1,100 left to squander. Jiang Yourning's face bloomed with a smile like a chrysanthemum.

While she was still basking in her excitement, Chun Tao hurried in with a pot of tea, urgency in her eyes.

She had deliberately waited until the doctor finished examining the fifth young lady, then invited him over while she was at it.

"Miss, miss! Doctor Wang is here to examine you!"

Jiang Yourning swiftly stashed all the snacks she hadn't yet had time to unwrap into the System Inventory.

She hastily poured a small teacup of cola-glug, glug, glug-and stuffed the can into her bedding.

When the doctor walked in, Jiang Yourning was supporting her forehead with one hand and delicately sipping cola with the other, looking terribly fragile.

"Sixth Miss, please extend your hand so I may take your pulse."

Jiang Yourning immediately held out her hand, not forgetting to give two feeble coughs.

"Cough, cough... Doctor Wang, I feel dizzy, and my vision's swimming. There even seems to be an old granny waving at me.

Was I exposed to too much wind? Am I dying now?"

Without a word, Doctor Wang took a clean handkerchief from his medicine chest, laid it over Jiang Yourning's wrist, and carefully checked her pulse.

"Sixth Miss Jiang, your pulse is slightly rapid at the moment. You likely experienced a sharp emotional fluctuation within a short period.

Other than that, Sixth Miss Jiang, you are in good health and show no signs of illness."

Doctor Wang looked at Jiang Yourning, his tone earnest.

"But I just threw up."

Jiang Yourning immediately sat a little straighter.

"That was because you ate too much this evening and suffered carriage sickness."

Doctor Wang's tone was mild.

Then he rose. "Since you are well, Sixth Miss, I shall return and report to Master and Madam Jiang."

Jiang Yourning instantly sprang to her feet. "Chun Tao, shut the door!"

"Yes, miss!"

Chun Tao immediately shut the door, pressed her whole body against it, and braced it firmly with her hands.

"Sixth Miss, what is the meaning of this?"

Doctor Wang turned to look at Jiang Yourning, utterly baffled.

With a fierce expression, Jiang Yourning advanced on Doctor Wang step by step, then pulled him back to his previous seat.

"Doctor Wang."

Jiang Yourning enunciated every word. "I said-I am sick!"

Beside her, Chun Tao nodded in agreement.

"Yes, yes, yes, Doctor Wang. My young lady really is sick.

Perhaps you examined the wrong place. Why don't... you examine my young lady's head?"

"Right, examine my hea-"

Jiang Yourning was halfway through nodding like a chick pecking grain when she jerked her head up and shot Chun Tao a lethal glare.

"Right, my ass! I'm sick, but there's nothing wrong with my brain!"

Then, with a not particularly intimidating threat in her eyes, Jiang Yourning looked at Doctor Wang and slowly said:

"Doctor Wang, I'm sick, but there's nothing wrong with my brain. Do you understand?"

Doctor Wang nodded rapidly.

He understood.

This Sixth Miss Jiang was indeed ill. It was just that he probably couldn't cure her illness.

Finally, with trembling hands, he took a sheet of paper from his medicine chest and wrote out a prescription.

"Sixth Miss, simply obtain the ingredients listed here and take them according to the instructions."

"Very good. Chun Tao, give him a reward!"

After Doctor Wang left, Jiang Yourning picked up the prescription with satisfaction.

"Take one fresh carp and sever its head... gently pan-fry over low heat for fifteen minutes, then extract and eat the brain.

Take one fresh swine's head (pig's head), braise in a large pot for thirty minutes, then extract its brain..."

Jiang Yourning paused and looked farther down. Row after row of brains.

She frowned and turned to Chun Tao.

"Chun Tao, why do I feel like Doctor Wang is finding roundabout ways to call me dim-witted and wants me to eat brains to nourish my brain?"