Drop dead!

"Then... all right. I will pass both young ladies' words on to my master in full. Shuo Feng takes his leave!"

Suddenly, the two sisters seemed to stand taller in Shuo Feng's eyes.

Fifth Miss Jiang remained unmoved by gold, silver, and riches. She truly was a worthy match for his master.

Sixth Miss Jiang also seemed wonderfully sweet and endearing.

Picking up the two heavy chests, Shuo Feng soon vanished from the sisters' sight.

Sigh, that stings a little.

"Ningning, it's all right. Take these banknotes for now and buy whatever jewelry you like.

Once we've earned some money, I'll buy you anything you want!"

Knowing her younger sister had weathered far too many dizzying highs and crushing lows today, Jiang Wanrong couldn't help reaching out to stroke her head. Then she pressed all three thousand taels she had received from County Lady Baojin that day into Jiang Yourning's hands.

"You're so good to me, Sis, but you don't have much money either. You should keep it."

An unexpected warmth bloomed in Jiang Yourning's heart.

What kind of peerless sister is this? If I weren't a woman who liked men, I'd almost want to make lilies bloom back home.

Jiang Wanrong's smile curved wider and wider.

Her little sister had fallen for her charms and even called her a peerless sister.

Though she had no idea what lilies had to do with her sister's gender, Jiang Wanrong took it to heart.

Tomorrow, she would have Xia He fetch some lily seeds. She would plant a whole patch of lilies for her sister with her own hands.

By the time Jiang Yourning returned to her room, it was already late.

Little Wukong had been settled in Jiang Li's courtyard, and peace had returned to hers once more.

The table was piled with snacks Chun Tao and Xia He had bought together that day.

The tasty treats here couldn't compare with the endless variety available in modern times. Jiang Yourning had already tried them all and felt little enthusiasm.

She patted the little box she had prepared and looked at Chun Tao, who was peeling chestnuts.

"Chun Tao, keep some of these snacks for yourself and the girls in our courtyard. Divide up the rest and send a portion to each courtyard.

Also, give this separate portion to Little Wukong."

"Won't you keep some for yourself, Miss?"

Chun Tao couldn't help blinking.

"No. Your young lady's gotten a little tired of the capital's food lately. I'll have some another day."

Jiang Yourning shook her head.

Chun Tao finally nodded in understanding. She picked out the snacks she liked, packaged the rest into portions, and called over a few young maids who did the sweeping and cleaning to distribute them.

Left alone, Jiang Yourning began another round of feeding herself.

For tonight's snacks, she chose a family bucket, added a serving of spicy crayfish, and paired them with a pack of AD calcium milk, every bottle fitted with a straw. Bliss~

At midnight, while she was groggy with sleep, an electronic voice rang out in her mind without warning, startling Jiang Yourning into sitting bolt upright.

[Dear host, I'm back.]

"Where are your manners? Don't you know to knock before coming back? Piping up out of nowhere in the middle of the night-are you trying to send me to the afterlife so you can get a new host?"

[...]

Honestly, if it could switch hosts, it would like nothing better.

Only after this trip back did the system understand just how treacherous society could be.

What malfunction? Its damned dear older brother was having the time of his life, enjoying fine food and drink with his lucky-charm heroine.

That heroine was kind, beautiful, adorable, and generous. By comparison, it seemed to have landed itself a lunatic.

[Knock, knock, knock. Dear host, I'm back. May I speak now?]

Just then, a gust blew through the open window, suddenly snuffing out the two candles beside it. The curtains hanging from the pillars fluttered, accompanied by the knocking sounds the system had produced.

That feeling, that atmosphere-it was positively down-to-hell.

"Aaaah! You damned system, drop dead!!!"

Next door.

Chun Tao was successfully frightened out of bed yet again.

Supporting her aching lower back, she carried an oil lamp into Jiang Yourning's room, only to find her lying on the bed, thrashing wildly with her limbs flailing. She looked like a little octopus flung onto a hot iron griddle.

"M-Miss, are you all right?"

A hint of tears crept into Chun Tao's voice.

She had honestly thought her young lady's illness had nearly cleared up after the all-brain feast she'd eaten these past two days.

But looking at her now, those two days must have been her final rally before death. Her illness had now seeped into her very bones.

"Ahem..."

Hearing Chun Tao's voice and seeing that the room around her was still bright, Jiang Yourning recovered a little of her reason.

She climbed out of bed and forced a smile she thought looked perfectly fine.

"Little Tao-Tao, I'm fine. Just doing some bedtime exercise. Don't worry too much."

"..."

Chun Tao's calves trembled.

Her young lady's smile was so eerie now, as though a thousand-year-old demon from the legends had possessed her.

"O-Okay. Then please carry on, Miss."

Chun Tao swiftly turned around, shut the door, and left.

Tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow, she absolutely had to tell her mistress that her young lady's illness was getting worse and worse.

She would ask her mistress to summon an expert to take a good look at her young lady.

Once Chun Tao had left, Jiang Yourning slowly spoke.

Coming out to scare people in the dead of night-you'd better actually have something to say, or I'll file a complaint!!!

[...]

Ha-ha, it was sooo scared!

Another system had already screwed it over. It had nothing left to cling to anyway.

[One piece of good news and one piece of bad news. Which would you like to hear?]

"You came to scare me in the middle of the night. Obviously, start with the good news to settle my nerves."

Jiang Yourning lay facedown on the bed and began tapping her little wooden fish again.

As the wooden fish sounded beat after beat, her mood gradually settled.

[The good news is that, to compensate you, system headquarters has gifted you a resurrection card. It has a one hundred percent success rate when used on you, and a certain chance of success when used on someone else.]

"That's it? That's it? If I die, I'll just wipe my save and start over anyway. What damn use is a resurrection card?"

[That brings us to the bad news.]

"..."

Wouldn't hearing bad news at night leave her unable to sleep?

Jiang Yourning fell silent for two seconds, then simply rolled over.

"Sowwy, sleepy. If you've got wind to break, let it out tomorrow."

The system: ...

Seriously, did this damned mission really have to be completed? Could it really not self-destruct?

The system chose to go back to slacking off and watching more action movies to soothe its urge to go insane.

Yet less than three minutes later.

Jiang Yourning's voice rang out again.

"Forget it. Just tell me all the bad news in one go. Otherwise, I'll keep feeling like something's hanging over me, and I won't be able to relax."