After these two incidents, officials of every rank in the capital went home and repeatedly warned their families.
They told the women not to casually agree to take in relatives seeking shelter. Even if they truly could not refuse, they had to send someone to investigate exactly what those relatives had done back home.
No one wanted the comfortable life of their household ruined by a relative they had kindly taken in.
On the third day, a day off finally arrived.
With no morning court to attend, Wenren Luoshui slept until she woke naturally.
After breakfast, she thought of her shop on Vermilion Bird Street. She had not ordered any major renovations, only a thorough cleaning.
[System, are you there?]
[Melon-Eating System: I'm here, host. Do you need something?]
One of the system's fellow system friends had just completed a mission in an apocalyptic world and brought it some local specialties, such as zombie crystal cores.
The system especially loved the cores' colors. They sparkled, and their hues were wonderfully natural, so it cut the cores and set them in rings.
Normally just a little round blob, the system had even used its energy to conjure a pair of hands today.
As it spoke, it kept throwing in hand gestures.
As though it feared someone might miss its new jewelry.
[Don't your hands get tired?]
It might not be tired, but Wenren Luoshui felt her eyes were exhausted from watching.
Only then did the system stop moving its hands and look at her with an adorable pair of eyes.
[Salty Fish System: So, what does the system need me for?]
[I want to photocopy some exam papers and essays. How many points will that cost?]
[Salty Fish System: Exactly how many copies?]
[A hundred to start with.]
[Salty Fish System: Sure. That'll be fifty points in total.]
Watching those fifty points disappear, Wenren Luoshui's heart ached.
Earning points was mentally exhausting, yet spending them was so easy.
What did a new shop's grand opening need?
A gimmick, of course.
"Little brother!"
Wenren Luoshui shouted toward the door, and the little sprout came running in on his short legs.
Beads of sweat dotted his slightly baby-plump face, and both cheeks were flushed red.
He had probably just been counting ants in the sun.
"Sis, did you need something?"
"Little brother, I have an important mission for you. Are you confident you can complete it?"
Sitting on a stool, Wenren Luoshui rested a hand on her little brother's shoulder and asked him firmly.
"Yes!"
The little sprout lifted his head, puffed out his chest, and answered loudly.
"Good. Go find Father or Mother and ask them to bring over a gong-and-drum troupe, a lion dance troupe, and a dragon dance troupe. I need them this afternoon."
"I promise to complete the mission."
With that, the little sprout turned and ran out, as though he had an inexhaustible supply of oxlike strength.
While Wenren Luoshui pondered how to create a gimmick for her shop's grand opening, Wenren Shuang was not idle either.
After the emperor learned that the empress dowager disliked him because of the old Princess Consort of Beiping, everything about Wenren Chun, Liu Yun'er's son, began to rub him the wrong way.
The court had no shortage of officials skilled at reading people's expressions and acting accordingly.
So, in just one day, they had maneuvered him from an official of the Subordinate Third Rank down to a Censor-in-Chief of the Principal Fifth Rank.
With no court to attend today, Wenren Chun had found everything irritating from early morning onward.
The first half of his life had gone too smoothly. Now, suddenly demoted, he could not accept it and had become a powder keg ready to explode at the slightest spark.
After being driven out of the palace by the emperor, Wenren Shuang had spent a day at home moping. Then she decided that, as the female lead, how could she lose heart over a single failure?
Before transmigrating into the novel, she had practically read the original to tatters. She knew everything that happened in it.
So she headed for Wenren Chun's study. If she remembered correctly, in the original story, Minister Yun's daughter Yunjian would leave the capital today to offer incense at Jingxin Nunnery outside the city.
She would be kidnapped by bandits on the way, and by the time Minister Yun found his youngest daughter, the fragrant blossom would already have withered away.
If she told her father about this and had him send men to rescue Minister Yun's youngest daughter in advance, wouldn't Minister Yun owe her father a favor?
The more Wenren Shuang thought about it, the better the idea seemed, and she made her way to the study with a spring in her step.
After finishing breakfast, Wenren Luoshui went out alone.
She leisurely wandered into the mountains outside the capital. Whether in ancient times or the modern world, a tiger's reputation always carried weight.
Since she was going to advertise, she might as well make it as brazen as possible.
A group of men suddenly appeared and surrounded a carriage. Yunjian, who had only just transmigrated, had yet to figure out what was happening when a hand grabbed her arm and roughly dragged her out.
"Boss, this woman's skin is so fair!"
The man holding her pinched her cheek, hurting her so badly that tears instantly spilled from Yunjian's eyes.
She had no idea what she looked like now, but the gazes of the men surrounding her were filled with greed and lust.
She had lived through five years of the apocalypse and experienced plenty, so she was not the sort who could only weep when trouble struck. But that damned man's grip really was strong!
"Aaaaah!"
A string of men's screams sent birds scattering through the woods. During the apocalypse, Yunjian had bonded with a Taobao System. She had never expected it to follow her through her transmigration.
She secretly exchanged for a high-powered stun baton through the system. While the bandits were distracted, she seized her chance and shocked the man holding her unconscious. Then she exchanged for a packet of chili powder and, once free, flung it at the bandits in front of her.
Then she took to her heels, not daring to look back.
If she didn't focus on escaping, was she afraid she might run too fast for the bandits to catch her?
Deep in the mountains, Wenren Luoshui found a healthy adult tigress, drew a Beast Taming Talisman in midair, and sent it into the tiger's body.
The tigress, which had been roaring at her a moment before, instantly became a docile big cat.
She stepped forward and stroked the tiger's head, and the tigress narrowed her eyes in contentment.
Just as Wenren Luoshui was about to leave the deep mountains with the tiger, two white tiger cubs ran over from nearby.
The tigress looked tenderly at the two white cubs, but how had a tiger with ordinary coloring given birth to two white tigers?
Was it a genetic mutation?
Since this family of three had delivered themselves right to her doorstep, she would bundle them all up and take them along.
Wenren Luoshui sat on the adult tiger's back, with the two six-month-old cubs following behind her.
As the woman and three tigers neared the foot of the mountain, they encountered a young woman dressed in a moon-white outfit. She was unlike the women of this era. Even when running, well-bred young ladies had to maintain their decorum, so they only lifted their skirts slightly.
This young woman, however, had boldly gathered her cumbersome skirts into her arms, revealing two long legs clad in outer trousers.
Behind her was a group of men who looked every inch the bandits they were.
Wenren Luoshui leaped off the tiger and casually flung out a handful of leaves, pinning the bandits in place.
"Little Yun?"
Wenren Luoshui approached the young woman, stopped her, and tentatively called her name.
"Waaah, Little Shui! I thought I'd never see you again in this lifetime! Waaah!"
Yunjian stopped and conjured a bottle of mineral water out of thin air, gulping it down. Only after resting for a while did she have the energy to respond.
Once she got a clear look at Wenren Luoshui's face, she threw her arms around her and wailed as though they were sisters reunited after a long separation.