She Has a System

After a string of unexpected mishaps, everyone at camp finally managed to have dinner without any real harm, regardless of how it tasted.

"Wow, you guys are amazing cooks!"

Jiang Nian took a satisfied sip of mushroom soup and licked the corner of her mouth. Savoring the rich flavor lingering on her tongue and the comfort of her stomach gradually filling, she let out a happy sigh.

It felt as though more than half the day's exhaustion had melted away.

Tong Chuhe smiled at the thoroughly satisfied Jiang Nian. She must have been starving.

Gao Wen took a taste too, then looked at the unruffled Tong Chuhe with sparkling eyes.

"Chu He, you're incredible! It feels like there's nothing you can't do!"

As the head cook, Tong Chuhe had handled practically every dish. Even out in the wilderness, using a huge iron pot, she could still whip up delicious, satisfying food.

"Our Chuhe really can do it all!"

Nie Xuzhi marveled as she ate. In her eyes, Tong Chuhe truly was good at everything.

They finally put down their bowls and chopsticks after stuffing themselves full. They chatted as they tidied up, and Jiang Nian carried everything to the washing area to clean.

Jiang Nian had just set the pots, bowls, and utensils in the sink when she saw Fu Zhenzhen approaching from a distance, carrying her group's dishes over to wash as well.

She paid little attention, glancing at her once before looking away and starting her own washing.

But Fu Zhenzhen headed straight toward her, stopped at the sink beside hers, and set down her dishes to begin washing.

Somewhat surprised, Jiang Nian looked at Fu Zhenzhen beside her, then surveyed the countless empty spots around them and raised an eyebrow.

Looks like she's here to pick a fight.

They worked in silence. Just as Jiang Nian was nearly finished and beginning to think she had misread the situation, Fu Zhenzhen spoke beside her.

"You're utterly shameless."

There it is, Jiang Nian thought. Without even pausing what she was doing, she shot back mockingly:

"What, done pretending?"

She knew this female lead all too well.

In her previous life, Fu Zhenzhen had been an orphan who had always longed for a family to adopt her. She hadn't wanted to stay in that rundown orphanage.

After she had wished for it for so long, an ordinary couple came to the orphanage and said they wanted to adopt her. They then took Fu Zhenzhen back to the little home they had lovingly prepared.

As time passed, however, Fu Zhenzhen gradually grew resentful and dissatisfied with the couple, because the family that had adopted her was nothing like the wealthy households she saw on television.

She believed it was their lack of money that caused her to be bullied at school every day.

Yet instead of resenting the people who bullied and ostracized her, she laid all the blame on the adoptive parents who did everything they could to raise her.

She blamed them for adopting her when they were so poor, demanding to know why they had followed other people's example and adopted a child if all they could provide were the bare necessities.

The couple was heartbroken by Fu Zhenzhen's words, but they still didn't give up on her. They simply worked even harder to earn money for her education.

Then, while in high school, Fu Zhenzhen was in a car accident and transmigrated into this world, becoming an orphan once again. She resolved that in this life, she would join a powerful, influential family.

At last, when she was six, she sneaked out of the orphanage and happened to encounter Song Jici, who had just escaped his kidnappers-the future stepping stone she would use to climb the social ladder.

He was the first prey she had set her sights on at just six years old. Naturally, she wouldn't let anyone else covet him.

Jiang Nian stopped washing and turned to look at Fu Zhenzhen, who had just called her shameless and was now acting as though nothing had happened.

It was precisely because she knew what the female lead had done in the past that she refused to believe the original novel's portrayal of her as kind and innocent.

Even if the original author had supplied all sorts of reasons, such as "she only wanted to rise above others because she had been bullied" and "she only lied because she wanted a better life," giving every bad thing the female lead did a seemingly reasonable explanation.

None of that should have justified Fu Zhenzhen repeatedly crossing moral lines, bullying others again and again, or even taking lives.

No one was obliged to become a stepping stone to the female lead's happy life.

And neither would she.

"You're so wary of me because you're afraid the fish you're about to reel in will get away, aren't you?"

From their very first meeting, when Fu Zhenzhen had deliberately tried to disgust Jiang Nian, it had been inevitable that they wouldn't get along.

But the current Jiang Nian was the daughter of Song Jici's mother's best friend and the young lady of the Jiang family. Not only was she a suitable match for Song Jici in terms of family background, but his mother was also doing everything she could to bring them together. How could Fu Zhenzhen not be wary?

Jiang Nian gently rinsed the suds off her hands and said casually:

"Since you say I'm shameless, why don't I go all the way and run straight to my godmother to ask her to arrange an engagement between me and your dear Jici? You know, your dear Jici really listens to my godmother~"

Although Jiang Nian wouldn't actually do that, she was more than happy to disgust her a little.

"You!"

Fu Zhenzhen was about to curse at her, but then, as though she had heard something, she suddenly calmed down. She closed her eyes briefly, then spoke viciously to Jiang Nian's beautiful face:

"I'm warning you, stop having designs on Jici. He told me six years ago that he would only ever see you as a younger sister."

"If you start wanting anything more, don't blame me for showing you no mercy."

With that, she angrily rinsed the suds off her hands, glared at Jiang Nian, and strode away. Let Jiang Nian enjoy herself for a while. Whenever I want, I have countless ways to strip her of even her status as the Jiang Heiress.

Watching Fu Zhenzhen walk away after delivering her threats without waiting for a reply, Jiang Nian helplessly pinged 88.

[System, she's really talking big!]

Although Fu Zhenzhen did indeed have Jiang Nian thrown in jail later on, that only happened after she had built up an extensive network of connections. Making such outrageous threats now hardly fit her early image as a meek, innocent girl who quietly endured everything.

88 didn't respond to Jiang Nian, because it had noticed something seemed off about Fu Zhenzhen.

It had sensed a trace of familiar energy fluctuations coming from her. Faint as they were, they were there.

While Fu Zhenzhen was threatening Jiang Nian, it had performed an advanced full-body scan on her and finally discovered the source of that odd feeling.

[Host, I've discovered something.]

Jiang Nian was holding the cleaned cooking utensils and preparing to return to camp when she suddenly heard 88's unusually serious tone.

Clutching the things in her arms more tightly, she asked nervously, "What is it?"

88 paused for a moment, then shared its discovery.

[Fu Zhenzhen has a low-level system.]