"Creeeak-" The dilapidated wooden door let out a miserable shriek, as though it might fall apart at any moment.
The room was dim, and the air was thick with the smell of musty dust.
Lin He pushed the creaking wooden wheelchair over the threshold with difficulty. The ruts in the dirt floor nearly jolted it to pieces.
Seated in the wheelchair, Su Qiuran surveyed the interior of this "Syrian war-damaged villa."
The house had nothing but four bare walls. Several large holes in the roof offered a perfect view of the sunset outside, and the battered wooden bed was missing half a leg, with two broken bricks shoved beneath it in an exceedingly halfhearted repair.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. With a starting setup like this, we'd be doing the atmosphere a disservice if we didn't grab a broken bowl and go begging." Su Qiuran shook her head, her tone holding little sorrow and nothing but mockery.
Lin He did not take the bait. He pushed the wheelchair into a relatively clean corner of the room and settled it in place, then turned around, his expression suddenly becoming utterly serious.
He tiptoed to the doorway, laboriously shut the battered door, then searched around for a reasonably sturdy stick and wedged it firmly against the door.
Next, he strode toward the two drafty, broken windows, picked up some torn thatch and broken boards from the floor, and forcibly stuffed every gap in the windows shut. His movements flowed like clouds and running water, making him look just like a secret agent guarding against thieves.
Su Qiuran folded her arms and watched him bustle around as though watching a monkey.
When Lin He finally made the entire room airtight and dim, Su Qiuran raised an eyebrow and spoke with the ghost of a smile. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"Keeping peeping Toms out, of course." Lin He dusted off his hands and lowered his voice, looking as though it should have been obvious.
Su Qiuran rolled her eyes, swept her gaze over the rickety bed, then slowly turned it back to Lin He's face. "What? In broad daylight... you're already looking to roll in the sheets?"
Lin He stumbled, nearly falling flat on his face on perfectly level ground.
He stared wide-eyed at the pale, lovely woman in the wheelchair, whose eyes were brimming with mockery, and inwardly launched into a furious rant.
Was there anything this woman wouldn't say?! Had writing copy at a new media company in her previous life driven her nuts?!
"Damn it! Get your mind out of the gutter!" Lin He retorted in a low voice, righteous and stern.
"Honey, do I look like the sort of man who loses his head over lust? Besides, are you sure that busted bed could take the two of us tossing around? Aren't you afraid it'll collapse and smash us both half-paralyzed?"
Su Qiuran snorted coldly and leaned lazily against the wheelchair's backrest. "Who can say? Men always like using some primitive exercise to relieve their anxiety when they reach the end of their rope."
"Oh, knock it off! Stop messing around!" Lin He brought over a battered little wooden stool and sat across from the wheelchair, his expression turning unusually serious.
He leaned closer to Su Qiuran and lowered his voice to a near whisper. "I have something huge to tell you that can't see the light of day!"
Su Qiuran froze for a moment at his words.
As she watched Lin He acting so secretive, as though he were about to hand over intelligence for the underground Party, a flash of lightning suddenly shot through her mind.
As a former copywriter and planner who had read countless webnovels, she understood instantly!
Su Qiuran sucked in a sharp breath. Her peach-blossom eyes instantly blazed with the light of a starving wolf, and even her pale cheeks flushed faintly with excitement.
"Could it be..." Her voice trembled as she seized Lin He's sleeve, her nails nearly digging into his flesh. "Do you actually have a system?!"
Lin He sucked in a sharp breath at the painful pinch. "Hiss-easy!"
Su Qiuran could not hear a word of it. She wriggled in her wheelchair with excitement. "You rascal! Why didn't you tell me something this important sooner?! What was all that pretending about a 'strategic retreat' in the carriage?!"
"So the system really did arrive! Tell me, is it a check-in system, a tycoon system, or an attribute-point panel? Have you received your newbie gift pack? Can it heal my legs? Can it send me straight to the Nascent Soul Realm so I can go stomp that fat steward surnamed Lin to death?!"
The barrage of words hit like machine-gun fire, leaving Lin He utterly stupefied.
Seeing his wife's expectant gaze, as though she were about to ascend on the spot, Lin He's mouth twitched twice.
He scratched his head awkwardly, his gaze wandering. "Ahem... well, it's not a system."
Su Qiuran's expression instantly froze.
"Not a system?"
"It really isn't." Lin He shook his head honestly. "I really don't have a system."
Silence suddenly fell.
The light in Su Qiuran's eyes went out with a "pop," like a light bulb unplugged from its socket.
She silently released Lin He's sleeve and slumped against the wheelchair's backrest, returning to her half-dead state.
"Tch." She rolled her eyes so hard it could have shaken heaven and earth, looking utterly speechless. "What a waste of my excitement."
"Why act like you're making contact with the underground Party if you don't have a system? I thought we'd be eating a Manchu-Han imperial feast tonight."
Seeing his wife so disappointed, Lin He could not help finding it funny. This fellow native of his previous world changed her face faster than turning the pages of a book.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't give up and rot just yet." Lin He chuckled, a smug note in his voice. "I might not have a system, but I have this. Look what this is."
Lin He reached inside his clothes and carefully took the deflated blue cloth bundle he had been carrying off his shoulder.
While at the Lin Household, he had worried someone would notice the bundle and had not let it leave his side even when he slept.
But now it seemed those people had their eyes perched atop their heads. A mortal good-for-nothing like him, without a Spirit Root, was not worth the Lin Household's attention at all, which had allowed him to bring this thing out safely.
Su Qiuran glanced at the dowdy blue cloth bundle and curled her lips. "What's this? Steamed buns you stole from the Lin Household?"
"Steamed buns, my ass!" Lin He shot her an irritated glare.
He placed the bundle on the battered stool between them and, with extremely slow, solemn movements, undid the tight knot.
The first layer of blue cloth was lifted away.
Inside was a small bundle of coarse cloth washed so often it had faded white.
Su Qiuran straightened slightly, a trace of curiosity stirred by his ritualistic movements.
Lin He took a deep breath and unwrapped the second layer of coarse cloth.
Inside lay a soft silk handkerchief. Although it was rather old, the fabric was excellent, utterly at odds with Lin He's coarse hemp clothing.
"Oh, how fancy. Three layers inside and three layers outside," Su Qiuran muttered, her eyes nevertheless fixed on the silk.
Lin He looked up and raised an eyebrow at her, then pinched the opposite corners of the silk and whipped it open!