An Unrestricted System

Although it's a bit troublesome, it's much more time-saving and labor-saving than grinding ink. If you're not writing much and only using it for simple shorthand, the extended tip can last quite a while. Anyway, soft-tipped calligraphy is still highly regarded in this era, and scholars still use brushes for everyday writing. The selling point of charcoal pencils is their convenience and low price. Because of the low profit margin, Zhou Chun was quite surprised when she heard that similar charcoal pencils had appeared on the market.

She looked at the charcoal pencil Zhou Chun handed her and noticed that the core was graphite, and even the hardness of graphite was similar. She then realized that there was a traitor in the village.

These counterfeit charcoal pencils have put a lot of effort into their appearance. For example, they use sandalwood carving techniques and colored silk threads wrapped around both ends, which elevates the pencils several levels and increases their price several times over. In Beijing, where luxury and status are highly valued, such pencils would likely have a large market.

Finding out the mole and the imposter isn't difficult, but Zhao Ruxi was going to give points to the system anyway, so she decided to skip the hassle and just ask it directly.

The system was Gao Xing to hear that Zhao Ruxi was willing to spend 100 points to inquire about this matter.

It follows Zhao Ruxi around all day, so of course it knows how capable Zhao Ruxi is now. Zhou Chun and the shop assistants can all help her find out a lot of things, not to mention Xiao Lingyan, who is specifically there to collect intelligence for Xiao Lingpu.

Zhao Ruxi made money, keeping only 10% for herself and giving the rest to Xiao Lingyan. Xiao Lingyan was a Xiao Lingpu, with an extensive network of intelligence, so investigating this small matter was effortless for him. It was only right that he help Zhao Ruxi investigate as well.

Even setting aside their personal relationship, as strangers, it wasn't unreasonable for Zhao Ruxi to ask Xiao Lingyan to investigate some information. There was no question of exploitation or manipulation. From the perspective of the exchange of benefits, Zhao Ruxi was actually the one who lost out.

Given how stingy the host is, giving it 100 points is quite generous.

Zhao Ruxi wasn't stingy, and it didn't haggle either, readily agreeing, "No problem."

It remained silent for a while, and after Zhao Ruxi finished practicing the calligraphy, it spoke, telling Zhao Ruxi the name of a servant and the name of Guo Jitong, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

Zhao Ruxi memorized both names.

She immediately wrote two letters, brought Qingfeng in, and handed her one of the letters, written in German: "Put it in that room."

Although Zhao Ruxi didn't say it explicitly, Qingfeng knew that the letter was meant for Xiao Lingyan. As long as it was placed in the room where they usually exchanged messages, the guard Wang Tong would naturally come to retrieve it.

She answered "Yes," took the letter, went out the door, went into the other room, put the letter away, and then returned.

Zhao Ruxi then handed her another letter. "This is for Zhou Chun. Have someone deliver it to him."

Zhou Chun manages the shops and estates, so he naturally won't be by her side all the time like Ma Sheng. If there's a mole on the estate, excluding the possibility of someone planting him beforehand, then bribery is the only remaining option.

Therefore, Zhao Ruxi didn't need to call Zhou Chun over; he only needed to tell him the name of the servant, and Zhou Chun would naturally find out the truth.

After doing all that, looking at the 1,100 points that had been deducted from her score, she sighed, seemingly talking to herself. "I really want to know if it was Zhao Six or Xiao Five, and I also want to know what kind it was. 1,000 points each."

Her words were vague, but the system understood perfectly, and it was very tempted.

It said, "One thousand five hundred."

It dared not ask for an exorbitant price. Every time it did, Zhao Ruxi would throw it back onto the floor.

So it got smarter and only increased by five hundred, and was prepared for Zhao Ruxi to bite off a thousand.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Ruxi readily agreed this time, saying directly, "Deal."

"Use the old method," the system said. Now it finally knew how to exploit the loophole.

Zhao Ruxi then called Qingfeng in and first wrote down the three characters "Zhao Rurui".

After Qingfeng read it aloud, the system said, "She's so stupid."

Zhao Ruxi then wrote the three characters "Zhao Ruyu".

The system remained silent.

Zhao Ruxi also wrote, "Xiao Lingyan."

Qingfeng stared in shock at the two names side by side.

Wasn't the Fifth Prince close to his own daughter? They exchanged letters every day. How did he get involved with the Sixth Miss now?

She glanced at her young mistress, and seeing no expression on her face, could only utter, "Xiao Lingyan."

The system then chimed in, "She's so stupid."

It seems that the system is with Zhao Ruyu.

If Zhao Ruyu also had a system, how come she's in such a miserable situation?

Having obtained the answer, Zhao Ruxi would then have to transfer the points to the system by asking a question unrelated to the system.

She asked, "Which faction does Guo Jitong? 1700 points."

The system disappeared for a moment, then returned and said, "Third Prince."

Seeing that her points had decreased by 1700, Zhao Ruxi persevered and wrote a line on a piece of paper, "Wisdom Leads You to a Happy Life (Partial Obstacles) System".

Qingfeng read the line of text aloud as Zhao Ruxi had requested, then looked up at Zhao Ruxi with a puzzled expression.

The girl was acting really strange today.

Zhao Ruxi had no time to pay attention to Qingfeng, but instead focused on sensing the system's movements.

This time, the system hesitated for a moment before saying, "She's so stupid." Its tone was no longer as lively and smug as before; it sounded somewhat dejected.

Zhao Ruxi's heart stirred, and she picked up her pen to write another line, "Wisdom Leads You to a Happy Life (Barrier-Free) System."

After Qingfeng finished reading, the system fell silent.

Zhao Ruxi looked at the line of words on the paper and slammed the pen on the table with a "bang".

Qingfeng startled to see that her young lady seemed very angry, and wondered if she had done something wrong. She quickly lowered her head and stood there, not daring to breathe.

Having followed the girl for so long, she had never seen her so angry before; her face had turned pale.

"Qingfeng, you can leave," Zhao Ruxi said.

Qingfeng quickly retreated.

Zhao Ruxi crossed her arms and angrily questioned in her mind, "Why? Why was I assigned someone with disabilities while she was without? This is discrimination! Discrimination against us transmigrators! I'm going to file a complaint against you."

The system is frozen and remains silent.

One person can't start an argument.

After venting her dissatisfaction, Zhao Ruxi thought about it and realized something was amiss.

Zhao Ruyu had approached her many times, but she had never mentioned the topic of "system".

Given her unwillingness to accept defeat and her lack of shrewdness, if she had a system, she would definitely try to trick Zhao Ruxi into revealing whether she had one.

But Zhao Ruyu never mentioned this.

Could it be that this system is something she recently acquired?

Thinking about it, she said to the system, "Continue playing the game?"

Since I've said pretty much everything I should and shouldn't have said, a little more won't make a difference, and I can even earn points. The system readily agreed, "Okay."

Zhao Ruxi called Qingfeng over and repeated the same trick. The two of them had a long question-and-answer session, Zhao Ruxi finally learned that Zhao Ruyu had obtained the system on the day she came of age.