Chapter 70

Qin Jinxiu glanced at her, casually replying: "Mm."
Jiang Linlang was puzzled. When they met, tensions surged; Young Master Wei clearly disliked Jinxiu. Why was there suddenly a marriage proposal? Ridiculous.
Qin Jinxiu saw the change in Jiang Linlang’s expression, then thought of the plot: in the story, they were husband and wife. She decided to complete her main tasks first and then return the characters to the original story.
She would absolutely not touch that scheming, malicious man.
To reassure Jiang Linlang, she added while sneaking glances: "Right now, I think he’s not bad. Maybe later I’ll find him unsuitable."
"Marriage is a serious matter…"
"Stop, stop. Life’s a play; I just want to enjoy it while I can."
Jiang Linlang hesitated. Qin Jinxiu wasn’t as bad as imagined, but her thoughts surprised Jiang Linlang.
"So… could it be you like him?"
Qin Jinxiu leaned closer, nudging Jiang Linlang with her arm, making her blush. "How can a girl talk about such things openly?"
At that moment, Qin Jinxiu sensed Jiang Linlang was hiding something.
"Oh, I get it. Jiang Jie, do you have someone you like?"
"Don’t be ridiculous."
Jiang Linlang playfully pushed her, then went to pay respects to Madam Qin.
Qin Jinxiu thought the heroine was showing signs of transferring her affections, so she checked the plotline. The heroine’s affection for an unknown figure was 60%.
She wiped her face and decided not to worry. As long as she didn’t go OOC, she could complete the main tasks.
Since inviting the Taoist master, several water and road rituals had been performed in the residence, along with the Sanggong Palace ceremonies.
During one ritual, heavy rain extinguished the talismans and candles, leaving Madam Qin uneasy. She asked the masters if the gods were angry.
The Taoists, having received a large sum of silver, performed their usual tricks:
"Lord, Madam, do not worry. The gods have approved. Second Miss and Young Master Wei are a match made in heaven. The gods are moved, sending the rain as tears of joy."
Whether Madam Qin believed them or not, Qin Jinxiu smirked.
Wei Buxun glanced at the robed Taoists, frowning, already thinking of exempting temples and monks from taxes in his future official duties. He would remove this clause early.
Three months later, Prefector Qin’s daughter’s grand wedding took place.
At the banquet, Wei Buxun’s father, wary of criticism for favoring a stepmother and mistreating his eldest son, came with his wife and young child. He subtly scolded the groom throughout.
Though Wei Buxun had a devious streak, he was now hers. Qin Jinxiu could not stand it. She ordered the servants to clean up the elder couple’s belongings, loaded them into the carriage, and sent them back to the capital immediately.
Wei Buxun’s father looked embarrassed, lamenting the misfortune of marrying a shrew into the family.
"The daughter-in-law is not so. She is merely temperamental, unlike some people, who speak sweetly but are cruel behind one’s back. In the dead of winter, when a person falls ill in the courtyard, there’s not even a bowl of hot soup. The eldest son of the first wife doesn’t even dare return home."
Qin Jinxiu crossed her arms, sharp-tongued in her mockery.
Wei Buxun’s father and his wife were furious. "You!"
"My mother… yes, it’s my fault. First, the eldest sister-in-law’s wedding, then your second brother’s success in the imperial exam, many joyous events in the household. My aunt had me help, but our own courtyard was neglected. The servants were careless, so Buxun suffered. Buxun, don’t take it out on your father. He’s harsh with words but soft at heart. He cares for you but doesn’t show it…"
Truly, words sounded better than song, no wonder this scheming boy had suffered so much in the Wei family before escaping.
Qin Jinxiu crossed her arms, chin raised, and ordered the servants to get them out quickly.
Looking at the brazen woman in front of him and the dust-covered stepmother and father climbing into the carriage, Wei Buxun found her a little endearing.
"Looking at me, why?"
Qin Jinxiu snorted. Wei Buxun turned his head, embarrassed.
After the wedding ceremony, Qin Jinxiu received a system notification: main tasks completed, OOC level 0%, and audience satisfaction unknown…
On her wedding night, Qin Jinxiu sat on the embroidered couch with a “Mandarin Duck at Play in Water” veil over her, bored, playing with her fingers.
The door creaked as someone pushed it open, and she instinctively looked in that direction.
“Madam.”
The voice was extremely familiar to Qin Jinxiu, yet somewhat strange… the tone and timbre were unmistakably his, but the attitude was far softer than before.
Qin Jinxiu’s body trembled lightly. For some reason, she felt a sense of submission and reverence toward the person before her.
He looked at the disciple who had once betrayed him, puzzled. He had granted her health, he had allowed her rebirth, so why had he been met with betrayal?
“Husband?”
Perhaps the atmosphere was suffocating, for she lifted her veil herself.
She raised her eyes to see a face both refined and handsome. The candlelight flickered across it, highlighting elegant features, the same face Qin Jinxiu had once disliked for its somber temperament, yet could not help admiring for its beauty.
She had thought that tonight she would have to admonish him, yet upon entering, he first addressed her as “Madam.”
Could a single marriage really change a person’s nature?
His expression was gentle, the contours of his face bathed in a delicate warm glow. He first sat at the round table, eyebrows slightly furrowed, and beckoned her over.
“Come here.”
“Who do you think you are? Just calling me over doesn’t mean I’ll come. I’ve been busy all day and am exhausted. I need to rest. Whatever you have to say can wait until tomorrow.”
Qin Jinxiu lightly tapped her lips, telling him not to babble.
Unexpectedly, as her words fell, the wick of the lamp crackled and burst. The cramped bedroom flickered with light, now unstable. It had already been prepared, and she hadn’t had the maids trim the wick.
The person before her wore a crimson round-collared robe, flowers pinned in his hair.
“If we speak of status, this body is currently your husband. But in other respects, may I ask if you recall last year, at the outskirts, when Madam of your household visited the temple to request something?”
Hearing this, Qin Jinxiu’s eyes widened. A cold shiver ran down her spine as she looked at him.
He cast no shadow. A living person, yet on their wedding night, he had no shadow. Judging by his words, it seemed he had come to collect a debt.
She got up and approached, studying this “thing” closely.
“The outskirts?”
Qin Jinxiu’s gaze shifted. “I thought it was that little brat playing tricks. Now it seems…”
Her brazen words stirred his anger. Originally, he had repaid a few debts of karma left from past years, benefiting that little girl.
Now it seemed he was powerless, how dare a mere mortal toy with him!
Qin Jinxiu’s expression remained audacious, yet her heart felt strangely uneasy. How could a quaint, historical romance world suddenly have a god?
In a moment of panic, a voice seemed to emanate from the void: “Come with me.”
Opening her eyes again, “Qin Jinxiu” found herself back in the void world, facing the system known as “Victor.”
She frowned. “The plot isn’t finished, and I can’t see the audience satisfaction? This interface is weird. Did you make a mistake? Judging my mission failed because of this would be absurd. The audience isn’t stupid, they’ve surely noticed something’s wrong with this world.”
A perfectly normal ancient romance world suddenly had a divine temple capable of resurrection, it made no sense.
“Intern, please remain calm. The main system is retrieving data from this world.”
That rigid electronic voice annoyed Qin Jinxiu, but she was soon bounced back to the little world.
She opened her eyes slowly, finding her new husband studying her intently. He seemed normal again, but she didn’t interpret his behavior as concern.
“You’re awake?”
He sat at the table, supporting his chin, wearing the same outfit as last night. The wedding wine on the table remained untouched, his expression pensive.
“Funny, isn’t it? Just now I placed my hand under your nose, and you had no breath. By dawn, you’re alive again…”
Qin Jinxiu half-propped herself up and shook her head.
Hearing his words, she snorted. “I doubt I’m the one to blame. Do you remember what happened last night?”
Her words hit Wei Buxun hard. He had no memory of last night whatsoever.
Could this woman have drugged him somehow?
He lifted his head; his gaze shifted. Qin Jinxiu laughed, as if reading his thoughts: “Your life is already in my hands. Do I need other methods?”
“Take care of yourself.”
Even after the wedding, he was still busy.
Qin Jinxiu paid him no mind. Though married, she still lived in the house provided by the Qin family. Madam Qin and the eldest son occasionally visited to check on her.
She waited for the main system’s results while following the story.
Around the second spring after the wedding, rumors spread in Huaizhou that the Second Miss was not the true daughter of the Qin family.
By then, Wei, freshly successful in the imperial exams, rushed back to the house to awkwardly explain to Qin Jinxiu:
“Let's put aside the damn drug you gave me. Just talk about what happens to me every fifteenth of the month. I won't reveal this matter.”
When he arrived, Qin Jinxiu was arranging flowers with the maids. She didn’t even lift her eyelids, merely replied, “Noted.”
Wei Buxun lingered at the door for a while but said nothing further.
Watching his departing figure, Qin Jinxiu sighed, feeling she had understood something.
Later, Madam Qin visited, stating that even if not her biological daughter, years of mother-daughter bonds remained. Jiang Linlang’s status had merely shifted slightly.
Jiang Linlang remained her old self, unresentful after so many years of Qin Jinxiu occupying the position, though she was a little less cautious than before.
She thought… how could there be no resentment? It was just for peace and family harmony. She was clever, not wanting Madam Qin to struggle between her daughters.
The people of Huaizhou said she was lucky, her status was secure until marriage. After over ten years as a young lady, her identity was revealed, but she had already married the new top scholar. Was she destined for wealth?
Only Qin Jinxiu knew her body was weakening, increasingly like her frail self before coming of age.
At the end of winter, one moment she was in the pavilion, brewing tea and listening to music, the next, she coughed up blood and collapsed.
When he woke up, the person guarding his bedside was none other than the enemy who hated him to death.
"I'm afraid I'm going to die, don't you have any questions for me?"
With her eyes closed and her breath faint, she asked him a question.
Will that thing move?
“He took what He wanted, and He will leave.”
Take care.
This was the first time he had ever sat down and spoken to her so calmly, and he didn't expose what she was trying to hide.
Qin Jinxiu smiled slightly. "Thank you."
[Congratulations, host. The world has ended. Main task completed. Audience rating…]
She saw the system’s results for this world. Due to internal errors, a virus had caused interface fusion.
Someone had tampered with the clearing plan, nearly collapsing the little world, causing audience dissatisfaction, they weren’t blind and noticed repeated mistakes in the worlds.
[Should this clearing plan continue?]
[Of course.]
[This conflicts with the rules I originally signed. I cannot accept it.]
From the day she realized she was a cannon fodder, she knew the so-called Heavenly Dao loved to toy with innocents as “tools” for its favored protagonists. To comply blindly would only encourage it.
She would never compromise her interests.
With the mission world malfunctioning, she would not accept it without compensation or rule concessions from the main system.
After some time, the system displayed: [Does the intern agree to become a formal employee of the Female Supporting Role Department in the fast-travel worlds?]
Two buttons appeared below.
“That’s it?” Jiang Wei sneered, then reviewed the difference in treatment between formal employees and interns, larger than the gap between humans and dogs.
Victor, frustrated by the world fusion error, did not interfere with her choice, only suggesting agreement. When one is weak alone, resistance is futile.
Jiang Wei understood this principle and quickly decided, selecting “agree.” She knew her fate wouldn’t always be manipulated. After experiencing two worlds, she already felt her mental strength growing, imagining a day when she would be powerful enough.
Soon, the void interface appeared again: [Please select the next mission world.]