Reforming the Treacherous Minister - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The System gave me a rough rundown of his situation. As I listened, I sized him up, and he watched me warily in return, not relaxing for even a second.

Staring each other down like this wasn’t going to get us anywhere. Since I had to get along with him from now on anyway, I took the initiative and offered an olive branch, putting on what I considered a perfect smile. “Um… hello. My name is Zhao Banban…”

Heh. With a peerless beauty like yours truly standing before you, you ignorant little brat should be utterly dazzled.

The boy didn’t react much. He merely withdrew his gaze, his expression cold, and the words he spoke were concise and to the point.

“Get lost.”

Me: “…”

“Get in there already! What are you standing around for?”

The System’s shriek yanked me back to reality. I took half a step forward, then shrank back again.

“How about… we try tomorrow?”

System: “…”

On the way back to the ruined temple, the System scolded me the entire time.

“Delay, delay, delay-that’s all you know how to do! How many days has it been? What did we come here for? To freeload?”

Because of the failure of our last mission, the System had had a huge chunk of its bonus docked, so it had been full of pent-up hostility lately and cursed me out at the drop of a hat.

But I felt wronged too.

“I don’t even have food to freeload!” I was overwhelmed with misery. “Look at the life I’m living! Yesterday I risked my life to steal two buns, and today I still don’t know where my next meal is coming from! I miss KFC so much…”

The System didn’t argue. After a long while, it said sullenly, “I scoped it out for you yesterday. That Zui Xian Lou you love so much gives the customers’ leftovers to the beggars by the roadside every night. Go early later and grab yourself a spot…”

I burst into tears with a loud wail, startling the System.

“W-what are you doing?”

“You really do still love me! When we did our first mission, we worked so well together. But after we came back this time, you practically became a whole different Tong. You broke my heart…”

System: “…”

“I can’t believe you even noticed things like that. See? I knew I still had a place in your heart!”

The System turned its face away and said coldly, “I’m afraid you’ll starve to death. If you starve to death, then everything really will be beyond saving.”

No matter how stubbornly it denied it, I didn’t care anymore. “Let’s stop fighting. I won’t drag things out anymore. Tomorrow I’ll go find the Male Lead. This time, we have to work together and complete the mission!”

The System snorted. “At least you know what’s good for you.”

When the sky was almost dark, I left the ruined temple.

That ruined temple had been my shelter for the past two days, and it was absurdly dilapidated. Thank goodness it hadn’t rained, or I would’ve been even more miserable.

As the most famous restaurant in Chang’an City, Zui Xian Lou was naturally extraordinary. High officials and nobles, righteous heroes of the jianghu, wealthy merchants and country gentry, scholars and actors-all sorts of people often gathered there, discussing the present and the former dynasties, laughing over curious customs, or angrily denouncing injustice.

My favorite dish there was the lotus-leaf chicken. In the past, Xiao Yan would often buy it for me.

After Xiao Yan made it big, I lived the good life along with him. Over time, my palate became spoiled. No matter how delicious something was, I’d get sick of it after eating it twice. Only this lotus-leaf chicken-I could eat it a hundred times and never get tired of it.

Even after I later ended up in the modern world, I still missed its flavor.

By the time I arrived, a whole crowd of beggars was already waiting.

“The competition is this fierce?” My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

The System said, “Everyone knows the food here is good. Of course there are going to be a lot of people. You’d better put in some effort, or you won’t get anything.”

I clenched my fists, keeping my eyes glued to the entrance.

About half an hour later, someone came out from inside.

Before I could even react, the beggars swarmed forward. I had no time to think and hurriedly charged over too.

Relying on the advantage of my small frame, I squeezed all the way to the front. After getting stepped on countless times, I successfully snatched a chicken drumstick.

The fragrance drifting to my nose moved me beyond words. I thought, since I couldn’t have KFC, this wasn’t bad either.

Across from Zui Xian Lou was a brothel called Yicui Pavilion, and it was extremely famous.

I took a bit of a detour, squatted down at the entrance of Yicui Pavilion, and was just about to dig in when a gust of wind flashed before me.

The chicken drumstick was gone.

I turned around and saw that it had been snatched away by a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old beggar kid.