The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 29

[Quest complete! She is deeply grateful that you brought her new clothes and a husband.]

[Quest reward: 2,000 experience points.]

[Quest completed beyond expectations. Additional reward obtained: Lin Yu’s Gratitude. Slightly increases perception of supernatural anomalies and slightly increases the chance of encountering incidents.]

…

Nearly ten days had passed since Zhao Li laid Lin Yu’s spirit to rest.

After that night, Shen Yan had confiscated Zhao Li’s badge with a grim expression and formally informed her that she was not going anywhere until her wounds healed.

Outwardly, she looked reluctant, as though life without work held no joy.

Inside, Zhao Li was ecstatic.

Paid leave!

Matron Wan and the maids tended to her with painstaking care. Clothes appeared whenever she stretched out her arms, and food whenever she opened her mouth.

Restorative soups and medicines flowed into her endlessly.

Zhao Li felt all that ginseng broth might make her nose bleed.

Once again, she marveled at the excellent treatment Great Jing gave its civil servants—and at what a generous superior Shen Yan was!

Dressed in a bright, soft green gown, Zhao Li sprawled on a small couch in the warm room.

A vermilion, mother-of-pearl snack box stood on the low table. Rice crackers, dried fruit, peach kernels, and other treats filled every compartment.

Zhao Li kicked her feet in the air. Every so often, she reached over, popped something into her mouth, and continued reading one of the storybooks Matron Wan had found for her.

Medicinal tea simmered over a small red-clay stove nearby.

Through the half-open window, she could see the courtyard outside, where the spring breeze had broken the winter freeze and brought all things back to life.

Truly, these were peaceful days.

Except…

[The lazy host refuses to work and indulges in the joy of slacking off. You have failed to notice that idleness will expose you to a grave crisis.]

[Perhaps it will leave you helpless when danger strikes. Perhaps it will take the form of the fat rapidly accumulating around your waist… Who knows?]

Zhao Li’s hand stopped halfway to her mouth with a strip of dried meat.

Was this damned system threatening her?

Still, she climbed up and pinched her cheeks and waist.

It had only been a few days. Surely not?

Admittedly, she spent every day eating and eating, and she barely moved…

But she was only sixteen and still growing. Th-That made it fine, right?

Zhao Li felt a little guilty.

She was injured, after all. The original Zhao Li had spent years on the frontier without enough to eat.

After arriving at the Zhao household, she had been forced to maintain the refined image of an official’s daughter. Like Zhao Yaoguang, she received portions fit for a cat: rice soaked in tea with salted balloon-flower root at every meal. It left her sallow and provided a terrible foundation for her health.

Now yin energy had invaded her body. If she did not recuperate properly, it might shorten her life.

Besides, her direct superior Shen Yan had ordered her to recover.

At that thought, Zhao Li lay down again with a perfectly clear conscience.

She was not slacking off. She was preparing for a better future.

[The foolish host deceives herself and ignores her newly grown double chin. Perhaps you will only come to your senses one morning when you can no longer fit into your dress!]

Damn it!

Zhao Li cursed silently. The rotten system merely wanted her to do quests and level up. Did it have to go this far?

Even if she wanted to go out and find a supernatural case for experience, she could not leave.

Shen Yan had issued an absolute order. Until her wounds healed, she could not set one foot outside.

What was she supposed to do?

[The Side Profession feature, separate from your primary profession, is now available. The host may enter any of several thousand professions, including Butcher and Blacksmith, to gain experience and proficiency and claim profession achievement rewards.]

[This feature has been available for several days. Presumably, the host was too busy to remember. (Smile.)]

Had her system become a master of passive aggression?

Gritting her teeth, Zhao Li sat up.

“Fine, fine. I understand.”

The system had upgraded once after the Lin Yu incident.

Along with several new functions, it had humanely learned how to nag her into working.

Zhao Li opened the system panel.

It was the same familiar blue interface.

[Current Profession: Jingning Guard Minion.]

[Current Side Profession: None.]

[Passives: Light as a Swallow; Green-Tea Talk; Lin Yu’s Gratitude.]

[Experience Required for Next Level: 2,500/5,000.]

[Available Draws: 0. (Please recharge.)]

An enormous **RECHARGE** button still occupied the bottom of the panel.

Zhao Li had no idea how such a laughably simple interface found the nerve to mock her for being lazy!

Still reading, she climbed down and put on her shoes.

She planned to visit the kitchen and take the Butcher profession first, if only to silence the system’s snide remarks.

The moment she opened the door, she saw Matron Wan approaching with a middle-aged servant woman.

The woman looked familiar. Once they drew closer, Zhao Li recognized Madam Zhang, who had cared for her when she first arrived at the Jingning Guard.

With Lin Yu’s matter resolved, the people who had been sent away were gradually returning to Shengjing.

“Miss Zhao.”

Madam Zhang nervously kneaded her apron. She was deeply uncomfortable here and hurried straight to the reason for her visit.

“These are the ornaments you were wearing at the time.” She pulled a cloth bundle from her apron pocket.

“You were asleep, so I changed your clothes and removed your jewelry. I left them in Fragrant Orchid Courtyard.”

“They were only found recently, when the courtyard was renovated.” Madam Zhang offered the jewelry with both hands. “Steward Li ordered me to bring it to you.”

Zhao Li was pleasantly surprised. She had assumed the items had mysteriously disappeared. She had not expected such an explanation.

No matter where one lived, getting anywhere without money was impossible.

The heavy cloth bundle in her hands brought a reassuring sense of security.

After seeing Madam Zhang and Matron Wan off, Zhao Li returned to the heater in her room and spread open the bundle.

Delight appeared on her face.

Zhao Yaoguang commissioned new clothes and jewelry every season, and the original Zhao Li had been allowed to choose a few pieces as well.

The original Zhao Li had been an honest, practical girl. Even when the maids mocked her lack of taste, she had no interest in ornate pieces made by famous masters.

She followed only two principles when choosing jewelry: pure gold and full weight.

Every hairpin and bracelet was solid and heavy.

Zhao Li happily lifted a golden torque to examine it.

An enormous line of text suddenly appeared before her.

[Rechargeable currency detected.]

[Recharge six taels of gold for your first purchase and receive a Starter Pack, dear customer!]

Zhao Li’s face went blank.

Now it called her “dear customer” instead of “lazy, foolish host”?

Could a system truly have two faces?

Before Zhao Li could finish complaining, a radiant prize wheel appeared before her.

It flashed with gaudy golden light and cheap special effects.

But…

Zhao Li was tempted.

She had come this far. She might as well try it once.

She had no resistance to blind boxes and gacha pulls!

After weighing the gold jewelry in her hands, she kept one bracelet for daily expenses and summoned the system.

[Current recharge amount: seventeen taels of gold.]

On the panel, a round-faced penguin held a glittering golden red packet.

Zhao Li rubbed her hands together and pressed it with rising excitement.

[Obtained: one bundle of yellow talisman paper.]

[Obtained: one length of hundred-year peachwood.]

[Obtained: one ten-year-old black donkey hoof…]

As notifications appeared one after another, Zhao Li’s face darkened.

Did it have to be such a scam?

Yellow talisman paper? Seriously?

Hundred-year peachwood and a ten-year-old black donkey hoof sounded rare because of their age, but Zhao Li knew they were not especially valuable.

The system might as well have given her several more packs of sanitary pads!

Just as she prepared to start cursing without the slightest concern for manners, another notification sounded.

[Obtained: *Three Moon-Eclipsing Kills*.]

[Obtained: Constitution Fruit ×1.]