CH 12

“Take one out for a look”

The system readily materialized a skin whitening pill upon request. Su Jin watched the process with great interest as the pill suddenly appeared in her hands.

The spherical pill gave off a faint glow and a fragrance which contained no hints of medicinal smell. The scent felt closer to the floral fragrance of nature.

One could tell at a glance that the pill must be an extraordinary item, but the effects were unknown.

Su Jin asked the system, “Will there be any side effects after consumption?”

She gently pinched the pill and took a sniff. It did not look like a product made in this world. When seen from a distance, it could be mistaken for a pearl.

“Nope. None at all! All products generated by the system are of the highest quality. It will only contain beneficial effects on health. There are absolutely no negative effects to worry about!”

System#2250 had gone through proper training and education, and had been certified as a legitimate system!

“Alright, keep the pill. What is the storage capacity of your dimensional space? While you are at it, explain all other features and limitations you have.”

The system sat down obediently and spilled everything. “The dimensional storage is an inbuilt function of the system. It has a size of 5 cubic meters and can be upgraded, but it is not capable of storing living things. As a palace conflict system, I can scan everything within a mile radius of the host to identify dangerous elements and detect hidden traps, including venomous needles and objects, poisoned tea and pastries, abortion drugs, voodoo dolls… All palace fighting schemes and ploys will never escape the eyes of this system!”

“Stop!”

She frowned at the system’s unlimited enthusiasm when it explained about court conflicts. Su Jin wished she could physically knock some senses into the system.

Su Jin immediately interrupted, “Time’s up! Just a few minutes on the stage and you think you became a celebrity? Time to wake up, there will be no palace fighting for you! There is only a life of farming! ”

The system was forcefully brought back to reality from its dreams of indulging in the beautiful days of face slapping and abusing slags with its Host, gaining status and fame while enjoying a steady income of points.

“……”

The system remained silent for a long time, before exhaling faintly. “Oh… I’m still here…”

Su Jin rolled her eyes.

(This little melon seed brain is not only dim-witted, but is also apparently in need of some good beating!)

After she listened to the explanations of the functions, Su Jin stopped paying attention to the little fool. She happily stuffed the rabbits into the bamboo basket and covered the opening with branches in a relaxed mood. She walked briskly down the mountain.

It was already dark. Seeing that Su Jin had not come back, Qin Shi glanced anxiously at the door from time to time.

The sound of hasty footsteps echoed. Qin Shi’s eyes lit up as she thought it belonged to Su Jin.

But before she reached the door, she saw a thin but healthy old lady, with a stern expression on her face, rapidly walking towards her home. Even before the person entered the premises, the old lady began to curse with a sharp voice.

“The spineless weakling that resides here. Qin Xianglian1TL note: Finally, the first and the last? time we get to see her full name. ‘Shi’ is something like “Mrs or Madam”, but it follows the maiden name instead of the husband’s family name. Also, the author uses ‘Shi’ 99% of the time. It would be annoying to keep mentioning every single married women other than the MC as “Mrs xxx” especially when ‘xxx’ doesn’t match their husband’s name., come out!”

Qin Shi froze on the spot as she watched her mother approach at a quick pace. “Mom, why are you here at this time?”

When Zhang Shi saw that her daughter had lost a lot of weight, she felt heartbroken. She glared at Qin Shi with her eyes wide open and pounded on her as she lamented.

“A living magnet for disaster like you still recognizes your mom? I no longer exist in your mind, no? Even after such a huge incident, you had not informed me at all. If it wasn’t because I had some business in town today and heard the rumors by coincidence, would you take my grandchildren to the streets to beg for a living? In your eyes, mom is old and useless now, and has no right to interfere in your life? ”

“Mom… it had also been harsh on elder brothers. Every time they provided me with financial assistance, it would result in quarrels with sisters-in-law. Just how many fights have broken out because of me over the past few years? This issue cannot be resolved with a small amount of money. I couldn’t bear to ask for help… I couldn’t open my mouth… Mom….”

Tears trickled down her face. For someone nearing the age of forty, Qin Shi could no longer contain her emotions and started crying like a child in front of her mother.

Old lady Zhang sighed. It was impossible for her not to understand her daughter’s line of reasoning. Even if her daughter asked them for help, her family was not capable of solving the debt problems. In spite of this, she still couldn’t suppress her feelings of being upset… Haa… Never mind.

Before she arrived, she had heard from random villagers that Dalang’s legs might be curable. With the debt gone now, at least the situation seemed to be improving.

Zhang Shi’s eyes were hopeful, but there were traces of doubts in her heart.

It was strange that news of such a big incident did not reach her ears. Even if the village where she lives is not close to her daughter’s house, it was by no means a long distance.

She wondered whether the news had really not reached her village, or whether someone had deliberately concealed it. She couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of what would have happened if she had not come to the market today…

She took out a hemp package from her clothes, confirmed the contents within it, and quickly stuffed it into Qin Shi’s hands.

“Take them. The treatment for Dalang’s legs will cost a lot of money. Haa… don’t give me that look. I don’t wish to nag at you, but you have to think about Dalang.”

Qin Shi felt strongly that she shouldn’t accept the money, but her family’s coffers had already been emptied.

Even though Xiao Jin said she would find a way. But how could she stand having an unmarried daughter take care of her son. Neglecting Dalang was not an option either.

Qin Shi took a deep breath and reluctantly accepted the money.

“Thank you, mom…”

When old lady Zhang heard this, she slapped her and grunted, “Humph! Save that gratitude for someone else. I’m doing this for my eldest son. ”

“I’m going back…”

She waved to Qin Shi and prepared to leave at a speed that did not seem to match her age and thin figure.

Qin Shi was about to invite her mother to stay for dinner, but she recalled that she had just finished up the last bit of food at home.

“Mom, don’t go. It’s not safe at this time. You can stay here for the night. I’ll ask Erlang to take you home tomorrow morning.”

“Erlang came back as well?”

Her mother stared at her sharply. Knowing the exact reason for her mother’s anger, Qin Shi immediately replied, “Yes, he came back in the afternoon, but I will send him back to school tomorrow without delay.”

“Guess you have not lost your sense of duty. Erlang is a gifted child who passed the pre-scholar examination at the age of fourteen. There are not many men capable of achieving this in the town. Although he has not become a scholar yet, it is mainly due to bad luck. You must not make any irreversible mistakes. There must be no interruption in Erlang’s education.”

When it comes to Erlang, Old lady Zhang’s mood obviously improved. He is her only grandson who was literate and could read and write. Naturally, she regarded him as her pride and happiness.

“Mom, I understand. I will send him back tomorrow.”

From the farmers’ perspective, studying is something which nobles pursue. However, families that have children capable of studying would never give up on that glimmer of hope so easily. After all, this is the only way for them to break free from the poverty cycle.

“System, help me check whether there is anyone nearby.”

The sun was still bright when Su Jin went out, but by the time she returned, it was already dark. Most of the houses in the village were already illuminated with candles.

Su Jin had to find a secluded area for the system to take out the wild boar corpse so that she could physically carry it back home, otherwise it would be hard to answer if people questioned its origins.

“Scanning in progress… There is no one around, Host. Do you want me to materialize the wild boar now?”

“Yeah, put it on the ground.”

“Okie-”

The system seemed to have forgotten its sorrow from its shattered dreams and responded cheerfully.

As she observed the phenomenon of the wild boar appearing out of thin air, Su Jin couldn’t help but feel her sanity waver. Although this was not the first time she had seen this process, it was still unbelievable.

Su Jin put the bamboo basket on her back down to the ground. Paying no heed to the bloody smell of wild boar, she lifted the wild boar that weighed easily over 300 kilograms.

There were no signs of her being out of breath. She casually grabbed the basket next to her and started walking home.

The system cheered excitedly, “Yeehaw~”

(Keep your horses for yourself. Slow and steady wins the race2TL note: Another part which could not be translated properly.. In the raw, the system was typing ‘666666’ – which is the slang for “amazing” in Chinese. And Su Jin retorted with ‘基操’ – which is the shortened version of ‘基操勿6’ – or stop hitting 6 and sit down. Something along the lines of “don’t make a fuss”)

Qin Shi grabbed her mother’s hand and tried to persuade her to stay for the night, but her mother tried to push her away to leave.

In the midst of that, they saw a blurry figure in the distance. They could not discern its identity, but from the gigantic shadow, it was clear that it belonged to no ordinary creature.

Old lady Zhang narrowed her eyes and stared blankly. She stopped refusing and immediately rushed into the house with her daughter.

(Please do not turn out to be any supernatural existence that appears only at night.)

Qin Shi felt that the figure seemed to be approaching her house and prayed that it was just her eyes playing a trick on her.

Su Jin heard a loud bang of the door shutting from a distance.

? ?

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