Shen Jiaqi wanted to put up a little more of a struggle.
“I accept a negative number, but minus one thousand is too exaggerated! System, haven’t you made a mistake?”
The system gave two dry laughs, with a trace of mockery in them.
“Heh heh. The system has detected the evil deeds the host has previously committed, and now lists them.”
A long strip resembling a supermarket receipt scrolled slowly from top to bottom.
【Host at one year old spat into the banquet at someone else’s wedding feast, favorability deducted 10】
【At two years old snatched the food bowl of the village’s big yellow dog, favorability deducted 3】
【At three years old kicked a ball and smashed the window of the village brigade office, favorability deducted 5】
【At four years old played with firecrackers and accidentally blew up the manure pit, leaving the village stinking for seven days, favorability deducted 80】
……
【At seventeen liked Jiang Shiyan, and for his sake offended every educated youth in the educated youth quarters, favorability deducted 30】
【Fought with villagers for Jiang Shiyan’s sake, favorability deducted 15】
【Secretly took the whole family’s grain and gave it to Jiang Shiyan, causing the whole family to go hungry, favorability deducted 30】
【To make Jiang Shiyan shine, deliberately cut up his rival’s trousers at the arts performance to humiliate him, favorability deducted 50】
【Grabbed pork for Jiang Shiyan, deliberately cut the queue, and got into a brawl, favorability deducted 20】
“Enough, stop, don’t read any more!” Shen Jiaqi’s chest ached faintly, if she read any further she’d surely die of rage.
If the points deducted in childhood were for being naughty.
The points deducted after she turned seventeen were all because of Jiang Shiyan.
That damned male lead, no looks to speak of, no chest muscles to speak of, and he treated the original owner like a simp.
The original owner must have been blind to fancy him and do so many wicked things for his sake.
“The host had better think hard about how to clear the negative score and work on earning favorability!”
Shen Jiaqi took a deep breath. “Does anyone’s favorability count?”
“Yes, host. Besides people, animals and other living things count too…”
She wanted to cry but had no tears. A thousand points, a thousand points, when on earth would she ever pay that off?
So many good things, able to look but not touch, able to touch but not use, really… bah! What lewd talk was that.
As if sensing her gloom, the system’s tone turned gentler. “Don’t lose heart. The host only arrived today and has already earned 80 favorability points. Keep it up!”
Eighty points?!
Was this from the Shen family?
So her efforts today really hadn’t been wasted.
Come to think of it, a thousand points wasn’t so hard after all.
Shen Jiaqi made up her mind: from today on she would definitely wash the original owner’s heart clean and turn her into a new person, work hard to accumulate favorability, and achieve 【favorability】 freedom soon.
Crouching on the ground, she spread her palm and waved it lightly over the freshly washed wild ginger and wild greens, and the things were taken into the space.
“That’s good, however much I dig up, I can carry all of it away.” Full of drive, Shen Jiaqi gripped her little hoe and went on crouching there turning up the soil.
Too much…
There was far too much wild ginger in this ground, there was simply no digging it all up…
Shen Jiaqi soon had enough dug for the whole family, and her pair of tender fingers had gone red with the digging.
She was about to rest when she suddenly remembered that the book seemed to have mentioned that this winter a very severe cold wave would break out across the country and set off pneumonia.
Because doctors and medicine were scarce, many people died of it, and Daxing Village was no exception.
With no medicine to be bought, all people could do was boil ginger soup to drive out the cold, which did have some effect.
At that time, ginger nationwide had a price but no market, a catty was bid up to one yuan and still supply couldn’t meet demand.
If she could dig up more wild ginger, dry it and store it, then when winter came she could boil ginger soup and hand it out to the whole village, which should reduce the casualties.
Shen Jiaqi gritted her teeth and, enduring the pain in her hands, dug and dug and dug in that great expanse of soil, working until she was dripping with sweat…
Not far off, a pair of deep, dark eyes was coldly fixed on Shen Jiaqi.
Lu Zheng stood with his arms crossed, watching Shen Jiaqi crouch in a patch of wild grass, feeling about here, scrabbling about there, laboring on for a long time.
He hadn’t lit a lamp, and could only go by the moonlight, so he couldn’t see clearly.
Instinct told him Shen Jiaqi must be digging wild greens.
The always dainty Miss Shen, whom even dogs disliked, going up the mountain alone at night to dig wild greens?
Lu Zheng’s gaze grew heavy, with something unreadable in it.
Thinking of how Shen Jiaqi had reached into his shirt today and secretly felt his abs, Lu Zheng’s brows knitted tightly, and a flicker of distaste and aversion passed through his eyes.
He’d meant to simply keep watch over her quietly like this until she was safely out of the mountains.
Just then a faint rustling, splashing sound of water came through.
Lu Zheng turned his head alertly and saw an S-shaped glimmer of light flash across the surface of the little stream, darting at high speed toward Shen Jiaqi’s back.
Shen Jiaqi was busy harvesting wild ginger and had no idea danger was near.
Not until a piercing pain came from her backside did she instinctively reach out and feel it, and her hand closed on a slippery long strip.
Alive, slick, fully two fingers thick, and it coiled around her wrist…
“Snake… a snake…”
Her scream broke off, her eyes rolled and she nearly fainted.
For as long as she could remember, the animal she feared most was the snake!
She frantically tried to fling the snake off, which only provoked it further, and its mouth bit down harder.
She was in utter despair, she’d probably be finished right here today.
In the middle of the chaos, cold light flashed before her eyes, and a firewood knife drove halfway into the earth, cleanly cutting the snake into two pieces.
One piece clamped in a death bite on her backside.
One piece twitching around her hand.
Shen Jiaqi’s body tilted, and her head struck heavily into a thick, solid chest.
The man’s distinctive scent came at her along with a wave of heat, utterly invasive.
Without time to think, she clutched at him like a drowning person grabbing a straw and, naturally enough, wrapped her arms around the man’s waist.
The lines of muscle at his waist showed and vanished by turns, and felt very familiar to the touch.
“Have you touched enough?”
Lu Zheng was covered in cold air, his body was clearly scalding, but his tone was as high and cold as an iceberg.
It was him!
Shen Jiaqi raised her flashlight. On the man’s faintly twitching face, the air was frozen three feet deep.
Their eyes met briefly, and the long corners of his eyes began to redden, and the tips of his ears were a little red too.
Right after, Lu Zheng was the first to turn his face away.
“Let go.”
Shen Jiaqi kept shaking her head, her small body hanging off his sturdy frame like a little pendant.
Lu Zheng’s body went slightly stiff, the little woman in his arms rubbing against him made him thoroughly uncomfortable.
“Let go, I’ll get the snake’s head off you.”
Snake?
Right, there was still half a dead snake hanging off her backside!
And in the most awkward spot!
Shen Jiaqi let go, wishing she could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
Just then a thick, hoarse, low voice came by her ear. “Excuse me.”
That scalding great palm easily took hold of the small of her back and laid her face down across his two legs.
Lu Zheng looked away, but still couldn’t avoid glimpsing the woman’s peach-shaped rear.
In these times nobody had enough to eat, and men and women alike were thin as skin over bone.
Shen Jiaqi, though, had been kept very well.
Fair-skinned and pretty, her body full, even in loose blue work clothes, her curves couldn’t be hidden.
Fleshy, and looking very soft…
Lu Zheng’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and his breathing turned heavy.
Then his gaze darkened, and he swiftly extended his fingers and in two or three motions pried the snake’s mouth open and pulled the fangs out with the movement.
The whole set of motions flowed like moving cloud and water, quick as lightning, but he still couldn’t help touching the wound. The pain made Shen Jiaqi’s whole body twitch, and her chest pressed down hard on his leg.
The next second, a certain person’s face flushed instantly, so red it was about to drip blood.