After returning to her room, Lin Tingwan started tallying up the money under her name.
Fortunately, whether for the sake of appearances, or just for show—
Lin Zhenwei and Su Wanyi hadn’t shortchanged the original owner of this body when it came to money. The amount on the bank card was enough for her to live on until adulthood, and at the very least she wouldn’t have to worry about starving.
A moment later, Lin Tingwan shook her head and laughed bitterly.
The poison the stepmother had fed her had already brought the original owner close to losing her life value, that was probably the real reason Su Wanyi hadn’t cut her stepdaughter’s living expenses.
No wonder the original owner ended up in this state, that stepmother’s level of scheming was quite high.
Just like now, Lin Tingwan was in the rocket class, which was exactly why Teacher Zhou, her homeroom teacher, looked down on her.
Because Lin Tingwan’s grades weren’t good enough to qualify for the rocket class, it was Su Wanyi who insisted, making Lin Zhenwei pay a huge school-transfer fee to get her in.
The original owner had once been deeply moved by this, thinking Su Wanyi genuinely wanted to be a good stepmother.
But the reality?
The whole class was made up of top students, academic geniuses, and they were far from friendly toward Lin Tingwan, a “connections case” who’d squeezed in with money.
Especially with her stepsister Lin Yuexuan, the school beauty, as the contrast.
The original owner was like trash next to her.
And often it was Lin Yuexuan stirring up trouble behind her back, the original owner had been bullied for an entire year.
Now, though, with a three-time Best Actress in her place, Lin Tingwan smiled faintly.
Funny enough, the first drama she’d starred in as a lead, back in her past life, was also about a girl bullied at school.
In the end the girl turned the tables and slapped down everyone at school who’d looked down on her.
This time, she’d just treat the fake drama as real, and try out this real life for a change, not bad at all.
This body was already inclined to be overweight and sweat easily, and after squeezing onto the bus to get home, she was a filthy mess from head to toe.
Lin Tingwan hurried to take a shower and change her clothes.
But when she opened the closet, she found it completely empty.
She then remembered, her clothes had all been packed up by Lin Yuexuan under some excuse, ready to be thrown out.
Such a childish trick, Lin Tingwan didn’t care. Given how she looked right now, there was no point wasting effort dressing up.
Wearing the school uniform every day was just fine.
After washing up, Lin Tingwan wanted to fully immerse her thoughts in studying, but, she couldn’t.
Her stomach was genuinely, painfully hungry, but it wasn’t convenient to go out and buy anything now.
Su Wanyi, already feeling like she had victory in the bag, no longer seemed to want to keep up the act toward the original owner.
Actually, it was directed at her too, her attitude toward Lin Tingwan could be called vicious.
And Lin Zhenwei was an ambitious man who spent most of his time on his career, the household servants, naturally, listened to the mistress of the house.
That was why the original owner’s days had grown harder and harder.
A light knock interrupted Lin Tingwan’s train of thought. Standing outside the door, surprisingly, was not the model modern stepmother who supposedly sent her stepdaughter tonics and calming soup every night.
Probably because it was no longer necessary?
If not for the system, the original owner, already poisoned so deeply, would have had only three days left to live, Su Wanyi probably couldn’t be bothered to poison her further.
To avoid leaving evidence against herself.
The one outside the door was Auntie Liu, the only person in this household who showed the original owner any goodwill. Lin Tingwan opened the door right away.
Auntie Liu slipped in, her quick movements at odds with her large build.
Then, she pulled a beautifully packaged small cake out from inside her clothes.
She pressed it straight into Lin Tingwan’s hands. “I had my son buy this. It’s freshly baked, miss, eat it quickly.”
Lin Tingwan’s eyes grew moist, what came to mind was her past life.
Back then, her father’s affair and betrayal was already an established fact, and her mother worked several jobs alone, still insisting on letting her go to school.
Sometimes when she studied late into the night, her mother would go out and buy her something good to eat.
Even fearing that man would find out, she’d have to sneak into the room just like Auntie Liu was doing now.
Unable to hold it back, Lin Tingwan started to cry.
Auntie Liu hurriedly wiped, hands and feet all in a fluster, at the tear marks on her plump face, sighing, “Miss, don’t be afraid. While the master’s home, she won’t dare bully you.”
Right, she wasn’t afraid,
Lin Tingwan decided, once she’d eaten and drunk her fill, she’d start on her tasks!
Keep her life safe, gain enough energy.
And then, Lin Tingwan swore, she would definitely avenge the original owner.
As for being a top student, she’d study, and go on to dominate!
It seemed the system could sense the host’s emotional state.
After Auntie Liu left, the system’s mechanical voice sounded in Lin Tingwan’s mind:
【Host, if you can complete three novice tasks in a row, there will be an extra reward.】
The system even presented the so-called reward as a physical object in Lin Tingwan’s mind.
It was a small milky-white bottle, and the Top Student System told Lin Tingwan this was the legendary “Marrow-Cleansing Water.”
Eyes rolling, Lin Tingwan started bargaining with the system:
【Xiaobai, why don’t you give me this reward in advance.】
If the system had a physical form, right now it would probably be a head full of question marks.
But since it didn’t have one yet, it could only ask directly:
【Host, doing this violates the rules. Rewards can only be given after completing the task. If not…blah blah blah…】
No rule could stand up to one line from its host:
【Look at the state of my body right now, poisoned to the core, overweight and sickly. Xiaobai, don’t you think your host is pitiful?】
After all, Lin Tingwan was a genuine Best Actress, trained in the craft of acting.
Perhaps this so-called Top Student System was still a novice itself?
Either way, the system really was moved by Lin Tingwan’s pitiful expression, and actually gave the Marrow-Cleansing Water to the host in advance.
【Fine, this system can grant the reward to you in advance first.
But remember, host, you must complete Novice Task (Two) within 24 hours.】
Lin Tingwan waved a hand to say she’d definitely get it done.
She suddenly noticed this Xiaobai system was a little cute, what was going on?
Lin Tingwan opened the bottle of Marrow-Cleansing Water in her hand, and it actually had a faint sweet fragrance.
She’d wanted to look into what it did, but the system refused.
【Host, if you obtained this reward through the proper channel, this system would naturally have included usage instructions when issuing it.】
Meaning, was this her own fault?
In any case, this body’s condition really was poor. After the effects of the vitality-restoring potion wore off, Lin Tingwan felt sore all over her body, completely unbearable.
She simply drank the entire bottle of liquid in one gulp.
Aside from a warm feeling in her stomach, at first Lin Tingwan didn’t notice anything else unusual.
She was about to question the system when she suddenly felt an indescribable lightness throughout her whole body.
After all, at 150 kilograms of flesh, this sixteen-year-old girl’s body had originally struggled painfully every single day just to hold itself up.
It could be said that after drinking this small bottle of Marrow-Cleansing Water, the lightness this body now felt was something the original owner hadn’t experienced in nearly two years.
Lin Tingwan was astonished, and began looking forward to the other items in the system’s store.
【Xiaobai, thank you. Tonight, even if I don’t sleep, I’ll finish the task.】
After a while, the Top Student System finally responded:
【Host, this system considers the name Xiaobai an insult to its brilliant and mighty self.】
【Xiaobai, I’ll complete the study task. Once I’ve detoxed and can extend my life, I’m definitely going to start losing weight too. Does the store have good stuff for that as well, Xiaobai?】
【Host, you’re going to lose this system at this rate.】