A guard immediately pushed the door open and entered.
“Pass down the order: recall all personnel searching for Huichun Pharmacy in the city. Additionally, draft a notice to be announced throughout the city. Jing An Marquis Estate is offering a reward of ten thousand taels of gold to seek renowned physicians from across the land to detoxify the Old Madam. Anyone who can provide effective leads will be rewarded with one thousand taels of silver.”
Ten thousand taels of gold!
Lin Shu gasped sharply, her gaze toward Xiao Che shifting noticeably.
Filthy rich!
The guard accepted the order and swiftly withdrew.
The study returned to silence.
“Now, you can rest peacefully,” Xiao Che said as he sat back down, picking up a book scroll, though his eyes didn’t settle on the pages. “Before the real culprit is caught, you’d better not die.”
The words sounded unpleasant, but Lin Shu detected a hint of awkward concern in them.
She pursed her lips and didn’t respond.
The fatigue in her body surged back like a tide, and she couldn’t be bothered to bicker with him anymore. Closing her eyes and leaning against the chair back, she prepared to sleep a little longer.
After an indeterminate amount of time, she felt someone gently shaking her.
“Go back to your courtyard to sleep,” Xiao Che’s voice sounded by her ear.
Lin Shu couldn’t even muster the energy to lift her eyelids, mumbling weakly, “Can’t walk. My legs feel like jelly.”
“…”
After a brief silence, Xiao Che’s voice sounded again, this time directed outside the door: “Prepare a sedan chair to escort Eldest Miss Lin back to Tingxue Courtyard.”
When Lin Shu was carried back to Tingxue Courtyard, the few servants present were terrified by the sight, fearing their young lady had committed some grave offense and was being taken away in a sedan chair to be drowned.
It wasn’t until Hua Ping followed behind, her eyes red as she explained that the young lady had fainted from exhaustion, that everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Their gazes toward the sedan chair held a few more traces of awe.
Back in her familiar room, Lin Shu weakly dismissed everyone, keeping only Hua Ping by her side.
“Young lady, how are you feeling? Should this servant prepare the medicine sent by Young Master Xiao for you?” Hua Ping’s voice trembled with tears.
“What medicine?”
“It’s a prescription from the Estate Physician, sent by Young Master Xiao. He said it’s to gently nourish your body.”
Lin Shu raised an eyebrow and snorted inwardly.
At least he has some conscience.
“Not for now. Help me up.”
Leaning against the headboard, she felt like a phone drained of battery, her entire body radiating weakness.
She pulled out the stack of banknotes from her bosom and carefully counted them again—five thousand taels, not a single note missing.
Looking at this pile of gleaming silver, Lin Shu’s mood improved just a little.
Money earned with blood and sweat, at the cost of her life—truly satisfying.
“Hua Ping, keep these safe. This is our foundation for securing our future,” she solemnly handed the banknotes to Hua Ping.
Hua Ping held the thick stack of banknotes, her hands trembling. “Y-young lady, this… this much money…”
“Take it. We’ll need money for many things in the future,” Lin Shu waved her hand, indicating there was no need to make a fuss.
After sending Hua Ping to the small kitchen to oversee dinner preparations, Lin Shu lay alone on the bed, finally having time to review.
She closed her eyes, calling out in her heart to the existence she both loved and hated.
“Damn system, 9527, come out and chat about life.”
After a few seconds of silence, the cold mechanical voice arrived as expected.
[Host Lin Shu, hello.]
“I’m not well. I’m very unwell,” Lin Shu rolled her eyes inwardly. “I’m asking you: who poisoned this body with a slow-acting toxin?”
【…】
The system fell silent.
“Stop playing dead, I know you can hear me,” Lin Shu urged impatiently. “I’m a Level 1 BUG in this world, and now this BUG is about to be poisoned to death. Doesn’t that affect your worldline stability? Aren’t you going to do something about it?”
【After detection, the host’s physical condition is indeed caused by poisoning. However, this is not a key plotline in the original work. The system has no authority to interfere, nor the permission to disclose information.】
“What nonsense?” Lin Shu laughed in anger. “Not a key plot? I’m about to die, and that’s not key? What are your criteria? Do I have to wait until I’m completely dead, and Lin Wan’er steps over my corpse to become the Marquis lady before it counts as a key plot?”
【The original character “Lin Shu’s” ending is “beaten to death with sticks,” not “death by poisoning.” The presence of toxins in her body does not directly affect her final outcome, therefore it does not fall within the system’s correction scope.】
Lin Shu was completely stunned.
It felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured over her from head to toe, leaving her entire body cold.
So that’s how it was.
She understood now.
That poor original host wouldn’t survive past three chapters – she was beaten to death with sticks in the woodshed.
She died too quickly, so quickly that the slow-acting poison in her body didn’t even have time to take effect, thus having no impact on the overall plot.
So to this rigid, inflexible damn system, how the original host died was the key point. Whether she was sick or poisoned before death simply didn’t matter.
But she wasn’t the original host.
She didn’t want to die.
She had barely managed to escape from Xiao Che’s clutches, only to fall victim to some invisible slow-acting poison?
A tremendous sense of absurdity and rage surged within her.
“Fine, what a perfect ‘not within correction scope,'” Lin Shu sneered inwardly. “Your logic is that as long as I’m not beaten to death with sticks, any other way I die is acceptable, right? Then tomorrow I’ll go jump in the river, hang myself – as long as I’m not beaten to death by Xiao Che, it meets your KPI, correct?”
The system fell silent again, seemingly stumped by her stubborn, unreasonable logic.
【Warning: The host must not engage in suicidal behavior, otherwise it will trigger the emergency correction procedure.】
“Ha, now you’re afraid I’ll kill myself?”
Lin Shu was practically furious at the system’s double standards. “Fine, I won’t kill myself. I’ll live properly. But you remember this – since you won’t tell me who the real culprit is, I’ll investigate myself. When I dig out that poisoner and tear him to pieces, and the plot deviates, don’t blame me.”
She unilaterally ended this unpleasant conversation, no longer paying attention to the worthless piece of junk in her mind that only knew how to issue warnings.
Relying on others is worse than relying on yourself. If she depended on this system, the grass on her grave would already be three feet high.
Although she hadn’t found out who the poisoner was, Lin Shu was already ninety-nine percent certain that Liu Yiniang was involved.
Who else in the Prime Minister’s residence could poison the legitimate daughter for over a decade without anyone noticing? Besides the highly skilled Liu Yiniang, Lin Shu couldn’t think of anyone else.
But what was her motive for poisoning?
Was it just to pave the way for Lin Wan’er?
Lin Shu felt that things weren’t that simple.
Rubbing her aching temples, she forced herself to calm down.
The top priority wasn’t to expose Liu Yiniang, but to save her own life first.
The Estate Physician said her body was completely drained and needed long-term rest – she couldn’t afford to strain her mind or body.
What a joke.
With internal toxins raging and the White Lotus and the damned system watching her like hawks, how could she possibly rest and recuperate? Lie in bed waiting for death?
No, she had to find a way to detoxify.