The dishes Lier managed to “collect” today were far less lavish compared to last night’s feast.
That was something Jiang Jiaran had expected.
After the little fellow caused enough trouble, the kitchens were naturally going to guard against him.
Still, compared to the meals she had originally been getting, this was already much better. Especially the two plates of braised meat, fragrant without being greasy.
After eating, Jiang Jiaran had Yu’er go gather the materials she needed.
She could not rely on Lier forever just to avoid starving to death. The child would be exhausted.
After spending some time, Yu’er managed to gather everything Jiang Jiaran had requested.
With Yu’er’s personality and a mistress like Jiang Jiaran, people would not think highly of them, but they also would not deliberately make trouble for no reason.
Finding a servant in the miscellaneous courtyard to help carry some things over was still possible.
Besides, Jiang Jiaran had even pried a small jade bead off one of her hair ornaments for Yu’er to use as thanks.
For the sake of that reward, one of the labor servants helped carry everything over.
However, the area around Ying Zhaolou’s courtyard seemed to possess some invisible aura. The servant did not dare approach too closely at all. He dumped everything nearby and immediately ran off.
Hearing the noise, Jiang Jiaran came out to help.
Yu’er had originally still been surprised that the young madam did not mind personally doing such work. But once she saw Jiang Jiaran completely unconcerned about appearances, tucking up her skirt, rolling up her sleeves, squatting down, and beginning to hammer bricks and smear mud, she suddenly stopped having any thoughts at all.
Instead, she felt that perhaps she herself was the strange one for constantly being surprised by the young madam.
Facts proved that once your worldview got repeatedly challenged enough times, you eventually became used to it.
Bang bang clang clang.
Jiang Jiaran chipped off half a brick and lifted it to inspect.
Actually, after arriving at the base in her previous life, she had not suffered much hardship anymore. Though it had been a long time since she last built a stove, her memory was excellent.
These bricks and stones were not especially neat. It was obvious they were discarded scraps abandoned in the miscellaneous courtyard. But after cleaning them up, they were still usable. It simply required more effort.
While Jiang Jiaran worked intently with her back to the sky and face toward the earth, building her stove with complete focus, Xu Yuanzheng arrived with several attendants to help Third Cousin vent her anger.
As they got closer and closer to where Ying Zhaolou lived, Xu Yuanzheng’s legs weakened slightly.
Though Xu Yuanzheng did not come from an especially powerful family, back in his hometown he had still barely qualified as a spoiled young master.
Whenever he and his brothers went to confront someone, they usually started by shouting outside the gates.
But now, standing outside the courtyard with his men, he opened his mouth, glanced nervously toward the nearby area, and ultimately did not dare make a sound.
What if they disturbed Ying Zhaolou and he misunderstood them as coming to call on him? That would be very bad…
“Young Master?” one attendant asked hesitantly while looking at him.
“What are you staring at? Open the gate!” Xu Yuanzheng snapped.
The attendant hurried forward and forcefully shoved the courtyard gate open with considerable momentum.
The gate had only been loosely closed. The moment it opened, something inside either got knocked over or struck against something else, producing a loud sound that startled the attendant badly.
Jiang Jiaran had been working on the corner section and could not find a brick of the proper size. She was just estimating how to smash the one in her hand into two halves.
Holding her tool, she found the proper angle and struck it cleanly apart at the exact moment the courtyard gate was pushed open.
Hearing the noise, she froze briefly and looked up.
She still held the already-cracked brick in her hand and casually snapped off the unwanted half before tossing it to the ground, then stared at the strangers who had appeared from nowhere.
Jiang Jiaran: “?”
Xu Yuanzheng had ordered the attendant to forcefully push open the gate because he expected to frighten her into panic.
Instead, he saw a sweet-looking young woman with dirt-covered hands, one foot raised high as she calmly broke a brick in half right in front of him.
Xu Yuanzheng was so shocked by the scene that for a moment he forgot why he had even come.
Yu’er was the first to react. Terrified, she cried out,
“Who are you people? How can you trespass in here?”
To forcefully enter their courtyard like this, especially as a group of men, clearly meant trouble. They obviously had bad intentions.
Yu’er’s perfectly normal reaction finally pulled Xu Yuanzheng out of his stunned state.
Then he remembered his wronged Third Cousin and his own momentary cowardice just now. His embarrassment instantly transformed into anger.
So this woman really was crude and fierce.
No wonder she bullied Third Cousin.
He walked forward with a dark expression and viciously declared,
“Young Madam Lou, because of the things you’ve done, this young master specifically came to settle accounts with you properly.”
Jiang Jiaran looked at him in confusion before turning to Yu’er.
“Which one is this?”
Now that he was closer, Yu’er recognized him as well. She quickly ran over beside Jiang Jiaran and whispered several explanations into her ear.
A cousin of the Ying family?
What did he have to do with her? Why did he look as though he bore such deep hatred toward her?
She had no recollection of interacting with him before, and she had only just entered the Ying residence. Jiang Jiaran felt there had to be some misunderstanding involved.
She helplessly smiled and spread her hands.
“Young Master Xu, is there perhaps some misunderstanding here?”
Unfortunately, Jiang Jiaran forgot she was still holding half a brick.
As she spoke, the brick casually swung back and forth in her hand. To Xu Yuanzheng, it looked utterly provocative.
The suppressed anger instantly shot straight to his head.
This woman was actually this arrogant? After bullying Third Cousin, did she now intend to hit him too?
So what if she was fierce? Could she really fight them?
He had brought people with him!
Seeing Xu Yuanzheng motion for his attendants to surround her, Jiang Jiaran’s smile disappeared.
After listening to Xu Yuanzheng’s furious cursing, she finally understood the reason behind all this.
So it was not entirely a misunderstanding after all.
Xu Yuanzheng did not initially intend to physically hit a woman. At first, he merely planned to smash and intimidate things to vent Third Cousin’s anger, then drag Jiang Jiaran over to apologize and accept punishment in front of Ying Xueshuang so he could please the woman he admired.
But once again, things did not go according to his expectations. He ground his teeth in frustration.
Xu Yuanzheng was already someone easily overwhelmed by anger and impulse. Now he refused to let things go so easily.
Facing the malicious hostility of several men, Jiang Jiaran was about to speak when a sharp stabbing pain suddenly pierced through her mind.
She instinctively closed her eyes and pressed a fist against her forehead.
Yu’er had never seen such a situation before and was naturally timid to begin with. She was already panicking while clutching Jiang Jiaran when she suddenly saw her in pain.
“Young Madam?” she asked anxiously.
The stabbing pain disappeared as suddenly as it had arrived.
But after Jiang Jiaran opened her eyes again, she sat there blankly as though lost in thought.
A system interface had suddenly appeared before her eyes out of nowhere, like a projected screen.
Aside from targeting Xu Yuanzheng and the others, there was also a line of values slowly increasing.
Jiang Jiaran blinked hard.
Not only did it remain, it actually became even clearer.
She was completely baffled.
What the hell was this thing?
Seeing Jiang Jiaran’s expression suddenly change, Xu Yuanzheng assumed she was finally frightened and was just about to feel smug when noisy footsteps abruptly sounded from the courtyard entrance.
The leading man bowed respectfully from outside the gate, smiling so hard his face wrinkled.
“Young Madam Lou!”
The kitchen steward had finally managed to send off the little devil and was originally slacking off when he suddenly looked up and saw the cold-faced subordinate beside Young Master Lou staring at him like a stone statue.
The steward nearly jumped out of his skin.
Then came the light and casual threat about skinning people alive and steaming buns from them, frightening him so badly his soul nearly left his body.
Although it was still somewhat early before mealtime, fearing that any delay might cost him his life, he hurriedly ordered the kitchens to prepare another table of dishes and personally brought them to Jiang Jiaran’s courtyard.
Everyone in the residence had assumed that since the Jiang family sent over an adopted daughter in place of their real daughter as a form of humiliation, Young Master Lou was probably the person most eager to kill the young madam.
Who could have imagined that the same Young Master Lou who had not even appeared during the wedding would actually issue warnings regarding her meals?
If only they had known sooner!
Had they known earlier, they would not have dared neglect her even with ten times the courage.
Jiang Jiaran had not even figured out this bizarre system yet when another group of people suddenly appeared before her.
Her remote little courtyard really had become lively today.
The steward respectfully greeted her before finally noticing the situation inside the courtyard. He immediately became confused.
No matter how he looked at it, he could not make sense of what was happening.
“Why is Young Master Xu here?”
Xu Yuanzheng: “…”
Who exactly should be asking who?
Jiang Jiaran turned again toward Yu’er.
“And who is this one?”
The steward overheard her question and immediately stepped forward politely to answer. Then he waved a hand, and servants carrying dishes streamed inside one after another.
The commotion was so loud that he practically wished Young Master Lou in the neighboring courtyard could hear it clearly.
No matter what happened today, nothing was going to stop him from currying favor!
The manor kitchens originally had not even wanted to provide meals for her. Yet now their attitude had completely reversed. It was far too strange.
While Jiang Jiaran remained puzzled, the steward eagerly hurried over with a flattering smile, apologizing repeatedly while offering all kinds of pleasant words.
Between the lines, it was obvious he had come because of Ying Zhaolou’s “instructions.”
Jiang Jiaran was not actually listening carefully to what he said.
Because she had discovered that although the steward smiled broadly, the value generated from him was increasing even faster than the values from Xu Yuanzheng and the others.
She examined the system more carefully and gradually began feeling an odd sense of familiarity.
The moment she remembered where she had seen it before, understanding suddenly dawned on her.
Xu Yuanzheng had heard every word the steward said. His expression changed repeatedly in spectacular fashion before he finally shivered weakly.
Ying Zhaolou had actually spoken up because of this woman?
That was completely different from what he imagined!
As the servants finished setting down the dishes and departed, Xu Yuanzheng immediately fled with his attendants as well.
The surroundings instantly became quiet again.
Yu’er still stared foolishly at the food while Jiang Jiaran instructed her to clean up first before washing her hands and returning to her room, shutting the door behind her.
She sat at the table, poured herself a cup of hot tea, and flipped through the system interface.
The moment she saw the familiar creator’s name, her thoughts drifted far away.
“Dear little Ranran, stop sleeping already and come look at this!”
Jiang Jiaran, who had been napping face-down on the table, was awakened by the loud voice and immediately glared murderously at the speaker.
She had just spent two straight nights conducting experiments and was currently in the sort of irritable state where she wanted to kill anyone who disturbed her sleep.
The person bothering her was clearly a repeat offender and entirely unafraid of her reaction.
He shoved a machine over and rapidly demonstrated it with a series of clicks.
Mike.
Her male best friend.
A mixed-blood medical fanatic and technology addict who acted flamboyantly gay. He claimed to possess bloodlines from multiple countries and even insisted he descended from nobility.
As if anyone believed him.
“Well? What do you think?” After finishing the demonstration, Mike wore a smug expression and deliberately dragged out the end of his sentence in an infuriatingly dramatic way.
After half-squinting through the entire presentation, Jiang Jiaran woke up considerably.
In short, this lunatic had created a medical system capable of automatically monitoring the negative energy fields around nearby mutants and converting absorbed energy into various medicines.
Mutants had originally been born from the negative energy fields within the environment.
Darkness, evil, filth, and chaos were all forms of energy that nurtured them.
“Looks pretty good.” Jiang Jiaran nodded and pointed at one section. “But there’s a mutant standing half a meter away from you, and you’re busy making cold medicine?”
Mike burst into loud laughter.
“Little Ranran, I adore your sense of humor. Trust me, it’ll be perfected eventually.”
But before the system could be fully completed, Mike died.
He died saving her.
Even at the moment of death, he still looked regretful and complained that the person he sacrificed himself for was her instead of some handsome young man.
Bah.
As if she cared.
After that, Jiang Jiaran implanted the system into her terminal device.
The tea had cooled slightly by now.
Jiang Jiaran gradually came back to herself and lowered her head for a sip.
So transmigrating into a novel even came with a cheat ability.
Could this count as absurdly good luck?
Resting her chin on one hand, she browsed through the system catalog.
Inside were not only cold medicines, but anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics, internal and external injury medicines, antidotes, sleeping drugs, poisons, and corrosive agents. Every item had a corresponding conversion value attached behind it.
Although it had automatically adjusted itself somewhat to fit this world, it was still basically a treasure vault.
What the system absorbed should be the dark, negative, filthy, or chaotic energy appearing around her.
Just looking at how rapidly the steward’s values increased, even though he smiled obsequiously, he was probably cursing her viciously inside his heart.
Thinking of this, the steward’s earlier groveling words suddenly replayed themselves through her mind one by one.
Only after fully understanding his meaning did Jiang Jiaran suddenly feel a chill creep down her neck. Her hand trembled slightly, causing the tea to ripple.
Something was wrong.
Wasn’t the great villain supposed to treat her like air?
Then why was he suddenly showing this much concern for her?
It was terrifying!