Chapter 313 – Three Years in Langya (Thirteen)
“Meng Heng, the eldest son of Governor Meng Zhan of Cangzhou and the son of Gu Zhen, the wife of Liu Zhi, is at risk of assassination right now. Host, please accept him! Upon mission completion, you will receive a ‘Mysterious Gift Pack’, but failure means a level one shock punishment!”
Jiang Pengji was leaning back with her eyes closed on the table, pretending to take a short nap, but she could hear the system’s long-awaited electronic synthesized voice.
“Meng Heng?” She furrowed her brows, tapping rhythmically on the table. “Mysterious Gift Pack?”
The system cleared its throat and said, “Yes, this is the feature of immediate trigger tasks—similar to a treasure chest, where the chances of opening something good are quite high. Regarding this task, I hope you can consider it. After all, it has been a while since you accepted a live task, and the rewards have been limited. This task only requires you to accept Meng Heng and walk with him for a bit to succeed.”
Jiang Pengji sneered, “System, you seem to have forgotten. This team isn’t led by me, and whether we can accept one more person isn’t up to me. Although there are many in the convoy, most are fragile scholars. If someone behind is truly intent on killing Meng Heng, it would certainly endanger the convoy. Even accidentally hurting someone would be a colossal loss. You want me to gamble?”
The system fell silent, attempting to persuade Jiang Pengji but swallowing its words.
This host wasn’t easy to fool, it realized all too well.
“Since that’s the case, the host can choose to abandon the task. Even if it fails, the punishment is only a level one shock; it won’t impact you much,” the system said regretfully. “However, from a system’s perspective, I still advise you to take on this task. After all, Meng Heng is not just Meng Zhan’s son; he is also the last bloodline of your aunt Gu Zhen, your cousin.”
Jiang Pengji pondered for a long time and asked, “If I don’t intervene, what are the chances Meng Heng will get into trouble?”
The system replied, “After checking the backend probability, it’s nine lives lost to one.”
Jiang Pengji gave the system’s task panel a peculiar glance at the ‘Mysterious Gift Pack’ and said, “Don’t bother me; I need to think some more.”
The system mechanically responded, “Okay, I won’t disturb you.”
On the surface, she appeared unchanged, but inside, she was secretly laughing—
After all, the system couldn’t resist for long.
When it came to upgrading her live stream, Jiang Pengji couldn’t have been less anxious.
She had stated long ago that the live stream upgrade depended entirely on “Instant Upgrade Cards”, and without them, she wouldn’t upgrade.
For over half a year, she hoarded popularity points like a miser, unfazed by the system’s sweet talk.
Why was she doing this?
Because she had figured out the system’s little schemes.
Nothing but a heap of self-satisfied data, the system thought it could outsmart her, a living human being?
Dream on!
In their skirmishes, the system hardly gained the upper hand, while Jiang Pengji had discerned some of its weaknesses and learned what popularity points were.
For the system, popularity points were its energy for upgrades and daily activities; perhaps there were even larger uses.
Without upgrading the live stream, the daily popularity points wouldn’t increase—staying fixed at a meager amount.
Unfortunately, the system’s appetite had been growing, like a baby evolving into a toddler.
What used to fill it up was now just a few sips—it now needed a whole bowl of porridge.
In this scenario, the live stream’s capacity limit needed to increase so that daily popularity points could meet the system’s ever-increasing appetite.
How to raise the capacity limit?
Only two options: either use so-called “Instant Upgrade Cards” or the host digs into their own pockets for an upgrade.
The system deceptively called it a small investment with big returns for the benefit of the host.
Only with a higher capacity limit would the host gain greater benefits.
But did Jiang Pengji sound that foolish?
The system’s hunger was its own problem; what did that have to do with her?
More importantly, Jiang Pengji suspected that upgrading the live stream didn’t even require that many popularity points!
Who knows how many kickbacks the system pocketed?
Not a single word of the shady system’s talk could she trust.
Her strategy was simple: stall!
Stall until the system couldn’t take it anymore, desperately needing more popularity points, and ends up paying to help her upgrade!
Ah, in fact, the first “Instant Upgrade Card” came about just this way.
She would bet this immediate trigger task held no real significance; it was merely the system’s excuse to hand Jiang Pengji a “Instant Upgrade Card.” Whatever was inside that so-called “Mysterious Gift Pack” was definitely just one of those cards.
Since Jiang Pengji learned that the system could read her mind, she split her consciousness in two—presenting one version to deceive the system while the deeper thought held her actual intentions… Well, ultimately concluding that executing this task was optional.
“I’ll take it.”
Just as the system was feeling anxious, those light three words from Jiang Pengji made it overjoyed, as if granted a reprieve.
It’s rare for the host to be so agreeable today QAQ!
“Ta Xue, I’m going down to ride for a bit. Being stuck in the carriage makes my back feel like it’s going to ache.”
Jiang Pengji handed the hand warmer she was holding to Ta Xue. She lifted a corner of the carriage curtain, leaned sideways out, and soon the curtain closed behind her.
“Young Master, remember to wear your cloak, or you’ll catch a chill.”
Ta Xue stretched out her head, offering a cloak, as Jiang Pengji smoothly mounted the horse and caught the cloak with one hand.
With a flick of her wrist, the large cloak seemed to have a mind of its own, obediently covering her.
“Zu De, look at that young man, full of energy, unafraid of the cold. Quite enviable.”
Mr. Yuanjing, hearing the commotion, slightly lifted the carriage curtain to peek, smiling with satisfaction.
In his hands, he held a hand warmer filled with warm air, looking as if he just wanted to wrap himself up altogether, appearing quite plumper than before.
Zu De chuckled as he tinkered with the silver charcoal in the charcoal basin, moving it a bit farther to avoid burning things.
“Teacher is still as vigorous as the young men; not long ago, he even played on the ice with friends. I, your student, dared not join in from the shore.” Zu De said, smiling bashfully. “If you say you’re getting old, I’ll be the first to disagree.”
Mr. Yuanjing chuckled softly, “Your tongue gets sweeter day by day. With you praising me like that, it feels as if I’ve lost a couple of pounds.”
The previous snowfall had just stopped, and now it started to flurry again. The cold wind hitting their faces felt like tiny knives, stinging their cheeks.
Jiang Pengji donned her hood, gripping the reins with both hands, galloping from the back of the convoy to lead the way ahead.
“Really can’t sit still….” Wei Ci was immersed in his book when he heard the loud hoofbeats beside him. He lifted his hand to pull up the carriage curtain, only to see a white figure darting past the carriage, the swirling cold wind hitting his face and giving his mood a sudden lift.
Lü Zheng curled up, shivering pitifully, “Zixiao, why don’t you put down the curtain? It’s freezing out here!”
