Lin Qiuyue was pleasantly surprised by Qi Bingwen's leap in affection. This was the largest increase so far, over 20 points! Usually, it'd move 5 points at a time, if he was being a bit more stingy then it would only move a few points at a time. This was unprecedented! She couldn't keep the excitement out of her "voice" when she spoke to her system, "Is Qiao Qiao that awesome? A single speech from her and negative points turned to positive?"
『Qiao Qiao is very impressive but not as impressive as you, Host! You must have made Qi Bingwen recall the past when you nudged the conversation earlier, Su Liling was so good back then, he must've remembered how she helped him!』
"Unfortunately, Su Liling did all that in secret so even if he remembers those little things, he has no reason to connect it to Su Liling...unless..." Lin Qiuyue quickly scanned through Su Liling's memories again and found what she was looking for. "He should have remembered their first New Year together!"
『Yes! Su Liling was so cute back then, she looked like a little pink bun. It makes me wonder what you looked like when you were a child, Host?』
The little ball of light spun around itself in delight, Lin Qiuyue watched its interpretive dance, a little speechless. She wasn't sure what it was imagining but it was probably adding too many roses and sparkles in its vision. She had to admit that she was rather cute as a child but there was no way she would willingly show the system those images.
It would probably enshrine them and do some weird rituals while chanting her praise behind her back, maybe it'd start spreading it to the other systems too, and form some kind of pseudo-cult for her. It might seem far-fetched but when she looked back at her system still lost in thoughts and bouncing around in the air, she could definitely see it happening.
It was better for her to chop off this possibility and save herself future trouble.
She "coughed" lightly to snap her system from its daze. "That was their first interaction and one of the few they had since she was disallowed from helping him after the other servants found his new clothes. Qiao Qiao is right, the more I think about this slag family, the angrier I get."
This family didn't know right from wrong, helping others was punished while bullying others was encouraged. Why were they an orthodox martial arts family? They should have joined the Demonic Cult with those crooked values.
『Me too, host! I am also very angry!』
The little ball of light tried to mimic her anger by turning red and squinting to an expression reminiscent of another emoticon: >^<.
She was caught off guard and almost laughed out loud but this only manifested as a slight twitch in her expression. As a professional, she caught the mistake immediately and readjusted her expression in an instant. Luckily Qi Bingwen had already left and only Qiao Qiao was near her. The girl was still caught up in her spotlight so didn't notice anything out of place but Lin Qiuyue had to be more careful.
Her acting should never falter unless she was completely alone, her character setting was her greatest tool and her only tool. There was no other way for her to gain her targets' love, no external medicine or magic spell. Her system had already explained the system store to her but those items could only solve some surface-level problems such as recovering from poison with the sobering pill.
There was nothing too grand in the store and obviously nothing that could directly affect her task points, everything had to be done by herself. Of course, she wasn't bothered by this, she was used to relying on herself. Even the little system as her helper was a pleasant surprise, after her death, she was ready to be alone again.
How could she have predicted meeting this little obsessed fan of a system?
Lin Qiuyue's lips curved into a soft smile that no one could see, it was hidden away in the depths of her heart.
Anyways, this part of the play was over now that Qi Bingwen had left and Lin Qiuyue really didn't want to stand in the hot sun any longer.
These days she was regretting being a snow-skinned beauty in the antique world. She didn't know how those calamitous fair skin, red lips beauties in the fables survived. Every second in the sun she felt as though her skin was being roasted, at least in the modern world she had her precious sunscreen. Here, she had nothing at all!
She could only brave through each day as though they were a fierce battle, her opponent being the flaming giant up above but there was an even bigger threat looming over the horizon.
She might only have 8 months in this world but skin cancer could happen at any time!
She wanted to cry without tears, the faster she could get inside, the better.
"Qiao Qiao, you're right, you're right. Let's go back, I still haven't eaten my lunch yet." Su Liling had a helpless smile on her face as the sorrow in her eyes disappeared, replaced by warmth. She didn't reject the little girl's intention and looped their arms before smoothly leading her away.
"Sorry, jiejie! I completely forgot, Luo Xiu and the rest are still waiting for us!" Chun Qiaoqiao's eyes lit up when she saw her jiejie agree so easily. Slowly she would get through to her jiejie and once she got even more powerful, she'd help her jiejie deliver even more face slaps to her terrible relatives!
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"Sister-in-law!"
"Sister-in-law!"
"Sister-in-law and Qiao Qiao! You're back, the food is still warm, let's eat together!"
When they opened the door to their dorm three simple-looking girls in servant uniforms were waiting for them with a few boxes of food.
The one in the front was Luo Xiu, in these few days of getting to know each other, Lin Qiuyue knew that Luo Xiu was the pseudo-leader of the group, she had the most experience outside the sect and was also the most senior servant in the dorm. That was until Qiao Qiao came along and took over with her momentum, Luo Xiu didn't have a single strict bone in her body so didn't mind the more responsible Qiao Qiao taking over.
The other two were named Tang Yan and Hu Wen, they were more of a follower type but she thought they were pretty cute too. Overall, the dorm was very harmonious and the only place where she wasn't bullied. She had always been good to those who were good to her so once she succeeded, she would pick these little girls up too, and let them enjoy the high life.
"Why are you still calling her Sister-in-law? Didn't I already tell you, Liling Jiejie has nothing to do with the sect master." Chun Qiaoqiao entered the room with a frown ready to shut up these playful girls.
"Qiao Qiao, you just don't understand, jiejie will become Sister-in-law soon enough. I'm just calling in advance." Luo Xiu wasn't intimidated at all, instead, she stuck her tongue out at Qiao Qiao as she pulled Su Liling to her side. "Sister-in-law, ignore her. She doesn't know about fate and love, I can sense a strong destiny between you and our sect master. You two will be the most beautiful mandarin ducks!"
"Luo Xiu, you dare to claim family with Sect Master, aren't you afraid he'll find out?"
"You dare curse him but I can't dare call him brother?"
"You!"
"Alright, alright. Let's calm down, the food is about to get cold." Su Liling got in between the two girls before they could get any more heated.
"Sister-in-law is wise, I'm starving!" Luo Xiu quickly found her seat and took out the dishes from their food boxes with a smile.
Lin Qiuyue pulled Qiao Qiao to sit down too, the girl only glared at Luo Xiu for a moment before crossing her arms and looking away.
She smiled as she watched the two of them, she wasn't worried about their argument. The two had vibrant but different personalities that often clashed but they were very good friends. It was all a paper tiger and cat anger act. She learned from Tang Yan that, even before she arrived, they would banter often. The only change nowadays was the fact they were bantering about her.
She never interfered because the subjects were nothing serious, and she didn't mind being called Sister-in-law by the other girls. She knew that Qiao Qiao was trying to defend her honor but she wasn't a shy girl in the boudoir. It might be because this world revolved around martial arts but the attitude towards women was more lax. Girls here married older and had more options, they were still seen as the lesser sex but everything was a little more free than in the history that she knew.
And it wasn't as though Luo Xiu was wrong, her sixth sense was quite good even if it was just messing around, she would tie Qi Bingwen to her and they would be together in the future. So what was the difference between calling Sister-in-law now and in a few months?
Lin Qiuyue ate her meal with the girls happily, she was glad to have made friends in this world even if it was all temporary. She had learned from her life before, learned to see outside her self-imposed boundaries, and began to see the countless colors she had never seen before. She was still selfish but this time she was selfish for herself.