Pei Huange is known throughout the martial world as the “Reborn Hua Tuo.” Her skill with silver needles is second to none, but she finds saving people too much trouble, so she spends her days pretending to be deaf and mute, content to eat and wait for death. One day, she is forced to inherit a remote old house. Thinking she can finally lie flat, she discovers that the abandoned vegetable garden comes with a pocket dimension: its well water can bring the dead back to life, and its soil can grow immortal herbs.
Even stranger, she finds that this world has been invaded by a bunch of things calling themselves Systems. Er Gouzi, the village boy, has bound himself to a “CEO System” and spends all day reciting cheesy pickup lines to a sow. Auntie Wang next door has a “Palace Intrigue System” and is reenacting Empresses in the Palace with her neighbor over a hoe. The richest man in town has acquired a “Self-Destruction System” and insists on trading his entire fortune for a single look of disdain from her.
All the System hosts are waiting to laugh at Pei Huange. According to the script, this “side-character miracle doctor” is soon supposed to be humiliated and trampled by the various “chosen ones” of the Systems.
But then
Er Gouzi, channeling his inner CEO: “Woman, you’ve got my attention.”
Pei Huange: “Quiet. Your pig is about to give birth.”
Auntie Wang, all snide sweetness: “You’re so clever, little sister. No wonder even the water in that broken well tastes sweet.”
Pei Huange: “Yeah, it is sweet. Go draw some yourself if you want a drink.”
The richest man kneels and begs her to give him a look of disdain: “Just look down on me, and all my money is yours!”
Pei Huange studies the deeds and property papers he hands her, ponders for three seconds, then silently takes out her silver needles. “Being an idiot is an illness too. It needs treatment.”
