1. After Xin Nong worked overtime until she dropped dead, she was bound to a survival System. To stay alive, she had to enter small worlds and complete missions.
Unfortunately, the System was a total disaster.
On her very first day in a new world, Xin Nong stumbled into an assassination attempt.
In a bamboo grove draped in light rain, a group of black-clad men were surrounding a cool, aloof young swordsman, trying to kill him.
Poor Xin Nong was unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire and nearly killed by mistake.
At the critical moment, a frosty sword flashed into view. The young man’s long hair flew in the wind, his eyes bright as icy stars. The swordsman had saved her.
But his startled horse bolted, and the two of them tumbled off a cliff together in the rain.
At the foot of the cliff,
the cool, aloof young swordsman had broken his leg protecting Xin Nong and was gravely injured.
He had also been poisoned with three different toxins during the earlier ambush. One moment he was burning with fever, the next he was freezing. His condition was truly dire.
He had barely begun his mission when he was already doomed.
The System emerged in shame, trying to save the day: “I’ll fix the bug!”
Then, under the guidance of the lousy System, Xin Nong frantically fumbled around, scratching her head and pulling at her hair.
At last, she combined the swordsman’s three poisons into one, then amplified its potency beyond measure.
And of all things, it turned out to be an aphrodisiac.
Xin Nong: “Are you playing Watermelon Merge? Are you trying to cure the poison or make it worse?”
System: "Cowers in silence.jpg"
In the end, she couldn’t bear to let the swordsman, who had dragged her into trouble and saved her life, die from the poison.
And since she could use an extra pair of hands to help them get out of the wilderness, Xin Nong decided to save him.
But the poison was too potent. One or two treatments weren’t enough to cure it.
For days and nights afterward, she diligently treated him through tearful effort in caves, among the trees, and by the stream.
At the time, Xin Nong had no idea what the cool, aloof swordsman was thinking as he lay on the ground, blushing every time and too embarrassed to open his eyes and look at her.
By the time the poison was finally cured and they made it out of the ravine,
Xin Nong and the swordsman were separated by a sudden ambush.
They had never even exchanged names or spoken of their families, so they had no way of finding each other.
Xin Nong could only sigh, thinking they were destined to meet but not to be together.
And to stay alive, she finally had no choice but to marry someone disguised by the System and carry out the mission that had been put off for so long.
2. The legitimate son of the current prime minister, the man admired by countless noblewomen and princesses, the most aloof and refined young gentleman in the capital: Gao Che of the Gao family.
Suddenly went mad.
He searched everywhere for a young woman,
claiming she was his betrothed, the woman he had privately vowed to spend his life with before they were unexpectedly separated.
He searched until his eyes were bloodshot, driven half-mad and unable to sleep day or night.
At last, at his half-brother’s wedding, he saw the woman he loved. But she was already dressed in bridal red, becoming his sister-in-law.
Gao Che went mad on the spot.
He wrecked the wedding hall, pointed his sword at his half-brother’s throat, and, eyes red, demanded of the bride, “You said you’d be with me forever. What is this now? Why?”
What about all those days and nights beneath the cliff? What did they mean?
The lousy System looked down at the cold sword at its throat. “What the hell...”
3. But in the end, Gao Che still couldn’t bear to hurt her. He watched helplessly as the woman he loved became someone he could never embrace again.
At last, tormented day after day by watching her “fall in love” with someone else, he drove himself into madness and turned dark.
4. The mission went wrong, and the lousy System was on the brink of death. Xin Nong’s mission was about to fail, too.
Now, the only person who could save them was that man: Gao Che, who had raised an army in this time of chaos and proclaimed himself the new emperor.
With nowhere else to turn, Xin Nong could only go to him for help.
Dressed in green, she stood before him, gazing at those familiar features as the past came rushing back.
Pale-faced and with eyes like autumn waters, the beauty called him by the name he used to have: “Young Master Gao, please save him.”
The new emperor gazed at the frail beauty before him, his eyes filled with undisguised obsession and madness. He gently stroked Xin Nong’s cheek. “I can. In exchange, I want you.”
She was so tender, and so heartless.
Heartless enough to leave him, heartless enough to cast aside all their vows, and now she wanted him to save her husband?
What husband? To hell with him!
But Gao Che knew he had regretted it for a long time.
He should have taken her back on her wedding day, and locked her away where she could never go anywhere but his side for the rest of her life.
[Blurb written on 2021/10/22]
Theme: Never give up, even when faced with adversity
