Chapter 6
It was already early the next morning when Xu Kaicheng learned that Yang Wanhe had actually caused a scene at the Old Madam's banquet—just to fight for an extra ten taels of silver a month for him.
He even heard it from the loose-tongued servants over at the East Courtyard.
"Second Young Master, the Madam says that from now on your monthly allowance is fifteen taels. She asked me to bring you the remaining ten taels for this month."
Early in the morning, Biyun delivered the ten taels of silver. Xu Kaicheng had just woken up, his mind still a little foggy. Biyun didn't say much either—she just lowered her head, carefully placed the money pouch in front of him, and withdrew.
Xu Kaicheng sat in his room for a while, trying to properly wake himself up. The "zzz— zzz—" static from the night before had grown even more pronounced, and he hadn't slept well all night.
After a quick wash, he casually tucked the money pouch into his clothes. As usual, he took a stroll around the edge of the East Courtyard. He'd intended to head straight out of the residence, but his steps were interrupted by a few gossiping servants.
"Tsk tsk tsk, I never would've thought that Second Madam would be so fierce—actually daring to make a scene in front of the Old Madam."
"Hehe, even though she's usually so quiet, she's still got a bit of brains after all. If it hadn't been for yesterday's occasion, Second Madam probably would've been beaten and still wouldn't have gotten a single coin back. She did get slapped by the Old Madam yesterday, but that extra ten taels a month is real, solid silver."
"Tsk, so what if it's ten taels more? If Second Madam used it on herself, her life might actually improve a bit. Too bad—that silver was fought for for that good-for-nothing Second Young Master. In the end, it'll just be one meal out for him."
"Hehehe, never mind, never mind. These past few days, the Old Madam and the First Madam are definitely in a bad mood. We'd better serve carefully and not get caught in the crossfire."
Behind the screen wall, Xu Kaicheng leaned against the wall, watching expressionlessly as the four servants walked off, joking and jeering.
He touched the money pouch in his clothes, his eyes flickering slightly.
This Marquis of Jing'an's residence—so dazzling and glorious in the eyes of outsiders, blessed with imperial favor—was inwardly a nest of filth and degeneracy, beyond all hope of reform. The Old Madam was petty and narrow-minded, tolerating no one who dared to lecture her. The First Madam, who managed the household, was a social-climbing schemer with no sense of honor or shame. More than twenty years ago, everyone in the residence had lived in constant fear because those two women were so arrogant and ruthless, treating human life as nothing.
But after the Old Marquis grew ruthless and asserted his authority in the residence, making those two women afraid to casually take lives anymore, the servants swung from one extreme to the other — from cowering in fear to the exact opposite.
Flattering and fawning, borrowing others' power to bully others — as long as they played the groveling grandson in front of those two women, they dared to act like lords everywhere else.
And the place where they acted most like lords was the West Courtyard, where the second branch lived.
Xu Kaicheng left the marquis's residence as usual. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the shifty little servant following behind him. He could even clearly see the reluctance and contempt on the man's face.
As a good person, Xu Kaicheng was more than happy to lend a hand.
So he turned on his heel and entered Liuxiang Lane. Sure enough, he saw the little servant follow excitedly for a few steps, then—even more skillfully than Xu Kaicheng himself—head straight to the gambling den from the side.
Once his tail was gone, Xu Kaicheng quickened his pace. He circled around Liuxiang Lane, then followed the city moat until he found the perfect fishing spot.
Willow branches hung from the embankment down to the water, curtaining a two- to three-meter stretch below the bank. Xu Kaicheng picked his way down along the edge and slipped into a small nook scooped out beneath it, about half a person's height.
The nook was shallow — less than half a meter deep — but tall enough for him to sit inside with his legs crossed. With his back against the packed earth and willow fronds screening the sky from view, the little space gave him just enough sense of security to close his eyes in peace.
[The legendary system?]
[Ding—the World Full of Love System welcomes your arrival.]
"..." Even in his mind, Xu Kaicheng hesitated for a moment. Just the name alone had successfully shattered eighty percent of his mental image of what a system should be.
[Welcome your arrival? Shouldn't it be "welcome your use"?]
[You are merely one of ten thousand test subjects. When the trial world ends, rankings will be determined by points. Only the top one hundred will earn the right to use the system.]
[Oh? So you're saying I can't go back?]
[...]
The system fell eerily silent. Xu Kaicheng's eyes shifted, but he didn't feel much disappointment or anger. After all, from the moment he opened his eyes, he'd already considered the worst possibilities.
[Then can I ask—what happens if I don't make the top one hundred when the test ends?]
The System was silent, saying nothing — as if saying everything. Xu Kaicheng clicked his tongue inwardly, still feeling a bit irritated.
They say a bad life is better than a good death—especially when his life wasn't bad at all. He'd finally made it through more than twenty years of hard living, and just when he'd started making money, before he could enjoy anything, it all came to an end.
The unwillingness in his heart was like a maggot gnawing at his bones, unbearably painful.
Unwilling. Unwilling. Unwilling!
Xu Kaicheng took a long breath, eyes still closed, his body fully leaning against the mud wall behind him.
[Shouldn't a normal system start issuing tasks the moment the host transmigrates? How come yours has a delay?]
Struggling to calm his emotions, Xu Kaicheng questioned the system that had been buzzing "zzz zzz" in his mind for three days. It had been three days since he transmigrated, but aside from that one sentence he'd vaguely heard on the first day, there had been no further instructions.
If not for that strange static that kept sounding, Xu Kaicheng wouldn't have been so cautious.
After all, before figuring out this strange situation, no one wanted to gamble with their hard-won second life.
It was precisely because of that static that Xu Kaicheng couldn't act freely. For three days, aside from surveying the general situation, he hadn't dared to make any moves.
The static gradually faded, and the system's voice became a bit clearer.
[The system has the right to evaluate test subjects, and test subjects also have the right to refuse.]
"..." Another answer that said something yet said nothing.
Xu Kaicheng ran his tongue along the roof of his mouth, his mind racing. So the first three days must have been an "observation period" between the system and the test subject. As for whether their authority was equal—that was another matter entirely.
He didn't dwell on that question too much. Xu Kaicheng only wanted to know whether his future actions would be constrained by this so-called system.
He thought it, so naturally he asked it.
[The World Full of Love System has no mandatory requirements for test subjects. Your permissions are entirely exchanged using the Affection Points you earn.]
As the system's voice faded, a panel appeared before Xu Kaicheng's eyes.
It was symmetrical, left and right. On one side was written Affection Points, currently at zero. On the other side was written Exchange Zone, currently all grayed out.
Fortunately, although it was in a gray, non-exchangeable state, he could still see what was inside. There was a page-turn option at the bottom, with a maximum of one hundred pages. But since Xu Kaicheng was still just an intern, his exchange permissions were limited to the first page.
Inside were various grain seeds and a small amount of gold, silver, and treasures. These items occupied the first row of five exchange options.
Starting from the second row, it was written: Cognition Exchange.
There was no specific explanation, but after staring at it for a while, Xu Kaicheng naturally understood these things in his mind.
As long as he had enough Affection Points, he could exchange for any knowledge he knew in his mind.
This "knew" was the interesting part.
For example, he used to know English, but back then he'd only passed CET-4. But in this exchange option, with enough Affection Points, he could become a complete English expert.
Of course, in this world, English was probably useless.
He just needed to roughly understand the concept.
After understanding it, Xu Kaicheng's eyebrows rose slightly. He was quite satisfied with this thick golden finger.
After the panel appeared, the system's voice disappeared again. This time, no matter how Xu Kaicheng called, it was useless.
Thinking about how he was just an intern now, it made sense that the supervisor wouldn't pay him any attention.
He sat in the nook a while longer, starting to plan what to do next. With a cheat this powerful, he'd be letting down all the suffering he'd endured before if he didn't make the most of it.
A quarter of an hour later, Xu Kaicheng checked his surroundings, made sure no one was around, and quickly slipped out of the nook. He wound his way through back alleys toward the west side of the city to get a sense of the world.
Before, he'd only taken a cursory look, and it had seemed that the housing and roads here were even less developed than those of the Han Dynasty recorded in history. As for the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties—there was no comparison at all.
But the textile industry here was abnormally advanced. As a Second Young Master of the second branch who was mistreated in the marquis's residence, Xu Kaicheng didn't have many clothes, yet he still owned silk fabric. From a distance, he'd even seen that the first-class maids over at the East Courtyard all wore fine silks and satins.
No wonder they said the marquis's vast residence was poorly run.
Now, looking at the people on the streets — whether it was because this was the capital or for some other reason — even the poorest among them wore cotton and linen.
An imbalance between heavy and light industry?
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