Chapter 4  : Mission

Jiang Shuxuan’s place was a temporary home, and even if it were just a place for him to rest temporarily, the number of people that could afford to live here in N City could be counted on one hand.

 This was a grand manor in the heart of the city, and each building was worth billions by themselves. Most of these buildings had been booked and reserved by the rich, and even if someone wanted to buy one such building, they wouldn’t be able to get their hands on it.

 Gu Xiqiao immediately recognized this housing area, but she wasn’t all that surprised.

She was brought into a guest room that had already been tidied up.

 As soon as she got herself settle down, a middle-aged woman brought her a fresh change of clothes.

 [Daily Good Deed Mission activated: Help cure Mrs. Zhang’s legs]

 [Mission completion reward: 5 points]

 Gu Xiqiao received a mission notification as soon as she accepted the clothes.

 Gu Xiqiao immediately knew that the system wanted her to do this mission, but although she had seen her fair share of medical scrolls in the virtual space, she had never actually tried them out on a living person. Not wanting to mess up with her meager grasp of medicine, she asked the system: “What if I make it worse?”

[The system can examine her health level, but it requires you to overdraft points in the system shop.]

 [Ding! Examination complete!]

 Gu Xiqiao quickly checked the examination results of the system and checked on the medical scrolls she had read before. She immediately thought of a way to help her and reached out to grab Mrs. Zhang’s wrist, checking on her pulse before muttering, “Forty-five grams of honeysuckle, forty-five grams of dandelion, forty-five grams of gypsum, thirty grams of radix gentianae, thirty grams of smilax glabra root, thirty grams of Japanese knotweed…”

 Seeing Mrs. Zhang’s confused expression, Gu Xiqiao realized she was going too fast and went around the room to look for a pen and a piece of paper.

 As she wrote down the medicine list, she continued, “You’re limping very slightly while you walk. It’s not very noticeable, but it’s there, and it’s a side effect from giving birth. You probably tired yourself out after giving birth and touched water way too soon, and you didn’t even take precautions to keep yourself warm neither. One month after that your joints on your legs and wrist started hurting, followed by a pain in your hips. You went to the doctor’s after that and it became better, but your legs still hurt if you walk more than you should. Once the weather changes, it would probably hurt so much that you won’t be able to walk. According to your current situation, your lower body will become paralyzed in two years.”

She deduced the pathology of Mrs. Zhang’s illness by herself, while the system’s examination found her medical history.

 Gu Xiqiao’s ability and intellect along so many years in the virtual space weren’t for show, after all. The system itself thought that she was being way too modest when she said she was worried that she would make things worse.

 As she talked, Mrs. Zhang’s expression became more and more shocked. If it weren’t for the fact that she was sure that they had never met before, she would have thought that the younger had checked on her medical history because it was exactly as she said it.

 “How…How did you know?”

 Gu Xiqiao finished prescribing the medicine and handed it to Mrs. Zhang after making sure there weren’t any errors. “One is to be eaten, and the other is to be applied through fumigation, and the way to do it is written on there too. Listen to me, a woman has to treat herself well. When you should be strong, be strong, and when you should show weakness never force yourself. You must let others see your weakness so that they don’t take you for granted.”

Her tone was gentle and she smiled lazily, and it was like a warm ray of afternoon sun was shining on her. Her clear gaze didn’t hide her worry and empathy towards the troubles of the older woman.

 Mrs. Zhang suddenly felt like she was going to cry. She knew her personality the best, after all, and back when she had just been married to her husband her mother-in-law had pestered and nagged her endlessly. She was given the cold shoulder when she gave birth to a daughter instead of a son, and a mere three days after she gave birth she started doing family chores again. She had been thinking for her mother-in-law and her husband and worked so hard that she became ill, and couldn’t even get off her bed once it rained. Her husband had divorced her after that for this reason, and it wasn’t hurt, but that she was used to giving and giving and giving to the point where she forgot how to think for herself. Ten years passed just like that, and for someone to worry for her like this…

 As if her grief had been discovered by someone, and that someone was thinking for her and supporting her.

 “No worries.” Gu Xiqiao smiled, and to her, seeing Mrs. Zhang was like seeing herself.

 They were both too stubborn for their own good.

 [Mission accomplished! Obtained five points and deducted one point for the examination.]

 [Ding! Forced Mission activated: Reach Master level for calligraphy.]

 [Mission completion reward: 1000 Points.]

 [The system has detected that your writing is too ugly, so this mission has been activated. Please accomplish it perfectly! If you don’t, you shall receive a Level 3 punishment!]

[Forced Daily Mission activated: Practice writing for an hour]

 [Mission completion reward: 1 point]

 [Master? Beauty Qiao? Gu Xiqiao? Can you hear me?] The system spirit stood in the air with its hands on its hips and a defeated expression.

“Is my handwriting ugly?” As Mrs. Zhang left, she raised her eyebrow and asked.

 She had learned writing from the old man that lived nearby when she was a child, and even though it couldn’t be compared to professionals, it could still be considered quite neat and pretty. Her handwriting was much better than the majority of people, and the system called it ugly?

 Did the system know what it was claiming?

 [After scanning through the databases of Earth, the system has decided that your words are too coarse. As the saying goes, a person’s writing shows their character, so we will start by perfecting your calligraphy and handwriting. The system has spent quite a lot of energy to reincarnate you, so you must become more perfect to obtain more missions so that I can have more energy!] The system spirit sat down, puffing its cheeks.

“Fine, fine. What’s the level three punishment?” Gu Xiqiao asked. Perhaps she obtained that mission earlier because she had seen lots of medical books and scrolls before.

 [There are ten levels of punishment in total. The first level will make you go mute for ten days, the third level will electrocute you, and the tenth level will kill you!]

Even though she had already died once, Gu Xiqiao was still shocked by the potential threat to her life. It wasn’t a good feeling to have her life held in someone or something’s hands like that. “I’d need a lot of time to practice, can I complete this mission in my lifetime?”

 [You can use your points to redeem time for the virtual space. One point is equal to one day in the virtual space, and this is also why I let you learn so much back then.]

 Gu Xiqiao remembered the void that she was trapped in after she had died, and it was probably the virtual space that the system talked about.

 Honestly, one point for one day in the virtual space wasn’t expensive at all. Everyone knew that money can’t buy time, and now she could exchange time with her points whenever she wanted. In another way, this was the greatest cheat she had been gifted with.

 Sighing softly, she walked around the room again before going downstairs to find water to drink.

The lights downstairs were still on, and Jiang Shuxuan was standing by the door.

His voice could be heard from her position on the stairs, and Gu Xiqiao realized that Jiang Shuxuan was there in the living room. She couldn’t help but retract her steps slowly—Was it too late to go back to her room?

 Honestly speaking, Gu Xiqiao was quite afraid of the person downstairs because he was too mysterious and unpredictable, even though his goodwill was very noticeable.

Jiang Shuxuan hung up and lifted his head to see the person standing at the stairway.

 Her sky-blue floral skirt fit her demure aura well, and her skin seemed even paler because of it. In the light, she seemed to have a dim glow to her, and her black hair contrasted her porcelain skin well. Her head was tilted slightly, and her eyes were as clear as a spring of water. Even though she was still young, she already had the potential to make people fall for her at first sight.