Chapter 96: The first gift pack

[Alright, before that, the System will redeem your first grand gift package.]

Lin Ting had been waiting for the first grand package from the very beginning, eager to know what it was.

She hurriedly asked, “What is it?”

[One resurrection.]

She frowned, feeling inexplicably confused.

“One resurrection? Why is it that?”

[Because in the original story, you died by your own hand before you turned twenty. So even if you’ve awakened, whether or not you have the System, whether or not you have any missions, you would still experience the death of the vicious supporting female before twenty. This is unavoidable.]

Lin Ting remembered that “Lin Ting” would die by suicide, but she thought that as long as she was no longer forced by the System to follow the plot and could escape from the Lin family by her own ability, she could avoid it.

Turns out, that wasn’t the case.

The System continued: [The appearance of the System is to give the transmigrator, that is, the Host, a chance to completely change their own fate. Now that you’ve succeeded, after you experience death and are resurrected, you will no longer be bound by the original story.]

She listened in silence, her brows still furrowed.

[Rest assured, Host. Since you have completed your mission, the System has arranged for you to die of illness, without the slightest bit of pain.]

Lin Ting was worried.

“Then how am I supposed to die in front of everyone and then come back to life?”

[After death, the custom is to keep the corpse for a period of time. This isn’t just because the deceased’s family wants the spirit to return home on the seventh day, but also because doctors fear the person might not be truly dead, and could revive within those seven days.]

Lin Ting understood.

“So you mean to arrange for me to come back to life on the seventh day?”

That made sense.

After all, in history, there was Bian Que reviving the Huoguo Prince who appeared to be in a state of pseudo-death.

System: [That’s right. Host, you will resurrect on the seventh day.]

“Can I tell or hint to others about this?”

Lin Ting knew she could come back to life, but her mother Li Jingqiu, Duan Xinning, Tao Zhu… and Duan Ling, none of them knew.

They would believe she was truly dead and grieve for seven days before seeing her alive again.

What Lin Ting worried about most was her mother Li Jingqiu not being able to bear the blow of her death.

As for Duan Ling, he was a ruthless Imperial Guard, used to life and death, with a strong mental fortitude.

He liked her, but not to the point of living and dying for her.

[No, Host. You are a person from another world and do not belong to this world. Even after the mission ends, you cannot mention or hint at anything about the mission or the System to anyone in the story.]

With that, the System disappeared.

At that moment, a knock at the door pulled Lin Ting back from her thoughts.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me.”

Lin Ting immediately recognized Duan Ling’s voice and got up to open the door.

“Weren’t you waiting for me downstairs? Why did you come up?”

Duan Ling glanced at Xia Zimo, then at the teacup in his hand, but said nothing.

Just then, the effects of the drug hit Xia Zimo.

The teacup slipped from his hand and crashed to the ground with a loud clatter, shattering into pieces.

Jin Anazai didn’t go to help him.

They weren’t close.

Xia Zimo had been protecting him recently only because of Xie Qinghe’s instructions; both had their own motives.

Moreover, Jin Anazai had always been taciturn and cold toward strangers.

Unless it was business, they didn’t talk much.

Still, Jin Anazai asked, “Young Master Xia, what’s wrong with you?”

He had temporarily lost his martial arts, so when he went to open the door for Xia Zimo, he hadn’t noticed Lin Ting putting anything in the teapot.

Xia Zimo staggered a few steps, clutching his waist and abdomen.

“Someone put something in the tea.”

Jin Anazai raised his brow and said, “Before you came in, both Lin Leyun and I drank the tea.”

The implication was clear: if they drank it and nothing happened, why was it only affecting him?

Xia Zimo was sweating from the pain, his teeth chattering.

“I don’t know either.”

Seeing Xia Zimo in such pain, Jin Anazai opened the teapot and sniffed the tea inside.

He was skilled in identifying and making medicines.

Whether or not he’d lost his martial arts, that ability was unaffected.

Jin Anazai couldn’t tell what it was just by smelling it.

He was about to dip some out to taste, but Lin Ting stopped him.

“I’m the one who put the drug in the tea.”

Now that the task of secretly drugging him with Aphrodisiac was done, she could admit it.

Jin Anazai was surprised.

“You?”

Jin Anazai didn’t really know what had happened between them.

He only knew that Xia Zimo was the beloved of Duan Xinning, Lin Ting’s close friend.

A groan of pain sounded in the room.

It was Xia Zimo, wracked by spasms of pain in his waist and abdomen, his face drained of color and turning pale, blue veins standing out on the back of his hand.

“Why did Miss Lin put something in the tea? W-what kind of drug did you use?”

The dense pain spread from his waist and abdomen, so intense he began to suspect it was poison.

A few knife wounds would hurt less than this.

Duan Ling looked at Xia Zimo.

This didn’t seem like the reaction to Aphrodisiac, and a hint of doubt appeared in his eyes.

Lin Ting also watched Xia Zimo.

“I always wanted you to experience the pain Linguan will go through when she gives birth, so I gave you this drug.”

Jin Anazai was skilled at making medicines and poisons.

When she received the mission in Jingcheng to drug Xia Zimo, she wanted to prepare ahead of time, so she went to the Study to ask Jin Anazai if he had an antidote for Aphrodisiac.

When he heard her ask this, he immediately gave her a strange look.

Lin Ting kicked Jin Anazai, so he didn’t ask much more.

He said Aphrodisiac had no antidote; usually, it could only be resolved by consummation.

However, Jin Anazai had a “fight poison with poison” method: using a drug that caused intense pain to suppress the effects of Aphrodisiac.

At the time, he gave her this drug along with other self-defense powders and poisons.

This drug, if not used with Aphrodisiac, could be used alone for self-defense, inflicting so much pain the person couldn’t resist.

The effect lasted half an hour, after which the body would return to normal.

Lin Ting didn’t stand on ceremony with Jin Anazai and took them all.

At that time, she decided to let Xia Zimo experience a bout of pain.

Who told him to show up at Duan Xinning’s door and say, “It was me, Xia Zimo, who wronged you,” then abandon Duan Xinning and run off to Ancheng alone.

When she arrived at Ancheng and learned Duan Xinning was truly pregnant, she was even more determined, and didn’t feel a shred of guilt toward Xia Zimo.

He deserved a lesson.

As for why she didn’t hide these drugs along with the Aphrodisiac earlier, it was because Duan Ling knew exactly what she carried with her, including those self-defense medicines.

After all, he helped her dress and organize her things every day; if he noticed a drug missing, he’d surely grow suspicious.

He was the type to investigate anything he found suspicious.

To be cautious, Lin Ting didn’t move those drugs, only hid the newly bought Aphrodisiac.

Today, she finally managed to drug him.

She used both drugs at once.

The System said to give Xia Zimo Aphrodisiac, but didn’t say she couldn’t add something else.

Lin Ting took a step back, retreating to Duan Ling’s side, but still spoke to Xia Zimo.

“Don’t worry, it’ll only hurt for half an hour, much shorter than the pain of childbirth.”

She pulled Duan Ling to sit down.

“For this half hour, the rest of us will stay here with you. We won’t let anything happen to you. Just focus on experiencing the pain.”

Xia Zimo fell silent.

So childbirth hurt this much.

Xia Zimo clenched his teeth against the pain.

By the end, he had only one thought in his mind: he had wronged Duan Xinning.

If he, a man, could barely endure this, how could Duan Xinning possibly bear it?

Xia Zimo closed his eyes.

Just as Lin Ting said, he let himself feel the pain.

Jin Anazai could more or less guess what had happened from their conversation.

He gave Lin Ting a sideways glance.

After she sat down, she poured out the drugged tea and now was leisurely eating fruits and snacks, as if Xia Zimo in the corner of the room didn’t exist.

He looked again at Duan Ling beside her.

Duan Ling was watching Xia Zimo too, his expression calm, lost in thought.

Maybe he also felt that Xia Zimo, after hurting his sister’s heart, deserved this punishment today.

Jin Anazai thought to himself.

Jin Anazai didn’t get involved in their affairs, sitting back in his seat waiting for Xia Zimo’s ordeal to end.

Half an hour later, the effect wore off.

Xia Zimo looked as if he’d just climbed out of water, soaked through, barely able to stand with the support of the wall.

When Lin Ting saw that Xia Zimo was fine, she clapped her hands and got ready to leave.

Just before she walked out of the room, he suddenly said, “I’m sorry to Linguan.”

She didn’t look back.

“That’s something you should say to her, not to us. Actually, haven’t you already said that many times? What use is talk alone?”

Xia Zimo felt utterly ashamed.

Lin Ting left with Duan Ling.

On the way back, she was gloomy.

She was naturally happy to have completed the mission, but after hearing from the System that she would have to die once, she couldn’t feel happy anymore.

The wheels rolled down the long street, the carriage swayed gently, and the ribbon falling from Lin Ting’s hair swayed with it.

She turned to look at Duan Ling, wanting to speak but stopping herself.

Duan Ling seemed to sense something and turned to look at her.

“Do you have something to say to me?”

Their gazes met in the air.

Lin Ting thought about her “death by illness.”

To die before turning twenty—it wasn’t far off, though she didn’t know the exact time.

She lowered her eyes, staring at the carriage seat.

“No.”

Not that she didn’t, but she couldn’t say it.

Duan Ling gazed at Lin Ting for a moment, then took the ribbon scented with her hair and gently asked, “What did you give young master Xia?”

Lin Ting took out the medicine from her waist, openly letting him see which one was missing.

“It’s the one Jin Anazai gave me before.”

Duan Ling glanced at it and asked, “When did you plan to use this drug on young master Xia?”

The cool breeze slipped in through the gap in the curtain.

Lin Ting felt a bit cold and unceremoniously tucked her hand into Duan Ling’s lowered palm.

“I’d thought about it before, but didn’t find the chance.”

He closed his palm tightly, wrapping up all her fingers, her chill passing into him.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

Lin Ting leaned against the carriage wall and replied, “I was afraid you’d think it was wrong and stop me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with what you did.”

Lin Ting withdrew her hand and took out some snacks kept in the carriage.

When she was in a good mood, she liked to eat; when she was in a bad mood, she liked to eat too.

“I want to visit Linguan today.”

The hand Duan Ling had just emptied was brushed by the wind, covering the coolness Lin Ting left behind.

His fingers curled tighter and tighter.

She didn’t get a reply from Duan Ling.

After swallowing her snack, she couldn’t help but say again, “I want to see Linguan today. Did you hear me?”

“I heard. Go ahead.”

When the carriage was almost back at the residence, Duan Ling watched Lin Ting finish the last piece of snack and spoke again.

“There’s something I want to ask you.”

Lin Ting took out a handkerchief, wiped her mouth and hands, finally feeling a bit better, and stretched lazily.

“What is it? Go ahead.”

Duan Ling gently brushed her cheek and asked, “Why did you go to the pharmacy to buy Aphrodisiac again?”