Chapter 5: The First Task

Du Ruo looked out the window. The sky had darkened unknowingly, and it was indeed time for dinner.

She cut off communication with the system, opened the door, and took Jiang Wan to the main hall.

Brothers Jiang Zhan and Jiang Cheng were already sitting at the square table. On the table was a plate of wild vegetables, a few bowls of brown rice with the bottom visible, plus a small steamed carp.

"Coarse tea and light rice, sister-in-law, please don't mind." Jiang Zhan's tone was full of shame.

Sister-in-law was a newcomer, and he also wanted to prepare something good, but unfortunately, he was short of money and couldn't take it out. The fish was caught by third brother with great effort.

Du Ruo had long been mentally prepared and smiled: "I don't mind. We'll be a family from now on, no need to be so polite. Besides, I've also suffered, I'm not that delicate."

Thinking back to when she was earning tuition, she had been a tutor, carried sandbags, and slept in tunnels. What kind of suffering hadn't she endured? This was just drizzle, a small matter.

To prove her determination to share weal and woe with them, Du Ruo picked up her chopsticks and put a piece of fish into her mouth.

Just as it entered... *Ugh*, she almost vomited it out.

Bitter, so bitter! Not only bitter, but also fishy; not only fishy, but also bland as a bird!

Whose craftsmanship was this, it was too bad??

"See, I knew it." Seeing Du Ruo's bitter face, unable to swallow, Jiang Cheng snorted, "Saying it so nicely, after all, you are an official's daughter, how can you get used to our pig food."

Jiang Zhan hurriedly stopped him: "Third brother, don't talk nonsense!"

He asked Du Ruo with concern: "Is the food not to your taste?"

Du Ruo was a bit embarrassed, bit the bullet and swallowed the piece of fish, and smiled awkwardly: "This fish... did you forget to add salt?"

"..." The beautiful youth's expression was complicated.

Jiang Wan pulled Du Ruo's sleeve, looked up with a pitiful little face and said: "Sister-in-law, salt is very expensive, our family can't afford it..."

Du Ruo suddenly realized.

She forgot that salt in this era was controlled by the imperial court, expensive and profitable. Ordinary families couldn't afford it easily, and only during festivals or when guests came would they add a little bit to save face.

"Originally, eldest brother left us several taels of salt before leaving home." Jiang Cheng said angrily while shoveling rice into his mouth, "As a result, it was a mess during the wedding today, and eldest aunt sneaked into our house and snatched all the salt, and even kicked Tie Dan several times!"

Tie Dan was their family dog.

While talking, Du Ruo had already figured out the situation of this family.

Except for the dog, the Jiang family's second branch had four people.

The eldest was her husband Jiang Li, whom she had never met, 22 years old, a hunter, who went to the county to repair the river embankment a few days ago and wouldn't be back for two months.

The second, Jiang Zhan, 16 years old, studying at Xiushan Academy in the town, would take the imperial examination this autumn.

The third, Jiang Cheng, had no talent for studying, only interested in farming. Unfortunately, the Jiang family was too poor. Except for a small vegetable garden reclaimed behind the house, there was no land, so he had to be an apprentice at Doctor Gu's in the village.

The youngest was Jiang Wan, who had been sick since birth and had been raised on medicine.

Du Ruo could roughly understand why the Jiang family was so poor. Only Jiang Li had an income, the younger brother had to study, and the younger sister had to take medicine. Could it not be like flowing water?

"There is one more thing to inform sister-in-law, that is the old house side..." Jiang Zhan hesitated.

Jiang Cheng was an impatient person and couldn't help it anymore, "Let me tell you, the old house side are not good people. You must stay far away when you see them. If you suffer a loss, no one will stand up for you!"

"Are they that fierce?" Du Ruo raised her eyebrows, "Okay, I know."

After dinner, the sky was completely dark.

Jiang Zhan lit a kerosene lamp and sent it to the east side room, along with a bundle.

"These are mother's old clothes from back then, sister-in-law, if you don't mind, just wear them."

It had to be said that the youth was very thoughtful. Although the original owner was married from the Du family, she had no dowry at all, and Du Ruo was worrying about clothes to change.

Not long after, Jiang Cheng also brought a bucket of hot water and placed it at her door.

Du Ruo felt a sense of warmth.

She grew up in an orphanage in her previous life. Although the orphanage mother was very good to her, there were too many children in the orphanage, and the orphanage mother had limited energy and couldn't take care of her in everything. Therefore, except for the orphanage mother, Du Ruo had never felt that she had a family.

Now she felt the feeling of being taken care of by several children...

"Moved?" The system's annoying voice sounded again.

Du Ruo rolled her eyes: "What's it to you?"

The system was unyielding: "You've seen it too, Jiang Zhan and his siblings are all kind-hearted children, can you bear to see them die?"

In the end, it still wanted her to bind.

Of course, Du Ruo couldn't bear it. After thinking for a while, she said: "If you want me to bind, it's fine, but I have a few conditions."

The system breathed a sigh of relief, "You say."

"First, you can't force me to do some unconscionable tasks, like killing, arson, rebellion, or treason."

The system agreed readily: "Don't worry, this system also has a good core."

Which host wasn't a little white flower at the beginning, kind enough not to bear to step on an ant, and in the end, how many didn't have hands stained with blood and lives? Human greed is endless, and it doesn't need it to push the waves; they will jump into the abyss themselves.

"Second, when I don't need you, you are not allowed to peek." She didn't want to have no privacy at all.

"Okay, this system has no interest in watching you humans create humans anyway."

Du Ruo: "...??" That wasn't what she meant!

Forget it, whatever, as long as it agreed.

"The last point, I hope you tell me truthfully." Du Ruo paused, "What is the price of binding with you?"

The system was silent.

It didn't expect this host to be so shrewd, seeing through it so quickly, unlike those before who were overjoyed and bound at light speed upon hearing its name, not even delaying for half a second.

Since everyone was a smart person (system), let's open the skylight and speak brightly.

"This system is divided into nine levels. After binding, the host must reach the highest level in her lifetime. If she can't, she will face the most severe backlash."

"What backlash?"

"Soul flying away and scattering after death, not even having the chance to be reincarnated as a beast."

Sure enough, the brighter the mushroom, the more poisonous it is. She knew cheap things weren't that easy to take.

Du Ruo hesitated a bit.

But thinking carefully, with her ability, she might not necessarily fail. She had always cherished her life, and living to seventy or eighty shouldn't be a problem. With such a long time, she was fully confident in reaching level nine.

After weighing the pros and cons, Du Ruo decided to take a risk. One person and one system quickly reached an agreement and completed the binding.

The virtual interface showed her current data:

Host: Du Ruo

Available points: 0

Level: 1 (Need 10 more points to reach the next level)

Mall: Unlocked

"Ding dong! New task released—Please earn ten taels of silver within seven days. After completion, you can get 5 points, and there is a free Newbie Grand Gift Pack!"

Du Ruo gasped.

Ten taels of silver, and within seven days, why don't you go rob?

You have to know that in this era, the annual income of an ordinary family is only seven or eight taels. Ten taels of silver is enough to buy two acres of land!

"This is just an introductory task, I believe you will have no problem, host, this system is optimistic about you." The system let out a useless fart.

Du Ruo was tired and couldn't be bothered to pay attention to it.

Turn off the lights, sleep. ===== CHAPTER 6 =====