Chapter 25: An’an’s System

A single piece of news had the whole village buzzing late into the night.

Only the source of the news remained peaceful and quiet.

Bai Ruoqiao came out after her bath and saw Zhao Sihai walking out of the kitchen, drying his hands—he had just finished cleaning up.

“I left half the hot water for you,” she said. “Go wash up quickly. You’ve got to report to work tomorrow, so get some rest early.”

The western wing had been converted into a bathroom and toilet.

Though they didn’t install a proper latrine, they simply hung a curtain to partition the space, placing two waste buckets—one large, one small—behind it.

After all, someone came by every day to collect the waste in the village.

Zhao Sihai nodded as he began undressing. “Alright. You get to bed early too. You’ve been busy all day.”

Bai Ruoqiao yawned, waved him off, and went into the main room.

She really was tired.

An’an was already sprawled out on the bed, sound asleep and snoring softly.

More kids had come by today to squat outside their door. An’an had ended up playing with a bunch of them under Fang Jingguo’s watch.

Since Fang was recovered now, Bai Ruoqiao didn’t interfere.

She smiled to herself as she passed by.

Suddenly, An’an swung a little fist in his sleep and mumbled, “Don’t be noisy… or I’ll hit you from the west~”

Then he turned over and continued sleeping.

Bai Ruoqiao thought he was responding to her noise and chuckled, walking more lightly.

The next morning, Bai Ruoqiao was woken up by An’an.

When she opened her eyes, the sky was already bright.

She quickly turned to check—the spot beside her was empty. Zhao Sihai had already gotten up at some point. She didn’t hear anything outside, so he had probably already left for the commune.

She sat up in a panic.

There was no clock or watch, so she had no idea what time it was now.

She had planned to get up early to make Zhao Sihai breakfast and lunch, but she had overslept.

Looking down, she saw An’an wriggling toward her under the covers, a puzzled expression on his face.

“An’an, what’s wrong?” she asked, noticing his grape-like eyes darting around in worry.

An’an quickly pulled the blanket up and hugged her around the waist, only his little head peeking out.

He whispered nervously, “Mama… there’s a ghost.”

Bai Ruoqiao was caught between laughter and exasperation. She figured he must’ve remembered those rumors about their house being haunted.

She helplessly dug him out from under the blanket and stroked his damp forehead.

Wow, he was drenched in sweat.

“An’an, there’s really no ghost. That’s just a story, it’s not real.”

But An’an only hugged her tighter, shaking his head like a drum, clinging to her like he was afraid she’d vanish.

Seeing his eyes redden, Bai Ruoqiao furrowed her brow, now slightly worried. She wasn’t sure how to comfort him.

Sighing, she scooped the little guy into her arms and gently patted his back.

“Did An’an see a ghost?” she asked softly.

An’an paused, buried his face into her chest, and shook his head.

Bai Ruoqiao chuckled, “See? You didn’t see one, so that means there’s no ghost.”

But An’an lifted his head, his little face pale and serious. “But An’an heard the ghost talking.”

Bai Ruoqiao was more exasperated now. “That was just a dream. It’s not real once you wake up.”

“No, it wasn’t.” An’an started burrowing into her again. “Just now… it was still talking.”

Bai Ruoqiao froze. “What voice? Maybe someone was talking outside?”

The house wasn’t well-insulated—if anyone passed by talking loudly, you could hear it clearly inside.

“No, it was the ghost,” An’an insisted, wrapping his little arms around her neck.

Bai Ruoqiao was nearly strangled and quickly pulled his arms down to hug him more comfortably, gently patting his back to soothe him. “Okay then, what did the ghost say?”

At the memory, the boy’s face went even paler, and tears began to fall uncontrollably.

Seeing him cry out of fright, Bai Ruoqiao felt a mix of heartache and irritation. Who had been telling him all this nonsense?

“Don’t be scared, An’an,” she coaxed. “Even if there were a ghost, Mama would beat it up and chase it away. No need to be afraid.”

But An’an sobbed, “Th-the ghost said… it’s Mama’s friend… hic Mama… is the ghost going to… take you away…? Mama, don’t go… hic hic sob…”

Bai Ruoqiao was stunned for a moment before she finally realized something was off.

She furrowed her brow tightly, no longer caring if she might scare An An.

“Did… that ghost say that? What else did it say—did it say who it was?”

Her first thought was: could it really be a ghost?

She had heard that children had weaker yang energy and could indeed see unclean things.

But An An’s next sentence made her hands clench suddenly.

“It—it said its name was… Parrot… Thief.”

“It’s the Top Student System! Top Student System, not a thief!” the system protested irritably.

Startled, the little one jumped and burrowed deeper into her arms. “Ah! The ghost is talking again—waaah, Mama, it’s scary!”

Bai Ruoqiao was knocked backward and quickly braced herself against the bedframe, one hand gripping the little guy’s shoulder.

But at that moment, something flashed through her mind, and she was suddenly struck with a realization. Her eyes lit up, and she asked urgently:

“An An, did it say it was called the Top Student System?”

As soon as she asked, An An froze. Then he looked up at his mother, eyes filled with tears, and accused her solemnly:

“Mm! An An didn’t say it wrong!”

Seeing his aggrieved yet cautious expression, and thinking of what he had just said, Bai Ruoqiao’s face instantly darkened.

“Did it insult you?”

An An pouted, eager to keep tattling.

“Wait, when did I insult you? I didn’t insult you! Don’t tell her I did, or I’ll—I’ll… Look, if you don’t tell her, I’ll give you some really tasty cake!”

The system’s tone went from fierce to feeble, like a balloon deflating.

It was clearly terrified of Bai Ruoqiao.

And understandably so. The little system was still just a ‘newborn’ prototype and had fallen into Bai Ruoqiao’s hands when she was still a child.

Not only was it constantly lectured on how to ‘be a decent system,’ it was also regularly PUA’ed (emotionally manipulated).

It was ecstatic to have finally shaken off its host.

Originally, it hadn’t intended for Bai Ruoqiao to discover it so soon.

But Zhao An An was too difficult to communicate with, so in the end, the system had no choice but to try reaching out to Bai Ruoqiao for help.

She now noticed the hesitant yet expectant look in An An’s eyes and narrowed hers slightly.

“An An, did it just say something else?”

An An’s eyes widened in admiration. “Wow, Mama, how did you know? Mama’s amazing!”

System: “…”

Bai Ruoqiao was now absolutely certain—it was that useless system.

But she hadn’t even found the pocket watch yet, and the system wasn’t fully integrated. How did it end up with An An?

Unless…

She remembered how, in her past life, the system had said it had been bound to An An after failing to find a suitable host when the original one died, and it lost half of its data.

Could that mean half of the data wasn’t in the pocket watch that held the system, but inside An An?

But that didn’t make sense. Time had rewound, and An An hadn’t drowned yet. How could it…

Could An An have been reborn too?

Her heart tightened. She immediately sat up straight with An An in her arms and looked at him seriously.

“An An, ask it—has it already been restored?”

An An blinked, wondering how to ask that.

The system quickly said, “Tell your mom I’ve successfully integrated.”

An An blinked again. “Uh… the ghost says it’s… softened.”

System: “…” Forget it. You can’t expect too much from a three-and-a-half-year-old…

Bai Ruoqiao understood, and her brows furrowed even more. She opened her mouth to ask more—

But seeing the confusion and curiosity in An An’s eyes, she stopped herself.

After pursing her lips, she said, “An An, ask it if there’s a way to talk directly to me.”

Before An An could even ask, the system answered immediately:
“Tell her she doesn’t have enough Faith Points right now. Not possible at the moment.”

An An blinked, looking confused. “It says… Mama, um, your ‘toothy faith’ isn’t enough, so no can do.”

System: “…”

“Tell her not to worry. Everything is back on track now.”

An An relayed, “It also says, um, everything is back on the… turtle? Mama doesn’t have to worry.”

System: “…”