Chapter 5: Is She Thinking of Running Away?

Madam Song the Second munched on her white flour bun, quite pleased with Shen Qian, and immediately echoed her words.

“That’s right, Qianqian is still the cleverest. What we need most right now is a full stomach. Otherwise, how will we have the strength to walk?”

“If you’ve got spare money, why not show some filial piety to Grandmother!” chimed in Madam Song the Third flatteringly toward the old matron.

The already irritated old lady immediately cast a cold glance over. That gaze radiated nothing but disgust. Clearly, between the two new daughters-in-law who entered the family at the same time, the old matron now favored Shen Qian.

Jiang Wan pretended not to notice. She had plenty of food in her space, but now was not the time to take it out.

Instead of wasting her mind on useless things, she’d rather figure out how to get some medicine into Song Jiuyuan. Yes, Jiang Wan’s goal was to feed Song Jiuyuan some anti-inflammatory medicine.

Not far away was a small river. After greeting the constable, she walked directly over.

Since the distance wasn’t far and was within visible range, the constable silently allowed her to go.

“Ding! Congratulations, Master, for completing 60% of the stockpiling mission.”

A mechanical voice suddenly rang in Jiang Wan’s head, instantly making her perk up. “Who’s there?!”

She didn’t dare speak too loudly, but she was certain something was off about that voice.

“Master, I am your system sprite.”

“System?”

Jiang Wan paused slightly as she held her water pouch, then quickly squatted down and closed her eyes. Her consciousness entered her space — the same pitch-black void from her previous life.

That endless darkness was filled with piles of gold, silver, jewels, and supplies — things she had looted from enemy storehouses. Another pile consisted of supplies she had stored in her previous life — medicine, food, everything one could need, though the quantities weren’t huge.

Suddenly, a translucent electronic screen appeared above her head.

A progress bar was displayed on the screen, showing 60%. The mechanical voice continued.

“Yes! Because Master has transmigrated into a different world, the space sprite has upgraded. As long as Master completes the stockpiling task, the space will be upgraded into a planting space!”

What the mechanical voice said shocked Jiang Wan to her core. The space had followed her for a long time in her previous life, yet she had never known it could upgrade. She had always used it as mere storage.

Her heart stirred. A space that could grow crops? That meant she’d have an endless supply of resources?

Thinking of this, her eyes flickered. “But my space never had a so-called system before. How do I know you’re real and not lying?”

“I really am real!”

The mechanical voice sounded a bit anxious, eager to prove itself — but seeing Jiang Wan’s calm expression without a trace of the excitement it had expected, the system was left feeling quite deflated.

“I don’t believe you!” Jiang Wan squatted beside the river, mentally bickering with the voice in her space. “Unless you prove it to me.”

“Then… then… I’ll prove it to you!”

The voice was so annoyed it almost cracked. Then, the space suddenly distorted, nearly ejecting Jiang Wan’s consciousness. A few seconds later, a spring of water appeared in the space.

The sprite said smugly, “This is a spirit spring that only appears after the upgrade. As long as Master keeps stockpiling, even more things will appear in the space.”

“So that’s how it is. I believe you now. What’s the use of this spirit spring?” Jiang Wan asked curiously, staring at the spring. Unfortunately, it was too dark to see much else — the space was still black.

The sprite cheerfully replied, “Although this spirit spring doesn’t have the power to resurrect the dead or regrow bones, it does have nourishing effects. You’ll see once you try it.”

Hearing this, Jiang Wan exited the space, quietly filled a bit of spirit spring water into her pouch, and took a few sips.

The water was sweet and smooth. As it flowed down her throat, it felt like a cool stream coursing through her body. Her exhausted body was instantly reinvigorated.

Jiang Wan felt a jolt of energy, and quickly downed half the water in the pouch. Then, she added some regular water into it.

She had stolen this water from the kitchen during the raid. It was perfect for the current situation.

She had another pouch filled with plain water. In addition to that, she added some anti-inflammatory medicine from her previous life into the pouch that had the diluted spirit spring water.

Afraid that Song Jiuyuan would notice the taste, she even mixed in a bit of glucose.

Seeing that she had been squatting by the river for so long, Shen Qian, not far away, started targeting her again.

“Jiang Wan’s been gone for so long and still hasn’t come back. Is she thinking of running away?”

Her words instantly put everyone from the main branch of the family on high alert. Even the constables involuntarily turned to look her way, wariness in their eyes.

“If she dares to run, I’ll break her legs!” Song Jiuchi said viciously, gritting his teeth. Since she went to such lengths to marry into the family, she now had to stay by his brother’s side!

Song Jiuli looked completely disgusted. She had disliked Jiang Wan from the start — this moment was no exception.

As for Song Jiuyuan, his body and mind were suffering so much that he didn’t have the energy to pay attention to any of it.

So, when Jiang Wan turned around, she was met with a variety of expressions from the crowd. Unfazed, she calmly walked back, prompting the constables to secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

If anyone escaped, it would be a major crime. They could not allow such a thing to happen.

Jiang Wan walked up to Song Jiuyuan in a few steps, squatted down, and said, “I’ll give you some water.”

She then held the pouch to his lips, but Song Jiuchi immediately stopped her. “Wait! How do we know there’s no poison in that water?”

“Exactly! What if you’ve grown resentful after being implicated by my big brother and want to poison him?” Shen Qian sneered with obvious disdain, clearly waiting to watch Jiang Wan make a fool of herself.

Jiang Wan’s fists itched with the urge to punch someone.

Just as she was about to lash out, Song Jiuyuan slowly spoke: “I’ll drink it.”

His body was already at its limits. Whether he lived or died didn’t matter anymore. His lips were parched.

“Drink it then,” Jiang Wan said irritably, lifting his chin with her fingers and placing the pouch at his lips. Her movements were rough, angering the onlookers.

When had the once-noble War King ever been treated like this?

But Song Jiuyuan opened his mouth and took a sip. The sweet water flowed down his throat, making him glance at Jiang Wan in surprise.

The water… was sweet?

His gaze was so direct that Song Jiuchi caught it clearly. He quickly asked, “What is it, Brother? Does something taste off?”

He knew it! That woman definitely had bad intentions.

Song Jiuyuan didn’t speak. He waited a few seconds, found nothing wrong with his body, and finally said, “No.”

Still… for her to be able to produce sweet water in this situation? She was starting to defy his expectations.

Could it be that the scheming woman from before was just a facade?

For a moment, Song Jiuyuan couldn’t read Jiang Wan at all.

But Jiang Wan had never intended for him to figure her out. In the original book, the original Jiang Wan wasn’t this nice. She made trouble for the Song family all the way, earning their utter disdain.

She tucked away the medicine-laced pouch and handed another one to Madam Song the First.

“Mother, have some water.”

“Thank you!”
Madam Song the First took the pouch and drank directly, then passed it to Song Jiuchi.

“Jiuchi.”