After a slight moment of embarrassment, Qin Ruching quickly regained her composure.

With thick skin like hers, there weren’t many things that could embarrass her these days—besides, the system was quite impressive.

Thinking back on the awkward moment, Qin Ruching rubbed her chin, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “System, suddenly I feel like your special effects are pretty good. So, does this mean I’ve invisibly made a big impression?”

“Probably,” the system responded.

Qin Ruching nodded approvingly, “Exactly! With your manipulation, this family will definitely come forward to curry favor with me. My Qin family will gain another heartfelt affiliated family!”

Moreover, this act of currying favor might bypass the Qin family and come straight to her.

This was excellent—she welcomed any actions that brought fat sheep right to her doorstep.

“Oh, by the way, what does ‘observing’ mean? How could he observe me?” Qin Ruching grasped the key issue.

“I’m not sure, maybe he has a special physique or some unique investigative technique,” the system replied.

“Hmm,” Qin Ruching pondered, making a mental note of it.

She wasn’t too concerned; with the system’s special effects, she was sure she’d meet this person again someday.

No rush.

As she conversed with the system, they arrived at Tang Zifeng’s refining workshop.

Qin Ruching waved him off, “Well then, goodbye? Remember to keep an eye on my destined artifact for me.”

Tang Zifeng hesitated for a moment before saying, “Thank you for today…”

“You don’t need to thank me. I lured you, a recluse, out here, so naturally, I’m responsible for you. By the way, the Qin family has been busy lately, so it’s a good time for you to refine artifacts. Once your batch is ready, I’ll arrange a meeting with the Ancestor and discuss cooperation with the Tang family.”

Tang Zifeng nodded, understanding Qin Ruqing’s assurance that the Qin family hadn’t forgotten about him.

However, Tang Zifeng had never worried about this.

Since the day Qin Ruqing had casually brought him to meet the Qin family Ancestor, he knew she was someone special.

She herself was unique, her position within the Qin family was unique, and her personality was even more unique.

Tang Zifeng had never encountered anyone with such a distinctive aura, and as he looked at Qin Ruching, his gaze couldn’t help but become complex and difficult to restrain.

Qin Ruching paid no mind, casually waving, “Well then, I’m off.”

Tang Zifeng nodded, watching the figure in red swiftly disappear into the distance.

When the banquet ended, Qin Deming indeed returned and spoke to Qin Ruqing about the attitudes of the affiliated families that day.

He said, “Today, two families showed particularly friendly attitudes towards our Qin family and met your requirements.

Especially the Cheng family—they seem quite eager to become our affiliated family. It seems they’re practically begging for it.”

Seeing their enthusiasm, Qin Deming reluctantly agreed.

Qin Ruching chuckled inwardly.

Her dear father wasn’t much less shameless than herself—being “eager” wasn’t due to the charm of the Qin family but rather the system’s crude special effects.

Nevertheless, it all aligned perfectly; it seemed the person she bumped into earlier was indeed from the Cheng family.

“Did the head of the Cheng family bring his son today?” Just to be safe, Qin Ruqing double-checked.

“Why would you know?” Qin Deming asked

“Oh, it’s nothing, just bumped into someone,” Qin Ruching replied, now understanding.

Qin Deming nodded, not dwelling on it much.

He thought for a moment before saying, “In a few days, once the news is clear and the contracts are signed, we’ll report to the Celestial Bureau. Then, everything will be settled.”

Qin Deming spoke somewhat nostalgically.

The Qin family had managed to turn their fortunes around under his leadership, although he knew most of the credit belonged to his daughter Qingqing.

Three days later, the Qin family officially signed subordinate contracts with the Cheng and Yan families.

After verification by the Celestial Bureau, the contracts were finalized.

A month passed swiftly for the Qin family.

Their pharmacy workshop split into three divisions, gaining popularity in the western market.

They also cultivated thousands of acres of medicinal fields and ten medicinal mountains in the returning secret realm.

They recruited two affiliated families and their alchemists worked tirelessly with high efficiency.

These were the achievements of the Qin family in recent times.

Qin Ruqing was very satisfied; she was eager to see the results produced by the system.

The family’s recent development should have corresponded to the “Stable Industry” subplot.

However, Qin Ruqing found that the progress bar for this subplot was moving much slower than expected—it hadn’t even completed a major settlement.

“System, the family’s recent developments have heavily focused on this subplot. The results are quite impressive. Why is the progress bar barely moving, and it still shows ‘Settlement in progress’?” Qin Ruching asked in confusion.

“Because this subplot has not yet achieved its interim breakthrough.

At this stage, there are still potential issues in the Qin family’s alchemy industry. Therefore, the system cannot settle,” the system explained.

Pondering this, Qin Ruching realized where the problems lay.

Despite her comprehensive planning and efforts, immediate solutions didn’t necessarily resolve the issues at hand.

The Qin family’s current problems centered on two aspects: insufficient alchemical production capacity and inadequate spirit plant growth.

While redistributing some alchemical tasks to branch and affiliated families had been somewhat effective, it wasn’t entirely sufficient.

The family’s own alchemists still bore significant pressure.

Furthermore, spirit plants had slow growth cycles.

Despite expanding medicinal fields, the time required for cultivation posed a gap.

Thus, she needed to find ways to further increase production.

Thinking this over, Qin Ruqing asked, “System, once the industry subplot achieves an interim breakthrough, will it reward lottery opportunities?”

She had dedicated substantial effort to these reforms; she deserved a reward if successful

If You don’t give me a Lottery Chance, I’ll Uninstall the System!

It seemed as if the system heard what Qin Ruqing was thinking.

This time, instead of giving her vague answers, the system replied firmly, “Yes.”

“That’s more like it.” Qin Ruqing snorted, but couldn’t help feeling excited.

Although the side quest involving her family’s business required some effort, the progress on other system quests was significant.

First, she had an epiphany and leveled up twice.

This significantly boosted the “Outstanding Junior” quest.

The epiphany was so valuable that the system rewarded her with a lottery chance (not bad).

Then, through some clever maneuvering, she got her father a prestigious management position in a subsidiary family.

This job was both respectable and powerful. As a result, the “Increase Clan Leader Qin Deming’s Prestige” quest skyrocketed!

Due to the substantial progress in her tasks, the system’s rewards were quite generous this time.

She received points, another lottery chance (yay!), and even a blue item.

“Minor Breakthrough Pill: Can directly raise a cultivator’s level below the Foundation Establishment stage. Note: The Minor Breakthrough Pill can partially substitute for a Foundation Establishment Pill, with a small chance to trigger its effects.”

Qin Ruqing blinked several times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.

A Minor Breakthrough Pill! Any pill that could help with cultivation, even if it only increased the chance of success, was extremely valuable and rare.

Otherwise, families wouldn’t fight tooth and nail for a single Foundation Establishment Pill.

Although the Minor Breakthrough Pill wasn’t as precious as a Foundation Establishment Pill and could only help cultivators below that stage, it had an incredibly powerful effect.

It could act as a lower-tier substitute for the Foundation Establishment Pill with a chance of triggering the same effects!

The rarity of a Foundation Establishment Pill was unparalleled, and the Minor Breakthrough Pill, although a tier lower, had a chance to achieve the same result.

It was like getting a big reward for a small price!

Lucky people would be ecstatic, and even gamblers would be green with envy.

For Qin Ruqing, this Minor Breakthrough Pill came at the perfect time.

She had been worried about her father’s cultivation level.

In a world where strength was everything, her father, the Clan Leader, being less powerful was a serious problem.

At the very least, he needed to reach the Foundation Establishment stage.

Now, with this Minor Breakthrough Pill, it was like someone handed her a pillow when she was feeling sleepy!

Even if her father didn’t trigger the Foundation Establishment effects, the pill would still push his cultivation to the peak of the Qi Refining stage.

This would greatly increase his chances of successfully reaching the Foundation Establishment stage in the future.

The reward was exactly what Qin Ruqing needed!

0She was about to claim it when she suddenly thought of something and asked cautiously, “System, this Minor Breakthrough Pill doesn’t need to be materialized, right?”

“If the host doesn’t use it personally, it needs to be materialized.”

Qin Ruqing smirked and quickly said, “How do you know I’m not using it myself? The pill is for anyone below the Foundation Establishment stage, and I’m at the sixth level of Qi Refining. I can use it!”

The system seemed…

Hesitation: “But, you clearly want to give it to your father.”

Qin Ruqing started lying through her teeth: “How do you know I’ll give it to my father? Let me tell you, a beauty’s mind is hard to guess! I want to use it myself! Hurry up and give me the reward directly, no materialization allowed!”

The system seemed quite conflicted.

Its intelligence suggested that the host definitely wouldn’t use the pill herself, but logically, Qin Ruqing was qualified to use it.

After all, cultivation was a cultivator’s life, and no one could say she didn’t want to improve her own level.

Qin Ruqing saw the whiteboard in her mind twitch, as if the system couldn’t handle this information and was about to crash.

Without hesitation, Qin Ruqing smacked the system on its head, like hitting an old TV with poor signal, relying on force to keep it running. “Don’t you dare crash on me! Hurry up and give me the reward! I meet all the criteria, and if you don’t give it to me, I’ll report you. I already found the report button. Hurry!”

The word “report” made the system’s board twitch, and in that moment of chaos, the data became clear. “…Don’t report me. Your reward has been credited.”

Qin Ruqing checked her inventory and found a grey-brown pill quietly lying inside.

“Very good. System, you’re smart.”

The system didn’t reply; it blacked out.

Whether it was anger, fear, or it was urgently fixing a bug, she didn’t know.

Having successfully outsmarted the system, Qin Ruqing felt great.

It didn’t matter that the system had shut down; her tasks were nearly settled.

This family reform had taken a lot of her time, but the gains were huge!

She had two lottery chances already, with two more pending—the reward for healing her ancestor and the reward for the progress in the pill industry.

Adding it up, wow, she was close to having ten lottery chances! God knows how hard it had been to save up for ten chances, resisting the urge to use them right away!