Can a System Have Bad Intentions? - Chapter 2

On one side, time was running out, and the punishment was about to begin.

On the other side, she didn’t know how long her father would sit there, and she might not have a chance to speak with her mother alone.

Without much hesitation, Lu Tang closed her eyes and steeled herself. She shouted at Lu Deren, “I am your father!”

Lu Deren: !

Madam Qiao: .!

Without waiting for Lu Deren to react, Lu Tang turned and ran.

Before she even made it out of the main courtyard, she heard footsteps and Lu Deren’s angry roar, “You unfilial child, stop right there!”

Stopping was not an option. Lu Tang ran straight out the gate and onto the street.

“Congratulations host, the punishment task is over. You have received a ten-year anniversary gift package.”

Lu Tang had no time to listen to the system.

“Can’t you offer some useful help?” Lu Tang mentally communicated with the system. “What’s the use of this gift package now? I need to solve the problem with my sister and…”

Before she could finish, a small porcelain bottle appeared in her hand out of thin air.

Lu Tang was stunned. “What is this?”

“Gift package.”

“Don’t tell me it’s a revival pill!”

“Invincible Potion.”

Lu Tang: !

Tsk, what ill intentions could the system possibly have?

She tossed the medicine bottle in the air and caught it steadily, whistling as she walked toward Fortune Tea House.

In the past, when she got beaten and ran away from home, she always waited at Fortune Tea House, and soon her servant Yuan Bao would find her.

Humming a tune, Lu Tang went up to the second floor of the tea house.

This tea house had been around for many years and had never been renovated. The stairs creaked as she climbed, and the floorboards on the second floor creaked under her feet.

It was a bit shabby, but their tea was excellent.

“If you don’t fix your floor soon, it might collapse one day!” The waiter brought the tea. Before he could set the fruit plate on the table, Lu Tang grabbed a fruit and took a bite, speaking with her mouth full.

The waiter poured tea while smiling. “The owner said it will be repaired tomorrow. Young Master Lu, the usual?”

Lu Tang’s usual order was a pot of Green Snail Spring, a plate of mung bean cakes, and a dish of boneless spicy chicken feet.

“The usual, and bring me some writing supplies.”

Everyone in Qingshui County knew that the young master of the wealthy Lu family was a good-for-nothing.

Hearing this, the waiter joked, “Young Master Lu, are you writing poetry? Shall I beat the drum for you?”

Lu Tang kicked his leg lightly. “Mind your own business! Hurry up and get it!”

It was just a joke, and the kick didn’t hurt. The waiter laughed and left, returning shortly with paper and a brush.

As soon as the waiter left, Lu Tang quickly spread out the rice paper, dipped the brush in ink, and began to write after a moment of thought.

“Tomorrow is Brother Gu’s wedding day. Brother Lu, under the orders of my teacher, I come to congratulate you. I am staying at the Qiao Inn. If you have time, I hope to meet. I have brought a friend who studies at the Imperial Academy to introduce to you. Please bring this note when you come.”

In beautiful calligraphy, who would have thought it was written by the lazy Lu Tang?

As the ink dried, Yuan Bao arrived in a hurry.

He was tall and strong, a martial artist, making the already unstable floor of Fortune Tea House creak even louder.

“My young master, what have you done today? Master is so angry he’s coughing up blood!” Yuan Bao exclaimed as soon as he entered the room. “Master said if I don’t bring you back, he’ll break my legs.”

Lu Tang ignored him.

She handed the folded note to Yuan Bao. “Find someone to deliver this to the Gu family. When Gu Changming leaves the house, follow him, and find a suitable place to tie him up.”

Then she handed Yuan Bao the medicine bottle.

“After tying him up, search him for this note and burn it. Then make him drink this entire bottle and take him to Spring Fragrance Courtyard. Arrange for Zhao Yue’er and Su Yue’er to attend to him.”

Yuan Bao was stunned.

Looking at the bottle and then at his master, he said, “Young master, Gu Changming is marrying the young lady tomorrow. Isn’t this inappropriate?”

“If you mess with them, they won’t be able to get married tomorrow!”

Yuan Bao was still confused. “Why?”

“That scoundrel doesn’t deserve my sister! This marriage cannot happen!”

“Just do it. You’ll understand once it’s done. Remember, don’t let anyone know you did it! Hurry up!”

Yuan Bao, full of questions, closed his mouth and turned to carry out the orders.

He was a loyal servant left to her by her maternal grandfather, capable and trustworthy.

The Qiao family made their fortune from the inn business. By the time of Lu Tang’s maternal grandfather, the Qiao family had become the richest in Qingshui County.

However, the old master had no sons, and Madam Qiao chose the then-impoverished scholar Lu Deren. The old master arranged for Lu Deren to marry into the family.

After the marriage, Lu Deren gave up his academic pursuits and devoted himself to managing the family business with Madam Qiao.

Lu Deren was gentle and considerate, and Madam Qiao was deeply in love with him. When their eldest daughter was born, the Qiao family’s plaque was changed to the Lu family, and the child’s surname followed Lu.

But the old master was cautious.

When Lu Tang was born, he immediately announced that she was a boy and took her to be raised by his side.

At the age of four, the original Lu Tang drowned, and she transmigrated into this body.

Until the age of eight, Lu Tang was raised by her grandfather. After his sudden death, she was sent back to Madam Qiao.

Since then, her disguise as a boy had been stable.

Besides Madam Qiao, only the deceased old master knew the truth. Lu Deren still believed Lu Tang was a boy.

Drinking tea and watching the bustling street below, Lu Tang pondered the conversation she overheard at noon.

Actually, some things might not have been without signs.

For example, while under her grandfather’s care, she began her education at four with highly respected teachers.

But after returning to her parents, she became a lazy troublemaker.

Lu Deren always said he was not old yet and didn’t want Lu Tang to be burdened by business so early. He couldn’t bear to see her suffer, thinking she could start learning at fifteen.

As for herself, having died from overwork in her previous life, she eagerly accepted her father’s indulgence.

She thought, “What harm could my father have in mind?”

However, at fourteen this year, the conversation she heard at noon changed her perspective.

She wasn’t sure what her father had done behind their backs, so she couldn’t act rashly. Ruining her sister’s marriage was the only immediate option, starting with Gu Changming.

Sighing, Lu Tang refocused and picked up the brush to draw an extremely ugly turtle on the paper.

“Hey, our Brother Tang has turned studious!”

As she finished the last stroke, the door to the private room was pushed open, and a familiar teasing voice came through.

Lu Tang glanced over, “Liang Cheng, are you idle?”

Liang Cheng was Lu Tang’s good friend, whose family ran a fabric business, and he was also a troublemaker.

Walking closer, Liang Cheng saw the ugly turtle and stomped his foot, “I heard bandits came to West Mountain, and the leader is incredibly ugly. This must be worse than him.”

Lu Tang rolled her eyes. “Why are you stomping?”

“The Champion System has detected a new task. Please prepare.”

Lu Tang: ?