Chapter 47
Chapter 47
Barbara lay in the passenger seat, tilting its large, round head as it stared at its host.
Ever since receiving the complete plot, the host had been silent and looked deep in thought.
Barbara did not disturb her. After a long while, the host finally seemed to return to her senses and exhaled.
Then she pulled something out of her pocket, tossed Barbara a strip, raised another to her mouth, and chewed fiercely.
Barbara caught a rich aroma. It recognized the snack as a highly rated jerky from the System Store, rumored to come from some futuristic world.
It tore off a little with its pointed teeth and tasted it. It really was delicious!
Wait!
It suddenly realized something. “Host, when did you buy jerky? No, why did you spend points on this?”
What a waste! Points were precious. Even if they were not immediately useful, they should be saved for when they were truly needed.
Zhu Yin asked, “Does it taste good?”
The little cat nodded. It could hardly deny that.
“Then that settles it.”
Zhu Yin returned to the mission, her expression peculiar. “So in this world, I’m still supposed to preserve the final outcome?”
Of this world’s two protagonists, the male lead wished to be with the female lead.
Coincidentally, the female lead’s wish was much the same, though she had an additional wish: to keep the first child she had lost.
Barbara did not understand human romance. Compared with this world’s protagonists, the domineering-CEO novels it had read before were positively wholesome.
The little system said fearfully, “Neither protagonist seems very normal.”
Systems could have partners too.
As Barbara understood it, a human married couple was the equivalent of a system partnership.
How could anyone treat their partner so badly?
The heroine was strange too. Did their world have no human rights protection laws? Barbara gnawed its paw in confusion.
Zhu Yin had already spent several minutes digesting everything and now felt perfectly fine. “Mm. They’re quite well matched. They belong together.”
As they spoke, Zhu Yin and the system arrived at the Li residence.
Zhu Yin’s appearance in this world was a little more mature than in the last. Her curly hair was pinned behind her head, a white coat covered her body, and nonprescription glasses rested on the bridge of her nose. The outfit softened her vivid beauty and made her appear elegant and composed.
In other words, she looked highly reliable and professional.
“Doctor, you’re here.” A middle-aged housekeeper in uniform was waiting inside when Zhu Yin entered.
The housekeeper’s clothes were extremely conservative and old-fashioned, and her expression was equally stern. A deep line between her brows had been etched there by years of frowning.
She led Zhu Yin straight upstairs and briefly explained that Madam was feeling unwell and needed an examination.
They stopped at the door. The housekeeper did not enter, merely gesturing for the doctor to proceed on her own.
Zhu Yin gently pushed open the door.
A young woman lay asleep on the bed. A thin blanket covered her, her hair was disheveled, and her face was pale. Her brows were tightly furrowed, and her red, swollen eyes looked as though she had cried bitterly.
No one else was in the bedroom.
Zhu Yin lifted the blanket.
Barbara cried out and shyly turned away.
Zhu Yin: …So those were the injuries she had been summoned to examine.
The heroine’s body was covered in bruises, with hardly a patch of unmarked skin. Her most private areas were even more severely injured.
Zhu Yin recalled the call from the male lead.
This bore no resemblance to intimacy between husband and wife. Anyone would believe it was the aftermath of torture.
Zhu Yin opened the medical kit she carried and began treating the heroine’s injuries.
Half an hour later, she opened the bedroom door.
The housekeeper still stood outside and gave her a questioning look when she emerged.
Zhu Yin answered concisely, “She needs rest. Also, Mr. Li was far too rough.”
The housekeeper gave her a cold, warning glance. “Doctor, you are meddling.”
She meant that Zhu Yin only needed to provide treatment and should say nothing else.
That tone was thoroughly unpleasant. Zhu Yin raised a brow and glared right back. “If you call me to treat a patient, then listen to my medical advice.”
She was not worried about the mission. In the original plot, this “doctor” handled everything from the heroine’s repeated injuries to the later kidney transplant and, after that, the heart surgery.
Since this was a mission world, Zhu Yin could not be bothered to examine whether all those actions were legal. In any case, although she was merely a plot device, she was a fairly important one.
Who did this housekeeper think she was, acting so fierce?
The door to the neighboring room suddenly opened, and a man appeared in a bathrobe, water dripping from his wet hair.
As the male lead, Li Nanfeng had a tall, upright build and a striking, sharply chiseled face.
He had clearly heard what Zhu Yin said. His long, narrow eyes swept coldly toward her, but the instant their gazes met, his legs seemed to move beyond his control. He retreated two steps and backed against the wall.
Zhu Yin: Ha! Scumbag Slayer. Didn’t expect that, did you, scumbag?
Even she had not expected the title she had just received in the previous world to take effect so quickly.
Li Nanfeng looked at Zhu Yin in confusion, but the incident had completely destroyed the imposing air of his entrance.
He said indifferently, “You only need to treat her. As for everything else, do not look at what you should not look at, ask what you should not ask, or interfere in what does not concern you.”
“Oh.” Zhu Yin shrugged. “If you think I meddle too much, you can treat your wife yourself.”
She raised her wrist, indicating that Li Nanfeng should check the time. “Working overtime at three in the morning because of something like this. Boss, am I not allowed to complain a little?”
Before Li Nanfeng could react, the housekeeper gave her a disapproving look.
“Serving the Li family is an honor others could only dream of.” Her tone was as solemn as an oath. “Doctor, your dedication falls far short of your predecessor’s.”
Oh. So I had a predecessor.
The plot had never mentioned that. Zhu Yin could not help her curiosity. “Where is my predecessor now?”
The housekeeper answered, “She died suddenly. The Li family compensated her generously.”
Hearing this, Zhu Yin said with conviction, “See? I told you it was unreasonable to drag people out of bed to work in the middle of the night. You worked her to death.”
Housekeeper: “…”
Li Nanfeng: “…”
Li Nanfeng did not know what had come over him. Ordinarily, if a doctor dared show him such disrespect, he would have had her thrown out and fired on the spot.
But tonight, every cell in his body seemed to be screaming, *Make her leave!*
That impulse even overwhelmed his displeasure at the doctor’s offense.
He rubbed between his brows. The news he had heard must have thrown his emotions into turmoil.
He had no attention to spare for a minor doctor. “Now that you’re done, get the hell out!” he said coldly.
Zhu Yin had no favorable impression of anyone she had met in this world so far. At that, she turned and left. “Remember to pay me overtime!”
On the drive back, Barbara helped her determine the current point in the timeline.
“Found it!” It transmitted the information to its host.
This was the moment when Li Nanfeng’s idealized love returned to the country.
He had gone to pick her up at the airport. Seeing her heartbroken and haggard over another man, with a child she had borne for that man at her side, made his heart twist in agony.
But he cherished his idealized love. No matter how much it hurt, he remained gentle and attentive to her, arranging a home and a nanny for her.
Then he returned home, drowned his sorrows, and became thoroughly drunk.
He could not bear to take his feelings out on his idealized love. Hurting his wife, however, was apparently fine.
When Liu Ruyan heard that he had shut himself in his room to drink again, she became terribly worried. Refusing to leave it to anyone else, she personally made hangover soup and brought it to him.
Drunk, Li Nanfeng mistook the similar-looking heroine for his idealized love and dragged her toward the bed.
He left her covered in injuries.
After reviewing the sequence of events, Zhu Yin sank into thought again.
Only after a long while did she ask in puzzlement, “According to my medical knowledge, don’t men have trouble getting it up when they’re drunk?”
Barbara’s feline face went blank. This was beyond the scope of the system’s knowledge.
“M-maybe the male lead is exceptionally gifted?”