"Host, your current balance is 27,000."
"So much?" Qi Huan was secretly surprised, not expecting Shu to have given her so much rice.
Calculated, in Shu's heart, she was worth at least ten thousand taels of silver.
Hearing her thoughts, the system hurriedly interrupted her self-admiration: "Host, you're thinking too much. It's not one point per portion of rice. When the commoners get rice, they take it home to eat with their families. So, if a few people eat that portion of rice, you'll gain that many points.
Host, you originally had a remaining balance of 1,437 points. Plus the rice Li Shuchen donated for you, there will be 25,563 people who ate it, so your current balance is 27,000."
The system explained in detail, and Qi Huan understood - for every person who ate a portion of rice, she gained a point.
Although the people of Mo County believed in having many children for good fortune, the climate caused issues - either the women were too cold to bear children, or the infants they bore did not receive proper care and froze or starved to death, ultimately resulting in small household sizes.
On average, a household had about ten people across three generations. So Li Shuchen had donated over two thousand portions of rice.
Thus, Qi Huan boasted shamelessly to the system: "Over two thousand portions is no small amount. Shu really does love me."
"Host, although I'm not human, are you really a Heizi? Can't you spare a thought for the Single System's feelings?!"
"Hehehe, I'll give you twenty thousand points."
"Host, I suddenly feel you're right. Li Shuchen really does love you deeply. His blessing was very meaningful. Thank you, Host, and Li Shuchen for the twenty thousand 'meaningful' points."
Qi Huan smiled sweetly, ending her pleasant conversation with the system.
The system now had thirty thousand points in total, still seventy thousand short of the next level, while she had seven thousand remaining in her balance. All thanks to Li Shuchen.
Although she felt for his lost silver, a thousand gold pieces can be regained, and a portion of rice meant several meals for the common people of Mo County. Plus, she still had the point bonus, so it wasn't a total loss.
The evening breeze blew, and Qi Huan collected her thoughts, tightening her cloak, but noticed Li Shuchen's thin clothing.
"Shu, let's go back."
"Mm." Li Shuchen shifted his gaze to her clenched fingers on the cloak, then nodded.
He led her to the horses, pointing at the sleeping Yan Wu and Yan Qinghe on the ground, hesitating: "What about those two?"
Li Shuchen went over, snatched away their small blankets, and woke them up.
"Pack up and go back."
With that, he turned and walked towards Qi Huan, lifting her onto the horse, then swiftly mounting behind her and embracing her, kicking the horse's belly to start walking.
Behind them, the dazed Yan Wu and Yan Qinghe were still a bit dizzy, but obediently rolled up their blankets and picnic mats, dealing with the wine bottles and other items.
The next day.
After Qi Huan woke up, she cooked noodles. Noodles are easy on the stomach, and everyone had drunk a bit the previous night, so a light breakfast was appropriate.
Once she finished cooking, the freshly washed Yan Qinghe expertly picked up five sets of bowls and chopsticks, only for her to say: "Four sets will be enough."
"Why?"
"Xiu Wen doesn't need any."
"Why?"
Yan Qinghe's eyes widened. A person needs food like steel needs to be sharpened - go without a meal and you'll be famished. How could they not give Xiu Wen food? He hadn't done anything wrong.
At that moment, Li Shuchen, tending the fire, glanced over coolly: "He's dead."
That's why he had come to take over the fire tending from Xiu Wen.
His words were like a thunderbolt on a clear day, striking Yan Qinghe.
"How did he die?"
"Drowned in the River of Love."
Yan Qinghe thought the "River of Love" they spoke of was the moat from last night, and immediately panicked, frowning as he demanded: "Then why didn't you all save him? ...Even if Xiu Wen couldn't swim, he would've struggled a bit after falling in, right? Why didn't you pull him out?"
Saying this, Yan Qinghe angrily stamped his feet.
Although Xiu Wen was just an Eastern Palace eunuch, over their journey together, Yan Qinghe had come to see him as family.
Thinking of this, he heavily set down the bowls and rushed out, leaping onto a horse and galloping urgently towards last night's river bank.
Everything happened so quickly that although Qi Huan called out that Xiu Wen wasn't dead, she couldn't stop the emotionally invested Yan Qinghe, who had dashed out without even eating breakfast to go try to "rescue" someone.
"Shu, why did you tease him like that? He's simple-natured, he ran out without even eating breakfast."
Qi Huan set down her spatula, pouting as she urged Li Shuchen to quickly extinguish the stove fire so they could go find Yan Qinghe.
Even after being scolded, Li Shuchen remained expressionless, but obediently got up to ready the horses.
According to his instructions that morning, Yan Wu should have already gone to the county office to deregister Xiu Wen's household. The county would also likely send people to search for the body.
Yan Qinghe was simple-natured and unskilled at deception. If not tricked, he might laugh and give everything away. So Li Shuchen didn't explain the truth to him.
Once Yan Qinghe went and made a fuss, cried a bit, the officials would find it more convincing and deregistering Xiu Wen would go smoother.
However, when they reached the riverbank, they didn't see Yan Qinghe. Only Constable Yan with his officers, dredging the spot Yan Wu had identified as where Xiu Wen fell in.
Sunlight glistened on the rippling water's surface as the officers probed the riverbed with long poles, stirring up the sediment along the banks.
Based on Constable Yan's experience, drowning victims typically resurfaced in two to three days during summer. For now, they could only try their best to dredge for the body. The current wasn't too rapid, so logically it shouldn't have drifted too far.
After an hour of fruitless dredging, Constable Yan furrowed his brow slightly, following the sudden sound of hoofbeats to glare sharply at Li Shuchen.
"May I ask, Lord Former Crown Prince, if your subordinate has perhaps absconded?"
Hearing this strange way of addressing him, Qi Huan found it grating and retorted: "Constable still temporarily in service, you should know that without a household registration, one cannot go far these days. Where could Xiu Wen have fled to?"
Turning to her, Constable Yan ground his teeth, a vein bulging at his temple as he bit out: "Speaking so familiarly, if this 'Xiu Wen' of yours really did drown, why don't you shed a single tear?"
As his words fell, tears quickly welled up in Qi Huan's eyes and slid down her cheeks.
Thinking that she still needed to accumulate over ninety million points to help the system reach the maximum level, she felt so sad!
Sad enough to want to wail mournfully.
She cried harder and harder, hiccuping and sobbing: "...I still can't come to terms with it, it doesn't feel real. But Xiu Wen has indeed gone missing..."
Recalling what Li Shuchen said on the way, she wept: "Last night we were appreciating the moon and drinking here. Later, everyone got drunk. Xiu Wen said he was going to the river to wash his face, and I didn't think much of it.
We kept on drinking till the wee hours of the morning, staggering home in a daze. It wasn't until morning that we realized Xiu Wen was missing. Yan Wu came searching and only found an empty wine jar by the river, and signs that Xiu Wen had fallen in. Realizing something had happened to him, they reported it to the officials to ask for help."
Just as Qi Huan was getting into the act, someone suddenly grabbed her arm. Turning her head, she met a pair of bloodshot eyes.
