Xu Ziyan was stunned. Fang Lihai was back? Didn’t that mean the wild boar was about to come down the mountain?
She hurriedly rode her bicycle toward the village, muttering and complaining to the system the whole way.
‘You tell me, does Fang Lihai have water in his brain? An anonymous letter from just anyone can summon him back. If it were an enemy spy, wouldn’t they get him killed?’
Fang Lihai was just entering the village from a secluded path, trying to avoid people and quietly observe the situation at home, when he suddenly heard Xu Ziyan’s voice halfway there. He quickly looked around and saw Xu Ziyan passing by not far away. It seemed she hadn’t noticed him.
He instinctively hid, then heard Xu Ziyan’s voice again.
‘Where on earth is he? If I can’t find him, he’s going to be gored to death by a wild boar. You said Xu Xiuyun wanted to harm him, but how did she time it so perfectly to lure the boar down? Is this the female lead’s halo? Then with all the luck attribute I’ve added, shouldn’t I have a bit of a halo too? Like, by chance, finding Fang Lihai or something.’
001 replied: 【Definitely! Host, look how smoothly this mission is going? You get along so well with everyone in the Fang family, old and young. Actually, even if Fang Lihai died, it wouldn’t matter much. He’s not the protagonist; it doesn’t affect the plot. As long as you stay steady and continue saving the Fang family from fire and water, you can change their tragic fate.】
Fang Lihai was greatly shocked. Who was talking? Xu Ziyan clearly wasn’t opening her mouth, and who was that other voice?
Xu Ziyan entered the village, got off her bike, and began looking around as she walked. Fang Lihai started to secretly follow and observe her, trying to find the source of the voice.
Xu Ziyan said regretfully: ‘I haven’t even seen Fang Lihai yet. He’s my bargain-bin husband, after all. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing for me if he just died like that? Speaking of which, Xu Xiuyun is really vicious. Without any grudge, just to saddle me with a ‘husband-killer’ reputation, just to make my life worse than hers, she wants to harm Fang Lihai. What kind of person is that?
‘The fact that she and Song Dongbo ended up together, could it be they’re both the ruthless, unscrupulous type? Did Song Dongbo later become wealthy through shady means too? Is he considered the male lead? If I cut off his path to riches, would this novel world collapse?
‘Ah, you know, I’ve started writing a novel now too. Will the novel I write turn into a new world at the Time-Space Bureau? If it does… haha, I’m going to make my protagonist have an awesome time.’
Xu Ziyan’s thoughts were very scattered, which just gave Fang Lihai the chance to understand the whole picture. He pieced together the various fragments of information and quickly reached a conclusion.
Outside of time and space, there was a place called the Time-Space Bureau. It had caused a novel to form their world. Xu Ziyan was the villainess, and his Fang family members were the tragic cannon fodder. They all existed to be stepping stones for Xu Xiuyun and Song Dongbo.
If the plot deviated too much, the world might collapse. The original villainess had awakened and quit, and now a tasker had become Xu Ziyan. She had already helped the family a lot recently, so everything said in the letters and phone calls was true. The family really did get along very well with Xu Ziyan.
Also, if this tasker completed her mission, the world would break free from the original plot and continue operating. The tasker could also choose to stay here for a lifetime, until she didn’t want to stay anymore, then move on to the next world.
This bizarre and miraculous situation was something Fang Lihai accepted without much hesitation. Otherwise, there was no way to explain what he was experiencing. He had considered directly asking Xu Ziyan, but anything involving inner thoughts or taskers made him feel choked and stiff. This intangible force couldn’t be wrong; he had no choice but to believe it.
As a soldier, Fang Lihai had super strong execution ability. Since it was now his turn to follow the plot, he naturally saw it as his duty. He couldn’t let the world collapse because of him. So, he promptly circled around to the path, quickened his pace, and called out to Xu Ziyan, “What are you doing here?”
Xu Ziyan turned to look at him, surprised. “I was about to ask you the same thing. Why did you come back all of a sudden?”
To save time, Fang Lihai directly handed her the letter. “I received an anonymous letter. Although it seems ridiculous, someone doing this means someone has their eyes on the Fang family. I’m not in danger at the military district, but I was worried you might run into trouble, so I came back specifically to check.”
Xu Ziyan suddenly understood. ‘So I thought he was an idiot, suspicious of me because of the anonymous letter and refusing to believe what his parents and nephew said. So that’s what he was thinking. I underestimated him.’
Fang Lihai looked elsewhere, his expression blank, so no one could tell he was uncomfortable. Right, he was an idiot. He had come back precisely because he was suspicious.
Based on the location of the wild boar incident in the original plot, Xu Ziyan took Fang Lihai to the vicinity, though they kept a safe distance from the actual spot.
Sure enough, as the two were walking, they suddenly heard abnormal sounds. Looking carefully, they saw a wild boar running toward them.
Xu Ziyan grabbed Fang Lihai’s arm. “Don’t go. I’ll get the village chief to call people, and we’ll all go together. You absolutely must not show off. If you get hurt anywhere, mom and dad will be heartbroken.”
Fang Lihai nodded. “Don’t worry, I won’t act recklessly.”
Xu Ziyan nodded and hurriedly rode her bike to get people. As she left, she thought again: ‘Wait, isn’t he being too obedient? He’s supposed to look down on me, right? If I tell him to do something, he should do the opposite. Why is his attitude so good?
‘Also, if he just stands there obediently without moving, won’t the plot fail to proceed?’
001 stated: 【Following the plot means he has to be gored to death by the boar, right?】
Xu Ziyan said: ‘Faking his death would work too. The key is to make Xu Xiuyun think he was gored to death. How do we do that?’
This really stumped Xu Ziyan. If it were herself, she could act any way, but with someone else, she couldn’t exactly remote-control them, could she?
Fang Lihai, however, had a thought. He was just worrying about how to reasonably follow the plot. Hearing Xu Ziyan’s inner thoughts, he had a flash of inspiration. Using the fastest speed and avoiding people, he went home and found Fang Father and Fang Mother.
The two elders were shocked. “Why are you back?”
Fang Lihai had no time for details. He just quickly told them to cooperate in acting. The two elders instantly understood—their son had heard Xu Ziyan’s inner thoughts and needed to follow the plot!
The three of them were perfectly in sync. Fang Lihai immediately returned to the wild boar and began fighting it. Since he already knew the original outcome, of course he was more careful. He took a weapon and set a trap, successfully grievously wounding the boar. By the time Xu Ziyan brought everyone running over, he had his back to them, cleverly delivered the final blow to the boar, and also stumbled back a few steps before falling to the ground, closing his eyes and lying motionless.
Fang Mother, who had rushed over, let out a mournful cry. “My son!”
The two elders threw themselves beside Fang Lihai and began wailing. Xu Ziyan was startled. ‘No way, no way, is he dead?’
001: 【He’s not dead, because the plot wasn’t completed.】
Xu Ziyan breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he wasn’t dead. She looked toward Xu Xiuyun, who was at the back of the crowd, and suddenly rushed over and slapped Xu Xiuyun across the face. “You killed my man. Are you satisfied now? If you can’t stand me and want revenge, come at me. Why harm him?”
Xu Xiuyun was completely stunned by the slap. A bright red handprint instantly appeared on her face. The others were even more shocked. “Xu Ziyan, what are you doing? What does this have to do with Xu Xiuyun?”
Xu Xiuyun immediately started crying. “That’s right, little sister, you can’t blame me for everything…”
Xu Ziyan held the anonymous letter up for everyone to see. “This is the letter that called Fang Lihai back. Who else in the village would so blatantly twist the truth and slander me like this? Who else has such a big grudge against me that they’d want to harm my man? Who else but Xu Xiuyun? And look at this writing paper. She must have the same kind at home!”
Xu Xiuyun was alarmed and hurriedly denied it. “It wasn’t me—”
Whack! Fang Mother, who didn’t know when she had charged over, slapped Xu Xiuyun hard across the same cheek, hitting her so hard the side of her face went numb.
Fang Mother had long hated her guts. Seizing this opportunity, she cursed loudly, “My son is dead, and it’s your fault! I saw you go up the mountain today. You’re the one who lured the boar down. Don’t you dare deny it. There’s still mud on your shoes. Only the mountains have mud today.”
Xu Xiuyun instinctively looked down at her shoes, while the others looked at her in shock and stepped back. What did this mean? Did Xu Xiuyun intentionally cause someone’s death? Just because of a few verbal arguments with Xu Ziyan before? Was it worth it? This was too terrifying!
Fang Mother cursed, “You’re always eyeing my daughter-in-law, and now you come to harm my son. What does our Fang family owe you? Give me back my son’s life!”
Fang Mother, who still hadn’t heard the mission completion notification, threw caution to the wind. She rushed forward, knocked Xu Xiuyun down, straddled her, and slapped her with both hands like a madwoman. “Give me back my son! You jinx, you killed my son, I’ll drag you to death with me! Pay for my son’s life with your own!”
The village chief and the others were still reeling from the shocking information and didn’t pull her away in time, resulting in Xu Xiuyun being beaten until she saw stars, her head buzzing, unable to think clearly. She vaguely saw Fang Father performing chest compressions on Fang Lihai, saw Xu Ziyan’s furious face, and Fang Mother’s out-of-control beating.
It seemed Fang Lihai really was dead.
She hadn’t wanted to kill Fang Lihai! She… she just wanted him to get injured, that’s all. How did it turn out like this? She cried and shook her head. “I didn’t, I really didn’t…”
【Congratulations, host, for completing two plotlines: Fang Lihai being gored to death by a wild boar, and exposing Xu Xiuyun for luring the boar down the mountain. Reward: two skill points. Completed hidden plotline: Exposing Xu Xiuyun for writing the anonymous letter, dealing a heavy blow to Xu Xiuyun’s image. Special reward: five skill points.】
Seven points at once! Xu Ziyan said excitedly, ‘Intelligence, intelligence! Put them all into intelligence! I’m going to become a genius! Hahaha!’
Fang Lihai heard Xu Ziyan’s unusually lively inner thoughts for the first time and almost couldn’t maintain his death-feigning expression. He moved slightly. Fang Father immediately cooperated, “He’s awake, he’s awake! Son’s mother, our son is saved!”
The person who had run to fetch the doctor came back pulling the doctor along. The village chief hurriedly asked the doctor to come forward and examine him. Without any equipment here, what could the doctor check? He could only say based on everyone’s description, “Battalion Commander Fang likely had the wind knocked out of him from the impact just now, or went into shock. Fortunately, someone performed CPR continuously and saved him in time. He needs plenty of rest and nutritional supplements recently.”
Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. Luckily, he was saved. Xu Ziyan also took the opportunity to pull Fang Mother back, saying with concern, “Mom, your health isn’t good. Stop hitting her.”
Fang Mother was panting heavily but felt very satisfied in her heart. She had wanted to beat Xu Xiuyun up for a long time, and today she finally got her chance.
Xu Xiuyun, now bruised and battered, was dumbfounded. How was Fang Lihai alive again? Did she get beaten up for nothing? And Fang Lihai was completely fine?
“Village Chief, Xu Xiuyun’s house really has this writing paper.” Sixth Aunt held a grudge. As soon as trouble broke out, she had called the village chief’s wife and ran to search Xu Xiuyun’s house. Sure enough, they found the same kind of paper.
Xu Xiuyun said angrily, “This paper is the most common kind…”
Xu Ziyan took a pencil from her bag and lightly shaded over the notebook they had found. Soon, some handwriting appeared. Probably because it was written with the left hand and the pressure wasn’t controlled well, the imprint left on the page beneath the anonymous letter was actually very deep. Shading revealed it particularly clearly, matching the anonymous letter exactly.
When Xu Xiuyun wrote the letter, she never imagined anyone would discover it, let alone think to destroy the draft paper. Now, with ironclad evidence proving she was indeed the one who lured Fang Lihai back. Moreover, in the letter, she claimed Xu Ziyan mistreated her in-laws and stepson, which was complete nonsense. Didn’t this further prove Xu Xiuyun’s wickedness?
Add to that Fang Mother’s claim of seeing Xu Xiuyun enter the mountains, and the fact that Xu Xiuyun hadn’t fought back when Fang Mother was beating her just now—everything indicated Xu Xiuyun had intended to harm Fang Lihai.
Fang Lihai wasn’t just Xu Ziyan’s husband; he was a battalion commander, the most accomplished person in the village, a source of honor and connections. What Xu Xiuyun had done directly harmed everyone’s interests. Besides, they were all fellow villagers who had grown up together. That she could do such a thing was too terrifying.
Xu Ziyan threw the shaded paper at Xu Xiuyun. “Let’s call the police! What else do you have to say for yourself?”