The entire courtyard is full of villains

"Erhe, try this, I bought some millet porridge." Guan Xue's voice carried a hint of barely perceptible joy. "Luckily, I told the doctor before I left and got him a certificate, otherwise the cafeteria wouldn't have sold it to me."

As she spoke, she skillfully opened the lunchbox, took out a spoon, scooped up a spoonful of porridge, gently blew on it, and then carefully brought it to Zhang Erhe's lips: "Ah~"

This was the first time in Zhang Erhe's life that a woman had fed him, and he was stunned for a moment, his mind going blank. "Erhe, drink up, drink it and you'll get better sooner," Guan Xue urged softly when she saw that he wasn't moving.

"Oh." Zhang Erhe squeezed out a single word, unusually quiet, and obediently opened his mouth to drink. Guan Xue had bought a full lunchbox of porridge, and Zhang Erhe drank more than half of it before he couldn't drink any more.

However, Guan Xue quickly put away the lunchbox, then took out a slightly blackened cornbread from her bosom and began to nibble on it in small bites.

Zhang Erhe looked at the hard, dry cornbread in her hand, and his heart ached, but he still said curtly, "Eat, eat, all you know is how to eat! What's so good about a rotten cornbread? Drink the rest of the millet porridge!"

"This...this is for you..." Guan Xue said softly.

"Stop talking nonsense! I never eat leftovers!" Zhang Erhe deliberately put on a stern face. "Oh," Guan Xue responded, a blush instantly rising on her face. She obediently picked up the lunchbox and finished the cornbread with the millet porridge.

Chapter 5: One sentence can destroy a system

It was late at night, and the ward was quiet. Zhang Erhe was fast asleep on the hospital bed, while Guan Xue curled up at his feet like a kitten.

Suddenly, a cold, mechanical voice echoed in his mind:

"Hello host, the Great Perfection System is at your service. Would you like to bind?"

Half-asleep, Zhang Erhe was woken up and, feeling annoyed, instinctively cursed:

"What's all the noise about in the middle of the night? Binding? Bind your mother's ass!"

"Instructions received. Bind...bind my mother."

"Beep beep beep—Warning! Warning!"

"System Mother... No such data found in the database. Binding failed."

"Emergency repair... Repair in progress... Repair failed."

Then, with a soft "bang," the system went completely silent.

The next morning, around 5 a.m., Guan Xue was the first to wake up. She carefully crawled out from under the bed and rubbed her shoulders, which were a little numb from being pressed down by Zhang Erhe's legs.

She went to wash up first, then brought over some warm water and softly called, "Erhe, wake up, wash your face."

Zhang Erhe was woken up and was about to habitually start cursing, but when he saw it was Guan Xue, he forcibly held back. He took the towel and wiped his face, instantly becoming much more awake.

He suddenly remembered having a strange dream last night, a dream about some kind of system. So, while Guan Xue went to get water, he closed his eyes and focused his mind to enter his own consciousness space.

The sight before him was utterly astonishing—a black sphere emitting black smoke was floating in the space.

Just as he was at a loss, the girl's familiar voice suddenly rang out in the space:

"Zhang Erhe, transmigrator number 39621. I forgot to remind you, be careful of the systems in the subspace; they will try to bewitch you in various ways..."

Before she could finish speaking, the girl saw the black ball and her voice stopped abruptly.

She turned her head and asked tentatively, "This...you did this?"

Zhang Erhe scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "I don't know either. I was half asleep last night when it asked me to bind something, and I said... bind your mother! And then this happened."

The girl was completely stunned. After a long while, she cautiously walked over, reached out and touched the black ball, then shook her head.

"The core data is corrupted; this system is probably completely unusable."

She breathed a sigh of relief, looking at Zhang Erhe with a mixture of amusement and exasperation in her eyes:

"I was worried you'd be swayed by it, but you solved it with just a few words."

"Alright." The girl clapped her hands, glanced quickly at Zhang Erhe, and said, "Since this system is already broken, I'll take it with me and dispose of it."

Zhang Erhe stepped forward, looking at her with a half-smile: "You're just leaving like that?"

"What's wrong?" The girl's heart skipped a beat, and she had a bad feeling.

"As the guide, you didn't tell me the most important information, almost causing me to be bound to the subspace system." Zhang Erhe's tone was calm, yet carried a hint of threat. "Do you think anyone would care if I reported this to higher-ups?"

The girl coughed awkwardly and said with an embarrassed laugh, "I don't think it's necessary, right? After all, your mom... uh, I mean the one upstairs, is so busy every day. There's no need to bother her with such a small matter, right?"

Zhang Erhe raised an eyebrow, neither confirming nor denying: "But I almost got hurt. If I'm not happy about it and accidentally let it slip when I get back, that would be bad."

"Okay, okay!" Seeing this, the girl quickly raised her hands in surrender. "Just tell me, what do you want?"

Instead of stating his conditions directly, Zhang Erhe asked, "What can you do with this system if you take it back?"

"Take it back? That would just mean it's completely destroyed." The girl said this, but her eyes quickly glanced at the black ball.

"If you don't behave yourself, I'll really report you." Zhang Erhe's tone turned serious.

"I'll tell you, I'll tell you!" the girl quickly confessed. "These task systems store the rewards for completing tasks. I was thinking of taking it back, pocketing the rewards, and putting them in my little piggy bank..."

"Oh? Is that so?" Zhang Erhe raised an eyebrow.

The girl nodded, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "A guide once got one and made a fortune."

"Then why did you lie to me and try to take it away secretly?" Zhang Erhe said with some dissatisfaction.

"Well, then... hehe." The girl chuckled dryly, "Anyway, you can't open it, so it's just for decoration."

"I'll leave it even if I can't open it," Zhang Erhe said, refusing to budge an inch.

"How about this, we team up?" the girl suggested, "and split it 50/50?"

"No way," Zhang Erhe refused outright. "I'm the one who destroyed the stuff; you're just responsible for opening it. At most, it'll be split 90/10, I'll take 90% and you take 10%."

"That won't do!" the girl exclaimed anxiously. "It takes a lot of divine power for me to break it! I need at least forty percent!"

"At most 20%."

The two bargained back and forth for a long time before finally reaching an agreement: a 30/70 split, with Zhang Erhe receiving 70% and the girl 30%.

After making the decision, the girl no longer hesitated and silently recited an obscure incantation. Instantly, the black sphere seemed to be peeled open by an invisible hand, unfolding layer by layer to reveal the densely packed, shimmering data and items inside.

Zhang Erhe was dazzled by what he saw. Then, the data and items were neatly divided into two parts, one significantly larger and one smaller. The girl casually waved her hand, sending the larger part directly into Zhang Erhe's consciousness space, while storing the smaller part in her sleeve.

"Hey, what did you give yourself? I didn't even see it clearly," Zhang Erhe asked.

"It's just some points or basic skills, nothing valuable," the girl mumbled in her defense.

Hearing the girl's explanation, Zhang Erhe's face grew darker and darker—so all the valuable parts of the system he had painstakingly salvaged had been taken by the other party.

Seeing this, the girl quickly waved her hand: "Alright, alright, I'll tell you the truth! There are indeed quite a few things in there that don't fit the world's setting, such as talismans and witchcraft—these fantastical things. You know, this is a world without magic. If these things were to appear, they would definitely disrupt the world's rules. I'm not taking them to trick you!"

As she spoke, she even unfolded the remaining data for Zhang Erhe to see. Zhang Erhe glanced at it and, sure enough, they were all fantastical items out of place in this era. However, he still felt he had been cheated and his expression did not soften at all.

The girl sighed helplessly, "Fine, fine, I give up. I'll personally give you something as a subsidy, okay?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she flipped her hand and pulled out a palm-sized object—it was the design of a Huawei Mate 70, looking exactly the same as the phone Zhang Erhe used before he traveled through time.

"Here, this is your compensation."

Zhang Erhe laughed in anger, picked up the phone and looked at it from all angles: "Do you think I'm stupid? What good is a phone to me? Can I even make calls or access the internet these days?"

"Don't treat it like a regular cell phone!" the girl quickly explained. "This is a super communication platform I traded for from somewhere. It contains an antimatter battery, so it'll never run out of power! Plus, it can connect to your past life's network, and you can even buy things on it—of course, you'll have to use your own money to pay for it."

Zhang Erhe raised an eyebrow: "Where would I get money from my past life now that I'm in this world?"

"Okay, okay, I'll help you one last time!" The girl rubbed her temples, tapped her phone with her fingertip, and said, "I've transferred all the money from your old bank cards and payment apps to your shopping account on this platform. Be careful with your money, I really have to go!"

After saying that, before Zhang Erhe could speak again, the girl's figure flickered and disappeared. She added one last thing: "By the way, I'll report your handling of the subspace system to the higher-ups and give you credit! Goodbye!"

Before she finished speaking, she had completely disappeared, leaving Zhang Erhe standing in the consciousness space with the "super phone" in his hand, momentarily unable to react—did he lose or gain in this round?

Chapter 6 Setting Sights on Houses

For the next two days, Zhang Erhe explored the consciousness space. Surprisingly, the wreckage of that abandoned system contained a sizable storage space.

Inside, there was a large stockpile of food, including rice, flour, various cooking oils, as well as a considerable amount of meat and cloth. Zhang Erhe guessed that these were probably supplies prepared by the system as a reward for the host.

This is great, it all benefits him. Seeing so many supplies, Zhang Erhe completely gave up the idea of ​​farming. Why bother farming? For him and Guan Xue's family of three, this rice, flour, and cooking oil would be more than enough to feed them for ten lifetimes.

Now that space exploration was nearly complete, staying in the hospital was becoming increasingly boring. One day, during the doctor's rounds, Zhang Erhe asked, "Doctor, my body has almost recovered; can I be discharged?"

The doctor examined his wound and, seeing his resolute attitude, nodded: "Alright, the wound is healing quite well, you can be discharged. Remember to come back for a dressing change in a while, and whatever you do, don't get it wet."

With the doctor's permission, Zhang Erhe immediately asked Guan Xue to complete the discharge procedures. By the time everything was done, it was already past five in the afternoon.

"Erhe, should I help you back?" Guan Xue looked at him, somewhat worried about his health.

"Why help me?" Zhang Erhe waved his hand. "Just go out and call a cart, that'll save you a lot of trouble."

"Oh," Guan Xue responded, about to leave, but hesitated and stopped, whispering, "Erhe, the money at home... seems to be running low. I don't have much left."

"I understand," Zhang Erhe replied, his face darkening. After a while, Guan Xue called over a cart, put their simple luggage on it, and carefully helped Zhang Erhe sit down. The cart driver then started the cart and slowly headed towards Nanluoguxiang.

As the sun set and the smoke from the dinner kitchen dissipated, Jia Dongxu followed behind Uncle Yi Zhonghai and Sha Zhu, the three of them strolling back from outside. Upon entering the courtyard, they saw his mother, Jia Zhangshi, standing at their doorway, craning her neck to look anxiously into the alleyway.

Upon seeing Jia Dongxu, Jia Zhangshi immediately rushed forward, pulled him aside, and asked in a low voice, "Dongxu! I've noticed that vixen from the east wing of the front yard hasn't returned for several days. Is that little bastard Zhang Erhe gone?"

Jia Dongxu nodded, a hint of uncertainty on his face: "Mom, I asked in the workshop today, and he hasn't come to work for several days. The union people said he was seriously injured that day; he's probably not going to make it."

"That's great!" Jia Zhangshi's eyes lit up, but she quickly covered her mouth, looked around to make sure no one was paying attention, and then leaned close to Jia Dongxu's ear, lowering her voice even further, "Dongxu, could you talk to your master tonight and call a meeting for the whole courtyard? Just say that Zhang Erhe is gone, and let our family take over his house first!"

Qin Huairu, who was carrying a washbasin, overheard this. She stopped and whispered, "Mom, Zhang Erhe in the front yard is no pushover. Besides, we're not related to him. Isn't it inappropriate to do this?"

"Who told you we're not related?" Madam Jia smiled smugly, patting her chest as she said, "I'm Zhang Erhe's cousin, within the fifth degree of kinship! Now that my poor cousin is gone, shouldn't I, as his cousin, help look after his home and prevent those ill-intentioned people in the courtyard from taking advantage of him?"

"Yes, yes, yes! Mom is right!" Jia Dongxu immediately echoed, a greedy glint in his eyes.

Qin Huairu was taken aback, her mind filled with doubt: "Mom, how come I've never heard of any connection between us and Zhang Erhe's family?"

"That was a long time ago. You've only been married into the family for a few years, so it's normal that you don't know." Madam Jia quickly changed the subject. She couldn't tell her daughter-in-law that she was kicked out of her family because of her bad reputation back then.

"Oh," Qin Huairu responded, but the question in her mind remained unanswered. However, she wisely refrained from asking any further questions.

"Dongxu, go and tell your master right now!" Madam Jia pushed Jia Dongxu again, urging him on.

Jia Dongxu hesitated, scratching his head. "But Mom, my master is an old man, he cares about his reputation, I'm afraid he won't agree, right?"

"Listen to me!" Jia Zhangshi grabbed him, saying mysteriously, "Go inside and kneel down before that old man who has no descendants, kowtow, and tell him that as long as he helps us get the house, you'll take care of him in his old age and see him to his death. That old man is hoping for that; he'll definitely fall for it!"

"Will it really work?" Jia Dongxu was still somewhat skeptical.

"Don't worry, would your mother lie to you?" Jia Zhangshi patted her chest to assure her, "Go quickly!"

"Hey!" Jia Dongxu was persuaded. He took a deep breath, lifted the curtain, and walked towards the house of Uncle Yi Zhonghai.

Madam Jia stood there, a smug smile on her face, as if the east wing room was already hers for the taking.