Chapter 44 — TVF Chapter 44

The Metaphysics Master Who Runs a Flower Shop The female physician spoke in a gentle voice. She first treated the visible wounds, then questioned Rui Li as she carefully examined her from head to toe. After confirming everything, she concluded that Rui Li’s most serious injury was a fracture. As for the wound on her neck—though it looked frightening—it had been treated in time and wouldn’t even leave a scar.

Hearing the diagnosis, Rui Li finally let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. She accepted a small bottle of calming pain-relief paste from the physician, scrunched up her little face, and silently swallowed it before turning to Ling Jing. “Your lifesaving grace is beyond repayment. From now on, if there’s anything you ever need me to do—unless it’s something truly… treasonous—I’ll never refuse!”

In Ling Jing’s mind, the system chirped happily. “Jingjing, the female lead’s task progress has already exceeded eighty percent! As long as there aren’t any major accidents, reaching this level will definitely earn an ‘Excellent’ evaluation.” This mission was basically secured, and Ling Jing was in high spirits as well. “The male lead’s progress jumped straight to eighty percent a few days ago—that shows the big boss really put in the effort. I can’t fall behind, right?” Naturally, the system waved the flag for her. “Jingjing, you’re the best. Once this mission is submitted, you’ll probably be sent to a slightly higher-level world. But correspondingly, the system shop will officially open—you’ll be able to spend your bonus!” Ling Jing wasn’t scared in the least. “I’m so looking forward to it!”

To her, a higher world level meant the presence of spiritual energy. Coming from the Great Foodie Empire, she had an innate obsession with farming, cuisine, and cultivation.

Of course, higher world levels usually also meant increased mission difficulty.

Unlike now—although she’d already passed the newbie stage, both of her current missions were relatively low-difficulty. Even if she failed, as long as she didn’t recklessly court death, there wouldn’t be any real danger to her life within the mission world.

On the way back to the capital, Ling Jing and the system chatted back and forth. By the time their convoy entered the city, she already had a clear picture of the possible changes awaiting her in the next mission.

After that, Ling Jing didn’t hesitate. She bundled Rui Li together with the old matron and household guards her men had captured and brought them straight into the palace, handing them all over to the emperor—her dear father.

Naturally, Ling Jing put in a mountain of good words for Rui Li. After all, her newbie missions had all involved shameless domineering-CEO male leads forcibly taking fragile heroines—heroines who went from unwilling, to reluctantly half-consenting, to ultimately abetting evil… What infuriated her most was that the heroines never once thought of resisting.

If confronting head-on wasn’t feasible, couldn’t they at least ask for help? The female leads she’d met during her newbie phase truly couldn’t.

That was why she especially liked girls who knew how to judge the situation—and who also knew how to fight back.

In fact, the emperor liked Rui Li as well.

He didn’t particularly care about Rui Li’s status as a twice-married woman or her background, but with Consort De as a cautionary example right there, he intended to carefully evaluate Rui Li. Vision and intellect—neither could be lacking.

Granted special permission to recuperate within the palace, Rui Li never imagined that misfortune would turn into a blessing. Even so, it was the kind of “blessing” she hoped would never happen again.

As for the matron and guards who had kidnapped Rui Li, they were all thrown into the Imperial Prison. Coincidentally, the eunuch who had been caught red-handed while attempting to assassinate the Tenth Prince—and who had repeatedly tried and failed to kill himself—was also escorted back to the capital. Under joint interrogation by the emperor’s trusted confidants, the matron confessed everything, down to trivial matters like cheating at cards years ago to win a single tael of silver.

All of their testimonies pointed to the same person: Consort De.

Consort De only had the Tenth Prince as her son. Wanting to control him was real enough—but she never intended to take his life.

In other words, the eunuch who attempted to assassinate the Tenth Prince was actually the final, desperate strike of the fallen Murong clan from the former dynasty. As for Rui Li’s abduction, Consort De was undeniably the mastermind.

The Tenth Prince returned triumphantly with the army, and upon entering the palace, he came to know his mother’s true self all over again. Even though he’d been mentally prepared, it still dealt him a heavy blow.

Consort De wept before him. “The Murong clan came to me demanding a list. If I didn’t give it to them, they’d drug me even more heavily… My son, that Rui family girl really won’t do. You like her—making her a side consort is more than enough. Your main wife must come from a great clan, like your mother!”

Hearing this, the Tenth Prince could no longer endure it. He flung his sleeves and left.

Worrying about his mother… how utterly foolish he’d been! Leaving Xianfu Palace, he went straight to where Rui Li was temporarily staying—to comfort his beloved, and in doing so, to comfort himself.

What the Tenth Prince and Consort De said to each other quickly reached the emperor’s ears.

The emperor shook his head and said to his precious daughter, “A kingdom is easy to change; a person’s nature is not.”

For the Tenth Prince’s sake, Consort De’s confinement was closer to house arrest. The emperor even turned a blind eye to her passing messages in and out. Yet she had no sense at all, showed no remorse whatsoever, and only compounded her crimes. Ling Jing spoke frankly, “Nothing disastrous happened only because I’d already kept an eye on Miss Ruì. The Murong clan was already at the end of its rope—this desperate strike against Little Ten was more thunder than rain. Even for Little Ten’s sake, this can’t go on.”

The emperor nodded. “We can’t be lenient any longer.”

Consort De was stripped of everything in one stroke. She couldn’t even remain in Xianfu Palace and was sent straight to a Daoist temple by the imperial mausoleum, where royal women were made to reflect on their sins. The emperor then went a step further and registered the Tenth Prince under the Empress’s name.

Originally, even after being sent to the temple, Consort De had still kicked up a fuss, feeling that “even if I was wrong, didn’t everyone turn out fine?”—full of grievances and resentment. But at this move, she instantly quieted down.

To be fair, the emperor sparing her from a length of white silk was already merciful enough.

Two years later, the Tenth Prince was established as Crown Prince. Another year passed, and he married Rui Li.

Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing patiently waited another ten years. When the emperor passed away, he also conveniently took along the former Consort De, who had been cultivating by the imperial mausoleum. The Tenth Prince ascended the throne smoothly as emperor.

In the new emperor’s heart, the two of them ranked first and second among the most meritorious supporters of his rise. He didn’t know how to repay them—especially since his elder sister and brother-in-law clearly had no desire for wealth or power, envying only devoted couples, not immortals. In the end, he could only bestow favor upon Tianniu, the girl they had raised together, and conferred upon her the title of Commandery Princess.

Of course, the brother-in-law’s proper, well-behaved relatives could be promoted a bit as well. As for Yu Depei—who had always been kept firmly at home by the brother-in-law and had never remarried—he could just keep staying home!

When Qin Jingzhou’s and Ling Jing’s respective disguises reached the end of their natural lifespans, the realm was peaceful and the people lived and worked in contentment.

Tanniu married the heir of Prince Jin. By then, the original heir had already become Prince Jin himself, making Tianniu’s husband his legitimate eldest son.

The youngest son of Qin Jingzhou’s elder brother happened to pass the imperial examinations, while his younger sister married the younger brother of a talented scholar from Qin Jingzhou’s examination cohort. Both lived quite well.

Incidentally, when Qin Jingzhou departed, Old Master Yu was still hale and hearty. The old madam passed away in the newly built family shrine. As for the original owner’s second sister-in-law, she’d been released more than ten years earlier—and after learning her lesson, had become thoroughly well-behaved.

With the mission complete, Qin Jingzhou politely bade farewell to Ling Jing outside the mission world. He glanced at the reward—still top-grade spirit stones—and said to the relatively quiet system of this world, “Next mission.”

The system was a little excited. “Standard newbie missions really aren’t difficult for you.”

Qin Jingzhou replied earnestly, “They’re not hard, but I’ve gained a lot of insight… For example, that Murong woman who was a lovestruck fool at the start became a chemist in prison.” He paused, then asked, “Are normal missions after the newbie stage more difficult?”

The system answered, “Ordinary missions include supernatural worlds. If you’re careless, things can go very wrong—but maybe not for you…” It then muttered, “Honestly, just the habitual joint dislocations of Yu Jingzhou in the last world would’ve driven a more ordinary host to question their life.”

Qin Jingzhou smiled. “Then feel free to accept similar missions for me. I’m not picky.”

The system grew even more excited. “The worse the starting conditions, the richer the rewards! Like this mission…”

Qin Jingzhou received the transmitted plot, skimmed two pages, and first offered praise. “You’ve learned to summarize the outline?”

The system sounded a little proud. “Thanks to you, I’ve graduated from the newbie zone too.”

This time, the original work’s tone was that of a melodramatic rich-family stepmother story.

In the plot, the biggest villain was the twin brother of the wealthy male lead’s original wife.

The main storyline was straightforward: the rich male lead and his original wife fell in love at first sight. Ignoring the gap in family status, they insisted on marrying. After some resistance, the male lead’s parents ultimately couldn’t defy their beloved son and agreed.

After marriage, the couple truly enjoyed a period of happiness. Soon, the wife became pregnant and gave birth to a chubby son. Life as a family of three grew ever sweeter.

Unfortunately, good times didn’t last. When the child was three and a half, the wife went out for an appointment and died on the spot in a car accident.

The male lead was devastated and took many years to recover, until he finally met the destined female lead.

At this point, the son he’d had with his late wife had just turned seven. Meanwhile, after continuous investigation, the late wife’s twin brother finally confirmed that his sister had died unjustly. He swore to take revenge on the male lead, the entire family, and the female lead who had helped the male lead erase part of the evidence.

In the original plot, the villain naturally ended with “evil never triumphs over good” and “reaping what one sows.” The male lead finally hardened his heart and sent his ruined, resentful eldest son abroad, leaving him to fend for himself. In the end, after many trials that damaged the male lead’s health, the female lead bore him another son. The male and female leads embraced, laughing and crying as the story closed on a grand, happy ending.

Judging only by the outline, Qin Jingzhou felt the plot was utterly ordinary. The male and female leads, as well as the villain, were all standard fare for morally skewed romance novels.

Curious, he asked, “Why choose this world?”

The system replied with confidence. “This world has thin spiritual energy. Although most so-called celestial masters are frauds, a very small number have real skill! The male lead’s original wife and her child both had their fortune stolen! The original female lead was supposed to be short-lived.”

Qin Jingzhou asked again, “Who helped the female lead defy fate?”

“The female lead’s simp male supporting character. This simp was already in poor health, yet he still went against heaven to change her fate—dying for her without regret, dragging his entire family down with him. The most outrageous part is that this male supporting character is actually the stepbrother of the twins. Before his master took him away to cultivate, he and his father were both sleeping with the twins’ biological mother… The twins’ mother was a strong career woman, while the simp’s father was a gentle stay-at-home dad. To be fair, the simp’s father was actually a decent person—he genuinely lived well with the twins’ mother. Completely unaware, he had his life ruined by his own son.”

Qin Jingzhou nodded. “A textbook unfilial son. So this time I’m still the villain’s biological father?”

“Yes.”

“Then the reason the twins’ biological parents divorced is?”

“Biological father cheated. This mission’s objective is to save the twin siblings, as well as their stepfather and biological mother.”

Qin Jingzhou smiled. “Works for me.”

The system smiled too. “Deploy now?”

“Deploy.”

The moment he donned the disguise and sensed his condition, Qin Jingzhou confirmed once more: not only was the body dead—it was half-rotted.

If he weren’t a cultivator, and if this world didn’t have spiritual energy, this mission would be impossible.

The system urged him on. “Brother Zhou, hurry up and restore your disguise’s vitality. The twin daughter has already been in a car accident, and because the male supporting character is casting spells, you’re currently either divorced—or a vegetable. If you don’t step in within three days, your daughter will really be dead.”

Qin Jingzhou performed an instant sit-up on the spot, blasting away the soil and rubble covering the original body. “Bring me my spirit stones.”

The system deployed them immediately. “Coming right up.”