Chapter 10: Misery Upon Misery

Jiang Yunyao prepared the granules, but before she could even take a sip, she was hit by a pungent, bitter aroma. Looking down at the dark brown liquid in her cup, she couldn’t help but be reminded of the traditional Chinese medicine she had been forced to drink as a child. Her stomach turned instantly.

Xie Yixing poured his own packet of medicine into his cup. Seeing her hesitating, he leaned over and asked, "Why aren't you drinking it? It'll get cold if you don't!"

Jiang Yunyao said nothing, simply shoving her cup toward him.

"Ugh—"

The strange, foul smell assaulted his senses. Xie Yixing turned his head and retched, his face, already pale from illness, turning a sickly shade of red and green.

Just then, Jiang Yunyao’s phone rang. It was Lin Wanwan.

"Yao, have you taken your medicine yet?"

Jiang Yunyao wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but she sensed a hint of apology in the heroine's voice. "Not yet. Why?"

Dizzy from her fever and connecting the call to the fact that the medicine had been purchased by Lu Mucheng, Jiang Yunyao’s imagination ran wild. Poisoning? Assassination? Attempted murder?

Lin Wanwan interrupted her spiraling thoughts. "I thought you might not like the taste of the medicine, so I made some strawberry-flavored cookies to bring over. I’ll leave them by the flower bed; remember to go grab them."

Jiang Yunyao sighed once again—the heroine was just too kind!

The box holding the cookies was pink, matching the "strawberry flavor" Lin Wanwan had promised. Thinking of the sweets, Jiang Yunyao felt much less intimidated by the medicine. She raised her cup, fortifying herself with a heroic internal vow: "If only to never have to drink this again, I must get better!"

With that, she pinched her nose, downed the liquid in one gulp, and quickly grabbed a cookie, popping it into her mouth.

The next moment, she dashed into the bathroom and vomited, managing only to call out a warning to Xie Yixing outside: "Don't eat them! They're bitter!"

Hearing the commotion in the bathroom, Xie Yixing looked at the medicine and the cookie in his hands. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and, as if marching toward his own execution, shoved them into his mouth. Fearing he might not fully grasp Jiang Yunyao’s pain, he even ate two more cookies for good measure.

A second later, he, too, dashed into the bathroom.

The viewers in the livestream, watching this sequence of events, were stunned.

[He knew they were bitter and ate them anyway? What kind of foolish behavior is this?]
[Oh my god, their love is so moving! Knowing it was bitter, he chose to suffer with her! This couple is so easy to root for!]
[Sister is back in the game!]
[Does anyone else think Xie Yixing is a bit of a simp?]
[Simp? He’s hopeless! Carry him away! Next!]
[Wait, didn't Wanwan say they were strawberry-flavored? Why were they bitter?]

Jiang Yunyao had the same question. Filled with suspicion, she snuck over to the neighboring livestream.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Lu Mucheng sat on the living room sofa, legs crossed, holding a newspaper. On the small coffee table beside him sat a plate of delicate bear-shaped cookies and a cup of steaming green tea. When Lin Wanwan returned, Lu Mucheng was eating the cookies while reading.

Lin Wanwan recognized them instantly—they were the strawberry cookies she had just baked for Yao and the others. Judging by the quantity, every single one was right there.

She asked in surprise, "Mucheng, why are the cookies here?"

Lu Mucheng curled his lips slightly and replied calmly, "You took the wrong box, so these were left behind."

Lin Wanwan knew for a fact she hadn't prepared a second box. Where could "taking the wrong box" have come from? It was only possible that someone had swapped the cookies. Knowing him as she did, she was eighty percent sure he was the culprit.

"What did you swap them for?" she asked urgently.

"Nothing special, just cookies." With his lie exposed, Lu Mucheng remained unfazed, his tone light and breezy. "Don't worry, they won't eat them. They'll probably keep them as a shrine."

That woman was so overly enthusiastic toward his wife; she likely knew his wife’s special constitution and was trying to get close to her. Even if she realized the cookies tasted like bitter melon, she wouldn't throw them away—she would treat them like precious relics to leech off his wife’s luck.

Lin Wanwan: "..."

Keep them as a shrine? For some reason, she felt that Yao and the others were exactly the type of people to do that.

Seeing that she believed him, Lu Mucheng smirked and went back to leisurely eating his cookies and reading the paper.

The viewers hopping between the two livestreams finally pieced together the whole story.

[Holy crap! Lu the movie star is acting just like a scheming imperial concubine in a palace drama, hogging the Emperor's favor!]
[I heard the medicine Jiang Yunyao and Xie Yixing are drinking was also bought by him?]
[Good heavens! Bitter upon bitter! And both types of bitterness were brought to them by the same man!]
[That day, Concubine Jiang and Concubine Xie could never understand why, after just a bowl of medicine and a piece of pastry, their souls were doomed in the deep palace...]
[Hahahaha, you guys are hilarious, I’m dying!]
[I have a question: Why would Lu the movie star do this?]
[Maybe, probably, possibly, because of the cookies his wife made by hand...?]

As a guest, Jiang Yunyao couldn't speak in the livestream, otherwise, she would have shouted: Lu Mucheng, you just wait!

A plan began to form in her mind. To ensure Xie Yixing didn't ruin her grand scheme, she didn't tell him that Lu Mucheng had deliberately swapped the cookies. Xie Yixing didn't think twice, finding his own excuse: "They probably just added the wrong jam when they were baking."

Jiang Yunyao: "..."

Do you really think they are as oblivious as us, unable to tell what flavor of jam they're using?

The livestream audience was amused by Jiang Yunyao’s speechless expression.

[Hahaha, Jiang Yunyao didn't say a word, yet she said everything!]
[I finally get it—little Xie is just a bit of a pure, naive fool!]
[Lu Mucheng: He should be thanking us!]
[Jiang Yunyao: He’s a lost cause! Completely hopeless!]

Whether it was the anger at Lu Mucheng or the effect of the medicine, Jiang Yunyao’s fever broke after a nap that afternoon, and her cold cleared up. Xie Yixing’s fever broke that night, and he was fully recovered by the next day.

Once the production crew confirmed both were healthy, they began distributing tasks after the guests finished breakfast.

Director: "Please earn enough money to purchase ingredients for lunch and dinner."

Jiang Yunyao flipped the task card over and over, asking, "Why isn't Task 4 written here?"

Director: "Tasks are divided into main quests and side quests. What you have received now is a side quest."

Translating that: only main quests are labeled with a "Task + Number."

The production crew provided two locations for earning money: a jewelry store and a shopping mall. As for what exactly they had to do, the crew said they would find out once they arrived.

But the problem was that the jewelry store and the shopping mall were on opposite ends of the city, and the travel budget provided was only enough for one trip. In other words, they had to split up.

Lu Mucheng looked down at the locations on the card and analyzed, "The task at the jewelry store is likely just promoting jewelry. The mall tasks are more varied; it could be heavy lifting like moving cargo, or something lighter like working as a cashier."