Shen Jingyan's smile froze on his face.

"Huh? Say that again?"

The system genuinely thought Shen Jingyan hadn't heard the task clearly, so it repeated word by word: "Personally look after the educated youth, and you'll get 10,000 points!"

Shen Jingyan strongly suspects that the system wasn't there to give her a New Year's gift, but rather to cause her trouble!

The little touches between her and Gu Zhiyun had already created a bit of ambiguity, and Yang Zinuo even went so far as to say that she was seducing Gu Zhiyun.

If she were to rush up and kiss Gu Zhiyun without thinking, she would probably confirm the charges that Yang Zinuo had leveled against her!

Because of Chen Feng's slander, Gu Zhiyun already harbored a prejudice against her. If she were to resort to thuggish tactics just to get 10,000 points...

No, no, absolutely not!

She tentatively asked the system, "Could you give me a different task?"

"Sure," the system said generously. "You can also get 10,000 points by letting Gu Zhiqing kiss you."

Chen Jingyan: "*￥%*&..."

Calm down. She can't scold the system she's been working with day and night; she's counting on the system to make her rich.

“This task is too difficult, I’m giving up,” Shen Jing said calmly.

Subconsciously, she was convinced that Gu Zhiyun was someone she shouldn't mess with; he was a very dangerous person.

Even if she were given a million points to unlock the mysterious area, she wouldn't want to take the risk!

"Are you sure you want to give up, Master?" the system asked regretfully. "Friendly reminder: With these 10,000 points, Master's total points will reach 20,000, which is enough to unlock the third area!"

Since unlocking the second area, all she's been thinking about is accumulating 20,000 points to unlock the third area.

But now, she's not curious at all about what the third area is!

"Why would the system assign me such a strange task?"

She couldn't help but complain.

Previous tasks were simple, helped me get out of trouble, and sometimes even helped others. This task is so strange!

"Little Ba doesn't understand. I'm just following orders from above."

The system speculated, "Perhaps, the higher-ups think that the master and Gu Zhiqing look particularly like a couple?"

Shen Jingyan said angrily, "How is it similar? Are all you systems so bored that you're resorting to forced pairings?"

The system whispered, "Master, don't be angry. I also think you two are a good match."

Chen Jingyan gave a huffy "humph".

“Master, please reconsider. It would be a shame to give up this mission. A mission worth 10,000 points is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Hearing the system say this, Shen Jingyan began to waver.

Or, while Gu Zhiyun is asleep, steal a kiss from him and then run away?

No, no, that would make her seem like a pervert.

Shen Jingyan suddenly realized that she wasn't actually against kissing Gu Zhiyun. What she was struggling with was how and when to do it without making Gu Zhiyun feel disgusted...

In other words, she was trying to take advantage of Gu Zhiyun!

How could she do that? Isn't that just being a complete scoundrel?

Something's not right. Why doesn't she resist kissing Gu Zhiyun?

If it were Zhou Zhengqing or Yang Zinuo, she would have given up the mission without even thinking.

Even if you gave her a million points, she wouldn't complete it!

Could it be...?

Was it because the two of them had kissed?

Shen Jingyan couldn't help but think of that kiss.

The details are still vivid in her mind; she can still recall Gu Zhiyun's warm lips and refreshing breath.

Wait, she and Gu Zhiyun have already kissed!

"Xiao Ba, as soon as I transmigrated, Gu Zhiyun rescued me from the river and even gave me CPR. We've already kissed, does that count as completing the mission?"

"No, Master. You weren't bound to Xiao Ba back then, so I couldn't give you points."

Chen Jingyan let out a long sigh, completely abandoning any hope of getting away with it.

After finishing the New Year's Eve dinner, Shen Jingyan helped Grandma Xu clear the table.

The cold rice and dishes were taken away, and tea, melon seeds, peanuts, hazelnuts, candies and other snacks were placed on the table, along with canned hawthorn to cut through the richness.

According to custom, on New Year's Eve, everyone sits together chatting and staying up all night, and they can't sleep until dawn.

Hazelnuts, walnuts, pine nuts?

Yang Zinuo was overjoyed to see expensive dried fruit on the table.

Just as he was about to reach for a handful of pine nuts, Anzi moved the plate away and pouted at him in dissatisfaction.

"This was brought by my sister. If you don't like my sister so much, don't eat her food!"

Yang Zinuo blushed deeply.

"I won't eat pine nuts, I'll eat hazelnuts instead, is that alright?"

Anzi moved the pine nuts away too.

"No, my sister took this too."

Yang Zinuo: "..."

His gaze fell on the walnuts again.

Anzi said coldly, "My sister brought all the food on this table."

Yang Zinuo was embarrassed by a little kid.

In order to maintain his "righteous" persona, he could only swallow hard and pretend to be nonchalant, saying, "If I don't want to eat it, I don't want to eat it. Who cares?"

Anzi was eating noisily, holding several plates by herself, and deliberately throwing fruit peels near Yang Zinuo.

Yang Zinuo could only stare blankly, swallowing hard.

Shen Jingyan looked at Anzi and smiled without saying a word.

This kid, he wasn't spoiled for nothing, he really steps up when things get tough.

Seeing how pitifully greedy Yang Zinuo looked, An Zi's bright black eyes darted around, and she said with a grin, "If you apologize to my sister, I'll share some with you, how about it?"

Yang Zinuo stared at the ceiling, and said with great pride, "I didn't say anything wrong, why should I apologize?"

"Fine, don't apologize then. It's not like my sister is going to lose a piece of her flesh anyway."

Anzi started munching again, "But someone's going to be so hungry tonight they won't be able to sleep..."

Yang Zinuo was so angry he wanted to hit someone, but with Mr. and Mrs. Xu there, he couldn't lay a hand on a ten-year-old child.

I could only hold my breath and suppress my craving.

After chatting for a while, Lao Xu, feeling the effects of the alcohol, started yawning repeatedly.

Zhou Zhengqing was already slumped on the kang (a heated brick bed), fast asleep and unconscious.

Grandma Xu glanced at the old-fashioned wall clock on the cabinet, then peered out the window.

"Hey, Xiao Gu has been gone for over two hours, why isn't he back yet?"

Upon hearing Grandma Xu's words, Old Xu's sleepiness vanished considerably.

A night patrol of the forest takes only about an hour.

Gu Zhiyun frequently patrolled the forest farm and knew the route well; in theory, he should be back in less than an hour.

"Oh dear, did you fall into a snowdrift?"

At this point, Lao Xu and Yang Zinuo couldn't sit still any longer.

"Manager, let's go out and look for Old Gu!"

"Let's go, let's go! If this kid really falls into a snowdrift and can't climb out, he'll probably freeze to death!"

Without a second thought, Shen Jingyan also stood up.

"I'll go too."

Gu Zhiyun saved her life, and now that Gu Zhiyun might be in danger, she couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

Yang Zinuo, however, did not take it to heart.

"What are you going to do? Go and cause trouble?"