Upon hearing the system say this, Jiang Chengli suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Xu Wanying was engrossed in chatting with the system and didn't notice his sudden stop. Her head bumped directly into his back, feeling as if she had hit a mountain, and her nose stung.

"Why did you stop?" she couldn't help but ask, her tone sharp.

It was so painful that she didn't react in time.

The man didn't reply; instead, he kept trembling. At first, it was a slight tremor, but it became more and more obvious as he trembled.

He snapped out of his daze, grabbed Xu Wanying's shoulders with both hands, and asked in a deep voice, "Are you telling the truth? Is it true?"

Jiang Chengli kept repeating this sentence, and this time his voice changed again, becoming deep and pleasant, but with a tremor.

!

Before Xu Wanying could say anything, the system exclaimed: "[Hey, hey, he's using his real voice! What's going on? Is he having a relapse?]"

Xu Wanying wanted to roll her eyes, and said irritably, "Why are you asking me about this? Who exactly is the system?"

"Dazhuang, Dazhuang, is that you?"

Before Xu Wanying could get any results, a strange female voice suddenly came from afar, as if she was coming to find them.

Jiang Chengli was startled. He immediately grabbed Xu Wanying from behind and slipped into another alley.

Soon, the calling voice faded into the distance and gradually disappeared.

Xu Wanying noticed something amiss: [Hmm? Why is he suddenly hiding? Has Xing Xiaoya caught up with us?]

The system quickly confirmed: [Host, sometimes I really wish you weren't so insightful. You guess everything so accurately, saving you a lot of energy.]

She forgot about arguing with the system and was instead surprised: [That doesn't mean he should hide. Wasn't Xing Xiaoya his savior?]

[That's hard to say. He's probably afraid Xing Xiaoya will misunderstand. Jiang Chengli—oh wait, I mean, he's called Dazhuang now—if Xing Xiaoya sees her Dazhuang brother with a young woman like you, a lone man and woman alone together, it's easy for people to have all sorts of wild thoughts.]

Xu Wanying frowned, clearly sensing something was wrong: "You said before that Jiang Chengli and his companion encountered the Jiang family after arriving in the capital. When did they meet? I'm now the Jiang family's daughter-in-law, so I'm practically a member of the Jiang family too. Does that mean we met today? Am I just a plot device?"

The system immediately denied it: "[It wasn't you. I already said that your arrival changed many plot points. If it were the original owner, she would still be lying in her courtyard right now, not running around like this.]"

Then it abruptly changed the subject: "[However, it is indeed strange. Xing Xiaoya has the protagonist's halo; she should have met the Jiang family soon after arriving in Wangjing and started developing her romantic entanglements. But she and Jiang Chengli have been in Beijing for over a month, and there's still no progress. What's going on? Is there a plot hole?]"

Hearing the system's vague words, Xu Wanying instantly felt cheated. It was obvious that this damn system was hiding many things from her.

She was furious, screaming inwardly: "Are you alright? You're asking me something so important? Who am I supposed to ask? And what do you mean by 'plot bug'? What plot, novel plot or TV series plot? System, are you kidding me? Tell me the truth!"

The system was silent for a moment, then suddenly a "ding" sounded.

[Insufficient energy detected. Unable to reveal more details to the host. Please keep a good mood and save up more energy so you can enjoy more gossip!]

Xu Wanying scoffed. Looking at the man in front of her, she said directly, "I recognize you. You are my husband, aren't you?"

Her tone was very emotional. She grabbed Jiang Chengli's wrist, her eyes brimming with tears, as if she were about to burst into tears at any moment.

The system immediately screamed: [Ah—Host, what are you doing? Why, why did you tell him? Do you really want to be a plot device?]

Xu Wanying sneered: "It's fine if you don't tell me, I can have someone else tell me. Last time you were holding a grudge about Liu Mama and her mistress, hiding it from me. Well, in the end, Cen Shi and the Marquis of Zhongyi arrested them, tortured them severely, and got everything out of them, even revealing the fact that the two children were switched. Hahaha, such a huge scandal, and you weren't even involved! It was all discovered by the Jiang family themselves. Aren't you furious?!"

The woman's laughter was quite arrogant, sounding somewhat like a petty person who had gotten their way, but to Jiang Chengli's ears, it inexplicably felt very comforting.

The system screamed again: 【Ahhh, host, please don't mention this again!】

Clearly, the system was heartbroken. Just thinking about how much energy would flow into its pocket if it told the host about such a huge gossip, and yet the Jiang couple seemed to have cheat codes.

Not only did they uncover the truth through Liu Caihua and Mu Wencheng, but they also went straight to the heart of the matter, exposing the disgusting nature of the Wei family, bringing back their own son, and ruining the Wei family's reputation.

"Ha, I'm going to bring it up anyway. You damn system, I'm not some pitiful host you can manipulate at will. If I'm unhappy, you can't be happy either. This Jiang Laosan in front of me, although he's a scoundrel like you, he's still a member of the Jiang family and a former member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. I refuse to believe he can't find out."

[Once I reveal my true identity, the so-called plot will unfold naturally. We'll see what's really going on then. Don't even think about trying to trick me out of any more energy!]

Xu Wanying sneered, completely fearless, having found the system's Achilles' heel.