Congratulations to the host for binding the villain rescue system
In the Southern Dynasty, it was a cold winter and heavy snow was falling.
Looking at the border line with the Northern Dynasty, there is nothing but white snow and the same color as the sky, and evergreen pines and cypresses stretching endlessly.
It is the northernmost border village in the Southern Dynasty, hence the name Songbai Village.
In the pine and cypress forest north of Songbai Village, there is a thatched townhouse, which is simply surrounded by a hastily arranged wooden fence, yet it serves as a home in the bitter cold wind.
Inside the thatched hut's old firewood room, a newly built earthen kang (kang bed) was covered with a sparse layer of straw. A young girl with apricot-faced, rosy cheeks curled up on it. She had been sleeping restlessly due to the cold, and as if she had dreamed something, she frowned slightly and sat up in shock.
The brittle thin blanket on her body slid off. Song Tiaotiao rubbed her slightly stiff body, and looked around in confusion with her watery almond eyes.
Everything before her eyes was familiar yet strange, making Song Tiaotiao feel as if she were in another world.
She really couldn't tell whether the sixteen years she lived in the Southern Dynasty was just a long dream she had in modern times, or whether she really lived up to Song Tiaotiao in the novel?
The biting cold wind gradually seeped in through the cracks in the window frame, mercilessly piercing Song Tiaotiao's face like a needle.
Song Tiaotiao gasped in pain. She habitually blew a breath of hot air into her palms, sighed softly, and used her hands to warm the stinging surface.
The pain caused by cold cannot be faked.
She, Song Tiaotiao, really transmigrated into the revenge novel she read before going to bed.
But she is neither the heroine nor the supporting actress, but the male protagonist Gu Chengjue's substitute wife who was used as cannon fodder at the beginning of the story.
Song Tiaotiao was sentenced to exile in the Ning Wang Mansion. On the night of her elder sister's wedding to Ning Wang's son Gu Chengjue, Song Tiaotiao had just had a sumptuous dinner. After waking up, she had already embarked on the inevitable road of exile with Gu Chengjue's family.
She traveled through mountains and rivers and overcame countless hardships and dangers along the way, but the book ended with her dying of hunger and cold as soon as she first arrived in the northern border.
Song Tiaotiao's fingertips, worn down by work, sank into her palms.
Die of hunger and cold? She wouldn't accept such a crude ending.
Thinking of this, Song Tiaotiao tightened her jacket, immediately got out of bed and began to count the supplies.
But the house was bare, and apart from the damp firewood piled in the corner, the only usable things were the newly formed ice crystals in the water tank and a few handfuls of old rice in the rice jar, which was only enough to keep the family of five alive for a few days.
Seeing this bleak situation, Song Tiaotiao frowned slightly and decided to go out to find out the situation, at least to confirm the movements of other people.
Now, my nominal mother-in-law and sister-in-law should have taken my little nephew who had a high fever to the village to seek medical treatment the day before yesterday. If it is not a serious matter, they should be back today.
Thinking of this, Song Tiaotiao walked to the door and put her hand on the rotten wooden door covered with a layer of ice.
The door that should have been opened easily now did not move at all.
Could it be that the heavy snow blocked the door overnight?
Song Tiaotiao's heart tightened, and she leaned her body against the wooden door, using the force to push it outward carefully, and only then did she manage to open a crack in the door.
The tiny crack in the door shone like a sudden burst of daylight, illuminating Song Tiaotiao's beautiful face. But before she could distract herself and look outside, a cold wind blew up the snow beside the door, threatening to surge into the house.
After comprehensive consideration, Song Tiao Tiao did not go out rashly, but only poked half an eye out the door.
She braved the blinding cold wind and struggled to look down, only to find that the culprit was a tall snow pile.
Seeing this, she squatted down and looked down, wanting to take a closer look, but unexpectedly saw an inch of frozen purple fingertips at the edge of the snow pile.
It was a person, lying face down in the snow.
After Song Tiaotiao roughly measured the man's figure with her eyes, her eyes trembled. Thinking of a possibility, she breathed slightly faster and cleared the small piece of snow near the door with her sleeve.
After seeing the man's particularly thin clothes, Song Tiaotiao almost immediately recognized his identity.
Song Tiaotiao hurriedly bent down to feel the man's breath, and her hands stopped trembling only when she felt a weak breath floating on her fingertips.
Yes, if the male protagonist in the book died, how would the plot go on?
Song Tiaotiao took a deep breath and gently brushed the snow off Gu Chengjue's face with her hand.
The young man's handsome face had turned red and purple due to the cold.
Seeing this, a thin layer of mist suddenly appeared in front of Song Tiaotiao's eyes. She suppressed the fear in her heart and embraced the stiff person in her arms.
After all, she is not Song Tiaotiao, who was only briefly mentioned in the book.
She always remembered that during the journey of exile, Gu Chengjue would rather starve himself than give her more food, and he was whipped many times because he stood up for her and stopped the harassment from the escorts.
Song Tiaotiao's eyelashes were mottled with frost, but she used all her strength in her hands. After a while, she finally managed to carry Gu Chengjue from the door back to the earthen kang in the house.
However, the straw used for the bed had become damp and cold due to the moisture that seeped in. Not only could it not keep out the cold at this moment, but it also dropped ice crystals from time to time as Gu Chengjue's body trembled restlessly.
The ice crystals fell with him, showing no sign of melting. The person frozen on top of it also exuded a biting coldness. If it weren't for his tall nose, now tinged with purple, and his weak breathing, which continued to show signs of life, Gu Chengjue would have been no different from a carved ice sculpture.
Seeing him in this state, Song Tiaotiao looked around anxiously and touched Gu Chengjue's forehead with her hand.
The temperature within reach was like the quick process of boiling water, but in the blink of an eye, it went from icy cold to boiling hot.
Gu Chengjue has developed a high fever.
At this point, Song Tiaotiao's face was filled with worry, and she piled all the things she could think of to keep warm at Gu Chengjue's side. However, it was the coldest time of the year, and even the things she could use to keep warm were cold. Without a heat source, this was no solution.
The shortcut was in vain, so she hurried to the kitchen to get a lighter, hoping to boil some more water. But the lighter was cold and wouldn't light.
In ancient times, there was no medicine that could reduce fever immediately, and even a tinderbox couldn’t light a fire in the northern border.
Song Tiaotiao lay on the edge of the kang, still rubbing the fire starter with her hands.
But no matter how hard she tried, there was no result.
Listening to Gu Chengjue's gradually approaching breathing, Song Tiaotiao's eyelashes trembled frequently. A tear slid down Song Tiaotiao's cold face without her noticing, and splashed silently on Gu Chengjue's fingertips.
"bite--"
Suddenly, there was a crisp sound. Song Tiaotiao clenched the fire stick and looked around vigilantly.
But then, a cold mechanical voice almost made Song Tiaotiao's blood boil: "Congratulations to the host for binding to the villain rescue system."
system?
Song Tiaotiao's helpless eyes were filled with light.
For Song Tiaotiao at this moment, the emergence of the system is simply a lifeline in the darkest moment. But isn't Gu Chengjue the original male protagonist? How did he become the villain?
These thoughts raced through Song Tiaotiao's mind, but saving him was the most important thing. She stared at Gu Chengjue's furrowed brows and tentatively called out in her mind, "System, system. Gu Chengjue is about to be frozen into an ice man. Where do we even begin to save him?"
The system said succinctly: "Touch him."
"ah?"
Song Tiaotiao couldn't figure out how this related to the system's main purpose, but systems in novels always had all sorts of strange settings. After much thought, she decided to do as the system said.
Song Tiaotiao gently touched Gu Chengjue's fingertips, "Is it okay for me to touch you like this?"
After a moment of silence, the system saw Song Tiaotiao's light movements and asked in confusion, "Do you hate him? He's not your husband?"
Song Tiaotiao looked at the shivering Gu Chengjue, tucked the quilt for him again, and said, "Yes, I mean he is indeed my husband in name only. There's no dislike between us... but I know he doesn't like others touching him casually..."
The system said calmly, "Are you afraid he'll get angry? You've already been chosen as this system's host, and you're still afraid of that? And if you don't touch him, you won't get the reward. He won't be alive, so he won't be angry. Furthermore, this system saw the entire process of you carrying him back to the house. Think carefully about which is more important: keeping him alive or preserving his mental obsession."
Hearing this, Song Tiaotiao gently placed her hand over Gu Chengjue's red, swollen palm. For a moment, the coldness of their contact made her flinch, but this, in turn, made the pain Gu Chengjue had endured even more vividly. Empathizing, she used both hands to tightly wrap around Gu Chengjue's hand, "System, is this okay?"
The system chuckled and said, "Rewards, hot water."
Seeing that there was no significant change in the situation, Song Tiaotiao hesitated for a moment and quickly walked towards the kitchen.
I saw that the water tank, which was covered with a layer of floating ice when I first checked, has now melted and the water is hot, with hot air constantly rising and overflowing, even the thatched house has gradually become warmer.
Witnessing this miraculous moment with her own eyes, Song Tiaotiao was both surprised and delighted.
But she quickly calmed down and found a wooden basin in the kitchen. She scooped boiling water from the vat and added a small amount of snow water to cool it down. Once it was at a moderate temperature, she placed two face towels in the basin to soak up the water. One was placed on Gu Chengjue's forehead, the other on his body.
Song Tiaotiao held the cloth in her hand and carefully wiped Gu Chengjue's face and limbs. After a few rounds, the warmth on her face was no longer from the frostbite from the night.
Now, my limbs and face have recovered, the only thing missing is...
Her almond-shaped eyes flickered, and after a moment, she finally supported herself on Gu Chengjue's side with her hands and carefully undressed him.
The system said slowly, "Compared to the beginning, you are now quite adept at it."
Seeing him come forward again, Song Tiaotiao quickly seized the opportunity and said, "Then can you give me some more rewards for cooperating with you?"
The system tutted softly, "I do bargain, but the reward is still on cooldown, with five minutes remaining."
Song Tiaotiao nodded when she heard this, and continued to wipe Gu Chengjue's body through the quilt.
"Give out rewards: Fill the quilt."
But it was clearly less than ten seconds.
Song Tiaotiao stared blankly at the thin blanket covering Gu Chengjue. She saw that the slightly damp, slightly stiff blanket had not only become dry and soft, but had also become visibly thicker by a palm. The material was so thick that she could no longer clearly see the rise and fall of Gu Chengjue's chest.
The mechanical voice slowly explained, "The time it takes to issue rewards will decrease as the intimacy of the action increases. Do you understand?"
Song Tiaotiao smiled and nodded.
Then, within just an hour, she refreshed four tangible rewards.
There were four more pounds of new rice in the rice jar, the leaky window frames were repaired and looked as good as new, the straw on the kang was tied into the density of a straw mat, and the fire starter that had never been lit finally produced sparks.
Gu Chengjue's condition, under Song Tiaotiao's dedicated care, had gradually improved from his frostbite. Although his fever hadn't subsided, at least his life was no longer in danger.
Song Tiaotiao also briefly understood the system's mode.
It now seems that this should be a system version of the Snail Girl. That is, the rewards will be added to the existing foundation, and it will not create something out of nothing for the time being.
When everything settled down, Song Tiaotiao's hand reached out to Gu Chengjue's forehead again, and the temperature there was close to the fever-removing stage.
Seeing this, Song Tiaotiao's tense nerves finally relaxed a little.
"Coo."
Song Tiaotiao touched the source of the sound.
Perhaps because of the tension from taking care of the patient, or because she was in a trance after realizing she had traveled through the book, she actually forgot about her body and hadn't had a proper meal in a long time.
After all, the valuables hidden in the palace had been almost gone by the time they arrived in the northern border due to the hassles they had to deal with along the way and the dangers they encountered on the road.
If it weren't for an old hunter who happened to be selling his old thatched hut for hunting, the family of five might not even have a place to stay in Songbai Village.
In the end, the remaining money was only enough to exchange for a few taels of old rice.
Pinch a handful every day, add snow water and boil it, and it will be your three meals a day.
Thinking of this, the drowsiness caused by hunger came back to her. Song Tiaotiao looked at Gu Chengjue who seemed to be a little relieved and decided to go to the kitchen to make some hot porridge.
The big pot was set up and the fire was lit. Song Tiaotiao put the water and rice in, then sat beside it, expecting the steaming rice aroma to heal her mind.
But not long after, a burst of chaotic footsteps outside the house came closer and closer, and a moment later, there was a panicked knock on the door.
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