[Vol. 1] Chapter 17 - Debt of Four Thousand
Chen Mingyuan cast one last glance in Xiaolan's direction, scoffing quietly under her breath. Disbelief written on her expression.
Finally reaching the foot of the North Mountain, the young misses and masters scattered, each led by a senior maid toward their own assigned small courtyard within the sprawling Lin compound.
Chen Mingyuan, however, was a special case. She walked out of the Lin compound entirely, passing beneath a grand, imposing paifang gate.
She followed a cobbled pathway that wound toward the Chen compound, nestled within the western mountain area.
The Lin-Lao-Chen Clan was made up of three allied families, their territories spread across the mountain ranges—three peaks, each settled by one of the great families.
The Chen Clan held the West Peak.
And the Lin Clan, the North…
"Here we are, young miss. Rest well, the next trial will begin next month." The senior maid remained respectfully poised, stepping aside with a low bow, her hands clasped and sleeves nearly brushing the ground.
"Mhm…" Xiaolan responded absently, her attention fixed on the system screen hovering in her vision.
[Save points used: 2/2
Load points used: 2/2
Charge points: 101]
A sigh. 101 points wouldn't be enough to sustain her for long. She slowly returned to the present, noticing the maid still waiting in her respectful bow.
She asked, impatient and exhausted, "When is food served?"
"Breakfast will be served in an hour, young miss. Would you like assistance washing up first?"
"No, that's fine." She waved a dismissive hand, pushed the door open, and closed it with a soft clack. She was alone, standing in the same familiar room she had first awakened in.
Her stomach growled emptily, and her skin prickled with grime and sweat. She began removing her practical attire, thankfully not the countless layers of some ancient gown, which saved precious time.
All that remained on her was a thin gauze inner garment, still relatively clean.
She paused, a sudden realization dawning. Where's the bathroom?
She couldn't call for a maid...for one, they had already left, and doing so might raise suspicion that she wasn't the original Xiaolan.
Xiaolan dropped the dirty clothes into a woven basket with a thud, something else had fallen in with them. Only then did she begin to study her chambers more carefully.
It was a mid-sized room with dark wood panels and beams. A single large window offered a view of the mountainside.
The window ledge was wide enough to sit on, currently half-open with a thin blanket haphazardly folded there...a clear sign the original owner had often sat staring out, lost in thought.
Martial scrolls and manuals were strewn across a low desk, some spilling onto the floor. Several lay open to complex diagrams of meridian pathways or sword forms.
Pages were dog-eared, the margins filled with angry, frustrated scribbles in a sharp, aggressive hand.
A messy sight. Figuring she should explore further, she walked around the room until, behind a standing wooden screen, she found a small changing area. Following a short, discreet path from it, she discovered her personal bathing space.
Cramped. That was the word for it. Centered in the small alcove was a large wooden bucket, just big enough to fit one person.
Her whole body ached, and what she wanted most now was a hot bath. Swiftly, she turned back toward the main room only to realize there was no kitchen to heat water herself.
Maybe the kitchen is outside?
She walked to her door and opened it with a soft shhk
—just in time to find a maidservant standing frozen before her, hand raised mid-knock. At her feet sat a large wooden bucket filled with steaming hot water.
The maid, a young girl likely in her mid-to-late teens, perhaps Xiaolan's age or slightly older, stood rooted in place.
She had an oval face with large, expressive eyes of a warm brown, and her black hair was styled practically for service, pulled into a simple low bun.
This was A-Ling, the same maid who had gossiped with Sister Hong back in Chapter 2.
Now, her face flushed a deep crimson, rivaling the steam rising from the bucket. She stammered, "Y-Y-Young miss!"
Xiaolan felt a surge of relief. Someone's already brought hot water! The senior maid was indeed considerate to have sent someone. But then she noticed the maid before her, who looked about to combust from embarrassment.
A-Ling nervously glanced up and down the corridor before hastily ushering Xiaolan back into the room. "You can't just show yourself like this, young miss! It's scandalous!"
Only then did Xiaolan understand. She still carried her modern mindset...she felt relatively and modestly covered in her plain gauze undergarments. In her old world, this might pass for casual loungewear.
But here, in this world, it was practically indecent. She was flaunting her inner garments. The thin fabric, damp with sweat, clung to her form, leaving far too much to the imagination.
"Wait, who are you?" Xiaolan asked, stepping back warily. After everything she had been through in the past two days, her instincts now labeled everything as a potential threat.
"I'm… Lin Ling," A-Ling answered, her expression tinged with something heartbroken. "A-Lan, are you alright?" She bit her lower lip.
Oh no. A sharp sense of danger prickled down Xiaolan's spine. She desperately racked her brain. Did the original owner and this girl have some kind of… history?
She cleared her throat, scrambling for an excuse. "No, I… haven't forgotten. It's just, I've been so tense from the trials these past few days."
Mentally, she reeled. So my nickname is A-Lan, and hers is A-Ling. Is this some sort of… matching pair thing? Romantic, or just platonic?
A-Ling nodded as if in understanding. Remembering her task, she turned and bent to lift the heavy bucket of hot water with visible effort.
Xiaolan moved to help her, taking part of the weight and muttering a soft, "Careful."
Together, they managed to fill the large wooden tub.
Once the task was done, A-Ling bowed respectfully and withdrew, her demeanor formal and proper.
Though they had once been close, A-Ling clearly remembered her place and upheld the professional distance expected of a maidservant.
Thankfully, A-Ling left. Xiaolan sighed in relief. Otherwise, she truly would not have known how to treat her.
Now settled in the warm water, she relaxed with a soft, "Mmm…" and let her gaze drift to the system screen.
[Save points used: 2/2
Load points used: 2/2
Charge points: 101]
She stared at the screen with a listless expression. She was limited to using Save and Load only twice a day, but she had forced it before, accumulating a huge debt that had caused blood to drip from her eyes and nose.
Every time she had used Save and Load so far, she recalled, there had been a system notification that she had automatically used a restored save… at the cost of taking on a debt.
"These things are expensive," she sighed, feeling poor.
She grimaced, her heart aching. Then her heart trembled.
Thinking back now, just how much debt had she actually taken on?
[Save and Load usage cannot be reset. Excessive accumulated debt. Debt instances: 4.]
[Forced Save-Load usage detected... 4 instances... Daily two-use reset will resume in 4 days.]
At this moment, Xiaolan's mind crashed. She hissed through her teeth. So that was why her system hadn't reset during the trial, even after a full day had passed!
The timer had started the moment she first forced a Save-Load and incurred that debt.
[To directly remove all debt, pay 4000 Charge points.]
Xiaolan coughed, saliva catching in her windpipe. "4000?!"
Her mind raced desperately. As a former office worker with decent problem-solving skills, she immediately understood...
Those "100 CP" were a separate matter, that was the cost to use Save or Load normally.
The "1000 CP" was the cost to reset the 2-use limit of Save and Load.
Forcing a Save or Load when she lacked the points incurred one debt instance, which added 1 day of lockout...or could be cleared immediately by paying 1000 CP per instance.
The 100 CP, on the other hand, was simply the price of a normal, non-forced save or load.
"Hiss." Her thoughts were interrupted, pulling her back to reality by a sudden discomfort and heat spreading from her neck.
Groaning softly, she slapped a hand to the stinging spot. It was hot—very hot.
"What…" she thought back to what had happened…
The memory surfaced: in the trial grounds, a woman's hand rubbing her neck, the voice... "She isn't even an Alpha…"
The sensation of her neck being rubbed and probed, how could she not recognize it?
As an otome game fanatic and a devoted novel reader, she knew that someone touching your neck where your gland was located was considered an assault.
Even someone new to this world would understand that much… especially with that particular scene involving Qing Yao and a male lead rubbing against the glands.
"Ah?!" Xiaolan gasped. Didn't that technically amount to having your genitals touched?!