Shuqi had just finished feeding the little puppy, and now she was idly petting its fur. Having just drunk the Milu milk, the puppy looked especially content. With its eyes tightly shut, it let out a long yawn, and as Shuqi stroked its fur, it emitted a soft, milky whimper. Then, it nudged its body a little closer to Shuqi and went back to sleep.
Sitting across from her and sipping tea, Xitong watched the scene unfold and couldn't help smiling as she remarked, "It certainly looks at peace with the world."
Without even lifting her head, Shuqi replied, "It's still young, isn't it? Besides, I'm here."
Xitong shot her a sidelong glance and bluntly said, "You're quite confident." Her tone carried neither praise nor criticism, but Shuqi knew Xitong certainly didn't mean it as a simple compliment.
Shuqi retorted, "Hmph!" She would just take it as a compliment; sometimes people didn't need to take things too seriously.
Xitong didn't want to bicker with her any longer. She put down her teacup, turned serious, and asked, "That boy's matter from today—are you really going to help him?" She paused, then added, "Actually, you don't have to get involved at all. I can help you erase his memory."
Shuqi was taken aback. She hadn't expected Xitong to bring this up. After pondering for a moment, she still shook her head.
"Forget it, it's better to go. Granny always said, 'Without trust, a person cannot stand.' It's rare for someone to ask me for a favor, and as you said yourself, we can just ask him for some payment later."
Xitong stared at her intently for a long time before saying, "Without trust, a person cannot stand—that wasn't said by your Granny. It was Laozi who said, 'Without trust, a man cannot stand; without trust in enterprise, it cannot flourish; without trust in the state, it cannot survive.' Well..."
Shuqi was left entirely speechless. "Is that the point? I'm just expressing my own view. No matter who said it first, the one who said it to me was my Granny. I think you're not a System at all; you must be a reincarnated troll."
Xitong hadn't expected her teasing to actually get the kid all worked up. The corners of her mouth twitched, and after a good long moment, she said, "Alright, I was just teasing you. As long as you've thought it through, that's fine. I actually thought you wouldn't be willing. After all, in all the time we've spent together, whenever I see you, you're always keeping to yourself, a bit of a loner."
With that, she chuckled and added, "And the few times you did interact with the villagers, you were just beating them up." The mockery in her tone was glaringly obvious. Xitong had expected her to snap back, but instead, Shuqi replied calmly, "Humans are social creatures after all. It's not like I can stay by myself forever, is it?"
This left Xitong at a loss for how to respond. Though she had always considered herself a human, deep down she knew very well that she was still different from normal humans. Sometimes, she couldn't truly perceive human emotions. Take right now, for instance—Shuqi's words sounded a bit poignant, yet just a moment ago, the kid had been arguing back with such vivid emotion.
She was so hard to deal with. For a split second, Xitong even wondered: is being human really that great?
Having nothing more to say, Xitong hurriedly changed the subject. "Oh right, where is the jade pendant I gave you this morning? Go get it out."
"Ah?" Shuqi was momentarily stunned. They had just been talking about helping the boy, so how did the topic suddenly switch to the jade pendant? Still, without asking questions, she told Xitong to wait, then trotted off with pattering footsteps back to her room to fetch it.
Halfway there, she seemed to remember something and turned back, carefully depositing the little puppy from her arms into Xitong's lap.
After rummaging through boxes and cabinets in her room for quite a while, Shuqi finally emerged holding an exquisite pouch. She walked over to the stone table, handed the pouch to Xitong, and said, "Here, it's right here." With that, she leaned in close to Xitong with a curious look on her face. "I remember you saying earlier that this thing requires a drop of blood to bind it to its owner. Is it the kind of blood-binding I'm thinking of?"
Xitong took the jade pendant out of the pouch and turned it over in her hands. Hearing Shuqi's question, she raised an eyebrow, gave an affirmative hum, and replied, "It is precisely the kind of blood-binding you're thinking of."
Shuqi muttered, "Ugh..." She really shouldn't have asked, but she was genuinely terrified of bleeding. She quietly raised her eyes to observe Xitong's expression, and seeing that she didn't seem to be joking, she hesitated and tentatively asked, "Is there really no other way?"
"None at all," Xitong said. "Binding it to an owner only works this way, or..."
Hearing the word "or," Shuqi's eyes lit up immediately, and she hastily asked, "Or what? Tell me, tell me!"
Seeing this, Xitong suddenly burst out laughing. Shuqi was struck by an ominous premonition, and sure enough, she heard Xitong elegantly pronounce, "Or, you use my blood, and I become the master of the jade pendant."
Hearing this, Shuqi's face darkened. She snatched the Blue and White Jade Pendant back, trotted briskly toward the kitchen, and shouted over her shoulder, "In your dreams! This was left to me by my Granny."
Watching the kid scurry away, Xitong couldn't help but find it amusing. She just couldn't figure out what she was going to do in the kitchen.
In the kitchen...
Shuqi fetched a small everyday footstool, stepped up onto it, and took down the kitchen knife hanging by the stove. She ran back, held the knife up against her finger, and hesitated, unable to bring herself to cut. Crestfallen, she asked Xitong, "Does this... does it need a lot of blood?" To be honest, she was a little scared.
After witnessing Shuqi's entire routine, Xitong was slightly stunned before a wave of smiles crept across her face. Honestly, what an absolute cutie. For some reason, she suddenly felt like teasing her again. With a perfectly straight face, she spun a wicked lie: "It needs a lot, probably a whole bowlful."
At this, Shuqi gave a start and stammered uncertainly, "A whole bowlful?" Her voice quivered slightly; clearly, the child had bought it. Before long, her face twisted in agony, looking as though she was about to burst into tears.
Xitong thought to herself, "..." Ah, she's so easy to trick!
Xitong flicked her fingers to cast a spell. Before Shuqi could even put down the kitchen knife, she saw a bead of blood well up on the tip of her index finger. As she moved, the blood droplet grew larger and larger. Looking at her finger, Shuqi thought to herself: *It's bleeding. Did I cut myself? But why doesn't it hurt?* She vividly remembered the pain when she had fallen into a trap and gotten injured—that very time Xitong had first appeared before her. That was why she had been so terrified of bleeding ever since. Yet this time, there was no pain at all. She glanced at the kitchen knife in her hand; it was clean as new, without a single speck of blood on it. How strange.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Shuqi. She looked up at the System with a bewildered expression, her eyes seeming to ask, *Did you do this?*
Instead, she saw Xitong standing there looking graceful and poised, her face wreathed in smiles. Xitong looked right at her, her shoulders trembling imperceptibly. After a long moment, Xitong finally said, "Why aren't you hurrying up and bringing the jade pendant over to drop your blood on it? If you're late, all your blood will drain out!"
That statement acted like a wake-up call. Shuqi finally snapped back to her senses. Letting out a hurried "Oh!", she quickly took out the jade pendant and thrust it right against the drop of blood on her finger.
Xitong thought to herself, "..."