Chapter Three: Surprisingly Believing in the Existence of Ghosts!

"Da... Daya is a good child. If you have any demands, just say so; please, I beg you, don't hurt her. My second son died in battle years ago, and my second daughter-in-law cruelly abandoned these three children last year to remarry! This family is not well-off; she has suffered too much!"

Old Man Bai suppressed his fear, his eyes fixed rigidly on Bai Mianmian. He possessed a modicum of courage; even though he believed his eldest granddaughter was possessed by a ghost, he still summoned the dignity of a household head to negotiate with her.

Bai Mianmian felt a mix of laughter and frustration. He would rather believe in ghosts than accept that she might strike her elders! But she could understand it to some extent. With her frail body, which seemed as though a strong gust of wind could carry it away, the fact that she could toss this family around like noodles made possession the only logical explanation. And, in a sense, it was!

"I'm hungry."

"Quick... quickly, go cook!"

Bai Mianmian watched as the two sisters-in-law, Little Zhou and Feng, prepared the meal. Neither of them was particularly hygienic; they had once used face-washing water to boil porridge for Old Lady Bai and had even added their own saliva as a "seasoning" for Old Man Bai.

"Great... Great Immortal, the meal is ready."

Neither sister-in-law dared to yield; one carried the rice pot, the other the vegetable basin. Bai Mianmian signaled for them to set the table. She intended to eat at the small table in the kitchen.

"Bring two more sets of utensils."

"..."

The sisters-in-law felt their skin crawl. Moving in perfect, mechanical unison, they placed the bowls and chopsticks before her. They were lined up, with the chopsticks resting across the bowls—the exact arrangement used for sacrificial offerings.

Bai Mianmian glared at them, then ordered them to leave and fetch her younger brother and sister. Compared to the others, Bai Tiezhu and Bai Wenwen were much calmer. Once seated, they stared at her intently, their eyes filled with complex emotions—a mix of fear and concern.

"You... you should run once you've eaten. My eldest uncle... he's gone to fetch Granny Jinhua," Tiezhu said intermittently, pushing his own bowl of rice toward her.

Bai Mianmian, struggling with the throat-scratching coarse rice, looked up in surprise. She didn't like children, especially those around the same age as her little brother, Bao. She had called them over purely out of a sense of responsibility.

"Are you afraid she'll hurt your sister?"

"No... we're afraid she'll hurt you."

"Huh!" That was an unexpected answer.

"It's not... not bad that you're here. My second sister hasn't been beaten much today. Granny Jinhua is very powerful. Just a few days ago, she exorcised a 'night-crying ghost' at the Wang family's house in front of the village."

"..."

Bai Mianmian didn't know what to say. She began to suspect that the system had tricked her. Was this actually a supernatural world? A "night-crying ghost," really?

"Second sister! Eat more. I'll pack these up for you to eat on the road later," Bai Wenwen said, her voice and hands trembling as she pushed her own rice bowl toward her as well.

Seeing the young girl wipe away tears with her thin, chapped, frostbitten hands, Bai Mianmian’s heart, usually cold toward bratty children, inexplicably softened. The sight of such mutual support between these children struck a chord. The girl was only seven, yet she was already managing everything inside and outside the house.

"I’m not afraid of whoever they invite. Eat up."

She pushed the bowls back and picked up a piece of stir-fried radish for the little girl, using a pair of chopsticks the girl hadn't touched.

[Detected a sudden surge of gratitude from the host's siblings. The system will reset time in three seconds.]

"Gratitude? Reset?" What on earth?

The system interface suddenly appeared, accompanied by an abrupt voice. Bai Mianmian caught these two points, not even realizing she had spoken her question aloud.

The table before her was suddenly empty. Time had actually backtracked to the moment the sisters-in-law were trembling as they approached with the food.

"!!!"

[Host, please refrain from acting like a saint to avoid another character collapse.]

Bai Mianmian took a sharp breath. Giving a child a piece of radish made her a saint? That was a character collapse? The original owner had always been kind to her siblings. Where was this "vicious" persona coming from? If she had to maintain this persona, she should have just stayed in her mother's womb.

[Host, please adjust your mood to avoid falling into the awkwardness of the initial plot.]

"What does that mean?"

[The gratitude of minor characters is linked to parts of the plot. If the same point is repeated indefinitely, the host will easily cause the system to enter a closed-loop mode.]

"And if it enters a closed loop, the plot can't continue?"

[Correct.]

"..."

So, being nice to minor characters triggers a closed loop. What would happen if she saved the main female lead?!

"How many repetitions of the same plot trigger a closed loop?"

[The system cannot confirm.]

"So, if I accidentally touch a sensitive point, the next second I'll be back at the start?"

[The host is very clever.]

"..."

"Gr-Great... Great Immortal~" Little Zhou felt the cold, sharp aura radiating from her and stuttered even more. Bai Mianmian looked up, and the woman began to shake like a leaf, nearly dropping the rice pot.

"Call everyone else in," she changed her tune. The system wisely retreated. She had already noticed Old Man Bai and his sons sneaking toward the door.

With two loud clangs, the rice pot and vegetable basin hit the ground. Both sisters-in-law fell to their knees.

Little Zhou: "Great Immortal, spare us! Spare us! I'm all skin and bones; I wouldn't taste good at all!"

Feng: "Great Immortal, forgive us, this believer didn't mean it!"

Bai Mianmian: "..."

She was speechless. She had also discovered a system loophole: the two different chains of events were not being corrected, and her own thoughts were not being wiped. This meant that if she did something wrong, she only needed to increase the favorability of those around her to roll back time... provided she dared to gamble and wasn't afraid of falling into a closed loop. Furthermore, using even crueler methods against bad people did not seem to trigger the system's dissatisfaction.

"Go bring me the savings."

"The... the savings?!" Little Zhou looked up, her voice filled with disbelief. Feng, being even more timid, felt a chill run down her spine, her hair standing on end.

"I know exactly how much money you have. Don't make me handle this myself." She curled her lips, her expression calm as she gestured with her fingertips.

Little Zhou shrank back, feeling as if those fingers were tightening around her throat. The darkness before dawn made the oil lamp on the table look even more hazy, and the dim, yellow light gave Bai Mianmian’s proud smile an eerie, sinister quality. This air, which shouldn't have belonged to Bai Daya, was suffocating.

Little Zhou shook her head repeatedly: "We wouldn't dare, we wouldn't dare make the Great Immortal do it herself!"

"Hurry up. I don't have much patience."

Bai Mianmian had assumed that these money-grubbing people would have hidden some money for themselves, but to her surprise, they hadn't dared to keep a single coin. Holding the money, she felt a complex mix of emotions.

"What are you looking at? Never seen a greedy ghost before?"

Turning around, she locked eyes with Tiezhu, who was standing in the doorway of the side room. She was curious—how did such a foolish family manage to produce these three intelligent children?

"Well? Come over and help me up."

Bai Mianmian held her head high. The two little ones approached nervously, their gazes as complex as before.

"Tell the old man I'll be back in two days. I'm going into town to have some fun."

Once outside, she shouted toward the corner of the wall. Old Man Bai and the youngest, Old Yao, who were huddled there, held their breath. Bai Daqian, who was in the east room, hadn't come out yet, and the younger ones were still snoring in their sleep. This family was truly one where fathers were not fathers, and sons were not sons.

"Tsk!"

This damn system was insulting her, forcing her to be part of such a family!