I Marry a Wife for my Big Brother, Starting Out With Exile - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Golden Finger! Hahahaha!

Jiang Jinyue frowned slightly, not dodging away, but merely looking at Li Chenghuan indifferently as she waited for her to speak.

Li Chenghuan was very straightforward, stating bluntly, “Sister-in-law, shall you and I go together?”

The original body’s mind was blank, with almost no understanding of the various factions in the capital, but Jiang Jinyue was different.

The cold beauty was not only the capital’s number one talented woman, but also the daughter of the Minister of Revenue. She certainly looked at things more thoroughly and understood the political situation at court much better than an outsider like Li Chenghuan. Since their goals aligned at the moment, why not join forces and give it a try?

Jiang Jinyue’s gaze darkened slightly. She raised her hand to support Li Chenghuan’s arm and said concisely, “I’ll support you.”

It seemed that besides Li Chengsi, the Li family had another clever person—namely, the Li Chenghuan before her eyes.

They were trapped in dire straits, their lives, honor, and disgrace all tied to a single person: Wang Yue. In other words, if Wang Yue died, they couldn’t live either; if Wang Yue lived, they could all survive; and if Wang Yue still had hope of returning to the capital, they would all still have hope…

“Chenghuan, where are you going with that jinx?” Behind them, Grandma Li shouted angrily. Why was her granddaughter hanging out with that jinx?

Li Chenghuan looked back and smiled, “Grandmother, don’t worry, my sister-in-law and I will be right back.”

Grandma Li glared. What was there for her to worry about? Why couldn’t this ill-fated child tell the inside from the outside? Her head was still injured, yet she was running around wildly with that jinx.

“Chenglale, go quickly and help your second sister back.”

Li Chenglale nodded and walked toward Li Chenghuan.

Li Chenghuan sized up her reticent younger sister and smiled slightly, “Just follow along with us.”

Li Chenglale nodded again. Grandma’s words had to be obeyed, and second sister’s words had to be obeyed too.

Grandma Li was dumbfounded. What was going on here? Were both granddaughters being lured away by the jinx?

Just as the old lady was about to shout again, she saw the three of them had already walked up to Wang Yue. Thinking of Wang Yue’s identity, the old lady took a deep breath and shut her mouth.

“Your Highness, please use some water.” Li Chenghuan respectfully handed over the waterskin.

Supporting her arm, Jiang Jinyue gave a slight nod toward Wang Yue without speaking.

Wang Yue’s lips trembled as she dazedly took the waterskin.

At that exact moment, a mechanical-sounding voice suddenly rang out in Li Chenghuan’s mind.

[Heroine’s corruption value reduced by one, rewarded with one bottle of safflower oil.]

Li Chenghuan struggled hard to maintain her expression. Heroine… corruption value… reward?

Could this be the standard transmigrator’s golden finger?

What was the reward again? Safflower oil!

The moment the thought arose, a bottle of safflower oil appeared in Li Chenghuan’s mind, as if she could take it out at any time whenever she wished.

“I have failed you all.” Wang Yue’s face was full of complexity; these were all people implicated by her, and she felt guilty.

Hearing this, Li Chenghuan snapped back to her senses, though she didn’t know what to say. This golden finger had arrived too abruptly, leaving her a bit dazed.

Seeing her dazed expression, Jiang Jinyue calmly took over the conversation, “Take care, Your Highness.”

Words didn’t need to be spoken much, nor should they be too numerous. The two of them merely needed to state their stance this time, and that was enough.

With that, Jiang Jinyue tightened her fingers and supported Li Chenghuan as they walked back.

Why did this person suddenly turn foolish, not even answering with a word?

The pain from her arm being pinched caused Li Chenghuan to instinctively pull her arm back, “Thank you for your trouble, sister-in-law. Let Chenglale support me instead.”

Jiang Jinyue remained silent, silently falling two steps behind to distance herself from them.

Li Chenghuan’s mind was completely filled with thoughts about the golden finger, making her unable to care about the fuming Grandma Li. She directly used the excuse of nature’s call to have her younger sister support her and walk a bit further away.

The bailiff not far away merely glanced once and withdrew his gaze, completely unconcerned that they might escape.

With a nationwide drought, everywhere showed a tendency toward chaos. The court strictly ordered various regions to strengthen personnel inspections; wherever one went, identity travel documents were required. Prisoners could still live if they didn’t run, but if they lost their minds and ran, they would die all the faster.

In the grove of trees, feeling that the people from the exile procession could no longer see this side, Li Chenghuan told her sister to let go.

“Chenglale, you go wait for me further back.”

Chenglale was a taciturn soul and was accustomed to obeying her second sister’s words. She obediently turned around and walked back a few paces.

Only then did Li Chenghuan reach out her hand and think about it tentatively. That bottle of safflower oil appeared in her hand with her thought, and with another flash of thought, the safflower oil vanished.

Goodness, it really was a golden finger!

Confirming the existence of the golden finger, Li Chenghuan took a few deep breaths to calm herself down and quickly analyzed the situation.

First, the reward given by the golden finger was precisely what she needed most right now, because the wound on her head urgently required treatment.

Second, the condition for triggering the reward was a decrease in the heroine’s corruption value. Then came the question:

Who was the heroine?

Li Chenghuan carefully recalled the recent scene. When the golden finger appeared, she had just handed the waterskin to Wang Yue.

Aside from Wang Yue, the only other females by her side were her third sister Li Chenglale and the cold beauty Jiang Jinyue.

Obviously, the heroine was one of these three people.

Judging by the relevance of handing over the waterskin, the probability of the heroine being Wang Yue was the highest, followed by Jiang Jinyue, and then Li Chenglale.

Analyzing up to this point, Li Chenghuan opened the bottle, applied the safflower oil over her wound, and then put it away.

“Chenglale, let’s go back.”

Chenglale hurriedly supported her arm.

Li Chenghuan smiled, “No need to support me anymore. My head doesn’t hurt.”

Earlier, she had needed support because the wound on her forehead hurt too much, causing her to feel dizzy from time to time.

The moment she finished applying the safflower oil, she felt her head stop hurting, and the dizziness had also vanished. The medicine provided by this golden finger had miraculous effects!

Looking at her younger sister who obediently withdrew her hand, Li Chenghuan took out the corn bun she had taken a couple of bites from, broke off a piece, and handed it over.

“Are you full? Eat a bit more.”

Proceeding from the principle of keeping things close, she decided to start testing with Li Chenglale. Since it was about lowering the heroine’s corruption value, showing goodwill was always the right move.

Li Chenglale shook her head, “I’m full.” In truth, she wasn’t full, but her second sister had eaten even less than her, so she must be hungrier.

The golden finger gave no reaction whatsoever.

Returning to the procession, Li Chenghuan eagerly looked toward Jiang Jinyue.

“Chenghuan, why are you staring at that jinx?” Grandma Li was extremely dissatisfied with her granddaughter’s behavior; this ill-fated child was truly becoming more and more disobedient.

The old lady’s voice wasn’t small, and Jiang Jinyue, standing just a few paces away, naturally heard it too. She turned her head to look at Li Chenghuan, undisguised scrutiny in the depths of her eyes.

As if she were also asking: Why are you staring at me?

Li Chenghuan smiled at her again, and unexceptionally received another cold glance.

“Chenghuan?” Seeing her granddaughter foolishly smiling at Jiang Jinyue, Grandma Li frowned and slapped Li Chenghuan on the back.

Composing her mind, Li Chenghuan said solemnly, “Grandmother, wait for me a moment. I’ll be right back after saying a few words to my sister-in-law.”

With that, she strode toward Jiang Jinyue.

Grandma Li’s brows knitted into a hard knot, and she poked her younger granddaughter’s head, “Chenglale, is your second sister’s brain broken?”

Li Chenglale raised her head in a daze, “Second sister’s head is better now.”

Grandma Li’s mouth twitched. She really was superfluous to ask; her younger granddaughter was like a wooden mallet—complete blockhead.

Over there, Li Chenghuan came to a halt in front of Jiang Jinyue.

Jiang Jinyue raised her eyes and quietly looked at her. What on earth was this person trying to achieve?

A smile blossomed at the corners of Li Chenghuan’s lips, “Sister-in-law, eat quickly.”

She held out the remaining half of the corn bun. For some reason, an inexplicable sense of expectation welled up in her heart.

Jiang Jinyue pressed her lips together, met her gaze for a moment, and slowly reached out her hand.

“Thank you.”

[Heroine’s corruption value reduced by two, rewarded with one flashlight.]

A wave of great joy surged in Li Chenghuan’s heart. Confirmed—her cold beauty sister-in-law was indeed the heroine.

At the same time, she also made up her mind: she was going to treat Jiang Jinyue well. As long as she showed plenty of goodwill to Jiang Jinyue, she could obtain golden finger rewards. It was a guaranteed profit with zero risk.

As if her governor vessel and conception vessel had been unblocked, Li Chenghuan asked with concern, “Sister-in-law, are you hurt? Do you feel any pain anywhere? I’ve hidden a bottle of healing medicine that has miraculous pain-relieving effects.”

Jiang Jinyue’s gaze paused, revealing a look of scrutiny in her eyes. This person… was a bit strange.

A bit overly enthusiastic.

“I am not injured.”

Hearing this, Li Chenghuan felt a moment of disappointment, followed instantly by wild euphoria.

[Heroine’s corruption value reduced by one, rewarded with two cups of mineral water.]

Wow! Was the golden finger this easy to farm? A few words of concern actually worked too!

“Sister-in-law, are you tired? Do you want to sit down and rest for a while? How about I massage your shoulders for you?” Li Chenghuan stared at Jiang Jinyue with glowing eyes, like a puppy seeing a meaty bone, full of longing in her gaze.

The rewards given by this golden finger were indeed precisely what she lacked most right now. With the nationwide drought today, water was scarce everywhere. Among all their many prisoners, there was only a single waterskin, and even that had been given to Wang Yue, leaving her unsure if she would even get a share in the future.

She was just feeling thirsty when two cups of water arrived. This reward was simply too considerate.

The more Li Chenghuan thought about it, the more excited she became. Hahahaha, my good days are coming! Forget corn buns, I’m going to eat fine food and drink spicy liquor.

However, imagination was voluptuous, while reality was skeletal and harsh.

The scrutiny in Jiang Jinyue’s eyes turned into wariness, and she calmly spat out two words: “No need.”

Showing courtesy for no reason meant harboring evil intentions; this person definitely had a problem.

Without waiting for a reward and spotting the wariness in Jiang Jinyue’s eyes, Li Chenghuan could only suppress the excitement in her heart, nod with feigned composure, and say, “Then eat slowly, call me if you need anything.”

Turning around, she was met with a look of lethal scrutiny.

Grandma Li’s face was flushed red with anger as she glared at her. Her wrinkled hands were tightly clenched into fists; the ill-fated granddaughter really had a broken brain, actually turning her elbows outward.

Li Chenghuan’s expression stiffened, “Grandmother, don’t be angry, listen to me…”

“Listen to my foot! I’ll teach you to turn your elbows outward, I’ll teach you to give food to that jinx…” Anger flared up in Grandma Li, and before Li Chenghuan could finish speaking, she went right up and began raining blows.

However, knowing that her granddaughter had a wound on her head, she directed all her punches toward Li Chenghuan’s back.

Li Chenghuan scurried around holding her head: “Grandmother, stop hitting! Can you please listen to me first?”

Having beaten herself tired, Grandma Li grabbed Li Chenghuan’s ear and said through clenched teeth, “Speak! If you can’t give me a reasonable explanation, I’ll beat you to death.”

Each of them only got one corn bun a day and couldn’t get full at all. This ill-fated child was something else—she saved her corn bun instead of eating it, and took it to give to that jinx.

And she didn’t even know to show filial piety to her as a grandmother; she truly deserved a beating.

Li Chenghuan hooked her arm around the old lady’s arm and walked toward the woods. With the commotion they were making, everyone was watching; how could they talk about it here?