Daily Intelligence System: Don't Kill Me, Honey! Chapter 2 2 Daily Intelligence System

"[System binding complete.]"

The sound echoed beside his ear, and suddenly, a see-through screen materialized before him.

"[Daily intelligence updated (Level 1).]"

"[1. You gambled dice at Yu's Treasure House yesterday and gained intelligence: Yu's Treasure House's dice are infused with mercury, allowing them to manipulate the numbers at will.]"

"[2. You passed by the back mountain yesterday and gained intelligence: This morning, a rabbit hit and died under a locust tree in Black Bear Gully.]"

"[3. You met with Lai San yesterday and gained intelligence: Yu's Treasure House Young Master, Yu Sanliu, has taken a fancy to your wife, and is discussing with Ma Liu about tricking you into the gambling house to win over Su Yunjin.]"

"[4. You saw Su Yunrui today and gained intelligence: Su Yunrui is very afraid of you; she had a nightmare last night of you hitting her sister, but she didn't dare to cry aloud.]"

"[5. You saw Su Yunjin today and gained intelligence: Su Yunjin has birthed the resolve to die; three days ago, she exchanged her mother's heirloom hairpin for a packet of arsenic and a pound of rice.]"

As he stared at the glowing panel hovering in his view, Chen Jie gulped nervously.

He lifted his gaze to meet Su Yunjin's eyes, only to find her quickly averting them, unable to hold his stare.

Arsenic!

The word from the final intelligence flashed in Chen Jie's mind.

*Is this poison hidden in the porridge bowl?*

Cautiously, Chen Jie set the bowl aside and turned to Su Yunjin. "Wife, I recall we couldn't even get millet at home. So where did this rice come from?"

His question made Su Yunjin hesitate for a moment.

"I... I pawned my hairpin. You're right, we can hardly afford food, so what good is holding onto that useless trinket..."

She bowed her head while speaking, her face a mask of hidden emotions.

Chen Jie remembered how, in a gambling frenzy, he had once eyed Su Yunjin's hairpin with greed. Yet she had taken a beating rather than hand it over, since it was her mother's sole memento.

And now, she'd traded it for arsenic. *How much despair must have driven her to that?*

Upon hearing her words, Chen Jie pressed on. "For this hairpin, you only got this bit of rice? Nothing more?"

Su Yunjin's face tightened, and she replied hurriedly, "No, just that. Nothing else."

"Are you sure? It sounds like you picked up a packet of arsenic too?"

"Wife, did you slip poison into this porridge?"

Boom!

Chen Jie's accusation detonated in Su Yunjin's thoughts. *How could he possibly know?*

No way, it couldn't be!

Her frame started to quiver faintly, betraying her terror. Witnessing her reaction, Chen Jie knew without doubt that the porridge was indeed tainted!

While this realization hit him, Chen Jie noticed Su Yunjin snap her head up, her gaze brimming with utter hopelessness.

Her scheme had crumbled, and so swiftly too.

She had no way out now!

The day before, Chen Jie had squandered their final three acres of fertile land—their sole remaining chance. Worse, he'd even plotted to sell his own sister-in-law into a brothel. What hell was that place? Once inside, her existence would be shattered beyond repair.

*Wed to this monster, Chen Jiusi, her own fate was already destroyed, but she refused to let her sister suffer the same doom.*

*Her days were finished, yet her sister was still so young, deserving a bright path ahead.*

*She wouldn't allow this wretch to wreck her sister's future.*

But overpowering this villain was impossible, and fleeing his grasp even more so. *She couldn't stand by while Chen Jie ruined her sister.*

Thus, she recalled the arsenic she'd obtained, meant for her own end, but now she aimed to use it on this fiend first.

Yet it all lay exposed, plunging her world back into shadow.

She dreaded the savage thrashing from Chen Jie that surely awaited. *He might kill her outright this time,* and poor Ruirui—sold to a brothel, reduced to a toy, lower than dirt.

No, never!

A wild glint sparked in Su Yunjin's eyes as she snatched the bowl of white porridge near Chen Jie, screaming, "Ruirui, eat the porridge!"

In the next instant, she parted her lips, ready to swallow it down herself.

If poisoning the beast failed, she'd end herself instead. *She was done with this torment and craved no more of it.*

*Maybe in death, the blows and insults would finally cease.*

At Su Yunjin's cry, Su Yunrui glanced at Chen Jie with dread, her hand stretching toward the spoon in the clay pot.

Chen Jie bellowed in fury upon seeing this. "Stop! Don't touch it!"

He then swatted the bowl from Su Yunjin's grip. Stunned, she watched as he dove toward Su Yunrui, who was scooping a huge spoonful toward her mouth.

Horror gripped Chen Jie—if she ingested it, death would follow instantly.

Su Yunjin stared at the broken bowl on the floor and lost all reason. *If I live, you abuse me; if I seek death, you block it. What is it you desire?*

Noticing Chen Jie halting Su Yunrui, a surge of unknown power fueled her charge at him. She clung to him tightly, yelling, "Ruirui, eat it, quick!"

Tears surged in her eyes, streaming freely down her cheeks.

She would never permit her sister's sale to a brothel. *If push came to shove, better her sister perish!*

*Dying was preferable. It would free her from this vile existence, far from this demon.*

"Ruirui, eat, quick!"

In her frenzy, Su Yunjin held Chen Jie fast as he, equally frantic, yelled at little Ruirui, "Don't eat! Drop the spoon!"

"Chen Jiusi, what is it you truly want!"

Su Yunjin could contain herself no longer and bellowed at Chen Jie.

Stunned by her outburst, he froze, while she wailed in anguish, "What must we do to satisfy you? Tell me, please, just let us die, let us go!"

"Let us die! Sob..."

Su Yunjin slumped to the ground, breaking into wrenching sobs, leaving Chen Jie rooted in place, words failing him.

Little Ruirui eyed her weeping sister, then the spoon in her hand, before letting out a piercing cry and releasing it. "Waaah, brother-in-law, Ruirui won't eat, please don't hurt sister, don't hurt her, Ruirui will obey, Ruirui will do whatever you say, sob..."

Suddenly, the whole room echoed with weeping. As the sobs surrounded him, a wave of compassion stirred within Chen Jie.

*See the desperation they've reached.*

"Sigh~"

Chen Jie exhaled deeply in his mind. This chaos stemmed from his predecessor's deeds. Now in his shoes, fixing it fell to him alone. *The maker of the mess must clean it up.*

With that in mind, Chen Jie glanced down at Su Yunjin, collapsed on the floor in tears. This once graceful and learned woman had been so battered by his forerunner that she seemed utterly worn down.

*That scum richly deserved his fate!*

A plan forming, Chen Jie let out a breath and resolved to soothe her.

Not out of anything else, just the sympathy swelling in his chest…

He extended a hand to stroke her hair, facing her bewildered look, and murmured, "Stop crying now!"