When the Side Character Gets a System and Travels through Difference Worlds-Chapter 115: Are You Rigging This?

Tan Deming gave a bitter smile. "You can’t blame it all on your dad. My health isn’t good either, and the family relied entirely on your grandma and your mom to stay afloat. It’s only normal that others would look down on us."

Tan You stared at the math competition problem. "Mm, that’s why I have to work hard to get out of here. So that in the future, they can only watch my back as I walk away, and no one will ever dare to look down on me again."

Tan Deming smiled. "That’s the spirit. I’ll be waiting to see it."

The grandfather and granddaughter exchanged a few brief words. Seeing Tan You was focused on her studies, Tan Deming didn’t try to persuade her to go play with her childhood friends anymore. He now more or less understood what was on her mind. His granddaughter wanted to get ahead in life, and that was a good thing.

As for Tan Ying, after storming out of Tan You’s house, she didn’t leave in a hurry. Instead, she dawdled on the road. Based on past experience, whenever she pulled a long face, Tan You would quickly be the first to give in and apologize.

But not this time. She was almost at her own doorstep, and there was still no sign of Tan You. Tan Ying swung her arms in frustration. This time, she would absolutely, positively never make up with Tan You again!

The Beauty System played Tan Ying’s actions on a screen in front of Tan You. Tan You watched for a good while before chuckling. "Just how much of a doormat was I before? I feel like beating up my past self."

"Put it away. I’m not interested in what Tan Ying is doing." After one last glance, Tan You turned back to the math problem and buried her head in thought.

The Beauty System complied, retracting the light screen. "Perhaps... the Host is interested in the lottery? Host, you should do the lottery! You have enough for two ten-pulls now."

Tan You happened to be stuck on the problem anyway, with no ideas. She decided to put down her pen and take a mental break. "Fine, let’s take a look."

Although Tan You hadn’t fully committed, the Beauty System was still overjoyed. It had a vague understanding of Tan You’s temperament. She was someone who always sought to maximize her gains; she wouldn’t even consider something like a single pull.

After all, she’d worked herself to the bone on those tasks just for a few Energy Points. By her calculations, doing more pulls at once was definitely more cost-effective. In truth, from Tan You’s perspective, not doing the lottery at all was the most cost-effective option. Besides the Intelligence Value, there was really nothing else on that prize wheel that appealed to her.

But then she considered that if she didn’t use the lottery, she’d have to pay for her own expenses when going out to do tasks. With that in mind, the lottery didn’t seem so bad. Rather than having her Energy Points used up on travel fees, it was better to exchange them for some items. Overall, she’d still come out ahead.

The lottery prize wheel appeared before Tan You again. She quickly scanned the available rewards. Only one slot was for Intelligence Value +1. The rest were still Beauty Value. Next to the Intelligence Value slot was a reward called "Brows Like Distant Mountains."

Letting out an imperceptible sigh and glancing at the excited Beauty System beside her, Tan You finally pressed the button for a ten-pull. The Energy Point balance in her account instantly dropped from 19 to 11. Tan You felt a pang of regret.

After a dazzling flash of light, the Beauty System’s cheerful voice rang out: "Host, in this lottery session, you have acquired a total of 16 Beauty Value points. Your current cumulative Beauty Value is 28. Thank you for your patronage! Would you like to do another lottery draw?"

Tan You stared at the newly refreshed rewards. "There’s actually a reward for ’Eat Without Gaining Weight’? Don’t tell me you’re the one controlling this prize wheel."

The Beauty System immediately retorted, "The System relayed the Host’s previous suggestion to the main system. The System cannot engage in under-the-table manipulation."

Tan You couldn’t be bothered to argue with the little system. "Whatever you say."

The Beauty System didn’t detect the perfunctory tone in Tan You’s voice and continued to persuade her. "Host, more pulls will surely lead to a miracle! The ’Eat Without Gaining Weight’ you wanted has appeared. Are you sure you don’t want to try the lottery again?"

Tan You was already regretting the Energy Points she had just spent. "Nope."

She wasn’t going to do a lottery pull just because the little system urged her to. She’d feel uneasy if she spent all her Energy Points. Besides, what if she spoiled this little system, and it started trying to hold her back?

So, Tan You would give the little system a small taste of victory, but she wouldn’t listen to everything it said. That would be an easy way to feed its ambition.

The Beauty System wasn’t disappointed by the rejection. It had already made a profit for the day, with more Energy Points added to its account. It would soon be able to buy that skin it had its eye on.

Although she didn’t understand why the little system had suddenly become so happy, Tan You paid it no mind. But after glancing at her 28 Beauty Value points, she couldn’t help but feel a little weary.

She worked so hard on her tasks, only to end up with a pile of useless Beauty Value points. The thought was pretty depressing. But Tan You was good at looking on the bright side. Even if the lottery results were bad, it wasn’t like she gained nothing from going out to do tasks.

For example, she had learned the skill of dancing. Speaking of which, Tan You’s face scrunched up. Her flexibility was terrible. It was already very late to start learning to dance at her age; reaching Chi Mo’s level was probably impossible in this lifetime.

Just the preliminary stretching was already incredibly difficult. But she couldn’t bear to let a skill like this go to waste, so no matter how hard it was, she had to practice.

But this practice was pure torture. Even though she wasn’t an adult yet, this kind of leg-splitting and stretching was beyond what a person could endure. After trying it just once, Tan You was walking a little strangely the next morning.

Tan Deming glanced at her. "What’s wrong with you?"

Tan You moved her legs with difficulty, but her expression remained calm. "It’s nothing. It’ll be fine in a few days."

She had only done some light stretching yesterday, and today she couldn’t even bend her legs. Tan You gained a much clearer understanding of her own physical fitness. ’Right,’ she thought. ’A Constitution of only 40. It’s not even a passing grade.’

Speaking of which, she had been jumping rope for a long time now, so why hadn’t her Constitution increased at all? Just as Tan You was feeling doubtful, she suddenly saw her Constitution stat flicker and increase by 0.3, bringing it to 40.3.

But the number flashed for just an instant before quickly reverting to the original 40.

Tan You almost laughed out of sheer exasperation. "It even has decimal points? Could you be any more half-assed?"

The Beauty System: "The System opened a backdoor for the Host. Normally, any increase less than 1 full point is hidden from view." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Tan You understood. She pondered for a moment. "So, exercising is effective after all, even if I can’t feel it myself."

She didn’t press the matter further. Instead, she took a book and sat down next to Tan Deming, but she didn’t turn a single page for a long time.

Tan Deming glanced over; it was the math competition book he had gotten for her. He wasn’t surprised. His eldest granddaughter would often stare at a single page as if reading a face, sometimes taking a day or two before turning it. This happened frequently. In any case, he didn’t understand it, but as long as his granddaughter wasn’t just goofing off, Tan Deming didn’t interfere.

Just when Tan You had finally managed to gather some thoughts, two boys, around fifteen or sixteen years old, came from the south side of the village. Both were on bicycles, and the taller one had a bit of a punkish air about him.

As he passed by Tan You’s house, he suddenly shouted, "Going to find Tan Ying!"

Her train of thought was instantly broken. Tan You’s pen tip scraped a long line across the paper. Tan Deming asked, puzzled, "What’s the matter?"