The male supporting character was actually myself.

"Even the tables and chairs in the Marshal's Mansion are bullying me!" Zhang Xiyue, who was exhausted after working hard all day, kicked the unmoving tables and chairs in anger.

The chair remained unmoved, but her small feet, clad in thin-soled embroidered shoes, kicked the chair leg, causing her to wince in pain.

Ever since she was injured by the Taoist Lingquan in her previous life, she has been unlucky for eight lifetimes!

The new body died before it could do anything. It thought that it could start over by reincarnating and creating a new account, but who knew that it would be reborn in a poor and destitute village.

Eighteen years!

For eighteen long years, he never had enough to eat, and his body couldn't even grow up.

As a monster that eats people, it is a disgrace to suffer setbacks everywhere in a human world where food is plentiful!

"It's not enough. This little bit of energy isn't enough to do anything!" After thinking it over, she decided that the safest thing to do was to wait quietly for Xiao Jiangchen to return.

After all, that little bit of energy is enough to keep you warm and not hungry for ten or fifteen days;

But if used to catalyze the body, it will only make you grow one centimeter taller at most, it won't have much effect on strength;

Use spells?

No, one iron lock might be worth a try, but two are absolutely impossible to open.

Judging from Xiao Jiangchen's precise control over his appetite, he must have locked the window as well. Even if this little bit of magic could barely open the lock on the window, how would he climb up?

Even the tables, chairs, and benches that you can stand on are impossible to drag!

What if you can't escape even after using magic? You'll be locked in a room with no one to call for help, and you won't have any energy to sustain your body's needs. Won't you just starve to death?

"I absolutely must not reincarnate again unless it's a last resort," Zhang Xiyue secretly resolved.

When this body started off incredibly unlucky, she considered committing suicide to start a new account, but who knows if she would be unlucky enough to be reborn into an even poorer family?

The injuries had not healed, and even an immortal soul could not withstand repeated deaths.

She had seen many families who couldn't afford to raise their daughters, and they would simply take them to the river in basins and drown them, letting their bodies float away with the current. Compared to that, her situation was already quite good; at least she was still alive.

As long as there is a turning point, even if it is only the slightest chance, once you have accumulated enough energy, you can return to your peak and make a complete comeback!

After thinking it over for a long time, Zhang Xiyue calmed down and decided to wait for Xiao Jiangchen to return. Perhaps in the next ten days or so, good luck would come her way, and she would be able to catch a jinx and have a good meal.

The first night passed quickly.

The Horcruxes were heavily guarded, and not even a mouse managed to get into the empty main courtyard of the marshal's mansion.

"Host, your cutest and most adorable Little White is back!" The next morning, the fluffy little ball of fur bounced back with an air of nonchalance, burying its head in its host's arms and meowing, "Did you miss me? Were you lonely and cold last night without Little White to warm your bed?"

Jiang Chen, who hadn't gotten out of bed yet, felt a heaviness in his chest. He casually rubbed his chest and asked without even opening his eyes, "You're back so soon. It seems the situation in Yunshao City isn't complicated."

"Mmmmmmm!"

The little white cat lay sprawled, enjoying the scratching, nodding its little head like a chick pecking at rice. "Actually, it's very simple. All those bandits and outlaws were just soldiers in disguise ordered by the magistrate of Yunshao County."

I found their ledger of the spoils.

In summary, the problem is that Yunshao City has produced a female demon, causing floods and droughts within a radius of hundreds of miles, resulting in a lack of harvests in the fields.

The common people are poor, so the local officials have no money to make.

Didn't the original owner allocate disaster relief funds every year?

Liang Luoxi embezzled most of it, but in the past two years he has also developed a habit of smoking opium. Since he couldn't find any money to be made from other sources, he kept embezzling disaster relief funds. As a result, he embezzled so much that there wasn't enough to go around for his subordinates.

The garrison soldiers wouldn't stand for it if they didn't get any benefits. They were the ones who were responsible for maintaining order and suppressing refugees. Liang Luoxi didn't dare to confront them directly, so he came up with a bad idea: to use black water to make money.

He took the money from above;

The garrison troops found ways to 'raise funds locally,' which meant they turned a blind eye and tacitly allowed the looting.

Jiang Chen's face darkened upon hearing this.

"This time, the information gathering yielded even better results!" The little white cat rolled around on his chest, then lay there softly face to face, propping its head up with its little paws and giving him a flirtatious wink. "Host, I studied the script carefully this time, so I remember the complex relationships between the characters very clearly. The main male lead is Lingquan Daoren, who was tricked in the end and his soul died, leaving only an empty shell, right?"

In other words, the one who ultimately marries the female lead and gets all the benefits is the second true male lead.

What was his name again?

Jiang Chen silently watched it keep the secret, giving it a stage to perform.

"Huang Shenglang!" The fluffy dumpling squinted its eyes with a mischievous grin, "It's clearly written in the script. If you follow the plot, Zhang Xiyue will instigate the host to start a war in no more than half a year. And Zhang Xiyue will meet him while hunting during the chaos of war, right?"

Later, the two had an in-depth conversation, and Huang Shenglang, in order to save his life, revealed all his information.

A handsome guy who is 1.8 meters tall;

There is a crescent-shaped scar on the right side of the forehead;

Originally from Lingnan; born into a fishing family, joined the army and stayed in the north—

Its eyes gleamed with excitement, "When I was investigating the corruption case in Yunshao City, I found Huang Shenglang in the military camp! He's now a squad leader, taking turns to impersonate bandits and rob people."

In the story, Zhang Xiyue didn't eat him right away. Wasn't the reason that she felt his smell was somewhat familiar?

Later, they said that his personality was similar to that of Lingquan Daoren. The two got more and more intimate and then the matter was dropped. In fact, she felt familiar because Huang Shenglang was one of the bandits who massacred the villagers of Shilipo!

They must have met before!

"So that's how it is." Jiang Chen suddenly realized, "When the soldiers pretended to be bandits, they would hide their true faces. In addition, Huang Shenglang was riding on horseback, so Zhang Xiyue, being of a certain height, definitely couldn't recognize his real appearance."

But she is, after all, a demon, so it's normal for her to remember some of the auras when faced with a life-or-death situation.

If the second male lead is introduced with such a setup... his aura doesn't seem very strong.

The fluffy ball clapped its paws and nodded in agreement, "Host is right. Huang Shenglang's aura is at most half that of Zhang Xiyue. I guess Lingquan Daoren's aura is the weakest, otherwise he wouldn't have been killed."

It's like finding a needle in a haystack, only to have it come to you effortlessly.

Since the script team has arranged it this way and hidden the Easter eggs, how could they not reveal the identity of the second male lead to make the little white cat who went to investigate so hard feel bad?

"Get up, let's go muster our troops and wipe out the bandits!" Jiang Chen rubbed the round, chubby little white dog for a while, praising it so much it was practically bubbling with excitement. "While I'm gone, you have an even more important mission..."

Before he could finish speaking, the fluffy little dumpling, who had learned to answer first, patted its chest proudly and said, "I understand, meow~ I have to stay and keep an eye on the female lead so she doesn't cause trouble, right?"

"Don't worry, host. With your cute and sweet little Bai around, unless the main system forces a mission, she won't be able to cause any trouble!"

A new day begins with us splitting up into two groups.

The little white cat, feeling delighted by the praise, skipped back to the Marshal's Mansion, remaining vigilant and alert to Zhang Xiyue's every move.

Jiang Chen led a large number of men straight to Yunshao City.

The city was sealed off, roll call was taken, and house arrest was imposed. In just one hour, the entire city of Yunshao was brought under control from top to bottom, and the process of gradually sorting things out began.

"What exactly happened? How did we manage to attract this living devil?" County Magistrate Liang Luoxi was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, he was feeling guilty!

There's no need to worry about embezzling disaster relief funds; the accounts will be settled no matter what.

What I'm worried about is that the fact that the soldiers are bandits will be exposed!

He was already quite old, and with his newfound fondness for smoking, his health was deteriorating further.

She was also afraid that Xiao Jiangchen, the living devil, would find out something she couldn't bear and that she would be punished, so cold sweat poured down her body layer by layer.

"May God protect me! May Buddha protect me! As long as I, Liang Laoxi, can escape this calamity, I will offer three sacrificial animals to rebuild your golden statues!" Liang Luoxi muttered to himself as he carefully went through the process. The garrison was always efficient and clean in its dealings, and they were happy to raise funds on the spot. They probably wouldn't be foolish enough to leak the information.

As for those remote villages nestled in the deep mountains, either the entire village was slaughtered, or multiple layers of protection were in place to ensure that no one could leave Yunshao City.

Didn't we deal with a batch of people who came to complain before? There's absolutely no way anyone could bypass all these layers and get to Xiao Jiangchen.

After much deliberation, Liang Luoxi concluded that the "Living Yama" (a powerful figure in Chinese mythology) had probably just decided to show off in his territory on a whim, without any important business to attend to.

I've heard he has a penchant for beautiful women; I'd better find a few beauties quickly and send them over to whisper sweet nothings in his ear, that would be more secure...

"Bang!" Just as he was lost in thought, the office door was suddenly kicked open, startling Liang Luoxi so much that he almost collapsed to his knees.

Turning around, he saw that the person in question was none other than the young, promising, and successful Xiao Jiangchen. He hurriedly stepped forward, bowing and scraping to show his goodwill, "I was unaware of the arrival of Commander Xiao and have failed to greet you properly. I am truly ashamed!"

"Oh? You actually know what shame is?" Jiang Chen said with a forced smile, throwing out a stack of account books and slamming his pistol on the table. "Come on, tell me properly how you, the county magistrate, have been corrupt and allowed the garrison to impersonate bandits and harm the people."

One sentence hit the nail on the head.

Liang Luoxi didn't dare to breathe, wiping the cold sweat from her brow and forcing a smile. Her almost rusty brain raced as she tried to find an excuse to calm herself down. "General, what did you say? I don't understand."

"Don't play dumb with me. You've smoothed out your accounts quite well. You've found a good accountant." Jiang Chen sneered and pushed aside the ledger. "Embezzlement can never be completely prohibited in any dynasty, but you should at least leave some for others."

If you go too far and cut off someone's source of income, they will naturally not want to see you doing well.

Forget all that nonsense, let's be frank—if anyone disagrees, we'll gather evidence and sue you. Has your opium addiction and womanizing completely ruined your brain?

It's okay if you didn't learn how to do things well in this life, just pay attention in the next.

Upon hearing what the Living Yama said, Liang Luoxi, who was already short and thin, knelt down with a thud, his whole body trembling like a sieve of chaff, unable to utter a complete sentence.

Seeing his cowardly appearance, Jiang Chen laughed in anger. "You don't have the guts, yet you try to embezzle and break the law? You even condone the garrison to pretend to be bandits, burning, killing, and looting, and you even harm the people who come to file complaints?"

Do you know how many lives were lost?

Every night, when you close your eyes in the dead of night, aren't you afraid that wronged spirits will crawl out and come after you to claim your life?

"General... I didn't! I didn't kill those people, it really wasn't me..."

"It's true that you didn't do it yourself."

But it was you who embezzled disaster relief funds, leading to widespread starvation.

You condoned the act of arson, murder, and robbery committed by those who impersonated bandits;

The people who came to Yunshao City to complain and request the suppression of bandits have disappeared; it was you who did it.

"Setting up fortifications along the way, preventing displaced people from entering the city—that's your doing too! Thousands upon thousands of lives are on your record, Liang Laoxi, oh Liang Laoxi, just wait for your vengeful ghosts to claim your souls!"

The original owner had no memory of this old man from the impoverished county, and he didn't play a significant role in the story. Jiang Chen quickly broke down Liang Luoxi's psychological defenses with a combination of threats and intimidation. The old man thought it over and over and decided that he couldn't have an easy time, and whoever reported him would also be in trouble!

So the county government and the garrison fought like dogs, and no one who was involved could escape punishment. They compiled their charges and submitted them.

Jiang Chen then took the list personally provided by Liang Luoxi to the military headquarters to arrest people.

The garrison in Yunshao City numbered only a little over a hundred, all of whom were transferred from the units that had been reorganized after the war and were responsible for all security duties, including police work.

With witnesses and physical evidence readily available, the trial was merely a formality.

Jiang Chen quickly singled out a young and handsome soldier, asking, "Are you Huang Shenglang?"

"Yes, Commander, I am Huang Shenglang. I served in your Fourth Army Corps when we attacked Changludu. Later, the Fourth Army Corps was disbanded and reorganized, and I was assigned to Yunshao City..." Huang Shenglang was nervous and tried to get closer to the enemy with a smile.

If by sheer luck, Commander Xiao might show leniency out of consideration for their relationship, and I might escape with my life.

Otherwise, if their crimes are proven, they could be executed by firing squad!