Chapter 93
Xiao Cao looked at her Points balance: 167.
This number had grown so large that she couldn’t comprehend it, but she loved the feeling of watching the last digit continuously increase.
In just a few days, she had learned how much each digit increased by 1, and what symbols represented them.
The thought of not having a stable customer base in the future, and that the numbers might stop increasing or the growth rate might slow down, made Xiao Cao feel particularly uneasy.
Because the numbers weren’t just numbers; they represented food and medicine she could exchange in the store.
Although she and her brother received wild vegetables and mushrooms while cutting hair for others, those couldn’t be stored for long, and they would usually eat them the same day. Anything they couldn’t finish would be given to the landlady as part of the rent for their continued stay.
She had previously thought living in the Jade Pavilion Inn was too extravagant, but now Xiao Cao could no longer endure the cold, sleeping by the fire in the open at night.
She wanted to live in a warm house forever, to be able to eat her fill every day.
Now she and her brother had renewed their stay for seven days, plus the days the little divine doctor had paid for, allowing them to stay for another eleven days.
She felt this should be quite a long time, but she couldn’t help but feel anxious.
Moreover… if her daily profit transactions were less than before, would the Mysterious Merchant think she wasn’t working hard? Would she be fired?
She really couldn’t afford to lose this job!
Shi Tou patted her shoulder, “Don’t worry, you’re doing great. With the soldiers helping to promote, there will definitely be many people coming to get their hair cut.”
The boy’s voice was simple and oddly calmed Xiao Cao’s mood.
“I’ve gotten familiar with many soldiers now; those rascals won’t dare bully us. We’ll set up a stall at the market tomorrow, and we should be able to attract quite a few customers.”
Although Shi Tou wasn’t as quick-witted as his sister, he was loyal and had an outgoing personality. When cutting hair for the soldiers, he often chatted with them, and over time, they became familiar.
Even without the mountain lord’s orders, if they saw him being bullied, the soldiers would likely not just stand by as they had before.
“Okay.”
Xiao Cao nodded, thinking about going to the morning market the next day, she stopped her wandering thoughts and closed her eyes to sleep.
The next day, the siblings got up early.
Although the warm bed was hard to leave, they could still return to sleep at night, so they wouldn’t be like before, always getting up only when the day got hot.
They drank a cup of hot water, shared half a bowl of boiled yellow beans, and then quietly prepared to leave the Jade Pavilion Inn.
As a result, they ran into Wang Hu at the door.
Wang Hu had now recovered his health; although he had lost some weight, he looked spirited and in good spirits.
Seeing the Shi Tou siblings come out, Wang Hu grinned, “Up already?”
“Uncle Wang, we’re not going to the guard station today,” Shi Tou said.
For the past few days, Wang Hu had been taking them to the guard station, as he had been particularly attentive to the siblings due to their offering of yellow beans.
“The soldiers’ haircuts are all done.”
Wang Hu laughed heartily, unfazed, “Have you eaten? Come on, let’s go eat at the guard station!”
Shi Tou and Xiao Cao looked at him in surprise.
What a surprise.
During the days they went to the guard station for haircuts, they hadn’t been provided meals, so why could they eat now that they weren’t cutting hair?
“The yellow beans you offered have borne fruit,” Wang Hu said in a lowered voice, “The mountain lord is very pleased.”
As the introducer, he had also received rewards, and now he walked with a spring in his step, taking the opportunity to deal with those who had troubled his wife during his injury.
Wang Hu looked at the Shi Tou siblings, and the more he looked, the more he liked them.
“Let’s go, this is a direct order from the mountain lord.”
He pulled Shi Tou and Xiao Cao toward the guard station, “She said that you can go to the cafeteria for meals three times a day from now on.”
Upon hearing this, Shi Tou’s eyes lit up.
Although they had already eaten, free food was still free food! Of course, they would eat first.
“But we still need to set up our stall…” Xiao Cao hesitated.
“I’ll take you over after we eat,” Wang Hu said, “Today, my men are in charge of maintaining order at the market, so they’ll take good care of you.”
On the way, they encountered the soldiers who had come to protect Xiao Cao and Shi Tou—this had been agreed upon with Hong Li.
However, since the siblings hadn’t encountered any danger these days and had been staying at the Jade Pavilion Inn at night, the soldiers had inevitably become a bit lax.
Now that they ran into Wang Hu, who was not in a good mood, the soldiers quickly apologized to Shi Tou and Xiao Cao, promising to arrive at the Jade Pavilion Inn earlier the next day, and only then did Wang Hu let them off the hook.
Shi Tou stood tall, and Xiao Cao once again deeply felt how good it was to have someone backing her up.
Soon, they arrived at the soldiers’ cafeteria and received boiled green peas and yellow beans.
The green peas were still in their pods, and after a simple boil, they were crunchy and tender, quite different in texture from the yellow beans, but both could fill the siblings and the soldiers.
The soldiers were also having this kind of breakfast for the first time; they used to receive fruits, but now they had these green and yellow beans, which many found hard to adapt to.
Mainly, it looked too little.
But due to the mountain lord’s authority, they only dared to complain privately, and in the end, they obediently ate their share of beans.
“Not bad, these beans may be few, but they feel quite filling?”
One soldier said in surprise after finishing, patting his belly, and the others around him nodded in agreement.
“Poof—” Someone let out a fart, immediately drawing disdainful looks from those around.
After the Shi Tou siblings hurriedly finished eating, they quickly pulled Wang Hu away, and not long after they left, the guard station was filled with a chorus of farting sounds.
Well, it was a fragrant morning.
*
Desolate City, Peace Grocery Store.
Tang Yu’an had just woken up and opened his eyes to see a series of system messages flashing on the panel.
[Employee ‘Xiao Cao’ completed a profitable transaction with an Old Customer, Points +10, Experience Points +1]
[Employee ‘Xiao Cao’ completed a profitable transaction with a new customer, Points +2, Experience Points +3]
[Experience Points are full, Merchant Level +1]
[Merchant Level reached Iv10, new items available for exchange in the store: red dates, brown sugar, cotton swabs, details can be checked in ‘Wholesale Market’]
[Business map upgraded, new areas unlocked with plant and common animal light spots, new feature to hide unmarked light spots added]
[Drift Bottle deployable quantity +1, Dream Drift Bottle +1, details can be checked in ‘Dream Drift Bottle’]
[Portable Warehouse slots +1, total slots: 14]
[Portable Warehouse authorized employee slots +1, total slots: 3]
[Remote retrieval skill upgraded to lv9, details can be checked in ‘Skills’]
[New Employee Custom Nickname Feature added, details can be checked in ‘Employees’]
[Weekly Task Refresh Card +1]
[Please select a delivery address…]
Tang Yu’an stared at the series of messages, dazed for a moment before sitting up, happily exclaiming, “Brother Qi, I leveled up!
Xiao Cao is so capable, she made profitable transactions so early, successfully raising his level to Iv10.
After the excitement, he carefully looked at the rewards for this upgrade.
Red dates? That’s a dried good, can’t be grown.
Brown sugar? Can be used to make brown sugar steamed cakes and brown sugar buns, and also brown sugar ginger milk!
Cotton swabs would be convenient for applying medicine to wounds.
Wow, the map upgraded again!
Tang Yu’an quickly opened the map, and the result—
He saw a dense cluster of light spots in light red and light green, almost completely flooding the unlocked areas on the big map!
No wonder they needed a feature to hide light spots; it was hard to see the other light spots.
Even on the small map, he had to zoom in to the maximum just to barely see, because the first floor had many potted plants, and the Grocery Store’s location also had quite a few light green spots.
Of course, there were also light red spots, probably small insects or similar creatures.
As for the feature to hide unmarked light spots, it allowed for the selection of different colored light spots…
Tang Yu’an thought for a moment and tried marking a potted plant with text, then selected to hide the light spots in light green.
The light spots of other plants disappeared, leaving only the one he had marked.
He stroked his chin, this feature…
“Brother Qi, from now on, we can turn dangerous creatures into cats and dogs, so we won’t have to worry about them disappearing!”
And for situations like the Green Gem before, they could mark it the first time it appeared, so no matter how its light spot changed, they could still see it on the map.
“Are mushrooms considered plants?” Tang Yu’an scratched his head.
Zhou Qi folded the quilt and replied, “Not really.”
Mushrooms are fungi, not considered plants.
“Then let’s go to the swimming pool this afternoon to look for a mutated mushroom!” Tang Yu’an said.
“Okay.” Zhou Qi nodded.
Then Tang Yu’an continued to look down and saw a new Dream Drift Bottle added!
He quickly looked at the small window embedded in the wall, and sure enough, he saw that at some point, another transparent white glass bottle was hanging on the window frame.
“The previous one hasn’t come back yet, and now there’s another one!”
When the Dream Drift Bottle was just filled, Tang Yu’an had thrown one into the Dream Sea, and now nearly a week had passed without a sound, not even a hint of a response.
He wondered if this Dream Drift Bottle would come back after being thrown out? What special things would happen as it drifted in the Dream Sea?
Would someone find his bottle? Who would that person be?
Tang Yu’an took down the new Dream Drift Bottle and, like before, stuffed a piece of paper inside.
Then, he spoke to the bottle: “I am the Mysterious Merchant; what do you want? As long as you provide compensation, perhaps I can fulfill your request.”
After saying that, he quickly corked the bottle.
It sounded a bit villainous, but he couldn’t think of a better line, and besides, this voice might not even get transmitted.
“Brother Qi, I threw the Drift Bottle out.”
“Good.”
Tang Yu’an opened the small window and tossed the bottle into the Dream Sea, then closed the window.
He could still fish for another Drift Bottle today, but they had decided to wait until the evening to catch it.
Having dealt with the Drift Bottle, Tang Yu’an continued to look at the task rewards and found that the number of authorized slots in the Portable Warehouse had increased by one.
So, he quickly authorized the No. 3 Portable Warehouse Slot for Zhou Qi to use as well.
This way, aside from the slot shared with Chi Hao, Zhou Qi now had an additional two cubic meters of space available.
Next was…
“Employee Custom Nickname Feature?” Tang Yu’an opened the employee panel to take a look.
Originally, the employee names were all their real names, which he couldn’t modify, but now, under the name, a new “Nickname” option appeared, and it was indicated that it could be modified.
Tang Yu’an first tried to change Zhou Qi’s nickname.
Thus, Zhou Qi received a system notification.
What?
[Your outstanding performance has been appreciated by the Mysterious Merchant, and he has bestowed upon you a new title: Handsome Zhou]
Zhou Qi: “…………”
Seeing Zhou Qi’s expression, Tang Yu’an knew he must have received the system notification, and quickly asked him for the details.
After Zhou Qi struggled to recount it, Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
“Hahaha, this is so funny…”
Zhou Qi shook his head, both helpless and amused.
After Tang Yu’an finished laughing, he wanted to change his nickname back, but then he discovered—
[Modification cooldown: 90 days]
“Three months before you can change it again!” Tang Yu’an looked at Zhou Qi with an apologetic expression.
“It’s fine.” Zhou Qi patted his head.
After all, it didn’t matter much.
Then he discussed the usefulness of this new feature with Tang Yu’an.
After a brief discussion, Zhou Qi took out a notebook and a pen from the No. 1 Warehouse Slot, and then the system message appeared—
[Slot 1: ‘Handsome Zhou’ took Sketchbook x 1]
[Slot 1: ‘Handsome Zhou’ took Ballpoint Pen x 1]
Sure enough, Zhou Qi’s name displayed in Slot 1 had changed.
But this was on his panel, while on Tang Yu’an’s panel, it still showed [Employee ‘Zhou Qi’].
“It seems this title… or rather, nickname, is meant to protect the identity of the employees,” Zhou Qi said.
For him and Chi Hao, it was naturally no problem, but what if he authorized this warehouse slot to more employees in the future?
For example, if it were given to Xiao Cao, she would know Zhou Qi and Chi Hao’s identities, which was clearly inconvenient.
There was competition among employees; although there were employee regulations preventing them from directly harming colleagues, what if they used others to do their dirty work?
So, it was indeed necessary to hide and protect identities.
“Then I’ll set a nickname for Xiao Cao and Brother Chi Hao as well,” Tang Yu’an said, “What should we name them?”
He fell into deep thought.
Zhou Qi frowned and thought for a moment, then said, “Let’s call her Pu Wei.”
“Does that mean resilient?” Tang Yu’an asked.
“Yeah.”
“That’s a nice name!”
Tang Yu’an praised it and changed Xiao Cao’s nickname, writing that line of poetry in the note he left for her.
Zhou Qi then said, “As for Chi Hao…”
“I thought of one!”
Tang Yu’an interjected, “Let’s call him Greenish Blue!”
Zhou Qi: “…..”
Faced with Tang Yu’an’s sparkling eyes, Zhou Qi silently apologized to Chi Hao in his heart, then nodded and said, “That’s quite creative.”
After all, seeing this title, no one would probably think of Chi Hao.
“Hehe, I think so too.”
So, Tang Yu’an changed Chi Hao’s name.
At this point, Chi Hao was probably still asleep, and Zhou Qi could only silently wish him well when he woke up to see this system message.
Then, he returned the Sketchbook and Ballpoint Pen to Slot 1.
“There’s also a Weekly Task Refresh Card!”
Tang Yu’an took out the card, “Should we use it now?”
This week’s weekly tasks had already been completed, and refreshing it would allow them to earn rewards again.
Zhou Qi thought for a moment and shook his head.
“Since we’ve completed it this week, let’s save it for later. I remember that weekly tasks also have achievement combos.”
“Mm-hmm!” Tang Yu’an replied, then placed the weekly refresh card in the designated item storage slot.
Because he was still thinking about the promise he made to Tie Jin, they didn’t delay any longer and quickly went downstairs to wash up.
Tang Yu’an checked the pet slot and found that Yin Bi and Wang Cai had finished digesting, so he quickly let them out.
As for Yuan Bao and Black Pearl, they had digested 70% of their energy and would probably need to wait until tomorrow to wake up.
Yin Bi and Wang Cai happily circled around Tang Yu’an, wagging their tails vigorously, clearly excited.
Tang Yu’an patted their heads and then carefully examined them.
Wang Cai’s eyes seemed to have deepened in color; he wondered if it had awakened some ability. Yin Bi’s fur had become shinier, and its dark eyes didn’t change much, just looked more spirited and lively.
“Well, today the Grocery Store will be in your hands.”
Tang Yu’an rubbed the heads of the two little furry ones and smiled, “With you watching the house, Brother Qi and I can go out with peace of mind.”
“Woof woof!”
Wang Cai and Yin Bi barked in unison, as if to say: Leave it to us.
With the two little cuties around, the Grocery Store regained its liveliness, finally seeming less desolate.
Tang Yu’an fed them milk and meat egg pancakes, and seeing them eat happily, he felt hungry too.
In the morning, he made soy milk, and the leftover soy pulp could be used to feed the fish in the afternoon, followed by steamed eggs and buns.
The golden steamed eggs, drizzled with a little sesame oil and a spoonful of soy sauce, were simple yet savory and tender, simply exquisite!
After happily finishing breakfast, Tang Yu’an took out the red beans from the cabinet, and suddenly remembered something, so he quickly opened the gray-blue Refrigerator.
He saw that the cup he had placed in the Refrigerator now contained an additional 50ml of liquid.
Since the morning temperature hadn’t risen yet, the Refrigerator was in low-power mode, and it was still just past six o’clock, so the liquid hadn’t frozen.
Tang Yu’an cast an identification spell on the cup of liquid and discovered that today it wasn’t wine, but lychee wine.
And it was quite expensive; 1ml was worth 1 point, so this small cup of wine was worth 50 points, and lychee wine also had medicinal properties for replenishing energy and nourishing blood.
Awesome!
Every day’s liquid was different.
He took another empty bottle, poured the liquid into it, and then labeled it to avoid confusion.
After checking that he hadn’t missed anything, he and Zhou Qi set out.
Since they had agreed to meet Tie Jin early, they headed straight to Tie Jin’s house after leaving the Grocery Store.
When they arrived, Tie Jin was just closing the door, looking like he had just come out of the house. Upon seeing Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi, he couldn’t help but smile.
“Good morning! I’ll be troubling you to take care of Lili! I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Tang Yu’an glanced at the closed door, “Where’s Lili?”
“She’s still sleeping,” Tie Jin said, “I couldn’t bear to wake her up…”
“Did you tell her you were leaving today?”
“I did,” Tie Jin nodded, “But I don’t know if she understood.”
Tang Yu’an was also a bit worried about that.
“Enough about that, I have to get going.” Tie Jin shouldered his bag and said, “I should reach the town by tomorrow afternoon, at the latest the day after.”
“Okay, please be safe on the road.”
Tang Yu’an handed him a few whole wheat buns wrapped in large leaves, “Take these with you to eat on the way.”
“Is that really okay?”
Tie Jin wanted to decline, but then he heard the young man say, “Just promise me you’ll bring back some wild vegetables when you return.”
“Wild vegetables? Haha, sure.”
So Tie Jin accepted the whole wheat buns. Although Tang Yu’an took a loss, he gained 1 Experience Point, and then Tie Jin bid them farewell and hurriedly left.
Watching his figure disappear into the ruins, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi turned their attention back and went inside to find Jin Lili.
However, when they reached the fourth floor, they found that Jin Lili was not sleeping.
She had moved the toy mat that Tie Jin prepared for her and was standing by the window, stretching her neck to look outside.
Even with all her effort, she could only poke her head out halfway.
Probably hearing a sound behind her, she lost her balance in a panic and stumbled backward, but fortunately, Zhou Qi, who had the Lightness technique, rushed over first and caught her.
Tang Yu’an, a step behind, also ran over.
“Lili, are you okay?” He checked the little girl’s condition and found that she wasn’t hurt, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.
However, Jin Lili’s eyes were red, and she pushed Zhou Qi away with her little hand.
While pushing, she pouted and called for her dad.
“Lili, don’t be scared, this is Brother Qi, don’t you remember him? He won’t hurt you.”
Tang Yu’an took Jin Lili from Zhou Qi’s arms. Perhaps because he had played with her more and had given her milk several times, Jin Lili didn’t push him away.
But the little girl still didn’t calm down; instead, she started crying sadly.
“…………”
Her sad and distressed expression was just like when Tang Yu’an had mentioned A’Lian to her before.
Tang Yu’an quickly guessed her thoughts.
“Don’t be sad, your dad hasn’t abandoned you; he’s just gone for a few days and will be back soon.”
Since he wasn’t sure if Tie Jin would successfully bring back A’Lian, Tang Yu’an didn’t want to say what he was going to do.
“He also asked us to take care of you, worried that you might get hungry or sick, and said he would come back as soon as possible.”
He didn’t know if she understood, but Jin Lili slowly stopped crying.
She leaned against Tang Yu’an’s chest, sniffling continuously, and soon fell asleep, as such crying was still very exhausting for her.
In her dreams, she was still softly calling for her dad, looking extremely pitiful.
Although they hadn’t spent much time together, it seemed that she and Tie Jin had already formed a genuine father-daughter bond, with very deep feelings.
Tang Yu’an also felt a pang in his nose, but he held back his tears.
His mom and dad would be safe, and they would meet again!
Then, Tang Yu’an placed Jin Lili into the prepared backpack, which Zhou Qi carried, while he took out the Shadow Umbrella.
After Tang Yu’an cast the Lightness technique on himself as well, they left with Jin Lili.
Lin Zhan was out, and Old Li was also not home, so they first headed to Granny Guo’s house with Jin Lili on Zhou Qi’s back.
And since Granny Guo’s house had Kang Kang, perhaps Jin Lili would be a bit happier to see a playmate of her age?
