Amy had a dream.
In the dream, she was like the protagonist of Alice in Wonderland, falling into an unknown fairyland.
But unlike Alice’s fantastical wonderland, Amy’s seemed more like a sweet, dreamlike candy house.
The candy house was filled with colorful, delicious candies and desserts. Her house, her bed, even her daily necessities were all made of hard candies, soft candies, and chocolate.
Amy stared at her chocolate pillow, overcome with the urge to take a bite.
She lowered her head, breathing in the thick, sweet scent of chocolate. She opened her mouth… and woke up.
Blinking drowsily, Amy saw no colorful candy house, only the same slightly worn yet familiar little home.
It had just been a daydream.
She climbed out of bed, rubbing her eyes. Then she suddenly remembered—wait, it wasn’t entirely a dream.
Last night, she had actually boiled maple syrup!
Her spirits lifted. After a quick wash, she hurried to the kitchen to check the syrup she had made.
The moment she stepped in, the same sweet scent from her dream surrounded her.
Pots of maple syrup nearly filled the kitchen, the air thick with its rich, honeyed fragrance, as if every corner of the room had been infused with the essence of sugar maple trees.
—This was clearly the real-life version of a candy house.
Amy felt like her dream had come true.
In the soft daylight, the golden maple syrup shone temptingly, like honey of a darker shade, every drop glistening with a sweet, glossy glow.
She scooped up a little with a spoon and tasted it.
The unique, rich sweetness burst in her mouth, carrying the faint fresh scent of maple. It was sweet but not cloying, smooth on the tongue.
What surprised her most was that just a tiny sip restored several points of stamina. Normally, that would’ve taken a whole handful of lettuce!
So, maple syrup really was the right choice for restoring stamina. The process was troublesome, but with such obvious effects and at no cost, Amy was more than willing to overlook its drawbacks.
After cooling overnight, the few tiny impurities had sunk to the bottom, so she didn’t even need to filter again. It could go straight into containers.
Which raised the question—where would she find containers for it?
Naturally, Amy thought of the glass jars she had unlocked yesterday.
Making glass jars required wood and quartz. Wood she could handle on the farm, quartz sand was everywhere on the beach—both were easy to get.
Amy gathered the materials, worked at her crafting table, and soon produced over twenty jars.
She stared at the transparent, gleaming jars she had made with her own hands, still finding it hard to believe.
Such a magical thing could only happen in a game.
Pouring the syrup into the jars one by one, she quickly had more than twenty bottles of amber maple syrup.
A prompt appeared:【You have unlocked collection entry “Maple Syrup”】
So maple syrup counted as part of the Collection compendium?
Amy thought about it—since it was collected from maple trees, that did make sense.
Once the syrup was stored, she washed the tools she had used for tapping the maples.
The sticky equipment was hard to clean, taking a long time, but at last she managed. She carried them back to Leslie before she’d even had breakfast—working nonstop from the moment she opened her eyes until noon.
Back at the farm, she drank a few sips of syrup to restore her energy, watered her lettuce, tomatoes, and cauliflower, then packed up a dozen jars of maple syrup and set out again.
Following a route from near to far, her first stop was Charlie’s general store.
Charlie greeted her warmly. “Good afternoon, Amy! Looking to buy something? Today I have fresh limes and basil.”
Amy smiled. “Not shopping today, Charlie. I came to bring you something.” She pulled a jar of maple syrup from her bag and handed it to him. “This is my homemade maple syrup, a little gift as I settle into Hot Spring Town. I hope you like it.”
“My goodness, this is…” Charlie accepted the heavy glass jar. “I don’t even know what to say. This is the first time I’ve gotten a gift from a new neighbor!”
Amy thought to herself: Well, that’s because according to the game’s setting, I’m your only new neighbor.
From the start, she hadn’t planned to keep all the syrup for herself.
First, because she had no fridge—too much syrup couldn’t be stored. Second, because she wanted to build good relations in Hot Spring Town, to raise favorability.
No one disliked gifts, not even something as simple as a jar of maple syrup.
“Thank you so much, Amy. Look at this—there’s not a speck of impurity. It’s purer than the most expensive syrup I sell!” Charlie praised without holding back.
“Charlie, don’t shout. What’s going on?” Jenny came out of the house, surprised to see Amy. “Amy?”
Amy also pulled out a jar for her. “For you, Mrs. Jenny. I hope you won’t mind my clumsy work.”
“Oh, for me? It’s beautiful. How could I dislike it? You’ve done so well. Amy, you’re such a thoughtful child.” Jenny smiled gently. “I don’t even know how to make maple syrup myself.”
“If there’s a chance, I can teach you,” Amy offered.
“That would be wonderful.”
Looking around, Amy didn’t see Andrew, so she asked, “Is Andrew not home?”
Charlie opened his mouth, but Jenny answered first. “He should be by the shelves, Amy. You can go find him.”
Amy nodded and went over. Sure enough, Andrew was adjusting bottles of wine on the shelf, his pale, slender fingers a stark contrast to the deep purple liquid inside.
“Andrew,” Amy called.
His fingers paused. He turned his head. “Amy?”
“I didn’t think you’d remember my name,” Amy admitted honestly. “I came to give you a gift. Here, take it.”
She handed him the jar. “I made this myself. What do you think? Passable?”
Andrew lowered his eyes to the golden jar in his hand. “Mm.” Which meant: “Passable.”
Amy: “…” Still so cold, even when receiving a gift.
She had no choice but to pull out her trump card.
“Andrew, your hands are so fair, really beautiful.”
The moment she said it, Amy cringed a little inside. Wasn’t that too blunt?
But what could she do? Andrew liked this sort of thing. It was the fastest way to increase his favorability.
Sure enough, the prompt appeared:【“Andrew”’s favorability toward you has increased】
…This Andrew!
Her goal achieved, Amy left it at that. “You must be busy. I won’t bother you further. Goodbye, Andrew.”
She had already walked far away when Andrew, watching her retreating back, murmured softly: “Goodbye, Amy.”
Leaving the store, Amy headed to her next destination—the Seagull Restaurant.
At two in the afternoon, the restaurant was quiet. Amy spotted Gabriel in the kitchen, preparing food.
She tapped the glass lightly. “Hello, Chef Gabriel.”
Gabriel was slicing strawberries into thin pieces. Hearing her, he looked up, surprised. “Miss Amy?”
“Are you here for afternoon tea?”
That made Amy laugh. “I’m not at that level yet.” Meals were already hard enough to afford, let alone afternoon tea.
Gabriel smiled too, wiping his hands on a towel as he stepped out. “I could treat you, if you’d like.”
“I don’t want to take advantage of friends.” Amy said. “I came mainly to thank you for all your help—especially for that egg tart the other night.”
“Egg tart?” Gabriel chuckled. “Miss Amy, you must really have loved it, to still remember after all these days.”
Of course she remembered—it was the first egg tart she had tasted since crossing over. “Of course. It was delicious.”
She quickly pulled out a jar of syrup from her bag. This time she felt a bit embarrassed; compared with the restaurant’s refined desserts and drinks, her homemade syrup looked crude.
“This is maple syrup I made myself. It’s nothing compared to your desserts, but I hope you won’t mind.”
She set the jar on the table.
“Miss Amy, since it’s your heartfelt gift, how could I mind?” Gabriel’s eyes flicked toward the bulging backpack on her shoulders. With a smile, he asked, “Does everyone get one?”
Amy nodded honestly.
Then immediately regretted it—shouldn’t she have kept it a secret? Everyone preferred gifts that felt unique.
But Gabriel only smiled. “I’m honored to be among them.”
Relieved, Amy felt warm inside. Gabriel was always mature, gentle, never saying anything that would embarrass someone.
After exchanging a few more words, Amy left the Seagull Restaurant.
Behind her, Gabriel looked at the jar on the table and shook his head with a smile.
The rest of the afternoon, Amy went around Hot Spring Town delivering the rest of her maple syrup.
Most people loved it—except Eric and Clara.
Eric naturally disliked sweets, while Clara worried that sugar would make her gain weight. Even so, their favorability still rose.
After dinner, Amy lay in bed and opened her game panel.
Leslie’s favorability had risen half a heart, Aurelia’s half a heart, Linda’s a quarter heart, Nancy’s a quarter heart… Ryan, who loved maple syrup most, gained a whole heart.
Amy closed her eyes in satisfaction.
Today had been a truly rewarding day.