“Is he saying hello to you?” Zhou Zhu glanced curiously at Wen Qian.
Wen Qian… Wen Qian couldn’t even force a smile.
On her left was a beautifully plated chocolate lava tower. On her right, sizzling roasted black pork.
And yet she could only eat beef noodles.
Was there anything sadder in the world?
She looked at the girl beside her and took a deep breath before speaking slowly:
“…Sorry, Zhou Zhu. I’ll eat the dishes you recommended next time. Today I just suddenly really want… beef noodles.”
The words “beef noodles” were squeezed out through clenched teeth.
Zhou Zhu shot another confused look at the shop owner who was still waving enthusiastically at Wen Qian, then looked back at her.
Considerately, she said, “I’ll eat with you. I haven’t had beef noodles in a long time anyway.”
As they approached the noodle-shop owner, Wen Qian looked at him expressionlessly.
“You’re not opening your shop today? Why are you here?”
“Just doing a side job!” The owner didn’t feel any of her low-pressure aura. “Didn’t expect to meet a customer here! What would you like to eat?”
He helpfully pushed the standing menu forward.
Looking at the menu with only the beef noodles section lit up, Wen Qian felt his question was truly pointless.
“If I wanted tonkotsu ramen, would you make it?”
The owner smiled. “Nope.”
Then why did you even ask?!
Wen Qian said weakly, “One bowl of beef noodles.”
“Got it!” The owner responded loudly, then looked to Zhou Zhu. “And you, customer?”
“I’ll have the same.” Zhou Zhu smiled shyly.
When the noodles arrived, Wen Qian consoled herself that at least it was free—like gaining ten gold coins for nothing.
With the sound effects beside her—[Stamina +1 +1…]—her stamina, which had dropped below 50, slowly recovered.
Finishing first, she propped her chin and looked around aimlessly. There weren’t many people eating in the restaurant.
More accurately, not many people ate on the first floor.
According to Zhou Zhu, only poor-but-excellent students and a few with average family backgrounds ate here.
Young masters and ladies had private chefs serving them upstairs. Those from the most prestigious families wouldn’t even step into this place.
Wen Qian treated such game-world settings like background noise—rules about restaurant floors, hidden hierarchies… she lumped them all under: Player level too low, map locked.
Zhou Zhu wanted to talk more with Wen Qian. Being with her felt comfortable—her words actually had someone who listened.
But she wasn’t used to talking while eating—and feared Wen Qian would dislike her—so she silently sped up, almost as if racing herself.
With her baby-face and quiet noodle-eating, she looked like a tiny hamster.
Wen Qian thought for a moment… then followed her impulse and reached out to touch her.
The hamster, who had just swallowed her last bite: !!
“W-Wen Qian?” Zhou Zhu froze in shock.
“Feels really nice.” The culprit seriously evaluated. “Very cute.”
The girl’s face visibly turned red. She suddenly didn’t know what to do with her hands.
“R-Really…”
A tiny seed of courage sprouted in her heart.
“Wen Qian, can we… eat together again sometime? Of course, I’m not saying you have to agree—only if you have time…”
“Sure!”
Zhou Zhu’s hesitant question was instantly buried under Wen Qian’s cheerful reply.
She blinked in surprise—then joy bloomed across her face.
“Not just eating,” Wen Qian continued, enthusiastically advertising herself. “If you ever run into a problem, you can come to me. Whether it’s giving someone a love letter, moving things, finding someone, or suddenly needing to pick a hundred sunflowers from a mountain—I can help!”
“Really?!” Zhou Zhu was so delighted by Wen Qian’s warmth that she didn’t notice the strangeness of those examples at first. Then slowly, “…Why would you need a hundred sunflowers?”
“Who knows.” Wen Qian replied casually. “Or maybe a hundred foxtail grasses? Not important. There are always weird quests.”
Just the usual logic of RPGs.
Wen Qian pushed the half-confused girl out of the restaurant, asking along the way about Iris Class.
To Wen Qian, the fact that Zhou Zhu suddenly came up to her and brought her to lunch wasn’t simple.
Maybe the game was hinting that Iris Class was her next quest area!
Trying to unlock a new map, she escorted Zhou Zhu all the way back to her classroom—but unfortunately, no new zone unlocked. Wen Qian could only watch the girl disappear into her room with regret.
On her way back, Wen Qian checked her system mailbox. Inside was the reward from the [Love Letter] quest she hadn’t collected yet.
Focused on the game panel, she nearly missed a step on the stairs. She hurriedly looked away and decided to collect the reward back in class. Better watch where she was going.
The marble stairs spiraled downward. Beside them, ironwork vines formed a decorative wall, dotted with shades of purple. Velvet-textured iris petals curled slightly and fluttered like butterfly wings.
[Harvestable]
Wen Qian glanced at the flower wall and looked away. More than the flowers, she was puzzled why her classroom didn’t have roses.
Iris Class had irises—so why didn’t her class have its own flower?
She only wondered for a moment—it wasn’t something she cared much about—when she suddenly stopped walking.
—Something just drifted by?
She turned around and clearly saw the [Harvestable] text floating above several irises.
Her gamer instincts activated.
Who cared whether they were useful—if it could be harvested, she was taking it.
After picking five flowers, the glowing [Harvestable] disappeared, replaced by a countdown: [23:59:59] until refresh.
Unwilling, she plucked one more. It came off, but it was just a normal flower—not an item.
When placed into her inventory, it showed only [Ordinary Flower], unlike the first five golden-tagged [Iris Flower] items.
Back in the classroom, she stared at the pile of homework inside her desk.
Her excitement from finding new items instantly vanished.
Damn it, she still needed 100 coins to buy a writing desk!!
“Homework” was literally homework—she wasn’t allowed to complete it at school.
Wen Qian felt dead inside.
Damn game—don’t you understand flexibility?!
Lin Huai watched his desk mate’s sudden mood drop.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Wen Qian waved him off and opened her system mailbox to collect her quest reward.
[EXP +20, Reputation +1]
[Reputation system unlocked. Initial reputation calculating…]
[Initial Reputation: –30 (+1)]
[Current Reputation: –29
Reputation too low. Special event incoming.]
Wen Qian: ???
Wait, why was her reputation –30? She hadn’t even spoken to 30 people here!
Puzzled, she assumed the game’s math was broken and was about to lodge a passionate complaint when a noise at the classroom door interrupted her thoughts.
A girl with long dark brown curls strode in, her proud gaze sweeping the half-empty room.
“Who’s the new poor-but-excellent student?” The girl beside her asked, though her eyes were fixed on Wen Qian.
The other students’ schadenfreude-filled gazes landed on Wen Qian.
They clearly knew this girl—and knew exactly why she was here.
“Knew she’d find her. Poor thing.”
“People have to face the consequences of their actions. Serves her right.”
They looked toward their target, expecting to see fear—but instead, she looked…
Excited?
Lin Huai frowned. If Wen Qian went with that girl, she might end up in trouble. He just opened his mouth to tell her to ignore them—nothing could happen as long as she stayed inside the classroom—
But Wen Qian had already shot her hand high into the air.
“Here!!”
As if afraid they wouldn’t see her, she waved enthusiastically, unable to hide her excitement.
She never expected a low-reputation special event to trigger so soon.
Seeing the glowing [!] symbol above the girl’s head, all her earlier frustration evaporated.
Yes! A special event!