Following the directional signs on the ground, Wen Qian found the nearby grocery and oil supermarket. She walked purposefully toward a young man leaning on a cane standing in front of the store.
“Hello, I’m here to help Boss Chen get the flour,” Wen Qian said, tapping the young man on the shoulder.
Wen Qian was not worried about approaching the wrong person, since the exclamation mark above his head was so obvious, and his appearance with the cane matched perfectly.
This was probably the helper young man the noodle shop owner had mentioned, the one who was injured.
“Did Boss Chen send you here?” the helper young man asked happily. “You’re a big help! I’ve been worried about how to deliver the flour to Boss Chen.”
“Wait a moment, I’ll get the flour for you.”
Wen Qian was about to ask him to point her the way so she could fetch it herself. After all, his injury seemed serious; what if carrying flour made it worse?
Before she could say anything, the “injured” helper suddenly thumped his cane loudly and rushed into the warehouse. He grabbed a bag of flour, swung it onto his shoulder, and clattered back.
Wen Qian stared blankly at the scene of his cane and arm moving in sync, speechless for a while.
…Dude, if you’re this capable, why are you even worried? The noodle shop is only a few dozen meters away. It can’t take you five minutes to carry the flour over, right?
Originally thinking she was here to help a disabled person, Wen Qian deeply doubted who really needed the help after taking the bag of flour.
The game had replicated her body as well as her physical condition from high school.
How to describe it? She had barely been hanging on during high school, with the only exercise being the regular morning runs.
In this state, her physical stats spoke for themselves.
After tremblingly taking two steps with the flour, Wen Qian’s ears rang with the crisp system notification sound.
[Stamina -10]
Wen Qian silently glanced at the less than one meter she had walked, then at her remaining 70 stamina points.
She asked herself honestly: Was this mission really necessary?
Glancing at the zero balance on her property icon in the system panel, Wen Qian’s gaze gradually hardened.
That’s right — it had to be done!
“You’re still here! Great!”
The helper thumped his cane, slammed down two more bags of flour, grinning with a mouthful of big teeth. “Almost forgot, Boss Chen said business has been good recently and asked me to bring him more flour.”
Wen Qian’s pupils dilated, and her trembling hand pointed at the flour bag as she blurted out, “You want me to carry three bags of flour over?”
“No way!”
Wen Qian sighed in relief, then immediately heard the helper’s hearty voice.
“There are actually six bags in total. Wait for me.”
Wen Qian: “…”
She suddenly felt being poor wasn’t so bad, and maybe she didn’t really need that mission reward.
The helper went and returned, neatly stacking six bags of flour in front of Wen Qian.
“I’m counting on you for this,” the helper sighed with a troubled look. “Leg injuries are such a pain. Luckily you’re here — thanks a lot!”
Wen Qian: …Don’t thank me yet; I haven’t seen how your leg injury really affects you.
[Flour acquired, please find Zhao to receive the item — Small Cart]
The new mission prompt sounded like a heavenly voice in Wen Qian’s ear, solving her urgent problem.
She looked up at the helper, who had already returned to the grocery store entrance, ignoring Wen Qian and the flour bags still standing there.
He seemed unconcerned about why Wen Qian hadn’t taken the flour away yet.
Seeing the [Zhao] label above his head, Wen Qian silently swallowed back the question she was about to ask him: Does he know Zhao?
“Hey, can you give me a cart?” Wen Qian called out.
Zhao, standing still, seemed to suddenly remember this and slapped his forehead hard. “How could I forget such an important thing!”
He told Wen Qian to wait a moment, then quickly pulled out a small blue cart from the corner of the shop.
With his help, Wen Qian stacked the flour bags on the cart and hurried off to the noodle shop.
Pushing open the noodle shop door, most of the background NPCs had left, except one wearing a black hoodie still sitting in the corner.
Wen Qian looked at him twice, noticing there was no label above his head — probably because she didn’t know his identity yet.
Jiang Zhi felt Wen Qian’s probing gaze and instinctively tightened his bony fingers.
He looked up with displeasure, his dark eyes staring directly at her.
He only intended to warn her to stop staring, but when their eyes met, he was surprised to see her equally surprised expression.
Wen Qian had a slight impression of this person; he had been sitting here when she first arrived at the noodle shop, and at that time, there was still quite a lot of noodles in his bowl.
Now that she had returned, the noodles in his bowl were almost gone.
These small details made Wen Qian somewhat reflective about the realism of this game world—if only the authenticity of NPCs like the noodle shop owner and the helper guy could be improved a little more.
At least, they shouldn’t act like they’re completely oblivious—as is the case now, where she had dragged the flour back, yet the noodle shop owner still wore an expression as if ignoring it; as if long as she didn’t come to turn in the quest, he could just keep ignoring her.
Lost in her thoughts, Wen Qian did not realize her gaze was causing discomfort to the person she was staring at, until he looked up at her.
The warning look didn’t make Wen Qian look away; instead, it made her admire him even more.
What excellent modeling!
His black hair was slightly disheveled and hung over his temples; his light-colored eyes were partially hidden beneath half-closed eyelids, and his brows involuntarily furrowed slightly from the heat of the room.
“Have you looked enough?” came a low, hoarse voice tinged with a faint irritation.
“Not yet… huh?” Wen Qian instinctively looked up at the top of his head.
There were no strange question marks or exclamation points—he was an NPC that could talk freely without issuing a quest!
Jiang Zhi frowned slightly and met her gaze.
The girl in front of him wore a deep blue uniform, her jet-black hair falling over her shoulders. Hearing his not-so-friendly words, her long thick eyelashes trembled, and a faint expression of surprised confusion appeared on her face.
It was early September; the weather had not yet cooled and was hot enough to melt the asphalt into sticky glue. The sunlight felt like flames burning on the skin.
Jiang Zhi, having skipped lunch, squinted at the cloudless sky and walked into what seemed to be a newly opened noodle shop—then encountered a somewhat strange girl inside.
The noodle shop only had two pale yellow fans, more decorative than practical, laboriously turning for a long time but only producing a breeze that wasn’t really cool.
Feeling the sweat dripping from his temple, Jiang Zhi withdrew his gaze and hesitated briefly as his hand reached for a tissue box.
“There’s no tissue left in there. Use this one,” Wen Qian said, taking a pack of brand-new tissues from another table and pushing it toward Jiang Zhi.
Then she looked at the top of his head expectantly.
Jiang Zhi was stunned for a moment and spoke somewhat awkwardly, “…Thanks.”
He had thought that after his earlier words, their interaction would end.
He didn’t expect her to seem completely unfazed.
Feeling her gaze still fixed on him—though now looking at the top of his head rather than his face—Jiang Zhi couldn’t figure out what she wanted.
“You—” Jiang Zhi pursed his lips, coldly looking at her, but before he could speak, the girl showed a slightly disappointed expression, withdrew her gaze without hesitation, and dragged the small cart toward the noodle shop owner.
“Boss, I’ve brought the flour!” Wen Qian greeted the owner.
But inside, she felt a bit regretful. After the strange young man accepted the tissues, she had hoped it might trigger a new quest.
She had been watching for a long time, but nothing happened.
She sighed in frustration. After all, quests are common but not everyone can trigger one.
The owner, who had ignored her since she came in, seemed to only just notice her presence and showed a warm smile.
“Welcome!” His eyes landed on the blue small cart behind Wen Qian. He quickly approached. “You brought the flour? Thank you so much!”
The noodle shop owner efficiently took down the flour bags, patted the small cart, and looked at Wen Qian, waving generously.
“To show my thanks, this small cart is yours!”
Wen Qian looked at the system’s rewards panel and saw, besides the previous rewards, a new reward for the small cart.
She didn’t feel this was strange. After all, game rewards were often quirky; in a game she had played before, NPCs even gave her a poop hat and broken tire as gifts.
Compared to those, the small cart was very practical.
“Well, I’ll take it then!” Wen Qian’s expression brightened at getting a cart without spending money.
But to the other person present, their conversation seemed a bit odd.
The reward for helping was… a small cart?
“Boss, I want a bowl of beef noodles. By the way, have you thought about installing air conditioning in the shop? It’s way too hot without AC in this weather!” Wen Qian leaned on the counter. “Be careful not to scare off the customers with this heat.”
Jiang Zhi’s mouth tightened into a line as he glanced at the girl with her back turned.
Having just been out in the sun, Wen Qian showed no signs of irritation; it was as if the burning sunlight didn’t exist. Her fair skin evoked images of ice and snow, yet it melted in the smile in her eyes.
“Want air conditioning?” the noodle shop owner laughed heartily. “Then you better work hard!”
Wen Qian: ?
Why was she the one who needed to work hard? How was this her business?
[Player level 10 unlocks Level 2 Noodle Shop]
The system prompt came with a preview image of the Level 2 noodle shop—almost twice the size of the current shop, with additional items like a beverage window, air conditioning, and a TV.
Wen Qian: So it really does have something to do with her…