After finishing her meal of grilled meat, Lu Fengmian leaned against the window with a look of complete satisfaction.
Her gaze fell upon the passersby coming and going outside.
“By the way, how can I tell whether these people are living human beings or simply game characters?” Lu Fengmian asked curiously.
Qing Shi tilted her head slightly. “Those who exist in your game system are game characters, while those not in the game system are passersby.”
She stated it as if it were natural, causing Lu Fengmian’s brain to freeze for a moment, after which she let out an embarrassed laugh. “Oh right, I just ate my fill, so my brain had a moment of foolishness.”
Asking this question was indeed a bit silly, considering Qing Shi had already explained it to her so clearly before.
Lu Fengmian rubbed her nose, then summoned the system in her mind.
The system popped up immediately: [What are your instructions, host?]
[Nothing, just calling to see if you’re alive.] Lu Fengmian didn’t actually have anything to ask the system for at the moment, she just wanted to confirm it was alive so she wouldn’t fail to find it at a crucial moment.
[Report: Alive, reachable, not disconnected, behaving properly.]
Lu Fengmian: …
Every single day, really.
[If nothing is wrong, maintain the game well and tell me as soon as anything comes up,] Lu Fengmian instructed it.
[Got it.]
Knowing she could reach the system, Lu Fengmian let out a sigh of relief.
“Finished eating?” Qing Shi asked with a smile, sitting opposite Lu Fengmian.
“Mhm, full.” As she spoke, she looked down at Bai Jiu at her feet.
She gestured lazily with her finger toward Bai Jiu. “Shrink a bit.”
Bai Jiu tilted its head and looked at her for a moment, then obediently turned into a tiny fox.
Lu Fengmian picked it up, placed it on her lap, and stroked it for a while. Since she didn’t have a cat to pet, petting a fox was pretty nice too.
Having just eaten its fill, Bai Jiu immediately started purring happily as Lu Fengmian scratched its belly.
Qing Shi sat across from Lu Fengmian, narrowing her eyes slightly.
[Hahaha, Ah Shi: Face full of displeasure.]
[Cracking up, what kind of decent NPC gets jealous of a pet?]
[Anyway, except for the streamer’s, no one else’s NPC acts like this.]
Lu Fengmian: …
I really give up, you guys are so sharp-eyed.
However, she was too lazy to care anymore. Let them be sharp-eyed, what could she do about it anyway?
She couldn’t make Qing Shi behave, nor could she stop others from watching.
She could only wait until the open beta launched, when she could turn off the live stream, before doing anything about it.
“Aren’t you going to pay the bill?” Lu Fengmian looked at Qing Shi with a smile.
In truth, she hadn’t expected Qing Shi to actually help her settle the bill, considering where on earth this girl would get money from.
Although she seemed to have ordered a lot, it was still within the price range she could afford herself.
Unexpectedly, Qing Shi nodded slightly. “Settle it, let’s head downstairs first.”
She opened the barrier, standing up first to wait for Lu Fengmian.
When Lu Fengmian stood up holding Bai Jiu, Qing Shi’s gaze still swept back and forth across Bai Jiu several times.
In the end, while going down the stairs, she couldn’t hold back anymore. Reaching out, she lifted Bai Jiu out of Lu Fengmian’s arms and tossed it to the side.
She herself, however, naturally held Lu Fengmian’s hand. “Holding it while going downstairs makes it hard to see your path. Walk properly, I’ll hold your hand.”
Qing Shi spoke with utter seriousness, and Lu Fengmian couldn’t help bursting into laughter.
Was she some three-year-old child? Needing someone to hold her hand just to walk down a flight of stairs.
[Translation: Don’t hold it, wouldn’t holding my hand be better than holding it?]
[You really know how to translate.]
[Looks great, give us more.]
[I never expected that one day I would ship a CP between a player and an NPC, this is way too bizarre.]
Lu Fengmian also felt these viewers were quite bizarre.
Of course, if she were an audience member, she would probably ship it too. After all, as long as she wasn’t the main character, it was quite entertaining.
Lu Fengmian followed Qing Shi to the payment counter on the first floor. Lu Fengmian looked at Qing Shi with leisure. “Do you have money?”
Qing Shi kept a cold face and said with absolute righteous confidence, “I don’t have money.”
“If you don’t have money, how are you treating me to a meal?” Lu Fengmian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Don’t worry, it’s coming soon,” Qing Shi said calmly.
Just as her voice fell, a gorgeously dressed woman with an enchanting figure walked over.
However, the moment she saw Qing Shi, she immediately lowered her head and became much more respectful.
“Master.”
Qing Shi simply extended her hand toward her coldly. “Money.”
The woman immediately handed a bag of silver money to Qing Shi. Qing Shi opened it, took a glance, and then placed the money bag into Lu Fengmian’s hand. “For you.”
Looking at that bag of silver pieces, Lu Fengmian was completely stunned. This could actually work?
This indeed looked like quite a lot.
Lu Fengmian forced herself to remain calm and asked the shopkeeper how much the total cost was.
After the shopkeeper stated the amount, Lu Fengmian took out money from her original money pouch and gave it to the other party.
Afterward, she looked at Qing Shi again. “Really giving it to me?”
“Of course,” Qing Shi looked at her in confusion. “If not to Mianmian, who else would I give it to? I don’t need money.”
Lu Fengmian instantly felt that she had latched onto a grand backer.
“Then I won’t be polite.” Lu Fengmian put those silver pieces into her system inventory. It was truly a large sum of income, instantly giving her money worth over ten gold bars.
In the Fengming Continent where Lu Fengmian was currently located, the circulating currency consisted of copper coins, silver, and gold.
It was similar to ancient China in her past life.
Of course, the circulating currency in other continents was different.
Currently, the level cap was still within the Human Realm.
Even after reaching max level, players only received a notice that the Spirit Medicine Sect was about to recruit disciples, but they could not enter the sect yet.
However, after reaching max level, there were many more things to play. One could unlock home systems and a series of other casual gameplay options.
Of course, because it was still in closed beta, open-world PvP gameplay had not been implemented yet.
Lu Fengmian prepared to launch this feature when the open beta officially opened.
There were also various factions within the game. Players could choose to join factions that were open for recruitment, and there would be conflicts and friction between factions.
PvP gameplay was built on this foundation.
Of course, even without joining a faction, there were still many ways to play.
After all, her quest was to let these game players learn more about ancient culture, and casual gameplay was the easiest way to reflect these things.
Lu Fengmian accepted the silver given by Qing Shi without hesitation, and the woman who had rushed over also left promptly under Qing Shi’s signal.
Lu Fengmian and Qing Shi walked out of the barbecue restaurant together. “You even have such wealthy subordinates?”
Qing Shi thought about it and answered her truthfully.
“Last time when I saw you walking on the street, you seemed to have many things you wanted, but said you had no money and didn’t buy them. After you left, I went to look at those players and found that they all needed money very much.”
“Furthermore, gold and silver from before in the real world seem to automatically convert into data within your game, which should be an automatic conversion by the world rules. So I went to find some people, and they were willing to give money themselves, I didn’t force them,” Qing Shi said with a look of innocence.
Lu Fengmian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“So why were they willing?” Lu Fengmian asked curiously.
Qing Shi said as a matter of course, “Wouldn’t beating them up solve it?”
“Is this what you meant by not forcing them?” Lu Fengmian didn’t even know where to begin roasting her.
Qing Shi blinked innocently. “It was because some of them coveted my beauty first.”
“Then they deserved to be beaten.”
Hearing Lu Fengmian change her stance so quickly, Qing Shi curved her eyes in delight.
“I knew Mianmian cared about me.”
Lu Fengmian: …