After a while, Qian Chuanchuan lay paralyzed on her folding bed. Her eyelids felt heavy, but her mind was abnormally clear.
She was tired, but she couldn’t sleep.
She felt like something was missing.
She didn’t plan on making any more buns today. She had been up since before dawn to steam the buns, and now she was exhausted. She decided to take a nap and then get up to prepare the ingredients for tomorrow’s buns.
Then, she would go to bed early!
Waking up early was a painful ordeal; she had to make up for it with double the sleep!
But lying there, she just couldn’t drift off. She felt like she had skipped a step.
Qian Chuanchuan stared at the ceiling and began to space out.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit her, and she finally realized what was missing!
Her phone!
She hadn’t touched a phone for nearly ten hours!
Oh wait—she didn’t even have a phone.
When the system brought her here, she hadn’t brought anything except herself and the pajamas she was wearing.
The system said that once she completed the mission, if she wanted to return to her original world, it would send her back to the exact moment she left, so she didn’t need to worry.
She wasn’t worried about that, but she couldn’t live without a phone!
Yesterday, when she first arrived, she had forgotten all about it and fallen straight asleep. It was only now that she realized she was suffering from phone withdrawal.
“San San! I want a phone!” She sat up like a leaping carp, protesting in grief and indignation.
System San San responded immediately:
[Host, the mall has the latest model of smartphone! Limited-time special price: 999 points!
Bonus Bluetooth headphones included!]
Qian Chuanchuan: “…”
“I want my old phone!” She gritted her teeth.
[Apologies, Host. Items from the original world cannot be carried over. And even if brought here, there are no cell towers or WiFi; your phone would just be a glowing brick.]
[However, the system phone has a built-in cross-dimensional network. It supports short videos, games, and all social media functions~]
Qian Chuanchuan: “…”
Damn it! She was tempted!
(〃′o`)
No! I must endure! It just wants to cheat me out of my points!
But—
How could a person live without a phone?! How could one survive?! What was the meaning of life without a phone?!!
She rolled around on the bed in agony. her mind filled with unscrolled short videos, unplayed game events, unread serial novels, and unseen comedy shows…
A moment later, the girl, with tears in her eyes, opened the system mall, found the phone page, and clicked the purchase button.
She watched helplessly as her points dropped from 2206 to 1207…
Simultaneously, a phone, a charger, and Bluetooth headphones appeared in her hands.
Sigh!
Points could be earned again, but a phone had to be bought.
It was only the cost of fifteen meat buns—small change.
She was the owner of a shop now; she had to be generous!
Qian Chuanchuan silently comforted herself.
Then, she happily turned the phone on.
The phone from the system mall was no different from a smartphone in her original world, but it had no SIM card and came with its own WiFi.
Qian Chuanchuan downloaded a few apps she frequently used, then put the phone on charge and set it aside.
She began her nap.
With the phone lying next to her, Qian Chuanchuan instantly felt at peace and soon fell asleep.
She slept until past 2 PM.
When Qian Chuanchuan sat up with a “chicken nest” of messy hair, she was completely dazed. The piercing sunlight outside the window left her disoriented for a long time, feeling as if she didn’t know what day or year it was.
She washed her face, and only then did she feel more spirited.
Immediately after, her stomach began to growl.
“Gurgle~~~~”
She was hungry.
She paced around her twenty-square-meter room: a few bundles of leeks piled in the corner, seasoned meat filling in the refrigerator, and several plates of eggs on the workstation.
Proofing dough would take too long…
Wait, I have an idea!
Ten minutes later, dozens of dough pieces were on the cutting board. Humming a song, Qian Chuanchuan rolled out the skins, scooped a large spoonful of leek and egg filling, and her fingers flew as she formed a row of plump leek pockets.
Sizzle—
Golden oil bubbles jumped in the flat-bottomed pan, and the skins gradually developed a toasted, crispy shell. The rich aroma of leeks mixed with the scent of eggs wafted through the air.
Qian Chuanchuan swallowed her saliva and poked them lightly with her chopsticks.
“Perfect!”
Qian Chuanchuan deftly moved the golden-brown, crispy leek pockets onto a plate. She picked one up, blew on it, and bit down impatiently—
Crunch!
The fragrant, crispy skin shattered between her teeth, and the piping hot leek and egg filling, coated in savory oil, exploded on her tongue. It was so hot she had to pant, yet she couldn’t bring herself to spit it out.
Just as she was inhaling sharply while flipping the second batch of leek pockets in the pan—
Thud!
A muffled sound suddenly came from outside the window, as if something heavy had crashed in front of her shop.
Qian Chuanchuan put down her chopsticks and walked to the window to look out.
All she saw was a pair of long legs encased in cargo pants.
And a head of thick, short hair.
Did someone faint at her shop door?
“San San, if I step out this door, is the system’s protection mechanism still active?”
Qian Chuanchuan had to confirm her safety before considering whether to go out and look.
[Rest assured, Host. As long as you do not leave a two-meter radius of the shop, no one can harm you. After the shop upgrades, the protection barrier will remain on you even if you leave!]
“That’s good, then.”
She decided to go out and see what was going on.
She couldn’t just let this person lie in front of her shop.
They had to pay a “protection fee” regardless!
Yes, when Qian Chuanchuan saw someone collapsed at her door, her first thought wasn’t to save them, but to collect a fee.
Her love for money was unshakeable. It was practically etched into her bones.
Qian Chuanchuan opened the door and stepped out.
The man’s appearance fully came into view.
Her breath hitched.
This man was so damn handsome! He was better looking than anyone Qian Chuanchuan had ever seen!
The man’s pale face looked like cold jade soaked in moonlight. His high brow bones cast sharp shadows, and his crow-feather eyelashes left a fragile arc on his eyelids. His nose was as straight as if carved by a knife, but a thin scar ran horizontally near his brow, looking as if it had once been pierced by a sharp blade.
His thin, pale lips were slightly pursed, and even in his unconscious state, he exuded a coldness that warned others not to approach.
The fabric on the left shoulder of his military green jacket was torn open, revealing a blood-soaked bandage beneath. His long fingers lay limply open, his knuckles covered in small calluses.
The man’s looks weren’t the pampered, delicate kind; rather, he possessed a lethal attraction characterized by wildness and sharpness—
It made someone like Qian Chuanchuan, who was usually only mesmerized by wealth, unable to look away for a moment.
Qian Chuanchuan blinked.
In her twenty-two years of life, she finally learned the meaning of a “beauty critical hit.”
But it was only for a moment.
In the next instant, she reached out an “evil foot” and kicked the man’s thigh.
“Hey! You still alive?”
Her tone was so indifferent and her action so rough that she was practically challenging the moral baseline of how to treat the injured.
The man’s brow furrowed slightly and his Adam’s apple bobbed, but he still showed no signs of waking.
However, having a reaction was good; it meant the man hadn’t fallen into a deep coma.
So, Qian Chuanchuan increased her strength slightly and kicked the outside of his thigh again.