"Huh? You're not going to buy any for Baozi?" Baozi was unhappy.
A large bead of cold sweat dripped down Stone's forehead. What kind of clothes does a little dumpling wear? However, Stone didn't dare to offend the dumpling anymore and quickly reassured him, "Buy it, buy it. We'll go to the street and take a look tomorrow."
Hearing what Stone said, Baozi's mood improved, and it returned to the previous topic of taste: "Hehe, Master! Baozi didn't mean your clothes were ugly! Clothes can be changed anytime, and it doesn't matter if they're a little ugly! But the most important thing is the body! The body you chose this time is really ugly, it's absolutely garbage!"
After listening to Baozi's long string of complaints, Shitou was momentarily stunned. She didn't understand what Baozi was talking about: "Baozi, what did you say? My body? No taste?"
Is there a connection between these two things?
"Giggle, yeah, yeah! Didn't Master say he changed bodies? But the body Master chose this time is really ugly, really ugly! Look, the height is too short; the legs are too thick; the hands look like chicken feet..." Baozi smugly began to judge the stone: "And, here, here..."
Baozi suddenly jumped onto the flat chest of the stone in the water: "Gaga, Master, didn't you used to have two big, white, plump buns here? They were so pretty! Where are the buns now?"
"Hehe, you still have the nerve! Didn't Master say before that a woman's face is very important? But why did you choose such an ugly face this time? I've never seen a face uglier than Master's face before!" Baozi continued to express his opinion: "But now I have seen it, Mifen'er's face is even uglier than Master's face! Wahahaha, I know why Master kept Mifen'er!"
Stone felt deeply that if he could get a watermelon knife right now, how wonderful that would be!
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Shengjianbao is working so hard to type!
Hey everyone, give me a kiss (╯3╰)~~~
Chapter 99: Bloodbath or Bloodbath?
"Mifen'er, wake up!" Early in the morning, Shitou rushed out of his room and pounced on Mifen'er's door, banging on it frantically. There was no way around it; the biological clock set by his mother meant that unless he was exhausted, Shitou usually got up around eight o'clock.
A few minutes later, the door was pulled open with a "whoosh," and Mi Fen'er looked at Shi Tou with sleepy eyes, yawning as she said, "Shi Tou, my name is Mi Fen, and your name is Serena."
This joke is so lame!
Stone involuntarily shuddered. "Um, slip of the tongue. Miss Mifen, may I invite you to go shopping?"
"Shopping?" Mi Fen'er looked at Shi Tou with a puzzled expression. "What's shopping? Can you eat it?"
Shi Tou murmured, how could she forget? Mi Fen'er was an atypical foodie! She gritted her teeth and nodded, "Yes, of course there's food. Shopping is about buying delicious food while walking." Silently shedding tears, if her best friends from her past life knew this, she would definitely be beaten to death.
"Okay! Rice Noodles wants to go!" Hearing about the delicious food, Rice Noodles immediately perked up, casually wiping her face: "Alright, let's go!"
Stone broke out in a cold sweat: "Um, I need to go wash my face." Waaah, how could she forget? Elves are the darlings of nature. They eat pure natural fruits and spring water, and their bodies are always fragrant. They basically don't need to bathe, let alone wash their faces.
By the time Shi Tou had finished tidying up, the old woman downstairs had already prepared breakfast. When Shi Tou brought Mi Fen'er downstairs, Er Niu was already sitting at the table, having almost finished her breakfast.
Seeing Stone come downstairs, the old woman was a little embarrassed: "Miss Serena, I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were up so early. Um... how about we eat something together?"
Shi Tou decisively refused. It wasn't that she disliked the breakfast, but rather that she felt it was shameless to expect to freeload on breakfast when she had only paid a small room rate. Besides, she wanted to stroll around the streets on an empty stomach!
"No need for breakfast. I just wanted to ask if Erniu is going out today? I'd like to go for a walk, but I don't know the way." Shi Tou asked seriously, pretending to be a lady.
Erniu immediately put down her cutlery, grabbed a napkin to wipe her mouth, and quickly got up to walk towards Shitou: "Okay, I'm done eating. Let's go out now!"
The old woman glanced at Erniu, who still had about a third of her breakfast left. She hesitated, wanting to say something but then stopping herself. Before she could say anything, Erniu had already dragged the stones and rice noodles out. The old woman could only sigh and clean up the dishes. Ah, this child used to be such a mischievous little devil who couldn't do anything! Back then, she had always worried that she had spoiled the child too much, but who knew that now…
It's all because of the pressures of life!
"Erniu, where are we going?" Shitou looked at Erniu curiously. Actually, she had felt this family was strange since yesterday. It was a brand new house, yet they used it as a hotel. The grandfather and granddaughter's behavior seemed to be well-educated, yet their living conditions were unusually impoverished. Although she hadn't carefully examined the dining table out of politeness, that quick glance told her that this family's life was truly...
"Let's go to the market!" Erniu said, walking ahead. "The weather's nice today, there must be lots of people going to the market!"
market……
For some reason, the name "market" suddenly popped into Stone's mind. Having spent his previous life browsing boutiques, Stone wasn't really interested in markets! But since the tour guide suggested it, he figured he might as well go check it out.
After following Erniu to the market, Shitou finally understood why Erniu had added that the weather was nice earlier.
Before me was a spacious, open-air square paved with neat rows of bricks. The bricks were of two colors, red and white, and they stretched across the square like zebra crossings. In the middle of the square were various small stalls, very simple stalls, just a cloth spread on the ground with goods sparsely arranged on it.
Stone was immediately disappointed. What was this? It was even more flea market-like than a flea market!
"This is the biggest market in town. It's open every day, but if the weather is bad, no one sets up a stall. When the sun is about to set, Grandma will cook some delicious food and bring it here to sell," Erniu explained to Shitou, pointing to the square in front of her.
"What do these red and white bricks mean?" Hearing Erniu's question, Shitou gained a more direct understanding of Erniu's family situation. He wondered what had happened to this family that made the little girl have to go out to find work every day, and the old woman have to go to the night market.
Erniu walked forward a little further: "Oh, you mean this color? This is where the stalls are located and where people walk! The mayor said that the white road is for walking and the red road is for setting up stalls. People who come to set up stalls can't occupy the walking area, otherwise, they won't be allowed to set up stalls next time."
"That's good," Stone nodded. It was clear the people in this world were quite simple and honest; if they were told not to set up stalls, they really wouldn't. And after looking around, Stone didn't see any city management officials or anything like that nearby: "Is it free to set up a stall here?"
"Money? What money? Why do we need money?" Erniu looked at Shitou with great confusion.
Um, how do you explain this?
"So, this square belongs to the town, right?" Seeing Erniu nod, Shitou continued, "And you don't have to pay the town for your stall here?"
"Why do we have to pay money? This square was built by everyone! Those with money contributed money, and those with strength contributed strength. This is everyone's square! Why do we have to pay money to the town?" Erniu still didn't understand what Shitou meant and looked suspicious.
Shi Tou decided it was best not to explain any further: "Well, but what if some people don't get a stall if it's free?"
"If he can't set up a stall, he can set one up tomorrow! Who told him to sleep in so late!" Erniu said dismissively. "Besides, there aren't that many people setting up stalls. Look, the weather is so nice today, and there are still so many empty spots!"
Stone was deeply impressed by how civilized the people of that other world were!
"Well, let's go for a walk then!" Stone felt the conversation was going nowhere and quickly asked to lead the way.
Erniu glanced at Shitou with a hint of embarrassment, and Shitou immediately understood her meaning. They were still looking for work; offering to guide them was already more than enough, and we couldn't go too far.
"Erniu, if you have something to do, you can go ahead! Anyway, I know this way, and I'll get back by myself later." Shi Tou kindly asked Erniu to leave, thinking, "We can't keep her from getting back to work, right?"
After seeing Erniu off, Shitou held Mifen'er's hand and instructed her, "You must hold my hand later, and try not to talk. If there's anything you can eat, I'll definitely buy it for you."
Mifen nodded obediently.
Walking along the white "sidewalk," Stone looked around, glancing here and there. The market wasn't particularly abundant; it mainly sold handmade items. For example, there were straw pillows, mats, hand-spun fabrics, and some fruits that clearly resembled those from the Blood Forest.
Because he had promised MiFen'er beforehand, Shi Tou bought all the fruit he saw without hesitation, without even haggling over the price. Fortunately, the people here were generally quite honest, and they didn't raise the price when they saw Shi Tou buying fruit like crazy. On the contrary, a few more shrewd people asked Shi Tou if he needed any more in the future, and Shi Tou nodded vigorously.
That's obvious. An elf needs to eat at least 30 jin of fruit a day. But that doesn't mean 30 jin is enough to fill up Mifen'er. According to Shi Tou's estimate, it would be impossible to fill Mifen'er up completely without 50 or 60 jin of fruit.
Besides a huge pile of fruit, Shi Tou also bought a lot of brightly colored handmade fabrics. Touching these slightly rough fabrics, Shi Tou felt genuinely excited. What a joke! This was real, pure handwoven fabric! In his previous life, a small headscarf like this would have cost at least a thousand or eight hundred yuan.
It wasn't that the merchants were unscrupulous; it's just that hand-weaving cloth is extremely time-consuming, and some intricately patterned fabrics can take several months to complete. So, feeling he'd gotten a great deal, Shi Tou happily packed up all the fabrics that caught his eye.
After browsing only a small part of the stalls, the rice noodle vendor behind him was already bundled up from head to toe. Shi Tou felt a little bad about it, so he bought a wooden cart from a stall selling wooden products. The wooden cart was actually used to transport goods, but because Shi Tou offered a high price, the vendor sold it to him without hesitation.
Wow, with so much money, I could build two more cars. The stall owner, feeling incredibly lucky today, happily calculated that he could buy his wife some extra eggs to nourish her body when he got home.
"By the way, boss, did you make all these wooden products?" After buying the wooden cart, Shi Tou gestured to Mi Fen'er to put all the spoils from their previous purchases onto the cart.
"Ah? Yes!" The stall owner was lost in his wonderful fantasy and was a beat late in answering Stone's question.
Stone nodded, a vague idea flashing through her mind. However, she was quickly drawn to the colorful threads beside her.
So, when everyone packed up and went home for lunch, Shi Tou realized that his spoils for the day were incredibly plentiful, practically...
Sigh, no matter what world you're in, a shopping spree is always the most exhilarating. But looking at the vendors who left, whose goods were clearly much less, Stone felt that today didn't seem like a shopping spree, but rather a bloodbath.
o(╯□╰)o
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It's time for the second watch!
Applause, confetti!
Chapter 100: Whoever Says I'm Human, I'll Beat Them Up
So, when Stone was pulling Rice Noodles back the way they came, they passed a relatively secluded place. Stone quickly and secretly called out Baozi and moved most of the spoils into his spatial dimension.
Even so, the remaining spoils still startled the old woman and Erniu: "Serena...you, what is this?"
Shi Tou smiled sheepishly. Actually, her original intention was to have Bao Zi put all these things into her spatial dimension. But then she thought, this town wasn't very big, and what if the old woman heard some gossip later? How would she explain it?
So, even though she knew the grandmother and granddaughter would be frightened, she gritted her teeth and left a small portion of her spoils outside. Although Erniu looked at her strangely, she kindly helped her carry them, and even the old woman who was preparing lunch lent a hand.
"Miss Serena, lunch is ready, please join us!" The old woman earnestly invited Stone to eat with her, but Stone politely declined. Firstly, the old woman's family wasn't well-off, and Stone didn't want to take advantage of them. Secondly, the old woman's food was truly terrible, and she had no appetite.
Finally, Shi Tou led Mi Fen back to the second floor. Although there were three guest rooms on the second floor, for the time being, it was still Shi Tou and Mi Fen's domain. With Bao Zi's help, Shi Tou tossed about 100 pounds of fruit into Mi Fen's room, and then took out the fire tongs and gave her some of the dry food to eat.
The so-called "makeshift" meal is simply drinking chilled fruit juice, eating dried cured meat, and having a few delicious fruits.
"Baozi, don't you think the people in this town are a bit strange?" While eating and drinking, Shi Tou called Baozi out for a chat. Today's topic was the unusual behavior of the residents of Tingyun Town.
"Hehe, Baozi thinks the people in town aren't strange, the strange thing is you, Master!" Baozi adhered to the principle of going against Stone to the end, either remaining silent or speaking, which would infuriate Stone.
Stone got annoyed: "Why? I just bought a few things, what's so strange about that?"
"Gah gah. Just a little bit! The master actually said it was just a little bit?!" Baozi repeated Shitou's words in an exaggerated aria: "Good heavens! The master actually treated several years' worth of someone else's inventory as just a little bit!"
"Several years' worth of inventory?!" Stone, who was about to explode in anger, was drawn in by Baozi's words: "What do you mean? You're saying these handwoven fabrics are several years' worth of inventory?" No way? Although handwoven fabrics are a bit laborious, it shouldn't be this much, right?
"Hehe, where did the cloth come from? There's a kind of huge white silkworm in the Crimson Forest that spins silk. Then the silk is dyed and woven into cloth! The master bought so much, this town won't have any cloth for a long time!" Baozi's actions and tone were still extremely exaggerated. But this time, Stone didn't scold it, which was rare.
Um, wasn't she feeling guilty? She was only calculating the time needed for weaving. She forgot that silk thread in this world isn't sold in bulk: "Um, hehe..." Smiling obsequiously at Baozi, Stone swore in her heart that she didn't intend to monopolize anything, really!
"Hehe, and one more thing, Master, remember. Winter is coming in another month!" Baozi kindly reminded Stone, a sentiment it deeply understood. Having spent so long in the underground city of the Dwarf Kingdom, Stone had lost track of the changing seasons.
"Winter is coming?" Shi Tou really hadn't thought of that. "So what? Do we need to buy a cotton-padded coat? Or are there no ready-made clothing stores here, and we have to find a tailor to make one ourselves?"
Baozi stared intently at the stone, as if the stone had instantly transformed into a giant, whiter, fatter, and more unreliable steamed bun: "Hehe, Master, are you crazy?! The explorers are coming after winter!"
What?!
Stone stood up abruptly. Explorers? That wasn't a good word for Stone: "What's going on? Why do explorers all come after winter begins?"
"Giggle, Master really doesn't know?" Baozi looked at the stone with suspicion, but when it realized that the stone's expression didn't seem fake, it didn't make things difficult for the stone and slowly began to tell the story.
While explorers frequently roam the Crimson Forest, they generally enter before winter and leave after spring. Aside from these periods, humans are rarely seen in the Crimson Forest.
"Why?" Stone was quite surprised. Although she had always found it strange that she had wandered in the Crimson Forest for so long without ever seeing any humans, she had initially thought she was just lucky!
"Hehe, because all the monsters have disappeared, humans don't like going to the Crimson Forest anymore!" Baozi was quite patient this time.