Chapter 13 – Time for the quest reward!

🙞❤︎🙜

He was even more gorgeous when he was awake, and I couldn’t stop myself from devouring him with my eyes. He was so tall that I only reached up to his shoulder, and his long, white hair was in a high ponytail. Both men and women in this world didn’t cut their hair, because there was a cultural taboo about modifying the body that they had been born in.

The Prince was wearing an intricately designed white and blue robe made of a richly patterned fabric. He was wearing white pants underneath the robe, and gold and jade ornaments hung from his belt.

But it was his face that really caught my attention. Now that he wasn’t unconscious, I could see that his eyes really were blue. His skin was still pale, but he no longer looked ill. I could hardly believe how beautiful his face was. His skin was smooth and unblemished, his jawline was perfectly sculpted, and his lips were full and sensual. His blue eyes were fringed with long, thick lashes…

Wait, why was he looking away, refusing to meet my eyes? Was he blushing???

Yes, his cheeks were definitely red!

I put a hand over my mouth to stifle a laugh.

“Are you done staring at me?” he asked, eyes still averted. His voice did not disappoint, either. It was deep and resonant, and as scrumptious as melted chocolate to the ears. I could listen to him talk all day.

“No, I would like more time,” I said honestly.

Prince Baiyu turned his head to look down on me, and our eyes met for the first time. “Are you going to invite me in?”

I looked over my shoulder at the room behind me. “You expect me to invite you into my bedroom? But we just met!”

He turned an even brighter red. “No, I, I just meant, you-”

I took mercy on him and interrupted his stammering explanation. “I’m kidding. Let’s go there.”

I just gestured to the right side of my cottage, and he obediently retreated a few steps to allow me to close the door and lead him to the place that I had prepared. I offered him water from a pitcher when we sat down, but he refused.

“Oh, where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Violet,” I said. I raised an eyebrow at him expectantly.

“I’m Baiyu,” he said.

“So…” I let my words trail off, but he didn’t take the bait. “What brings you here?”

He reached into a sleeve and took out a Blight Magic Potion. “What is this?”

“It helps with qi overload. You’re welcome, by the way,” I said. Seeing the prince’s attitude, I was no longer nervous. What a cutie! The way he blushed and stammered when I teased him a little was totally adorable.

"How did you know that it would help me?"

"I'm sure Shuye has told you that I have a bloodline inheritance skill." I drank some water and continued my explanation. "Yesterday, I was foraging in the forest when I passed by near the cave and decided to check it out. I'm only a novice alchemist, but I could see that you were suffering from a qi overload. There was no one else around, so I decided to help you out by using one of my potions, since I was worried about what would happen to you if you were left untreated."

My story should be plausible. Most of it was true, anyway, except for the fact that the System had told me what to do, instead of everything happening by coincidence.

We were both silent for a few minutes.

Eventually, he turned to look at me and said, “What does ‘nice abs’ mean?”

“Huh?” I didn’t get what he was asking. Was there another meaning for “nice abs” other than the obvious?

“You know, I was conscious the entire time. I heard you say ‘nice abs’ after you tore off my clothes,” he said.

“You were conscious? Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked. This time, when he repeated the words, I realized that I had said “nice abs” in English. It must’ve sounded like gibberish to him.

“I was conscious, and I could hear everything you said. And I felt everything, too, but I couldn’t move or speak,” he said.

That must’ve been nightmarish for him. “I see.”

My tight-lipped ways seemed to have annoyed him. “Just tell me what you meant by that.”

“I was complimenting you on your abdominal muscles,” I said.

Prince Baiyu seemed taken aback for a moment, then he smiled. His teeth were very white, and the expression on his face became extremely smug. “Then you liked what you saw.”

He glanced at me sideways from beneath his long eyelashes. My goodness! What a flirtatious look.

“Very much so,” I said. There was no use denying it.

“Miss Violet, I hope you realize you can’t just climb into a man’s bed, tear his clothes off, touch him all over, and then run away,” he said.

I burst out laughing. “Please don’t make me sound like some sort of pervert! I was just treating your illness.”

I must’ve left quite an impression on him.

“Nonetheless, I hope you intend to take responsibility for what you’ve done,” he said, a pink blush staining his high cheekbones.

What was he, some sort of Victorian maiden whose modesty had been outraged by a scoundrel?

“I didn’t actually touch you,” I said, smiling mischievously. “There was no skin to skin contact because I wore gloves.”

“It still counts.”

“I didn’t touch you in the area below the waist and above the knees, so you’re fine!”

I laughed at his expression.

He leaned towards me and whispered, “But you were thinking of touching me there?”

This flirting was getting out of hand. I drew away from him slightly, and he took the hint and leaned back in his chair.

“No! Please don’t accuse a pure and innocent young lady of such a thing. I merely took pity on a poor unfortunate soul who was suffering from a dangerous illness,” I said.

“This poor unfortunate soul would like to thank you for your help,” he said.

The quest text changed from [Rescue Prince Baiyu: Quest Complete. Reward: A Royal Favor from Prince Baiyu] to [Choose Reward].

[1. Gold]

[ 2. Farm Upgrade]

Nice!

Mentally choosing the [2. Farm Upgrade] button, I said, “I wouldn’t mind a reward.”

I heard a faint clicking sound and saw that my farming skills were now all unlocked.

[Player Name: Violet

Farming Skills:

Farming Level 8, Fishing Level 8, Woodcutting Level 8, Cooking Level 1, Herblaw Level 3, Foraging Level 2, Hunting Level 1, Mining Level 1]

“Is there anything you need?” Prince Baiyu asked.

My heart leapt when I saw the options available in the System.

[1. More Land]

[ 2. Hire Staff]

Yes! This was amazing! Normally, a player couldn’t hire more staff until they reached level 30 farming, which would be around the second year of in-game time. I hurriedly chose [ 2. Hire Staff], and said out loud, “I would like to hire some people to help around the farm.”

“That’s all? That’s too easy,” he said, frowning. The lotus flower marking on his forehead wrinkled in a very cute way when his brows drew together.

“No, no, I really need help with hiring people,” I said. “No one wants to work here in the middle of the forest where no one else lives.”

“I suppose this farm is very isolated. Why did you choose this spot?”

“I like the privacy, but it’s three hours away from the nearest town, so I think it would be hard for me to get really good staff,” I said. “That’s why I’d like your help. With your recommendation, I’m sure I’ll be able to hire top-notch people.”

“Very well. I will send one of my people to arrange it. You can tell him your requirements,” he said.

“Can’t I just tell Shuye what I want? I’m not used to having other people here,” I said.

He agreed, and we spent a few more minutes making small talk before he left.

***

The next day, Shuye visited me, and I asked him to find “the best chef who’s willing to work here. I don’t care about anything else but how good their cooking is.”

Shuye said it would take the Prince’s people a few days to find a suitable candidate. That was fine with me since I had to prepare more living places on the farm.

“You know, you could ask for more than just a chef. Don’t you need more people here?” asked Shuye.

Now that was an idea.

“Well, I would like some help…” Adventure Incarnate had an apprentice system where the player could go to the orphanage and choose orphans to work on their farm. These apprentices could then be ordered to do some of the more tedious daily chores. The downside of this, of course, was that the player wouldn’t receive the farming experience they would have if they had done the chores themselves.

As for the me right now, this was my real life, not a game, so it would be good to have some help around the place in order for me to expand the farm sooner.

“I’ll let them know,” said Shuye.

“Do you think the staff would prefer a cottage or a courtyard house?” I asked Shuye.

The bear-like Farm Guide looked askance at my modest dwelling. “The courtyard house.”

“I thought so.” I finished my morning chores as I chatted with Shuye, who seemed pretty certain I could get a pretty talented chef.

How exciting to think that I would at last be able to keep fresh, cooked food. Meat! That was the thing that I missed the most.

Though Shuye hadn’t said much, I felt quite certain that I should make the staff living quarters a lot more impressive than the cottage.

Fortunately, my completing the quest had unlocked the first three levels of the house requirements. I looked at the available options on the System menu.

[Cottage]

[Ranch]

[Mansion]

The palace, castle, and fortress were all unavailable for now. They would only be unlocked when my farming level rose.

There was another set of options for traditional houses.

[One Courtyard House]

[Two Courtyard House]

[Three Courtyard House]

For myself, personally, I wanted to make a ranch-style house. A mansion was definitely out of the question, since it would be needlessly ostentatious and vulgar for a humble farmer like me.

Hmm.

Should I make the biggest courtyard house I could for the staff?

It seemed to me that making a house with three open courtyards was a bit of an overkill. I would only be allowed to hire three apprentices, so it’s not like I needed a lot of rooms for them and the chef.

[Traditional Courtyard House:

Also called a siheyuan. This type of house is rectangular and built around a central courtyard that is open to the sky. In order for the house to receive maximum sunlight throughout the year, it is positioned on a north-south axis. The main gate is typically placed in the southeastern corner. The northern building is considered the main house where the head of the family lives. The junior members of the family live in the eastern and western buildings.]

When I tried to tentatively place a three-courtyard house, I saw it was much too big for the amount of space that I had cleared.

On the other hand, when I placed a one courtyard house, it only had three bedrooms. I suppose I could ask the apprentices to sleep in the same bedroom, but that was less than ideal. I spent the rest of the day cutting down more trees to clear enough land for a two-courtyard house.