The surface of the cardboard box was printed with the pattern of a shelf. Opening it, she found white metal boards, support rods, screws, hex wrenches, and other tool kits inside.
Following the instructions, Qi Huan patiently assembled the shelves. By the time she had assembled two of them, it was already late at night.
Yawning, she wasn't in a hurry to sleep. Instead, she took out all the items from her space, placed the shelves against the wall, and sorted the items into the shelves by category.
After describing to the system where she wanted to place the items, the things on the ground automatically arranged themselves in those locations, allowing her to organize without moving a muscle.
There were also many flattened cardboard and plastic bags piled up in the space, occupying a portion of the area.
"System, do you collect trash?"
"Why don't you keep burning them as firewood, host?"
"That's not environmentally friendly... Besides, protecting the environment is also a good deed, isn't it? The paper scraps are for you, and the points are for me."
Hearing her speak so confidently, the system carefully considered and found her argument valid.
"One pound of paper scraps earns one point. Plastic bags are worthless, so they won't earn any points. In total, you've accumulated 39 pounds of paper scraps, which is 39 points."
"Since a thousand miles of gratitude are always in one's heart, can you give me one more point? Round it up to 40 points, nice and even."
"Host, you're making things difficult for me."
After saying that awkwardly, the system silently applied the "rounding" algorithm to the host.
Current balance: 10,040 points!
Qi Huan squinted her eyes with a smile, then purchased ten more greenhouse films, spending 2,670 points. With the remaining 7,370 points, she decided to gift 5,000 to the system.
"System, I'm giving you another 5,000 points. Along with what I've given before, you now have 10,000 points, right?"
"That's correct, host. I still need 90,000 more points before I can upgrade to level three. Please keep up the good work."
Hearing such a staggering number, Qi Huan lost the desire to continue the conversation and decided to go to sleep instead.
As she slept, her dreams were filled with all sorts of visions.
The next day, July 7th.
Qi Huan opened her wardrobe and carefully selected a light blue silk dress. The soft, pale color complemented her fair skin, making her appear delicate and lovely.
After washing her face, she began applying makeup in front of the mirror. With a few brushstrokes, she shed some of her childlike innocence and gained a touch of radiant beauty.
Finally, she tied her hair into a simple single chignon and inserted a gilded hairpin adorned with pearls and peach blossoms.
In the less than a year since she had arrived in this ancient era, this was the only hairstyle she had learned. As for the lotus bun, serpent bun, fairy bun, and others that Yue Ming had taught her, her eyes had memorized them, but her hands had not.
Gazing at her reflection in the mirror, Qi Huan adjusted her hairpin, her smiling eyes curving as she left her room to prepare breakfast.
When she arrived in the kitchen, Li Shuchen was already standing by the stove, stirring the noodles in the iron pot with chopsticks.
"Ah Huan, you've finally finished getting ready."
Crouching by the stove, Yan Qinghe wiped the sweat from his brow with one hand while adding firewood with the other, letting out a loud belch as he complained, "I've already eaten five bowls of longevity noodles."
"Burp~ Ah Shu said that today is your birthday, and he insisted on making noodles for you to eat. But are the noodles he made even edible for humans?
The first bowl had sugar instead of salt, which he didn't realize until after adding it. But he said we couldn't waste food, so he made me eat it for breakfast.
The second bowl had too much salt, enough to kill someone. After a few bites, I poured it into Hei Zi's dog bowl, only for him to knock it over with a swing of his paw.
The third bowl had vinegar instead of soy sauce, nearly stripping off my tooth enamel.
The fourth bowl, he said the noodles were too thick and unappealing.
The fifth bowl, you took too long getting ready, so he said the noodles had turned soggy and weren't good to eat anymore, yet he still gave them to me."
As Yan Qinghe listed each issue, Qi Huan quickly retrieved some digestive tablets from her space and generously offered them to him. "Here, take these to settle your stomach. But why didn't you call for Xiu Wen and Yan Wu to help you eat the noodles?"
Mentioning this only infuriated Yan Qinghe further.
"Those two said they weren't worthy of eating the noodles personally cooked by His Highness! Burp~"
Taking the strange pills from Qi Huan, he shoved them all into his mouth, chewing noisily.
While they were talking, Li Shuchen remained focused on the iron pot. When the noodles were cooked, he quickly scooped them out, drizzled them with bone broth, and topped them with a fried egg.
Holding the bowl of noodles, he turned and handed the most successful dish he had made that morning to Qi Huan.
"Happy birthday."
It was only then that Qi Huan realized that not only was July 7th the Qixi Festival, it was also the original owner's birthday, as well as her own birthday from her previous life.
In her previous life, she had been abandoned shortly after birth and never felt that this day was worth celebrating. So after leaving the Welfare Institute, she rarely celebrated her birthday.
But now, things were different. Qi Huan raised her bright, starry eyes and smiled radiantly at Li Shuchen.
"Ah Shu, thank you. These are the most delicious noodles I've ever had."
Yan Qinghe interjected, "Ah Huan, you haven't tasted them yet."
"Oh."
Embarrassed for a moment, Qi Huan picked up the noodles and chewed them slowly, swallowing as if the bowl contained the most precious delicacy in the world, reluctant to finish it too quickly.
After a while, she put down the bowl and gave Li Shuchen a thumbs up, praising, "They really are delicious."
Having already tasted five bowls of noodles, Yan Qinghe wasn't convinced and persisted in asking, "Was there any strange flavor this time?"
"Yes, there was."
"Haha, I knew it! Cooking isn't that easy. Quick, tell me, were they sweet or sour this time?"
"Neither. It was the taste of love."
"..."
Yan Qinghe suddenly felt a bit out of place. The sunshine outside seemed nice, and he thought it would be a good idea to take Hei Zi out for a stroll.
So he excused himself.
As he passed by Li Shuchen, the latter stopped him.
"You haven't washed the dishes yet."
Saying that indifferently, Li Shuchen handed him a dishcloth, then turned and led Qi Huan into the courtyard.
At that moment, Xiu Wen and Yan Wu, who had finished eating breakfast at the noodle shop, returned and each took out a wooden box, presenting them to Qi Huan.
Yan Wu, dressed in black martial arts attire and usually expressionless, forced a smile and sincerely wished her, "Happy birthday, Miss Qi. May you have good health and success in all matters."
Xiu Wen wore a festive red robe today, his doll-like face beaming with joy. "Happy birthday, Miss Qi. May each year be as joyous as this one, filled with happiness every year."
Receiving their well-wishes, Qi Huan smiled and expressed her gratitude.
Following their prompting, she opened the boxes, only to find them filled with silver ingots.
Seeing her look of surprise, Xiu Wen quickly explained, "We asked His Highness, and His Highness said you like silver ingots, so we gave you this."
Qi Huan treated them well, so he copied books and painted day and night, and even borrowed some silver from Yan Jiu, to finally gather six silver ingots as a gift for Qi Huan, wishing her all the best.
As for Yan Wu, he believed the slander of his junior disciple Qing Cai and went to perform a chest-breaking stone stunt in the streets, nearly getting crushed to death by his innately gifted disciple.
The most infuriating thing was that such an amazing performance only earned him a few copper coins.
He had to take out the savings he had previously set aside for digging a cellar for Qi Huan, and borrow more from Yan Jiu, to barely gather six silver ingots.
Under the same roof, he couldn't be worse than Xiu Wen!
At this time, after washing the dishes, Yan Qinghe also took out an identical wooden box.
Seeing the familiar appearance, Qi Huan exclaimed in surprise, "Don't tell me it's also silver?"
Upon opening it, sure enough, there were six more silver ingots.
Qi Huan looked at the shiny silver and her mouth twitched slightly.
These three men, unlike Yan Jiu, didn't have any wages from the merchant caravans. They followed Li Shuchen and never asked for money, their purses being mere decorations, ringing with emptiness.
Yet now, each one had taken out sixty taels.
Qi Huan was wondering how to replenish their funds discreetly when she heard Li Shuchen calmly say, "It seems I forgot to instruct Yan Jiu to give you monthly allowances."
Yan Wu blurted out, "How could you forget that?"
Xiu Wen smiled indifferently, "It's not too late for His Highness to remember now."
Yan Qinghe, on the other hand, was concerned about another issue, "Can we get the previously unpaid allowances as well?"
"Yes," Li Shuchen nodded in agreement.
It was his fault, after all. Initially, when Yan Jiu gave him a thousand taels, he immediately gave it to Qi Huan, forgetting about the three men.
Later, when Yan Jiu gave him silver notes, he spent it all on buying land and building a residence.
Today, seeing them act so stingily, giving Qi Huan only sixty taels, he finally remembered that he had forgotten to give them their monthly allowances.
