Although the mayor of Red Lake City vehemently tried to dissuade Ye Ci, she ultimately still chose a ring of houses surrounding the small plaza in the Western District. Unlike the extremely expensive land in the Eastern District, the houses in the Western District were extremely cheap. Even though Ye Ci bought more than ten storefronts in one go, it only cost her around three thousand gold. This amount of money would not have been enough to get a storefront in a somewhat better position.
Ye Ci naturally would not make unprofitable transactions. She did not forget that after the Lunar New Year, Fate had a more substantial update, primarily for the purpose of increasing a player's convenience in exchanging game currency and real life currency. Currently, only the largest cities in the four continents had such bank exchanges, which were overcrowded with players everyday and were extremely inconvenient, causing many players to complain. Hence, in the following update, banks would be dispersed to every city.
Red Lake City's bank exchange would be precisely in this small plaza.
At present, as everyone's levels gradually rose, Red Lake City also gradually became bustling with excitement, due to its surroundings having many maps with ore and herbs, as well as many nearby areas suitable for players from level 35 to 75. Although the degree of liveliness was incomparable to Champion City and Oasis City, at the very least it was unlike previously where there were only a small number of people strolling around the city.
When Red Lake City's mayor saw that Ye Ci was determined to buy the houses in the Western District, he was somewhat disappointed. After he helped Ye Ci handle the procedures for the deeds, he calmly and unhurriedly asked, "Have you investigated the bandit nest northwest of the city that we spoke of before?"
Recently there were truly too many matters, so this matter was unfortunately forgotten by Ye Ci. She vaguely made a sound to answer before taking the deeds and leaving the municipal hall.
Taking a boat to the Western District, Ye Ci quickly reached the small plaza. At present, there was only a crude fountain, with NPC children happily playing around it. The houses surrounding the fountain were all covered with a yellow cloth which wasn't originally there. Originally, these were a few low private houses. Currently, the yellow cloth symbolized that the place had already been sold, but was yet to open for business. Once the owner decided to start a business here, they could go to the municipal hall's construction engineers to choose the building's model, pay a fixed fee and then start their business.
As for the small fountain, soon it would become the future circular bank exchange. At that time, the number of players in this area would suddenly increase, inevitably guiding the business of the surrounding storefronts. On the other hand, the Eastern District's popularity would gradually wither down.
Although she had bought the storefronts, Ye Ci temporarily did not plan to open a business in all of them. First, she did not have that many items to sell. Second, she did not have that many suitable people to manage the store. Therefore, she planned to leave them unoccupied for the time being. Opening after the bank exchange opened was pretty good as well.
With the Lunar New Year, the moment came to intensely work on the team compatibility of Upwards Ho!. Bai Mo's parents went on their own vacation, therefore Bai Mo didn't return home for the new year and instead remained in Ye Ci's house. To Ye Ci, this year's Lunar New Year had an especially important significance.
This was because she not only had the opportunity to go back in time and once again care for her parents; She could also amend all her former mistakes. Most importantly, her whole life could start afresh. When the bell chimed at midnight, Bai Mo pushed Ye Ci to make a wish.
Ye Ci's wish was very simple. She hoped that the new year would be as happy as the present.
Not unsurpassed fame and profit, it was fine as long as her parents, relatives and friends were by her side.
As the piping hot dumplings were served, Ye Ci and Bai Mo stuffed their faces with countless dumplings in a bid to eat the one that contained a copper coin.*
Ye Ci could tell that Zuo Xiaolan had something to say, so she asked as she burped, "Mum, what do you want to say?"
Zuo Xiaolan was embarrassed, in the end, she nudged Ye Nantian, saying, "Your father will tell you."
Ye Nantian also appeared to be rather embarrassed. He glared at Zuo Xiaolan before whispering, "This sort of thing, this sort of thing, how could you make me say it?"
"Aunt, Uncle, what are you doing, acting as though there's something shameful?" Bai Mo looked at the two of them, smiling provokingly.
Hearing Bai Mo's sentence, the two of them felt even more embarrassed, evading and again pushing the responsibility to the other. Finally, Ye Ci couldn't stand it any longer, bluntly asking, "Is it that the two of you want to tell me that you're going to give me another sibling?"
"Stupid girl, what nonsense are you talking about?" Ye Ci's noble suggestion was met with Zuo Xiaolan's fist coming down on her head. Soon after, she again started to hum and haw. In the end, it was still Ye Nantian that was more brazen. He cleared his throat and said, "Actually it isn't much. We have retired and always felt bored at home. Seeing you two playing that game everyday seemed very interesting. Could you teach us how to play too?"
Ye Ci and Bai Mo looked at each other, before they could respond, Zuo Xiaolan already shook her hand, "Aiya aiya, we only said it casually. We know this is something played by youngsters like you. We never played games when were were younger, how would we have no shame in playing with you now?"
"Why not?" Ye Ci grinned. She was not disagreeing and was instead too astonished. In her previous life, not only did her parents not ask to play the game with her, they simply loathed the game deeply. Nevermind that ten years later, Fate was already not merely a type of game. Rather, it was a way of life. Many people went into the game to make money to spend in the real world. Also, many people simply earned money to enjoy within the game.
In short, Fate became the world's largest virtual investment industry. Every important political leader and financial group around the world continuously injected funds. It had already become a necessary part of life. At that time, almost everyone was playing Fate.
"There are people even older than you that are currently playing." Ye Ci looked at Bai Mo. "Ask Bai Mo if you don't believe me."
"That's right, there is a guild called Neighbourhood Officials on our continent. The main members in their guild are all people of your age, with some of them even older than you. They are equally playing happily." Bai Mo totally agreed with Ye Ci's statement, so much so that he was a little envious that Ye Ci's parents were so open-minded to want to play together with Ye Ci.
"What can we do in the game?" Zuo Xiaolan and Ye Nantian were considered more outdated than when they were younger. Although they lived from the era of desktop games to the present with VR games, they never played any games, which was considered unusual.
"Fighting monsters, training levels, completing missions, PVP, running a business etc… You can do whatever you want to do." Bai Mo answered as he still continued stuffing dumplings into his mouth.
" Fighting… We aren't fond of that." Zuo Xiaolan promptly shook her head. In the real world, they tried to never offend anyone and never quarreled, much less fought before. "How about we forget it, I feel we don't quite fit in…"
Ye Ci smiled as she interrupted Zuo Xiaolan, "Mum, Dad, fighting and leveling are just a small part of the game. Actually there are still many ways to play. For example, you can develop your interests in the game. Look, Dad likes to cook and even took the exam for an amateur chef's permit. You can just open a restaurant in the game. Doesn't Mum like sewing, being a tailor is also pretty good."
"It's possible that way?" Their eyes brightened.
"It's definitely possible. If you can create good items, you can even make money. Perhaps you might even earn more than you currently do." Bai Mo breathed rapidly as he ate, speaking with his mouth full of food. "Uncle, your dumplings are so delicious, if they were put into the game, many people will definitely come to eat."
Ye Ci merely grinned as she looked toward her parents that were getting more and more excited. Just at that moment, she suddenly thought of an exquisite idea. That is to gift the best store that she bought to her parents to operate and let the two of them who had slogged their whole life truly find pleasure in life. Furthermore, they would also often see her within the game. To them, that is also roughly a kind of comfort.
Regarding the matter of Ye Nantian and Zuo Xiaolan joining the game, Ye Ci could only wait for them to make up their minds. Therefore she rested well that night. However, Ye Nantian and Zuo Xiaolan almost fought.
That was because the two of them disagreed on whether they should open a restaurant or a tailor's shop. The next morning, Ye Ci saw her parents still continuing to argue over this issue as they prepared the meal with dark circles around their eyes. She couldn't help laughing as she said, "Isn't it possible for both of you choose a profession each, why do you insist on only picking one?"
"That won't do. She (He) needs to be my assistant." Both of them spoke in unison.
Ye Ci shrugged her shoulders, no longer bothering her parents. In any case, they would eventually come to a conclusion in their own way.
On New Year's Day, it was a rest day for Upwards Ho!, with no guild activities. There was also a distinct decrease in players in every continent. Not knowing when it started, China's Lunar New Year had become a significant holiday across the world. Not only the Chinese celebrated the new year, foreigners also celebrated the new year. Thus, there were relatively few players within the game.
However, at noon the developers had scheduled a new year's event, therefore, at 11am, many players came online one after another. Very quickly, Dalayar Continent was again unusually lively.
Since it was China's Lunar New Year, the event was completely filled with Chinese features.
This year's activity was a dragon dance competition. The venue for the competition was each continent's largest city. Thus, the competition for the Eastern Continent was naturally held in Champion City. Before logging off on the eve of the Lunar New Year, the members of Upwards Ho! had already agreed to head to Champion City on New Year's Day to participate in the competition. Therefore, Ye Ci and Bai Mo rushed towards Champion City once they logged in.
Champion City was filled with the sounds of gongs and drums, red flags swayed in the wind and firecrackers popped among a crowd too numerous to count.
Translator's Note:
Dumplings looked like ingots (currency used in ancient China), hence eating the dumplings during the New Year is a metaphor for eating money. When people eat jiao zi during the New Year celebration, they hope that it will bring prosperity and good luck for the forthcoming year.
Rich families in ancient times added gold, silver, and other precious stones in their dumplings. To get one of these dumplings was considered good luck. Later this transitioned to adding coins in the dumplings. Copper coins, for example, meant that one would never lack money. In contemporary times, only a few coins are washed and added to the batch of dumplings, and the person who discovers the coin would enjoy good luck and make a lot of money in the coming year.