Chapter 50: Far-Sighted and Shallow
Yan Qing held down the teapot and poured out the first brew, discarding it.
He poured out the second brew, took a sip—initially astringent, but with a lingering sweet aftertaste, a bit like Tieguanyin.
His life was improving now, even managing to get a full tea set.
For the past two days, there had been feasts every day, with an abundance of rich foods, so he had to drink some tea to relieve the greasiness, lest he became constipated.
Logically speaking, he should also count as a game character, since his name was listed in the character slot.
But why did other game characters not need to poop, yet he possessed such a backward function?
Or did Ye Si and Jiang Ten sneak off to poop when he wasn’t playing?
While his mind wandered, Yan Qing watched ‘Jiang Ten’ return to the Qian Family’s carriage.
Qian Gongyu had just finished bathing, her hair still steaming, and she wore a sheer silk nightgown.
When she saw ‘Jiang Ten’, she pinched her nose and said, “Covered in sweat, go take a bath. The water’s still warm.”
As ‘Jiang Ten’ went to bathe, the steam immediately obscured the entire screen.
Yan Qing could only see the head, shoulders, and arms.
At this moment, Qian Gongyu entered again and sat beside the bath barrel, asking, “Jiang Ten, are you planning to go to the Jie Family or the Shang Family? It should be the Jie Family, right? After all, their terms are better.”
“You heard that?”
“You two were talking right at the door. I heard bits and pieces.”
After the banquet, Shang Xinlei and Jie Yuanshao came separately, yet in tacit agreement, to recruit ‘Jiang Ten’.
Shang Xinlei’s offer was undoubtedly the lowest—she required five years of service to the Shang Family before granting three tokens.
Jie Yuanshao’s offer was better—four years of service for four tokens, and the tokens were self-selected, chosen freely from the Jie Family’s treasury.
However, both made it clear that this was only the minimum offer.
Once they contacted their families, better terms were guaranteed.
They didn’t need ‘Jiang Ten’ to agree immediately either.
After the three-day secret realm in Mansu Woodland ended, they were sure their families would value ‘Jiang Ten’ even more.
Their recruitment efforts mainly served to show that they valued ‘Jiang Ten’ as much as Qun Yushu did.
Yan Qing didn’t mind working for noble families.
As a player long tormented by canned single-player games, he was used to helping NPCs unclog toilets for the slightest benefits.
As long as the price was right, who cared whose toilet he unclogged?
As long as the other party cooperated in good faith, Yan Qing was happy to trade labor for rewards.
But these people were too stingy.
Each one hoarded their tokens, unwilling to give any unless a certain number of years of service had passed.
Yet Yan Qing needed tokens now to increase his combat power!
As for giving a token after one year of work...
In The Messenger, even the clumsiest, most casual, least career-minded player—if they played for three hours daily—could reach the fourth transfer in less than half a year.
Even if the difficulty in this world was double, one year would still be enough for Yan Qing to advance to the fourth transfer.
If I’ve already reached Foundation Stage Fourth Transfer, would I still need your ordinary whiteboard tokens that can only be sold to shops?
That’s why Yan Qing directly appraised the ‘Guardian Jade Pendant’ Qun Yushu handed over—
He naturally understood how precious the basic function of “insight into all token information” from the game was in this world.
It was equivalent to being the only literate person among a bunch of illiterates.
Not just a public intellectual, it was more than enough to become a prophet.
He also knew that once ‘Jiang Ten’ exposed this ability, she would attract even more covetous gazes.
But as long as the benefits were in hand, it didn’t matter.
Shang Xinlei had complained that ‘Jiang Ten’ shouldn’t have revealed her appraisal ability.
Jie Yuanshao was even more blunt, saying that ‘Jiang Ten’ was too rebellious and sharp-edged—far too shortsighted.
They couldn’t understand why ‘Jiang Ten’ craved tokens so much.
Why not bide her time and plan for long-term gains?
After all, for most people, lying low and slowly building up was undoubtedly the correct path.
After all, there’s only one life—people should think long-term.
But their idea of “long-term” was far too shallow for Yan Qing.
What he pursued was not merely the Foundation Stage Fourth Transfer.
He aimed for the highest levels of the version: Seventh, Eighth, even Ninth Transfer.
As long as he could scavenge enough equipment to survive the beginner stage, he didn’t care if he offended every noble family here.
Sure, the noble families monopolized resources.
Robbing their gold was an act of divine justice.
But Yan Qing had no interest in cloaking his actions in the guise of righteousness.
He was simply ruthless and pragmatic.
That’s how single-player gamers were—if the game mechanics allowed it, they’d use whatever worked: deception, theft, robbery.
Game NPCs might call such actions crimes, but players called them “efficient.”
“They didn’t offer good enough terms. I’ll wait until the Mansu Woodland ends and they present better ones.”
“These aren’t good enough?” Qian Gongyu clicked her tongue. “Well, alright… Then you’ll be staying with me the next couple of days, right?”
“Of course, milady.”
“Hehe.”
“Milady, shall we spar using tokens tomorrow?”
“Huh? Ah, hmm… alright then.”
Qian Gongyu suddenly remembered something, ran out barefoot, then ran back barefoot holding a box.
“This is the Spirit Jade that Xinlei gave me. Now that you've changed class to Messenger, Jiang Ten, let’s split it evenly!”
“This was given to you, not me. Besides, I don’t lack Spirit Jade.”
“You don’t lack it?” Qian Gongyu looked left and right, then suddenly recalled something.
“Oh, you must have hidden the Spirit Jade in a storage token.”
She lowered her head, looking at the box, her voice slightly downcast.
“Of course… you have both a blade-type token and a storage token. Clearly a noble descendant with prestigious bloodline. How could you be like me, lacking Spirit Jade…”
“But no reason to refuse it for free.”
‘Jiang Ten’ reached out and took half of the Spirit Jade in the box.
“Let’s just say this is the fee for Miss Qian hiring me as a bodyguard.”
Qian Gongyu was stunned, half laughing and half crying.
“That fee is too high, isn’t it? Only a few days and it costs three thousand Spirit Jade?”
“But I’m worth it.”
Qian Gongyu blinked, leaning by the edge of the bath barrel, watching ‘Jiang Ten’ with a gentle smile.
“That’s true.”
...
...
The next morning, on the open ground before the entrance to Mansu Woodland, people were divided into three groups.
The largest group was naturally the circle formed by noble descendants.
Mansu Woodland was a three-day secret realm; missing even one day was equivalent to forfeiting.
So they still had to step into the woodland today.
They occasionally glanced at the group of four with ‘Jiang Ten’, their eyes full of envy, jealousy, and hatred.
Envy that they didn’t have to suffer in the woodland.
Jealousy that ‘Jiang Ten’ could influence Mansu Woodland.
And hatred that she didn’t share this secret art with everyone—
A mere black-belt commoner had managed to rise above them with this, how could they not hate her?
The second group was Jie Zilong, Chen Linchuan, and Qun Yushu.
They would enter Mansu Woodland together.
If lucky, they’d be assigned as a team.
If unlucky, they’d be separated—
To this day, no one had figured out how teams were assigned in Mansu Woodland.
The last group consisted of ‘Jiang Ten’ and her three companions.
“Let’s go,” said Jie Zilong.
“Anyway, they’ve already formed their teams. Even if we enter together, we won’t be assigned to the same one.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you two seniors,” Qun Yushu said with a smile.
Chen Linchuan took a large spear from an attendant and was the first to step into the dense fog of the woodland.
The other two followed close behind.
Once they entered, ‘Jiang Ten’ and her companions also moved.
Even if they didn’t enter together, they would still arrive at the same shelter.
But Qian Gongyu seemed unaware of this and tightly clung to ‘Jiang Ten’s’ arm.
Seeing this, Shang Xinlei held onto ‘Jiang Ten’s’ other arm.
Then Jie Yuanshao, noticing the scene, hesitated briefly before reaching out and grabbing Shang Xinlei’s sleeve.
Passing through a brief span of dense fog, the shelter reappeared before them.
The shelter remained in the same state as when they had left it.
The Blade Warrior Statue, the Stone House, the damaged wooden crossbow, and the broken walls.
For some reason, once they returned to this dangerous place, Qian Gongyu completely relaxed, as if this place were safer than the outside world.
At the same time, a new message popped up in the game:
“You have entered Mansu Woodland.”
“Based on your level, you can now access the following milestone information.”
“Bronze Hunter: You cleared the fifth stage of Mansu Woodland.”
“Silver Hunter: You cleared the tenth stage of Mansu Woodland.”
“Gold Hunter: You cleared the twentieth stage of Mansu Woodland.”
“Master of the Woodland: You cleared the ninety-ninth stage of Mansu Woodland.”