After building the blast furnace, Shen Xin officially entered the next stage of steel production.

The steelmaking process would take up half a day, meaning he could forge his first steel sickles tomorrow!

Creating goods was also an important part of the game, so Shen Xin was looking forward to it.

While the steel was being refined, Shen Xin went to Xiao Feng’s shop to retrieve a new dining table and tea table, then stopped by Zhuang Jia’s shop to pick up a sewing machine and decorative lamps.

“How do I use this sewing machine?”

Zhuang Jia first demonstrated how to set the sewing machine up within the shop, then invited Shen Xin to sit in the accompanying chair. “You see that option box that popped up in front of you?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Right now, there are three options: ‘spring and autumn,’ ‘summer,’ and ‘winter.’ Select one, and you’ll be shown a clothes template. The last option allows you to create your own design, which you can save in ‘my designs’ for repeated use.”

Shen Xin likely wouldn’t need this feature, so Zhuang Jia continued explaining how to make regular clothing. “After selecting a template, open the two drawers in front of you.”

“Place the clothing materials on the left side and the dye on the right. Each drawer must contain at least one ingredient.”

“After everything is placed, you can design a pattern, then click ‘make’ and wait for a while to retrieve your clothes.”

The instructions were very detailed, but this method was much simpler than Shen Xin’s original plan of cutting and sewing by hand.

There was only one question that troubled her. “How do I get the clothing materials and dye?”

“That…” Zhuang Jia choked. “I’m not sure. Perhaps an upgrade will unlock new formulas; I’ll tell you when that happens?”

“Okay.” Shen Xin paid the rest of the bill, then headed back, carrying the device.

Unfortunately, it seemed like she wouldn’t be able to make clothes today.

As she recalled Stumpy’s excited expression this morning, Shen Xin suddenly didn’t know how to break the news to him.

“But he’s very resourceful. If it were him, I think he’d probably find a way to solve this…” Shen Xin looked around, attempting to think like Jing Yan to solve the problem. After scanning her surroundings, only the shop seemed like a place that could provide a solution.

Shen Xin walked in, and Old He waved at her. “Long time no see, girl! What are you looking for?”

“Any fabric and dye?”

“Oh, fabric? None left.” Old He shrugged. “But dye can be made on your own. Didn’t you buy a lot of flowers? You can extract the basic colors from them and mix them to get the shades you want.”

“I see.” Shen Xin nodded. That was one thing taken care of, at least.

It was unfortunate that the shop didn’t sell fabric; it seemed Jing Yan would have to make his way down the cave draped in a quilt.

Wait…a quilt?

Shen Xin looked at the cotton quilts on the shelf. They had covers and cotton stuffing…so this count as clothing fabric?

“Old He, can I take apart this quilt to make clothes?”

Old He was taken aback by Shen Xin’s question. “Uh…well…”

No one had ever suggested doing such a thing.

“You didn’t say it wasn’t possible,” Shen Xin said, determined. “So let’s try it out. It’s not expensive either. I’ll take a quilt and a pair of scissors.”

Old He did as she asked, then watched helplessly as Shen Xin cut open the pristine white quilt cover with scissors and pulled out the cotton stuffing inside.

When Shen Xin saw the extra items in her bag, she was delighted: “It worked!”

Looks like sometimes, a little flair was all she needed.

Old He stared at her, speechless. How did this girl become so…?

Shen Xin returned home, first filling her rooms with furniture to give the broken-down house the feel of a middle-class household. She then placed the sewing machine in the bedroom and stuffed the fabric and cotton into the left-hand drawer.

As for dye, she took out some of the flowers she’d picked earlier and attempted to put them in the workshop.

The workshop functioned as intended. The rose yielded a red dye, the daisy yielded a blue, and the tulip yielded an orange-yellow. Upon obtaining the dyes, the manual also added a section titled “A Guide to Mixing Colors.” It explained the basic methods of mixing colors. There was no need to explain the obvious, such as that red combined with blue yields purple or blue combined with yellow yields green. However, red, yellow, and blue could be mixed together to yield dark gray. Shen Xin picked more flowers to experiment with, eventually mixing over ten different colors, before she began sketching designs for clothing.

Shen Xin hadn’t done much research on clothing design before, but only now, as she was making her own clothes, did she realize how difficult it truly was.

It was especially challenging to design fashionable clothes for men, as the common templates were difficult to work with.

As she pondered, she continued sketching, becoming engrossed in the design process.

“Partner! I’ve got some good news for you!”

Jing Yan froze upon seeing the designs scattered across the floor when he stepped into the room.

“You came at just the right time. Check out these designs and let me know if you like any of them.” Shen Xin shoved a handful of sketches into his hands.

“Uh…” Jing Yan hadn’t expected Shen Xin to take his request so seriously (she was actually just enjoying herself). Heartwarming, he began to look through the designs one by one.

Shen Xin had already disposed of the uglier designs, so all the sketches Jing Yan saw were quite presentable. As he flipped through them, he pulled out one in particular. “This one, this one, this one’s great!”

Shen Xin took it from him and discovered it was the one with the yellow duck hoodie and black pants. She had sketched it on a whim, inspired by Jing Yan’s appearance in the yellow duck raincoat.

“You really love that yellow duck,” Shen Xin observed.

“Mm-hmm! I’m a big fan of all dishes made with duck meat,” Jing Yan responded gleefully.

Shen Xin fell silent. The little yellow duck certainly wouldn’t be happy to hear such words.

After selecting the design, Shen Xin placed the corresponding dye into the sewing machine’s right drawer. Once she chose the template and sketched the pattern, the sewing machine began working automatically.

Shen Xin had no further part in the manufacturing process, so she asked Jing Yan, “What are you doing back here?”

“Oh, right!” Jing Yan remembered why he had come and excitedly told Shen Xin, “I found a horse!”

Jing Yan relied on his speed to kill the monsters, then circled around and discovered a herd of horses in a flat clearing.

The horses were docile; even when they noticed someone approaching, they didn’t flee.

Jing Yan swiftly made his way to the herd of wild horses, only to discover that they could actually be “tamed.” However, the taming process required wheat, which Shen Xin happened to have grown.

That was why he rushed back to tell her.

By conventional means, a tamed horse could be used as a means of transportation.

Peach Blossom Town was small, so its residents typically walked everywhere. Forget about cars or bicycles—even Uncle Li’s fishing boat, the only other means of transportation, hadn’t been out at sea for a long time due to rough waters.

The residents might not need vehicles, but players did.

Riding a horse could conserve one’s stamina while also saving time, making it extremely convenient.

Shen Xin understood the benefits and quickly packed up some wheat before heading with Jing Yan to the location marked on his map.

Fortunately, the horses hadn’t wandered far and were all nearby, grazing peacefully in the grass.

At a glance, many different breeds were present. Shen Xin and Jing Yan strolled through the herd, each selecting their preferred breed.

Shen Xin chose a red horse with a white star on its forehead. Its mane and hooves were light yellow, and its nose had a stripe of white that seemed like it had been painted on with a brush—quite a beautiful sight indeed.

“I thought girls usually chose pure white horses.”

Shen Xin glanced at the white horse beside Jing Yan upon hearing this. “Then what’s the meaning behind your choice?”

“Because pure white is easy to dye! I was thinking of using squid ink to paint zebra stripes on it, or maybe turn it into a rubber duck.”

Shen Xin had no words.

You certainly are you.

Taming the horses was a simple process. As soon as Shen Xin and Jing Yan held out the wheat, the nearby horses lifted their heads, eyes gleaming as they slowly approached and nuzzled their heads against the players’ hands.

“I think I’m hallucinating. These horses seem to be telling me, ‘Welcome, sir, come play with us.'” Jing Yan held out a stalk of wheat to the white horse, which bit it up in a matter of seconds, then returned to its aloof self, ignoring them once more.

“I failed to tame it.” Jing Yan continued feeding the horse while stroking its mane. After a few more attempts, a notification rang out:

【 Congratulations on taming the horse! Unlocked the achievement “Transportation Device”! 】

“I did it.” Jing Yan turned to look at Shen Xin, who had also tamed the red horse, though she couldn’t get on it.

【 Note: A saddle and shoes are required to ride horses. 】

【 After taming the horse, you can choose to have it “follow” or “stay”. 】

【 Horse saddles and shoes are available, but I don’t know where to get them… Horseshoes sound like something the blacksmith can make, though. 】

Both players chose to have their horses follow them. Next, they needed to find someone to craft saddles and shoes for their horses.

The two walked through the town with their robust horses; the sight was quite conspicuous.

“Wow! Big shots, where did you get your horses?” Fan Qing and Xiao-Jie’s eyes brimmed with envy. “Can you get us one too?”

“If you want one, get one yourself. There’s a plain on the island.” Shen Xin gave them directions, and Fan Qing and Xiao-Jie thanked them, but Jing Yan stopped them.

“What’s the rush? How will you tame a horse without any tools?”

Fan Qing was dumbfounded. “Tame a horse? How do you do that?”

Jing Yan gestured toward Shen Xin. “Premium horse feed, exclusive to Shen Xin, one silver coin per bundle, bring a horse home today.”

Fan Qing and Xiao-Jie stared at him, speechless.

What kind of sales pitch is this?

“Uh, we’ll buy one bundle,” Fan Qing offered, attempting to initiate a trade.

Jing Yan shook his head. “One bundle won’t do it. Taming is a random event; are you not going to buy more? If taming fails, you’ll come back to buy more feed, but by then, the horses will be gone, and you’ll have wasted your money.”

“Sounds reasonable, sounds reasonable,” Fan Qing and Xiao-Jie agreed. “Then what do you think we should buy?”

Without missing a beat, Jing Yan responded, “At least ten bundles each, let’s start with twenty.”

“Twenty? Twenty?!”

That would be forty silver coins!

“I’ve already said it’s exclusive; if you don’t believe me, go ahead and try to find it elsewhere. There’s no other place to buy this horse feed.”

Shen Xin watched as Jing Yan brainwashed Fan Qing and Xiao-Jie, until finally, the two paid forty silver coins for twenty bundles of wheat.

“Premium horse feed…is just this?” Shen Xin asked, dumbfounded.

Jing Yan swiftly pulled Shen Xin away from the scene, the two horses obediently following behind them.

After they lost Fan Qing, Shen Xin laughed. “Were you a real-life scam artist?! How are you so good at brainwashing people?”

Jing Yan’s face remained unmoved. “I’m just telling the truth. It’s exclusive, so of course it’s safer to buy more.”

Shen Xin gave him a thumbs-up. “Amazing!”

“Someone else is coming. Wait for me to continue my pitch—I mean, continue promoting the Shen Clan’s Horse Taming Formula.”

With Jing Yan’s masterful persuasion skills, Shen Xin earned a hefty sum of money out of nothing. She waved her hand generously. “Your saddles and horseshoes are on me! Consider it my way of thanking you for all your hard work today.”

“Thank you, Boss, for your generosity.” With a smile, Jing Yan followed Zhuang Jia.

After confirming that Zhuang Jia could indeed forge the shoes, Shen Xin handed over the materials. “We need two pairs.”

“Of course. Horse saddles are typically made of wood and leather, but I’m unable to craft them here. You should go see the carpenter.”

“Understood. Many thanks.”

As he watched the pair enter and exit, Zhuang Jia weighed the iron ingot in his hand, musing aloud, “Well, well, I’ve heard of lovers having rings custom-made together, but this is the first time I’ve seen a pair commissioning horseshoes.”