Zhuang Yi nervously approached Shen Xin’s farm, unsure of how to broach the subject with the farmer.

He had heard that Shen Xin was difficult to get along with (having many enemies), ruthless (having killed a few people), and greedy (charging high food prices). How could he persuade this player to cooperate with him?

It seemed too difficult.

Before leaving home, Zhuang Jia had advised him, “Don’t go; you’re trying to make a deal with a tiger.”

“Vegetables are rare, and with the vitamin deficiency effect in play, their value has skyrocketed…”

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Zhuang Yi pushed open the farm’s gate, his heart pounding. After stepping inside, he took in the full view of the farmland.

Compared to the bleak and desolate town, Shen Xin’s farm was well-stocked, resembling a landed lord’s. The abundance of crops left his eyes wide, and there were even quite a few flowers planted alongside. Such a lavish lifestyle…

“This is practically a Paradise…” Zhuang Yi observed the four buildings within the farm.

Two of them were enclosed by fences, and animals were running around inside; they were clearly livestock sheds.

The other two rooms were a small, beautiful one and a large, dilapidated one.

“Should be this room on the left, right? No player would live in such a run-down place…” Zhuang Yi was about to knock on the storehouse’s door when cheers came from the dilapidated house next door.

“Ah, it’s flour!”

The processing room was completed, and Shen Xin had taken out the freshly ground flour. Jing Yan couldn’t wait a moment longer before darting outside.

“Let’s make dumplings! I’ll go grab an egg from the chicken coop!”

Shen Xin grabbed him just in time. “Stop! My chickens are still underage; they haven’t started laying eggs yet!”

“Then I’ll go snatch bird eggs from the wild!”

Zhuang Yi had just walked up to the dilapidated house when its door suddenly opened, hitting him right on the nose.

Jing Yan noticed he’d run into someone and quickly caught Zhuang Yi, who was about to fall over. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, fine.” He’d only lost five HP.

Upon hearing the commotion, Shen Xin came outside to investigate. “Who are you?”

Zhuang Yi’s palms grew sweaty from nervousness. “H-hello, I’m Zhuang Yi, a chef. A chef both in the game and in real life.”

“Oh.” Shen Xin nodded. “Are you here to see me?”

“Correct.”

Shen Xin had been kneading dough, so her hands were still covered in flour.

She invited Zhuang Yi in and asked him to wait while she washed her hands.

Shen Xin’s room had only a few wooden stools and a sofa. From every angle, the sofa looked more comfortable.

Zhuang Yi was about to walk over to sit on it when Jing Yan darted ahead and lay down on the sofa, clearly occupying it so no one else could sit there.

Zhuang Yi stared, speechless.

Wait, this guy he’d seen before, wasn’t he the big shot who ranked number one? How come he was here?

And Jing Yan had been so aloof and unapproachable at the qualifying match; how had he turned into this?

Zhuang Yi obediently sat on a wooden stool, leaving an empty space beside him for Shen Xin.

Zhuang Yi remained silent, but he understood.

“Speak,” Shen Xin invited.

After her prompting, Zhuang Yi repeated the speech he prepared on the way.

“So, um, many players have already been or are about to be afflicted with vitamin deficiency, living in abject misery…”

However, Shen Xin and Jing Yan looked disinterested, as if they were about to refuse.

Zhuang Yi couldn’t hide his intentions anymore, and, red-faced, he explained, “So I thought I could take the chance to make a little profit. After all, if you don’t have enough vitamins, you must eat vegetables, right? Your resources combined with my cooking skills—we’d be fools not to make a little money, and once we do, we might as well aim for more…”

In reality, Zhuang Yi was an honest person, and he felt both remorseful and ashamed at having spoken these words. He could barely lift his head.

Yet Shen Xin and Jing Yan finally showed expressions of approval.

“Okay, that sounds good to me,” said Shen Xin.

Zhuang Yi looked up in shock at her.

Ah… As expected of the infamous villainess.

“But we need to discuss the details of our profit-sharing agreement.”

Making dishes would yield far greater profits than simply selling vegetables, but cooking was laborious and exhausting. Shen Xin didn’t have the energy to run a full-service restaurant, so having someone else to handle the cooking wasn’t a bad idea.

Shen Xin assumed a posture indicating she was ready to bargain, while Jing Yan pulled out a knife, implying that any negotiation mishap would result in immediate execution.

Zhuang Yi swallowed nervously.

Had he really come to negotiate a business deal? Why did it feel like he’d just bartered for sex?

Amidst a friendly and harmonious atmosphere, Zhuang Yi secured a 30 percent profit share and Shen Xin’s daily vegetable deliveries.

Shen Xin would provide all raw materials, while Zhuang Yi was responsible for renovating the house and picking up the deliveries.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed like Zhuang Yi had earned himself quite a deal, but the negotiation’s atmosphere still gave him the impression that he’d been taken advantage of.

“About the menu and pricing, I’ll work on those once I get back. As for the account books, I’ll fill them out honestly…”

Shen Xin had no interest in managing the day-to-day finances, so naturally, Zhuang Yi took care of the bookkeeping. There was actually quite a bit of room to fudge the numbers.

Zhuang Yi was surprised that Shen Xin was willing to let him fill out the accounts, but Jing Yan added with a smile, “Actually, falsifying the accounts would be better, that way we have an excuse to screw you over and take all the profits.”

Zhuang Yi fell silent. As expected of the great villain.

With the troublesome guest gone, Jing Yan wasted no time shoving Shen Xin back into the kitchen. “Good partner! Hurry up and knead some dough; I’m going to go pluck some bird eggs!”

He darted out in a flurry of wind, and after some time, returned with…a bag filled with bird eggs, some sixty or seventy in total.

Shen Xin stared at him. “The birds on this island must be cursing you out right now.”

“The eggs are so small; of course, I need to gather more.”

Jing Yan took out a large bowl, cracked in a dozen or so eggs, and began whisking them while Shen Xin pulled the dough into balls and tossed them into the boiling pot. Jing Yan heated another pot of water, stirring constantly until the egg turned into fluffy curds, then added a handful of chopped spinach leaves.

On top of the spinach and egg soup, Jing Yan ate two whole bowls of the dough balls.

“Delicious!” Captain Jing Yan of the Praise Team declared, showering Shen Xin’s dough balls with compliments, and praising their chewy texture.

Shen Xin reciprocated by complimenting the spinach and egg soup, which earned her a bounce in Jing Yan’s step as he headed off to fight monsters.

After he left, Shen Xin kneaded all the processed flour into a ball, let it rest, then rolled it out flat, folded it twice, and cut it into strips. She hung these up in a clean, well-ventilated place to dry before storing them for long-term use.

Once the flour was processed, Shen Xin stuffed the rice into the processing room as well. While waiting for the rice to be converted into rice, she tended to all her farm chores.

She had collected nearly every animal she wanted, now only waiting for them to mature so they could give birth.

In terms of animal offspring, she always bought females first.

After all, female chickens, ducks, goats, and cows could lay eggs or produce milk, so all the animals in the livestock pen were older females.

Shen Xin gazed at the animals in the pen, perfectly content in each other’s company. Somehow she’d ended up raising an all-female flock with age gaps between each animal.

Xiao Zhou sat upright, nervously chewing on the straw of his boba drink from a local tea shop.

When “The One Xin Loves Most,” said Shen Xin was “Papa and Mama Don’t Let Me Play Games,” Xiao Zhou’s heart had leapt with joy and shock in equal measure.

It had been a whole week, almost an entire week! No one could have imagined how he’d survived it! Every day, he’d been walking the fine line of sucking up to a big shot while trying to pry information out of him, and now, finally, he could share the secret with someone!

Nervously biting the straw, Xiao Zhou watched as multiple waves of customers came and left the shop. Even after he finished his drink and ordered another, no one had yet arrived.

“I won’t get catfished, right…” Xiao Zhou thought, holding the cup. He mentally noted that the tea here was quite good and made a point to remember the address.

While he was busy promoting the store to his friend, someone sat down across from him.

“Oh? Looking to promote your friend? I told you, this place is great!”

Xiao Zhou looked up, nearly spitting out his drink.

“You—you—you must be… ‘The One Xin Loves Most’?”

Xiao Zhou stuttered so hard he opened his phone, pulled up “The One Xin Loves Most’s” profile picture, and held it up to the newcomer’s face. “Didn’t you say this is you?!”

The handsome man in the profile picture was clearly not the same person as the old man in front of him!

“It’s me, myself! Do you think I’m not the same person who was forty years younger?” Chen Zesheng shot a glare at Xiao Zhou and grumbled, “If it wasn’t for your support of Xinxin, I would’ve punched you already.”

“Xinxin…” Before, Xiao Zhou had assumed the man was a boyfriend fan; now, it seemed…he was actually a grandpa fan!

Ah, no… The ambiguous “Xinxin” from a young man’s mouth suddenly became the affectionate “Xinxin” from an old man’s, and Xiao Zhou’s brain couldn’t quite process it as if it had crashed.

Xiao Zhou hesitantly asked, “Sir, who are you to Shen Xin?”

The parents’ gaming account had kept their identity tightly under wraps. The only people who knew about them were those who also interacted with Shen Xin in real life.

“Me? You can’t tell?” Chen Zesheng squinted. “I’m Xinxin’s grandfather!”

Chen Zesheng seemed quite pleased with himself as he studied the young man before him. “Hmph, looks like you’ve luckily become the second person to discover my granddaughter’s secret.”

Xiao Zhou nodded in agreement. “Indeed, indeed, I am a fan of the big shot myself, and also happen to be a data recorder… Huh? Second place?!”

Xiao Zhou was stunned. “No one who knows the big shot knows about this? Not even her parents?”

“Did you know my dear granddaughter’s ID has a special meaning? She’s been playing games in secret since she was little; it’s really quite pitiful…” Chen Zesheng glanced at him and clenched his fist. “Seventeen years! I’ve kept this secret for Xinxin for seventeen years! Do you know how hard it’s been for me all these years? Seventeen years!”

Seventeen years!

A look of admiration first appeared on Xiao Zhou’s face, but he quickly realized something was off. He set his milk tea down. “Wait, sir, so what you’re saying is… Shen, the big shot, has been hiding her identity because her parents won’t let her play games?”

Chen Zesheng nodded. “Correct. My precious daughter and that stinking son-in-law of mine are strongly against Xinxin playing games.”

“That can’t be right,” Xiao Zhou scratched his head. “Shen is an adult now, and the comments said she’s a straight-A student, too. With grades like that, her parents won’t care if she plays games or not, right?”

Chen Zesheng’s expression turned regretful.

“There’s something you don’t know… Xinxin was almost kidnapped by a human trafficker when she was eight. That incident made her parents strongly oppose gaming…”

Oh, so that’s how it is.

Now Xiao Zhou understood; no wonder her parents would oppose something that nearly led to their daughter being sold.

Chen Zesheng continued the dramatic retelling, painting a thrilling picture of danger and suspense.

After giving Xiao Zhou goosebumps, Chen Zesheng finally took a gulp of his milk tea and said, “All of that—I made it up, ha! There’s no kidnapping or near-death experience. Her parents simply have a bias against games, and nothing will change their minds! Whew—don’t tell me you believed that wild story?”

Xiao Zhou was speechless.

“Wait, what?!” Chen Zesheng exclaimed, shocked.

Xiao Zhou stared dumbly, speechless.

Fuck, what the hell did I just listen to for all this time?

So Shen the Great is biased against games because of his upbringing?