Seventh day of spring, rains.

“Good rain, good rain.”

Shen Xin’s plans changed slightly, but he felt he could accomplish quite a few tasks today.

Xiao Feng arrived at 7:00 A.M. with an umbrella to fix the house, and Shen Xin praised his dedication to work.

The rate of eel catches in the sea greatly increased during rainy days, so Shen Xin dashed toward the shore, only to find that the natural curl guy was also fishing there.

The young man was wearing a yellow raincoat, but because he was tall, his ankles were still exposed outside.

Upon hearing footsteps, he turned his head, revealing a duck face printed on the hood of his raincoat…

A yellow duck raincoat… for adults?!

Shen Xin, shaken to the core, moved to the other side of the pier so that they wouldn’t disturb each other.

It seemed as if the chance of catching a box also increased during rainy days. Shen Xin’s float sank, and simultaneously, a surprised gasp escaped the natural curl guy’s mouth.

Then it became a tug-of-war.

However, even after the natural curl guy’s box was hooked, Shen Xin’s line continued to sink.

Her stamina had decreased by fifty points—this box was even stronger than a medium treasure chest!

Shen Xin quickly took out a piece of bread to replenish her energy, and just as her stamina dipped below eighty percent, a metal box was reeled in.

“Fuck.”

Hugging a solid metal box certainly weighed one down. Shen Xin suddenly felt a little regretful. The box would disappear upon opening, or else she could have recycled it…

The naturalista reeled in a wooden box; no matter how one looked at it, Shen Xin’s was the more valuable item. Thus, the naturalista took a few steps toward Shen Xin. “You’ve got quite the luck.”

“Yep, yep,” Shen Xin agreed, noticing the man standing beside her, blinking, as he stared at the box in her arms.

Shen Xin remained silent, suddenly remembering the golden retriever her relatives owned. Whenever she munched on snacks, it would nudge close to her, eyes fixed on her food in just this manner…

Oh well, you can look if you want.

Before opening the box, Shen Xin checked its attributes:

[High-Grade Treasure Chest]: Chance of appearance is 1%. Contains high-grade gems, rare collectibles, and crafting blueprints.

Tsk, tsk, tsk. One percent chance of appearance.

Shen Xin was secretly amazed and opened the box with a “clack.” The System promptly notified him:

【 Congratulations, player! Obtained [Scimitar x 1]. 】

【 Scimitar: Masterwork, originally a straight blade, but fell in love with another straight blade, thus became a scimitar. Inflicts 35-45 damage per attack. When two scimitars are held simultaneously, the damage dealt by each blade doubles. 】

Shen Xin stared, speechless. What kind of bizarre description was this?

Upon seeing the blade in Shen Xin’s hand, Natural Curl’s eyes lit up, and he pointed at it. “For sale?”

“Huh?”

There were monsters roaming the island, so although Shen Xin was a farmer, he still wanted to arm himself. However… this blade had too many flaws; even holding it made Shen Xin feel disdain.

“35 damage per attack, interested? What’s your offer?”

Natural Curl lowered his gaze and pondered for a moment, then replied, “40 silver coins.”

“Deal.” This price was even higher than Shen Xin had expected.

【 Player Jing Yan has applied to trade with you. 】

Jing Yan… Never heard of him before.

Shen Xin put the scimitar in the trade window and asked, “Are you a celebrity? A streamer? Or something else?”

Jing Yan was taken aback, then responded with a smile, “In the qualifying round, I got first place, and you got tenth. I remember you…”

After a pause, he said earnestly, “You’re very strong.”

Shen Xin attempted to recall the score at the time, but she couldn’t remember the exact number; all she recalled was that it had been very high.

“You’re also very strong,” she replied courteously.

The transaction completed, Jing Yan saw the scimitar’s attributes, and the faint smile on his face froze momentarily.

Shen Xin caught this tiny detail, and she lowered her head and pinched herself to stop from laughing out loud.

The description of the blade was admittedly a bit flashy, but regardless, the attack value was solid. The two returned to their corner of the pier and focused on fishing again.

The premium treasure chest certainly lived up to its one percent chance of being caught; for the next several hours, neither Shen Xin nor Jing Yan saw another iron box.

Since she didn’t need to expand her farm temporarily, Shen Xin didn’t need to return home early, meaning she could earn more money.

Adding the money from the knife sale, she had a total of two hundred silver coins in her wallet!

Oh, tortoise, this is a huge sum!

Shen Xin, who had instantly become rich, suddenly felt that life was brimming with hope; the翻身的农奴 wanted to sing.

After clearing out the last fifty packets of rapeseed oil from the shop, Shen Xin had one hundred and twenty-five silver coins left to squander.

She could buy anything her heart desired from the shop.

First, she bought two hundred loaves of bread.

Out of kindness, Shen Xin left some food for other players, not wanting to clean them out entirely.

Old He’s shop looked small, but it sold a variety of items.

Shen Xin scanned the area and noticed many profession-specific tools.

Hair dryers, hair dye, stationery, speakers, stoves…

And all sorts of spices.

Speaking of spices, Shen Xin remembered her inability to cook over the fireplace.

“Boss, what should I do if my fireplace can’t be used for cooking?”

Old He was reading and paused upon hearing Shen Xin’s question. “Hm… Ah! You mean the cottage at the river farm, right? Go find the carpenter to upgrade your house, and he’ll fix your kitchen for you.”

Now that she thought about it, Old He smacked his forehead. “Aiyo, I also want to upgrade my house.”

Shen Xin replied, “Then go ahead.”

She had contributed so much money to the shop already—she figured an upgrade should be no problem.

“We’re short on wood…” Old He sighed, but his eyes kept drifting toward Shen Xin.

Shen Xin remained silent.

If you’re short on wood, then go chop some trees down, you lazy NPC!

“How much?” Shen Xin finally asked, her voice tinged with good-natured exasperation.

“Oh, isn’t it embarrassing… We need a thousand,” Old He said, the wrinkles on his face creasing into a smile.

Shen Xin was speechless.

Fuck, is this a house or a mansion? A thousand pieces of wood? Go ahead and take whatever you want then!

A dialogue box popped up before her.

【 Old He’s favor with you has reached five hearts. He has requested your help providing wood. Do you accept the quest? 】

Favor? Wood?

Shen Xin spent most of her time farming and fishing to earn money, so she rarely took the time to check her favor with the NPCs. She hadn’t realized that Old He had five hearts.

Come to think of it, she didn’t interact with Old He that much, did she? Other than buying things from him, of course…

Shen Xin was speechless.

Fuck, these five hearts aren’t about Old He’s favor toward me, they’re about his favor toward the money in my inventory!

Shen Xin accepted the wood quest, grumbling under her breath. All right, so she thought she’d never have to run around and exhaust herself again, going fishing every day at the beach—but starting tomorrow, she’d be a lumberjack instead. Since she planned to build a kitchen, she also bought bottles of various spices.

After purchasing the spices, Shen Xin asked Old He, “The spring seeds are sold out. When will the summer ones be restocked?”

Old He was a crafty merchant, but one with principles.

“On the first day of summer, of course… Some people always manage to plant the wrong seeds at the wrong time, so I only sell seasonal seeds during their designated planting times.”

Old He pointed to the furthest corner of the shop. “But you can grow fruit trees outside of the designated season.”

What? There are fruit trees?

Shen Xin walked in the direction Old He had pointed and discovered a whole row of fruit tree saplings tucked away in the corner, the soil around them wrapped in plastic film.

[Fruit Tree Instructions: After planting, trees need 28 days (one quarter) to grow before producing fruit. Trees will only bear fruit during their corresponding season.]

[Price: 15 silver per sapling]

Spring: Cocoa Bean Tree Sapling, Lemon Tree Sapling, Cherry Tree Sapling, Apricot Tree Sapling

Summer: Durian Tree Sapling, Mango Tree Sapling, Peach Tree Sapling, Banana Tree Sapling

Autumn: Almond Tree Sapling, Fig Tree Sapling, Walnut Tree Sapling, Apple Tree Sapling

Winter: Olive Tree Sapling, Pear Tree Sapling, Persimmon Tree Sapling, Grapefruit Tree Sapling

Shen Xin had no words for this game. Could subtropical and tropical fruits be planted together?

Forget it, forget it… Getting worked up over a game is just asking for trouble.

At this time, it was too late to plant tree saplings for a spring harvest, so she bought one summer sapling with the last of her money, leaving her with twenty-five silver coins.

Shen Xin stared at her empty bank account.

Suddenly, she was destitute.

This Peach Blossom Town was like a money-sucking monster; no matter how much she earned, it was never enough to spend.

Shen Xin dared not browse the shop any longer and instead went straight to the carpenter’s house.

Xiao Feng had finished repairing the storehouse and returned, so when he saw Shen Xin, he enthusiastically greeted the big shot.

Shen Xin acknowledged him, then asked, “Do you upgrade houses?”

“Uh…nope.”

The storehouse he built for Shen Xin was his first project, and while he wanted to take on more orders, he simply couldn’t.

“Then I’ll ask the old carpenter.”

After consulting with the old carpenter, she learned that the materials needed to upgrade a house included twenty-five silver coins and five hundred wood.

Fine. With the payment tomorrow, she’d be penniless once again.

Upon returning to the farm, Shen Xin was greeted by the sight of Xiao Feng’s repaired storage shed.

It was a small, exquisite wooden structure with three shelves built into the walls, each tall enough to hold two boxes. The ceiling served as a feed bin, which could probably accommodate a good amount of hay and other fodder.

To be fair, the storage shed looked more livable than her crumbling house.

After finding a spot to plant the fruit tree saplings, Shen Xin picked up an axe and started chopping away at a tree.

【 Congratulations, fishing level +1, treasure chest hook rate doubled. 】

【 Congratulations, gathering level +1, chopping trees drop rate increased by 20 percent. 】

Lying on the bed, Shen Xin stirred. Last night, she had chopped down trees until she was exhausted; she didn’t even remember how she fell asleep.

“Points ranking… Still in first.”

As she boiled water and ate breakfast, Shen Xin casually flipped through the handbook.

“Hm?”

【 Main Quest: Rebuild Peach Blossom Town

Progress: 0%

Greet twenty-four NPCs in Peach Blossom Town (17/24)

Peach Blossom Island’s Secret (4/5)

Bring Old He one thousand pieces of wood (0/1000) 】

Everything was normal, but below the main quest line, the section for side quests was blank.

“It looks like the tutorial quests are over.”

The side quests’ objectives were too straightforward; calling them “beginner” quests would be more accurate.

Shen Xin gathered up five hundred pieces of wood, yawned, and walked toward the carpenter’s house in the small town. She didn’t live within the town itself, usually heading to the beach as soon as morning rolled around, so she didn’t often run into other players who chose to reside there.

Arriving early this morning, she discovered many people standing around the town square.

“So that’s what the usual hustle and bustle is like?” Shen Xin mumbled, but upon taking a closer look, she realized something wasn’t quite right.

Most people had anxious expressions on their faces.

“What happened?” Shen Xin asked, searching for Xiao Feng in the crowd. Mayor Wang walked out of his house at that moment.

Mayor Wang cleared his throat, then said loudly, “Everyone, please calm down. We’ve looked into the source of the shaking last night, and it was just a minor tremor. It will not cause any further disasters…”

Shen Xin was baffled.

A tremor? What tremor? She had slept so soundly last night that she hadn’t heard anything.

Mayor Wang continued, “However, to protect everyone’s safety, I still recommend that everyone stay indoors as much as possible in the coming days. It’s safer here in the town; if something were to happen while you’re outside, it would be difficult to find and rescue victims…”

The mayor’s speech was convincing, and many restless people gradually calmed down and dispersed.

Shen Xin stood in place, staring at the “4/5” hidden behind the quest.

“This doesn’t seem so simple.”