"Alright, alright! You're so clumsy even washing vegetables! Go stoke the fire over there!"

A few more minutes passed, and the NPC couldn't stand Mingmei's almost work-shirking, salted-fish state any longer. After staring at her face for two seconds, the kitchen master sent Mingmei to stoke the fire.

However, Mingmei looked at the stove for a long time, her eyes full of confusion. She didn't seem to know how to stoke a fire either. Just...stuffing firewood in would do, right?

That was what Mingmei thought, and that was what she did. Finally, amidst the black smoke billowing from the stove and the roars of the kitchen master NPC, Mingmei was chased away to serve tea and snacks to the dancers who were going to perform that night.

Now she could finally find someone to buy a boxed lunch from!

...

"Huh? Mingmei! What are you doing here?!" Lu Xiaoyao, who was in a tent, lost in a daze amidst a pile of gorgeous dance skirts, was stunned to see Mingmei appear before her.

Mingmei was also stunned.

She hadn't recognized her as the mysterious merchant from the newbie village yesterday in class. How did she recognize her as soon as they entered the game?

But just as Mingmei was in a daze, Lu Xiaoyao frowned prettily again, staring at her for a long time. She didn't know what she was thinking, but she muttered to herself, "Huh? It doesn't seem like Mingmei. She's much prettier than you."

Mingmei: ...

Thank you for the compliment?

"Miss, the banquet tonight will last a long time. Would you like to eat something to fill your stomach?" Pressing down the urge to retort to Lu Xiaoyao, Mingmei spoke again.

This time, her NPC lines had also changed. They were no longer as blunt and strange as in the newbie village.

However, Mingmei never expected that Lu Xiaoyao would refuse again and again!

"Ah? If I eat this, will my stomach bulge out? It won't look good when I wear the dress later... Never mind, I'll just have tea."

Sure enough, Lu Xiaoyao didn't understand Mingmei's hint at all. Instead, she looked down at her stomach with a conflicted expression.

Mingmei followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow. She hadn't expected that Lu Xiaoyao, who looked so delicate, soft, and innocent, actually had abs?

After looking at her stomach, Lu Xiaoyao looked up at Mingmei, who was standing there unmoving. So, she took the teacup from Mingmei's hand and drank it down, completely ignoring the boxed lunch in the delicate wooden box in her hand, and refused again, "Alright, I don't need you to serve me here. Go away."

Looking at the six-hour countdown on the player panel that had already begun, Mingmei's professional smile froze once again.

Damn you, Uncle!

Yan Hui, who had changed the game rules, received a "cordial" greeting from his niece at this moment.

At this time, Lu Xiaoyao's live broadcast chat also exploded once again:

[It's you! It's you! It's you! The mysterious merchant!]

[Ahhhhh, wake up, girl! This is the merchant!!]

[The game planner is so vicious! If the girl had her memory, she would have bought it already!]

[Say yes to her! Say yes to her! Baby! Say yes to her! What does it matter if your stomach bulges out! This is! Too much to bear!]

...

Mingmei stared at Lu Xiaoyao for a few seconds, feeling disappointed that iron couldn't be turned into steel. In the end, she could only take a deep breath, turn around, and lock her gaze on Bai Xiao, who had already begun exchanging information with other NPCs, among this group of beautiful ladies.

This time, Mingmei's transaction was unexpectedly smooth, and she sold a box of grilled lamb chops.

Seeing 0.3 of the 0.5 credits credited to her account, Mingmei smiled knowingly.

Although she had been squeezed out of 0.2 credits, at least she had made a sale, right?

And Bai Xiao was also very satisfied to use 0.5 credits to allow her to understand the words of the Chu Rong NPCs around her at the moment.

The two sides reached a satisfactory transaction. After exchanging a tacit glance in the crowd, Mingmei nodded and was about to leave, planning to find other players.

"Wait a moment."

Seeing Mingmei about to leave, Bai Xiao suddenly thought of something and took a few steps forward to stop her.

"What's wrong?"

"Excuse me... have you sold this boxed lunch to anyone else?"

Bai Xiao still remembered that there was another player here. There was no reason for Lu Xiaoyao to miss this mysterious merchant.

A good opportunity is not to be missed!

"Well, a beauty just refused my kindness. As for the others, I haven't found anyone who needs it yet~"

With Mingmei's NPC identity, she would naturally not reveal too much other information. But regarding the "stupid thing" Lu Xiaoyao had done, she felt she needed to remind her teammate.

Mingmei: Your teammate is a little cute and stupid, got it?

Bai Xiao: ...

Lu Xiaoyao, who had changed into a gorgeous dance dress, was twisting and turning in front of the bronze mirror, saying, "Dear viewers, do you think it looks good? Ah? When I get out, I'll find someone to make this dress for me. I really like it!"

Turning her head, Lu Xiaoyao suddenly ran into Bai Xiao, who was holding a boxed lunch and eating with relish.

The charred aroma of the grilled lamb chops was one thing, but just hearing the crisp sound of Bai Xiao biting into it made Lu Xiaoyao, who was watching up close, swallow a mouthful of saliva.

"Where... did you get that?"

Lu Xiaoyao couldn't help but touch her stomach, which she had just filled with tea.

She seemed to be hungry.

"I bought it from the mysterious merchant."

Lu Xiaoyao: "Huh? Who?"

Now it was Lu Xiaoyao's turn to be confused.

Mysterious merchant?

"Where is she?"

"She left. She was just among the palace servants serving tea. I heard her say that someone had refused her."

While eating the grilled lamb chop boxed lunch, Bai Xiao didn't forget to stab Lu Xiaoyao, as if saying so would allow her to hear the sound of a dagger piercing the other party's chest.

Huh?

Someone refused the merchant? What a joke?! Who could refuse the mysterious merchant?!

In a daze, Lu Xiaoyao's mind recalled what she had just done.

It was her who had refused the other party!

Belatedly, Lu Xiaoyao's mouth opened wide and couldn't close. Tears instantly filled her eyes.

"Woo... so I'm the joke QAQ!"

Lu Xiaoyao wanted to cry now, not the kind that flowed down her cheeks, but the kind that instantly spurted tears from her eyes. She needed such a torrential rain-like cry to drain the water that had entered her brain.

"Does this boxed lunch have any special effects?" Lu Xiaoyao asked, looking at the boxed lunch in Bai Xiao's hand with tears in her eyes.

"It allows you to understand the Chu Rong language."

"Huh?"

"Didn't you notice when she asked you questions just now? The people of Chu Rong are all speaking their own language, and they don't speak when serving tea and water. Only she speaks in a language we can understand. It's so obvious..."

After Bai Xiao finished speaking, Lu Xiaoyao felt even more that she had been stupid just now.

That's right, how could there be a palace maid NPC in the Chu Rong tyrant's base camp who spoke a language they could understand for no reason!

Even Lu Xiaoyao's live broadcast viewers belatedly discovered this problem.

[Emmm, I admit, if I didn't remember the mysterious NPC, I might not have been able to discover this person's strangeness.]

[Sure enough, we're all playing the same game. Look at my baby, and then look at that young lady.]

[Kid, go home. Dad will take care of you. There are too many smart people outside. It's not suitable for people like us...]

...

"Then... then what should I do? Can I go find her back?" Now Lu Xiaoyao also understood how important it was to know another language.

After asking, she wanted to leave the tent to find Mingmei back. This time, no matter what she sold or what she wanted her to eat, she would agree.