The two of them found an open-air stall and sat down. Ye Miao looked at the menu with curiosity and ordered many dishes one after another. Some were seafood that had just appeared today, and some were his old favorites.
After ordering, she asked Chu Cheng to order again. Chu Cheng smiled and said, "Just order. If it's not enough, I'll order more."
"Okay." Ye Miao nodded and called the boss. The boss took the menu and went to prepare the dishes. Soon, all kinds of grilled skewers and grilled seafood were served, and the small wooden table was filled with food.
Ye Miao picked up a plump oyster.
Even before she'd traveled into the game, she'd loved eating oysters. Back then, thanks to online shopping, buying oysters from coastal cities was quick and easy, and as long as she chose a reliable store, the quality was guaranteed. She'd often make her own sauce at home, mincing garlic and chili peppers to serve with her oysters—a rare skill she'd acquired despite being a novice cook.
But after traveling through time, I was plunged into apocalyptic reality in a split second. Online shopping was gone, and eating oysters in places other than the coast became difficult.
Over the past few months, she had only eaten oysters two or three times in the VIP package provided by Chu Cheng, and the quantity was not much. It must be a rare ingredient dropped by him when he killed monsters, and it was gone after he used it up.
It feels so good to be able to eat as much as I want now.
Chu Cheng also picked up an oyster and watched her eat it without saying a word. Seeing her eat three in a row, he finally couldn't help but ask, "Do you like eating oysters?"
"Yes," Ye Miao admitted generously. "Actually, I like all kinds of seafood, but crabs and shrimps require shelling, which is too much trouble. Seafood that doesn't require shelling is the real deal!"
Chu Cheng laughed and ate another "mature seafood".
The impact of seafood is very direct. There were many skewers stalls in the area before, but due to the lack of seafood and freshwater fish, a large number of dishes were directly lost, which reduced the choices of customers and their enthusiasm was not high.
Now that this shortcoming has been made up, almost all barbecue stalls have enriched their menus overnight.
What followed was that everyone’s business hours became later and later.
In the past, everyone in the territory went to bed early for a variety of reasons. For one thing, seafood held a high status and a large share in the culinary world; a lack of it would have directly dampened everyone's interest in late-night dinners. For another, everyone was previously short on resources, having to get up during the day to hunt monsters and gather. While replenishing stamina in the game was simple, humans are complex creatures. When life's pressures mount, leisure becomes a thing of the past, and everyone wants to go back to bed early.
But now, aside from the new members who hadn't saved much, most of the older members had some savings, allowing them to indulge themselves occasionally. Add to that the unexpected arrival of seafood, and the perfect timing, location, and people were all in place. Many people were suddenly excited, gathering their friends to dine at the market. The bustle of the market began in the evening and showed no signs of abating.
Since the customers have not left yet, the merchants can only ignore the original closing time and continue to serve the customers well.
This situation lasted for three days, and the night market officially appeared in the city of overnight wealth.
The night market was a spontaneous discovery, located at the other end of the West Side residential area, a few hundred meters from the original West Side Market. Setting up stalls at the market was perfectly fine, but most stalls didn't need to stay open late. After they closed, the remaining stalls, suited to nightlife, were scattered throughout the market, making it unsightly and inconvenient for customers.
So soon some players took the lead in organizing a night market, created a group for stalls suitable for the night market, and asked for everyone's opinions.
By the time Ye Miao learned about this, they had already almost finished their discussion. The leading player brought the chosen location to her for discussion, and politely stated that if she felt it was not suitable, they could move on to another location.
Ye Miao looked at the location they circled on the map, thought there was no problem, and agreed. He also asked Lao Shuai to make a banner to celebrate the opening of the night market.
That evening, the "Overnight Rich Night Market" opened for business. The main food offerings included skewers, teppanyaki, smoothies, and juices, with other simple dishes also available. Like pre-apocalyptic night markets, the prices were low, and the ambiance was decidedly unpretentious, but it was lively and the atmosphere was good.
Within a few days, the night market naturally became a hotspot in the territory. Players, rich and poor alike, flocked to it, and the small area became as crowded as Gulangyu Island during the National Day holiday.
Sun Aimei, who had been selling summer drinks at the market for a short time before, seized this business opportunity. She bought squid on the first day the seafood appeared in the market. At that time, the business team also had skill cards for grilled squid for sale, but they were no longer available.
Then she would still go out to fight monsters and collect materials during the day, but would return to the territory at three o'clock in the afternoon, rest for a while, and then pack up and go to the night market.
The night market opens at 5pm every evening and stays open until the early hours, but Sun Aimei only operates between 5pm and 10pm. After school at the city centre elementary school, Sun Yuanyuan, a teaching assistant, also comes to help, and the two of them earn some extra money together.
Perhaps all primary school students have a natural affinity for young teachers. Many of the customers at the squid stall are students from primary schools in the city center. They chat and eat happily, and are lively and happy.
On the other side of the night market, An Yan from the farm team also set up a stall and sells watermelon juice here for three hours every day.
It is easy to get a sore throat after barbecuing or eating skewers, and drinking some watermelon juice is the most comfortable way to feel better.
The thriving atmosphere within the territory was intoxicating, and with the ongoing floods outside, many whose homes had been destroyed had nowhere else to go, seeking refuge in nearby caves or inns within the territory. Many of them had initially struggled to decide where to go, but once they saw the night market, they couldn't move, and for some reason, they pressed the application form.
So, by the time the torrential rain and flooding ended, the total population of Overnight Rich City had exceeded 8,500, with less than 1,500 vacancies. Ye Miao began planning to buy the vacant land nearby to further expand the territory and increase the number of people it could accommodate.
She had originally wanted to do this later, because buying land was not cheap, and various buildings were even more expensive. Based on her previous experience, it would be difficult to save money.
But business simulation games seem to share a common trait: they're only stuck with money in the early stages. At the beginning, a few hundred coins can drive you mad with rage, but later on, once the whole mechanics kick in, you can rake in hundreds of thousands, even millions, just by collecting idle coins.
Ye Miao has now entered this late stage. Every day, rent, auction fees, territory taxes, and grocery store income continue to flow in. The problem of capital shortage that appeared from time to time a while ago has been solved at once.
Therefore, it was appropriate for her to make further efforts during this period of peace. During this period, most players would strive to improve their strength and stockpile supplies in preparation for the next mode. Territories could also take this opportunity to make some significant improvements.
On the first day of the peaceful period, Ye Miao went to the Sunset Bar in City T again and looked at the prices of the cards.
As she expected, after more than a dozen days of speculation, card prices continued to rise. White, blue, and purple card prices had all gone from percentage increases to doubling or tripling. Gold cards were no longer listed directly for sale, but were either sold directly at auction or listed with a "price negotiable" notice.
After understanding the market situation, Ye Miao returned to the territory. He first took out 1,000 cards from the inventory and put 500 of them on the auction house. Cards of three qualities, white, blue, and purple, were sold at a fixed price of 1,000 gold coins per card for white cards, 3,000 gold coins per card for blue cards, and 20,000 gold coins per card for purple cards. The gold cards were put up for auction with a starting price of 30,000 gold coins, an increase of 1,000 gold coins each time, and a bidding period of three days.
She placed the other 500 cards in the territory grocery store. The selling price of white, blue and purple cards was 20% off the auction house price, and the gold cards were all sold at a flat price of 50,000 gold coins.
This action obviously reminded An Ruoying. Fifteen minutes later, Ye Miao saw that An Ruoying also put 100 cards on consignment at the auction house.
The lord group has exploded:
[S City, Immaculate City, Overlord, Hua Yao] I'm blown away! Are you guys in T City using a different storyline than us? We're all worried about running out of skill cards, so why are you still selling them?!
[E City·Electronic Pet City·Lord·Liu Mosi] It is reasonable to suspect that T City has some bugs that we don’t have to obtain resources?
[J City·Good Morning City·Lord·Guo Li] How did he do it...@An Ruoying, @Ye Miao, could you please tell us?
After seeing the news, An Ruoying privately chatted with Ye Miao: "I won't say anything more. Do you think it's convenient to tell me?"
Ye Miao hesitated for a moment, then replied generously, "There's no bug. I just saw that the system didn't issue cards on time, and I felt something was wrong, so I made preparations in advance and acquired a lot of elements. I also put the cards I had accumulated in reserve for the time being."
[J City·Good Morning City·Lord·Guo Li] Strong... I admire equally all those who can plan ahead!
[E City·Electronic Pet City·Lord·Liu Mosi] Awesome, I’ve learned something.
[Z City, Moss City, Lord Ma Ou] I think we should start stockpiling cards and elements now. It's better to mend the fences now than never. Otherwise, if the system messes up one day and creates a particularly abnormal boss monster, everyone won't be able to defeat it without enough skills and will all die.
For a moment, the lords in the group were either giving each other rainbow farts or analyzing how to remedy the situation. Ye Miao took a look and felt that it had nothing to do with him, so he closed the dialog box and continued to busy himself.
Now, except for the cliffs on the north side, which were prohibited from expansion, the land in the other three directions of her territory could be purchased. The land was systematically divided into five square blocks, located in the south, west, east, southwest, and southeast.
Each plot of land was of similar size and sold for the same 1.5 million gold coins. Once purchased, her territory would double in size and unlock an additional 10,000 people.
In other words, this expansion function is the real beginning of a new stage. The activation of this function means that she has officially bid farewell to the pain of previous upgrades, and each expansion has become more drastic.
Ye Miao looked left and right, and first gave up the west side because it was farther away from the city and more desolate. Then he chose the east side without hesitation between the two sides.
Because the area on the south side can be purchased, there is a small territory.
Given the system's usual brutality, she had no doubt that if she chose to purchase the south side, the system would immediately declare a territorial war against that small territory, forcing the small territory to choose between surrendering or fighting.
Granted, she could have explained it to the other party in advance and asked them to come directly to her, but there was no need. They were doing well, so who had she offended?
Ye Miao then pressed the button to expand the east side. The moment he confirmed his choice, the gold coins in stock decreased by 1.5 million, and the wall on the east side was suddenly pushed away.
The member who was busy at the dock vaguely felt a void behind him and turned around:???
There's a huge wall behind me?!
Lu Weiwei and Su Xinran, who were just about to go out fishing, were also startled. Lu Weiwei asked, "What's going on?!"
Su Xinran: "The territory has been upgraded again?!"
Lu Weiwei: "Isn't the highest level a city? How can we upgrade it? Then what are we now? A province of overnight wealth?"
Then, they both clicked on the map and saw that the name on it was still "Overnight Rich City." It was just that the area had indeed grown, a full double in size. The river that had previously been located at the easternmost edge of the territory now flowed right through its center, which was quite a sight.
Next, it will be even busier!
Ye Miao took a deep breath to reassure herself, then subconsciously clicked on the panel and found Chu Cheng's name.
She had asked him for help countless times before, sometimes for labor, sometimes for money, but always for the sake of the matter. This time, the moment her fingers touched his name, the melody of "Rice Fragrance" involuntarily rang in her ears.
Bonfire under the starry sky, music beside the bonfire...
Ye Miao calmed down, keeping a straight face, and asked Chu Cheng, "The territory has been upgraded again, and the upper limit of the number of people has doubled. I want to take advantage of the peaceful period to recruit new members. Are you free?"
[Chu Cheng] If you are free, feel free to call me whenever you want.
[Ye Miao] Then I will go to form a team.
After she finished speaking, she immediately closed the panel. Chu Cheng stared at the five words that seemed too short and frowned, feeling a little strange, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was strange.
Ye Miao left her residence and headed into the reception hall to begin posting announcements. She had originally just wanted to gather people to help with the recruitment, but inexplicably found other things to do and posted a few more announcements.
For example, recruit members with architectural skills to help pave the way, and recruit members with HR experience to help interview more staff.
Each of these things was something she really needed to do, but she hadn't planned to start them right now. However, she was feeling a bit confused, which forced her to schedule more work for herself and fill up her time.
Otherwise, it would be awkward...
Ye Miao's mind was still filled with the sound of "Rice Fragrance," like a lingering sound. She was a grown-up and not stupid, so of course she knew what was going on.
But she had rejected Chu Cheng before, and they got along well as colleagues afterwards. If she fell in love with him now, it would be too embarrassing to go back on her word!
Work, work well. As a lord, the most important thing for her is to take good care of her territory!
Ye Miao gritted her teeth and typed frantically. Just as she sent out the HR recruitment notice, the voice she least wanted to hear rang out from behind her: "Ye Miao?"
"..." Ye Miao turned around and asked with a relaxed look, "What's the matter?"
Chu Cheng pondered her overly brief message and said with certainty, "You seem to be in a bad mood. Is something wrong?"
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Happy Lantern Festival everyone
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