58. Smallville: Riddle
66.
The farmer put the legendary fish into his backpack and picked up the lost book from the treasure chest.
The Lost Book is all-encompassing, with donations from other NPCs and little bits of knowledge from various industries. However, the most fascinating part is the melodramatic plot in the Lost Book. If farmers are given the opportunity to participate in the writing of a book one day, the AAA agricultural and sideline product distributor will definitely write down all the gossip he has heard in his life, making this book shine throughout Pelican Town.
That's getting off topic.
Although she was extremely curious about the contents of the book, Aria knew that this time it would probably be the same as the previous one, and the book would not stay in her hand for more than five seconds.
Sure enough, as soon as she got the blue book, a prompt message flashed before her eyes: You have found a lost book, and the library's collection has expanded again.
Then, the lost book disappeared from Aria's hands with a snap, and she knew that the book had returned to the library on its own.
It sounds outrageous, but that's how Stardew Valley works.
The lost book cannot be read directly and can only be browsed in the library. Aria vaguely remembered that the library in Smallville Town was under the management of the school, but because she was very busy with the early development, she has not been there once until now.
Later, you can go and take a look under the pretext of reading a book.
...But before that, there's still a cat to feed at home.
…
After patiently catching more than a dozen fish, the farmer packed up his fishing gear and headed home.
It rained continuously all the way, and Aria didn't see any big cats playing in the water outdoors, so she felt relieved and ran into the cabin.
——The farmer failed to dodge and was successfully intercepted by Selina at the door.
Perhaps hoping that Aria would come back from "hunting" soon, the big cat lay at the door in a rather lazy posture, shaking her tail, and her ginger fur glowed like the warmth of pumpkin soup under the light of the cabin, almost meeting part of the farmer's definition of home.
…Luckily it’s not 1:50 in the morning.
Wiping off some non-existent cold sweat, Aria pushed it away while condemning Selina, who had no cat manners at all. After all, she was just a cat now, and cats couldn't understand bad words from humans: "Bad cat! Didn't we agree not to block the door?"
Faced with the cat ethics agreement unilaterally signed by the farmer, the big cat shook its beautiful fur and walked aside, tapping its tail on the ground, and it was unknown whether it had heard it or not.
"Okay, okay, it will be ready soon." After placing the legendary fish in the box, the farmer quickly opened the refrigerator and made a delicious sashimi meal for Selena.
The sashimi was springy, fresh, and sweet, with beautifully distributed fat lines. It was clear that Miss Selina was quite satisfied with her meal, her face practically buried in the bowl. The farmer clapped his hands in satisfaction as well, and before heading to the library, he finished the rest of his farm work.
…
Strawberries ripen and bear fruit every four days. The farmer counts the days and harvests the ones that look identical, leaving some for the wine barrels. She stores the wine in wooden boxes. Seeing that her coffers are running low due to pet bowl purchases, the farmer no longer hesitates and dumps all the wine into the delivery box.
As she passed the barn, she touched her own cow.
After a few days of growth, the baby returned to the shed, looking strong and ready to produce milk. Still reeling from the previous milking accident, the farmer carefully took out the milking bucket from his backpack and squatted down, precisely adjusting his position before milking. Soon, the sound of splashing water could be heard.
A pot of Silver Star milk!
After harvesting the milk, Aria patted its head again and praised this future hero of the farm profusely. Finally, she encouraged him to return to the shed and strive to maintain profitability and increase efficiency next time. She also offered some Iridium milk.
When he came back, he turned around in the shed and pointed his cow's butt at Aria again.
…
Smallville Library is nominally open until 6pm, but its actual closing time is closely linked to the closing time of local primary schools.
Most young people have left the town for big cities. The size of the town’s primary school has been shrinking in recent years, and now only a dozen children are still receiving education here.
Aria rushed there when the children were out of class, and was surrounded by the little kids on her way to find their teacher.
"Sister Aria!" The little kids were very enthusiastic and shouted to her in unison as if they had agreed on something: "Good afternoon!"
"Good afternoon, good afternoon!" Aria touched the carrot heads one by one as if they were her own cows, and no one felt anything was wrong: "Is your history teacher still in the classroom?" Although she was called a history teacher, Ms. Siwangen actually taught almost all the subjects. She could be called a model worker in Smallville.
"Ms. Siwangen is still here. After we cleaned up the classroom, she said she wanted to check it again." A little girl clung to the farmer's arm, her eyes full of anticipation: "Sister, what did you do this afternoon?"
In the eyes of children, a job as a farmer, where one can do whatever they want without going to school, is simply the dream of all children. Ever since she started hanging out with people in the town, every time she met them, there were children looking at her eagerly, wanting to know what interesting things Aria had done.
The farmer knew he couldn't break through the siege, so he simply satisfied the children's curiosity: "I'm going fishing today."
Out of some kind of showing-off desire of a fishing enthusiast, Aria showed them the size of the longest fish she had caught.
The children were also very enthusiastic: "That's amazing!" They used their arms to measure the size she gestured, and chattered excitedly: "How long must it have eaten to grow so big? You actually caught it!"
This kind of praise is especially rewarding for anglers. Aria pretended to cough twice and said, "It was just a casual catch, nothing special."
"If you like, I can catch some small fish for you as pets next time."
Aria is the most trustworthy farmer in Smallville. After hearing her words, all the little eyes lit up. These children had obviously forgotten the history of being "bullied" by the farmer during the previous Easter Egg Festival, and now they have become loyal fans of the farmer.
"That's great!" One of the little girls even stood on tiptoe and gave Aria a kiss on the cheek.
She smiled sweetly, but her speech was a little unclear due to her teething: "Sister Crab, I'm Leah, and this is a thank you gift for you!"
After enough laughter and playfulness, the little kids finally dispersed, some donning raincoats or running outside to sit under the umbrellas held by adults, and then happily headed home again. The farmer watched them run out of the schoolyard and continued walking back inside with a smile.
Ms. Siwangen had actually reached retirement age, but there was no one to take over, so she continued to shoulder the responsibility of educating these children. The farmer saw her packing up the podium at the door and knocked three times on the door frame.
Knock knock knock.
Ms. Siwangen, who was wearing reading glasses, turned around and looked much more relaxed when she saw that it was the farmer from the town.
"Oh, dear." It was said that Ms. Swann was very strict when she was young, but that time had mellowed her into the person she is now. When she saw the farmer, who was in her twenties, she was treated like an older child.
If they weren't in the classroom right now, Aria would have suspected that Ms. Swann was going to make her some tea and biscuits and sit down and say, "How can I help you?"
The farmer scratched his head awkwardly, as if he had some unreasonable request but was too embarrassed to say it out loud.
"Um, Ms. Siwann..." In order to be able to freely enter and exit the library in the future, Aria tried hard to make herself look like she couldn't live without books. "I came here this time to find out if the school library can be used by non-school personnel?"
This question surprised Ms. Siwangen. After all, she had rarely heard townspeople ask to borrow books over the years. This might be normal in other small towns, but people in Smallville always seemed to be more interested in other things. Later, with the development of the times, they also had mobile phones and televisions for entertainment, and these things were much faster than physical books in obtaining information.
But she is happy to lend books to those who love and cherish books, especially when facing Aria's thirst for knowledge, the soft spot in the teacher's heart is inevitably touched.
Ms. Siwangen nodded and agreed to the farmer's unwelcome request. "The school library used to be used by the town, but no one came often, so the mayor later said it should be reserved for students."
"Perhaps the library should make some changes," Ms. Swann quickly brought her thoughts back to reality. "...But as you can see, the town's funds are not that abundant. The mayor and I are still considering other solutions."
"But I'm glad there are still people who enjoy reading after work. I think there are some books in the library that might be helpful for your work," Ms. Swann said, pulling out a form from under the podium. "Fill out this form, and I'll give you the spare key. Just remember to keep the library clean. I don't have any other requests."
"Thank you!" Aria cheered happily. Now, when she finds the lost book again, she can go directly to the library to read it without having to look for the teacher here every time.
Watching the farmer skipping away with the spare key, Ms. Siwangen couldn't help but sigh that young people are still full of energy.
Of course, the farmer didn't know that he had become a good student among the townspeople in the eyes of Ms. Siwangen. She used the spare key to open the library and went straight to the bookshelf. Following the system's instructions, she quickly found the book she had run back.
There is no special music effect, and this forgotten book can be read naturally when it is taken out again.
The Stardew Valley book looks thick, but in fact the content is quite brief, which is very suitable for players like Aria who have little patience for long texts in the game. She originally planned to see repetitive content, but the MOD obviously gave the farmer a surprise.
Under the bright lights of the library, the farmer leaned against the bookshelf and read the contents of the book softly.
It's a new riddle.
A aging face, a visitor from London, a great construction, and nine times out of ten, he will repay kindness with enmity.
In the middle of the night, birds appear one after another, descending, plotting and whispering in secret, in a secret place.
What does it mean?
————————
Farmer construction in progress
I wrote a poorly written riddle based on the format of the original Forgotten Book, orz it should be easy to guess
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