Chapter 10: Hitting On Someone

Jiang Ye was a little nervous, slowing down as he cautiously walked into the town up ahead.

Two rows of trees flanked the town's entrance. Beyond the trees, the view opened up suddenly—a cluster of small red-roofed houses that looked lively even from afar.

This place was nothing like the desolate farm. Villagers passed by in twos and threes. Dogs barked loudly somewhere, and a delicious aroma drifted from an unknown source.

"Ah, that's the smell of bread!" Jiang Ye took a deep breath. It smelled amazing—that baked, toasty scent, with a distinct wheaty aroma.

The little mushroom almost drooled like a puppy.

A strand of mycelium wiped the corner of his non-existent mouth, then he glanced around cautiously.

"Seems like..." Seems like there's no danger.

At least no one suddenly shouted, "Look, a mushroom monster!"

The disguise ring was working. Jiang Ye let out a small sigh of relief and straightened his mushroom stalk, which had gone greenish-purple from hunger. If he kept going hungry like this, he might end up under five centimeters tall.

"There's gotta be a bakery up ahead!" Jiang Ye decided to follow the smell and check out the town's bakery first.

This had to be the bustling town center. Shops lined the street one after another, with winding cobblestone paths stretching ahead. The whole street was steeped in the rich aroma of butter.

The little mushroom tilted his head curiously to look. The first shop he passed had two mannequins out front—one male, one female. A clothing store. The owner, a stylishly dressed middle-aged man, was busy styling the two mannequins and changing their outfits.

Then came the rhythmic clang of a blacksmith's hammer. That was a blacksmith's shop.

Right next to the blacksmith was a carpenter's shop.

After that came a barbershop and a bookstore.

A small inn sat next to a bar that wasn't open yet—it was still daylight.

"Ah, the bakery!"

Jiang Ye walked all the way there and finally spotted the bakery he'd been craving. The aroma was coming from behind the plain wooden door in front of him, which had a poster reading "Grand Opening 20% Off."

A strand of mycelium stretched out, and Jiang Ye pushed the door open and walked in.

Ding-a-ling!

The doorbell chimed crisply, and the young woman behind the counter immediately flashed a bright smile. "Welcome!"

The second Jiang Ye stepped inside, he was almost knocked out by the heavenly smell.

The bakery was on the small side, but that didn't take away from its charm—or the delicious stuff inside.

Four big display cases sat in the middle of the shop, all filled with piping-hot, just-baked breads and cakes. In the corner were two small tables for customers who wanted to sit and enjoy their goodies.

Jiang Ye swallowed hard. The little mushroom hopped over to the first display case.

Farmer's Bread—60 rupees.

Lye pretzel bun—60 rupees.

Chocolate scone—225 rupees.

Teddy bear cookies—140 rupees.

Muffin cake—150 rupees.

Golden Egg Tart—150 rupees.

There were a lot of options, and bread was generally cheaper than the cakes. Honestly, for a newbie farmer, none of these were exactly cheap.

Jiang Ye opened his inventory to take a look.

"Total: 3,062 rupees."

After setting aside the 2,000 rupees he needed for the backpack upgrade, he'd have 1,062 rupees left.

Jiang Ye did the math—surely he could afford two loaves of bread with what was left.

Now came the big question: what to buy?

The Farmer's Bread was huge and looked like a great deal. The Golden Egg Tarts were smaller, but golden and crispy. And the Chocolate Scones were topped with thick, gooey chocolate sauce—he could smell the rich chocolate even through the display case.

So hard to choose...

The little mushroom paced back and forth in front of the display case, back and forth.

"The lye bun looks good too."

Jiang Ye's favorite bread was, of course, the lye bun. Glossy reddish-brown on the outside, dense and chewy without being dry. It was fragrant with a rich wheaty smell—the more you chewed, the more flavorful it got, and the more you wanted it.

Just thinking about it made Jiang Ye gulp again.

Especially since the lye buns were topped with melted, golden cheese baked to perfection—making them twice as delicious.

"Hi, I'd like to buy two lye buns." Jiang Ye made up his mind and turned to the young woman behind the counter.

The girl walked over, quickly popped two lye buns into a clear little bag, sealed it, and slapped on a pink strawberry sticker.

"Sir, that'll be 96 rupees for two lye buns after the discount."

"Total: 2,966 rupees."

Jiang Ye paid, and the system immediately showed his remaining balance.

The girl put the two lye buns in a small cloth pouch and handed them to Jiang Ye, totally unaware that the customer in front of her was a tiny mushroom.

The girl said enthusiastically, "Sir, you look a bit new around here. Let me guess—are you the farmer the mayor mentioned, the one who just moved in?"

The mushroom shook his cap. Jiang Ye nodded and said, "Hi, I live on the farm to the west. Oh, right, my name is..."

"I know!" the girl said with a smile. "You're Mr. Mushroom Soup! The mayor mentioned you."

Jiang Ye gave an awkward, polite smile. A mushroom named Mushroom Soup just sounded wrong. He wondered if this game let you change your ID.

"Social"

"The Man Who Would Be Smoked Fish King": Damn! Can you even change your name in this game?

"Don't You Have Work to Do": Should be, I think I saw something about it in the game instructions.

Jiang Ye noticed someone else was thinking the same thing.

"Lu Ban the Five-Footer": The young master wants to change his name too.

“Sleep at Two”: I checked, and changing your name requires buying an item worth 2 million rupees.

“SmokedFishKingWannabe”: ??? How many zeros is that? Let me count again.

Jiang Ye stared wide-eyed at the number—2 million rupees?

“Sleep at Two”: Not only does it cost 2 million, you also have to get on good terms with an NPC named Shasha first, or she won't sell it to you.

“NothingBetterToDo”: That sounds like way too much work.

“SmokedFishKingWannabe”: What?! So I'm never changing my name?

“Sleep at Two”: Why do you even want to change it? I think your name's pretty good.

Jiang Ye glanced at his own ID—compared to 2 million, Mushroom Chowder was fine after all.

“SmokedFishKingWannabe”: I just found out there's a guy on our server called “Smoked Fish King”!

“SmokedFishKingWannabe”: I went to the tackle shop to buy a new rod, and the owner said the latest one was already bought by this Smoked Fish King guy, and then he asked if we were a couple!!!

“SmokedFishKingWannabe”: (table flip emoji)

Jiang Ye couldn't help but laugh—looks like someone wants to change their name even more than I do.

“Oh right, I haven't introduced myself yet.” The young woman from the bakery said, “I'm Mina, the owner of this bakery.”

Mina was a real talker: “The mayor mentioned Mr. Mushroom Chowder, and everyone was curious—we figured you'd be some rich middle-aged guy, since who else could afford a farm that big. But who knew, Mr. Mushroom Chowder, you're so young and handsome.”

The mycelium scratched the edge of the mushroom cap—Jiang Ye was a bit embarrassed by her compliments.

Mina said mysteriously: “Let me tell you a secret—Mr. Xie, the head of the Adventurer's Guild up north, is supposed to be the hottest guy in Sun Town, but I think you're way better looking than him.”

“Oh, right, the gift!”

Mina clapped her hands: “I almost forgot the gift! To celebrate your arrival, I've got something for you. Ta-da! Here you go!”

Jiang Ye took what Mina handed him—a piece of paper that looked like a flyer or something.

“Lye Bun Recipe ×1”

Mina smiled and winked: “This is my secret recipe, and now it's yours as a gift. Hope you like it!”

Jiang Ye was pleasantly surprised—his first gift was a bread recipe, and it was for his favorite lye buns, no less.

“Recipe: Lye Bun”

“Ingredients: Flour (2), Baking Lye (1), Salt (1)”

“Note: You need a kitchen to cook.”

“Note: You can upgrade your cabin at the carpenter's shop—a level 2 cabin comes with a small kitchen.”

Looks like I can't make these myself for now, Jiang Ye thought—expanding the cabin is gonna cost a ton of rupees.

Jiang Ye thanked Mina and left the bakery with two fragrant lye buns in hand.

Mina walked him to the door, waved goodbye, and told him where the general store was.

The lye buns smelled so good—just the smell alone could boost your SAN. As soon as he stepped outside, the mycelium eagerly reached into the cloth bag, pulled out a lye bun, and started munching on it as he walked.

“Wow, this is amazing.” Jiang Ye's eyes lit up—this was the best lye bun he'd ever had, hands down!

The general store was just at the next intersection, not far. He planned to go there to upgrade his item slots to 24.

Jiang Ye opened the system chat as he walked.

“Social”

“NothingBetterToDo”: Hey folks, have you all tried chatting up the NPCs? What gifts did you get?

“ColdFacedPigSuccubus”: I'm an introvert, but I mustered up the courage to chat, and all I got was a small twig. Is that normal?

“ColdFacedPigSuccubus”: So tired…

“FiveFootLuBan”: What the heck! They gave the young master a pair of white socks!!!

“NothingBetterToDo”: Hahaha! Hahaha! Young master, did you sniff them? They don't stink, do they?

“Sleep at Two”: Heh, I got a girl's number, and she told me to call her sometime to chat.

“NothingBetterToDo”: I got one too—she said she works part-time at a pool.

“Sleep at Two”: What? Isn't that just a scam?

“NoBlockingCat”: The General Store Owner is so cheap—the gift was a 5% discount coupon. Why not just make it 1% off? It only saved me 1 rupee!

Jiang Ye felt like he could die laughing at the chat. It seemed everyone's newbie gifts were pretty lame—the bread recipe was already a top-tier gift.

“Welcome to the biggest general store in Sun Town!”

The store was right there, and the owner, wearing black-rimmed glasses, looked every bit the businessman. He greeted Jiang Ye in a booming voice.

“Sir, you must be the new farmer, Mr. Mushroom, right?” The store owner pushed up his glasses: “As a welcome gift, I'll give you 5% off your first purchase here. How about that? What a pleasant surprise!”

Jiang Ye had already been spoiled—it seemed everyone got the same 5% discount at the general store.

The store owner asked, “Mr. Mushroom, what can I get you?”

Jiang Ye glanced at the shelves on both sides and said, “I'd like a medium backpack.”

The black-rimmed glasses owner was taken aback, hesitated, and said, “Sir, are you sure? The medium backpack is 2,000 rupees! That's not a small amount.”

Jiang Ye nodded. At 2,000 rupees, with the 5% discount, it would be 1,900—saving 100 rupees.

It wasn't much, but it was still enough to buy two lye buns.

“You really want to buy the backpack?” The owner asked again and again, looking like he hated giving up that 100-rupee discount.

The mushroom nodded firmly.

“Well, alright then…” The owner reluctantly pulled a blue backpack from under the counter and said, “1,900 rupees! Pay up!”

“Note: Item slots upgraded.”

Jiang Ye confirmed the payment, and his item slots immediately expanded to 24. The remaining balance in his backpack was 1,066 rupees.

Meanwhile…

“Social”

“System: Congratulations to [Mushroom Chowder] for being the first player to upgrade their item slots, earning the [Start Collecting!] achievement.”

“System: Congratulations to [Mushroom Chowder] for earning the achievement reward: Grandpa's Cookie Tin ×1.”