Chapter Text
For the last words for Shen Yuan to hear to be his own strangled cry of "Stupid Author! Stupid Novel!" Was unbelievably dumb. Granted, he wasn't sure what he was expecting to happen when he shoved the nearly rock solid meat bun into his mouth, forcing his teeth to grind down into old play-dough like substance. Honestly Shen Yuan should beat Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky senseless. This was all his fault. Airplane had mass released the last arc of Proud Immortal Demon Way two days before, marking the over 6,000 chaptered novel complete. Of course Shen Yuan had to read it! He had already spent the last two years wading through the shit fest that was PIDW there was no way he wasn't going to bear witness to its 'grand' finale.
Honestly! He should've known! Airplane's never done anything right! How dare he end things like this. Shen Yuan wouldn't, no he couldn't stand for it. He had not-so-begrudgingly watched Luo Binghe grow this whole time. He had bought the merch, the chapters, the extra content! How dare it all end like this! Binghe dead because unnamed and unimportant wife #875 was still mad about her fallen country, she succeeded where all the other low IQ villains had failed, she managed to kill the great heavenly demon Luo Binghe in his own bed with a hairpin. Seriously, honestly, Shen Qingqiu, that scummiest of scum villain, was probably doing the cupid shuffle in his pickle pot grave, knowing that the man who had tortured him for years on end met such a pitiful end. The worst part is, the wife never even had her own name mentioned through out the entire arc! This was her moment, her time to shine and her name was never mentioned not even by servants! Or the other wives or any of the coconspirators she had! There was no way that Airplane hadn't forgotten and simply chose not to mention it rather then have to look back at his own writing. So Shen Yuan did what any reasonable person would do, he left a comment so long that he went over the character limit twice. aHe pointed everything possible out, from no name wives backstory not aligning with her actions, (her name was Su BaiLing) she was the princess of a fallen country and had hated the place because her father was abusive (no reason for revenge!), the fact that Luo Binghe, a heavenly demon, would need to be killed by poison, as limited as the effective ones were, because he was once again a heavenly demon and a cultivator! Shen Yuan, the one and only Peerless Cucumber went on and on, eventually rating the novel 1 star and closing out of the tab. Before reopening it again and going on another rant. At that moment Shen Yuan was sure that his already fragile heart would give out or burst from the pure rage that was coursing through him, unbeknownst to him by the time his heart had any time to react he would already be on the floor cursing Airplane, his novel, the old meat bun he had shoved in his mouth without a second thought, and himself for going out in such an uncool way. He seriously hoped his family didn't go through his computer.
With a cry he yelled out "Stupid Author! Stupid Novel!" Before his throat gave up and he collapsed. Enveloped in an inky blackness far too deep to just be ordinary sleep.
[SYSTEM Initializing...]
[Begining user data upload - activation phrase "Stupid Author! Stupid Novel!" in use]
[32%]
[56%]
[82%]
[Notice - issue occurred 404 body not found - SYSTEM will retry]
[27%]
[63%]
[Notice - Body {Shen Qingqiu} in use - host will be granted original body]
[42%]
[78%]
[100%]
[Host data upload complete - Host Shen Yuan, Peerless Cucumber - will be uploaded to the SYSTEM and begin character creation in 10 seconds]
Shen Yuan wasn't sure what he expected from the afterlife, he wasn't even sure he had ever even expected for one to exist. So with this Siri knock-off's voice rattling around in his head and a character customization screen in front of him he didn't know whether to accept his situation or question what kind of morphine the doctors had put in him for him to visualize this kind of bullshit.
[User Shen Yuan does not need to change his appearance, upon transmigration his body will automatically be set to match the cultural standards of Proud Immortal Demon Way. All previous ailments will be negated. User can choose to skip this section of character creation]
Sighing Shen Yuan decided that rather than acting like one of the idiotic female leads in a reincarnation novel and spending two chapters realizing that 1.) he had died and 2.) he now needed to adjust he might as well skip over all of the obligatory angst and get straight into it. It'd do him no good to mess up his reincarnation? Transmigration? By making emotionally fueled decisions. He did think that the 'all ailments will be negated' was far too convenient, the system was probably going to fuck him over later. He thought back to his family, his little sister giving up after school activities just to come home early to nurse him back to relative health. His oldest brother nagging him about taking better care of himself while his second brother snuck him the occasional candy and spoiled him rotten. His parents, who despite being busy with work would spend at least an hour a day on the phone with him when he was too unwell to leave his bed. For all of that to be washed away so simply felt wrong, but at the same time he didn't want to question it. Better to not look a gift horse in the mouth he supposed. Packing away thoughts of his family, his friends, and all of the nonsense in his search history and computers CPU, he decided to skip this section, he was fine with his own appearance, if he had a regular sleep schedule and was able to eat regular food he could even pass for pretty on a good day.
"Skip this section..." He paused for a few minutes trying to think of what to call this thing, his decision made for him when another obnoxiously blue screen popped up in front of him, the words [Host may call SYSTEM, System] blinked at him, he wondered why the capital letters mattered but whatever. Moving on the system reappeared with a class selection like screen, the four options? Sword cultivator, spiritual cultivator, demon and demonic cultivator. Now then, Shen Yuan had a decision to make, cultivators would become absolute by the 2,000th chapter of the story and he honestly wasn't looking to cut his new life short. Demon's were... well demons. Their society revolved around violence and treachery and as someone who in his older brothers words 'wasn't suited for much outside of reading and memorizing' he wasn't sure that he would do very well there, his own personal distaste for violence aside. Shen Yuan was a modern man he reasoned, he flinched when people picked up knives too close to him even if he trusted them! Demonic society would ruin him! It would go against his modern view of 'violence bad'! He mentally crossed out demons and put an extra strike through sword cultivator, swords were cool getting stabbed unfortunately was not. That left him with demonic cultivator, he didn't know enough about them to make a sound decision, demonic cultivators had only been mentioned in passing in PIDW never fleshed out beyond both demons and humans general distaste for them. The most screen time they got was during Shen Qingqiu's trial when the title had been thrown on haphazardly on top of his mountain of crimes. Soooo maybe not. Fighting both demons and humans because they both hated him was also not something he was particularly interested in. He hesitated a bit before turning back to his two most likely options, spiritual cultivator and demon. Sure being a cultivator sucked in the long run but he could become a recluse, and in the future demons would rule all, why not just be a shut in for a bit then emerge from his hiding place once the realms merged. Seriously he needed more information.
"System can you give me a bit more information on each of the classes?"
[At the price of removing two of the available halo's the system can give the host more information - does host accept?]
[Yes/No]
Shen Yuan pursed his lips, halo's? Like an angels? Or a plot armor one? He wanted to hit himself for his own stupidity, of course it would be a plot armor halo! Shen Yuan you idiot why would an angel halo be an option? What halo's would be removed though? He didn't mind the cannon fodder or protagonist halo's being removed. All he wanted was to live peacefully unbothered by society and sex plants, he couldn't do that if he was a low IQ villain or the center of everyone's attention, though loosing the protection provided by the protagonists halo would be annoying. He shook his head from side to side, he could make up for it by choosing the right class. And so with his extremely sound reasoning, Shen Yuan selected 'yes'. Instantly descriptions and jobs popped up under each of the listed 'classes'
[Sword Cultivator - A cultivator who trains their physical body and mind to ascension, they prioritize body and spirit over mind and will. Examples include Liu Qingge, Yue Qingyuan, Luo Binghe. Subclasses - Warrior, Guard]
[Spiritual Cultivator - A cultivator who ingrains themselves into the world and the world into themselves, they prioritize the mind and spirit over the body and will. Examples include Mu Qingfang, Shang Qinghua, Shen Qingqiu. Subclasses - Scholar, Alchemist, Musician.]
[Demon - A race that is born with abilities beyond those of ordinary humans, many types exist and each species is unique. Examples include Sha Hualing, Luo Binghe, Tianlang-Jun Subclasses - Heavenly demon {Host is barred from this option}, Sky Serpants, Huli Jing]
[Demonic Cultivator - Humans who mangle their spiritual roots and meridians to give birth to a darker type of energy from within them. They prioritize body and will. Examples include Wu Yanzi, ------, Shen Qingqiu Subclasses - Necromancer, -----, Contractor]
Useful information, that Shen Yuan wouldn't deny, though he lamented the fact that the demonic cultivators information wasn't complete and that becoming a Heavenly Demon wasn't an option for him. He stared at Shen Qingqiu's name from where it sat as both an example of spiritual cultivation and demonic cultivation. Surly he couldn't be both at the same time. Ordinary cultivation requires that great care be shown to meridians and spiritual roots but demonic cultivation called for the mangling of both. Another plot hole to beat Airplane over the head about once they finally met in hell he supposed. He noted that the strongest characters in the series were sword cultivators even if both Liu Qingge and Yue Qingyuan were nerfed before they got a genuine chance to shine. But still they were all about fighting, something the papered and sickly young master inside of Shen Yuan would never be able to do regularly enough to cultivate through it. So he permanently crossed sword cultivation off of his list. Demonic cultivation following right after. He was once again left with two options, Spiritual cultivation and becoming a demon. He supposed that now it was all up to his own personal desires. Not that it hadn't been already but now it was being mockingly shoved in his face, he got rid of two perfectly good halo's for no fucking reason apparently, he was right back where he started. No thanks to the system he supposed. Pulling on the skin just under his jaw he read over the descriptions again, glancing over to the examples and taking the subclasses into account. Spiritual Cultivators had two different cannon fodders listed among their examples, instantly earning a point reduction from Shen Yuan, though he supposed that both Shang Qinghua and Shen Qingqiu were just shitty people cultivation method aside. Demon's aside from their future titles of 'rulers of the three realms' didn't interest Shen Yuan all that much. So he spent a little more time mulling over it before he came to his decision. He would become a spiritual cultivator.
"System select spiritual cultivator, subclass alchemist." Listen, Shen Yuan was already taking a risk becoming a cultivator, he needed something to give him an edge, it was mentioned in PIDW during wife #466's arc that alchemists could really only be found at large sects and even then in few numbers, they were a rare commodity despite how much cultivation relied on their pills, salves and potions. Wife #446 whose name was Nan Genji had needed a pill made by a very specific alchemist. It was during this arc that Binghe began the destruction of the cultivation world, aside from Cang Qiong which was already smashed to bits by this point. Either way the point was Alchemists were rare and anything made or touched by them sold for an arm, leg and first born child. Shen Yuan needed some kind of insurance policy that he wouldn't be ground into worm paste by the first powerful person he came across. Also he may or may not want to make said potions, pills and salves and may or may not find plants, beasts and the like interesting. No way! He was not geeking out about Proud Immortal Demon's Way of all things and he wasn't some kid excited at the prospect of magic! He had more pride than that.
[Host has selected Spiritual Cultivator - Alchemist]
[Host can now pick one ability - a halo and permanent SYSTEM will be assigned after transmigration]
Nodding Shen Yuan browsed through the available abilities, they were all simple things, good luck, lock picking skills, a minor telepathic ability that wasn't really more than being an 'empath'. Eventually he settled on a minor identification ability it wasn't a holy grail of information and it wouldn't be a pop up screen that gave him all information ever on anything and everything but, it would allow him to identify what genus plants and animals were from, and considering his new occupation of alchemist, he subconsciously preened a little at the thought, he figured it would be useful.
[Host has completed character creation - transmigration process will begin now - starting location Shen Residence Ting Yun village]
Shen Yuan belatedly realized that he hadn't asked about his starting location until now. He thanked the system mentally for taking care of his housing arrangements and selecting a starting area that wasn't some random forest in butt fuck nowhere.
[Transmigration Complete - SYSTEM wishes Shen Yuan a happy transmigration]
Shen Yuan opened his eyes to natural light, the sun just barely peaking over the horizon, he shifted, the bed stiff under him, something he would have to fix if he ever wanted to sleep again. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, noting the lack of pain from the sudden action and rose from the bed, stretching his arms above him in a way he would never have been able to in the past. As he had gotten older his mobility had gotten more and more limited, this kind of stretching had been lost to him ever since he was twelve. He went about testing the mobility and flexibility of his new body, from simple shoulder rolls to nearly completing a split and he would've made it too if it wasn't for the resurgence of the obnoxious blue screen.
[Transmigration System #BBB0344 Greets Host! (^０^)ノ We'll be together from now on lets get along well]
Aside from the fact that the google translate Siri hybrid was now yelling in his head the use of the Kaomoji alongside the shock of this system suddenly not sounding like a system was so jarring that he fell out of his almost split and tumbled onto the floor. He cursed the systems mother, livestock and harvest before he sat back up, thoroughly annoyed. As the system chattered in the background about its many uses and available services, which Shen Yuan stopped paying attention to when it stated that Shen Yuan couldn't purchase anything from a system store or the like, only upgrades for his starting Alchemy cauldron and scenario pushers which he didn't like the sound of in the slightest. Not to mention that it couldn't even tell him exactly where in the plot he was, only stating that it was before it had started. Shen Yuan supposed that was a good thing, with any luck he'd be so far back in time that he would either have already ascended or be about to ascend by the time Luo Binghe starting going crazy.
Walking through the house Shen Yuan surveyed his new living space. The room he had woken up in was simple, a window took up a large portion of the western wall. His bed was pressed up against the northern wall, to the south was his wardrobe and dresser and vanity a medium sized bronze mirror rested on it carved into a perfect circle. The wardrobe had three other outfits, a pale green and cream colored male cheongsam, a light blue Yichang that had a navy belt and the same creme colored fabric as the cheongsam for its top. The silken fabric of the wrap-around skirt flowed like water through his fingers when he touched it. The last robe was Banbi styled, both of the shirts featuring a sea green color that he instantly fell in love with, forest green used to accent the sleeves of both as well as the color of the belt. The cream color made a comeback for the third time being the color of the skirt. It had delicate patterns of white plum blossoms embroidered into the shoulders, all of the clothing looked like it was high quality. Shen Yuan would later lament that the entirety of his housing budget had been wasted on clothing and not anything else.
The house was made of bamboo, when Shen Yuan peeked out the window he didn't see any other houses in the area, the system helpfully supplying that he lived a while out of the village and that he owned all of the land within the fenced area. Shen Yuan then commented that he couldn't see a fence. Which the system replied to with an [Ehe ☆～（ゝ。∂) System has taken care of everything Shen Yuan needn't worry about loan sharks or rent!] Shen Yuan wasn't worried but he still felt that everything was too convenient. He wasn't born yesterday he knew that the system would pull the rug out from under him sooner or later. He just had to be prepared. Walking out the 'door' in the eastern wall which was really just an open space in the wall with a curtain draped over it, he met the rest of his house, the kitchen and the living room was one area, a small drop was the only thing that separated them. A low table sat in the middle of the dropped out section, made out of a dark wood that offset the pale bamboo wonderfully, there weren't cushions to sit on but he supposed that didn't matter. The smooth wood flooring wasn't splintered so he didn't really care about having to sit on it. Faintly his own brain nagged at how inaccurate the structure of the house was to ancient Chinese architecture, the house should've been built facing the north or south not the east as it was, the kitchen should be its own separate building and not a part of the house, the combination of bamboo for walls and wood for flooring made no sense either, usually only one or the other would be used. However he also didn't care, in a weird way the layout reminded him of his own apartment, and so he chose to ignore it. He'll give Airplane a pass, just this once, though he supposes this could also just be the systems fault. To the north there was the door that led outside, the kitchen was in the 'south' half of the room, to the west there was one more door, inside he found his workshop. The caldron in the middle of the room was clearly low leveled and needed to be washed. Shen Yuan sighed, despite the modern layout of the house the plumbing still matched the time period. He didn't even want to think about using the bathroom. Wait... the bathroom... how did that even work? He couldn't even remember seeing one??? Dashing out of the workroom he started frantically searching the room for another door. He needed to take baths system! He was a human he couldn't practice inedia yet! He needed to eat and the 'after eat' needed to go somewhere!
"System..." Shen Yuan called with the gravity of a dying man, "Where is the bathroom?"
[Is that what host was looking for? The bathroom is an outhouse, as per PIDW standards]
"No. Where is the bathroom." He made sure to enunciate the bath part of bathroom.
[Oh! Host's bathroom is located in his room, host did not see the door?]
"I wouldn't be asking if I had."
[Perhaps host should be sure to look around areas more carefully from now on. It will be important to remain alert in the future (∩` ﾛ ´)⊃]
"I'll mute you for the rest of my shitty existence."
[HOST ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )‧º·˚]
Walking far more calmly, Shen Yuan entered his room, looking no parts of the exasperated mess he had just been. This time he looker around much more carefully, next to the wardrobe there was an actual door, Shen Yuan can both see and understand why he missed it before, the dark wood melded into the shadows of the room. Opening it he was met with a room with stone floors, there was no windows the only source of light being a pearl lamp hanging from the ceiling. Shen Yuan was more interested in it than anything else in the house, he guessed that it may be a night pearl, he swooned at the thought. He truly loved the magical devices of cultivation worlds. Humming a pleased tune Shen Yuan moved about the room, inspecting the screen, and the wooden tub. He lamented the fact that until he learned more about talismans he wouldn't be able to take a warm bath. Shen Yuan exited the room. Deciding to take more time to look around. He glanced in the bronze mirror, he was wearing a Shuhe, the pants a verdant green and the shirt that same reoccurring pale green. The belt that cinched the waist was what he had previously been calling cream but in the newfound rising sunlight was more of an off-white. He spun in a little circle glancing at the cloud embroidery on his shoulders. He leaned down, staring at his face and nearly fell over and had a heart attack. He was far too young. Way-too-young!! He looked like he was 15 again, granted he looked far healthier than he had at that age, his small form looking like it was just a result of genetics rather than because of his limited diet. He pinched his own cheek, ruffling his now, waist length hair. He turned side to side, picking the mirror up and looking at himself from different angles.
"System how old am I?"
[Shen Yuan is chronologically 22 years old, currently he retains the logical abilities of a 22 year old but both his body and emotional processing has been dropped to 15 years old]
He's 15? He's going to have to go through puberty again? No. No. Nononononononononononononononononno.
[User chose to skip character creation as such the System determined the best start age for Shen Yuan. (￣^￣)ゞ]
"I'm going to-!" Shen Yuan pulled on his hair, sinking to the floor. He wanted to punch past him, shave his head bald and send him to a military academy. "System open the store and buy a gun."
[Host the system doesn't hav-]
"Get me the gun!" Shen Yuan rolled around on the floor messing up his hair and clothes.
[Yessir! ( ＾▽＾)っ]
---------
Days later after calming down and succumbing to his fate Shen Yuan was pursuing the supplies in his workroom. Aside from the cauldron in the center, there were shelves on each of the walls, the only place where there wasn't was the window in the wall to the left of the door. Some had books, scrolls and blank sheets of paper on them. A brush stand and inkwell resting on one of the lower shelves. In front of the window there was a table and chair, where he assumed he could write notes or rest during synthesis. Along the walls there were seeds, empty glass bottles and tubes as well as different smaller pots and stirring sticks. He was currently sitting on the desk, with a packet of seeds beside him and an encyclopedia and agricultural guide he had just read through next to them, he was currently reading a book on basic alchemic synthesis. Shen Yuan had settled into a routine, in the morning he tended to the plants he had started growing, he spent his afternoon cleaning out the yard, where his permanent garden would go, once he had something to plant, then he would cultivate a bit, the system had already informed him that he had a cultivation base, as courtesy of the system, he was in the lower end of the middle of the foundation establishment stage. Shen Yuan cheered that he would soon have a golden core. The system chose not to mention that such a thing wasn't a guarantee. Then Shen Yuan would spend his evenings trying to cook something even remotely edible. After choking down dinner (it seemed that he never learned his lesson), he would study just as he is now. Once his plants bloomed he would begin synthesizing low level pills and potions, most slaves requiring rarer materials. So far he hadn't been into town but soon he would need to, his cooking failures were quickly eating through the supplies the system had given him. Shen Yuan had a mediocre amount of money that should last until he could begin actual alchemy and sell the products of it, and it should be enough for the three things he wanted, food, a few name plates, and more clothing. Shen Yuan only had four outfits, having to do the laundry that often was not Shen Yuan's vibe, not in the slightest, especially since he had to wash everything by hand. He had to pump water! Scrub! Dry! His clothes had been rained on once, he had cried that day. Shen Yuan snuggled into his bed that night, content with the idea of having to do laundry every eight days instead of four.
The next morning Shen Yuan was in his Banbi, hair tied up into a ponytail, he doesn't want to talk about how long that took. He checked his pouch once, twice, thrice, he had brought a third of his money with him, after talking about the value of money with the system, food and cushions wouldn't be expensive, clothes would be. He nodded satisfied and brought out one of his self made talismans. He bounced with pride when the field went up around his house, a visible sign that the warding talisman was working. Shen Yuan patted his chest smiling as he continued down the road. He occasionally checked the systems map, making sure he was going in the right direction. Eventually he walked through the gates of a village, the characters for Ting Yun letting him know he was in the right place.
[Congrats! Congrats! Congrats! Important things must be said three times! \(≧▽≦)/ Shen Yuan has begun his legend! B points earned - 50] The message blared with a childish 'YAY' sound effect in the background.
"What the hell are B points?" Shen Yuan whipped his head to look at the system about to burst a blood vessel at the mention of the new currency.
[B points are a system only currency! Hosts can exchange B points for the following - World currency, Senario Pushers, Extra Info, As well as a user exclusive offer, Shen Yuan can exchange B points for seeds of plants that he has encountered.]
[Now that user Shen Yuan has unlocked the B point system he can be rewarded for all previously complete missions! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° User has been busy! User has 20 previously completed missions!]
[Mission - Explore the house complete - 5 B points rewarded]
[Mission - The first step complete - 20 B points rewarded]
[Mission - Seedlings and Saplings complete - 10 B points rewarded]
[Mission - To ascend is to make talismans complete - 50 B points rewarded]
Shen Yuan stopped paying attention after that. He wasn't sure if other people could hear him when he talked to the system and he didn't want to risk gaining the reputation of 'that one guy who talks to himself' on his first day out just because he was talking to the system of all things. He walked through the town, past flower shops and small herb selling stands, he made a mental note to come back to them if he had any extra money by the end of his trip. He walked through the village surprised by how much of it there was even though it was a 'village' he supposed it was closed minded of him to assume that the word village meant that there were only five houses but he honestly felt that the word 'town' suited this place more. He didn't even want to know what an actual city looked like. Eventually he stopped a women with a basket of clothes at her hip and a child on her back to ask her if there was a carpenter in town. The woman, Feng Chun and her son Feng Bai were actually the wife and son of one of the carpenters in town, Shen Yuan decided to buy from them, the mother was nice and the son reminded him of one of his friends from high school. Despite being 5 and it apparently being his nap time the kid was full of energy, pulling on his skirt calling 'Yuan-ge', 'Yuan-ge' whenever he spotted something interesting. He played with the boy a bit, reminded of when his younger sister was this young and answered the mothers questions.
"So Shen Yuan moved into a house just outside of town? Did your family move with you? You seem a bit too young to be out on your own."
Normally Shen Yuan would be put off from someone asking this many questions but Feng-furen had the kind of face that made you think of an old literary teacher that just wanted to teach and read books. Shen Yuan didn't feel bad or put-out answering her questions. "Thats right it's just a little while south of here, feel free to visit at any time. I'm fifteen," He internally grit his teeth at the thought, "but, I moved out here all by myself." Feng Bai seemed to think that this was both the coolest and the saddest thing ever. His mother looked a bit surprised but didn't pry any further. By the time they arrived at the families shop Feng Bai had moved onto Shen Yuan's back, having far too much fun with a stranger who he only just met. Shen Yuan out of habit craned his neck up flipping his bangs out of his face as he looked for a sign, eventually realizing that this was ancient china and most people weren't literate, he committed the area to memory instead, if the husband was like his family Shen Yuan would be returning often. Shen Yuan stepped through, following after Feng-furen into the shop, the husband Zhang Wei was just as pleasant as Shen Yuan had expected and wouldn't look out of place behind the counter of a comfy family run cafe. Shen Yuan surveyed the shop while Zhang Wei calculated just how much his order would cost. Zhang Wei sat on a stool in the far left of the store, behind a counter and in front of a set of stairs that led to what Shen Yuan supposed was the family home. The front of the shop was dedicated to samples of wood and completed projects waiting for pick-up or display. Shen Yuan found himself staring at the intricate decorative carvings in the majority of them, a thrum of appreciation for Zhang Wei's hard work settled in his heart. The back right of the shop was Zhang Wei's workspace. Tools and unfinished products sat on the workbench, a high table with a stool in front of it, both made out of the same mid toned wood. The store had two windows on each side of the door, giving it an open feeling that was missing from Shen Yuan's own home. Faintly he wondered if it was possible to have windows added to his house, shaking his head he remembered his limited funds, although, if what the system had said earlier remained accurate he should be able to exchange B points for money. He sighed, he wouldn't know if he needed the points for anything else though, so no mass exchanging for him.
Zhang Wei came back up to Shen Yuan, a few samples in his hands, they ranged from simple wood blocks that had merely been cut into shape, to detailed cravings reminiscent of paper snowflakes, where the detailed carvings eventually wrote out the characters 'Feng Chun'. 'People with fulfilling lives can blow themselves up' he thought to himself, ignoring the part of him that thought it was quite cute. He nodded as Zhang Wei explained the differences between each wood, how it would affect each design and the time it took to make them. Eventually he settled on simple oak wood plates, cut into rectangles with smoothed out edges. He wanted 10 of them to start, though he noted that he would come back for more eventually.
"Alright Shen Yuan, it should take about 5 days to finish them. It'll cost you 20 copper coins."
Shen Yuan nodded mentally checking with the system that he wasn't being scalped right now. He may like the family but he wasn't naive.
[Conversion rate - Ancient money in modern terms]
[1 copper coin = 1 yuan]
[1 silver tael = 1,000 copper coins, 1,000 yuan]
[1 gold tael = 100 silver taels, 100,000 yuan]
[Happy spending! o(≧▽≦)o]
Nodding Shen Yuan decided that 20 Yuan was more than fair for the price of hand made products, he also wondered what the absolute fuck the economy in this world was doing for these conversion rates to make any sense. Because of how easy it was to earn a single Yuan it should be worth a single jiao when compared to a copper coin. Then Shen Yuan wondered if this meant that he truly was being scalped and he was just being fooled by his own modern standards. Eventually he just decided to ignore it. This writing was in no way accurate! The currency wasn't right! It's value wasn't right! Airplane did you just write anything you felt like? What the hell? Shen Yuan payed upfront leaving before he had the chance to begin rambling out loud, if he got started with cursing Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky he would never stop, reputation be damned. Shen Yuan then considered that if because he was from before the plot he was missing some kind of economic depression that would cause the value of money to rise again. Shaking his head he realized that no, this was all the product of Airplanes shitty writing. All he cared about was rosy buds and massive pillars! Economy be damned! Logic be damned twice! Huffing Shen Yuan began another mental tirade, cursing Airplanes writing, that hack, sellout, J.K. Rowling wanna be, terrible little virgin rodent, how dare he make Shen Yuan perceive any of this! He didn't deserve it! PIDW had potential! It was all thrown away by that horny man and his even hornier fans! Get laid and write better Airplane! Shen Yuan resolutely ignored his own inexperience.
The shopping center of the village was located in its center, shops with bright displays lined the streets, stalls and stands packed in between them, seriously who decided this place was a village? It could give Zhegao a run for its money! Moving along the streets Shen Yuan stopped at a few stalls asking the owners questions while he picked up his produce. Regretfully he wished he had brought something other than his qiankun pouch, he couldn't use it here without everyone with two braincells realizing that he was a cultivator, and that would bring attention, granted Shen Yuan was more than certain that in the universe of PIDW NPC's like this probably had nothing in the place where their brains should be, goldfish minds never allowing them to know the pain of existence.
[Host sounds like an r/iamverysmart post (；￣Д￣) Host should take others feelings into account]
"Shut up I do not" Shen Yuan rolled his eyes, memories of committing major and minor crimes to get around internet blocks and censorship walls just to peruse foreign social media came to mind, "Okay maybe I do, just a bit, but still you shut up about it." Shen Yuan ducked into an alleyway shoving all of his purchases into his pouch before continuing on. Eventually he arrived in front of a tailors, the sisters who ran the place came highly recommended by two thirds of the stall owners. Walking in Shen Yuan was met with a xianxia artists wet dream, enough intricate and delicate robes for their female and male leads to have outfit changes every panel without a single repeat outfit for at least two arcs. The store was beautiful, The two windows behind the ;counter were the only source of light in the place and they made the already heavenly looking fabrics shimmer ethereally. Shen Yuan was instantly sold. Walking up to the front he was met with two women, the sisters he presumed, based on how similarly looked, both in facial structure and age.
"Greetings costumer, this Bao Meilin extends her greetings. What can my sister and I provide for you toady?" Bao Meilin was the taller of the two, her warm brown hair tied into a side pony tail, pink peony clipped into it. It seemed that pink was her signature color, she could pass for a valentines day display with how much pink she was decked out in. She wore a Qixiong Ruqun, the only piece that wasn't pink was the waistband, a baby blue that matched her sisters outfit.
"Hello, this ones name is Shen Yuan. This one was looking to have clothes made and tailored, and heard this was the best place to go. So how can this one commission you?"
The other girl, shorter and wearing a Qiyao Ruqun that was was all blue, save for the pink waist band, circled him, her hair was tied off to the side in a loose braid, the same honey color as her sisters. She lifted his arm and turned his face this way and that, no regard for social expectations. Finally satisfied she stepped away stating that she would be going to the back room for a bit.
"Forgive this ones older sister," Bao Meilin bowed slightly, "She has no regard for how other people feel once she gets inspired."
Shen Yuan chuckled, I their dynamic reminded him of his two oldest brothers, Er-ge doing whatever he wanted with Da-ge chasing after him to apologize and clean up. "This once doesn't mind, really." Talking so formally was new to him, each time he opened his mouth he was afraid that he was going to slip up and offend someone by taking in a way that had to be considered criminally casual in this world.
The older sister bowled out of the back room, fabric, paper and brushes sticking out of her arms, "Meilin bring him in here!" Her voice was excited in a way that while pure, Shen Yuan couldn't suppress his own shudder or the feeling of walking into a wolves den as he followed Meilin into the back. He didn't even have any time to process his new surroundings before the older sister was casually introducing herself as Bao Genji and had him wrapped in different sample fabrics, measurements being hastily taken.
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Three hours later Shen Yuan exited with an order form, a return date and knowledge that his body had a few more crevices than he previously thought or knew of. He walked home in a daze, stopping to collect a sample here and there, guided solely by the system and his limited memory.
Crashing into bed Shen Yuan lamented his own existence. Sighing he curled up in bed, debating taking a bath then and there to wash the days grime off or sleeping now, taking a bath and washing the bedding in the morning. Eventually his need to sleep won over and he passed out, something the him in the morning could cuss himself out for.
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Shen Yuan woke up in the middle of the night, mind you, to the systems obnoxiously bright screen and too-loud voice alerting him to a new mission. [Alchemy Adventures volume 1 - The beginning of the genre change?! - mission start!]
He slammed a pillow over his own head, groaning, as he forced himself back to sleep.