The snowman she had built earlier was already out of shape. Calculating the time, this was probably the last snowfall of the first winter in the game. Wu Zhen decided to build another little snowman for herself as a souvenir.
With her basic forging skill, building a decent chibi-style little snowman was quite simple.
The player was having a great time when she suddenly noticed a little blue dot move on the minimap.
She subconsciously looked up, her gaze meeting Jiang Zhenxue's, who was watching her from under the eaves.
Right, she had almost forgotten about him again.
Wu Zhen's eyes lit up as she asked, "Do you want to come and build a snowman together?"
Jiang Zhenxue seemed to tilt his head slightly, a section of his satin-like black hair sliding down his shoulder.
A notification for an increase in affection points chimed on Wu Zhen's end.
...Huh?
Before the player could react, Jiang Zhenxue had already walked over to her side.
He sat down in the snow, imitating Wu Zhen, but perhaps due to his natural elegance, his movements were so smooth and graceful that it didn't look like he was about to build a snowman at all.
"What does Miss Wu want to build?" Jiang Zhenxue asked.
Wu Zhen quickly tossed the matter of affection points to the back of her mind. Not wanting to be disturbed while playing, she casually turned off the notifications and said enthusiastically, "Myself, of course."
"This way, there will be a Wu Zhen and a Jiang Zhenxue in the courtyard too." Even a chibi player deserved her own immortal romance!
Wu Zhen said briskly, "My snowman will definitely be very happy."
It was just that it would melt once the weather got warmer. She wondered if she could treat it as a type of building and pawn it off to the Homestead Shop... Even if that didn't work, she could just use the camera mode to take plenty of pictures before then.
After telling Jiang Zhenxue what they were going to build, Wu Zhen focused entirely on her snow sculpting.
In her peripheral vision, Jiang Zhenxue paused for two seconds for some unknown reason, as if he had just processed her words. He then retracted his gaze and scooped up some snow.
Wu Zhen was very fast, and the snow was extremely obedient in her hands. In just a few moves, a rough shape emerged. By the time she snapped out of her flow state and was in the mood to look beside her, she found Jiang Zhenxue deep in thought, staring at a completely shapeless pile of snow.
Noticing Wu Zhen's gaze, he turned his head and blinked. Seeming a little troubled, he said softly, "I don't think I'm very good at this."
He tilted his head slightly and asked, "Miss Wu, could you teach me?"
Wu Zhen said, "Sure."
She naturally turned her body and scooted forward a bit. Before getting to work, she looked up and studied Jiang Zhenxue's face.
Jiang Zhenxue happened to be looking down at her quietly. As if surprised by her suddenly looking up, his beautiful eyes widened slightly, and his jet-black eyelashes fluttered for a moment. But he quickly returned to normal and gave her a smile.
Unsurprisingly, Wu Zhen didn't find anything wrong with this at all.
In a highly interactive game, wasn't it a matter of course for NPCs to face the player when they passed by?
She also had absolutely no sense of actually teaching him. She quickly went back to building on her own. When her face was expressionless, it naturally revealed a kind of unforgiving coldness.
Though she didn't realize it herself.
Beside her own figure, Wu Zhen built a miniature version of Jiang Zhenxue.
After finishing, she took two steps back, completely smitten by the cuteness of her own handiwork.
So cute—
The player circled the snowmen (mostly her own) a few times, looking left and right, extremely satisfied.
Jiang Zhenxue seemed to like them very much too.
He gazed at the two little snowmen earnestly, his long, slender fingers lightly brushing over their heads. When passing over Wu Zhen's snowman, he paused for a brief moment.
He said softly, "...They will melt very soon. If only..."
Wu Zhen said, "Hm?"
The player, who was busy adjusting her camera angle, didn't hear him clearly and instinctively turned her head.
Jiang Zhenxue chuckled softly and said, "No. It's nothing."
Wu Zhen tilted her head in confusion and glanced at the [Event] log. Jiang Zhenxue's words were, of course, recorded there. The player didn't see anything in it that she wasn't supposed to know, so she just chalked it up to Jiang Zhenxue probably not liking to repeat himself.
It wasn't anything important anyway.
"How is your health? Hurry back and rest," Wu Zhen said in a sincere tone.
She still had other things to busy herself with.
Jiang Zhenxue nodded obediently, brushed the fine snow off his outer robe, and returned to his guest room.
Wu Zhen checked the time.
It was just past noon. The winter sun wasn't glaring, making it a perfect time to grind her skills in the courtyard.
At this thought, she remembered her [Medical Skill], which had yet to be unlocked.
She had even maxed out all the related skills like Herbalism to their current cap (Lv. 10)!
Unable to figure out where the problem lay, Wu Zhen decided to stop stubbornly butting heads with the [Medical Skill] for now.
Ever since unlocking the mountain map, her assets had been accumulating rapidly. With financial backing, Wu Zhen was ready to do some other things.
For example, clearing out her backlog of [Clues].
The earliest [Clue] she had encountered was the beggar in the temple outside the city. She had already finished it, so the clue was archived under Completed. Newly appeared clues would be time-stamped, sitting quietly in the list, waiting for her to choose.
Wu Zhen looked at the [Clue] at the very top.
This was a rumor regarding this year's provincial exam that she had heard while selling miscellaneous items in town.
She was heading to Gan City this time to follow up on this clue.
Wu Zhen wasn't planning on taking the imperial exams. The player had no interest in the court official route, but she could definitely use this opportunity to mingle with the scholars and collect all the relevant books in the game to bring home.
The player wasn't ready to give up on the virtuous humble abode route. After all, the only score she could visually track right now was the Ancestral Estate Rating, so she would naturally treat this as her primary goal for the current stage.
As for the option to increase the number of family members...
Wu Zhen didn't want to consider it for the time being.
This wasn't because she had high moral standards, but rather because there wasn't a single NPC model here that caught her eye. Even though the player's current face could only be considered average, how could her own avatar be compared to an NPC?
If it weren't for the lack of currency at the start of the game, she would have bought eighteen different faces to customize and swap between.
Thinking of this, Wu Zhen's brisk walking pace faltered slightly.
Actually, speaking of beautiful NPCs... there did seem to be one.
It was just that she had subconsciously forgotten about him just now.
The player blinked, and then blinked again.
She opened the affection list.
[Jiang Zhenxue's Current Affection: 35]
Mhm, although it wasn't at 60 yet (it was actually quite a bit off), who said she couldn't give it a try? If there were any bad consequences, she could always reload a save file!
She was simply a genius!
Having completely figured this out, the player punched her fist into her other palm and said happily, "Then it's decided—"
"—Once I'm done with my tasks, I'll propose to Jiang Zhenxue!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, a loud thud of something falling from the treetops echoed behind her.
Wu Zhen turned her head in confusion, only to find a snow-white little bird with beautifully arranged feathers lying on the ground as if it had fainted. It might have been stunned from falling out of a tree, or perhaps it hadn't even expected to fall itself. In short, she could even see a very human-like look of shock in those tiny, beady eyes staring blankly at her.
It made the player somewhat suspect whether her presence was the reason it fell.
The player had never seen this kind of bird before; it had to be a special breed in the game world. Liking what she saw, she took two steps forward, scooped it up from the dirt, placed it in her palm, and checked it for injuries.
Her action was synchronously updated in the event log. However, since there were many people around after she left the house, and the information in the event log was far too detailed, she didn't stare at it constantly. Usually, she would only scroll through it when her mind wandered to the point of completely missing what the NPCs were saying to her.
The little bird was still a bit dazed. Wu Zhen guessed it was frightened. Since she hadn't gone far anyway, she was just about to take it home and raise it like a parrot when it suddenly snapped out of it, flapped its wings, and flew away from her palm.
Wu Zhen reached out and snatched it right back.
Bird: ...
The player was very proud. Her year of getting into fights was not for nothing. Her reaction speed, if not number one among mortals, was at least top-tier.
How could she let a pet that was already in her hands fly away?
She gently tapped the little bird's fluffy head. "Don't be afraid. Just stick with Mommy from now on. Mommy will rob... I mean, buy you a big, big cage."
Her bird went completely stiff, seemingly even more in despair.
But the player didn't even care about what people thought, so why would she care about what a bird thought?
Having gained a beautiful pet right after leaving home, Wu Zhen felt even more confident about her ancestral home's evaluation score. As she continued walking towards Gan City, she pondered whether she should go up the mountain to kidnap some wolves and tigers to raise after the ancestral home was expanded. That way, she would have both cats and dogs.
Her days playing the mortal card were really looking up.
By the time Wu Zhen arrived near Gan City, the little bird's frightened state seemed to have slowly faded. Of course, it might have also just accepted reality, as it stayed very obediently in her palm.
Wu Zhen smoothed its white, fluffy feathers and placed it on her shoulder.
Then, avoiding the main gate, she took a running leap, pushed off with both hands, and nimbly vaulted over the city wall.
After a perfect landing, her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Her bird!!
The player turned pale with fright and quickly looked back to search, but she couldn't even see a single bird feather anymore.
...
Meanwhile, inside the Wu family's ancestral home.
The snow-white little bird Wu Zhen had just picked up was currently staring face-to-face with the black-haired young man she had picked up a while ago. Both were extremely silent.
Perhaps his injuries hadn't fully healed and he was hallucinating, Jiang Zhenxue thought calmly.
The heaviest injury he suffered was to his divine sense, so it was understandable if there was still something wrong with his brain.
He waved his sleeve, and the white bird turned into a stream of light and flew back into the center of his brow.
Thinking of Miss Wu's agile skills, Jiang Zhenxue felt that he probably didn't need to continue following her.
Since things had come to this, he might as well meditate first. He couldn't afford to have this kind of hallucination a second time.
A week later, Miss Wu returned.
Sensing her aura approaching, Jiang Zhenxue gathered his spiritual energy, pushed open the door, and went to greet her.
Looking up, he saw her rather unusual expression, which looked as heavily devastated as the time she had brought him a bowl of highly toxic substance.
His brow twitched slightly, and he had a bad premonition. At the same time, a trace of almost imperceptible dark emotion surfaced.
Was it in that mortal city...
"Did something happen, Miss Wu?" he asked, his tone calm and gentle, enunciating every word.
The black-haired young woman looked up, sad and somewhat gloomy, her resentment as heavy as a vengeful ghost.
"My little bird is gone... I even picked out a name for it. I was going to call it Xiaoxue! Which bird trafficker took my bird away!!"
She gritted her teeth and said with a smile:
"I'm going to fight them to the death."
Jiang Zhenxue: ...
The words he was just about to say were completely blocked in his throat.
He fell into a suspicious silence.
