Interstellar Travel: Becoming a Dress-Up Game Designer

Chapter 181

Deng Yijun said nonchalantly, "Whatever, as long as I do my job well."

The teahouse then prepared a huge screen on a raised platform to the side. It was Deng Yijun's personal possession, which he treasured immensely. It was a lacquered and carved screen depicting a peacock perched on a parasol tree, with a bearded gentleman gazing upwards beneath it. The details of the parasol tree leaves and peacock were meticulously carved with mother-of-pearl, while the rest was lacquered. The colors were vibrant and luxurious, and the lacquer work was exquisite.

The pipa player would later sit in the chair behind her and play music. The chair was also made of lacquerware and had a soft cushion.

Looking at the bigger picture, the teahouse Deng Yijun bought is the best in the city, with glazed yellow tiles, green beams, carved windows, painted doors, and winding paths. Exquisite tea tables have already been set up, but they still need to find a tea master to perform the tea ceremony; however, they don't have one yet, and they don't know where to find one.

Just when he was at his wit's end, he thought of the guest advisor. As an official character, he should know some of the official skills, right?

Unexpectedly, the question was right; the Orchid Fairy in his hand was indeed skilled in tea ceremony.

So the Orchid Fairy came to preside over the teahouse, performing tea art behind a gauze screen, appearing and disappearing in the shadows.

Lin Shuying never expected that the special hobbies she set up to make her guests and pets more vivid would become a shortcut for players. So far, only Deng Yijun has discovered it.

Many players entered the teahouse and, seeing the blurry figure inside, mistook him for an NPC being recruited in the main city...

The salary for recruiting an NPC varies depending on their skill value. Some NPCs with rare skills dare to ask for 500 silver coins a day, and they only work four hours a day. Many players backed down when they heard this price, as even running a shop might not earn 500 silver coins a day, even with 24-hour operation.

Deng Yijun didn't care. He even planned to use his own money to buy in-game currency, since he wasn't short of cash. He completed all the daily tasks for farming game currency and recharging his account. Tasks for buying gold ingots, silver, and copper coins were always on the task leaderboard, so he rarely lacked money.

Of course, the premise is not to spend too much. Although most of the content in Qingfengyi is free, if you really want to spend money, it's not a problem to spend billions in no time.

This is quite a disconnect. It seems that in the real world, the rich are truly rich, and the poor are truly poor, but both can make a living and have some income. There are definitely ways to spend money, and plenty of things that cost less.

The teahouse is now open for business, and players can stroll around inside. Deng Yijun went to a nearby tea shop and bought several packets of tea for the Orchid Fairy, who then directed the other guests to busily brew tea backstage. Soon, the simple teahouse opened for business!

Players were drawn in by the various flower fairies and guest servants. "Wow, this teahouse is so luxurious! They even use guest servants as waiters!"

"I wonder which big shot opened this teahouse, it's quite a grand affair. I like it, hehe."

Deng Yijun naturally wouldn't expose his identity, otherwise some players might demolish his teahouse, especially Wang Nianzong. He not only ran a teahouse, but also rented a shop next door to sell all the tea he bought.

Just as he was busy arranging everything and looking for employees in the main city, Sister Xunmei found him.

Wang Nianzong also came along; it's like whoever you want comes to life.

"What do you want from me?"

Sister Xunmei took out a map. "This is a map of the ancient tea route I found. Let's cooperate. I'll be in charge of traversing the tea route, you'll be in charge of managing sales and stockpiling goods, and Nianzong will be in charge of collecting tea leaves. The profits will be split 30/30, with you getting 40%. How about that?"

Sister Xunmei personally led the team through this ancient tea route, and it was incredibly interesting. It took a full two days – two days in real life! Along the way, you'll encounter bandits and pirates, all of whom players role-play as on quests, which is very engaging. If you successfully rob someone, the tea is yours, and you'll receive a reward from the official game company. If you're defeated, there's no reward; the prize money goes to the winner. This gameplay has driven combat-oriented players wild!

Since the release of Huaxia Jianghu, how long has it been since the official team paid attention to these combat players?

As a top-tier player among combat gamers, Sister Xunmei naturally led her team on an adventure immediately, which was quite interesting. This official setup essentially divides players on the Tea Road into two factions: those transporting tea and goods defend, while those robbing attack. After obtaining goods, they can sell them to tea merchants in the next city at any time, or transport them to the end of the Tea Road to sell for a high price. They can also take away many local specialties from that city; these specialties are rare and highly sought-after items.

Deng Yijun laughed and said, "I have no objection, but is there any secret about the Ancient Tea Road?"

He read in the announcement that the end of the Tea Road might connect to a city in another realm, allowing him to sell tea at a higher price. It would also connect cities in different regions, essentially linking several areas. However, the specific regions and cities weren't particularly significant, since there were already many players in each region.

This connection technology is quite simple; it provides a buffer when passing levels. Many open-world games in Lin Shuying's previous life were designed this way. She only mentioned it briefly, and the game platform was designed accordingly.

This is equivalent to expanding the map infinitely by dozens of times.

Sister Xunmei squinted and asked, "You really don't know?"

Wang Nianzong was quite excited. It turned out that Deng Yijun also had things she didn't know.

He said gleefully, "I'll tell you if you beg me."

He was the one who followed Su Wanyi on that ancient tea route; the map was his, but he got captured by other players halfway through and taken to a bandit stronghold, so he couldn't get out and had to ask Su Wanyi for help...

It was a bit embarrassing, but he completed the whole journey!

Deng Yijun laughed and said, "I also have capable fighters in my team. Let him go once and he'll know. If you don't want to say anything, then forget it. There's no need for cooperation anymore."

Wang Nianzong's eyes widened. How did this guy turn around and threaten him?

Sister Xunmei slapped him and said, "Why are you talking to him about such roundabout ways and riddles? The Tea Ancient Road is not simple. There are many things that are not mentioned in the announcement. They should be hidden side quests. Anyway, you won't lose money by going on it once. As long as you have enough goods, you can earn three or four times the profit per trip."

Deng Yijun was a little surprised, so many?

Then, Sister Xunmei told Deng Yijun that the official team would issue missions to players in various adventures, asking them to become villains in the Tea Ancient Road.

Wang Nianzong said, "The authorities are really good to the villains. After accepting a mission, they directly give you a mountain stronghold. Those who receive a first-class mission can bring 200 friends to form a team. The stronghold is located on a high mountain, with many houses and defensive facilities, so you don't have to build them yourself. The places are all easy to defend and difficult to attack mountain strongholds with steep terrain. It only takes three minutes to rush down the mountain, but it takes half an hour to attack it. When the rolling rocks from above fall, the passing caravans are left with nothing but their goods."

The designer is incredibly biased in this aspect; the bandits can even control the falling stones, making attacks from high places a breeze. They use light attacks when capturing people, but attack people when they want the goods. He never believed that ancient, rudimentary stone-rolling warfare could be controlled so well, but seeing a group of novice players perform it made him realize that there was some skill involved in ancient warfare.

Deng Yijun never expected that the official team would even include a villainous role; isn't this how they collect tea leaves...?

Sure enough, the Slaughter Ancestor soon sent back a message saying that he had encountered a strange event on the road. A jade tablet was thrown at his face, and he was asked to disrupt the tea purchase and planting. He would be rewarded with fifty taels of gold if he succeeded.

The Slaughter Ancestor did the task, but he didn't complete it perfectly because he lowered the price. Now, the price of the first-picked tea is not meeting expectations, so Lin Shuying's price maintenance system has been launched, issuing tasks to some players to raise the price.

Unexpectedly, the Slaughter Ancestor had the opposite idea and drove down the price of the area around him by 20 coins!

Tea prices, which had already risen to 50 yuan due to information revealed by Lin Shuying in a chat group, suffered a major setback, proving that sometimes macro-control measures are not very effective.

Therefore, the Slaughter Ancestor was docked fifty taels of gold. He'd lost a lot of the money he'd exchanged before, which was a bit painful.

Deng Yijun recalled the tea-picking schedule he had reviewed. Tea prices were categorized into first-flush tea, pre-Qingming/post-Qingming tea, pre-rain/post-rain tea, and last-flush tea, each with different prices. The announcement didn't mention prices, only the official buyback prices for different types of tea. First-flush tea was the most expensive, ranging from 500 to 1500 taels of silver per ounce—extremely pricey.

If tea is processed according to the six types of tea—black tea, red tea, oolong tea, green tea, yellow tea, and white tea—the price will change. The most expensive can sell for 100 taels of gold per tael, which is extremely expensive.

Tea is one of the few truly down-to-earth luxuries, and Lin Shuying's tea selection and quality are based on her understanding as much as possible, staying true to reality. She also wants StarCraft players to experience the development and growth of tea culture in China, which is truly remarkable.

As for the competition between the two sides, on the one hand, it highlights the mystery of the ancient tea route and the tea business, and on the other hand, it gives this instance a sense of realism and innovative gameplay.

Of course, Lin Shuying is on the side of players with white names, which is why she treats the Tea Road gameplay as a hidden storyline and quest. If players don't accept the quest and activate the white name option above their nickname, bandit players can't rob others.

However, many caravans felt confident in their ability to defeat the bandits, believing they could earn their mission rewards and a bandit-suppression honor token. Of course, the bandits, on the other hand, would receive the caravan's goods and an invincible token.

Invincible! Throughout history, countless heroes have regarded it as their life's dream, and many great generals have described themselves as invincible!

Players are really into it; this honorary title can be displayed and looks really cool.

Invincible is a small white-clad figure holding a small sword. He will stand on the player's head, suddenly draw his sword and shout: "The world is my Jianghu, I draw my sword and brave warriors in golden armor, who dares to fight me!"

Then the little figure unleashed a series of dazzling sword attacks. This special effect attracted many players with no special names to defect, all eager to claim the title!

The payment honor token depicts a small figure in armor, holding a spear with a fluttering red tassel, riding a white horse. He thrusts forward with his spear: "Thief! Prepare to die!"