Sudden Incident

The next day.

Seven thirty in the morning.

Su Yu Niang had been unusually excited last night. She had wanted to stay up playing games, but after tossing and turning for ages, she still could not fall asleep. When she woke up this morning, still groggy, she washed up casually and started her stream again:

"Brothers, I'm going to work as a blacksmith and haul cement later. I'm off to serve the Old Steward, so no stream during the day."

She looked like she was getting addicted to the excitement, and she casually complained:

"This game is freaking ridiculous. It won't let me stay up and play? The Server only opens at eight, right?"

"Eight in the morning to seven at night—is this supposed to give us the immersive experience of working on a construction site? They're really striving for realism in every respect. They won't even let us stay up gaming."

"Let that game designer get out here. I'll strangle him to death with my Twin Tails!"

She wanted to livestream the game too, but apparently they would not allow it.

The game had its own built-in streaming, claiming it was Queuing to Log In, but it could only accommodate 900 people.

And if it did not have a streaming feature, was there no way for her to bypass it and stream anyway?

There really was a way.

She could wear Recording Glasses inside the game helmet and use them to capture what she saw, synchronizing it to her Live Stream Room.

But that would be far too blatant. Publicly streaming an internal test build without permission might earn her a lawyer's letter. More likely, she would simply get kicked out.

She did not dare.

She was all about obeying the law.

Before she could log in, though, her viewers and fans told her, "This is bad. Jiu Cai Rong is getting cyberbullied. People are digging up all sorts of dirt on him."

The news was:

Jiu Cai Rong had once been a brainless simp. He had simped hard for two years in university, only to find out that she had secretly been a public bus. Jiu Cai Rong had suffered a devastating blow, which was why he had changed careers and become the Pure Love Warrior he was today.

And after that, the rumors grew more and more outrageous. Some called him the ultimate bootlicker, saying he bought her medicine, took her to the hospital for an abortion, helped her book rooms—making it sound as though the person spreading it had been right there at the scene.

The Little Haters in the stream even deliberately tried to drag her into the fight, asking, "Was it you who secretly stepped on him and knocked him down so you could compete for the Steward Position?"

Su Yu Niang was so angry that she laughed.

"What era is this? You people are still staying up all night to play palace intrigue? Is there a throne waiting to be inherited too?"

"Suppressing him? I do want to compete for the steward position, sure, but I'm not that low. Besides, could I possibly know who he is in real life, or whether his girlfriend cheated on him?"

She paused. "It's probably someone around him who doesn't like the look of him. They saw him getting popular, so they started stirring up trouble in the dark."

"Every hit game has people who suddenly ride the wind and rise into the sky, catching the game's wave of benefits. If Jiu Cai Rong can hold onto the steward position, this momentum of his should send him soaring in a single step. This game isn't simple, after all."

"Besides, I don't think I can beat him. He's really good, and his understanding of this game runs deep. I'm not good at this sort of thing. If you told me to fight, I'd be fine. I could probably contend for second or third place at most."

"And I know this kind of situation. The protagonist used to be a simp, then got cheated on, mocked by everyone around him, cyberbullied by the entire internet, and finally rose against the odds overnight. Then comes the big move: a harem, an overbearing female CEO, a pure school beauty, a gorgeous flight attendant—"

As she spoke, everyone burst out laughing.

A viewer commented, "I get it. You're the spoiled brat rich-lady loli in the harem who needs some discipline."

"Pah! At the very least, I'd be the overbearing CEO kind of strong career woman!" Su Yu Niang bantered with them for a couple of lines, then sent Jiu Cai Rong a private message right in front of everyone:

Don't pay attention to them. You just have to get used to certain haters. Under the spotlight, keep your mindset straight.

That perfect move made the viewers spam 666 like crazy:

"As expected of you. You're all about high emotional intelligence—picking on the weak and fearing the strong. When your ranked opponents are noobs, it's 'trash fish, trash fish~~'; when you meet someone fierce, you immediately surrender, act cute, and call them big brother. Even when this kind of crap happens, you can farm a wave of goodwill from bystanders."

Su Yu Niang could not be bothered with them. She treated it as a minor matter and logged into the game directly.

Her vision went dark, then bright, and she entered that Mountain Villa once more.

Ning Zheng was also someone with a good routine, reporting to work on time.

Today's task was simple and direct as well.

They would preliminarily wrap up the dormitory construction in the morning, then begin arranging for the blacksmiths to officially start work in the afternoon and teach them forging.

Ning Zheng had already thought it through: they would be divided into three groups.

One group would mine.

One group would smelt.

One group would forge.

Only forging required some explanation.

And when it came to teaching them how to craft magical artifacts, Ning Zheng himself only knew half the story.

His talent truly was not high enough.

Otherwise, he would not have been bullied so badly that he had run down the mountain.

Ning Zheng's plan was to give them a copy of "Basic Forging," let them research and experiment with various standard beginner magical artifacts themselves, then teach them the basic process of using their own fingernails to forge Magic Coins. That would basically settle it.

Previously, the Money Boys of the Mountain Villa had been mindless demon beasts raised in captivity.

Now that they had minds, Ning Zheng had initially worried that these Money Boys would be reluctant to use their own fingernails for forging.

After all, peeling off fingernails hurt.

Even with the pain reduced, the ten fingers were connected to the heart. They would still feel something.

But they were all so carefree and laughing around. They probably would not treat pulling out their fingernails as a big deal, right?

He hesitated inwardly.

It was just that if they did not make Magic Coins, there would be no Magic Coin output, and he would not be able to pay wages.

He would wait and see what they said.

After unlocking the door and entering the Mountain Villa, Ning Zheng saw those blacksmiths sleeping all over the place. One after another, they climbed to their feet and began a brand-new day of work, continuing yesterday's dormitory construction.

Ning Zheng swept his gaze around, called over a little blacksmith, and frowned. "Where's Jiu Cai Rong? Why isn't he awake yet?"

The blacksmith froze. That guy really had not logged in.

Jiu Cai Rong was currently offline, squatting stiffly in a corner in the thinking pose of The Thinker statue. The sight made him sigh that fame brought too much trouble. He explained, "He probably has something going on. He suffered a bit of a psychological blow."

Ning Zheng pondered it for a moment and did not rebuke him further.

After all, he had not held much expectation to begin with, so naturally he had no particular requirement for perfect attendance.

He merely considered a new question: if the steward was not at work, should there not be a second steward?

A mature management system was always necessary.

His gaze swept across the area, taking in the Luck Value boxes above each blacksmith's head, until he finally found a little blacksmith whose Luck Value had surged by more than twenty points.

"Su Yu Niang, right? Come here."

After confirming her name with Xiao Ai once more, Ning Zheng waved.

Su Yu Niang sighed. You didn't log in, and that makes me, the beneficiary, look so much like the culprit.

But from the looks of it, her stunning zero-shaped bench design from last night had successfully caught the Old Steward's Eye God.

Sigh.

A person's talent was something that simply could not be hidden.

She stopped overthinking and hurried over. Her expression instantly shifted, carrying the clear, foolish cuteness unique to a female college student. Her eyes were watery as she said, "S-Steward sir, what are your orders?"

"From now on, whenever Jiu Cai Rong isn't here, you'll be the deputy steward and take charge of directing everyone." After saying that, Ning Zheng went straight to the rocking chair nearby, sat down, and resumed cultivating.

Seeing that the Old Steward was impervious to both oil and salt, Su Yu Niang took over the work.

She was also extremely experienced in command and management. With swift and decisive efficiency, she had everyone continue yesterday's project according to plan.