Preparations

Under the puzzled gazes of the young receptionist and the elderly security guard, Yin Yunze left the company with a smile.

Stepping outside and looking at the empty road, Yin Yunze felt a weight lift from his shoulders.

From now on, Yin Yunze no longer had to work that lousy job from dawn till dusk. Sun Qin would also take care of matters in the other world for him, leaving him with only the simple task of supervising her.

At least for the time being, Yin Yunze should have a fairly easy life.

Even so, Yin Yunze did not actually go straight home to lie flat.

He had indeed entrusted matters in that world to Sun Qin, but Yin Yunze still needed to make preparations on the real-world side.

Before, it had only been once or twice, and he had carried just a few hundred jin each time. Now, not only were the trips more frequent, but the loads were heavier too.

He had finally started making money, so Yin Yunze could hardly keep riding someone else's electric tricycle around every day with more than a thousand jin of rice.

At the very least, Yin Yunze had to buy an electric tricycle of his own, right?

All right, buying an electric tricycle was only a joke.

Yin Yunze already had an idea for transporting the grain.

Over the past few days, after getting off work, Yin Yunze had found an unused warehouse near his residence.

He made a phone call, confirmed that it had not yet been rented out, and arranged a meeting before heading over.

Yin Yunze had already discussed the rent with the landlord, so after bargaining the price down a little, he signed the rental contract.

The warehouse was fairly clean inside, and he was only going to use it to store grain, so Yin Yunze did not do any cleaning.

Once the warehouse was settled, Yin Yunze wasted no time in heading to the grain and oil shop where he had already made several purchases.

This time, Yin Yunze ordered ten tons of rice outright.

With their previous transactions as a foundation, the shop owner merely asked a curious question and did not probe any further.

After paying a deposit and arranging for delivery the next day, Yin Yunze had finally finished his preparations in the real world.

There had not been much to do, and because he had not haggled too hard over the prices, the negotiations had gone smoothly. Even so, by the time he came out of the grain and oil shop, the sky was already growing dark.

Looking at the sky, Yin Yunze could not help thinking that if he had not quit, who knew how long Supervisor Song would have nagged him during those hours.

Fortunately, Yin Yunze no longer needed to watch that old fellow's expression.

With that thought, Yin Yunze walked to the parcel pickup point and collected the packages he had ordered a few days earlier. Then he went and bought some fruit and prepared food.

After packing everything up and taking it home, Yin Yunze entered the other world once more.

Unlike before, however, the dilapidated temple was pitch-black today, with no one inside.

Yin Yunze paused, then realized that unlike the previous times, when someone had called him over, he had come of his own accord this time.

With ample food reserves, Sun Qin and Zhao Wan would not stay in the dilapidated temple after dark.

After a moment's thought, Yin Yunze opened the Radar Map and found the points of light representing Zhao Wan and Sun Qin.

Yin Yunze reached out and touched the points of light, and found himself inside a house that was a little more rundown than the others.

Sun Qin and Zhao Wan were sitting in front of an oil lamp, whispering to each other.

Judging by their still-damp hair, the mother and daughter had just bathed.

Compared with the others, Sun Qin and Zhao Wan, who received preferential treatment from Yin Yunze, had a much more abundant supply of water, at least.

Unlike the others, who had to make do with a mere half shichen of water each day, Zhao Wan and Sun Qin received a supply from Yin Yunze throughout the day.

Of course, Sun Qin and Zhao Wan only mentioned this privilege in passing when the time was right; they never asked for it themselves.

What a coincidence, Yin Yunze thought, preparing to announce his presence.

But on second thought, Yin Yunze realized that whatever he said, Sun Qin and Zhao Wan would probably be startled. So he dropped the unnecessary fuss and said directly, "Sun Qin, pray."

As expected, Sun Qin jumped at the sudden sound of Yin Yunze's voice. But she quickly realized whose voice it was.

Putting Zhao Wan to one side, Sun Qin paid no mind to the clean clothes she had just changed into and knelt on the floor to pray.

As Sun Qin prayed, a pile of things soon appeared inside the room.

"So bright! Lord Fox Immortal! What is this?"

The first thing to catch their attention was a solar lamp bright enough to illuminate the entire room.

Hearing Zhao Wan's question, Yin Yunze explained with a smile, "This is a solar lamp. The red button over there turns the light on and off. You just need to put it in the sun every day and let it soak up a full day's sunlight, and it'll give you light for about three to four shichen..."

"Th-this divine artifact... Lord Qingqiu, what is this for?" Sun Qin was instantly stunned by Yin Yunze's explanation.

A lamp this bright could be used all night just by leaving it in the sun!

To ancient people like them, it was unquestionably a divine artifact!

"It's for you."

Yin Yunze did not keep her guessing. "These are all for you and Xiao Wan'er. You work for me, so of course I won't treat you poorly."

"Wow! Lord Fox Immortal, really? Are these all for Mother and me!?"

Hearing that, Zhao Wan cheered and rushed over to the pile of things.

"It's roast chicken! And red-braised pork ribs!"

"What kind of fruit are these little round ones?"

"Those are grapes."

"What about these long yellow ones?"

"Those are bananas. Oh, right, bananas don't keep very well, so remember to eat them soon."

Just as Yin Yunze and Zhao Wan were playing their question-and-answer game, Sun Qin gritted her teeth and said, "Lord Qingqiu! I appreciate your kindness! But these..."

"When an elder gives you something, you must not refuse."

Yin Yunze could not be bothered to carry the things he had given away back and forth, wasting the Power of Incense Offerings.

"But..." Looking at the solar lamp, Sun Qin still said hesitantly, "Lord Qingqiu, that divine sun lamp is far too precious! Even if you bestow it on me, I wouldn't dare use it..."

"Divine sun lamp..."

Hearing Sun Qin call the solar lamp a divine sun lamp, Yin Yunze could barely resist making a sarcastic remark.

But Sun Qin's attitude opened Yin Yunze's eyes.

Some modern creations that seemed perfectly ordinary to Yin Yunze would be worth a fortune in ancient times!

His gaze fell on the glowing solar lamp, which had cost a little over a hundred yuan, and Yin Yunze suddenly felt as though it had turned to gold!

"Damn!"

Unable to resist cursing inwardly, Yin Yunze realized that sometimes a single leaf really did blind him to the whole forest.

In the eyes of the ancient people of this world, that one lamp might even be worth more than the warehouse full of rice he had spent tens of thousands on today!

But Yin Yunze soon calmed down.

In fact, Yin Yunze had considered selling glass beads for gold before. But as the saying went, for Yin Yunze, who was stranded here, selling glass beads might be more profitable than selling grain, but it was too difficult to put into practice.

A meal had to be eaten one bite at a time. Yin Yunze decided not to dwell on it and to sell those twenty thousand jin of rice first.

As long as he could clear that stock, Yin Yunze would be able to live very comfortably in the real world too.

"Oh, new clothes!"

Just then, Zhao Wan's voice rang out again. Paying no attention to the conversation between the two adults, she was still looking through the gifts. "Lord Fox Immortal, are these for us?"

"Yes. I estimated your sizes when I bought them."

Looking at Sun Qin, Yin Yunze said softly, "As my representative, you shouldn't wear those shabby clothes anymore. If you're dressed in rags, how can you convince others that you're my representative? From now on, as my representative, you should wear the clothes I give you..."

In fact, Yin Yunze had long wanted to fulfill his promise and give Sun Qin and Zhao Wan some clothes.

The only problem was that most modern clothes, even so-called hanfu, were not very suitable for genuine ancient people like Sun Qin and Zhao Wan.

Having them custom-made, on the other hand, was rather expensive and not very cost-effective.

It was only after Yin Yunze had begun thinking of taking Sun Qin into his service a couple of days ago that he had bought a few outfits in advance, according to his own tastes.

The package had happened to arrive today, so he had brought them along.

Looking at the bright, beautiful clothes with their somewhat unusual designs, Sun Qin hesitated, but did not refuse. She nodded and said, "Lord Qingqiu, I understand."

As the Fox Immortal's representative, she needed to dress a little more splendidly if she was to meet people, didn't she?

Sun Qin understood that clothes made the person, just as gold made the Buddha.

As for the somewhat strange designs, she was already an immortal's representative, so there was no need to worry about that. After all, apart from differing from the prevailing style, the clothes were at least quite modest and had nothing to do with dressing like a fox spirit.

But looking at the new outfits, Sun Qin could not help thinking of Yin Yunze's Fox Immortal Temple, which still let the wind in.

Having been refused by Yin Yunze before, however, Sun Qin did not say anything this time.

If Lord Fox Immortal had to ask for everything himself, wouldn't that make Sun Qin seem useless?!

Though she remained silent, Sun Qin had already resolved to put her plan to repair the Fox Immortal Temple on the agenda.