Ch 258: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

Since Budu arrived in Yaoguang City, the snow in the city center had not stopped, and the snow near the shopping street was even thicker than in other places by several inches.

Lu Yao, bundled up warmly, stood by the roadside with Budu, observing the two vacant storefronts between the snack shop and the nail salon.

Originally, because the snack shop was too hazardous, she had purposefully left two storefronts between it and the nail salon.

If the snack shop were to open a branch, the best choice would be one of the adjacent storefronts, with one empty storefront still separating it from the nail salon.

The space next to the snack shop wasn’t very large, and from an economic and staffing perspective, Lu Yao didn’t want to open another big store.

If she decided to open a branch, she would need to inform the park as well.

Lu Yao gently moved her arm, prompting Budu to look up.

She asked, “If we opened a small shop here, do you have any ideas, Budu?”

Budu thought seriously for a few seconds. “Roasted sweet potatoes.”

Lu Yao was curious. “Why roasted sweet potatoes?”

Budu said, “Roasted sweet potatoes are soft and sweet, and they’re warm.”

Eating roasted sweet potatoes brings a feeling of happiness.

Budu tilted his head slightly and blinked.

Perhaps what made him feel happy wasn’t the sweet potatoes but being with her.

Realizing that his suggestion might not be mature, Budu looked up at Lu Yao and said, “Anything mother wants to open is fine.”

Lu Yao was still mulling over Budu’s words—“soft, sweet, and warm”—and, hearing him, smiled slightly. “Your suggestion is very good. It’s given me some ideas.”

There were still fourteen days left before the deadline, so there was time to consider carefully.

Budu lowered his gaze, his lips pressed together, the tips of his ears slightly red.

Bai Yi stepped out of the childhood tutoring center and called from under the eaves, “Shopkeeper, there’s a guest looking for you.”

Lu Yao responded and, with Budu, turned and walked slowly back to the tutoring center.

…

In the tutoring room, the same aunt and Zhou Yishan, who had visited two days prior, were waiting for Lu Yao.

Zhou Yishan held a teacup in her hands, looking across the table at the personal office, her gaze sweeping over each desk decorated with little black dragon figurines.

Those were the mediums for the time machine.

Lu Yao wasn’t surprised to see them, letting go of Budu so he could play for a while.

She turned and walked towards the office, inviting the mother and daughter in for a detailed discussion.

Zhou Yishan’s mother was even more anxious than last time, continuously expressing to Lu Yao how troubling her daughter’s unwillingness to marry was for her.

Most of the children in their neighborhood were married with children, with large families bustling in and out during holidays—it was lively beyond words.

But in the Zhou family, although their daughter had slightly lower capability scores, her work skills, financial abilities, and talent were all top-notch. Yet, at over thirty, she not only wasn’t talking about marriage but didn’t even have any potential male friends.

Recently, people started gossiping that Zhou Yishan must have issues if she was still unmarried at her age—either physical health problems or mental health concerns.

Zhou Yishan’s mother used to enjoy dancing with acquaintances in the neighborhood square, but she hadn’t gone in a long time. When she occasionally bumped into familiar faces while grocery shopping, she found ways to avoid them.

After their visit to the childhood tutoring center last time, the mother and daughter had another big argument at home.

The aunt couldn’t sleep after thinking it over and, unable to resolve her worries, dragged Zhou Yishan back to the center once more.

“Teacher Lu, I read a lot online, and your reviews are very positive. You must teach Yishan well. No matter how capable a woman is at work or how much money she makes, without a man to rely on, she’ll be a joke for her whole life. Besides, her superpower rating is so low; if she waits a few more years and gets older, it’ll be even harder to find someone.” Zhou Yishan’s mother spoke earnestly, her eyes brimming with tears.

Lu Yao raised her hand and gently rubbed her temples. “Auntie, I have a question I’d like to ask you first.”

“Go ahead.”

“What aspect of Zhou’s not getting married troubles you the most? Are you afraid she’ll be lonely for the rest of her life? Worried she’ll have no one to depend on in old age? Or is it the external opinions that make you feel pressured? Or is it for some other reason?”

The aunt furrowed her brows, hesitated for a moment, and then answered heavily, “All of the above. Most importantly, how can a woman not get married? If she doesn’t marry, what’s the use of just making money? When she turns forty or fifty, she’ll regret it. I’m her mother; I wouldn’t hurt her, would I? But she just won’t listen!”

Lu Yao listened quietly as the aunt expressed her sincere intentions over and over. Then she looked up at Zhou Yishan. “Why don’t you tell me what you think?”

Zhou Yishan’s face was numb, showing little reaction to her mother’s words. When she heard Lu Yao’s question, she took a moment to respond.

“Teacher Lu, your superpower rating must be very high. Someone as talented as you probably can’t understand the experiences of someone like me, with such a low rating.

“Superpowers are incredibly important for our generation, and in this world, those whose superpowers aren’t outstanding or whose ratings are low are considered defective products that nature has stripped of the ‘right to reproduce.’

“I didn’t believe in fate before. So what if my superpower rating was low? If I worked hard enough, I believed that one day I could live the life I wanted.

“But that’s not the case. No matter how I dragged my exhausted body to barely keep up with colleagues who had exceptional superpowers, it didn’t change the fact that I was a low-ranking ability user.

“So I chose to give up. I don’t want to get married, I don’t want to find someone just for the sake of it, and I don’t want to have an ordinary child who’ll grow up to face the same pain I have.

“But not getting married comes with its own set of pains. Family, neighbors, colleagues, partners…wherever there are people, there are comparisons, discussions, and judgments. All those words turn into pressure, pressing down like a mountain.

“I don’t even know what I want anymore.”

Lu Yao absentmindedly fiddled with the golden ribbon on her wrist, which was a token given by Fula during her last encounter as a sign of accepting a commission.

She remembered shoving it into her pocket back then, only to wake up the next day to find it tied around her wrist, impossible to remove.

Unless she returned to the shopping street, it would automatically store itself in her portable inventory.

But crossing the star gate, regardless of which one, would bring the golden ribbon back to her wrist, as if it had a mind of its own.

After experiencing similar occurrences a few times, Lu Yao wasn’t worried about it causing any harm. She glanced at the subtle shimmer flowing on the ribbon and suddenly said, “Auntie, Ms. Zhou, let’s go see the sea.”

Both Zhou Yishan’s mother and Zhou Yishan looked surprised, unable to comprehend where this sudden thought had come from.

Zhou Yishan hesitated and asked, “What about my tutoring?”

Lu Yao put away her notes from the conversation, stood up, and called Budu over to join them for the trip to see the sea.

Budu set down the half-built Lego robot in his hands and ran over with barely contained excitement.

Leaning against the door, Lu Yao explained to the two confused guests, “‘Going to see the sea’ is the tutoring plan I believe suits both of you after learning about Ms. Zhou’s situation. If it doesn’t work out, we can discuss adjustments afterward.”

Auntie: “Do I have to go too?”

Zhou Yishan: “Will you need to take my finger bone?”

Both asked at the same time.

Lu Yao nodded to the aunt and shook her head at Zhou Yishan. “No need for bone extraction this time. I’ll adjust the coordinates right away.”

The data prepared for their previous trip sixty years into the past still had many uses. Lu Yao picked a suitable set of coordinates from the wealth of temporal information.

Once preparations were complete, Lu Yao used her key to activate the time machine.

Silver light gradually enveloped the four of them—three adults and one child. When they opened their eyes, they stood on a damp riverbank, their shoes and socks sunk into the mud. Behind them was a forest full of lush trees, and in front, a murky, rushing river.

Without a word, Zhou Yishan’s mother clutched Zhou Yishan and struggled to pull her legs out of the muddy ground, retreating step by step until they hugged a tree trunk and climbed up a gentle slope.

On the other side, Lu Yao and Budu used flying tools sold in their convenience store to soar into the air and land on a high tree branch.

Zhou Yishan and her mother sat under the tree, catching their breath, their shoes filled with mud, heavy and foul-smelling.

Looking frustrated, Zhou Yishan tilted her head back and complained, “Weren’t we supposed to see the sea? What is this place? Did the time machine malfunction?”

Lu Yao and Budu sat side by side on the thick branch, their legs gently swinging in the breeze.

Lu Yao raised her hand to shield her eyes and looked into the distance. “The estuary is not far from here.”

Zhou Yishan’s mother frowned. “Our shoes are soaked. How are we supposed to walk? The forest is uneven and hard to navigate; there could be snakes and bugs.”

Zhou Yishan turned pale. “I don’t want this tutoring anymore. Lu Yao, take us back.”

Two transparent bubbles floated down from above, each holding a flying tool, and landed precisely in Zhou Yishan and her mother’s hands.

Lu Yao’s voice came from above. “These are flying devices developed in our store. They’re safe and convenient. I estimated that flying from here to the estuary will take about ten minutes.”

With no other option, mother and daughter activated the flying tools and clumsily began learning to fly.

Zhou Yishan, being younger, learned within twenty minutes.

Her mother took a bit longer, about half an hour.

The four of them spread their wings and flew slowly over the silent forest, like a few straggling migratory birds.

To accommodate the two newcomers who had just learned to use the flying tools, Lu Yao and Budu deliberately slowed down, so they arrived at the estuary later than Lu Yao had expected.

However, Zhou Yishan and her mother were so caught up in the novelty of flying that they forgot their earlier discomfort and didn’t care whether it took ten minutes or half an hour to reach.

Flying over the forest and hovering above the coastline, they were met with the vast expanse of the deep blue sea.

The view from the sky was broader than from the ground, allowing them to see not only the sea but also the scenery surrounding the coastline in full.

Zhou Yishan widened her eyes and spread her arms, taking a deep breath. “Lu Yao, I think I understand what you meant.”

“Hmm?” Lu Yao was a little lost in thought, recalling the time she flew across the Alexander Continent on Harold. The high-altitude view was indeed expansive.

Zhou Yishan gazed at the line where the sea met the sky and said with a relaxed tone, “Seeing the sea makes my worries feel so small, and my long-suffocated chest feels open and free.”

That wasn’t Lu Yao’s original intention, but the guest’s shift to a positive mindset was good feedback for her.

Lu Yao lowered her head to look at the place where the river met the sea. The murky water rushed down from the mountains, crashing and swirling, carrying mud and sand as it surged into the sea.

At the estuary, the sea’s surface was a muddy yellow that gradually spread out to the deeper sea, its color fading to a light grayish-white at the edges, until it lost the original color of the river and was completely engulfed by the deep blue of the sea.

Zhou Yishan had been watching Lu Yao and was waiting for her to say something, but she seemed to be lost in the view of the sea and didn’t react.

“What are you looking at? Is there something wrong with the estuary?” Zhou Yishan couldn’t help but ask.

Lu Yao shook her head. “The muddy river is completely swallowed by the sea.”

Zhou Yishan didn’t understand. “What?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Lu Yao explained, “I once read a line in a book—‘Man is a dirty river. Therefore, we must become the sea to absorb an unclean river without becoming defiled ourselves.’ I was just surprised; the book didn’t lie.”

Zhou Yishan also began to stare at the estuary below, contemplating Lu Yao’s words.

They lingered at the estuary for a while before following a group of seabirds further out to sea, where they encountered a pod of orcas.

The black and white orcas lined up in a row on the sea’s surface, their dorsal fins boldly cutting through the waves.

Zhou Yishan couldn’t resist lowering her altitude and exclaimed, “Adult orcas are so big, but they’re so cute.”

It was the first time Zhou Yishan’s mother had seen orcas in person. She was curious but too nervous to get too close.

“They look like XXXL-sized dolphins,” she said.

The orcas’ pointed snouts and streamlined, sleek bodies did indeed resemble dolphins, but they were much larger and had an XXXL level of ferocity.

Zhou Yishan said, “I think orcas are cuter than dolphins.”

It seemed like the orca pod noticed them too. A few stopped, half-submerged in the water, lifting their heads to reveal mouths full of sharp teeth, making playful “ee-ee-ee” sounds.

Zhou Yishan was completely captivated by their intelligence and charm, and even her mother couldn’t help but smile.

The orcas lingered for a while, playfully engaging with the winged two-legged creatures, much like humans teasing stray cats on the street, before swimming off with a whoosh.

Zhou Yishan, unable to resist, followed them and called for her mother to join.

Budu, who had seen all sorts of deep-sea creatures at the pet cafe, where even cuter animals like waterdrop seals could be found, wasn’t particularly interested in the pod of orcas.

Lu Yao felt the same.

The two of them slowed their pace, drifting leisurely with the sea breeze.

After a while, Zhou Yishan and her mother returned, both looking a bit unsettled.

Lu Yao asked, “What happened?”

Zhou Yishan shook her head without speaking.

Zhou Yishan’s mother said, “The orcas attacked a large whale that had a calf. The adult whale was much bigger than the orcas, but there were too many of them. They took turns attacking, separating the mother from its calf, and then drowned the calf, dragging it aside and only eating its tongue before discarding it. The mother whale, now without her calf, wandered nearby, wailing in grief.”

It seemed the orca pod had hunted a humpback whale calf.

Zhou Yishan’s mood darkened, and after a long moment, she said, “I shouldn’t have followed them.”

Zhou Yishan’s mother agreed, “Orcas are fierce and cunning.”

Lu Yao said, “That’s just how orcas survive. They’re intelligent and highly social creatures. Different pods even have unique hunting techniques that are passed down through generations.”

Zhou Yishan frowned and shook her head. “No matter how cute you say orcas are, I just can’t like them when I think of how they hunt whale calves and only eat their tongues.”

Her mother nodded in agreement.

No matter how clever these animals were, they weren’t likable.

Lu Yao sighed with a hint of a smile, thinking she had to play the devil’s advocate today.

What she had to say was harsh, but it needed to be said.

“But whether humans like them or not, the orca pods won’t change their way of life. For them, survival and reproduction are the most important things. What are humans to them? Who cares if we like or dislike them? In this world, it’s probably only humans who constantly live under the judgment of others, and only humans who always care about how they’re perceived.”

The atmosphere on the return trip was unusually silent.

Lu Yao thought this tutoring session was a failure.

Back in the tutoring room, Zhou Yishan and her mother showed no desire to discuss further, but Alfred’s evaluation of the tutoring session’s outcome was “satisfactory.”

When Zhou Yishan left, her expression was difficult to describe, a mix of heaviness and relief.

She walked out of Lu Yao’s office, took a few steps, then turned back and stood at the door to ask, “Shopkeeper, has your river turned into the sea yet?”

At that moment, Lu Yao felt that Zhou Yishan’s gaze was particularly innocent. She raised her hand and made a small circle: “It’s probably only about as big as a small pond.”

A hint of regret appeared in Zhou Yishan’s eyes. “Shopkeeper, thank you. I’m very satisfied with this tutoring session.” Lu Yao couldn’t understand the look on Zhou Yishan’s face; there was something strangely familiar about her.

During the session, she had tried to recall where she might have seen her before, but she couldn’t remember.

That night, Lu Yao’s mind suddenly lit up, and she sat up in bed abruptly.

She remembered where she had seen Zhou Yishan before.