Ch 20: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World II

Lu Yao didn’t agree immediately. Like a cautious parent worried about a child getting lost in distractions, she mulled it over repeatedly.

She couldn’t help but think: if Harold got a phone, would other interdimensional employees want one too?

Her habit of being scrupulously fair had become second nature.

Harold wasn’t worried. After so much time with her, he knew that Lu Yao’s hesitation meant she was thinking through something. But in the end, she’d agree.

Lu Yao: “Let me think about it. You should head back before your teacher starts looking for you.”

“Mm,” Harold replied, uncharacteristically obedient. He thought, Tonight at home, I’ll bring it up again. She’ll say yes.

…

In the afternoon, dozens of Nitean little people gathered in the miniature cinema to watch the remainder of the movie.

In the final scene, the little people moved away, and the male protagonist came to bid them farewell, once again offering a sugar cube—this time, they finally accepted.

Inside the miniature cinema, a row of small heads collectively exhaled in relief.

Lu Yao noticed the guests sitting still on the benches, lost in thought. She suggested, “The top floor of the guesthouse has a tea room. Sitting too long might strain your eyes; why not go upstairs to stretch a little?”

The little people were somewhat disoriented. The story had too many details that Nitean little people couldn’t fully grasp.

Their lives had always been simple: rising with the sun, resting with the moon, and worrying only about food and clothing.

The solution to their problems? Find a new hunting ground or another field of stone tubers.

If one area ran out of prey or tubers, they simply moved on. A straightforward, repetitive life.

But the story they just watched was like a box filled with fantastical ideas, suddenly opened before them, showing a way of life they’d never imagined.

This bleak Twilight Moon had been marked by relentless storms of snow and wind, a seemingly unending stretch that frayed nerves.

Hearing Lu Yao’s voice pulled them back. Her figure seemed to merge with the humans in the movie.

The story had depicted several humans. Some were as evil as they’d always feared, trying to capture the little people. But others, like the store owner, were gentle and surprisingly kind.

Nitean history had taught them that humans were greedy and malicious.

But the human running this inn argued that humans, like Niteans, could be both good and bad.

It was rare for Niteans to think about such complex issues. The thoughts wrinkled their small faces like walnut shells.

When they reached the top floor via the elevator and saw the tea room partitioned with elegant screens, complete with small, exquisite porcelain teapots on the tables, their furrowed brows smoothed out.

“Thump, thump, thump—”

It was as if someone had injected filler into their faces, and the little ones’ shrunken expressions instantly plumped up, vibrant and lively again.

Both guesthouses had tea rooms on their top floors, but each had a unique style.

When Lu Yao called them up, the hunting team members all followed to the tea room on the first guesthouse’s top floor.

This tea room had a Chinese aesthetic, with an open-air setting. The tables, chairs, and teapots were all elegant items sourced from the Great Wu Dynasty. They were complemented by the intricately designed miniature screens Lu Yao had custom-ordered at great expense, exuding an ancient charm.

The wooden lattice screens stood about 15.5 cm tall, some carved in intricate patterns, others embroidered with double-sided designs of flowers, birds, landscapes, and more.

Even Ji Qingyan and Xiao Zheng marveled at this setup every time they saw it, despite being used to the miniature furnishings of the inn.

The tea room’s layout was a delight to behold.

More than ten Nitean little people grouped themselves at tables in twos or threes. Each table had a tea menu, offering a variety of red, green, floral, and fruit teas, alongside an array of cookies, sunflower seeds, and pastries.

Since most Nitean little people couldn’t read, the tea menu featured clear, high-resolution images of the options.

Tea was a foreign concept in Nitean culture. They typically drank raw water or brewed soups when ill or injured.

But today was different—they had just watched a story about little people who drank tea.

At Liyan’s table, a hunter named Niu He flipped through the tea menu noisily, reaching the end without satisfaction. Curious, he asked Lu Yao, “Do you have… vanilla tea?”

In the story about the little people in the box, the female protagonist’s mother brewed vanilla tea using a miniature teapot gifted by a human. Unfortunately, she didn’t get the chance to drink it before being captured by the evil humans.

At the end of the story, the male protagonist’s grandmother retrieved the teapot from the miniature kitchen. Seeing the pale green tea leaves at the bottom and catching a hint of vanilla in the air, she was reminded of what was lost.

Niu He, watching this scene, felt both regret and curiosity about the taste of vanilla tea.

Lu Yao turned to Xiao Zheng.

Xiao Zheng understood immediately: “On it.”

In an instant, every little head in the tea room turned toward him, their eyes filled with curiosity and anticipation.

Xiao Zheng, feeling overwhelmed but flattered, said, “Got it, got it! I’ll make a big pot so everyone gets some.”

The little people swung their legs as they sat on their chairs, eagerly awaiting the tea.

Meanwhile, Lu Yao, Ji Qingyan, and Yuanwei were busy dividing the tea snacks. In a four-compartment snack box, there were five or six pieces of fragrant melon seeds, tiny round cookies no larger than half a fingernail, and a large piece of pea cake cut into fingernail-sized portions. Three pieces of pea cake filled a compartment, and two compartments made a generous serving of snacks.

Ji Qingyan remarked, “When did you make these little cookies? They’re too adorable—I have to take some photos.”

Yuanwei, slicing pea cake, replied, “I made them last night when we had nothing to do. Lu Yao taught me.”

After snapping pictures, Ji Qingyan pointed at the pea cake. “Did you make this too?”

Yuanwei shook her head. “No, Lu Yao brought it.”

The pea cake came from Yuguizhai in the Great Wu Dynasty. During the New Year celebrations, the old shopkeeper at Yuguizhai had sent over several boxes of traditional pastries. Lu Yao couldn’t finish them all and had distributed a few packs to various shops.

In the large kitchen, Xiao Zheng was busy making matcha vanilla latte.

Not knowing the exact flavor of the vanilla tea from the film, he improvised by focusing on the color, adding milk and sugar to create the inn’s version of vanilla tea.

Once it was ready, the vanilla tea was served in a small milk pan. Xiao Zheng used a pointed glass dropper to extract a drop of the pale green liquid and carefully poured it into a delicate white porcelain teapot.

The dropper was Lu Yao’s idea—efficient and hygienic.

One pot of tea and one box of snacks were enough to keep the little guests entertained for the entire afternoon.

The open-air tea room, located on a high vantage point, offered views of the towering buildings outside the windows and the swaying greenery and flowers below.

Among the hunting team was a female Nitean named Fuxue.

Holding her teacup and taking small sips, she saw Lu Yao pass by and leaned over the railing to call out, “Lu Yao! Lu Yao!”

Lu Yao turned around. “Hmm?”

Fuxue pointed and asked, “Can I go over there?”

Lu Yao tilted her head to look—it was the tea room on the top floor of the second guesthouse.

Lu Yao nodded. “Of course.”

The first and second guesthouses were 15 centimeters apart. When designing the structures, Lu Yao had considered this and now removed the railings on the adjacent sides.

The little people watched wide-eyed as Lu Yao built an arched bridge between the two buildings. They were so amazed they forgot to eat their tea snacks.

Lu Yao smiled at Fuxue. “Don’t worry. It’s sturdy. Go ahead and take a look.”

Bold as ever, Fuxue set down her teacup and stepped onto the arch bridge. She crossed it steadily and arrived safely on the other side.

The tea room in the second guesthouse was serene and elegant, yet entirely distinct from the one in the first guesthouse.

Looking at the tiny Nitean people, Lu Yao’s mind always brimmed with whimsical ideas.

For example, the tea tables in the second guesthouse’s tea room were inspired by spinning teacup rides in amusement parks.

The size, shape, and patterns of the teacups were all personally designed by Lu Yao. She took her blueprints to a kiln workshop in the Great Wu Dynasty and enlisted the help of master craftsmen.

It took several prototypes before she finally got a model that met her satisfaction.

The teacups were crafted as an integrated piece with an internal round table and a ring of seats along the inner wall. Near the handle, she left a notch and holes specifically designed to install a door.

Lu Yao chose an understated and elegant blue-and-white porcelain pattern. While it differed from the classical Chinese tea room style of the adjacent guesthouse, it blended in seamlessly.

When Fuxue stepped off the bridge, her gaze was instantly glued to the sight.

These small, rounded teacup tables exuded charm and delicacy.

Lu Yao extended a finger and gently opened the first “booth.” Fuxue dazedly took a seat inside.

Tea and snacks were already served.

Lu Yao lightly pressed a switch, and the tiny teacup began to rotate.

The rotation was slow and steady, so Fuxue wasn’t scared. Kneeling on the seat, she curiously leaned out to observe her surroundings.

The little people in the tea room across the way noticed the spinning teacup. They were already tired of exclaiming “how novel” and quickly shifted their focus to the new tea room.

Both tea rooms had been entirely designed, constructed, and furnished by Lu Yao herself. Ji Qingyan and Xiao Zheng, seeing the rotating teacup for the first time, initially marveled at its beauty and intricate details. But when they noticed how many “hidden features” it contained, they were stunned.

Especially when the Nitean little people sat inside the teacups, accompanied by exquisitely crafted tea snacks—it was so adorable it felt almost criminal.

Their first reaction was to drop whatever they were doing, whip out their phones, and open the “Lu Yao Shopping Street” app to capture this rotating tea room on video.

Lu Yao also pulled out her phone but didn’t take pictures. Instead, she opened a music app and selected a track.

She didn’t play any trendy contemporary music but instead chose a guqin melody she had previously recorded at the Baixiang Pavilion.

The music was ethereal and soothing, calming to the heart.

The space between the base of the wall and the windowsill was more than a meter high. The bottommost level had been partially utilized as a 20-centimeter-tall livestock pen, but there was still a vast unused area.

Lu Yao felt the space wasn’t being used efficiently. Since the densely packed buildings on the windowsill made racing model cars impractical, she utilized the middle section to construct a 3D-style racetrack.

All the model cars were relocated to this level, connected by multiple staircases and elevators. It had become a small paradise of building blocks for the Nitean little people to rest, relax, and play.

During the Ice Period, the Nitean guests staying at the inn went wild playing in the miniature cinema, tea rooms, and underground racetrack.

…

On the third day of the “Lu Yao Shopping Street” app’s beta test, the internal chat group quietly added a new member.

The shop assistants were busy in the morning and didn’t notice.

During the noon break, someone asked in the group:

[Is the account “Nail Salon Harold” one of the store owner’s alternate accounts?]

Most of the shop assistants knew Harold, and some even knew his true form was a dragon. However, they also knew Harold wasn’t a staff member in this world, so seeing the account, their first thought was that Lu Yao had created an alternate account for the nail salon.

Currently, only the snack shop, Qingshan Noodle House, and the nail salon didn’t have employees participating in the beta test because these three shops didn’t have regular staff.

The snack shop held a unique status, and Qingshan Noodle House was its branch. It was normal for the snack shop not to have a beta account.

[Hot Springs Inn Ji Qingyan: The store owner is probably busy and hasn’t checked their phone.]

[Little Pet Cafe Zhou Su: It’s probably an alternate account the store owner made. She just added me as a friend.]

[Interdimensional Cinema Fu Chi: She added me too.]

[Hot Springs Inn Ji Qingyan: +1.]

A series of “+1” followed from the shop assistants, all readily accepting the idea of an alternate account for the nail salon.

[Nail Salon Harold: What’s an alternate account? I’m the real deal.]

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