Ch 38: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World II

Jiexiang and Ziye spent another day at the inn yesterday, dreading the thought of the long, uphill trek back home.

It had taken them half a day to descend from their mountaintop home to meet Lu Yao, and climbing back would mean setting off at dusk and only reaching home by midnight, with another early start the following day to descend again.

Lu Yao had offered to take them home, but since their new house wasn’t ready yet, Jiexiang and Ziye preferred to return to their home on the hot spring flower tree. However, it wasn’t feasible for Lu Yao to escort them back every time.

Though rooms were available at the dormitory, outside their shifts, the two still longed for the comfort of their own home. The inn’s lively atmosphere was enjoyable during work hours, but returning to their personal space offered a different kind of peace.

Lu Yao’s problem-solving instincts kicked in as she listened to Jiexiang and Ziye’s concerns, envisioning whether the height difference between the hot spring on the mountainside and the inn could support a miniature cable car system for the little people.

While the altitude wasn’t sufficient for a human-sized cable car, it was perfectly manageable for the small-scale Nitean version.

When she casually brought it up, Jiexiang and Ziye were overjoyed, and their excitement spread to the other little ones.

Once the idea caught on, backing out would only lead to the infamous Nitean nine-tiered barrage of pleading.

Knowing she wouldn’t withstand their persuasion anyway, Lu Yao resigned herself to the task.

However, with most of her school-learned physics long forgotten, she initially planned to cram by watching tutorial videos late into the night.

That changed when Bai Lu let slip that Ji Qingyan and Xiao Zheng were both science prodigies, albeit in different fields.

Lu Yao happily handed over the task of designing the pulley system and cable car setup to the two of them.

The miniature cable car didn’t require the complexity of its full-scale counterpart. The pulleys and cable mechanism were simplified, and Lu Yao decided to enhance safety using magic. Hextech wasn’t just a buzzword—it was a way of life.

This morning’s outing primarily involved measuring the slope, determining positions and heights for the pulleys and cables, and estimating the steel cable’s length.

During working hours, the little staff couldn’t accompany Lu Yao.

On this day, as two suns began to grace the Nitean skies, Budu also couldn’t venture out.

Lu Yao carried her trusty back basket, joined by Jiexiang, Ziye, Hudie, and A’dai couples.

As they climbed the mountain, the six little ones sat in the basket chatting.

While Lu Yao busied herself on the mountain, Jiexiang hosted Hudie, Jiegeng, A’dai, and Jinjin at the tree hollow home she had shared with Ziye for the past three years.

Hosting visitors for the first time in their tree hollow, Jiexiang was so thrilled she secretly clung to Ziye and cried.

The hollow wasn’t very spacious—when six little people sat in a circle, they took up most of the room, leaving barely enough space for one to walk around.

When Jiexiang and Ziye chose this hollow as their home, they valued its safety and warmth, which were perfectly suited for two.

If they ever planned to seek a fetal seed, however, they would need to move to a bigger place.

Jiexiang hadn’t given much thought to this, and Ziye hadn’t brought it up either.

After the little group had their fill of fun, they finally remembered Lu Yao and hurried out of the hollow to find her.

Lu Yao was still working under the tree, covered in sweat.

Perched on thin branches just below their tree hollow, the little ones sat in a row, legs dangling, watching the towering human intently.

Looking up, Lu Yao saw petals fluttering like confetti amid the swaying flowers and leaves. Beneath the pink canopy, the little ones sat in neat rows, their faces beaming like blossoms.

Taking a deep breath, she bent down, retrieved lunchboxes from her basket, and passed them up, giving each of them a small rice ball before hanging a water flask on a tree branch.

As the little ones happily gnawed on their rice balls, Lu Yao quietly fished her phone out of her pocket.

She used to wonder why some people seemed to document every mundane detail of their lives. But after meeting the Nitean little people…

Lu Yao, satisfied with the photos she had taken, put away her phone. Finding a flat rock, she sat down, pulled out a triangular rice ball from her lunchbox, and said, “Finish your food, sit for a little while, and then we’ll head back.”

Jiexiang asked, “Are you done with your work?”

Lu Yao nodded. “Yeah, almost.”

Hudie asked excitedly, “Will the cable car be finished soon?”

Lu Yao shook her head, smiling. “The preparations are mostly done, but I need to discuss it further with Qingyan and Xiao Zheng. Once the components are ready, it’ll probably take two or three days.”

She figured that pre-made materials for a miniature cable car would either be hard to find or unsuitable for high-intensity outdoor use. Custom orders would take time and be expensive. So, Lu Yao decided to finalize the component specifications with her staff and make the molds herself.

Not in a factory—she planned to manually craft the molds.

The little ones didn’t fully understand this but looked up at her with awe-filled expressions nonetheless.

After packing up her tools, lunchbox, and water bottle, Lu Yao gently scooped the little ones back into the basket and started down the mountain toward the inn.

Since the cable car wasn’t ready yet, Jiexiang and Ziye, despite their reluctance, decided it wasn’t practical to commute between the mountaintop and the inn every day. They quickly packed a few belongings and planned to stay in the dormitory for a few days.

The housing construction schedule in Thorny Valley was lengthy. Jiexiang and Ziye were at the end of the list, with four other households ahead of them. Even though Lu Yao wanted to help them build their house, she was already busy with the inn. It would likely take at least two weeks before it was their turn. The cable car, therefore, was definitely necessary.

Would building a cable car for just two employees’ convenience be worth it?

Lu Yao thought it absolutely was.

Some measure value with money, others with time, and still others with emotional fulfillment. There are countless ways to measure worth. At that moment, for Lu Yao, the smiles of the Nitean little people made everything worthwhile.

Back at the inn, Xia Yin and Fengqin had just woken up.

They’d been awake for a while but lazed in bed, drained and listless. It wasn’t until the sunlight slipped through the thick, patterned curtains and stung their eyes that they reluctantly got up.

Heading downstairs, they didn’t see Lu Yao but noticed a few unfamiliar humans.

Neither curious nor fearful, they strolled into the dining hall to order breakfast.

Xiao Zheng, whose main work area was the large kitchen just steps away from the Rose Garden House, was prepping lunch ingredients. When the golden service bell rang for the first time, he set down his knife, washed his hands, and went to the dining hall to take the order. He also called out to Bai Lu to take a photo.

Since the Shopping Street App officially launched, the VIP tab had opened to customers.

VIP users could only access Shopping Street staff’s shared posts via the VIP tab, and every post from another world was a paid feature.

To ensure the VIP section remained active and high-quality, Lu Yao limited staff to sharing a maximum of three posts per day. Revenue generated by posts in the VIP section would also count toward employee performance bonuses under a supplementary agreement.

Because this performance metric was more like additional income rather than a formal evaluation tied to base salary, staff didn’t seem resistant to it. Instead, they eagerly put effort into crafting creative posts.

Though the internal network had just launched and the number of VIP users was fewer than twenty, resulting in negligible daily earnings, everyone still enjoyed the interactions.

Perhaps it was the novelty after being restricted by confidentiality contracts for so long, but both staff and customers loved using the platform to communicate.

Shareaholics like Bai Yi, VIP section, Ji Qingyan, and Zhou Su were in their element. So were the otherwordly staff from the nail salon, Lilly and Xue Ge from the blind box store, the digits staff from the cinema, and even the tutors from the Childhood Tutoring Center—Xu Xiaoxiao, Hu Jiao, Xie Molin, and 444—who all indulged their excessive urge to share.

Even with just three hours of internet access daily, it felt like a KPI race as everyone scrambled to post updates on the feed. They carefully selected the three most engaging posts to share on the VIP section, eagerly awaiting new rounds of attention, admiration, and envy.

In short, the VIP section was a place where it was all too easy to lose oneself. This applied equally to staff and customers.

After breakfast, Xia Yin and Fengqin decided to go out for a walk.

The two Nitean little people from the Shenmu tribe had praised the inn to the heavens, describing it as otherworldly. After staying a night, Xia Yin and Fengqin had indeed experienced many extraordinary things.

However, their mood was too heavy to fully immerse themselves in the beauty of it all.

They asked Xiao Zheng about Qian Lang and Bei Bei, learning that the pair had checked out early in the morning. Feeling unbothered, they stepped outside.

At the entrance, they ran into Lu Yao, who had just returned.

She set down her backpack under the eaves, and the little ones inside began climbing out through the gaps, puffing and panting.

Jiexiang and Ziye were carrying bundles on their backs and sweating profusely as they climbed out. Lu Yao reached in and lifted them out with ease.

Far from being frightened, the two swung their arms and legs in the air, laughing heartily.

Xia Yin silently observed the scene, her brows furrowing. “Do you think they know about the matter of the fetal seed?”

Fengqin sighed. “They probably don’t. But even if they did, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

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