Chapter 175

Xia Zhi felt somewhat gratified.

A beautiful girl like Shenhe should smile more often, like Zhu Zi, look at how Zhu Zi is smiling...

Hm?

Zhu Zi, why did a progress bar suddenly appear above you?

Xia Zhi "looked" at the [0%] iron-grade progress bar above Zhu Zi, momentarily stunned.

It wasn't there just now, but suddenly appeared.

Although the [White Jade Bliss Rice Pops] had the effect of enhancing constitution, it shouldn't be this dramatic...

Xia Zhi thought carefully and realized this must be due to accumulated effects finally showing results.

Zhu Zi's diet had been too good lately, with both supernatural cuisine and supernatural incense.

While these things didn't have much effect on him, for an ordinary person like Zhu Zi who didn't even have a Vision, the effects were truly incredible.

She had been at the shop for almost a month now, and compared to when she first arrived, her body had clearly developed better. This was quite obvious from her uniform that used to fit perfectly but now felt a bit tight across the chest.

There were many other changes in her... In Liyue legend's terms, Zhu Zi had encountered "Divinity."

It was normal for someone with "divinitu" to have an iron-grade progress bar appear.

This also proved something about his theory regarding Changsheng. If Changsheng recovered to gold-tier strength, it would definitely have a new gold progress bar appear above it, just like Zhu Zi's.

Zhu Zi was smiling while eating the regular rice pops that Xia Zhi made, so this counted as his interaction of feeding her.

Xia Zhi "saw" her iron-grade progress bar suddenly increase to [10%].

Everyone continued as usual, chatting while eating snacks.

Xia Zhi soon filled up Zhu Zi's progress bar.

"Progress bar has reached 100%, obtained Iron-grade Treasure Chest reward."

A new iron-grade treasure chest appeared in his inventory.

Xia Zhi looked at this chest, contemplating.

Strictly speaking, he hadn't spent 9 points on Zhu Zi, but the iron-grade chest he obtained from her could yield items worth 1-9 points.

And with his [Hourglass of Time], he was certain to get the highest value items from the chest.

This meant he had found another way to earn points—investment.

He could invest 10-20 points to cultivate Zhu Zi to silver tier, and the silver chest obtained from her could yield up to 99 points, meaning a profit of 70-80 points.

For the cats and Yaoyao, he could spend 100-200 points to cultivate them to gold tier, and gold chests could yield up to 999 points, meaning a profit of 700-800 points.

Shenhe, Qiqi, Miss Chi Yu, and Miss Ganyu could be cultivated to platinum tier...

The higher the tier, the more points needed for cultivation, but the returns were also more substantial.

Moreover, these points were spent on his own people, so it couldn't be considered a loss.

It was a win-win situation.

Xia Zhi nodded inwardly, thinking he should buy more supernatural ingredients from the [Shop] to cook for everyone.

The treasure chests weren't the main concern; the primary goal was to enhance the staff's happiness.

Xia Zhi opened the iron-grade chest in his inventory.

A small box appeared before him.

[Strange Fish Bait]

Quality: Iron-grade

Type: Consumable

Properties: None

Effect: Fishing bait that emits a strange smell. Small fish avoid it, but large fish are very attracted to it.

Hidden Effect: None

An item of little use, with effects related to fishing, which reminded Xia Zhi of the [Forest Fishing Rod] he had previously archived.

That fishing rod was silver-grade, so archiving it was worthwhile, but this bait was only iron-grade. Archiving it for just a few points would be too troublesome, so he decided to keep it.

If they went traveling in the future, they would inevitably camp in the wilderness, and he could try the joy of catching big fish then.

As afternoon business ended, it started raining outside again.

Shenhe opened her umbrella and carried a food box to take Yaoyao home.

Qiqi didn't need to gather herbs tonight, so she stayed to help clean the shop.

Miss Chi Yu was washing cups in the back of the shop, humming an ancient tune.

Everyone's lips were either upturned or slightly upturned; the atmosphere in the shop was very cheerful.

Everyone would have a good mood for the entire day.

Xia Zhi also put a few [White Jade Bliss Rice Pops] in the food boxes for Miss Ganyu and Granny Ping.

He hoped Miss Ganyu would enjoy her overtime work tonight!

After dinner, since it was raining and they couldn't go for a walk, everyone sat together to play mahjong.

They used a rotation system—whoever lost all their points would step down and let someone else play.

Xia Zhi played for a while, then said: "Tomorrow is Thursday."

The girls nodded: "Mm!"

Xia Zhi repeated: "Thursday."

The girls were confused: "Huh?"

Xia Zhi sighed: "Remember to buy chicken in the morning tomorrow, I'll make fried chicken for you."

The girls realized: "Oh!"

Only Diona still looked puzzled: "Huh? What fried chicken?"

"It's chicken that's marinated, coated in batter, and fried until golden brown. When you bite into it, it's tender and juicy, really delicious!"

"Oh!"

Diona couldn't help but swallow, as she had no resistance to delicious meat dishes.

But compared to meat, she still preferred fish.

"Boss..."

"Hm?"

"When you make fried chicken, could you fry some small fish too?"

"You want fried small fish?"

"Yes! But the kind from rivers, not sea fish. They're especially fragrant when fried!"

"Alright, then tomorrow morning you go to the market with Zhu Zi to buy groceries. Get some fresh river fish, and if there are small river shrimp, buy some of those too."

"Okay!"

--

At Yuehai Pavilion.

In a certain room, Ningguang was at her desk pondering issues when she heard a knock at the door.

"Yelan, come in."

Yelan pushed open the door and entered, her hair and clothes somewhat wet.

"Coming over in such heavy rain, is there something urgent?"

"The investigation into Zhi Yi is complete."

"What are the results?"

"I've detained him already. As Secretary Ganyu said, he was bought by the Fatui Ambassador. To create an opportunity in the election, he poisoned the fish soup seasonings while fishing with Uncle Tian."

"The Fatui again..." Ningguang frowned, her expression turning cold. "The Northland Bank hasn't been behaving lately either. They've pushed out many small money houses in Liyue, and those debt collectors are causing trouble everywhere with loan contracts..."

"Would you like me to step in?"

"No, they're operating within the rules, so we must also follow the rules. I have plans for this matter. Besides Zhi Yi, how are the other two candidates?"

"Those two are normal except for some minor personality issues."

"Mm... Thank you for your hard work."

"Then I'll take my leave."

"Alright."

After leaving Ningguang's room, Yelan didn't immediately leave Yuehai Pavilion, but instead went to the window outside Ganyu's office.

She was very interested in Ganyu's secret intelligence source that was even faster than her own.

Through the window, she could see bright lights inside.

Still working overtime so late.

Yelan stood outside the window and looked into the office.

Ganyu sat at her desk reviewing documents, corners of her mouth upturned, wearing a strangely joyful expression.

Yelan fell into silence.

It was her first time seeing someone smiling while working overtime.

----

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