Chapter 48: Poor Baa

Luo Tiantian stared at the System prompt for 3 full minutes.

No reaction.

He waited another 5 minutes.

Still no reaction.

Luo Tiantian began to count his breaths.

One.

Two.

Three.

…

Eighty-seven.

Eighty-eight.

Eighty-nine.

**[Player “King You/King Zhou” current status: Offline]**

**[System Notification: Soothing message successfully pushed to the other party’s device.]**

**[AI call missed]**

**[Message read]**

**[Read but not replied]**

**[System Notification: Other party’s offline status remains.]**

Offline…

Still offline!

He had spent 200 Game Coins and didn’t even get a ripple!

“System, come out! Explain this to me! What do you mean ‘read’? Did she read it? Did she really read it? You didn’t just have the AI generate a ‘read’ notification to scam me out of my money, did you??”

**[System Warm Tip: The information has indeed been pushed to the other party’s device. It is possible the phone system read it on their behalf. If the other party has not replied, they may be deliberating over their wording, or it may be temporarily inconvenient to reply.]**

“Then refund my money!”

**[System Warm Tip: Once a ‘Read’ product is sold, there are no returns or exchanges :)]**

Looking at that smiling emoji, Luo Tiantian understood for the first time what it felt like to be so angry his chest ached.

“I. Won’t. Accept. This,” he growled, enunciating every word through gritted teeth.

He waited again.

5 minutes.

10 minutes.

**[System Notification: The other party has still not replied.]**

Luo Tiantian’s eyes gradually went hollow.

When he first entered the game, that woman in red had looked down on him from above and said she’d treat him well, that he wouldn’t lose out by following her.

It was all bullshit.

Liar.

Scumbag.

Why didn’t she ‘deliberate over her wording’ when Gold Leaf Game was deducting his money? Why wasn’t it ‘temporarily inconvenient’ when she was kissing and touching him? Now she had run off so cleanly and quickly that she couldn’t even be bothered to send back a single punctuation mark!

Luo Tiantian was so angry that he buried his face in the pillow and let out a death-rattle-like wail.

“Baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa — !!”

Xiao Tao stood guard outside the hall. Hearing the strange whimpering coming from inside, she hesitated for a moment but didn’t dare enter.

The Imperial Consort seemed particularly melancholic today.

***

Shen Xixi’s phone screen lit up again.

It was the fourth push notification, and it was still from the Huaxia Shenyu System.

**[Your Baosi seems very worried about you.]**

**[She has been waiting for a long time.]**

There were five missed AI calls from Huaxia Shenyu.

Shen Xixi pulled the quilt over her head and slept like she was unconscious. In her dream, she was standing in a peach forest. A young girl in red had her back turned to her, and no matter how much Shen Xixi called out, she wouldn’t look back.

She chased after her, wanting to grab the girl’s sleeve.

The girl turned her head.

She had no face.

“You scumbag player, you leave as soon as you’re done with me.”

The voice was fierce.

Shen Xixi thought, ‘?’

Before she could react, the peach forest vanished, and the girl disappeared along with it.

She woke up.

She stared at the ceiling with wide eyes, her heart still racing slightly.

‘What a mess of a dream.’

She rolled over and fell back asleep.

This time, she didn’t have any nightmares.

***

Luo Tiantian lay facedown on the soft couch for 15 full minutes.

200 Game Coins.

In 7 days, that would be 20,000!!

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, and the angrier he got, the more his head throbbed.

He was already running a fever, and now he felt like his entire body was about to burst into flames.

No.

He couldn’t just let it go.

He sat up abruptly and poked the System panel with force.

**[Send Message (Self-funded)]**

**[To: King You/King Zhou]**

**[Content: Your Majesty, when are you coming online? I miss you so much, boo hoo hoo. (This message cost 5 Game Coins)]**

Send.

**[System Notification: Information sent. Other party has not read.]**

5.

Gone again.

Luo Tiantian stared at that ‘unread’ status, his eyes turning red.

**[Send Message (Self-funded)]**

**[Content: Your Majesty, do you not want me anymore? QAQ (This message cost 5 Game Coins)]**

Unread.

**[Content: Your Majesty, are you still angry? Is it something at home? I am willing to listen if you want to talk. (This message cost 5 Game Coins)]**

Unread.

**[Content: You drank last night, didn’t you? Does your head hurt? I can massage it for you. (This message cost 5 Game Coins)]**

Unread.

**[Content: Your Majesty, please pay attention to me, baa QAQ Just a little bit. (This message cost 5 Game Coins)]**

Unread.

25.

Gone.

A long string of green bubbles filled the chat interface, and Luo Tiantian’s face turned green just looking at them.

They all showed ‘unread,’ like a string of lonely drift bottles.

‘I’m so stupid.’

‘Really.’

‘Very, very stupid.’

With trembling fingers, he typed out the final message:

**[Content: Your Majesty… do you really not want me anymore? (This message cost 5 Game Coins)]**

Send.

Still unread.

Luo Tiantian silently closed the System panel and crawled into the covers, shrinking into a tiny ball.

30.

Plus the 200 from before.

230!

He only had 21 Game Coins left, *baa*!

He was doomed, *baa*.

He was dead, *baa*.

“*Baa…*”

Xiao Tao finally couldn’t take it anymore.

She peeked half her body inside and saw the Imperial Consort curled up in a corner of the soft couch, hugging a silk pillow with red-rimmed eyes.

“Imperial Consort?” Xiao Tao asked carefully. “Are you feeling unwell? Should I go fetch the Imperial Physician?”

“No need.”

“Then you…”

“I’m fine. I just… miss His Majesty a little.”

“My Lady is so good to His Majesty.”

Luo Tiantian didn’t answer.

‘Good’ my foot.

He just didn’t want to go bankrupt.

***

At 3:00 PM.

Shen Xixi finally woke up.

She reached for her phone.

Seventy-three unread messages.

‘What on earth? Did the world end while I was asleep?’

She swiped open the screen.

Twelve were bank financial advertisements.

Eleven were various app notifications.

Nine were travel photos sent by her cousin in the family group chat — they had already arrived in Switzerland.

The rest were all from Huaxia Shenyu.

And they were all from Baosi.

Shen Xixi scrolled down one by one.

**[Your Majesty, when are you coming online? I miss you so much, boo hoo hoo.]**

**[Your Majesty, do you not want me anymore? QAQ]**

**[Your Majesty, are you still angry? Is it something at home? I am willing to listen if you want to talk.]**

**[You drank last night, didn’t you? Does your head hurt? I can massage it for you.]**

**[Your Majesty, please pay attention to me, baa QAQ Just a little bit.]**

**[Your Majesty… do you really not want me anymore.]**

Shen Xixi stared at the screen.

Because she had no money, she actually didn’t want to go online.

She had seen people discussing it in groups before. They said that those small streamers who received aid in games would privately call their benefactors suckers or ATMs. They would say “Thank you, Boss, mwah mwah” on the surface, but then turn around and share the chat screenshots to mock them.

Baosi was an NPC, so she probably wouldn’t be like that.

‘I want to go online.’

‘I really want to go online.’

‘I want to pinch her face, hear her aggrieved little baas, and see her forced smile as she calls me Your Majesty even when she’s clearly enjoying herself to death.’

Shen Xixi opened her eyes, picked up her phone, and unlocked it.

The login interface appeared.

**[Welcome back to Huaxia Shenyu.]**

**[Current Game Coin balance: 3,120]**

Converted to real money, she still had about 310,000.

How long would this last?

Shen Xixi had no concept of it.

‘Maybe I should find a job?’

What could she do?

Her education level was high school.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t passed the exams; she just hadn’t gone to take them.

Her family said she should study abroad, but she said she didn’t want to. Her family said even going to a local university would be fine, but she said it was boring.

At the time, she felt she wouldn’t need a degree in this life. After all, her family was rich; she could just lie flat for the rest of her life.

Now she knew she was wrong.

But surely a high school graduate wouldn’t starve to death.

There must be things a high schooler could do.

Shen Xixi searched for a long time before she realized phones had job-hunting apps.

Download complete. Register account. Fill in resume.

Name: Shen Xixi
Age: 20
Education: High school or below
Work Experience: None
Desired Position: …

She thought for a long time before typing “Any.”

Expected Salary: …

She thought for a long time again.

The System’s matching range was 3,000 to 4,000.

In the past, buying a single dress would cost more than that.

She read through her resume from beginning to end.

Name. Age. High school education. No work experience. Open position. Expected salary of 3,000 to 5,000.

If she sent this resume out, would anyone want her?

Maybe. After all, she was healthy, had all her limbs, and looked decent. But could she put those things on a resume?

Shen Xixi stared at the screen, and for the first time, she felt a profound doubt about her life choices.

Just then, the job app popped up a notification.

**[Nearby Urgent Hire: Game Companion/Voice Streamer. Daily pay. No experience required. Work from home.]**

Daily pay.

Work from home.

No experience required.

Shen Xixi remembered that Luoluoyousheng companion again.

Maybe she could find her and ask for some help?

She clicked in as if possessed.

The recruitment details were very brief. The gist was that a certain guild was recruiting companions. Requirements: female, pleasant voice, basic game operation skills, good personality, and not glass-hearted. Salary was calculated by the hour, with an hourly rate of 15 to 100 after the platform’s cut.

Shen Xixi did the math.

An hourly rate of 15 to 100. In a month, that would be…

She took out a calculator.

There are 24 hours in a day. Calculating by the minimum rate:

15 x 24 = 360. 360 x 30 = 10,800.

That actually seemed okay.

Shen Xixi suddenly felt that working was quite simple.

‘Heh heh heh.’