The World Online

By the time they were done procuring New Year’s supplies, it was already 3 PM. It was a large pile of big bags. If Ouyang Shuo hadn’t been exercising recently, he doubted he would have been able to carry them back.

Once home, Bing’er immediately opened a box of chocolate, she couldn’t wait to put it in her mouth. Seeing this, Ouyang Shuo quipped, “Little sister, if you keep eating like that, you will turn yourself into a small fat girl.”

“Hmph, bad brother, lovely Bing’er will not become a little fat girl, because I have good metabolism so I wouldn’t become fat!” She was just like a proud little peacock.

Thunderstruck, Ouyang Shuo asked in astonishment, “Who taught you that? A high metabolism body that doesn’t get fat?”

“Eh?” Bing’er realized she had committed the classic big mouth error and should not have said that, hurriedly covered her mouth up with her hand. Seeing Ouyang Shuo’s harsh eyes, she finally yielded to him and whispered, “Big sister Xiaoyue said that.”

Ouyang Shuo slapped his forehead in disbelief. These two girls were really unbelievable. This Sun Xiaoyue, how could she tell such things to Bing’er, who was just a child? When she comes back after New Year’s, he was going to have to have a talk with her.

“You can only eat that one. If you eat more, then no dinner!” was Ouyang Shuo’s only compromise.

“Well, you know you are the world’s most caring brother.” She was aware that he was not really angry, and reverted immediately to her normal mood, bouncing and running to his side, where she sat down obediently.

Having such a lovely sister, what could he do? He patted her head and asked, “Well, what do you want to eat tonight?”

“I want buffalo wings!”

“Well, then, let’s eat buffalo wings.”

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_Gaia, 1st year 2nd month 17th day, Sunny. Day to bury the dead, shift the coffin. Abstain from marrying and forming alliances._

Yesterday afternoon, the cemetery had been built. Today was the auspicious day to open the burial ground. Therefore, the ashes of the two soldiers who had died were brought forth by the Administration Department.

Early in the morning, all of Shanhai’s leaders, their arms wrapped with black cloths, gathered before the ancestral hall for the burial ceremony.

The ancestral hall was set up well. The woodshop had picked the finest wood to build the coffins, and parked it in the middle of the hall. The ashes of the dead had been put into the coffin by their fellow soldiers.

Because the dead soldiers had no living relatives, the army arranged for their burial ceremony. The Cavalry 1st Platoon 2nd Squad and Cavalry 2nd Platoon 3rd Squad were responsible for carrying the coffins.

The funeral started at the ancestral hall, wound all the way through the village, and then turned to the west side of the town where the cemetery was. The cemetery was built into the edge of the territory, following the tenets of feng shui, and could be considered to be perfectly placed.

After arriving at the cemetery, they came to the location of the graves. The Director of Administration, Mr. Fan, took out the words of mourning that had been written, and looked appropriately sad as he said them.

After the burial, the ceremony was done. Although it was a little humble, it had expressed the resolve and attitude of the territory to revere their fallen soldiers. It was enough to make the soldiers and officers who were there feel very loved.

After returning from the funeral, Ouyang Shuo was naturally not in a high emotional state, and went into his office. His subordinates, good at telling his mood, naturally did not disturb him at that time.

At 2 PM, there was a sudden system announcement.

_“System Notice: On the 2nd month 19th day in Gaia is the traditional New Year’s Festival in China. In order to add a festive atmosphere, there will be Spring Festival activities held._

_“System Announcement: The night of New Year’s, there will be a large number of animals coming from the wilderness and attacking the territories of the players. Every player’s territory will suffer the brutal assault! Those who successfully expel the attacking beasts from their territory will receive a huge reward! Lords, prepare yourselves!”_

__

New Year‘s Festival Event system announcement, Ouyang Shuo had almost completely forgotten that such an event happened. Before his rebirth, he was an adventurer, and did not participate in the New Year Event, so he did not have much impression of it.

Adventurer players outside the city on New Year’s also had the opportunity to meet the beasts. If they could kill the animals, they would also be rewarded. However, you needed luck to meet the animals, unlike the lord players. You also needed strength, as the Boss was at least level 30, so if you were alone you were in great danger. Therefore, to participate in the beast activity you needed a powerful mercenary group.

China had not officially ranked the top ten mercenary groups. They were listed in the unofficial rankings on the forums, every capital had at least one mercenary group and among them Capital JingDu had two.

The Chinese regions held New Year’s activities every year. The real fun was when one of the Lords, Pigman, did something extraordinarily crazy. In Gaia on the third New Year’s Eve, this guy had a strange idea. When the animals hit the village, he did not kill them. Instead, he held up a contract scroll, whimsically deciding to try and take them as pets.

This world was so wonderful. The injured boss beast didn’t want to become a man’s pet, but accidentally turned into a guardian of the territory. This made lord Pigman very happy, and he praised himself for his crazy idea. For that period of beast activity, Pigman and his territory were definitely in the limelight.

The next year, there were many jealous lords who wanted to follow what the Pigman had done. Instead they received a system prompt that gaining a Guardian Beast for a territory was a unique event, and could no longer be duplicated. Those who wanted to pick up a cheap defender could only gnash their teeth.

Ouyang Shuo naturally did not want to miss this advantage. He rose immediately and headed towards the Market. It had been upgraded to intermediate, and the auction platform was unlocked. Unfortunately, the auction platform was not in official operation, he had to wait until the third month for it to enter service. That was still half a month away.

A basic contract scroll was priced at 100 gold coins, and had a greater probability of binding level 30 or lower animals. An intermediate contract scroll cost 500 gold and could bind up to level 60 creatures. The advanced contract scroll was 3,000 gold and worked on up to level 80 beasts. As for those that were level 80+, they could not be contracted.

With such an expensive price, Ouyang Shuo might be the only lord who could pay for it. Even he could only buy a basic scroll. Then, he could only pray that the beast coming did not exceed level 30. Otherwise, the contract was almost certain to fail.

Since he was at the Market, he considered what Shanhai Town was short of, and spent another 10 coins, buying a lot of lanterns, fireworks, firecrackers, couplets, peaches, and other holiday goods. He could give them to the Material Reserves Department for free, to help create a festive atmosphere.

Having bought all this, Ouyang Shuo’s storage bag was down to 250 coins. He initially wanted to save up some gold coins for the auctions. Who knew gold coins flowed away so easily, just like water.

Coming out of the market’s wooden hut, the open space in front of the cabin was filled with the festival goods he had just purchased. Ouyang Shuo only took one lantern from it and left the others on the floor.

Little Mu saw him inside the manor’s courtyard, carrying a lantern she had never seen before. “Ah, such a beautiful lantern! Brother, where did you buy it? The store in town doesn’t sell it, can you give it to me?”

Little Mu had resorted to her spoiled act, her sweet voice soft and her pair of big eyes staring pitifully at Ouyang Shuo, the whole ‘I will cry if you don’t do as I ask’ look.

Ouyang Shuo totally ignored her act and knocked on her head instead. “You want a lantern, now? Yesterday, did you not promise to bring me my equipment?”

“Ow, it hurts! Well, big brother does not know how to care for me, I am a lady! Owww…” Little Mu contrived to act very hurt as she rubbed her head, turning and saying, “Of course I brought back your things. But big brother did not think of arranging people to help, so I had to grab my apprentices to help, they are so heavy!”

Ouyang Shuo stared at her. “You also know that you are a lady? You are acting like a child everyday, not anything close to a lady. It seems that I need to have a talk with Yingyu. She needs to instruct you on acting like a lady and watch you grow up.”

Saying this, Yingyu had just walked out of the Finance Department. Hearing Ouyang Shuo’s words, she smiled and said, “Big brother need not be angry. Little Mu is still young, after all, and it is better to be young and naive and not grow up too fast.”

Little Mu having found her savior, lost her fear of Ouyang Shuo and proudly ran behind Yingyu. He grimaced and said, “Yes yes, Sister Yingyu, you are truly caring for Little Mu.”

Yingyu pulled Little Mu out from behind her, nodding agreement. She said, “You are really too naughty sometimes, no wonder big brother is angry. Go apologize to big brother.” She said this very firmly, with her eyes saying ‘Girl, you better not get big brother angry, or this will not be a good day for you.’

Little Mu went pale, and glanced a second time to make sure she understood Yingyu’s meaning, she went meekly up in front of Ouyang Shuo and said sincerely, “Big brother, Little Mu is wrong. I am willing to follow big sister and learn from her how to be a lady.”

Ouyang Shuo nodded, and quietly said in his heart, _It is dumb if I believe you will, sigh, just let her be as she is_. He pressed the lantern into her hands, saying, “Take it and go play.”

Little Mu took the lantern, sang out her ‘thank you’ to him, and ran smiling out the door, looking for someone to show it off to. Ouyang Shuo and Yingyu exchanged a look, shaking their heads and smiling.

“Big brother, did you go to the Market to buy the lanterns?” Yingyu asked.

Ouyang Shuo nodded. “Yes, I bought a number of New Year goods from the Market, to give to the residents of the territory. New Year is coming, it is time to relax and gather.”

“Big brother has thought it through.”

Ouyang Shuo waved his hand and turned into the Material Reserves Department Office to find Du Xiaolan. After disposing of the New Year’s goods with her, he returned to his office.

*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes

*[12.47 to 13.07]: don’t ask me about the tree sap