Chapter 10

Taking off the helmet, Yang Xuan took a deep breath. Thinking about Sister Xinran's proposal, he knew it was impossible not to be tempted. After all, a monthly salary of 100,000 RMB was a huge temptation. He couldn't even imagine what 100,000 RMB would look like.

The largest amount of cash he had ever seen was the 3,000 RMB he and Sister Xinran withdrew from the ATM when she got her first paycheck.

Yang Xuan's rationality told him that his value was far more than 100,000 RMB a month. His intuition also made him believe that the value he could create in the game would far exceed 100,000 RMB!

Although he hadn't seen much of the world, it didn't mean he was short-sighted. Moreover, he really didn't want to be bound by the studio. Although his initial goal when entering the game was to join the studio to earn money to improve the lives of his master, his master's wife, and his junior sister, he had become dissatisfied with his original goal when he realized he could achieve much more in the game.

...

Shaking his head to dispel these thoughts, Yang Xuan got up and stretched, then walked out of the room.

The quiet courtyard, the withered old locust tree, and the yellow leaves slowly falling—this was Yang Xuan's eighteenth autumn in the slums.

Under the old locust tree, the familiar thin back of his master came into view, and the mournful sound of the erhu drifted into Yang Xuan's ears.

Yang Xuan didn't disturb his master but stood a short distance away, listening quietly. The sorrowful erhu music seemed to seep into his heart. As he listened, tears began to slide down his cheeks.

"Master and Master's wife must have a story they don't want us to know," he thought.

After a long while, the erhu music ended, and Yang Xuan realized he was crying again, sighing softly.

His master's skills were very strong, and although his master's wife's skills were not as good as his, they were still far superior to those of many martial arts masters portrayed in the media. Yet, why did they choose to live in the slums? Yang Xuan had never understood.

Since he could remember, his master had always liked to sit under the old locust tree in the evening and play "Moon Reflected on Second Spring." Listening quietly, one could feel the hidden sorrow behind his master's cold exterior through the erhu music.

Yang Xuan also knew how to play the erhu, which his master had taught him, more seriously and strictly than he taught him martial arts.

"Let's eat." After finishing the erhu, Yang Taiji put it away in a wooden box, glanced at Yang Xuan, and walked toward the main room.

Yang Xuan wiped the tears from his eyes and hurriedly followed.

At the dining table, only his junior sister Yang Chushuang and his master's wife were present.

Yang Chushuang, seeing Yang Xuan and Yang Taiji enter the main room, happily tapped the edge of her bowl with her chopsticks, making a "ding ding" sound, and her two pigtails swayed. "Let's eat, I'm starving!"

Yang Xuan smiled at his junior sister. "Are you that hungry?"

"Yep, I'm in the growth phase. If I don't eat enough, my figure will be terrible!" Yang Chushuang said seriously with her big, bright eyes.

Yang Xuan couldn't help but laugh. This little girl was already so concerned about her appearance.

His master's wife, who was over forty, looked like she was in her early thirties, unlike the forty-year-old women in the slums. In Yang Xuan's heart, his master's wife was the best person to him, even though... he was just an adopted orphan.

"Master, where are Ling and Rou?" Yang Xuan asked, sitting at the old wooden table.

"They went out to look for jobs," his master's wife said with a smile, then handed him a bowl of rice.

"Look for jobs?" Yang Xuan was shocked and stood up. "They are only seventeen, Master. If anyone should look for a job, it should be me, not them!"

"Sit down and eat. They insisted on going. Besides, aren't you playing 'The Other World' now? Master has seen the introduction of 'The Other World.' With your skills, you will earn money in the future."

Yang Xuan had to sit down, but he couldn't enjoy his meal.

Ling and Rou were his junior sisters, the biological daughters of his master and master's wife, and they were only seventeen, yet they were already looking for jobs. As the senior brother, an adopted orphan, he was just eating and doing nothing at home...

After dinner, Yang Xuan exercised for a while and then returned to his small room to put on the game helmet.

A flash of light, and Yang Xuan appeared in Leaf Town.

He walked directly to the town center, where there were some stalls for players to set up. However, since equipment was hard to drop, and even when it did, players usually kept it for themselves, there were many buyers but few sellers at the stalls.

Yang Xuan found a stall and sat down, then placed six pieces of equipment he didn't need on the stall.

Immediately, many players gathered around, surprised by the equipment on Yang Xuan's stall.

"How did you get so much equipment?"

"Where did you get it from?!"

"Bro, can you sell that mage equipment a bit cheaper to a girl?"

"Hey, isn't that Huaxuan Yang? You're the expert who soloed the elite monster on the forum!"

Among the players, a sharp-eyed male priest recognized Yang Xuan and used a detection skill, discovering that Yang Xuan was the top-ranked player in Leaf Town and the expert who soloed the elite monster!

In an instant, the surrounding players were no longer calm.

"Bro, take me as your disciple, and I'll take good care of you!"

"Bro, I'm your loyal fan. Sell me an item for 100 copper!"

...

Yang Xuan was annoyed by the noise and stood up abruptly.

"The equipment on this stall is 200 copper each, no negotiation!"

Hearing Yang Xuan's voice, the excited players gradually calmed down.

Yang Xuan's prices weren't high; 200 copper was a fair price. However, in the early stages, few players could afford it.

A few players looked at the few copper coins in their bags and left dejectedly. Many others didn't have the money but stayed to admire Yang Xuan, the legendary expert who could solo elite monsters at level 0.

As a result, more and more players gathered, but after a while, no one had the money to buy the equipment.

Finally, after several minutes, a rough-looking mage player said, "I want that staff!"

"Finally, someone is buying!" Yang Xuan felt relieved.

The mage player clicked the trade request, placed 200 copper, and Yang Xuan put the level 2 broken staff on the trade. The mage player took the equipment and left happily.

At that moment, a steady voice came from the crowd. "I want the remaining five pieces of equipment. Can I pay in RMB?"

Yang Xuan's eyes lit up, and he looked up.

A rogue player squeezed to the front of the crowd, around thirty years old, tall, with sharp eyes and a well-defined face. The voice belonged to him.

Yang Xuan used a detection skill and discovered that this player was once the top-ranked player in Leaf Town, "Frog Loves Toad"!