Volume 3: Days of Working at the Manor
The Third Wheel!
Sister Rabbit! I’ve missed you so much!
What’s going on?!
Shen Maomao was completely bewildered.
Wasn’t there supposed to be a premonition before entering the game? Why didn’t she feel anything?! And didn’t Lou Jingmo say the next world would be in a month?
Thinking too much was useless; the most important thing now was to find Lou Jingmo.
Based on the current situation, she was sitting in a horse-drawn carriage. It wasn’t an ancient Chinese carriage, but rather like the kind Europeans used for travel in the Middle Ages – with only seats in the back, no rain cover, quite rudimentary.
She was wearing a coarse white and gray long dress, which felt peculiar to her as she hadn’t worn a dress in a long time. The driver was a man wearing a gray shirt, a black suit vest over it, and a gray top hat. There was no one else on the carriage besides the two of them.
The sound of the wheels rolling and the “da da” of the horse’s hooves combined into a harmonious melody. The carriage drove over the blue brick road, with Gothic-style buildings quickly flashing by on both sides. Men and women dressed in medieval European clothing on the road made way, unable to resist casting curious glances at the people in the carriage.
The background of this game seemed to be quite ancient.
“Excuse me…” After deliberating for a moment, Shen Maomao decided to speak up and ask, “When will we arrive at our destination?”
The man seemed not to hear, not moving at all, focusing intently on driving the carriage. Sitting in the back, Shen Maomao could only see his brown hair under the hat, the hair strands dry and coarse without any luster, like a bunch of weeds.
Could it be that he didn’t understand Chinese?
This was really “f*cking egg”. (an expression of frustration)
Shen Maomao’s oral language ability was equivalent to that of a middle school student. From childhood to adulthood, English had always been her Achilles’ heel in exams. If normal communication with NPCs in this game was impossible, she would surely be the first to be sacrificed to heaven.
It was indeed better to find Lou Jingmo before anything else.
Not seeing the goddess’s figure made her heart feel a bit empty – ahem, mainly because she was afraid Lou Jingmo hadn’t entered with her…
The carriage continued on, and after a short while, the road obviously became much wider, with pedestrians gradually becoming scarce. After passing a marble-carved fountain, the view suddenly opened up.
The dilapidated yellow buildings were replaced by Gothic-style building clusters, and a large manor appeared before her eyes. The manor was surrounded by iron railings, with a beautiful wrought iron gate at the front. Behind the gate was a sizeable garden with a pristine long corridor, exuding an air of wealth.
“We’ve arrived,” the carriage suddenly stopped, and the driver’s hoarse voice sounded.
So this person did speak Chinese, he just didn’t want to respond to her earlier.
Shen Maomao lifted her skirt and carefully jumped off the carriage, standing at the locked gate of the manor, curiously surveying the environment inside.
“Giddy up!” As soon as she got off, the man raised his whip, urging the horse to return along the way they came, soon disappearing at the end of the road.
What an attitude! One-star service! Shen Maomao gave the carriage’s rear a middle finger.
She walked to the small platform under the iron railing, gathered her skirt to the front, and sat down casually, waiting for others to arrive.
Sure enough, within ten minutes, another carriage came from afar. The driver was dressed the same as hers, in a gray-white shirt and black suit vest, also wearing a top hat, with the same weed-like hair. From the front, the lower half of the driver’s face was covered in wild grass-like beard, making it impossible for Shen Maomao to see his exact features.
The carriage was carrying a woman who looked to be in her thirties. The woman was firmly gripping the carriage’s handrail, afraid of being thrown off, loudly asking, “Who are you exactly?! Where is this?! Let me off! I’m going to call the police!!”
Shen Maomao lifted her skirt and went to greet them.
“We’ve arrived.” The carriage stopped at the manor gate, and the driver’s hoarse voice reached Shen Maomao’s ears, causing her to be momentarily stunned.
Because the voices of the two drivers were identical.
After noticing this, Shen Maomao carefully observed the driver again, comparing his build with the previous driver. It wasn’t hard to see that the two men’s physiques were not very different, as if they were the same person.
However, Shen Maomao was already used to strange occurrences. She calmly stood in front of the driver, looking at the woman’s slightly more luxurious white long dress, pondering in her heart what the differences in their clothing might represent.
The driver didn’t have much patience. He put down the reins, turned around and roughly grabbed the woman’s long hair, dragging her off the carriage and throwing her to the ground amidst her screams and cries of pain.
The woman fell sitting on the ground, her mouth spewing a long string of curses, each one different, leaving Shen Maomao dumbfounded, wanting to give her a thumbs up.
The driver, however, paid no attention. He got back on the carriage, picked up the reins, and drove off, leaving the woman to eat a belly full of carriage exhaust.
Only after the carriage had completely disappeared did the woman’s cursing stop. She got up from the ground, arranging her hair and patting the dirt off her dress, then asked Shen Maomao, “Little sister, may I ask where this is?” Her attitude was friendly, with a smile on her face, showing no trace of her previous “society person” demeanor. (referring to someone tough or streetwise)
Fearing she might curse at her, Shen Maomao quickly explained, “This is a game world, we are all players, and we can only return to reality by completing the game.” As she spoke, she observed the woman’s expression.
The woman looked confused, probably thinking something like “Is this child’s brain okay?” in her heart.
“Believe it or not, this isn’t a prank show or a practical joke. There are real ghosts in the game, and people can die,” she kindly reminded, “As someone who’s been through this, I advise you not to act rashly, and it’s best to wait here with me for all the players to arrive.”
The woman was half-believing, half-doubting, but still stayed, sitting with Shen Maomao under the railing, waiting.
The two of them sat shaking their legs, with the woman curiously observing the surroundings, muttering to herself, “It looks like medieval Europe… England? Or France? Have I time-traveled?”
Shen Maomao glanced at her without saying anything.
If the other person didn’t believe, she couldn’t force her to believe. She could only wait until all the players arrived before saying anything more.
After a while, four or five more carriages came one after another from the end of the road. Without exception, all these people had serious expressions, neither noisy nor rowdy. Some even tried to talk to the drivers, clearly experienced players.
Seven people, seven carriages, seven identical drivers who could even appear simultaneously.
The second woman to arrive, seeing this unusual scene, mumbled uncertainly, “…Multiplets?”
No one answered her question. All the experienced players instinctively stood by the gate, observing each other without talking.
Time passed minute by minute, and more and more people stood at the gate. These people were both men and women, the oldest looking to be in their thirties, and the youngest Shen Maomao felt might be herself.
So far, it seemed only one newcomer had appeared, the second woman to arrive. The others all looked deep and inscrutable, expressionless, making it difficult to discern if there were any other newcomers among them.
Most of the players wore ordinary gray and white clothes, women in long dresses, men in trousers. Only the woman and one man wore more luxurious clothes, looking a level above the others, making everyone wonder if they had some special status.
Familiar people gathered to talk quietly, while other players consciously avoided suspicion and stood apart.
As carriages continued to arrive and leave, Shen Maomao’s heart grew increasingly uneasy.
Where was Lou Jingmo? Had she entered the game or not?
She anxiously waited for a few more minutes, and finally, another carriage appeared at the corner of the road. Even from a distance, Shen Maomao immediately recognized the figure on the carriage as the long-awaited Lou Jingmo.
Wait!
Why did it seem like there was a “little three” with her?! (referring to a mistress or third wheel)
The half-relieved breath caught again, and Shen Maomao squinted her eyes to watch the carriage approach from afar, finally stopping in front of them. Two people jumped off the carriage, one with long brown hair, the other with a head of golden hair.
Golden Retriever, like an unleashed Husky, joyfully pounced over: “Sister Rabbit! I’ve missed you so much!”
Shen Maomao: “?!!”
A wave of subtle scrutiny immediately came from the surroundings.
Lou Jingmo followed behind Golden Retriever, unhurriedly walking over with her devastatingly beautiful face, her long dress swaying between her legs like ripples on a wind-blown lake.
She walked up to Shen Maomao and said in a low voice, “I understand now.”
Shen Maomao: “??” Understand what?
The three gathered, and Lou Jingmo explained concisely, “Your face is different again, this might be the reason we entered the game early.”
Shen Maomao unconsciously touched her cheek, opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
Lou Jingmo said what she wanted to say: “It’s Ren Yue.”
Shen Maomao was stunned, even forgetting to ask why Lou Jingmo had entered the game with Golden Retriever.
Golden Retriever didn’t understand what they were talking about, so he just kept smiling foolishly. Hearing them end their conversation, he voluntarily opened up the conversation, babbling on: “Sister Rabbit! You guys are so unfair! You actually contacted each other secretly behind my back! Why didn’t you bring me along to play?! I went to great lengths to contact Sister Lou after I got back! We were originally planning to tell you about entering the game in a few days, who knew we’d be pulled in so soon after just binding? Do I still need to go through my second world like this? With such a short interval, it shouldn’t be necessary, right?”
Lou Jingmo said, “It’s necessary.”
Golden Retriever’s expression fell: “Huh? Why?! This game is so inhumane!”
Having Ren Yue’s face doesn’t necessarily mean anything, maybe the person who used Ren Yue as a substitute is secretly working their magic again!
Shen Maomao adjusted her mood and joined the conversation: “Please—I’m the main wife, it should be you two secretly hooking up behind my back without me knowing!”
Golden Retriever said seriously: “In the world of clinging to big legs, there’s never any first come, first served.”
Shen Maomao: “?” You’re quite proud of that?
The two laughed and joked around, standing out from the surrounding players with their serious faces.
Only Lou Jingmo sighed lightly.
She knew that these two were personalities who habitually used silliness to mask their fear. On the surface, they could chat happily and easily, but in reality—
“Can you guys stop your legs from shaking?”
The author has something to say:
On this Qixi Festival, I wish…
Forget it, what’s the point of a single dog like me making wishes
LP: What I got from this is:
- Maomao is a player with her own avatar and identity.
- Whatever the dude did in chapter 1, Maomao is now also playing Ren Yue’s avatar and identity.
- The game has a fixed schedule (which I wasn’t paying attention to, ngl).
- This time, Maomao entered the game as Ren Yue. Next time, Maomao will enter as herself.
- (Not Sure) Ren Yue might have used a prop to make this happen.
This means, Maomao is playing twice more than others (O_O;)
I’m still not sure about Ren Yue, but the “online friend” was really suspicious… Maybe it’s the “online friend” who did it, who knows ╮(￣ω￣;)╭
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Maomao’s denial of Ren the replacing her is realistic at best and stupidity at it’s worse. Emotionally, I understand how she feels, but logically I just can’t ._.