Chapter 32: Drought and Famine Year (Part 3)

After Qin Huai returned home, he went straight to his room, locked the door, and clicked on the game system to check the title he had obtained.

【Neighborhood Affirmation】: As a snack master widely acclaimed in the whole neighborhood, your shop is more likely to become the first choice for breakfast/snacks for surrounding residents, and you are the "Little Master Qin" who is well-known among neighbors.

Little Master Qin himself:...

This title... seems a bit more useless than 【Chen Huihong's Affirmation】. Getting Chen Huihong's affirmation at least allows one to explore some secrets and listen to some gossip. And when Chen Huihong's favorability is high, she really throws money. She comes to the canteen every afternoon to wander around, see if there are any unsold snacks, pack them up and take them to the neighborhood committee—a big buyer.

The effect of 【Neighborhood Affirmation】 seems to be about the same as Chen Huihong's money ability, but this game doesn't limit the number of titles worn, so wearing it isn't a loss.

Qin Huai moved his fingers, decisively wore the title, and then clicked on the main task.

As Qin Huai expected, this main task was still a series of "Far Ahead" tasks.

Main Task:

1. 【Far Ahead 2】: As a qualified protagonist, always being far ahead of peers after opening is your basic quality. Please defeat 75% of catering shops in the area in terms of reputation, and the negative review rate should not exceed 2%, becoming a well-deserved good review shop.

Task Reward: Popularity Drainage +500, 【A Dream of???】 (Choice: Yes/No)

Qin Huai:?

Who is???

Are there non-human creatures in this world called 【???】?!

Can this world still be okay?

After studying the task reward and the newly obtained main task, Qin Huai finally cast his eyes on 【A Dream of Chen Huihong】.

This was the task reward he had always wanted to get, and he had been crazily making buckwheat buns during this time just for this dream.

During this time, Qin Huai had shallowly tested Chen Huihong, asking her if she liked watching "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio," if she watched cultivation novels on weekdays, and what she thought about past lives and reincarnation.

As a result, Chen Huihong thought Qin Huai had encountered a new type of scam similar to her brother's past life sin and current life redemption, and earnestly persuaded Qin Huai for three or four days not to believe in such things, and not to embark on the road of feudal superstition at a young age.

It's not easy to make money these days, there's no need to spend 200,000 on a ritual to redeem sins from a past life.

If it weren't for Qin Huai repeatedly guaranteeing that he absolutely didn't believe in such things, Chen Huihong could have grabbed her unlucky brother to tell the whole story of being scammed out of 200,000.

The price of this test was that originally only Qin Huai in the Cloud Canteen knew that Chen Huihong's brother was scammed out of 200,000 because of feudal superstition. After Chen Huihong's earnest persuasion for several days, the whole canteen, including the neighborhood committee, and even the property staff knew that the rich boss was also scammed, and the way he was scammed was very unusual.

Since it couldn't be tested out, let's see if the dream can give some clues.

Qin Huai clicked 【A Dream of Chen Huihong】 and chose Yes.

【Dream loading—】.

Unlike the dead silence of entering the dream for the first time, this time Qin Huai heard noisy sounds before he even opened his eyes.

"Look at this one, how is it? 11 years old, tall, good teeth, can work, buying it back to grind flour is cheaper than a donkey, only one silver dollar, and it comes with this small one."

"Go, go, go, what can a skinny one do? I see this small one is about to die, buying it back requires finding a broken straw mat to roll it up, it's unlucky, and you still want a silver dollar for this, get aside."

"How about you look at this one again, this one is really good, it's just that the price is a bit..."

After Qin Huai opened his eyes, what came into view was a human trafficker bargaining with a customer not far away. Qin Huai:?

Is he in some illegal human trafficking market?

Qin Huai turned his head to look around and found that it was no longer the barren land of a thousand miles. The air might still be hot, and the place was also barren, but he could see withered grass lying on the ground, mixed with little bits of green in the withered grass. In the distance, he could vaguely see houses and small pieces of farmland, which looked like a place where people lived.

Qin Huai looked to the left, Chen Huihong was still wearing those tattered clothes, the clothes were wrapped in a thick layer of mud and dirt, and he didn't know how much straw was stuffed in the clothes, the whole person looked bulging and very sturdy.

As for Hui Niang, although she was also disheveled, she looked slightly cleaner than Chen Huihong, holding a chipped clay pot in her hand, and still carrying a few wooden pieces in her arms, still thin and small.

Beside Hui Niang and Chen Huihong, there were seven or eight children whose clothes were so tattered that they were almost half-naked. They all looked like boys, either sitting lifelessly or lying down weakly. Each of them was very thin, skin and bones, eye sockets sunken, making Hui Niang look healthy and rosy.

The human trafficker was bargaining with the customer with spit flying, Chen Huihong was sitting on the ground watching with great interest, while Hui Niang used a small wooden piece to poke the soil on the ground, seemingly wanting to dig something out of the soil.

While chatting, the customer looked at Hui Niang, pointed at her and said: "How about you give her to me, this one looks better."

Chen Huihong looked at the two.

The human trafficker waved his hands repeatedly, indicating it wouldn't work: "This one is not for sale."

"You are a merchant, buying this kind of girl is useless, this is a maid, expensive, not cost-effective."

Seeing the human trafficker refuse so decisively, the customer looked at Hui Niang again, not knowing whether he disliked her appearance or something else, he didn't insist on anything, bargained for a while, and finally bought the initial "buy one get one free" at the price of a small bag of sweet potatoes plus half a silver dollar, and let the human trafficker go back with him to get money and food.

The human trafficker wasn't worried about the others running away, followed happily, and came back holding a small bag of sweet potatoes after a while.

Seeing the person return, Chen Huihong patted the dirt on her body and stood up, saying: "Are we going?"

"Going, of course going. But Miss Chen, I have to explain one thing to you. We initially agreed to travel together, Hui girl will find water, so I give her a bean cake every two days. Now that we are about to reach Beiping, we don't need Hui girl to find water, so I won't give this bean cake anymore."

Chen Huihong didn't have any reaction, just said faintly: "It has nothing to do with me."

Hui Niang held the clay pot and lowered her head uneasily.

Seeing that Chen Huihong wasn't angry, a smile appeared on the human trafficker's face, and he had other ideas when looking at Hui Niang: "Miss Chen, although your maid doesn't look good, she is much better than the batch I have on hand that can't be sold. Anyway, we are about to reach Beiping, you won't need this maid when you find your family there. I see she is stupid, you must not like her either. I'll pay half a silver dollar, you sell her to me, it saves you from selling her when you reach Beiping."

As he spoke, the human trafficker looked at the other boys lying on the ground and raised his voice to scold: "What are you still lying down for, why don't you get up and hurry on the road! Reach Beiping one day earlier, sell them one day earlier and eat a full meal. You want to rest before the sky is dark, you deserve it that Boss Liu doesn't like you, wasting food."

"I said, she is not my maid, I don't have the right to sell her." Chen Huihong said faintly, and walked away first.

Hui Niang followed closely, like a little tail, afraid of falling behind by a step.

The human trafficker looked at Chen Huihong's departing figure, his face full of angry unwillingness, but he didn't dare to vent to Chen Huihong, could only kick the boy on the side: "Why don't you get up!"

Then he ignored the boys who were struggling to climb up, wishing they could use their hands and feet like walking corpses, and followed Chen Huihong quickly while holding the sweet potatoes.

"Miss Chen, slow down, I don't have the strength to keep up."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 33 =====