Chapter 4: The Lottery

During their journey, under Little Wolf Ye’s casual or deliberate introductions, Yun Qing became acquainted with the juvenile forms of flax, cotton, qi-replenishing ginseng, blood-stanching grass, pain-relieving herbs, scallions, ginger, garlic, chili peppers, and various wild vegetables. Through his descriptions, she imagined what they would look like when fully grown.

The scallions, ginger, garlic, and chili peppers outside Ye Family Village were quite different from those of the twenty-first century. From Little Wolf Ye’s account, they matured much smaller in size. For instance, a bulb of garlic would only be the size of a thumb.

Different items required different levels of the Gathering Skill. For example, wild vegetables, scallions, ginger, and garlic could be harvested with level 1 Gathering, but qi-replenishing ginseng required level 10.

During his explanations, Little Wolf Ye unexpectedly discovered a strength in this girl with the sickly face. Among the valuable plants he pointed out for her to recognize, though she failed the first time, once she had seen them, she could always identify them afterwards, no matter the form in which they appeared.

This talent of Yun Qing’s secretly impressed Little Wolf Ye, and he began to feel the urge to test her further.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“Qi-replenishing ginseng!” she replied.

“And this?”

“Flax!”

“And what about this?” Would this one stump her? Little Wolf Ye pointed to a tiny seedling barely an inch above the soil.

Yun Qing had already noticed Little Wolf Ye’s little test. Still, at present, she had no skills to speak of; if she didn’t stand out in some way, she might not even be able to survive in Ye Family Village.

As for why she could always recognize the plants he’d taught her, that was thanks to the system. The names floating above the seedlings made it nearly impossible not to recognize them.

“Scallion!” Yun Qing answered without hesitation.

Little Wolf Ye thought to himself, That was a miscalculation. Even I can’t tell what it is at this stage. Whatever she says, I have no way to judge if it’s right or wrong.

“How can you be sure it’s a scallion?” he pressed.

“I have a strange feeling about it. I just sense that, when it grows up, it’ll be a scallion.”

Their conversation had piqued the interest of a girl of about fourteen or fifteen walking ahead of them. Yun Qing’s talent with herbs surprised her as well.

Unlike Little Wolf Ye, she was certain this tiny seedling was indeed a scallion. Her family had grown them before, so she recognized it at a glance.

She interjected, “Brother Wolf, it really is a scallion.”

The little girls all chimed in to contradict him. Little Wolf Ye said, “Qiao Qiao Ye, how can you prove it’s a scallion?”

The girl named Qiao Qiao Ye crouched down, pulled up the tender shoot, broke off a small section, and handed it to Little Wolf Ye. “Taste it and you’ll know.”

Little Wolf Ye took it doubtfully, popped it into his mouth, and as the slight bitterness mixed with the distinctive sharpness of scallion burst across his tongue, he realized it was indeed a scallion. Plants and such were clearly not his forte.

“Barely passable,” he commented.

As soon as Little Wolf Ye confirmed Yun Qing’s correct answer, a mechanical voice echoed in her mind:

“Lottery function unlocked!”

“Little Wolf Ye’s favorability toward you +1.”

“Little Wolf Ye’s favorability toward you has risen to Acquaintance.”

Delight surged in Yun Qing’s heart. She hadn’t expected the system to surprise her this way. She’d always loved lotteries in games—easy to get hooked, even addicted. Over the years, all her untouched New Year’s money had been spent on draws.

Paying for luck wasn’t a good habit, but if she could use lottery prizes in real life, she absolutely would.

Unable to wait, Yun Qing checked the newly activated lottery function and her favorability rating. On the transparent interface, a single name and its favorability appeared.

“Little Wolf Ye: Favorability 1, Acquaintance.”

Upon closer inspection, she realized that a favorability of 1 was very low. The system had many favorability levels: Indifferent, Acquaintance, Friendly, Confidant, Life-and-Death Companion, and so on.

So, this boy had only just come to like her a little; before this, he’d been indifferent.

When Little Wolf Ye saved her and brought her to Ye Family Village, she’d already felt deep gratitude toward him. Her favorability toward him was far higher than his toward her, but the system didn’t display her feelings for others.

She couldn’t find the lottery draw interface.

With questions, Yun Qing asked her sprite, “Liu Liu, where do I go to draw the lottery?”

Liu Liu didn’t answer, but instead a mechanical voice stated: “Lottery function activated. One free draw granted.”

A large wheel appeared before her eyes, surrounded by question marks, with a huge “1” in the center, waiting for her to spin.

Lottery time!

It was finally here!

Yun Qing took three deep breaths to calm her excitement, silently reciting, “Sacrifice the original host’s beloved cultivator’s hundred years of singledom for luck, draw!”

The “1” changed to a “0,” a pointer appeared, and began to spin—fast at first, then gradually slowing—until it finally stopped at a question mark.

The question mark unfolded, and the system prompted: “Congratulations, you have received an Experience Scroll.”

Yun Qing checked her backpack. Besides the large stone and small pebbles she’d secretly stashed for self-defense, there was now an additional scroll.

Experience Scroll: Novice Instance Experience Scroll. Activating this will give you a super cool instance experience.

Joy sprang up in Yun Qing’s heart. This had to be an experience-granting monster-fighting instance. Using it might let her level up several times in one go, so she’d no longer lag behind the village children. She decided to use it when the time was right.

Perhaps Little Wolf Ye was feeling a bit defeated by her ability to identify plants, for he didn’t teach her anything new for a long while. This gave her time to explore the new system functions.

Through her conversation with Liu Liu, Yun Qing learned that favorability could be spent on lottery draws. The system only tracked favorability from people above the Postnatal Realm or those with potential.

Gold, silver, copper coins, and spirit stones she earned could be handed over to the system. Importantly, spending real money couldn’t be used for draws, but could be used to learn skills or for special functions, such as renaming a pet.

Currently, the only person with any favorability toward her was Little Wolf Ye.

She didn’t know many Postnatal Realm individuals, and those with potential weren’t fixed; Liu Liu explained that as people’s fortunes changed, their potential could shift, allowing her to see their favorability at those times.

As for whether spending favorability points on draws would worsen relationships, Liu Liu’s answer was: “Experience for yourself.”

A basic draw cost 10 favorability points. Forty-five points allowed five consecutive draws, and eighty points allowed ten in a row. There were also intermediate, advanced, and special lotteries, each requiring more favorability.

The first draw was free and yielded an Experience Scroll. If she wanted to draw again, she’d need to gain more favorability.

This had its pros and cons. The upside was that she could easily identify who were experts or had potential. The downside, for someone not fond of socializing, was the resistance she felt toward building good relationships with so many people.

Still, it was better than nothing.

Even with this lottery mechanism, Yun Qing didn’t want to curry favor with people solely for the sake of draws.

Unless... the rewards were truly irresistible!

Wait a minute!

She wasn’t a spirit stone—there was no way everyone would like her. Some would surely dislike her, and in the future, some might even hate her.

As expected, Yun Qing noticed a Hatred Value bar below favorability, with corresponding levels: Suspicion, Aversion, Hostile, Nemesis, and so on.

“Liu Liu, if someone hates me, can their hatred value be used for a draw?”

“This question cannot be answered at present. Please acquire some hatred value first.”